A/77/PV.58 General Assembly

Before proceeding with the items of our agenda, I would like, on behalf of the General Assembly, to extend our deepest sympathy and heartfelt condolences to the Governments and the peoples of Türkiye and the Syrian Arab Republic for the tragic loss of life and damage that resulted from the recent earthquake. I invite representatives to stand and observe a minute of silence in tribute to the memory of those who lost their lives.

I would like, in keeping with established practice, to invite the attention of the General Assembly to documents A/77/702/Add.1 and Add.2, in which the Secretary-General informs the President of the General Assembly that, since the issuance of his communication contained in document A/77/702, Dominica and Equatorial Guinea have made the payment necessary to reduce the arrears below the amount specified in Article 19 of the Charter. May I take it that the General Assembly takes note of the information contained in those documents?

I welcome the Secretary-General’s presentation of his report on the work of the Organization (A/77/1). We are in the middle of a complex, multifaceted crisis. We are at a watershed moment in history. A business-as-usual approach, even with the best intentions, will not lead us to the necessary solutions. We need to think and act in a crisis-management mood, while also seeking means for transformation. We have to be focused, pragmatic and impact-oriented and assume full responsibility for all the consequences of our actions, or lack thereof. History will not offer a moment like today’s again. Any late reaction, any hesitation or any failure to heed our strategic focuses will come with an increased price. The focus of the report aligns coherently with the priorities we have discussed in this Hall several times, including the presentation of priorities for the work of the General Assembly outlined just weeks ago. The General Assembly has embarked upon 16 negotiation processes aimed at transformation across several of the priorities identified by the Secretary- General. Chief among them are preparations for the Sustainable Development Goals Summit in September 2023 — the midpoint of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development — and efforts to shape the Summit of the Future in 2024. Next month, we will hold the landmark United Nations 2023 Water Conference — the first such event since 1977 and a critical opportunity to move towards proactive and sustainable water management for all. We can achieve a Paris moment on water action if we build our plans on real game-changers. As we embark upon our efforts, let us view those processes holistically, with a full understanding of how the priority areas outlined by the Secretary-General are both interconnected and interrelated. Failing to pave the way for economic growth and sustainable development will, as we know, have a direct bearing on prospects for international peace and security. To achieve the desired transformative change, we will have to refresh our thinking on the evaluation of development, going beyond gross domestic product. We will also need the evidence and methodology that science can offer us to shape our decisions. Today’s briefing is a reminder that all United Nations bodies must work in sync to bring about the transformational change expected by our 8 billion shareholders. The veto initiative, for example, has offered a masterclass on the importance of our work in the General Assembly and has opened the door for greater collaboration and accountability across the United Nations system to deliver solutions. I look forward to working in partnership with the Secretary-General, the Security Council and all United Nations organs to advance our shared priorities and goals. I am eager to hear members’ views during today’s debate and through the remainder of this session on ways to take proactive action. It is now up to us to manage and prevent crises, build solidarity and pursue solutions at the national, regional and global levels that are anchored in the universality of human rights and lay a solid foundation for sustainable and transformative change. The insights that members offer today will shape and guide our common efforts in the years and decades to come. Before proceeding further, as stated in my letter dated 23 January 2023, the Secretary-General will make a statement to brief on his priorities for 2023, after which the formal meeting will be suspended for an informal meeting for interventions from the membership. Thereafter, the formal meeting will resume for delegations to deliver statements under agenda item 113. After his departure, the Secretary-General’s seat at the podium may be occupied by his representative. If I hear no objection, we shall proceed accordingly. It was so decided. (decision 77/507 B)

I now give the floor to the Secretary-General.

