David Lammy – 2024 Speech at the UN Summit of the Future

The speech made by David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, in New York on 23 September 2024.

Mr President, I stand here as a man of multiple identities.

A Londoner.  A patriotic Brit.  A lawyer.

Proud of my African, Guyanese, Caribbean and Indian heritage.

A committed multilateralist, who believes in the importance of the United Nations.

I agree with my great predecessor, Ernie Bevin, when he said in 1945:

“Our eyes should be fixed upon the United Nations… All nations of the world should be united to look that way.”

The purposes and principles of the UN remain as indispensable today as in Bevin’s time.

Our task is to recapture that founding spirit so that when we reach the UN’s centenary, their legacy endures.

But we cannot ignore the challenges we face. More conflicts than at any time since 1945, costing the global economy over 900 billion dollars, and creating the most refugees and displaced people on record.

Geopolitical tensions arising. Progress against the Sustainable Development Goals stalling. Trust in multilateralism faltering.

The Pact for the Future and this Summit offer a chance for Member States to show responsible global leadership, to engage with the rapid changes of our age, and go further in meeting the needs of everyone – especially the most vulnerable.

As I know all too well, countries of the Global South suffered great injustices in the past. And I have heard repeatedly how frustrated partners are by the unfairness of the global system.

We cannot ignore these frustrations. We must act.

First, as the Secretary-General has said, we need greater collective efforts to prevent and end conflict. For Britain, that means upholding Ukraine’s sovereignty, urging an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, and supporting an end to the fighting in Sudan.

It means robustly challenging Member States who violate the Charter, rejecting a world in which might makes right.

It means a more representative Security Council.

It means supporting the international rule of law, and applying it equally and fairly which is why Britain has proposed the outstanding Professor Dapo Akande for election as a judge at the International Court of Justice.

Second, we need urgent action on the climate and nature crisis.

With this new Government, Britain is renewing our ambitions at home, aiming to deliver clean power by 2030.

And I am determined that we also reconnect abroad, building a Global Clean Power Alliance, championing creativity and reforms to unlock international climate and nature finance, particularly from the private sector, and bolstering efforts to protect at least thirty per cent of the planet’s land and ocean by 2030.

Third, countries like Britain must modernise our approach to development.

This Government believes partnership, not paternalism, is the way to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals.

Making best use of technology and innovation. Putting indigenous people and local communities, including women and girls, at the centre of decision-making on development programmes.

Driving faster reform of the global financial system to strengthen the voice of the most vulnerable and tackle unsustainable debt.

Friends, action on conflict, climate and poverty. Delivered by a reformed multilateral system. This is the path to peace and prosperity on a liveable planet.

All over the world, in every war zone, every refugee camp, the UN is there. A beacon of hope and humanity to which, as Bevin said, the gaze of all nations should turn.

This Summit must direct the world’s eyes towards that beacon once again. And Britain is proud to support it.

Thank you.