THE SECRETARY-GENERAL’S ADDRESS TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
New York, 25 September 2018
[Trilingual, as delivered]
Our world is suffering from a bad case of “Trust Deficit Disorder”.
People are feeling troubled and insecure.
Trust is at a breaking point. Trust in national institutions. Trust among states. Trust in the rules-based global order.
Within countries, people are losing faith in political establishments, polarization is on the rise and populism is on the march.
Among countries, cooperation is less certain and more difficult. Divisions in our Security Council are stark.
Trust in global governance is also fragile, as 21st-century challenges outpace 20th-century institutions and mindsets.
We have never had a true system of global governance, much less a fully democratic one.
Still, across many decades, we established solid foundations for international cooperation.
We came together as united nations to build institutions, norms and rules to advance our shared interests.
We raised standards of living for millions. We forged peace in troubled lands and – indeed – we avoided a third world war.
But none of this can be taken for granted.
Today, world order is increasingly chaotic. Power relations are less clear.
Universal values are being eroded.
Democratic principles are under siege, and the rule of law is being undermined.
Impunity is on the rise, as leaders and states push the boundaries, both at home and in the international arena.
We face a set of paradoxes.
The world is more connected, yet societies are becoming more fragmented.
Challenges are growing outward, while many people are turning inward.
Multilateralism is under fire precisely when we need it most.
So, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is true that we are moving in the direction of a multipolar world.
But multipolarity will not, in itself, guarantee peace or solve global problems.
A century ago, Europe was multipolar. A balance of power was deemed sufficient to keep rivals in check.
It was not. Without strong multilateral frameworks for European-wide cooperation and problem-solving, the result was a grievous world war.
Today, with shifts in the balance of power, the risk of confrontation may increase.
In assessing the Peloponnesian War in ancient Greece, Thucydides said, and I quote, “It was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta that made war inevitable.”
This is what the political scientist Graham Allison calls the “Thucydides Trap”.
But in his book “Destined for War”, and reviewing many examples of rivalry in the past, he concluded that conflict is never inevitable.
Indeed, with leadership committed to strategic cooperation and to managing competing interests, we can avoid war and steer the world onto a safer path.
Individual leaders have the duty to advance the well-being of their people.
But it runs deeper. Together, as guardians of the common good, we also have a duty to promote and support a reformed, reinvigorated and strengthened multilateral system.
We need commitment to a rules-based order, with the United Nations at its centre and with the different institutions and treaties that bring the Charter to life.
And we need to show the added value of international cooperation by delivering peace, defending human rights and driving economic and social progress for women and men everywhere.
That is why I am so committed to reform, and to making the United Nations more effective in responding to the needs and aspirations of “we the peoples”.
In the face of massive, existential threats to people and planet -- but equally at a time of compelling opportunities for shared prosperity -- there is no way forward but collective, common-sense action for the common good.
This is how we can rebuild trust.
Excellencies,
In my address last year, I highlighted seven challenges. One year on, they remain sadly unresolved.
There is outrage at our inability to end the wars in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere.
The Rohingya people remain exiled, traumatized and in misery, still yearning for safety and justice.
Palestinians and Israelis are still locked in endless conflict, with the two-state solution more and more distant.
The threat of terror looms, fed by the root causes of radicalization and violent extremism. And terrorism is ever more interlinked with international organized crime and the trafficking of people, drugs, arms and corruption.
The nuclear peril has not eased, with non-proliferation at serious risk. Nuclear-armed States are modernizing their arsenals. A new arms race could be triggered, and the threshold for their use lowered.
We have seen outrageous uses of chemical weapons, in full impunity despite their ban, and protections against dangerous biological weapons are weak.
Inequality is undermining faith in the social contract and is a clear obstacle to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Tensions over trade are on the rise.
Migrants and refugees continue to face discrimination and demagoguery in the context of clearly insufficient international cooperation.
And in this year marking the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the human rights agenda is losing ground and authoritarianism is on the rise.
As the politics of pessimism spreads, we must guard against self-fulfilling prophecies.
Those who see their neighbours as dangerous may cause a threat where there was none.
Those who close their borders to regular migration only fuel the work of traffickers.
