‘Our world is entering an era of chaos,’ warns UN Secretary-General

“Our world is entering an era of chaos,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres dismayed on Wednesday, lamenting an unprecedented split in the Security Council, unable to act in the face of “terrible conflicts” that are proliferating.

“Governments are ignoring and undermining the very principles of multilateralism and lack of accountability. The Security Council, the main instrument for ensuring world peace, is stymied by geopolitical differences,” he said as he presented his priorities for 2024 to the General Assembly.

“The current dysfunction is deeper and more dangerous.”

“This is not the first time there has been a split in the Council. But this is the worst. The current dysfunction is deeper and more dangerous. Thus, “during the Cold War, well-oiled mechanisms helped manage relations between the superpowers,” he noted. But “in today’s multipolar world, such mechanisms are absent. Our world is entering an era of chaos.”

And “we see the results: a dangerous and unpredictable general impunity,” condemned the Secretary-General, concerned about the new proliferation of nuclear weapons and the development of “new means of destroying each other and destroying humanity.”

“There is so much anger, hatred and noise in the world today. Every day and at the slightest opportunity it feels like war. Horrible conflicts that are killing and maiming civilians at record levels. Wars of words. Wars for territory. Culture wars.”

Guterres called for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip

Focusing specifically on the conflict between Israel and Hamas, he warned of a possible Israeli ground attack on shelled Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are massed in the southern Gaza Strip, on the border with Egypt.

“Such actions will exponentially worsen what is already a humanitarian nightmare, with incalculable regional consequences,” he insisted, once again calling for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” and the release of all hostages. The UN announced on Monday the creation of an independent committee to assess the “neutrality” of UNRWA, headed by Catherine Colonna.

From Gaza to Ukraine, from Sudan to the Democratic Republic of Congo, from Yemen to Burma, “as conflicts spread, global humanitarian needs are at record levels, but funding is falling behind,” he said, lamenting again.

Reform the Security Council

In this context, António Guterres called on governments around the world to seize the opportunity of the “Future Summit” to be held in September in New York on the sidelines of the General Assembly to “shape multilateralism for the years ahead.”

Among the changes “that the world really needs,” he repeated his call for sweeping reforms of the Security Council, the international financial system and the creation of “an emergency instrument to improve the international response to complex global shocks” such as Covid-19. 19 pandemic.