UN Charter ‘More than Parchment, Ink; It Is a Promise — of Peace, Dignity, Cooperation among Nations’, Says Secretary-General in Exhibition Remarks
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the UN Charter Day exhibition, in New York today:
We are so honoured to welcome home the original UN Charter. It is more than parchment and ink; it is a promise — of peace, dignity and cooperation among nations.
And as we open this exhibition that celebrates our earliest days, we are reminded that the Charter was only the beginning.
The ideals it enshrined had to be put into action — by people, by process and sometimes, by something as simple as a wooden box.
In the spring of 1946, at Hunter College here in New York City, the first UN ballot box for the Security Council was opened for a routine inspection before the first vote. To everyone’s surprise, there was already a slip of paper inside.
It was a message from the box’s maker — a mechanic named Paul Antonio. Apparently, there have been some Antonios around.
He wrote: “May I, who have had the privilege of fabricating this ballot box, cast the first vote? May God be with every member of the United Nations Organization and through your noble efforts bring lasting peace to us all — all over the world.”
That message — humble, hopeful and heartfelt — captures the spirit of the United Nations at its founding. And it reminds us why we are here today.
Eighty years is a blink of an eye in history. And yet, until the United Nations, humanity never had a single place where every Government and all peoples could unite to fix the world and build something better.
The UN is a living miracle — and the women and men of the United Nations bring this miracle to life every day and everywhere: forging peace; tackling poverty, hunger and disease; advancing human rights; delivering life-saving aid; and striving to make our organization stronger.
Today, our world faces age-old challenges — and newer threats like the climate crisis and runaway technology, not to mention the horrible conflicts we are witnessing. But we have the tools and the norms of international law to guide us, starting with the Charter of the United Nations.
And as we reflect on the artifacts of our founding — the documents, the symbols, the memories — I keep thinking about that note in the ballot box.
Paul Antonio never sat in a General Assembly seat. He never gave a speech or signed a treaty. But he believed in what this Organization could become. He believed in us.
Eighty years later, I hope we can all carry that same spirit — of quiet conviction, of hope and of belief in peace — into the future we are building together.