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Thank you, Your Excellency, the Chair of the Fourth Committee,
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honour to address the Fourth Committee.

Let me begin by congratulating you, Mr. Chair, and other members of the Bureau on your election. You can count on my full support, at all times, as you guide the Committee’s work.

The Fourth Committee’s broad agenda concerns self-determination; information integrity and accessibility; peace operations; the dignity of the Palestine refugees; and the peaceful uses of outer space. All of these are very critical to the agenda of the United Nations and the General Assembly.

Our work must remain anchored in the principles and commitments that have guided this Organization since its founding.

The UN Charter, the right to self-determination, and the full implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples – resolution 1514 – the cornerstone of our Organization’s decolonization agenda.

Throughout, our common objective will be to advance these mandates inclusively and sustainably.

As you are aware, the theme of this session is “Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations that Delivers for All.” This Committee can play a critical role in translating this aspiration into practice.

Trust must be earned through commitments honoured and results delivered.

Excellencies,

Allow me to offer three reflections on our work ahead.

First, our mandates must deliver for the people they were created to serve.

Few issues illustrate this more clearly than the mandate of UNRWA.

As this Committee considers UNRWA, its deliberation must remain grounded in international law, including international humanitarian law, and relevant UN resolutions.

Last December, the Assembly renewed UNRWA’s mandate until 30 June 2029. The significance of this decision will be measured in terms of the contribution that UNRWA makes to the lives of Palestine refugees across Gaza, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

In Gaza, UNRWA remains the largest humanitarian agency, and it is operationally irreplaceable. Across the region, its continued presence provides a crucial measure of stability amidst prolonged crises.

As I stressed at last week’s Ministerial Meeting on UNRWA, we have a moral, legal and practical responsibility to sustain UNRWA: moral because of the millions it serves; legal because of the mandate established by this Assembly; and practical because of its stabilizing role across the region.

The Agency continues to deliver under extraordinary pressure, even as financial and operational constraints place essential services at risk.

It needs predictable resources, and the operational space to fulfil its mandate.

I commend the Commissioner-General ad interim and the entire UNRWA personnel for their service.

Sustaining UNRWA is indispensable. Humanitarian action and essential public services must preserve life and dignity, and diplomacy should address the conflict that perpetuates the need for it.

Second, we must protect and adapt the tools of peace.

And peace is the word that recurred more, appeared more in the statements our leaders made during the General Debate.

Peacekeeping operations and special political missions remain vital, yet they face more complex conflicts, weaponized new technologies, political fragmentation and severe financial constraints.

We need peace operations that are more effective, efficient, and responsive to today’s challenges.

The Pact for the Future called for a review of the future of all forms of peace operations, including peacekeeping operations and special political missions.

The review is now before Member States.

This Committee must help ensure the peace operations toolbox remains effective, adaptable and fit for purpose.

This is where the Fourth Committee plays an essential role, as an indispensable forum to look beyond individual missions and consider peace operations as a whole.

Our deliberations should be practical: How do we protect civilians and UN personnel?

What capabilities will tomorrow’s operations require?

How do we build stronger partnerships?

And how do we ensure that women are not only present in peace operations, but shaping decisions and leading these efforts?

Yes, reform is necessary. But reform must make our missions stronger, not simply smaller. Efficiency must be measured by the impact we achieve, not simply by the resources we cut.

Throughout, the safety of UN personnel and the ability of missions to carry out their mandates must never be compromised.

Third, we must manage transformation responsibly – and do it together.

New technologies are reshaping information and communication.

Artificial intelligence can expand access, advance multilingualism and extend the reach of UN communications. It can also accelerate misinformation and disinformation, amplify hate speech and blur authenticity and accountability.

The question is no longer whether AI will transform our world; it already is.

Our responsibility is to ensure technological transformation is governed responsibly, that its benefits are shared broadly, and that no one is left behind.

This Committee’s work on information should help protect information integrity, bridge digital divides and ensure that technology advances human dignity rather than undermines trust.

The same imperative applies to outer space – a domain that is increasingly important to our economies, our security and our daily lives. Preserving it as peaceful, safe and usable for future generations requires strong cooperation and coherence across relevant United Nations bodies, with full respect for their respective mandates.

Excellencies,

I see a common test: whether the UN can complete the unfinished work of decolonization, uphold the mandates on which millions of people depend, strengthen the tools of peace, and adapt before change outpaces our collective response.

This is why the adoption of resolution 80/251 on mandate creation, implementation and review is important.

It affirms that decisions on mandates are the exclusive prerogative of Member States and calls for a clearer connection between mandates, resources, implementation, results and review.

I welcome efforts by the Co-Chairs of the Ad Hoc Working Group to develop tools that support this work.

And I encourage all Main Committees, including this Committee, to make full use of the agreed templates and guidance when developing new mandates and reviewing existing ones.

As I reminded Member States in my statement at the opening of the General Debate, last week: Four years after the founding of the United Nations, the Assembly adopted resolution 310 (IV) on November 24, 1949, entitled “Problem of Proliferation and Overlapping of Programmes of the United Nations and of the Specialized Agencies”.

In this resolution, our Assembly urged the Member States to refrain from new projects other than those that are urgently required and can which be effectively carried out.

It appears, in the ensuing years, we did not pay sufficient attention to our own decision. We have since created some 44,000 mandates that are still in use.

This is not to say all these mandates are useless. Quite the contrary. Many mandates are important as they set norms and principles and led to tangible actions.

But many more were destined to be redundant.

I therefore would like to encourage distinguished delegates to keep resolution 310 (IV) in mind when deciding upon new mandates or activities.

Please consider, where appropriate, the biennialization or triennialization of agenda items. Please promote more concise, focused and actionable resolutions.

The work ahead is demanding, but essential.

My door remains open, Mr. Chair and all of you, as you progress with your work and I look forward to working closely with you in the weeks and months ahead.

I thank you very much.