NEW YORK
\nUN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, responding to a question about the recent attacks against Muslims and Christians in India has said that religious hatred was \u201ctotally unacceptable\u201d.
\nThe UN chief, back from his trip to New Delhi for the G20 leaders\u2019 summit, was asked by a Pakistani journalist whether in light of the summit\u2019s declaration, which deplored all acts of religious hatred, he raised with the Indian leadership the recent violence against the minorities by Hindu extremists in India.
\n\u201cWell, I had no meeting with Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi \u2014 There was no bilateral meeting during the summit,\u201d the secretary-general told a crowded press conference to set the scene for next week\u2019s high-level UN General Assembly\u2019s debate.
\n\u201cBut\u201d, he added, \u201cour position is clear: Religious intolerance is a violation of human rights that is totally unacceptable.\u201d In his opening remarks, the UN chief had a clear message for world leaders arriving in New York next week: \u201cThis is not a time for posturing or positioning.\u201d
\nPakistan\u2019s caretaker Prime minister Anwaar-ul Haq Kakar will be among over 100 world leaders attending the debate. \u201cAction is what the world needs,\u201d Guterres said defining the gathering of 193 member states for the UN General Assembly High Level Week as a \u201cone of a kind moment\u201d to both assess the state of world affairs but also \u201cact for the common good\u201d.
\n\u201cThis is not a time for indifference or indecision,\u201d Ant\u00f3nio Guterres told reporters atthe UN Headquarters. \u201cThis is a time to come together for real, practical solutions.\u201d \u201cIt is time for compromise for a better tomorrow. Politics is compromise. Diplomacy is compromise. Effective leadership is compromise.\u201d
\nHe began his remarks reflecting on the thousands of deaths in Morocco and Libya in recent days.
\n\u201cThe United Nations is mobilizing to support relief efforts. We will work in any and every way we can with partners to help get emergency assistance to those who so desperately need it,\u201d said the secretary-general.
\nFresh from key international summits in Nairobi, Jakarta and New Delhi \u2013 plus a visit to Havana on Thursday to meet leaders of the G77 group plus China \u2013 he said UNGA78 was convening for high level meetings amidst huge challenges. He cited the intensifying climate emergency, new conflicts, the cost of living, and soaring inequality. \u201cPeople are looking to their leaders for a way out of this mess. Yet in the face of all this and more, geopolitical divisions are undermining our capacity to respond,\u201d said Guterres.
\n\u201cA multipolar world is emerging. Multipolarity can be a factor of equilibrium, but it can also lead to escalating tensions, fragmentation and worse. \u201cTo cement this new and complex world order, there need to be strong and reformed institutions based around the UN Charter and international law.
\n\u201cI know reform is fundamentally about power \u2013 and there are many competing interests and agendas in our increasingly multipolar world,\u201d he continued. \u201cBut at a time when our challenges are more connected than ever, the outcome of a zero-sum game is that everyone gets zero.\u201d
\nHe laid out the stall for next week\u2019s key summits, on climate, investment for development, health challenges and specific regional crises. Next week begins with a two-day meeting on how best to \u201crescue\u201d the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed in Paris eight years ago, on the road to the ambitious 2030 deadline.
\nEnding his prepared remarks, the UN chief reiterated his appeal to those heads of state and government bound for Manhattan: \u201cIf we want a future of peace and prosperity based on equity and solidarity, leaders have a special responsibility to achieve compromise in designing our common future for our common good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, responding to a question about the recent attacks against Muslims and Christians in India has said that religious hatred was \u201ctotally unacceptable\u201d. The UN chief, back from his trip to New Delhi for the G20 leaders\u2019 summit, was asked by a Pakistani journalist whether in light of the summit\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323552,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3218],"class_list":{"0":"post-356002","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-antonio-guterres"},"yoast_head":"\n