“The world is entering an era of chaos,” warns Guterres

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António Guterres, Secretary General of the UN. (Archive photo)

Agence France-Presse

Wars in Gaza or Ukraine, but also “war against nature”: “our world is entering an era of chaos” which requires crucial reforms, the UN Secretary General was alarmed on Wednesday, deploring the unprecedented divisions in the paralyzed Security Council.

Governments are ignoring and undermining the very principles of multilateralism, without accountability. The Security Council, the main tool for world peace, is in an impasse due to geopolitical fissures, António Guterres said as he presented his priorities for 2024 to the General Assembly.

This is not the first time the Council has been divided. But it's the worst. The current dysfunction is deeper and more dangerous.

A quote from Antònio Guterres, Secretary General of the UN

Thus, during the Cold War, well-established mechanisms helped manage relations between superpowers, he noted. But in today's multipolar world, such mechanisms are absent. Our world is entering an era of chaos.

And we see the results: a dangerous and unpredictable free-for-all, with total impunity, denounced the Secretary General, worrying about the development of new means of killing each other and for humanity to annihilate itself.

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The Security Council was notably incapable of reacting to the Russian invasion of #x27;Ukraine, due to the Russian veto, and struggled to speak with one voice on Gaza, with the United States blocking any call for a ceasefire.

Specifically focusing on the conflict between Israel and Hamas, António Guterres warned of a possible Israeli ground assault in Rafah, where Hamas is located. hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are crammed into the southern Gaza Strip, on the border with Egypt.

Such action would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare, with incalculable regional consequences, he insisted, again calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the release of the hostages.

< p class="StyledBodyHtmlParagraph-sc-48221190-4 hnvfyV">From Gaza to Ukraine, from Sudan to the Democratic Republic of Congo, from Yemen to Burma, alongside the proliferation of conflicts, global humanitarian needs are at a record level, but funding is not keeping pace, a lamented the former Portuguese prime minister again.

There is so much anger and hatred and noise in the world today . Every day, and at the slightest opportunity, it seems like war […] Wars of words. Turf wars. Culture wars, he lamented.

In this context, Guterres encouraged governments to seize the opportunity of the Future Summit to be held in September in New York on the sidelines of the General Assembly to shape multilateralism for the years ahead. come.

Among the changes the world really needs, he repeated his call for major reforms of the Security Council, the international financial system, and the establishment of an emergency tool to improve responses to complex global shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Also once again at the top of its priorities for 2024, the fight against change The climate crisis remains the challenge that defines our times, insisted the Secretary General, calling on States to do more to reduce emissions. greenhouse gas emissions and financing aid to the poorest countries.

Humanity has launched a war that we can only lose: our war against nature, he insisted.

We are exploding the systems that keep us alive: spewing the emissions that implode our climate, poisoning the land, seas and air with pollution , and by decimating biodiversity, causing the collapse of ecosystems.

He also called for implementing places adequate safeguards and ethical standards in the rapid development of artificial intelligence tools.

AI is already creating risks related to misinformation, privacy and bias […] AI is going to impact all of humanity, so we need a universal approach.