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‘Keep Speaking Out for Whole World to Hear’, Says Deputy Secretary-General, in Remarks to 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.  Hello, global citizens.  What an amazing crowd, and what an amazing day.

I know it’s going to be really easy to be miserable in today’s world.  And it’s easy to create chaos and tear things down.  But, when I look at this crowd today, I see hope.  And I know that you all know that the statistics that you’ve heard today, they’re not numbers.  They’re people.

Real people with lives in a world that wants to survive and to thrive.  And we’re acting here today by building lasting change.  And that’s how we go from saving one child to creating health systems that save every child.

That’s how we go from feeding one girl to building food systems so that no child goes to bed hungry.  And that’s how we go from picking up one piece of trash to creating a whole city, cleaning city and coastline.

And this’s how we go from global citizen to an unstoppable movement for change.  That is what I see in you tonight.

This week at the United Nations, world leaders adopted a Pact for the Future.  To keep the global goals alive.  To make artificial intelligence (AI) a force for good.  And to build a world of peace.

To see that countries have money so that they can invest in people’s lives.  To take these messages — take the energy — take the enthusiasm — of tonight.  And keep speaking out for the whole world to hear.

Are we ready to act?  New York, I can’t hear you, are we ready to act?  Are we ready to defeat poverty?  Are we ready to defend our planet?  Are we ready to demand equity?

A great man, Nelson Mandela once said:  “It’s always seems impossible until it is done.”  So, let’s get it done.

For information media. Not an official record.