New York, 23 June 2025

Madam President,

My Delegation would like to express its appreciation to the Guyanese Presidency of the Security Council for convening this open debate, which aims to draw attention to the interconnected challenges of poverty, underdevelopment, and conflict. These realities, which often fuel one another, pose serious obstacles to the maintenance of international peace and security.

As the international community acknowledges in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the eradication of poverty in all its forms and dimensions is “the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development.” This shared commitment underscores the urgent moral responsibility to address the root causes of poverty, which are frequently associated with injustice, exclusion, and the denial of fundamental rights.

As early as 1967, Pope St. Paul VI prophetically declared that “development is the new name for peace.”[1] This vision reminds us that peace is not just the absence of war,[2] but rather the active promotion of human fraternity, cooperation and shared prosperity for all. In this spirit, the Holy See maintains that integral human development represents not only a moral imperative for all humankind, but also a concrete path towards a more just, inclusive, and lasting peace.

In this regard, the Holy See remains concerned about the ever-growing military expenditure, which diverts significant resources from investments in development sectors such as healthcare, education and infrastructure.

In this context, the Holy See renews its proposal for the establishment of a global fund, partly financed by redirecting resources currently allocated to armaments. This fund could make a meaningful contribution to eradicating poverty and hunger, and to promoting development in the world’s most disadvantaged regions. This would advance a more just and sustainable path towards peace, and protect and promote human dignity.

Madam President,

Lasting peace requires a commitment to integral human development, upholding the God-given dignity of every person and promoting the conditions necessary for justice, solidarity, and the flourishing of all. In this regard, the Holy See emphasizes the importance of placing integral human development at the center of the ongoing review of the Peacebuilding Architecture, and of promoting strengthened cooperation among Member States in the service of peace.

Thank you, Madam President.
 
 

[1] Pope Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 76.

[2] Cf. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, No. 494.