UN Secretary-General for taking steps to prevent wars 

SK Reza Parvez, from New York: The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has said number of wars is increasing in the world and now steps are needed to stop wars.

António Guterres was addressing  the opening of the seventy-ninth session of the General Assembly, in New York on Tuesday.

“Our world is in a whirlwind.  We are in an era of epic transformation — facing challenges unlike any we have ever seen — challenges that demand global solutions”.

Yet geopolitical divisions keep deepening.  The planet keeps heating.  Wars rage with no clue how they will end.  And nuclear posturing and new weapons cast a dark shadow.  We are edging towards the unimaginable — a powder keg that risks engulfing the world.  Meanwhile, 2024 is the year that half of humanity goes to the polls — and all of humanity will be affected.

“I stand before you in this whirlwind convinced of two overriding truths.  First, the state of our world is unsustainable.  We can’t go on like this.  And second, the challenges we face are solvable.  But that requires us to make sure the mechanisms of international problem-solving actually solve problems”, he said.

A world of inequality — where injustices and grievances threaten to undermine countries or even push them over the edge.  And a world of uncertainty — where unmanaged global risks threaten our future in unknowable ways.  These worlds of impunity, inequality and uncertainty are connected and colliding.

The level of impunity in the world is politically indefensible and morally intolerable.  Today, a growing number of Governments and others feel entitled to a “get out of jail free” card.  They can trample international law.  They can violate the United Nations Charter.

The war in Ukraine is spreading with no signs of letting up. Civilians are paying the price — in rising death tolls and shattered lives and communities.  It is time for a just peace based on the UN Charter, on international law and on UN resolutions.

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. I know you join me in paying a special tribute to UNRWA [United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East] and to all humanitarians in Gaza.

In Sudan, a brutal power struggle has unleashed horrific violence — including widespread rape and sexual assaults.  A humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding as famine spreads. Yet outside powers continue to interfere with no unified approach to finding peace.

From Myanmar to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Haiti to Yemen and beyond, we continue to see appalling levels of violence and human suffering in the face of a chronic failure to find solutions.  Meanwhile our peacekeeping missions are too often operating in areas where simply there is no peace to keep.