The international community is counting down to a historic moment on 25 September. Over 150 world leaders will gather for the UN Summit on Sustainable Development at UN Headquarters in New York to commit to 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) that aim to end poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change in the next 15 years. Leading up to this major event, the efforts of UN DESA have played a key role.
,1,Remarks by António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, at the opening of the 2022 High-level Segment of ECOSOC, Ministerial Segment of High-Level Political Forum.
Remarks as delivered:
Our world is in deep trouble – and so too are the Sustainable Development Goals.
Time is running out.
But there is still hope.
Because we know what we need to do:
End the senseless, disastrous wars – now.
Unleash a renewable energy revolution – now.
Invest in people and build a new social contract – now.
And deliver a New Global Deal to rebalance power and financial resources and enable all developing countries to invest in the SDGs.
Let’s come together, starting today, with ambition, resolve and solidarity, to rescue the SDGs before it is too late.
Excellencies,
We meet at a time of great uncertainty.
The world faces cascading crises that are causing profound suffering today, and carry the seeds of dangerous inequality, instability and climate chaos tomorrow.
The ripple effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have hit amid a fragile and uneven recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, while the climate emergency is gathering pace.
Some countries are investing in recovery through a transition to renewable energy and sustainable development.
But others are unable to do so, because of deep-rooted structural challenges and inequalities, at global and national levels.
Some 94 countries, home to 1.6 billion people, face a perfect storm: dramatic increases in the price of food and energy, and a lack of access to finance.
And so there is a real risk of multiple famines this year.
Next year could be even worse, if fertilizer shortages affect the harvests of staple crops, including rice.
The United Nations Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance has warned of the impacts of the current cost of living crisis and the future risks for next year :
Sixty per cent of workers today have lower real incomes than before the pandemic;
Developing countries are missing $1.2 trillion per year, just to fill the social protection gap;
And sixty percent of developing economies are currently in, or at high risk of, debt distress.
Meanwhile, the number of people forced from their homes has risen to 100 million -- the highest number since the creation of the United Nations.
The planet’s largest ecosystems – oceans and forests - are in danger. Biodiversity is declining at unprecedented rates.
Discrimination against women and girls continues in all sectors and all societies, while gender-based violence is at emergency levels. Attacks on women’s reproductive rights are reverberating around the world.
Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals will require $4.3 trillion USD per year -- more money than ever before -- because the international community is simply not keeping pace with the commitments it made;
Excellencies,
In the face of these cascading crises, we are far from powerless.
There is much we can do, and many concrete steps we can take, to turn things around.
I see four areas for immediate action.
First, recovery from the pandemic in every country.
We must ensure equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines, therapies and tests. And now it is very important to have a serious effort to increase the number of countries that can produce vaccines, diagnostics, and other else technologies thinking about the future.
Governments must work together with the pharmaceutical industry and other stakeholders to share licenses and to provide technical and financial support to allow many other countries to produce vaccines and other medical important products.
Then we must redouble our efforts to make sure future outbreaks of disease are better managed by strengthening health systems and ensuring Universal Health Coverage.
Second, we need to tackle the food, energy and finance crisis.
Ukraine's food production, and the food and fertilizer produced by Russia, must be brought back to world markets -- despite the war.
We have been working hard on a plan to allow for the safe and secure exports of Ukrainian produced foods through the Black Sea and Russian foods and fertilizers to global markets.
I thank the governments involved for your continued cooperation.
But there can be no solution to today’s crises without a solution to the crisis of economic inequality in the developing world.
We need to make resources and fiscal space available to countries and communities, including Middle Income Countries, that have an even more limited financial toolbox than three years ago.
This requires global financial institutions to use all the instruments at their disposal, with flexibility and understanding.
Full remarks: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2022-07-13/secretary-generals-remarks-the-opening-of-the-2022-high-level-segment-of-ecosoc-ministerial-segment-of-high-level-political-forum-delivered
,1,Today, I apologize to young people on behalf of my generation for the fact that we have not protected the oceans. And my generation until now has failed in responding effectively to this. This Conference is very important to reverse the trend. I count a lot on young people's strength, dynamism and their intervention in order to make sure that we are able to reverse the trend.
#shorts #SaveOurOcean
,1,Video Message by António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, to the International Romani Union 2022.
Today, we celebrate the rich history of the Roma, Sinti and Travellers.
We recognize their contributions to societies everywhere.
And we reflect on the human rights situation of Roma worldwide.
Roma continue to confront centuries-old prejudice, discrimination, and marginalization.
I am particularly concerned about the alarming rise of hate speech and scapegoating of the Roma by right-wing extremist and xenophobic groups.
