Skip to content
Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

Primary Menu Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

  • Home
  • Newswires
  • Politics & Society
  • The New Feudals
  • World View
  • Arts And Aesthetics
  • For The Record
  • About Us
  • Featured

UN Chief: World Worse Now Due To COVID-19, Climate, Conflict

Jan 22, 2022 | Pratirodh Bureau

Antonio Guterres made these remarks in response to the sixth UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report issued on Monday

As he starts his second term as U.N. secretary-general, Antonio Guterres has said the world is worse off in many ways than it was five years ago because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis and geopolitical tensions that have sparked conflicts everywhere but unlike U.S. President Joe Biden he thinks Russia will not invade Ukraine.

Guterres said in an interview with The Associated Press that the appeal for peace he issued on his first day in the U.N.’s top job on Jan. 1, 2017 and his priorities in his first term of trying to prevent conflicts and tackle global inequalities, the COVID-19 crisis and a warming planet, haven’t changed.

The secretary-general of the U.N. has no power, Guterres said. “We can have influence. I can persuade. I can mediate, but I have no power.”

Before he became U.N. chief, Guterres said he envisioned the post as being that of a convener, a mediator, a bridge-builder and an honest broker to help find solutions that benefit everyone involved.

As an example, the secretary-general said this week he spoke to the African Union’s envoy Olusegun Obasanjo, twice with Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta, and once with Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in his attempt to effect a cessation of hostilities in Ethiopia between the government and forces in the embattled Tigray region.

“I hope that we are in a situation in which it might soon become possible to have a cessation of hostilities and that is where I’m concentrating most of my efforts,” Guterres said.

As another example, Guterres said he has also been on the phone to try to get Mali’s military leaders, who recently delayed elections scheduled for next month to 2026, to reduce the timetable. He said he spoke to Mali’s military ruler, President Assimi Goita, three presidents from the 15-nation West African regional group ECOWAS, Algeria’s prime minister and the African Union’s leader about how to make sure that in Mali, there is an acceptable calendar for the transition to a civilian government.

Guterres said he hopes Mali’s military leaders will understand that they need to accept a reasonable period before elections. The secretary-general believes voting should be held in a relatively short amount of time, and said, “All my efforts have been in creating conditions for bridging this divide and for allowing ECOWAS and the government of Mali to come to a solution with an acceptable delay for the elections.”

Guterres said the UN Security Council, which does have the power to uphold international peace and security, including by imposing sanctions and ordering military action, is divided, especially its five veto-wielding permanent members. Russia and China are often at odds with the U.S., Britain and France on key issues, including on Thursday on new sanctions against North Korea.

The issue on every country’s front-burner now is whether Russia, which has massed 100,000 troops on Ukraine’s border, will invade the former Soviet republic. Guterres said, “I do not think Russia will invade Ukraine, and I hope that my belief is correct.”

What makes him think Moscow won’t invade when Biden and others believe Russian President Vladimir Putin will send troops into Ukraine?

“Because I do not believe in a military solution for the problems that exist, and I think that the most rational way to solve those problems is through diplomacy and through engagement in serious dialogue,” Guterres said, stressing that an invasion would have terrible consequences.

The secretary-general said, “We have been in contact, of course, with top officials in Russia, though the U.N. is not directly engaged in the Ukraine crisis.”

Guterres delivered a speech to the 193 U.N. member nations in the General Assembly on Friday on his priorities for 2022.

He singled out three immediate priorities that are worrying him enormously: the lack of vaccinations in large parts of the world, especially in Africa; the need to reduce emissions by 45% in this decade to try to meet the international goal of trying to limit future global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit); and the extremely unjust financial situation in the world that favours rich countries.

“Many developing countries have very few resources, high debts that are growing and they pay much higher interest rates than in Europe or North America, have no vaccines, and disproportionately suffer the impacts of climate change,” Guterres said.

“We need a deep reform in our international financial system in order to make sure that there is more justice in the way resources are available to allow for the recovery (from COVID-19) to be possible everywhere,” he said.

