President Bio was addressing the 74th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Thursday 27th September, 2019.
He added: “This long-standing injustice and imbalance perpetuated in the present configuration of the Security Council should be of grave concern to us all, which ought to be addressed.”
According to him, as the Coordinator of the African Union Committee of Ten Heads of State and Government on the reform of the United Nations Security Council, “we are convinced that this reform should address the long-standing injustice and imbalance in the present configuration of the Council.”
He went on to state that “The need for Security Council reform is urgent and imperative. Our historic pledge to the early reform of the Security Council as an essential element of our overall effort to reform the United Nations must be upheld and implemented without further delay.”
He added that the legitimacy and effectiveness of the Security Council’s decisions, as well as the relevance of the United Nations, will continue to be questioned if urgent action is not taken to make the Council more broadly representative. “Africa remains to be the only region without representation in the permanent category of the Security Council, and is also under-represented in the Non-permanent category,” President Bio stated.
He informed his audience that “We believe that the prevailing geopolitical realities are compelling for a comprehensive reform of the Security Council to make way for equitable geographic representation. Africa’s patience is being tested. We therefore urge this Assembly to collectively support our urgent call for Africa’s representation in the Security Council, as espoused in the Ezulwini Consensus and Sirte Declaration.
On the home front, President Bio informed UNGA that Sierra Leone has pursued country-led peace and resilience through national dialogue and reconciliation. He said “development and poverty eradication must be well-planned, inclusive, and sustainable and it must transition our nation out of fragility.” To this end, he added that “Sierra Leone has partnered with United Nations agencies and development partners to understand the dynamics and severity of poverty, and map out possible approaches to eradicating poverty, SDG 1.
“The aspirations of Sierra Leoneans are reflected in a detailed and costed Five-Year Medium-Term National Development Plan, titled: “Education for Development”. He noted that the plan is aligned with the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union’s Agenda 2063, and is based on an inclusive nationwide consultative process and ensures that people are at the centre and own our national development trajectory.
He informed his audience that “eradicating poverty can only be achieved when we develop and improve on our nations’ greatest resource – the people; skilled, healthy, and productive human beings are the pathways to global success and prosperity.”