Secretary General Guterres managed to skip over entirely the UN’s internal structural problems, including a bloated, inefficient bureaucracy and its dysfunctional Human Rights Council that includes amongst its members some of the world’s worst human
UN Secretary General Guterres’ Press Conference
By Joseph A. Klein, CFP United Nations Columnist ——Bio and Archives--September 16, 2022
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres held one of his rare press conferences on September 14th ahead of the gathering of world leaders next week in New York for the annual General Assembly high level debate. He delivered an extremely stark message about the state of the world today.
The Secretary General’s opening remarks focused on climate change. He painted a “future of permanent and ubiquitous climate chaos on an unimaginable scale” unless “action is taken now, unless funds are disbursed now.” The gloom and doom message went on from there:
“The cost-of-living crisis is hitting the poorest people and communities hardest, with dramatic effects.
The rights of women and girls are going into reverse.
Most developing countries have no fiscal space, and no access to the financial resources needed to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and protect their people from the devastating impact of climate change.
The solidarity envisioned in the United Nations Charter is being devoured by the acids of nationalism and self-interest.
By a shocking disregard for the poorest and most vulnerable in our world.
By politicians who play to people’s worst instincts for partisan gain.
By prejudice, discrimination, misinformation and hate speech that pit people against one another.
By a global financial system that penalizes those with the least.
By fossil fuel corporations killing the planet to rake in the most.”
Beyond Ukraine, Secretary General Guterres renewed his call for governments to tax fossil fuel company profits
Most of the reporters’ questions involved the war in Ukraine.
In response to one question, Secretary General Guterres told reporters that he had just gotten off the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said that the two leaders discussed the prospects for an expansion of exports of vitally needed Russian food and fertilizer and overcoming unspecified obstacles in the way of such expansion. Secretary General Guterres and President Putin also discussed an extension of the initial 120-day term of the Black Sea Initiative mediated by the UN, which has enabled the safe shipment to date of about three million tons of grain from previously blockaded Ukrainian ports. They also touched upon the prisoners of war issue and on allowing the UN fact-finding mission in Ukraine to be able to go wherever it chooses.
When it came to assessing the prospects for a peace deal or even a ceasefire, the Secretary General held out no hope. He said that the chances for a peace deal were “minimal” and that it was “naïve” to think that even a ceasefire was in sight.
Beyond Ukraine, Secretary General Guterres renewed his call for governments to tax fossil fuel company profits.
He urged Iran to enter into a serious dialogue with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to help move negotiations along to bring the disastrous nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action back to life. Evidently, one of the hang ups is Iran’s concern with an investigation by the IAEA regarding undeclared nuclear material found three years ago, proving once again that Iran cannot be trusted. The Secretary General said that there were other obstacles to getting the negotiations back on track as well without specifying what they were.
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The Secretary General praised the UN’s role relating to climate change, which in reality has been to cry chicken little so many times without offering any practical, technology-based solutions
Despite his gloom and doom about the state of the world, Secretary General Guterres laid out a rosy picture of the UN’s overall accomplishments. He started with the UN’s humanitarian programs, which do deserve praise. Then he mentioned the UN’s “peacekeeping forces avoiding the worst in several parts of the world,” without acknowledging serious issues involving the peacekeeping forces. These include sexual harassment allegations against some peacekeepers and resistance to peacekeeping missions in places like the Democratic Republic of the Congo where peacekeepers allegedly opened fire for no apparent reason, killing and wounding several people.
The Secretary General praised the UN’s role relating to climate change, which in reality has been to cry chicken little so many times without offering any practical, technology-based solutions.
He said that the “UN has been very active, pushing for reforms of the international financial system,” which would amount to little more than vast wealth redistribution.
“The UN has been very active in several conflict situations, mediating,” citing a negotiated ceasefire in Yemen and the grain and fertilizer export agreements with Ukraine and Russia as examples. These are two positive developments. But there have been notable failures, such as in Africa, Libya, and Syria. The UN has even been unable to secure a commitment from the Taliban to stop harassing the UN’s own female workers in Afghanistan.
Secretary General Guterres managed to skip over entirely the UN’s internal structural problems, including a bloated, inefficient bureaucracy and its dysfunctional Human Rights Council that includes amongst its members some of the world’s worst human rights abusers.
