United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to attend the G20 summit, where he spoke to reporters on Sunday.
Before heading to Brazil, he called for ambitious climate action during the COP29 climate conference in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.
Speaking to reporters in Rio, the UN chief said he was seeing and hearing shared issues and concerns from Baku to Brazil and beyond. “These are turbulent times, and we must move quickly to address these fundamental shared challenges.”
Secretary-General Guterres underlined the severity of the climate crisis, citing the possibility of 2024 being the hottest year ever, droughts in the Amazon forest and devastating floods in southern Brazil.
He warned that many countries were grappling with violent conflicts, a sense of impunity was spreading and international law and the UN Charter were being repeatedly violated. “Inequality is growing and progress on poverty and hunger has stalled. The Sustainable Development Goals have been derailed.”
According to the UN chief, the development of new technologies has immense potential, but they also have to deal with their negative aspects. He said, due to our inability to face these challenges, the trust of ordinary citizens towards the government and institutions is being undermined.
In view of this, he called for changes in institutions focused on solving problems, including the Security Council, according to the needs of the time.
The UN Secretary-General said he arrived in Rio with a common message.
“G20 leaders must lead. The economic status of the G20 countries is huge. He has immense diplomatic power. They have to use it to tackle big global problems.”
First, peacekeeping
The UN Secretary-General expressed his dismay that civilians are paying a terrible price due to war and that efforts must therefore be made to achieve peace.
He called for an immediate end to the violent conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon, Ukraine and Sudan. He said all hostages in Gaza should be released immediately and steps should be taken to implement Security Council resolutions in Lebanon.
At the same time, Ukraine and the United Nations must comply with the charter, resolution and international law and end the terrible violence in Sudan.
Second, financing
Secretary-General Guterres noted that many vulnerable countries are facing difficult situations and challenges. They are not responsible for this problem, but they are not getting the support they need from the current international financial system, which is outdated, inefficient and unfair.
In view of this, he emphasized the adoption of ambitious reforms to bring about change according to the needs of existing economies and developing countries. This was also mentioned in the Memorandum of Understanding for Future passed in New York in September this year.
He said that the capacity of multilateral banks to provide loans at subsidized rates should be increased, effective steps should be taken regarding debt relief and all countries should be brought under financial security coverage.
Third, climate action
The Secretary-General said he was concerned by the pace of progress on climate talks at the COP29 conference in Baku. He reiterated the need to agree on an ambitious climate finance target, so that action can be taken to address the challenges facing developing countries.
The UN chief called on the countries of the G20 group to fulfill their responsibilities, saying that the world’s largest emitting countries and economies must lead by example in efforts against climate change.
He said limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius would require reducing emissions by 9 percent per year by 2030 to avoid the catastrophic consequences of climate change.
Fourth, technology
The benefits of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) need to be extended to every country. In this regard, a Global Digital Compact was passed during the Future Summit, resulting in a universal agreement on AI governance, and every country is now involved in this process.
According to the Secretary-General, it is important to establish an independent, international scientific panel on AI and provide voluntary financial resources to build AI capacity.
He said the G20 group must lead these efforts by example so that confidence in the global system can be restored and we can move towards a prosperous world.