Davos
\nUnremitting conflict in Gaza has already sparked regional insecurity and is clear evidence that the international community needs to throw its weight behind a two-State solution in the Occupied Palestinian Territory to resolve the enduring crisis \u201conce and for all\u201d, UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres said on Wednesday.
\nSpeaking at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the UN chief condemned the \u201cbarbaric\u201d Hamas-led attacks on 7 October in which approximately 1,200 people were butchered in southern Israel and some 250 taken as hostages.
\nAnd amid reports of ongoing heavy Israeli bombardment which has left tens of thousands of civilians dead and prompted repeated warnings from UN humanitarians of approaching famine and disease among the 1.9 million people displaced, Mr. Guterres said \u201cspillover\u201d from the conflict in the wider region was \u201calready taking place\u201d.
\nConflict already widening
\nA fully-fledged confrontation between Israel and Lebanon where rocket and weapons exchanges on the border with Israel have already claimed lives \u201cwould be a total disaster\u201d, the UN Secretary-General insisted.
\nAny escalation \u201cneeded to be avoided at all costs\u201d, he said, just as attacks by Houthi fighters in Yemen on ships in the Red Sea had demonstrated that all efforts to date to resolve the Gaza crisis were \u201cnot enough\u201d.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s very important to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza, it\u2019s very important to have a humanitarian ceasefire\u2026but we need to find once and for all a total commitment of the international community for a two-State solution to exist in Israel and Palestine as the basis for a stable and peaceful Middle East for the benefit of everybody,\u201d he said.
\nTerritorial integrity key
\nThe only way for Israelis and Palestinians to live together in security \u201cis if each one of them has a State\u201d, the UN Secretary-General explained, expanding on his earlier remarks about the importance of respecting countries\u2019 territorial integrity, in particular Ukraine\u2019s, nearly two years after the full-scale Russian invasion.
\n\u201cFrom Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, to Sudan, and, more recently, Gaza, parties to conflict are ignoring international law, trampling on the Geneva Conventions and even violating the United Nations Charter,\u201d Mr. Guterres said, before noting that geopolitical divisions had become a major threat to the \u201cfaltering\u201d global economy.
\nIn a call to world leaders and the private sector to prevent further damage to governmental trust and the institutions that form the bedrock of global cooperation, the UN Secretary-General urged them to back reforms of financial institutions \u201cto get the world back on track to safety, prosperity and peace\u201d.
\n\u2018Hellbent\u2019 on global warming
\nMany of the world\u2019s ills were the result of a disconnect between \u201cthe rich, the big and the rest of the world\u201d, he told the world\u2019s economic elite, in an appeal for a \u201cserious negotiation\u201d between industrialised nations and emerging economies that were \u201cdrowning in debt\u201d.
\nCountries in the Global South were so crippled by high interest rates that they were unable to future-proof their citizens when implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) had never been more important, Mr. Guterres insisted, just many countries remained \u201chellbent\u201d on raising emissions of greenhouse gases.
\n\u201cThe fossil fuel industry has just launched yet another multi-million-dollar campaign to kneecap progress and keep the oil and gas flowing indefinitely,\u201d the UN chief said, in a wide-ranging address highlighting how many nations seemed \u201cpowerless to work together\u201d to stop the climate threat, while in Switzerland \u201cglaciers are disappearing before our eyes\u201d.
\nAI benefits needed now
\nTaking aim at Big Tech, the UN chief also urged action against the \u201cserious unintended consequences\u201d posed by Artificial Intelligence (AI), for which \u2013 like climate change \u2013 there was \u201cno effective global strategy\u201d.
\nAI technology offers enormous potential for sustainable development, Mr. Guterres told the Davos audience, \u201cbut the International Monetary Fund has just warned that it is very likely to worsen inequality\u201d, he said, before laying into technology companies\u2019 pursuit of profit that involved a \u201creckless disregard\u201d for human rights and personal privacy.
\nIn the face of these 21st century problems, together with enduring geopolitical divides it was \u201clittle wonder\u201d that people everywhere were losing faith \u201cin governments, institutions, and financial and economic systems\u201d, the Secretary-General insisted.
\nAnd although the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Middle East crisis represented serious new threats to global peace and security because they had split the Permanent Members of the UN Security Council in a way that hasn\u2019t been seen for years, Mr. Guterres said he was optimistic that progress on other key areas of global cooperation is possible.
\n$14-million men
\n\u201cA lot can be done on the economy, a lot can be done on the climate and a lot can be done on technology\u201d he said, thanks to \u201ca new, multipolar global order with new opportunities for leadership, balance and justice\u201d.
\nThis reformed and inclusive multilateral system was needed to avoid an \u201cepidemic of impunity\u201d that has seen some countries \u201cdoing whatever it takes to further their own interests at all costs\u201d, the UN chief continued, as he also railed against \u201cobscene\u201d inequality that has reportedly left the world\u2019s richest men earning $14 million per hour.
\n\u201cAt the same time, more than half the world, nearly five billion people, have become poorer,\u201d Mr. Guterres noted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Davos Unremitting conflict in Gaza has already sparked regional insecurity and is clear evidence that the international community needs to throw its weight behind a two-State solution in the Occupied Palestinian Territory to resolve the enduring crisis \u201conce and for all\u201d, UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres said on Wednesday. Speaking at the annual World Economic Forum […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381701,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-381676","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n