Ban Ki-moon was chosen by the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation and Uppsala University to deliver the 2016 Dag Hammarskjöld Lecture for leading the UN with a steady hand, working tirelessly to overcome the challenges to international peace and security.
The Secretary-General explained in his speech, entitled Evolving Threats, Timeless Values: The United Nations in a Changing Global Landscape, that he thinks of Dag Hammarskjöld every day in the course of his duties as Secretary-General, and that he feels both privileged and humbled to be serving in the role his predecessor once filled so masterfully. Mr Ban went on to underscore the many challenges the world currently faces, among them climate change, massive displacement, human rights abuses and terrorism.