The United Nations is fully committed to working with Roma civil society and others to speak out against anti-Gypsyism and stand up for Roma inclusion and human rights.
I remind all governments of their responsibility to provide full and equal access to education, employment, housing, health care, and public services to all their people without discrimination based on race, religion or ethnicity.
Roma fleeing persecution and conflict – most immediately today from Ukraine – have the same rights and must be extended the same solidarity as other refugees.
On this International Roma Day, let us rededicate ourselves to the promotion of equality, dignity, and non-discrimination for all.
,1,Briefing by António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, on Ukraine.
"(...) The war in Ukraine is one of the greatest challenges ever to the international order and the global peace architecture, founded on the United Nations Charter.
Because of its nature, intensity, and consequences.
We are dealing with the full-fledged invasion, on several fronts, of one Member State of the United Nations, Ukraine, by another, the Russian Federation – a Permanent Member of the Security Council – in violation of the United Nations Charter, and with several aims, including redrawing the internationally-recognized borders between the two countries.
The war has led to senseless loss of life, massive devastation in urban centres, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure.
I will never forget the horrifying images of civilians killed in Bucha.
I immediately called for an independent investigation to guarantee effective accountability.
I am also deeply shocked by the personal testimony of rapes and sexual violence that are now emerging.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights has spoken of possible war crimes, grave breaches of international humanitarian law and serious violations of international human rights law.
The war has displaced more than ten million people in just one month –
the fastest forced population movement since the Second World War.
Far beyond Ukraine’s borders, the war has led to massive increases in the prices of food, energy and fertilizers, because Russia and Ukraine are lynchpins of these markets.
It has disrupted supply chains, and increased the cost of transportation, putting even more pressure on the developing world.
Many developing countries were already on the verge of debt collapse, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and a lack of adequate liquidity and debt relief, stemming ultimately from the unfair nature of our global economic and financial system.
For all these reasons, it is more urgent by the day to silence the guns.
That is why I asked the Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, to travel to Russia and Ukraine to press for an urgent humanitarian ceasefire.
Under-Secretary-General Griffiths will update you on the humanitarian situation and the results of his contacts so far.
Under-Secretary-General DiCarlo will also brief you on the poitical dimensions.
But as Secretary-General of the United Nations, it is my duty to call the attention of the Council to the serious damage being done to the global economy, and particularly to vulnerable people and developing countries.
Madame President,
Our analysis indicates that 74 developing countries, with a total population of 1.2 billion people, are particularly vulnerable to spiking food, energy and fertilizer costs.
Debt obligations take up some 16 percent of developing countries’ export earnings. In small island developing states, the figure is 34 percent and rising, because of increased interest rates and the need to pay for expensive imports.
In the past month alone, wheat prices have increased by 22 percent, maize by 21 percent and barley by 31 percent.
Brent oil prices on 1 April were more than 60 percent higher than at the same time last year. A series of events have led to that not only the present situation.
Natural gas and fertilizer prices more than doubled over the same period.
We are already seeing some countries move from vulnerability into crisis, and signs of serious social unrest.
The flames of conflict are fueled by inequality, deprivation and underfunding.
With all the warning signals flashing red, we have a duty to act.
Madame President,
The Global Crisis Response Group on food, energy and finance that I set up last month has formulated some initial recommendations for the consideration of Member States, International Financial Institutions and others.
On food, we are urging all countries to keep markets open, resist unjustified and unnecessary export restrictions, and make reserves available to countries at risk of hunger and famine. This is not the time for protectionism.
Humanitarian appeals must be fully funded.
People caught up in crisis around the world cannot pay the price for this war.
On energy: the use of strategic stockpiles and additional reserves could help to ease this energy crisis in the short term.
But the only medium- and long-term solution is to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy, which is not impacted by market fluctuations (...)". [Excerpt]
Full remarks [as delivered]: https://www.un.org/sg/en/node/262883
,1,Opening remarks by António Guterres, Secretary-General of the UN, at the Eleventh Emergency Special Session on Ukraine.
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The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945. Currently made up of 193 Member States, the UN and its work are guided by the purposes and principles contained in its founding Charter.
The UN has evolved over the years to keep pace with a rapidly changing world.
But one thing has stayed the same: it remains the one place on Earth where all the world’s nations can gather together, discuss common problems, and find shared solutions that benefit all of humanity.
#UnitedNations #UN #Shorts
,1,The international community is counting down to a historic moment on 25 September. Over 150 world leaders will gather for the UN Summit on Sustainable Development at UN Headquarters in New York to commit to 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) that aim to end poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change in the next 15 years. Leading up to this major event, the efforts of UN DESA have played a key role.
