On September 21, 2020, the UN will celebrate its 75th anniversary. A very special date celebrated in a very tragic year. A year in which the world suffered a crisis at the planetary scale, caused by the pandemic known as COVID 19. However, within the United Nations there is a genuine hope that we will emerge from this crisis stronger and more united than ever. The world had to come together to fight the virus; the great powers had to listen to the small countries.
Multilateralism has become increasingly important, and countries must now think about the new “World” model in which we intend to live in the future. To this end, on 21 September 2020, the United Nations International Day should be celebrated. An event that will bring online a large number of world leaders, under the theme “What is the future we want?”.
COVID 19 tried to help us in this regard, with people understanding that we are “gregarious animals” for not being able to accept the confinement; Faith leaping from religious leaders to doctors and nurses; and politicians having to correct their strategies to accommodate the new priorities of the “International Family”. For a few months, Multilateralism prevailed, because what happened in the country next door became of tremendous importance in the way of conducting National policy.
During these 75 years, Portugal actively participated in 34 UN missions to help resolve humanitarian crises, fratricidal conflicts and natural disasters. Namely – 1958/58 – UNOGIL – Lebanon; 1988/89 – UNAVEM I – Angola; 1989/89 – UNTAG – Namibia; 1991/92 – UNAVEM II – Angola; 1991/2001 – UNPROFOR / UNPF – ex-Yugoslavia; 1993/94 – ONUMOZ – Mozambique; 1995/96 – UNCRO – Croatia; 1995/99 – UNAVEM III – Angola; 1995/2001 – MINURSO – Western Sahara; 1995/99 – UNPREDEP – FYROM (North Macedonia); 1995/2002 – UNMBH – Bosnia and Herzegovina; 1996/2004 – UNMOP – Croatia; 1997/2002 – MONUA – Angola, 1998/2000 – MINURCA – Central African Republic; 1999/2000 – INTERFET – East Timor; 2000/02 – UNTAET – East Timor; 2001/05 – UNIMSET – East Timor; 2003/03 – UNMIL – Liberia; 2004/04 – UNOCI – Ivory Coast; 2004/05 – MINUSTAH – Haiti; 2004/06 – ONUB – Burundi; 2005/2013 – UNMIK – Kosovo; 2005/06 – UNOTIL – East Timor; 2006/09 – UNMIT – East Timor; 2006/2012 – UNIFIL – Lebanon; 2006/06 – WFP –Lebanon; 2006/06 – MONUC – DR Congo; 2006/06 – UNHCR – Algeria; 2006/08 – UNIOSIL – Sierra Leone; 2008/09 – MINUCART – Chad and Central African Republic; 2008/2018 – UNAMA – Afghanistan, 2016 / ongoing – ONMC-MVM – Colombia, 2014/14 – UNIOGBIS – Guinea Bissau, 2014 / ongoing – MINUSMA – Mali, 2014 / ongoing – MINUSCA – Central African Republic.
On September 21, 2020, during the celebrations of the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations, World leaders will sign a joint declaration. We will wait to see how the beautiful words that are written there will pass from the paper to the ground. The UN emerged from the ashes of World War II … we are waiting to see what will emerge from the ashes of the War against COVID.
OPen samento 