‘Let’s Unite, Fight Together to Keep Promise of Achieving Global Goals’, Deputy Secretary-General Tells Global Citizen Festival

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks at the Global Citizen Festival, in New York today:

Hello, New York.  You are really quiet today.  Hello, New York.

Come rain or shine, we’re here because we are committed to our planet.  And what happens today is a reflection of leaders meeting all week, promises made seven years ago, and today we’re recommitting to what the great Al Pacino said, tell it like it is:  it’s half-time, and we’re down … but we’re not out.

People are hurting, and wars are raging, and our planet has gone from warming to boiling.  Leaders are really struggling to use their power to keep the promises of the global goals and they risk breaking that promise to billions of people.

The good news is, we still got seven years to go, and every game is won or lost in the second half.  So, what are you going to do?  Are you sitting on the sidelines?  No.  Are you changing the world?  Yes.  I didn’t hear you.  Are you changing the world?

Well, at the United Nations, we’re joining you, we are mobilizing people around the world.  But we can’t do this alone.  We need all hands on deck — and we need each and every one of you.

We need leaders to urgently tackle the climate crisis because we can’t win unless we stop our world from heating up.  We need leaders to bridge the digital divide — because we can’t win if billions of people, especially girls, are left offline and left behind. And we need leaders to achieve gender equality — because we can’t win when half the team isn’t even on the field.

So, New Yorkers, it’s crunch time — but crunch time is when champions are made.

Let’s unite and fight together — inch by inch — to keep the promise of achieving the global goals by 2030.  New York, are you with me?  New York, are you with the world?