And those who ignore human rights in combatting terrorism tend to breed the very extremism they are trying to end.
Excelencias, damas y caballeros,
Tenemos la obligación de cambiar este rumbo y de resolver los desafíos que se nos plantean.
Debemos movernos basándonos en hechos, no por miedo y apoyándonos en la razón y no en ilusiones.
Nuestra labor tiene que centrarse en la prevención.
Este período de sesiones de la Asamblea General constituye una oportunidad única para avanzar.
Por citar solo un ejemplo, saludo las firmes muestras de apoyo a mi iniciativa Acción para el Mantenimiento de la Paz, que ha sido respaldada por 148 Estados y organizaciones. Su objetivo es contribuir a que nuestras misiones tengan éxito en situaciones inestables y de larga duración.
Pero hoy quiero centrarme en dos desafíos trascendentales que, en el último año, han cobrado una urgencia extrema: el cambio climático y los nuevos riesgos asociados a los avances de la tecnología.
Permítanme que me detenga en cada uno de ellos por separado.
Excellences, Mesdames et Messieurs,
Evoquons d’abord ce qui constitue une menace directe pour notre existence : les changements climatiques.
Nous sommes à un moment charnière.
Si nous ne changeons pas de cap dans les deux années à venir, nous risquons de perdre le contrôle de la situation.
Les changements climatiques vont plus vite que nous ; leur rythme effréné provoque un SOS retentissant, partout dans le monde.
Selon l’Organisation Météorologique Mondiale, les deux dernières décennies ont vu 18 des années les plus chaudes, depuis qu’on a commencé en 1850 à tenir des registres en la matière.
Il y a quelques semaines, la plus épaisse et la mieux connue, plus solide banquise du nord du Groenland – a commencé à se fissurer pour la première fois.
La concentration de dioxyde de carbone dans l’atmosphère n’a jamais été aussi élevée en 3 millions d’années, et elle ne fait qu’augmenter.
Pire, notre action – en tant que dirigeants mondiaux – n’est pas à la hauteur. Nous devons écouter les éminents scientifiques de la Terre. Nous devons regarder la réalité en face.
Nous devons être plus ambitieux et faire preuve d’une plus grande urgence.
Nous devons garantir la mise en œuvre de l’Accord de Paris.
Cet Accord a le potentiel immense de nous mettre sur la bonne voie –mais ses objectifs sont loin d’être atteints. Et pourtant, ils ne représentent que le strict minimum pour éviter les pires retombées des changements climatiques.
Je suis inquiet de voir que les récentes négociations de Bangkok sur des directives d’application de l’Accord se sont achevées sans progrès suffisants.
La prochaine Conférence des Parties – COP24 – qui se tiendra en Pologne, en décembre, est décisive. Il faut absolument qu’elle réussisse. Comme je l’ai dit récemment, les désaccords entre États Membres qui nous ont paralysés à Copenhague ne peuvent se reproduire à Katowice.
Fort heureusement, l’évolution technologique est notre allié.
L’énergie verte est plus compétitive que jamais.
Si nous nous engageons sur la bonne voie, l’action climatique pourrait représenter 26 milliards de dollars en plus pour l’économie mondiale d’ici 2030.
Les politiques en faveur d’une économie verte pourraient créer 24 millions d’emplois.
De plus en plus d’entreprises et d’investisseurs constatent que l’économie verte est rentable.
Loin de menacer les fondements de l’économie, l’action climatique crée de nouvelles industries, de nouveaux marchés et plus d’emplois tout en réduisant la dépendance aux combustibles fossiles.
Ce n’est pas l’action, mais l’inaction, qui met en péril l’économie.
Les gouvernements doivent faire preuve de sagesse et de courage.
Cela signifie :
-- cesser de subventionner, à coups de milliards, les combustibles fossiles;
-- fixer un juste prix du carbone;
-- cesser d’investir dans des infrastructures non durables qui entretiennent des pratiques pernicieuses pendant des dizaines d’années.
C’est notre avenir qui est en jeu. Les changements climatiques n’épargnent rien et peuvent tout ébranler. Pour assurer la prospérité globale et la sécurité des nations, il est essentiel de maintenir le réchauffement climatique bien en-deçà de 2 degrés Celsius.
