President Kaljulaid at the UN General Assembly: we cannot recover from the shadow pandemic without vaccinating the global population

President Kersti Kaljulaid stressed in her speech at the UN General Assembly the need to help those most affected by concealed consequences of the pandemic and conflicts—women and children. Conflicts still ravage many countries and new ones have occurred.  Wars continue to be fought from Ukraine to Syria. Authoritarian regimes like Belarus, for example, have come up with new hybrid tools to attack democratic societies with innocent people. Those who suffer the most continue to be the most vulnerable in our societies – women, children and adolescents,” the Estonian Head of State added. President Kaljulaid assured that as the UN Global Advocate for Women and Children she will cooperate with UN institutions to compensate for what has been lost due to the pandemic.

The Estonian Head of State stressed in her speech that Estonia continues to support the right of women and children around the world – there can be no democracy, no security and no development without one half of the humankind.  “As an elected member of the Security Council Estonia has put special emphasis on the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in peace processes and on fighting sexual and gender based violence. We have tried to give a voice to women human rights defenders by inviting them to brief the Security Council. We were also able to draw attention to the ever-deteriorating situation of children in armed conflicts, which has been even more amplified by COVID-19,” President Kaljulaid said, adding that we have to keep talking about the rights and protection of children, especially in conflicts.

The shadow pandemic of starvation, lack of access to education or medical care – is going to continue at least until we manage to vaccinate the global population, President Kaljulaid said, adding that even then it will take more time still to turn the negative trends around. “Without vaccinating the global population, there is no way to even start the recovery from the shadow pandemic. We all are responsible for the future, and we all have to do our bit,” the Estonian Head of State said. Estonia is contributing at least 900 000 doses of vaccines to the fight against the pandemic in countries which require aid.

According to President Kaljulaid she is saddened as the UN Global Advocate for Every Woman Every Child that the progress seen during the past two decades in Afghanistan could be reverted so quickly. “When I visited Afghanistan this April, I had the opportunity to meet people who had grown up in a society of reconstruction and hope towards the future. Today their future looks grim to say the least. So does the situation in the whole country,” the Estonian Head of State said. “In Afghanistan, at least 45 per cent of the population are children under 15 years of age – they need protection, access to education and healthcare, or we will add to the never-ending cycle of conflict,” president Kaljulaid added.

According to the Estonian Head of State the lessons from the pandemic have given us encouragement to fight against climate change, which is at least as dangerous to the human race as the pandemic. “If we can take these – more supportive governments towards the weaker in the societies and the potential to use the same fervency we all together had for finding vaccines now to stop climate change – the future generations will recognise this decade of this century as the Great Recovery,” President Kaljulaid said.

In her speech the Estonian Head of State also expressed support to the Belarusian people and their will to shape the future of their country and to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. “We need to stand in solidarity against the aggressive and destabilizing behaviour of Alyaksandr Lukashenkaʼs regime,” President Kaljulaid said, adding that: “Security is indivisible – Ukrainian security is also ours. As an elected member of the UN Security Council, we continue to keep the issue of Russia’s aggression in Donbass and illegal annexation of Crimea on the UNSC agenda.”

On September 17th Estonia celebrated the 30 years anniversary of joining the United Nations. “Thirty years is a little bit more than one human generation. Today Estonia is an elected member of the United Nations Security Council. Over the years, we have been not only security consumers, but also responsible contributors in different regions in the World from Sahel to Afghanistan and Iraq,” President Kaljulaid said.