Commemorating Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary-General Renews Call to Appoint Eminent Person to Review New Information on Circumstances around Death

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at a wreath laying ceremony commemorating the fifty-fifth anniversary of the death of Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld, in New York, today:

I am honoured to join you as we remember the life of Dag Hammarskjöld 55 years after his death.  Together, we salute his sacrifice and celebrate his extraordinary achievements.

On this occasion, I also renew my call to the General Assembly to appoint an eminent person or persons to review new information which may exist regarding the circumstances around his death and the loss of 15 others on their mission of peace.

All these decades after Dag Hammarskjöld’s death, we remain just as inspired by his actions and his words of wisdom.  Here this morning, surrounded by so many colleagues and friends of the United Nations, I recall his reminder to us all.  “We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny,” he said. “But what we put into it is ours.”

Let us join hands and put into our shared frame a life of dignity and a better world for all.  That is the spirt that brings us here this morning and that draws the world to our halls as we open a new session of the General Assembly for today.

Let us be inspired by Dag Hammarskjöld’s life and work and advance the goals and values enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.

Thank you.