The remarks of the President of the UN Staff Union

Good morning colleagues,

Welcome to the Long Service Award Ceremony.

Today, we are gathered here to celebrate our long-serving and dedicated staff members, whose achievements are nothing less than a mark of passion, dedication and perseverance. It has been a long journey full of both challenges and opportunities. Seeing you here today proves loyalty and a strong sense of belonging so, let’s give you a round of applause!

Staff members receiving certificates today are acknowledged and commended for their hard work on reaching various milestones in their service, namely 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 years. We also have colleagues who dedicated a lifelong service to this Organization and are due to retire this year. Thank you so much to all of you for your time and contributions to the United Nations and for helping transform it into what it is today.

It is needless to say that our greatest asset in fulfilling the purpose of the United Nations is our staff. As the United Nations becomes more diverse and the challenges, we face more complex, we must continue to invest in policies to recruit, retain, and develop the best and brightest from around the world. Our drive, our diversity and openness, our boundless capacity for risk and reinvention means that the future should be ours.

So many of the vital services that the world’s most vulnerable people depend on cross your desks every day. Your work is essential to the United Nations. You are the ones who help to create the conditions that allow peace to hold and flourish. You guard and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion. You continue to coordinate humanitarian relief operations due to natural and man-made disasters in areas beyond the relief capacity of national authorities alone. You help healthcare and education to reach more people?   You promote diplomacy and development. So whatever or whoever inspired you to join the United Nations – whether you’re a young person who just the joined the Organization because you want to make a difference, or someone who has dedicated your life to that pursuit – I want you to know that it has been my privilege to call you my colleagues.

On the other hand, while we are going through some difficult times, we are now most in need of colleagues like you. We need to draw from a strong sense of belonging and team spirit in order to be able to take on new challenges and explore new opportunities along our way. So, keep up the good work! With the support and solidarity of every member of staff, we shall persevere, with the loyalty, discretion and awareness of the functions entrusted to us as international civil servants of the United Nations.

I’m excited to see what all of you do next. On behalf of the Staff Union and myself, thank you again for working so hard every single day in the service of the United Nations that we love so much.

Congratulations to those that are receiving the awards today and let me wish all of you the very best.

I now have the privilege of introducing our keynote speaker, the Deputy Secretary-General, Ms. Amina Mohammed. Thank you very much.