UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for finding practical solutions to global problems and not giving in to despair.
“Our world has faced many challenges and trials in 2022 – some familiar, others we might not have imagined a year ago. There are no doubt many reasons to despair,” he said. he said at a year-end press conference at UN headquarters in New York.
Geopolitical divides make solving global problems increasingly difficult, if not impossible. The cost of living crisis is hitting people hard, and inequalities are widening, especially affecting women and girls around the world. Most of the world’s poorest countries are “death sentenced to death”, facing the abyss of insolvency and default. This year alone, their debt service payments have soared 35%, the biggest increase in decades, he noted.
“These challenges and many more make some people want to give up, give up on solving international problems and abandon the path of diplomacy. But I end this year with one overriding conviction: it is not the time to stay on the sidelines is, on the contrary, a time of resolution, of determination and – yes – even of hope; for despite the limits and the difficulties, we work to push back despair, to fight once morest disillusion and to find real solutions. Not perfect solutions, and sometimes not even beautiful solutions, but practical solutions that bring regarding meaningful changes in people’s lives. Solutions that must set us on the path to a future better and more peaceful,” he said.
The Secretary-General pointed out that some progress had been made, such as the agreement on the new global framework for biodiversity reached at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Montreal, Canada, or even an improvement in the situation in certain persistent conflicts around the world.
In Ethiopia, a cessation of hostilities and truce agreements have thus been put in place, and a path towards the return of humanitarian aid to the northern part of the country is emerging. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, diplomatic efforts led by Angola and the East African Community have created a framework for political dialogue conducive to resolving the crisis in the east of the country. In Yemen, the truce has brought real benefits to the population; civilian flights have resumed from Sanaa, and vital supplies can finally transit through the port of Hodeidah, he noted.
“I am more determined than ever to make 2023 a year of peace, a year of action. We cannot accept things as they are. We owe it to people to find solutions, to fight back and to act. Sometimes quietly, but always with determination, we will fight back – to promote peace and security, to advance the Sustainable Development Goals and tackle inequality, to reform a morally bankrupt international financial system, to secure the rights rights for all on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights next year, and finally to provide a livable planet for our children and grandchildren,” Guterres said.