Mayor Dr. Peter Tschentscher & UN SG António Guterres – Picture by Hamburger Senatskanzlei.
Friday, 18 December 2020, Berlin, Germany: “The Corona pandemic highlights the importance of the United Nations. The World Health Organization, as part of the UN family, is helping to combat the global spread of the Corona virus and ensure equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and medicines,” said Hamburg’s Mayor Dr. Peter Tschentscher as per statement below.
“The UN enables the international community to work together globally according to common principles. This is of great importance for an international metropolis like Hamburg. With around 100 consulates, more than half of the UN member states are represented in Hamburg. It is in our interest that the UN is involved in securing peace, fighting poverty, and protecting the climate and natural resources. With the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, two important institutions of the UN family are based in Hamburg.”
Mayor Dr. Tschentscher expressed his support for the UN before attending the allocution held by the UN ninth Secretary-General António Guterres at the Bundestag in Berlin. Guterres also held private meetings with Germany’s Federal President Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the country’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.
Background information
In June 1945, representatives of 50 states signed the United Nations Charter, which entered into force four months later on 24 October 1945. This was the first time that fundamental values and interests of the world community were formulated.
The UN’s most important goals are to secure world peace and international law, to protect human rights and to promote international cooperation. In 2015, the UN adopted 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (“Millennium Development Goals”), which aim to overcome hunger and poverty, among other things, by 2030. The United Nations has 193 member states.
Hamburg is the seat of two institutions of the UN family: The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, founded in 1996 on the basis of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, adjudicates in disputes concerning the interpretation or application of the Convention. The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, founded in 1952, is an international research, training, information and documentation centre. It promotes adult education, lifelong learning, informal education and literacy in all regions of the world.
For further information:
Allocution at the German Bundestag: https://www.bundestag.de/#url=L2Rva3VtZW50ZS90ZXh0YXJjaGl2LzIwMjAva3c1MS1ndXRlcnJlcy04MTExMDI=&mod=mod493052
UN: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2020-12-18/secretary-generals-remarks-the-bundestag
German Federal Presidency: https://www.bundespraesident.de/DE/Home/home_node.html#-gallery
Statement by the Government of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg: https://www.hamburg.de/pressearchiv-fhh/14757234/2020-12-18-sk-75-jahre-vereinte-nationen/
