As part of his visit to the United States of America, Prime Minister Edi Rama participated in the reception held in New York, on the occasion of the beginning of Albania’s term in the UN Security Council, one of the most important bodies of the United Nations Organization, tasked with safeguarding peace and security among nations.

In attendance of the ceremony were Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Olta Xhaçka, President of the UN General Assembly Abdulla Shahid, Permanent Representative of Albania to the United Nations Ferit Hoxha, ambassadors of UN member states, representatives of the Albanian community in the US, etc.

President of the UN General Assembly congratulated Albania on its maiden election as a non-permanent member of the Security Council for the period 2022-2023. “I have no doubt that Albania will build on its longstanding commitment to peace and security, and on its history of robust engagement with multiple UN organs, to strengthen the work of the Council,” Shahid said during the ceremony.

Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Olta Xhaçka, in her welcoming speech, described the mandate as a great responsibility and privilege for the country. For the first time, 66 years after becoming a member of the UN, Albania has the opportunity to sit in the UN Security Council. This is certainly a big responsibility. This is undoubtedly a great privilege. But this is at the same time, a very special moment in the history of modern Albania. It shows how far we have come and how much our country and our people have achieved,” the  Foreign Minister Xhaçka said.

For his part, PM Rama in his address to the participants said that “Joining the Security Council is an event of historical importance for Albania. It marks yet another critical stepping stone in our transformation drive to fulfil our aspirations as a nation and contribute to making the world a better place for us and for all.

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The speech of PM Edi Rama at the reception hosted on the occasion of the beginning of the term of Albania as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council:

 

Thank you, Mr. President of the General Assembly, for your kind words.

As I understand, you are the boss of many here in the room who, by their presence, honour us.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Dear Friends,

“Mirëmbrëma të gjithë bashkëatdhetarëve”

Joining the Security Council is an event of historic importance for Albania.

It marks yet another critical step stone in our transformational drive to fulfil our aspirations as a nation and contribute to making the world a better place, for us and for all.

Let me start by going off script and say it bluntly: If for anything else but for such gathering like this one where so many friends and distinguished guests are present to share this moment with us, I guess the Security Council Seat is worthwhile.

Thank you for being here.

Only a wild imagination would have had the bravery to dream all this only three decades ago?

At that time, Albania was a bunker in darkness. For almost half a century, it crawled under one of the most oppressive communist regimes in Europe, which made our country be, I need to say it, the North Korea of Europe.

The dictatorship came crumbling because of the people’s appeal to what human nature has as its inherent exigence: freedom, equality, democracy, and the rule of law

Many times, the wheels of history move in odd directions. For us, Albanians, the wakening came rather late, but we kept our sight on the appealing light and have since moved in one single direction: that of freedom, democracy, rule of law, human rights, dignity, development and reform.

Seeking our deserved place in the region and in Europe has remained our compass ever since, even in the most difficult moments in our long and difficult road towards a free and democratic society, to the family we seek to join, the European family where we belong.

The world has changed and transformed during the last 76 years;

many countries and societies have seen their life change profoundly, but I can say without doubt that Albania’s transformation is one of the most remarkable and the most impactful;

to the point that I tend to agree with friends who tell us that in the course of the last three decades, Albania has transformed more than during the last 3 centuries.

This is our record, one we are proud of; one we only seek to further improve.

Nowadays, we notice that the values we used to take for granted as aspirations to attain, have been put into doubts.

But for us who have survived through dark times, these are doubts we do not harbour. Because we know what the alternative to such values is.

We have placed international law and human rights at the heart of our agenda for our mandate in the Security Council. We see them as priorities in the world’s most powerful body.

I don’t know how many in this room or outside would agree or disagree with me, that wherever human rights are observed, wherever women are respected and empowered, wherever the needs of the citizens are placed first, there is sustainable development and genuine progress.

For us, human rights are at the heart of the critical issues of peace and security. The recognition of the universality of rights asks for a clever balance between conflicting principles: sovereignty of nations, which we must respect and human right defence which we must abide by.

The Security Council is made to speak out and intervene in the service of these values when gross violations happen. For us, the challenge is how the Council can intervene in an intelligent, reflective, and timely manner to prevent atrocities, stop conflicts and ensure lasting peace and security.

No one doubts the strength of the Security Council. Our challenge is to make just what is strong, and make strong what is just.  For an organ as powerful as the Council, not being just is not an option. So, we must unite with justice, because there will not be peace without justice.

Security cannot be established and let alone last without justice to be raised. Thus, in our view, the Security Council should seek to achieve peace and security but also establish justice, accountability. It is through accountability that we can go towards reconciliation, which cements lasting peace.

It is in this that lies the task for a small nation like mine. We do not bring material strength to the Security Council – at least for now – but strength is not what the Security Council lacks. Nor is it sheer strength that is required for the Council to address the most pressing challenges to world peace and security today.

We have committed to bring our voice, our values and norms in the shared work of the Security Council, as a contribution to peace. We wish to share with others our lived experience, our lessons learned.

Our direct way to contribute to alleviate suffering to those in need has been to give what we have, what we could: open our homes and hearts to those needing rescue and shelter:

whether it is the Jews during the Holocaust when Albanian became the only country to have more Jews after the war than before;

or for half a million of Kosovars fleeing the ethnic cleansing from the brutal regime of Slobodan Milosevic regime;

or thousands of MEK sheltered securely in Albania, and most recently, thousands of Afghans escaping the Taliban reprisal.

We claim no credit for this. It goes for the dignity of every human being, irrespective of their creed, religion, ethnicity, gender, or whatever orientation.

This is not a slogan – it is a lived practice. We do not act according to this code of honour because we can, but because we must—it comes with our sense of who we are, as Albanians and who we want our children to be.

Dear friends,

In our long journey, until we found our way, we have seen everything: war, occupation, dictatorship, self-imposed isolation, extreme poverty.

The only thing we have not experienced – and there is a fundamental reason for this – is religious-based conflict.

This is because we have learned to in the hard way to place what is common first and what is individual next. We have come to believe in the frank dialogue, or better said “the “fusion of horizons”.

Dialogue for us as is a method to achieve mutual understanding, mutual respect and recognition, without which peace will remain a mirage, an elusive aspiration.

We will be able to fight the root causes of violent conflict by recognising the other in ourselves, and ourselves in others. Ultimately, we are a community of fate.

Our future on this only and unique place called earth is ultimately tied to our ability to understand and learn to live with our differences, with shared aspirations, in peace and dignity.

That is the task we take upon ourselves—to keep that bright horizon at the heart of the work of the Council.

Thank you all for being with us tonight, at this very special date, and thank you for showing a bit of the love of the day to Albania.