Baku, January 16, AZERTAC

Runaway conflicts, widening inequalities, the intensifying climate crisis and the unchecked rise of technology were among the pressing global challenges highlighted by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres as he presented the Organization’s priorities for 2025 to the General Assembly today, according to UN.

“Conflicts are multiplying, becoming messier and deadlier,” he said, also warning: “Deepening geopolitical divisions and mistrust are adding fuel to the fire. The nuclear threat is at its highest in decades.”

On Gaza, he said that nothing can justify the terror attacks by Hamas on 7 October 2023 just like nothing can justify the dramatic levels of death and destruction inflicted on the Palestinian people. “For months, there has been no ceiling to the suffering and no bottom to the horrors,” he stressed.

In Ukraine, the war is on the verge of its fourth year, the UN Chief went on to say, calling for a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in line with the UN Charter.

He outlined various work in different hot zones. For example, in Sudan, the UN is engaging all parties to protect civilians, de-escalate the conflict and find a path to peace. In the Sahel, the Organization is working to address common threats including violent extremism and terror, and in Haiti, it aims to ensure that the Multinational Security Support Mission receives sustainable funds.

Despite the overall grim global snapshot, there is still room for hope, the Secretary-General told Member States. The year 2025 begins on the heels of major commitments made in the Pact for the Future, the Global Digital Compact and the Declaration on Future Generations.

Still, vast inequalities are an “unmistakable signal that something is deeply wrong with our social, economic, political and financial systems”, he stated. On the Sustainable Development Goals, he expressed deep concern that less than one fifth of the targets are on course. The Pact for the Future includes clear guidance on how to close the financing gap. “Developing countries must be represented fairly in the governance of the very institutions they depend on,” he emphasized.

Turning to women and girls’ rights, he called for targeted and accelerated action to end all forms of violence and harassment against them, including sexual and gender-based violence.

On the climate issue, he said that the Los Angeles fires in the United States have turned “the home of disaster movies to a scene of disaster.” The most vulnerable — often those who have done the least to unleash this devastation — pay the price.

Ten years on from the Paris agreement on climate change, 90 per cent of the world has committed to net zero greenhouse-gas emissions. “But, we must work even harder,” he emphasized, also adding that the battle cannot be won without a fast, fair and funded fossil-fuel phase-out worldwide. This year, developed countries must make good on their promise to double adaptation finance to at least $40 billion annually.

On artificial intelligence (AI), the Secretary-General said that everyone must have equal access to the latest knowledge and insights and urged the General Assembly to establish the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI.