United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told the Munich Security Conference (MSC) Friday that the current global order is not working and that millions of ordinary people are paying “a terrible price.” Delivering an address at the opening session, Guterres said, as the world was facing existential challenges, the global community was more fragmented and divided than at any time during the past 75 years.
“Today we see countries doing whatever they like, with no accountability,” Guterres told the annual gathering in Germany on pressing global security challenges. His remarks were aimed in particular at Russia, Israel and other belligerent governments that threaten the lives and security of millions of people around the world.
He said if countries fulfilled their obligations under the United Nations Charter, “every person on earth would live in peace and dignity.”
“The problem is that many governments are ignoring these commitments,” he said, noting that millions of civilians are paying a terrible price, and record numbers have been forced to flee.
Of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Guterres said nothing could justify Hamas’ terror attack on October 7, but neither did it justify Israel’s military response and the “collective punishment” of the Palestinian people.
“The situation in Gaza is an appalling indictment of the deadlock in global relations,” Guterres said. “The level of death and destruction is shocking in itself. The war is also spilling over borders across the region and affecting global trade.”
Nearly 29,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 68,000 injured, since Israel launched its relentless military offensive, following the killing of 1,200 people inside Israel in the October 7 attacks last year.
“Humanitarians are working under unimaginable conditions – including live fire, multiple physical obstacles and Israeli restrictions as well as the breakdown of public order,” Guterres said.
He reiterated international concerns that Israel is planning a full-scale ground incursion in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, which is sheltering fleeing Palestinians and is the center of the humanitarian aid operation.
“An all-out offensive on the city would be devastating for the 1.5 million Palestinian civilians who are already on the edge of survival,” the UN chief warned, and reiterated his call for an immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and a humanitarian ceasefire as the only way to massively scale up the aid delivery in Gaza.
February 24 will mark two years since Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. The war has forced more than 6 million Ukrainians to seek safety in other countries, while 14.6 million people inside the country need humanitarian assistance.
“The war triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in clear violation of the UN charter, has no place in the Europe of the 21st century. Two years in, the cost in human lives and suffering is appalling and the impact on the global economy has been particularly devastating for developing countries,” Guterres said.
The war triggered a surge in food and fuel prices that hit poorer countries that had not yet economically recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We desperately need a just and sustainable peace for Ukraine, for Russia and for the world,” the Secretary-General said, “a peace in line with the UN Charter and international law, which establishes the obligation to respect the territorial integrity of sovereign states.”
Guterres also urged regional and global powers to pressure parties involved in conflicts across Africa, the Middle East and Asia to negotiate peace, referring to the situations in the Sahel, Libya, Sudan, the Great Lakes region, the Horn of Africa, as well as Yemen and Myanmar.
Beyond current conflicts, he said, the international community needed to strengthen the global peace and security architecture to better deal with current threats and challenges.
“Those who drafted the UN Charter did not conceive of the climate crisis, artificial intelligence or cyber weapons,” he said.
Guterres also pressed for reform of the global financial architecture, saying that it was badly out of date, dysfunctional and unfair, and that it had failed the world’s poorest countries.
“They will owe more in debt service this year than their public spending on health, education and infrastructure — combined,” he said of struggling countries, adding there is still no effective debt relief mechanism.
“All this is a development emergency with deep implications for global security,” he said.
Guterres urged scaled-up climate action, repeating his calls for the gradual phaseout of fossil fuels.
“Finally, we must end our war with nature. The climate crisis is gathering pace. Last year was the hottest on record. It could be the coolest for many years to come. The next few years are decisive,” the Secretary-General said
Guterres plans to convene a “Summit of the Future” in September on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings, which will aim to chart a path forward on some of these pressing issues.
Some information for this report provided by VOA.
Further information
Full text: Secretary-General's remarks to the Munich Security Conference: Growing the Pie: A Global Order that works for Everyone [as delivered], speech, UN Secretary-General, delivered February 16, 2024
https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2024-02-16/secretary-generals-remarks-the-munich-security-conference-growing-the-pie-global-order-works-for-everyone-delivered