The U.N. meeting should have been about the global body’s mandate to build peace.
The war in Ukraine was described by Guterres as “a disaster shaking the foundations international order, spilling over borders, causing food, fuel, and fertilizer prices that skyrocket and spell disaster for developing nations.” Guterres stated that crucial resources are being diverted from the urgently needed support for the reduction of hunger and poverty caused by COVID-19.
The U.N. chief presented a grim picture of the world, which was remarkable considering he has been the U.N. refugee agency’s head for 10 years.
Guterres stated, “Around the globe, we are witnessing military coups and takes of power by force,” in a message that expressed the frustration he had expressed over the conflict in Ukraine in the last month.
He made these remarks just days after U.N. Security Council meeting in which David Beasley, head of the World Food Program warned that the conflict in Ukraine could cause a “catastrophe in food security worldwide. Before the conflict, Ukraine was a major source of grain for export.
Beasley stated, “It’s hard for me to believe that the Ukraine crisis was the beginning of things getting worse.” “We were already, due to fuel prices, food costs, and beginning to reduce rations for millions children and families all over the world in countries such as Yemen, where we had just reduced 8 million people to 50% rations, and now, are looking at going to zero,” Beasley stated, also citing Niger Mali, Chad, and Chad.
The 4,000,000 mark has been crossed. One in four Ukrainians is now either out of Ukraine or displaced within the borders.
Wednesday’s U.N. Secretary General stated that the world is in the most difficult place it has been in over 80 years. Peace around the globe is being threatened or destroyed.
“A perilous feeling of impunity is gaining ground. The number of nuclear arsenals is increasing. International law and human rights are being attacked. He said that terrorist and criminal networks fuel divisions and conflict and make money off them.”
“A quarter of humanity lives today in conflict-affected regions,” said the group. Two billion people.
Guterres offered some suggestions, including funding for fragile states and private investment. He also recommended that nations and international financial institutions address inequalities, deprivation, and underfunded systems.
He said that “as always”, the poorest and most vulnerable will pay the highest price.
As he did recently with Ukraine, he ended his remarks by saying that war has a devastating effect on the global economy as well as on a “lost generation” of children whose educations and development were cruelly interrupted.