United Nations — The head of the United Nations warned the gathered leaders of nations Tuesday that impunity, inequality, and uncertainty are driving modern civilization towards “a powder keg that risks engulfing the world” — the latest in a series of clarion calls from Antonio Guterres in recent years that the global situation is becoming intolerable and untenable.
“We can’t go on like this,” the secretary-general declared in an ominous state-of-the-world address as he started the annual high-level meeting of the United Nations’ 193 member countries.
He stated that the world is in “an era of epic transformation” with unprecedented difficulties, including widening geopolitical divisions, global warming, and wars raging in the Middle East, Ukraine, Sudan, and elsewhere with no end in sight.
“We are edging towards the unimaginable – a powder keg that risks engulfing the world,” Guterres addressed presidents, prime ministers, and ministers in the huge General Assembly auditorium.
Head Of United Nations Calls Global Situation ‘Unsustainable’ As Annual Meeting Of Leaders Opens
However, he did not go so far as to proclaim that hope was lost. “The challenges we face,” he replied, “are solvable.”
It’s not an easy time for the world.
The world leaders’ gathering began amid growing global tensions, major wars in Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan, and the possibility of a greater conflict in the Middle East. That, according to Guterres, is exacerbated by what he describes as spreading impunity among leaders and many people around the world.
“I cannot recall a time of greater peril than this,” Jordan’s King Abdullah II declared.
Guterres described the situation in Gaza as “a nonstop nightmare that threatens to take the entire region with it.” He claimed that increased air raids along the Israel-Lebanon border have brought Lebanon “to the brink.”He added there is no sign of an end to the war in Ukraine, which began after Russia invaded in February 2022. As a result, he added, “a brutal power struggle has unleashing horrific violence — including widespread rape and sexual assaults” or “a humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding as famine spreads.”
The UN head also cited “appalling levels of violence and human suffering” ranging from Myanmar and Congo to Haiti, Yemen, and beyond, as well as a rising terrorist threat in Africa’s Sahel region. He described the Summit of the Future, which came before Tuesday’s opening of the almost week-long global conference, as a first step. “But we have a long way to go.”
The world’s nations adopted a “Pact for the Future” at the two-day summit, which lays out a 42-page blueprint to begin addressing challenges ranging from combating climate change and poverty to putting limits on artificial intelligence and reforming the United Nations and other global institutions established after World War II to meet the needs and threats of the twenty-first century.
Guterres stated that meeting the challenges of a “whirlwind” requires confronting the three drivers of “unsustainability”: the uncertainty of unmanaged risks, the inequality that underpins injustices and grievances, and the impunity that undermines international law and the United Nations’ founding principles.
“A growing number of governments and others feel entitled to a ‘get out of jail free’ card,” he remarked, alluding to the popular board game Monopoly.
In his final speech to fellow leaders, US President Joe Biden acknowledged the challenges of Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, and other global hotspots, but remained hopeful.
“There will always be forces that pull our countries apart … a desire to retreat from the world and go it alone,” he explained. “Our task is to make sure that the forces holding us together are stronger than the forces pulling us apart.”
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whose country speaks first in a tradition dating back to the early years of the United Nations, criticized Israel’s attacks in Gaza and Lebanon, saying, “The right to self-defence became a right for vengeance, which prevents a deal for the release of hostages and delays a cease-fire.”
Lula condemned the eighth consecutive year of global military spending exceeding $2.4 trillion. “Those resources could have been used to fight hunger and deal with climate changes,” he told reporters.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with Jordan’s Abdullah. Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran’s new president, was also on hand.
On Monday, Iran’s Shah accused Israel of desiring a greater Middle East war and preparing “traps” to draw his country into a larger confrontation. He cited the lethal explosions of pagers, walkie-talkies, and other electronic devices in Lebanon last week, which he blamed on Israel, as well as the death of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31, only hours after Pezeshkian’s inauguration.
“We don’t want to fight,” Iran’s president stated. “It’s Israel that wants to drag everyone into war and destabilise the region.” Iran backs both Hamas in Gaza and Lebanon’s Hezbollah terrorists.
Pushing the idea of ‘right makes might’
President David Miliband of the International Rescue Committee recalled that at the United Nations’ founding conference in San Francisco in 1945, then-US President Harry Truman pleaded with delegates to reject the premise of “might makes right” and replace it with “right makes might,” as enshrined in the U.N. Charter.
Head Of United Nations Calls Global Situation ‘Unsustainable’ As Annual Meeting Of Leaders Opens
“Almost 80 years later, we have seen the terrible consequences of the failure to flip this equation,” Mr. Miliband added. “In contexts like Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine, might is making right.”
Faced with escalating global humanitarian needs, unchecked violence, untreated climate change, and rising severe poverty, Miliband addressed world leaders, asking, “How will you strengthen, not weaken, the principles of the United Nations Charter for the next 80 years?”
The assembly’s annual meeting, which concludes on September 30, came after the two-day Summit of the Future, which adopted a blueprint for bringing the world’s increasingly divided nations together to address 21st-century challenges ranging from conflicts and climate change to artificial intelligence and women’s rights.
The 42-page “Pact for the Future” calls on leaders from the 193 United Nations member nations to put commitments into actions that improve the lives of the world’s more than 8 billion people.
“We are here to bring multilateralism back from the brink,” Mr. Guterres remarked.
Leaders involved in conflicts will talk.
Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, were the centre of attention during last year’s United Nations General Assembly. However, as the first anniversary of Hamas’ deadly strike in southern Israel comes on October 7, the focus will undoubtedly be on the conflict in Gaza and the increasing violence across the Israeli-Lebanon border, which is now threatening to sweep throughout the Middle East.
On Thursday morning, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will address, followed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the afternoon.
Zelenskyy will be in the spotlight twice. He will speak Tuesday afternoon at a high-level meeting of the United Nations Security Council convened by the United States, France, Japan, Malta, South Korea, and the United Kingdom, whose foreign ministers are likely to attend. He will also speak to the General Assembly on Wednesday morning.
SOURCE | AP
