UNGA79: Speech by Minister Veldkamp at the LGBTI Core Group event
Speech by Caspar Veldkamp, Minister of Foreign Affairs, at the LGBTI Core Group event at the 79th UN General Assembly, on 23 September 2024. Check against delivery.
Your Excellencies, esteemed colleagues, friends,
We’ve come a long way.
Thirty-five years ago, the World Health Organization still classified homosexuality as a disease.
Today, same-sex couples can marry in 36 countries, and that number continues to grow.
That’s real progress…
Progress for those people who can now live freely, without stigma.
And progress for the world at large.
After all, we can’t solve the problems the world faces if we exclude more than 10 per cent of the population.
We need all hands-on deck.
And so, we must protect and build on what we’ve achieved so far.
Or, to borrow a powerful slogan we’ve been hearing a lot lately:
We are not going back.
Not only because that would be a step backwards for everyone.
But also, because it would stop us from achieving the progress that is still so urgently needed.
Indeed, in many places in the world,
LGBTI people are still ostracised by society, scapegoated by leaders, and excluded from development.
This needs to change…
Yet above all, we are not going back, because there is nothing to go back to.
Because there’s nothing to reverse in human nature.
LGBTI people have always existed and always will.
That’s a fact.
It’s also a fact that diversity makes humanity stronger.
Our coalition is living proof of this.
This forum protects diversity by drawing strength from diversity itself:
Like the ends of a rainbow, our partnership stretches from North to South, from East to West.
With that mind, the Netherlands is proud to be co-hosting this event with Argentina.
This week, we have the unique opportunity to make sure we can draw on the world’s collective strengths as we look to the future. On diversity and inclusion.
We cannot afford to leave one in ten people sitting on the sidelines.
And so, the Pact for the Future is a pact for the rainbow community too.
Because this is a pact for everyone.
Our group will make sure LGBTI inclusion remains high on the UN agenda.
We’ve come a long way, but we still have a long way to go.
So, let’s continue to unite our efforts – North, South, East, and West – protecting diversity through diversity and building strength through strength.
Ensuring that a better future is a future for everyone, including LGBTI people.
Thank you.