He pointed to the warfare in Ukraine, “runaway climate catastrophe, rising nuclear threats,” the widening gulf between the world’s haves and have-nots, and the “epic geopolitical divisions” undermining “global solidarity and trust.”
In a wide-ranging tackle Guterres urged the Normal Meeting’s 193 member nations to vary their mindset on decision-making from near-term pondering, which he referred to as “irresponsible” and “immoral,” to trying “at what will happen to all of us tomorrow — and act.”
He mentioned this yr’s seventy fifth anniversary of the Common Declaration of Human Rights ought to function a reminder that the inspiration of the inalienable rights of all folks is “freedom, justice and peace.”
Guterres mentioned the transformation wanted in the present day should begin with peace, starting in Ukraine — the place sadly, he mentioned, peace prospects “keep diminishing” and “the chances of further escalation and bloodshed keep growing.”
“I fear the world is not sleepwalking into a wider war. It is doing so with its eyes wide open,” he mentioned.
The world should work more durable for peace, Guterres mentioned, not solely in Ukraine however within the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian battle “where the two-state solution is growing more distant by the day,” in Afghanistan the place the rights of girls and ladies “are being trampled and deadly terrorist attacks continue” and in Africa’s Sahel area the place safety is deteriorating “at an alarming rate.”
He additionally referred to as for stepped up peace efforts in military-ruled Myanmar which is dealing with new violence and repression, in Haiti the place gangs are holding the nation hostage, “and elsewhere around the world for the two billion people who live in countries affected by conflict and humanitarian crises.”
The secretary-general mentioned it’s time for all international locations to recommit to the U.N. Constitution, which requires peaceable settlement of disputes, and for a brand new give attention to battle prevention and reconciliation.
The proposed new U.N. Agenda for Peace, he mentioned, requires “a new generation of peace enforcement missions and counter-terrorist operations, led by regional forces,” with a U.N. Safety Council mandate that may be enforced militarily and assured funding. “The African Union is an obvious partner in this regard,” he added.
Guterres additionally mentioned it’s time for nuclear-armed international locations to surrender the primary use of all nuclear weapons, together with tactical nuclear weapons, a doable use that Russia has raised in Ukraine.
“The so-called `tactical’ use of nuclear weapons is absurd,” he mentioned. “We are at the highest risk in decades of a nuclear war that could start by accident or design. We need to end the threat posed by 13,000 nuclear weapons held in arsenals around the world.”
As for the worldwide monetary system, Guterres referred to as for “radical transformation” to place the wants of growing international locations on the middle of each resolution.
He pointed to rising poverty and starvation all over the world, growing international locations compelled to pay 5 occasions extra to borrow cash than superior economies, weak middle-income international locations denied concessional funding and debt aid, and the richest 1% of the world’s folks capturing “almost half of all new wealth over the past decade.”
Multilateral improvement banks should change their enterprise mannequin, Guterres mentioned.
Guterres instructed diplomats that 2023 should even be “a year of game-changing climate action,” not of excuses or child steps — and there have to be “no more bottomless greed of the fossil fuel industry and its enablers.”
The world should give attention to reducing global-warming greenhouse gasoline emissions by half this decade, which implies way more bold motion to chop carbon air pollution by rushing the transition from fossil fuels to renewable power, particularly on this planet’s 20 richest world economies, he mentioned.
It additionally means reducing emissions from the very best emitting industrial sectors — metal, cement, transport and aviation, he mentioned.
Guterres had a particular message for fossil gasoline producers who he mentioned are scrambling to develop manufacturing “and raking in monster profits.”
“If you cannot set a credible course for net-zero, with 2025 and 2040 targets covering all your operations, you should not be in business,” he mentioned.
The secretary-general invited any chief in authorities, enterprise or civil society to the Local weather Ambition Summit he’s convening in September — with a situation.
“Show us accelerated action in this decade and renewed ambitious net zero plans — or please don’t show up,” Guterres mentioned.
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