President activates UN Guyana website – at UN Day exhibition

President Donald Ramotar officiated at the launch of the United Nations Guyana Country Team-Guyana website during an open air exhibition on Main Street, hosted on Wednesday by the United Nations (UN) office in Guyana to mark the 67th anniversary of the UN otherwise referred to as UN Day.
A message from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon accompanied the activity which was also staged by UN offices in various countries worldwide. Subsequent to the launch, President Ramotar was escorted to view the exhibition by UN Resident Representative Khadija Musa and UN AIDS Country Coordinator Dr Roberto Campos among others.
In his remarks, President Ramotar reflected on the global circumstances that influence the formation of the UN and its mandate to promote world peace and conflict resolution. He described UN day as an important day in world history.
“This day came about after the second World War when some 56 million people lost their lives and it was so shocking to the human conscience that the leaders of that time decided to come together to work together to see that something like that never happened again… the fact that since then we have not had global configuration is testimony to the work the United Nations has been doing,” President Ramotar said.
The United Nations General Assembly in 1947, declared October 24, the anniversary of the Charter of the United Nations, “to making known to the peoples of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations and to gaining their support for” its work.
In his message the UN Secretary General described the organisation as not just a meeting place for diplomats, but a “peacekeeper disarming fighters, a health worker distributing medicine, a relief team aiding refugees, a human rights expert helping to deliver justice.”
He acknowledged however the “profound turmoil”, “transition and transformation”, “insecurity, inequality and intolerance” being experienced globally. Among them is the ongoing unrests in Syria and Palestine which President Ramotar pointed out are yet to be resolved.
Climate change remains a big issue that has been engaging the attention of the UN at the Level of the United Nations conference on sustainable development (RIO+20) where President Ramotar said, there has been some level of progress.
At present the Guyanese Head of State sits on a UN committee spearheaded by Ban-Ki-moon to oversee the successful implementation of the Education First’ initiative aimed at increasing access to, and the quality of, education for children worldwide and for which US$1.5 billion has been garnered.