GENEVA, November 30. /TASS/. The United Nations has not exhausted its potential and its activity shows that countries can resolve any complicated issue if they join forces, UN Deputy Secretary General Tatiana Valovaya, who is director general of the UN’s Geneva office, said in an interview with TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman.
"The UN has absolutely not exhausted its potential. Just like any organization, it needs fine-tuning, improving, adapting to a new reality. All of this is in the hands of UN member states," she noted. Valovaya stressed that "not a single word has become outdated" in the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which marks its 75th anniversary this year. These key documents "are just as pertinent now as before," the senior UN official stressed.
"Criticism of the UN and other international structures is frequently heard but one has to realize that the global situation would have been much worse off without them," Valovaya said. Among other things, she highlighted the UN’s activity in the fields of children’s vaccinations, education and food supplies. "Over decades of work, the UN has achieved great successes. What is the most important thing is that it has demonstrated that if we join forces, we can resolve any issue, no matter how complex. It appears that this is the UN’s main lesson," she asserted.
The diplomat reiterated that in 2020, when the UN marked its 75th anniversary, the organization posted a poll on its website. "It had two key questions: whether you see the need for multilateral cooperation and what do you think about bolstering the UN’s role. About 80% of respondents said: ‘Yes, we need more multilateral cooperation and we need the UN," Valovaya concluded.