Ruto calls for global unity at Doha Summit

President William Ruto has called for renewed global solidarity to advance social development, warning that the world is drifting away from the unity that once defined its

commitment to shared progress.

Speaking at the Second World Summit for Social Development in Doha, Ruto said global unity has weakened significantly in the face of modern crises.

“I note that this Doha Summit convenes at a time when global solidarity in advancing social development has weakened considerably,” Ruto told the world leaders.

“Thirty years ago, in Copenhagen, the world spoke with one accord and acted with common purpose. Today, however, that sense of shared conviction has significantly dimmed.”

The summit, hosted by Qatar under the auspices of the United Nations, brings together Heads of State, development agencies and civil society groups to assess progress on

global social development goals amid widening inequality.

Convened under the theme “Renewing Global Commitments to Inclusive Development,” the meeting comes three decades after the 1995 Copenhagen Declaration, which set out

a collective vision to eradicate poverty and promote social justice.

Ruto said that despite progress made since Copenhagen, the world has become more divided and inward-looking. He cited climate change, conflict, unequal trade and debt

distress as factors deepening inequality and eroding trust among nations.

“Faced with new and complex crises, nations are too often divided by competing interests, inward-looking nationalism and short-term calculations,” he said. “We witnessed it in the

inequitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, in unmet pledges on climate finance and in global systems that privilege power over partnership.”

He further warned that the spirit of global consensus forged in 1995 is “fraying,” putting the world at risk of “retreating into isolation at a time when cooperation should be a

priority.”

Ruto said the upcoming UN at 80 reforms process offers an opportunity for countries to reflect on the future of the United Nations and ensure its three founding pillars; peace and

security, human rights and development remain equally prioritised.

“As the UN reforms process unfolds, the time will soon come for all of us to make critical choices about the mandates and structures of the United Nations,” he said. “We must

resist the temptation to elevate one pillar of the UN at the expense of others. These are the three inseparable, indispensable pillars that together sustain global stability and

human dignity.”

He also urged global leaders to strengthen the UN’s role not only as a peacekeeper but as a “catalyst for prosperity and a champion of human dignity everywhere.”

“The Doha Summit must therefore renew our shared resolve to act decisively, both as individual nations and as a united global community, to eradicate poverty, create decent

work, and advance social inclusion as the surest paths towards a world that is truly resilient, inclusive, and sustainable.”