Desk Report
Publish: 22 Sep 2021, 03:21 pm
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres || Photo: Collected
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
on Tuesday warned that the world is on the edge of an abyss and moving in the
wrong direction.
"I am here to sound the
alarm: The world must wake up. We are on the edge of an abyss, and moving in
the wrong direction," he told the General Assembly before the opening of
the General Debate.
"Our world has never been more
threatened, or more divided. We face the greatest cascade of crises in our
lifetimes," he said in his report to the assembly on the work of the world
body.
The COVID-19 pandemic has
supersized glaring inequalities. The climate crisis is pummeling the planet.
Upheaval from Afghanistan to Ethiopia to Yemen and beyond has thwarted peace.
A surge of mistrust and
misinformation is polarizing people and paralyzing societies. Human rights are
under fire. Science is under assault. And economic lifelines for the most
vulnerable are coming too little and too late-- if they come at all. Solidarity
is missing in action -- just when the world needs it most, he said.
On the one hand, the COVID-19
vaccines were developed in record time, a victory of science and human
ingenuity. On the other hand, triumph is being undone by the tragedy of a lack
of political will, selfishness and mistrust: a majority of the wealthier world
vaccinated, over 90 percent of Africans still waiting for their first dose.
"This is a moral indictment
of the state of our world. It is an obscenity. We passed the science test. But
we are getting an F in ethics," said Guterres.
The climate alarm bells are also
ringing at a fever pitch, he said.
"Climate scientists tell us
it's not too late to keep alive the 1.5-degree goal of the Paris Climate
Agreement. But the window is rapidly closing. We need a 45 percent cut in
emissions by 2030. Yet a recent UN report made clear that with present national
climate commitments, emissions will go up by 16 percent by 2030," he said.
"That would condemn us to a hellscape of temperature rises of at least 2.7
degrees above pre-industrial levels. A catastrophe."
COVID-19 and the climate crisis
have exposed profound fragilities as societies and as a planet, he said.
"Yet instead of humility in the face of these epic challenges, we see
hubris. Instead of the path of solidarity, we are on a dead end to
destruction."
At the same time, another disease
is spreading in the world today: a malady of mistrust, he said.
"The people we serve and
represent may lose faith not only in their governments and institutions, but in
the values that have animated the work of the United Nations for over 75 years:
peace, human rights, dignity for all, equality, justice, solidarity. Like never
before, core values are in the crosshairs."
A breakdown in trust is leading
to a breakdown in values. Promises, after all, are worthless if people do not
see results in their daily lives, he warned. "Failure to deliver creates
space for some of the darkest impulses of humanity. It provides oxygen for easy
fixes, pseudo-solutions and conspiracy theories. It is kindling to stoke
ancient grievances, cultural supremacy, ideological dominance, violent
misogyny, the targeting of the most vulnerable including refugees and
migrants."
It is a moment of truth. Now is
the time to deliver. Now is the time to restore trust. Now is the time to
inspire hope, said Guterres. "And I do have hope. The problems we have
created are problems we can solve. Humanity has shown that we are capable of
great things when we work together. That is the raison d'etre of our United
Nations."
But he cautioned that today's
multilateral system is too limited in its instruments and capacities, in
relation to what is needed for effective governance of managing global public
goods. It is too fixed on the short term.
"We need to strengthen
global governance. We need to focus on the future. We need to renew the social
contract. We need to ensure a United Nations fit for a new era," he said.
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Topic : UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
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