Speech by the President of the Government at the honour award ceremony for the United Nations Secretary-General and other figures

New York

Mr Secretary-General, Mrs Ban, Mr Deputy Secretary-General, Mr Chief of Staff of the Secretary-General, ladies and gentlemen,

We have gathered here today to solemnly recognise the merits of an extraordinary man, Mr Ban ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, as well as those of his closest colleagues.

Over the course of your mandate, Mr Ban, the United Nations has adopted the 2030 Agenda, the Climate Change Convention was signed and UN Women was set up. Under your leadership, the largest international organisation in the world has been reformed to become a more efficient body through the incorporation of significant changes in working methods, a more streamlined budget and more effective spending.

Mr Ban's priorities at the United Nations have coincided with those of my country. I will mention just a few examples: preventive diplomacy; human rights; the responsibility to protect; the women's agenda; peace and security; and the fight against terrorism and violent extremism.

We would also like to thank you for setting up the United Nations Support Base in Valencia, which you officially opened with the then Prince of Asturias who is now the King of Spain. The base continues to grow and has become a benchmark entity.

Spain has felt very comfortable working with you and we believe that you also feel comfortable by our side. Perhaps that is why you officially visited Spain on no less than 12 occasions over these last ten years, for which we are enormously honoured.

With all that in mind, I am extremely proud to announce my country's recognition of your work by awarding you one of its most prestigious decorations; the Grand Collar of Civil Merit. With this decoration, we also recognise the child who was taught at a very early age the tough life lesson of becoming a refugee. We still remember your emotional words from one of your visits to Spain. It was made clear to us then that you will never forget you were once one of them.

Dear friends,

It would not be right if we failed to also honour Mrs Ban, wife of the Secretary-General. You have been with your husband for over 45 years and you have accompanied the Secretary-General on hundreds of trips over the last ten years, including most of his visits to Spain. On those trips, we have been able to appreciate and admire your professionalism, kindness and commitment.

For over 40 years, Mrs Ban has been involved in activities related to women, children and the elderly. She has promoted the United Nations Development Fund for Women, has been involved in the "Women for Peace" initiative that raises funds so that one woman from each continent can study a master's degree, and is also a prominent leader in the efforts to eradicate violence against women.

The honour we bestow upon you today is also aimed at all those women you have defended across the years and at underlining some of Spain's priorities, which include enhancing the role of women at the United Nations and eradicating violence against women.

Congratulations to you both.

Ladies and gentlemen,

If there is one diplomat who deserves the nickname of "our man at the United Nations", that would be Jan Eliasson. He comes from a long line of Swedish diplomats who have served at the highest levels of the United Nations, such as Dag Hammarskjold, or the noble purposes that inspired its creation, such as Raul Wallenberg.

He has held a myriad of posts in his country and at the United Nations: Ambassador in Washington and to the United Nations; Minister for Foreign Affairs; Deputy Chairman of ECOSOC; Special Envoy of the Secretary-General; Assistant Secretary-General; President of the General Assembly; and, currently, Deputy Secretary-General.

We would like to recognise his sound principles, as well as his flexibility; an indispensable quality for a great mediator. Nagorno-Karabaj, Darfur, Sudan, Iran and Iraq have all borne witness to your skills at preventing conflict and reconciling opposing factions. He is also a great defender of humanitarian action, as demonstrated in South Africa and South Sudan during the 1990s.

Mr Eliasson was also crucial in drawing up the Secretary-General's "Human Rights First" initiative, which Spain backed on every level.

Many of you know him as "the water man" because of his firm commitment to universal access to water and sanitation. Following in his wake, Spain and Germany have dedicated significant efforts to recognising both as human rights.

My most sincere congratulations to you.

Dear friends,

If the position of Secretary-General is "the most impossible job in the world", being his chief of staff must mean managing the impossible. One needs to be journalist, lawyer, politician and diplomat. Mr Mulet is all those things, as well as a brilliant man, extraordinarily kind and highly efficient.

Since he was Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Haiti and subsequently as Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, as well as in his current position, Mr Mulet has always treated Spain with great efficiency and attention. For us, he is an old and dear friend to whom, in actual fact, we had already awarded this honour a while ago but were unable to present it to him for administrative reasons; fortunately, something that I can indeed do today.

It is difficult to sum up his merits in just a few words, but I will say two things: he is capable of gathering many people at the same time around a single goal; and he is also highly sensitive to situations on the ground, those that affect real people in real situations, which has driven him to become a man of action.

I would like to share a little-known fact about Edmond Mulet with you. His surname - rather than coming from French ancestors as many people believe - is actually Catalan and he therefore has Spanish roots. Perhaps that is why there is a special place in his heart for Spain, as there is in ours for him.

On behalf of Spain, my deepest gratitude to you, Mr Secretary-General, Mrs Ban, Mr Deputy Secretary-General and Mr Mulet.

Thank you very much.