Voilà pourquoi, en septembre prochain, je tiendrai un Sommet sur le climat pour mobiliser des volontés et des fonds. Ce sera l’occasion de rassembler les Etats et les villes, les acteurs de l’économie réelle, les décideurs, les entreprises, milieux financiers et représentants de la société civile, pour s’attaquer au cœur du problème.
Le Sommet se tiendra un an avant la révision des engagements de chaque Etat au titre de l’Accord de Paris. Ces engagements devront aller plus loin.
Il faut une ambition plus forte que jamais – une ambition que les dirigeants et les partenaires auront l’occasion de manifester à ce sommet.
Pour que cette ambition soit possible, nous nous devons d’agir dès aujourd’hui.
Le monde a besoin que nous soyons tous des champions de l’action climatique.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me now turn to new technologies and what we can do to uphold their promise but to keep their perils at bay.
And there is great promise. Scientific progress has helped to cure deadly diseases, to feed growing populations, to drive economic growth and to connect businesses, communities, families and friends across the world.
Rapidly developing fields such as artificial intelligence, blockchain and biotechnology have the potential to turbocharge progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
Artificial Intelligence is connecting people across languages, and supporting doctors in making better diagnoses. Driverless vehicles will revolutionize transportation.
But there are also risks and serious dangers.
Technological advances may disrupt labour markets as traditional jobs change or disappear, even as the number of young job-seekers continues to grow. Re-training will be needed at previously unimaginable scales. Education must adapt, from the earliest grades. And the very nature of work will change. Governments may have to consider stronger social safety nets and eventually universal basic income.
At the same time, technology is being misused by terrorists and for sexual exploitation and abuse.
Organized criminal networks lurk on the dark web, profiting from encryption and near-anonymous cryptocurrency payments to traffic in people and illegal goods.
Some reports estimate that cybercrime is now putting US$1.5 trillion in the pockets of cybercriminals annually.
Malicious acts in cyberspace – such as disinformation campaigns -- are polarizing communities and diminishing trust among States.
And more and more people are getting their information from news or social media feeds that echo their views, reinforce tribalism and assure people that they are right and the other side is wrong.
The digital revolution is also being used to discriminate against women and reinforce our male-dominated culture.
Indeed, there is a deep gender gap in access to digital technologies, widening the digital divide.
We must dismantle obstacles and create opportunities for women, ensure equality and change on-line and toxic corporate cultures. The technology sector must open up and become more diverse – not least for its own benefit.
With technology outracing institutions, cooperation between countries and among stakeholders will be crucial, including Member States, the private sector, research centres, civil society and academia.
There are many mutually beneficial solutions for digital challenges. We need urgently to find the way to apply them.
At the United Nations, we are harnessing technologies in support of the Sustainable Development Goals. We are creating innovation labs, including in my office. And in July,
I established a High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation, that met yesterday, and that is a dialogue platform for all key actors.
Excellencies,
The impacts of new technologies on warfare are a direct threat to our common responsibility to guarantee peace and security.
The weaponization of artificial intelligence is a growing concern.
The prospect of weapons that can select and attack a target on their own raises multiple alarms – and could trigger new arms races.
Diminished oversight of weapons has implications for our efforts to contain threats, to prevent escalation and to adhere to international humanitarian and human rights law.
Let’s call it as it is. The prospect of machines with the discretion and power to take human life is morally repugnant.
Heaven forbid, any new war could very well include a massive cyberattack not only targeting military capacities, but also critical civilian infrastructure.
I am encouraged by the ten possible guiding principles elaborated in Geneva last month by the Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems.
More work on these issues, aimed at building trust between and within nations, will be needed if we are to ensure the responsible use of new technologies.
I urge you to use the United Nations as a platform to draw global attention to these crucial matters and to nurture a digital future that is safe and beneficial for all.
Excellencies,
Despite the chaos and confusion in our world, I see winds of hope blowing around the globe.
Just days ago, I witnessed the signing of a historic peace agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea in Saudi Arabia.
