New York (Web Desk/Agencies): United Nations (UN) General Secretary Antonio Guterres, in his opening “State of the World” speech to the high-level UN General Assembly (UNGA) debate on Tuesday, said, “Our world is heading off the rails — and we need tough decisions to get back on track.”
“We can’t go on like this,” he told the 193-member Assembly with world leaders, including Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, arrayed in front of him.
On the current developments in the Middle East, the UN chief said the world could not afford Lebanon to become another Gaza.
He called for a ceasefire in Gaza, saying nothing could 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,” he said. “And I know you join me in paying special tribute to UNRWA and to all humanitarians in Gaza.”
The international community must mobilize for an immediate ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of hostages, and the beginning of an irreversible process toward a two-state solution, he said.
“For those who go on…with more settlements, more land grabs, more incitement, I ask, what is the alternative? How could the world accept the one state in which a large number of Palestinians would be included without any freedom, any rights or dignity?” Guterres said.
He warned that impunity, inequality and uncertainty were creating an “unsustainable world” where a growing number of countries believe they should have a “get out of jail free” card.
Citing deepening geopolitical divisions, wars with no end in sight, climate change and nuclear and emerging weapons, he said humanity was “edging towards the unimaginable – a powder keg that risks engulfing the world”.
But, he said, “the challenges we face are solvable if the international community confronts the uncertainty of unmanaged risks, the inequality that underlies injustices and grievances and the impunity that undermines international law and the UN’s founding principles.
“Today, a growing number of governments and others feel entitled to a ‘get out of jail free’ card,” he said in a reference to the classic board game Monopoly.
The world leaders’ meeting opened under the shadow of increasing global divisions, major wars in Gaza, Ukraine and, Sudan and the threat of an even larger conflict in the wider Middle East.
Guterres previewed his opening speech at Sunday’s “Summit of the Future,” where he pointed to conflicts from the Middle East to Ukraine and Sudan and to the global security system, which, he said, was “threatened by geopolitical divides, nuclear posturing, and the development of new weapons and theaters of war”.
He also cited huge inequalities, the lack of an effective global system to respond to emerging and even existential threats, and the devastating impact of climate change.