On another major issue, Guterres stressed that the Afghan people can’t be collectively punished for wrongs done by the Taliban, so it is absolutely essential to massively increase humanitarian aid because the Afghans are in a desperate situation, facing the risk of deaths by hunger and disease in a frigid winter along with COVID-19 challenges.

“More than half the population is in desperate need of humanitarian aid,” he said, and money needs to be injected into the economy to ensure Afghan banks operate and doctors, teachers, engineers and other workers are paid to prevent the country’s economic collapse.

The issue of recognition of the Taliban government is up to member states, Guterres said, but the U.N. has been pressing the Taliban, which took power in August 2021 as U.S.-led NATO forces were departing after 20 years, to ensure compliance with human rights, especially women’s rights to work and girls’ education, and to make the government more inclusive and reflective of Afghanistan’s diverse population.

The secretary-general said he will be attending the Beijing Olympics in February which is not a political act but it is important for him to be present when the entire world comes together for good.

Tags: Antonio Guterres, Climate Change, COVID-19 crisis, Pratirodh, UN, United Nations

Continue Reading

Previous Extinguishing Amar Jawan Jyoti Amounts To Removing History: Cong
Next “Smells Like Death”: Peru Oil Spill Clear-Up Op Drags On

More Stories

  • Featured

Kerala College Students Break Taboo Around Sex Education

54 mins ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Earth Likely To Cross 1.5-Degree Warming In Next Decade: AI Study

7 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Covid-19 Remains ‘Global Health Emergency’, Says WHO

7 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau

Recent Posts

  • Kerala College Students Break Taboo Around Sex Education
  • Earth Likely To Cross 1.5-Degree Warming In Next Decade: AI Study
  • Covid-19 Remains ‘Global Health Emergency’, Says WHO
  • Working With Natural Materials To Add To The Sustainable Energy Mix
  • Gandhi’s Image Is Under Scrutiny 75 Years After His Assassination
  • Of India’s Online Schooling Emergency And The Lessons Unlearned
  • Opinion: India Raises The Heat On The Indus Waters Treaty
  • Hundreds Join Wangchuk On Final Day Of His Hunger Strike
  • ‘Fraud Cannot Be Obfuscated By Nationalism’
  • Doomsday Clock Is At 90 Secs To Midnight
  • Human Activity Degraded Over 3rd Of Amazon Forest: Study
  • Kashmir’s Nourishing Karewas Crumble Under Infrastructure Burden
  • Sprawling Kolkata Faced With A Tall Order For A Sustainable Future
  • Indian Economy Yet To Revive From Effects Of Pandemic: CPI (M)
  • New Pipelines Will Fragment Assam’s Protected Forests: Environmentalists
  • The Role Of Urban Foraging In Building Climate-Resilient Food Systems
  • Now, A ‘Private’ Sainik School Linked To RSS?
  • About 3,000 Tech Employees Being Fired A Day On Average In Jan
  • War Veteran Doctor, ‘Rasna’ Creator Are Among Padma Awardees
  • Black Days Ahead If Coal City Doesn’t Change

Search

Main Links

  • Home
  • Newswires
  • Politics & Society
  • The New Feudals
  • World View
  • Arts And Aesthetics
  • For The Record
  • About Us

Related Stroy

  • Featured

Kerala College Students Break Taboo Around Sex Education

54 mins ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Earth Likely To Cross 1.5-Degree Warming In Next Decade: AI Study

7 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Covid-19 Remains ‘Global Health Emergency’, Says WHO

7 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Working With Natural Materials To Add To The Sustainable Energy Mix

21 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Gandhi’s Image Is Under Scrutiny 75 Years After His Assassination

23 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau

Recent Posts

  • Kerala College Students Break Taboo Around Sex Education
  • Earth Likely To Cross 1.5-Degree Warming In Next Decade: AI Study
  • Covid-19 Remains ‘Global Health Emergency’, Says WHO
  • Working With Natural Materials To Add To The Sustainable Energy Mix
  • Gandhi’s Image Is Under Scrutiny 75 Years After His Assassination
Copyright © All rights reserved. | CoverNews by AF themes.