Soon after, the presidents of Djibouti and Eritrea met in Jeddah to launch a peace process.
Eritrea and Somalia have established diplomatic relations.
And in the same region, in the context of a summit of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development – IGAD - the two rival leaders in South Sudan have finally signed a peace agreement.
I am hopeful that these efforts will continue to be consolidated so that the people of the Horn of Africa can finally turn the page on war and conflict.
The courageous initiative of the Singapore Summit between the leaders of the United States and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, along with the recent meeting of the two Korean leaders in Pyongyang, offers hope for the possibility of a full and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a context of regional security.
In my recent visit to Colombia, I was impressed by the peoples’ strong commitment to peace, now reaffirmed by President Duque.
In Central Asia, I personally witnessed strengthened cooperation among states after Uzbekistan went through a peaceful political transition.
Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia have taken a major step towards resolving their differences.
Our peacekeeping mission in Liberia ended a decade-and-a-half of work this year following the country’s first peaceful democratic transition, adding to peacekeeping successes elsewhere in West Africa.
The approval of a compact on refugees and another on migration represents signs of hope, even if there is still a long way to go to reconcile full respect for the rights of people on the move with the legitimate interests of states.
Hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of extreme poverty across the world over the past three decades, and we averted looming famine in the four countries impacted in the past two years.
Armenia’s young people were at the heart of that country’s peaceful political transition earlier this year – showing the potential of youth to use their voice to advance democracy.
And the drive for gender equality is gaining ground, amid a growing awareness of pervasive discrimination against women and girls, from violence, harassment and exploitation to unequal pay and exclusion from decision-making.
The United Nations must lead the way in pursuit of gender equality. For the first time in United Nations history, there is full parity in our Senior Management Group and among Resident Coordinators leading country teams around the world. We are firmly committed to equality and empowerment everywhere.
Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen,
As our Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, once reminded us:
“We share a common destiny. We can master it only if we face it together. And that, my friends, is why we have the United Nations”.
Our future rests on solidarity.
We must repair broken trust.
We must reinvigorate our multilateral project.
And we must uphold dignity for one and for all.
Thank you very much.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE U.N. SYSTEM
TUESDAY, 25 SEPTEMBER 2018
SECRETARY-GENERAL
The Secretary-General spoke this morning at the opening of the General Debate of the 73rd Session of the General Assembly, which began with a moment of silence for former Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
The Secretary-General will continue his bilateral meetings with the leaders of Jordan, South Africa, Jordan, the United States and others.
He will host the annual State Luncheon for the Heads of Delegation and address an event on investing in jobs for young people in Africa.
SYRIA
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that the humanitarian situation in the Rukban camp in the desert close to the Syrian-Jordanian border has deteriorated over the past month. There are reports of increased insecurity and extremely limited supplies of basic goods. The last food assistance to Rukban was a delivery from Jordan of a one-month food package for 50,000 people in early January.
Access to a United Nations-supported medical clinic servicing the Rukban camp was cut off from 13 to 21 September and no patients were able to access the clinic. During this period, three internally displaced people including children reportedly died due to lack of medical care. Access to the clinic has since been restored.
Since May, an estimated 4,000 people have reportedly left Rukban due to the dire humanitarian situation. The United Nations is receiving reports that others are planning to leave the settlement, contingent on receiving assurances of safe passage.
The United Nations urges all parties to allow safe, sustained and unimpeded humanitarian access to all in need in line with their obligations under International Humanitarian Law.
GAZA
As the situation on the ground in Gaza is on the brink of collapse, a United Nations report has called for urgent steps to prevent violent confrontation in Gaza, support for the return of the legitimate Palestinian Government and humanitarian assistance. This includes easing of Israeli movement and access restrictions, de-escalating tensions and urgent humanitarian and economic interventions to address Gaza’s failing basic services and devastated economy.
The report, issued by the office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East AV Process, notes a further deterioration over the past six months of the overall humanitarian and economic situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly in Gaza, with an unemployment rate of over 53%, a breakdown in service delivery, and violence and tensions increasing. The situation is compounded by UNRWA’s unprecedented funding crisis and a reduction in funding to Palestinian humanitarian and development programs, it added.
