Guterres highlights ‘impunity, inequality, and unpredictability’ facing the world
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the General Assembly saying, “We are edging towards the unimaginable. A powder keg which risks engulfing the world.”
“Meanwhile, 2024 is the year that half of humanity goes to the polls, and half of humanity will be affected. I stand before you in these whirlwinds convinced of two arriving truths,” he said.
“First, the state of our world is unsustainable, we can’t go on like this. And second, the challenges we face are solvable, but that requires us to make sure the mechanisms of international problem-solving actually solve problems. The Summit of the Future was the first step, but we have a long way to go.
“Getting there requires confronting three major drivers of unsustainability: a world of impunity where violations and abuses threatened the very foundation of international law and UN charter.
“A world of inequality where injustices and grievances threaten to undermine countries or even push them over the edge. And a world of uncertainty where unmanaged global risks threaten our future in unknowable ways.”
UN chief denounces ‘age of impunity everywhere’
“These worlds of impunity, inequality and uncertainty are connected and colliding,” Guterres said.
“Excellencies, the level of impunity in the world is politically indefensible and morally intolerable. Today, a growing number of governments and others feel entitled to get-out-of-jail-free cards. They can trample international law, they can violate the United Nations charter, they can turn a blind eye to international human rights conventions or the decisions of international courts.
“They can thumb their nose at international humanitarian law, they can invade another country, lay waste to all societies or utterly disregard the welfare of their own people and nothing will happen.
“We see this age of impunity everywhere – in the Middle East, in the heart of Europe, in the Horn of Africa and beyond.”
‘No sign’ of end to Ukraine war
Guterres says the war in Ukraine is continuing with “no signs of letting up”.
- “Civilians are paying the price in rising death tolls and shattered lives and communities.”
- “It is time for a just peace based on the UN charter, on international law and on UN resolutions.”
‘Lebanon is at the brink,’ warns UN secretary-general
“Gaza is a nonstop nightmare that threatens to take the entire region with it,” UN’s Guterres says.
He added:
- Look no further than Lebanon. We should all be alarmed by the escalation.
- Lebanon is at the brink. The people of Lebanon, the people of Israel, and the people of the world cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza.
- Let’s be clear: Nothing can justify the abhorrent acts of terror committed by Hamas on October 7 or the taking of hostages, both of which I have repeatedly condemned. And nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
- The speed and scale of the killing and destruction in Gaza are unlike anything in my years as secretary-general. More than 200 of our own staff have been killed, many with their families. And yet the women and men of the United Nations continue to deliver humanitarian aid.
- I know you join me in paying a special tribute to UNRWA and to all humanitarians in Gaza.
Guterres calls for immediate ceasefire in Gaza
“The international community must mobilise for an immediate ceasefire. The immediate and unconditional release of the hostages and the beginning of an irreversible process towards the two-state solution,” Guterres says.
“For those who go on and their mining that goal with more settlements, more land grabs, more incitement, I ask: What is the alternative?
“How could the world accept one state in which a large number of Palestinians would be included without any freedom, any rights or dignity.”
‘Humanitarian catastrophe unfolding’ in Sudan
In Sudan, a power struggle has “unleashed horrific violence including widespread rape and sexual assault”, Guterres says.
“A humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding as famine spreads, yet outside powers continue to interfere with no unified approach to finding peace,” he said.
He added in the Sahel, the “dramatic and rapid expansion of the terrorist threat requires a joint approach rooted in solidarity, but regional cooperation has broken down”.
“From Myanmar to Democratic Republic of the Congo, to Haiti, to Yemen and beyond, we continue to see appalling levels of violence and human suffering in the face of a chronic failure to find solutions.”
