António Guterres
Climate love
Climate love
Ingmar Rentzhog
15 w
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Featured speaker We Don't Have TimeThe UN Secretary-General's "90 seconds to total global catastrophe speech"
Secretary-General's briefing to the General Assembly on Priorities for 2023
Excellencies,
One month ago, we turned the calendar on a new year.
But just days ago, another clock turned – the so-called Doomsday clock.
That symbolic clock was created 76 years ago by atomic scientists, including Albert Einstein.
Year after year, experts have measured humanity’s proximity to midnight – in other words, to self-destruction.
In 2023, they surveyed the state of the world – with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the runaway climate catastrophe, rising nuclear threats that are undermining global norms and institutions.
And they came to a clear conclusion.
The Doomsday Clock is now 90 seconds to midnight, which means 90 seconds to total global catastrophe.
This is the closest the clock has ever stood to humanity’s darkest hour – and closer than even during the height of the Cold War.
In truth, the Doomsday Clock is a global alarm clock.
We need to wake up – and get to work.
Excellencies,
We have started 2023 staring down the barrel of a confluence of challenges unlike any other in our lifetimes.
Wars grind on.
The climate crisis burns on.
Extreme wealth and extreme poverty rage on.
The gulf between the haves and have nots is cleaving societies, countries and our wider world.
Epic geopolitical divisions are undermining global solidarity and trust.
This path is a dead end.
We need a course correction.
The good news is that we know how to turn things around -- on climate, on finance, on conflict resolution, on and on.
And we know that the costs of inaction far exceed the costs of action.
But the strategic vision – the long-term thinking and commitment -- is missing.
Politicians and decisionmakers are hobbled by what I call a preference for the present.
There is a bias in political and business life for the short-term.
The next poll. The next tactical political maneuver to cling to power. But also the next business cycle – or even the next day’s stock price.
The future is someone else’s problem.
This near-term thinking is not only deeply irresponsible – it is immoral.
And it is self-defeating.
Because it makes the problems we face today – in the here and now – more intractable, more divisive, and more dangerous.
We need to change the mindset of decision making.
My message today comes down to this:
Don’t focus solely on what may happen to you today – and dither.
Look at what will happen to all of us tomorrow – and act.
Excellencies,
We have an obligation to act – in deep and systemic ways.
After all, the world is not moving incrementally.
Technology is not moving incrementally.
Climate destruction is not moving incrementally.
We cannot move incrementally.
This is not a time for tinkering. It is a time for transformation.
A transformation grounded in everything that guides our work – starting with the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration – the distillation of our shared mission to uphold and uplift our common humanity.
It was bold, ambitious and audacious.
We need to take inspiration from its spirit and its substance.
The Declaration reminds us that the “inherent dignity and equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace.”
When I look at human rights in the broadest sense – with a 21st century lens – I see a roadmap out of the dead end.
Excellencies,
It starts with the right to peace.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is inflicting untold suffering on the Ukrainian people, with profound global implications.
The prospects for peace keep diminishing.
The chances of further escalation and bloodshed keep growing.
I fear the world is not sleepwalking into a wider war. I fear it is doing so with its eyes wide open.
But the world needs peace and peace in line with the United Nations Charter and international law.
We must work harder for peace everywhere.
In Palestine and Israel, where the two-State solution is growing more distant by the day.
In Afghanistan, where the rights of women and girls are being trampled and deadly terrorist attacks continue.
In the Sahel, where security is deteriorating at an alarming rate.
In Myanmar, which is facing new cycles of violence and repression.
In Haiti, where gang violence is holding the entire country hostage.
And elsewhere around the world for the two billion people who live in countries affected by conflict and humanitarian crises.
Excellencies,
If every country fulfilled its obligations under the Charter, the right to peace would be guaranteed.
When countries break those pledges, they create a world of insecurity for everyone.
So it is time to transform our approach to peace by recommitting to the Charter -- putting human rights and dignity first, with prevention at the heart.
That requires a holistic view of the peace continuum that identifies root causes and prevents the seeds of war from sprouting.
One that invests in prevention to avoid conflicts in the first place, focuses on mediation, advances peacebuilding and includes much broader participation from women and young people.
These are core elements of the proposed New Agenda for Peace – our plan to revitalize multilateral action for a world in transition and a new era of geostrategic competition.
The New Agenda for Peace must seek to address all forms and domains of threats, old and new.
As United Nations [peacekeeping] marks its 75th anniversary, many of its missions are under-resourced and under attack, with no peace to keep.
We will increase our commitment to reform through the Action for Peacekeeping-Plus initiative.
But the New Agenda for Peace must recognize the need for a new generation of peace enforcement missions and counter-terrorist operations, led by regional forces, with a Security Council mandate under Chapter VII, and with guaranteed, predictable funding.
The African Union is an obvious partner in this regard.
It is also time to bring disarmament and arms control back to the centre – reducing strategic threats from nuclear arms and working for their ultimate elimination.
Nuclear-armed countries must renounce the first use of these unconscionable weapons.
In fact, they must renounce any use, anytime, anywhere.
The so-called “tactical” use of nuclear weapons is an absurdity.
We are at the highest risk in decades of a nuclear war that could start by accident or design.
We need to end the threat posed by 13,000 nuclear weapons held in arsenals around the world.
At the same time, no Agenda for Peace can ignore the dangers posed by new technologies.
It should include such measures as international bans on cyberattacks on civilian infrastructure, and internationally agreed limits on lethal autonomous weapons systems.
Human agency must be preserved at all costs.
Excellencies,
The New Agenda for Peace should aim to maximize the convening power of the United Nations as a platform for broad-based coalitions and effective diplomacy.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative shows this approach can get results – even in the middle of a deadly war.
The Deputy Secretary-General’s recent visit to Afghanistan – and her consultations in the region and beyond -- show that we will seek to build consensus around human rights even in the most challenging situations.
This year, let’s move forward together with bold, innovative approaches so that the United Nations can better fulfil its promise “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”
Second, social and economic rights and the right to development.
Let’s be clear. ...............................
.... /-- ... / --- Read full speach:
Secretary-General's briefing to the General Assembly on Priorities for 2023 [scroll down for bilingual, as-delivered; all-English and all-French versions] | United Nations Secretary-General
https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2023-02-06/secretary-generals-briefing-the-general-assembly-priorities-for-2023-scroll-down-for-bilingual-delivered-all-english-and-all-french-versions
Photo credit. Dale2. Input "draw a realistic painting of Secretary-General's Antonio Guteres very angry and upset speech in General Assembly about devastating climate crisis. Make it look like Greta Thunberg angry speech in UN"
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9 w
Wonderful message
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15 w
Dear Ingmar Rentzhog Thank you for getting your climate love to level 2! We have reached out to António Guterres and requested a response. I will keep you updated on any progress! /Adam We Don't Have Time
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15 w
His messaging is always on point
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15 w
Very important message.
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15 w
We don’t have time to wait. It’s time to act now💚
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15 w
The need to focus on tomorrow and take the correct actions.