“Any humanitarian solution to Gaza’s problems can only be temporary. What is needed is lifting the movement and access restrictions in line with UNSC 1860 and a political breakthrough in restoring intra-Palestinian unity under a single, legitimate national authority. The UN will continue to work with all sides to avoid escalation, support intra-Palestinian reconciliation and address all humanitarian issues in coordination with our partners.” said Nickolay Mladenov, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East AV Process.
AFGHANISTAN
The UN Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) is concerned by the rising number of civilian casualties due to airstrikes this year.
The Mission received multiple, credible allegations that, on 22 September, aerial ordnance impacted the home of a teacher in the Budrab area of Tagab district, Kapisa province, killing nine civilians, including four children and three women, with several others injured. The incident took place during operations conducted by pro-Government Forces against Taliban in the area and it was not immediately clear whether the strike was carried out by international military forces or by the Afghan Air Force. UNAMA reminds all parties to the conflict to uphold their obligations to protect civilians from harm and holds that all parties to the conflict must strictly adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian law to take all feasible measures to protect civilians.
In the first six months of this year, UNAMA documented 353 civilian casualties (149 deaths and 204 injured) from aerial attacks, a 52 per cent increase from the same period in 2017. It is of particular concern that women and children made up more than half of all aerial attack civilian casualties. The Mission attributed 52 per cent of all civilian casualties from aerial attacks to the Afghan Air Force, 45 per cent to international military forces, and the remaining three per cent to unidentified Pro-Government Forces. Around seven per cent of all civilian casualties in the Afghan conflict in the first half of the year were attributed to air operations.
VENEZUELA/COLOMBIA
The World Food Programme (WFP) today warned about the crisis on the Venezuela-Colombia border and called on the international community to continue to support the emergency response. WFP said it urgently needs more than US$22 million to meet the food and nutrition needs of the migrants arriving from Venezuela. WFP has been assisting migrants with temporary shelter and hot meals.
The agency said that roughly 2.3 million Venezuelans live outside their country; 1.6 million have left since 2015, with 90 per cent relocated within South America. To date, close to 1 million Venezuelans have settled in Colombia.
EBOLA
The World Health Organization reports that, since the latest Ebola outbreak was declared in North Kivu province on 1 August, a total of 150 confirmed and possible cases have been identified, with the outbreak responsible for the loss of more than 100 lives.
Speaking in Geneva today, WHO’s Deputy Director-General for Emergency Preparedness and Response, Dr. Peter Salama, noted that overall trends in recent weeks have been good, with the number of averages decreasing from 40 per week around five weeks ago to about 10 cases per week over the last three to four weeks.
However, Dr. Salama warned that the response is facing a series of grave obstacles, including the wider geographical spread of the outbreak, insecurity -- there has been an increase in the frequency and an increased severity of attacks by armed opposition groups in recent weeks – as well as pockets of community resistance to Ebola interventions.
Dr. Salama added that several factors may be coming together over the next weeks to months to create a potential “perfect storm” of active conflict limiting the ability to access civilians, distrust by segments of the community already traumatised by decades of conflict and of murder, driven by a fear of a terrifying disease but also exploited and manipulated by local politicians prior to an election.
REFUGEES
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, announced today the 2018 winner of the Nansen Refugee Award: Evan Atar Adaha, a surgeon and medical director at a hospital in north-eastern South Sudan.
The award is in recognition of Dr. Atar’s outstanding commitment and self-sacrifice in providing medical services to more than 200,000 people, including approximately 144,000 refugees from Sudan’s Blue Nile state. Dr. Atar’s team carries out an average of 58 operations per week in difficult conditions at the hospital in Bunj, Maban County, with limited supplies and equipment.
“We treat everyone here regardless of who they are – refugee, internally displaced, host community,” says Dr. Atar in a statement released by UNHCR.
UNHCR’s Nansen Refugee Award honours extraordinary service to the forcibly displaced. The 2018 award ceremony will be held on 1 October in Geneva, Switzerland.
HONOUR ROLL
Today, the United Nations received three full payments to the regular budget – from El Salvador, Guinea-Bissau and Mali. The Honour Roll now totals 140.
