UNITED NATIONS ADDRESS BY
His Excellency Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr.
President of the Republic of Liberia
To the
81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly
Theme: “Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations that Delivers for All”
United Nations Headquarters
New York, New York, USA
Thursday, September 24, 2026
Mr. President;
Mr. Secretary-General;
Excellencies;
Distinguished Delegates:
On behalf of the Government and people of Liberia, I congratulate Your Excellency, Khalilur Rahman, on your election as President of the Eighty-First Session of the General Assembly, and I assure you of Liberia's full support. We also thank Her Excellency Annalena Baerbock for her leadership during the Eightieth Session. As Secretary-General António Guterres prepares to conclude his tenure, Liberia salutes his principled leadership and tireless commitment to reform.
Mr. President, the theme of this session, “Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations that Delivers for All,” frames, in our view, a lingering crisis of legitimacy and relevance that demands urgent attention.
Trust in multilateralism is broken and needs to be restored, not because the principles of the Charter are no longer relevant, but because we have applied them inconsistently and selectively, fueling global fragmentation. Our answer to that fragmentation cannot be less multilateralism. It must be better multilateralism!
Eighty years ago, Liberia was among only four African nations to sign the Charter establishing the United Nations, believing then, as we do now, that a peaceful world rests on international law, respect for human rights and dignity, and a commitment to development. Having risen from the ashes of conflict to become a resilient democracy, Liberia is living proof that dialogue can overcome division and that institutions can be rebuilt.
This same spirit defines our national governance today. Under my Administration, Liberia is strengthening public accountability, ensuring prudent financial management, intensifying the fight against corruption, and supporting the judiciary in rebuilding citizens' confidence in the institutions that serve them.
Mr. President, without peace, development is impossible, and without inclusive development, peace is an illusion. Across the raging theater of conflict, innocent civilians continue to pay the unacceptable price of war. We renew our call for an immediate end to all hostilities, unhindered humanitarian access, and full respect for international humanitarian law.
Prevention must be at the heart of international peace and security. Investing in preventive diplomacy, mediation, and early warning is not only morally imperative but also fiscally prudent: the cost of preventing a war pales in comparison to the cost of rebuilding a broken society.
As a current member of the United Nations Security Council, Liberia is putting these principles into practice while confronting evolving threats across West Africa, including transnational organized crime, cyber warfare, and illicit narcotics trafficking along maritime corridors in the Gulf of Guinea. Through our Joint Security forces, we are tightening the vise on transnational drug cartels. No nation can police global criminal networks alone, so we call on international partners for targeted support in coast guard surveillance, intelligence sharing, and port security technologies.
Sustainable Development and Reforming the International Financial System
Mr. President, as we enter the home stretch of the 2030 Agenda, developing nations are being squeezed by unsustainable debt, shrinking fiscal space, and mounting external shocks. At its core, this is a crisis of an international financial system designed for a different era.
Liberia calls for urgent, structural reform of the international financial architecture. Developing nations need concessional financing, debt sustainability, and predictable development capital, not escalating interest rates that threaten survival.
At the heart of this reform must be a fairer voice and vote for developing countries within the Bretton Woods institutions, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, whose governance still reflects the world of 1945 rather than the world of today. A financial system that decides the fate of billions cannot continue to be governed by so few. Reform of the international financial system is not a technical exercise; it is a precondition for delivering the Sustainable Development Goals and for restoring the very trust this Assembly is meeting to discuss.
At home, my Government is driving transformation through our national development blueprint, the ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development, which focuses on Agriculture, Roads, Rule of Law, Education, Sanitation, and Tourism. This year, we have made concrete strides in revenue administration and infrastructure, including rural roads linking farms to markets.
Liberia contributes virtually nothing to global emissions, yet our communities face coastal erosion, flooding, and disrupted agricultural cycles. My country also harbors 42 percent of the remaining Upper Guinean Rainforest, a vital global carbon sink that we maintain on behalf of all humanity. Climate responsibility must be paired with climate justice: we call on industrial nations to honor their financing pledges and operationalize loss-and-damage mechanisms.
Democracy, Human Rights, and Responsible Innovation
Mr. President, the ultimate measure of governance is inclusion. In Africa, over 60 percent of our population is under 25, the single greatest engine of innovation on Earth. We must equip our youth with STEM education, digital literacy, and technical training so they become co-creators in the global digital economy, not just consumers.
Gender equality remains essential. When women lead, peace agreements last longer, economies grow faster, and governance becomes more accountable. Liberia remains committed to full political, economic, and social equality for women and girls.
Liberia welcomes global efforts to govern new technologies, including the Secretary-General's Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence. Developing nations must not be left behind as mere consumers of algorithms designed elsewhere; we must be supported in building true digital sovereignty. We join calls for binding ethical norms and greater regulation of artificial intelligence, particularly in warfare. Innovation must protect human development, not automate human destruction.
Reforming Global Governance: Correcting a Historic Injustice
Mr. President, eighty years of patience is enough. The time for structural reform is now. While we welcome the UN80 Reform Agenda to make this Organization agile, efficient, and accountable, true reform must address a core structural issue: the UN Security Council. Africa is home to 1.5 billion people and accounts for nearly one-third of UN membership. Yet eighty percent of Security Council mandates concern African peace and security, while Africa remains without a single permanent seat on the organ responsible for global peace. This historical injustice is no longer tenable.
Liberia reaffirms its support for the Common African Position on the Proposed Reform of the United Nations Security Council. We celebrate the presentation of the African Model during the recent Intergovernmental Negotiations, which advances us toward text-based negotiations. Africa demands no fewer than two permanent seats, with all accompanying rights and responsibilities, including the veto so long as it exists, as well as additional non-permanent seats. Correcting this imbalance is not a favor to Africa; it is necessary to restore the United Nations' trust, credibility, and legitimacy.
Conclusion
Mr. President, the choice before the Eighty-First General Assembly is stark. We can allow multilateralism to drift toward irrelevance, or we can change course and act boldly to restore trust, credibility, and legitimacy. Liberia's journey, from civil conflict to constitutional democracy and from broken institutions to accountable governance, shows what is possible when nations commit, deliberately and consistently, to restoring trust and managing transformation. As we did in San Francisco in 1945, Liberia is ready, together with all member states, to save mankind from the scourge of war, guarantee human dignity, and leave no one behind.
Let us leave this Assembly committed to a United Nations that not only deliberates on crises but also resolves them, that restores trust through results, protects the vulnerable, honors the rights of all nations, and secures a peaceful planet for generations to come.
Thank you.
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