Director-General's remarks at the Lions Day at the United Nations 2025 "The Future of Service"

Lions Day at the United Nations 2025
“The Future of Service”
Tuesday, 15 April 2025 at 11.00 a.m.
Room XX, Building E, Palais des Nations

Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the Lions Day at the United Nations 2025 and to host you at the Palais des Nations. Let me take this opportunity to thank Lions International for organizing this event around the timely and important theme of “the future of service”.

It is particularly fitting that you are meeting here in Geneva, the cradle of humanitarianism and now a city home to thousands of people who are dedicated to helping others. With 187 Member States represented, along with 49 international organizations and more than 750 non-governmental organizations, International Geneva is an important centre for diplomacy, multilateralism, and humanitarian action. This is the ideal location to talk about service.

As the world’s largest service organization, with nearly 1.4 million members and 50,000 clubs, Lions International is uniquely positioned to discuss the importance of service. For more than 100 years, your organization and your people have supported those in need around the world.

The issues you address are wide-ranging and meaningful. From combatting blindness to providing disaster relief, from protecting the environment to improving mental health and well-being, the work of Lions International touches all facets of society. And the impact is impressive, with Lions Clubs serving more than 420 million people annually across more than 1.6 million service projects. 

This work is closely aligned with the work and values of the United Nations. NGOs have long supported the United Nations in advancing its mission and objectives. The UN system relies on civil society’s expertise and active engagement across different sectors, such as education, health, poverty eradication, human rights, gender equality and indigenous issues. 

The United Nations and Lions International have been partners for 80 years. Not only was Lions International one of the first NGOs to be granted consultative status with the UN, but your organization contributed to the development of the Charter of the United Nations in 1945. Thanks to the input of civil society organizations like yours, alongside states, the Charter is a landmark document, embodying humanity’s shared values, hopes and aspirations to build a better world from the ashes of World War Two.

Eight decades on, the international community faces turbulent times. We face global economic insecurity, growing violent conflicts and nuclear threats, record levels of humanitarian needs, evermore pressing consequences of climate change, deepening inequalities, increasing mistrust and misinformation, and more. These challenges have put the multilateral system – with the United Nations at its core – to the test. 

To rise to these challenges, we need to build a new type of multilateralism that is more networked, effective and inclusive. No single actor has all the answers. We need diverse voices, perspectives and stakeholders involved in both decision-making and problem-solving. We need strong collaboration between governments, international organizations, civil society, the private sector, academia, youth and more.

The importance of civil society was reaffirmed in the Pact for the Future, adopted by world leaders last September to transform global governance and create a safer, more peaceful, sustainable and inclusive world for future generations. The Pact includes explicit commitments to deepening partnerships with civil society, such as leveraging existing channels and strengthening communication between United Nations intergovernmental bodies and civil society to foster ongoing dialogue and information-sharing.

As the Pact is forward-looking, both in name and content, I particularly welcome today’s discussions about the future of service. How can we - both the United Nations and civil society - improve our work in the years and decades to come? How can we increase the impact of our activities? How can we serve future generations, even those not yet born? How can we make change and shape the future of service?

Ladies and gentlemen,

These can be heavy questions, but they are essential ones. And I know that we are better off discussing these issues together, not apart. Just as we are better off working together, not apart. Partnerships between the United Nations and civil society organizations like Lions International are more important than ever.

For over a century, leaders have convened here, at the Palais des Nations, to advance peace, rights, and well-being for people all around the world. Your discussions today will add to that history of service in these hallowed halls. I wish you an exciting and productive day ahead.

Thank you.