United Nations receive Ewald von Kleist Award

The United Nations (UN) were awarded the Ewald von Kleist Award at the 56th Munich Security Conference. For the second time given to an organization rather than an individual, the UN was honored on Saturday evening for its outstanding contribution to international peace and security for 75 years.

Besides Ambassador Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN Under Secretary General for Peace Operations, who accepted the prize on behalf of the UN, several high-ranking representatives of different parts of the UN family came together, among them Michèle Coninsx, Assistant Secretary General and Executive Director of the UN Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate, Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, Special Representative of the Secretary General to the African Union Renata Dwan, Director of the Institute for Disarmament Research, and Geir Pedersen, Special Envoy of the Secretary General on Syria.
In times in which multilateralism gets increasingly under pressure, Ambassador Lacroix points to the UN as an outstanding example how complex global challenges can be addressed to foster the common good. Thereby, the UN relentlessly tried to implement the core aims of the UN-Charta: to promote peace and development, and to be in particular a voice for the weakest. As stated by Lacroix, the anniversary is thereby not only an occasion to look back to past achievements but to face the future without illusions. While multilateralism has probably never been more challenged, it has at the same time been never be more important, and would thus describe "the new realism."
The outstanding role of the UN within this multilateral system was honored by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, in her laudatory speech: "In a world of growing geopolitical tension we need the UN more than ever before."

"Rising from the ashes of World War II," the UN were "the most ambitious project that the world has ever pursued: a project to end war, to end poverty and inequality- a project for global democracy." As a "symbol of hope" the UN represents like no other organization the following message: "No more war. Never again."

As also pointed out by Wolfgang Ischinger, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, the decision to honor the UN was not only made to commemorate its past achievements, but to stress its exceptional importance for today’s challenges: "In today's rapidly deteriorating global security environment, marked by protracted conflicts, emerging security threats, and rising tensions, the UN's commitment to promoting peace and stability worldwide is more important than ever."

About the Ewald von Kleist Award

The Munich Security Conference has awarded the Ewald von Kleist Award since 2009. It honors leading figures in security policy that have made an outstanding contribution to international peace and conflict resolution. The award highlights the political life and work of Ewald-von-Kleist (1922-2013), who founded the Munich Security Conference in 1963 under the name "International Defense Customer Meeting". Kleist moderated the conference until 1998.