During the presentation of his objectives for 2023 before the General Assembly, the representative also listed the right to development, a clean environment, respect for diversity and cultural rights, full gender equality as well as civil rights and politicians among their priorities.

“We have started 2023 in the line of sight of a convergence of challenges never seen in our lives,” Guterres warned, also mentioning the conflict in Ukraine, the climate crisis, extreme poverty and the recent earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria.

The prospects for peace continue to shrink. The risks of further escalation and carnage continue to increase, the representative acknowledged.

“I fear the world is sleepwalking towards a broader war and I fear it is doing so with wide eyes,” Guterres said, also referring to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the situation in Afghanistan, Burma and Haiti.

“If all countries fulfill the obligations emanating from the (United Nations) Charter, the right to peace would be guaranteed,” he added.

Guterres also called for work against climate change and denounced the absence of “strategic vision” and “the short-term bias” of political and economic leaders.

In this regard, he called for a radical transformation of the global financial architecture against the economic system that promotes poverty and hunger, the gap between rich and poor, as well as the debt burden of developing countries.

“Without fundamental reforms, the richest countries and individuals will continue to accumulate wealth and leave only crumbs to the communities and countries of the South,” he stressed.

The headline insisted on the need for “a renewable energy revolution” in the face of the “self-destructive resurgence of fossil fuels”.

At the same time, he lamented the setbacks for access to women’s rights.

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