Sarah: What message would you like to convey through your presence at ClerMUN 2024?
F.P.: Meeting with young people—here or at other events dedicated to the United Nations—is an opportunity to show that the UN is not something distant or external, but something that concerns us all. It upholds values we can all support. I want to bring young people closer to this institution, which can sometimes seem remote or impersonal.

The issues it addresses—such as sustainable development, climate change, child protection, and the fight against pollution—affect each of us personally, as well as humanity as a whole.

People often think of the UN as diplomats in suits in New York, always serious and formal... but that’s only one side of the picture. The UN is also people delivering food, supporting farmers, distributing vaccines, preparing for future pandemics, and working with governments to adapt to or reduce the impacts of climate change.

It’s an organization at the heart of humanity’s concerns, with a mission to protect it. As former Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld once said: "The United Nations was not created to take us to heaven, but to save us from hell."​