Message by the Minister of Foreign Affairs on the Fifty Seventh Anniversary of the Maldives Membership at the United Nations
‘’The Maldives joined the United Nations fifty-seven years ago, at a time when a small state joining the United Nations was questioned.
We believe in multilateralism. It is at the heart of our Foreign Policy. As one of the smallest countries in the UN, the Maldives is proud to have demonstrated our leadership at the General Assembly; our call to resolve conflicts, to address poverty and vulnerability, to find joint and urgent solutions to the impacts of climate change, to empower women and girls, and to promote and strengthen the ideals of peace around the world. It reaffirms our longstanding commitment to international cooperation and to the rules-based international order, with the United Nations at its core.
The Maldives has consistently called for and supported global initiatives to assist small island developing states (SIDS) in enhancing their resilience, as well as those to assist fledgling democracies in aligning their national human rights systems with international obligations and standards.
The Maldives will be once again running for a Seat at the UN Human Right Council for the term 2023-2025. While we served two consecutive terms at the United Nations Human Rights Council, we took leadership on several initiatives, including actively collaborating with countries to set up new mechanisms and mandates that further strengthened human rights throughout the world. The Maldives was a proud member among the countries that created the Council’s first mandate holder on the wider question of human rights and environment – “the Independent Expert on Human Rights & Environment”.
We believe that global issues require global solutions – through multilateralism we can build a more resilient and a stronger world. United Nations strength lies in its ability to shape norms, change discourse, and forge consensus. We believe that every crisis we face has reconfirmed that multilateral cooperation is the only path. We can together shape a better version of the world tomorrow - a world where we reinforce multilateralism’’