Before we begin, I want to convey my deep sadness about the devastating earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria. I extend my condolences to the families of the victims. The United Nations is mobilizing to support the emergency response, so let us work together in solidarity to assist all those hit by the disaster, many of whom were already in dire need of humanitarian aid. During my tenure as the High Commissioner for Refugees, I went several times to work in that area, and I will never forget the extraordinary demonstration of generosity of the people there. It is time for all of us to show the same solidarity that I witnessed in the region to refugees fleeing one of the most difficult conflicts of all time. 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 humankind’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 and the undermining of global norms and institutions, and they came to a clear conclusion. The Doomsday Clock is now 90 seconds to midnight, or total global catastrophe. That is the closest the clock has ever stood to humankind’s darkest hour — even closer than 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. We have started 2023 staring down the barrel of a confluence of challenges unlike any in our lifetimes. Wars grind on; the climate crisis burns on; and 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. That 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 and on conflict resolution, and so on. 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 decision-makers 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 or the next tactical political manoeuvre 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. That near-term thinking is not only deeply irresponsible, but it is also immoral and self-defeating. 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: do not focus solely on what may happen today and dither; instead, look at what will happen to all of us tomorrow and act. 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 that is grounded in everything that guides our work, starting with the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This year marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: 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 twenty-first century lens, I see a road map out of the dead end. 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; it is doing so with its eyes wide open. But the world needs peace, 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 2 billion people who live in countries affected by conflict and humanitarian crises. 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. It is therefore time to transform our approach to peace by recommitting to the Charter and 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 stop conflicts from happening in the first place, focuses on mediation, advances peacebuilding and includes much broader participation from women and young people. Those 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 seventy- fifth 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. And the African Union is an obvious partner in that regard. It is also time to bring disarmament and arms control back to the centre by reducing strategic threats from nuclear arms and working for their ultimate elimination. Nuclear-armed countries must renounce the first use of those 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 the 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. 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 that 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 us 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. Secondly, concerning social and economic rights and the right to development, let us be clear: when we see poverty and hunger on the rise around the world; when developing countries are forced to pay five times more in borrowing costs than advanced economies; when vulnerable middle-income countries are denied concessional funding and debt relief; when the richest 1 per cent have captured almost half of all new wealth over the past decade; and when people are hired and fired at will but lack any form of social protection — when we see all those gaping flaws and more, something is fundamentally wrong with our economic and financial system. The global financial architecture is at the heart of the problem. It should be the means through which globalization benefits all. Yet it is failing. The global financial architecture does not need a simple evolution; it needs a radical transformation. It is time for a new Bretton Woods moment: a new commitment to placing the dramatic needs of developing countries at the centre of every decision and mechanism of the global financial system; a new resolve to address the appalling inequalities and injustices laid bare once again by the pandemic and the response; a new determination to ensure developing countries have a far greater voice in global financial institutions; and a new debt architecture that encompasses debt relief and restructuring to vulnerable countries, including middle-income ones in need, building on the momentum of the Bridgetown Agenda for the Reform of the Global Financial Architecture. In particular, multilateral development banks must change their business model and accept a new approach to risk. They should multiply their impact by massively leveraging their funds to attract greater flows of private capital to invest in the capacity of developing countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). That means scaling up guarantees and adopting first- loss positions in coalitions of financial institutions to support developing countries. Without fundamental reforms, the richest countries and individuals will continue to pile up wealth, leaving crumbs for the communities and countries of the global South. While we work to achieve those systemic reforms, we have opportunities before us to rescue the Sustainable Development Goals, starting with the United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries next month and leading to September’s SDG Summit. Let me be clear: the SDG Summit will be the centrepiece moment of 2023. Halfway to 2030, the SDGs are disappearing in the rearview mirror. Countries should come to the SDG Summit with clear benchmarks to tackle poverty and exclusion and advance gender equality. And the world must come together to mobilize resources  — now. That means urgently ensuring that developing economies have the liquidity to fund investments in quality education, universal health care, pandemic preparedness, decent work and social protection. Those provide sound foundations for a New Social Contract based on rights and opportunities for all, as set out in my report Our Common Agenda (A/75/982). By the SDG Summit, I urge the Group of 20 (G- 20) to agree on the global SDG stimulus I proposed at the most recent G-20 Summit in November in order to support countries of the global South. Despite a measure of better news in recent days related to the North American, European and Chinese economies, we cannot forget the enormous difficulties that are faced by developing countries and, indeed, working people everywhere. I will continue to push for both immediate action and fundamental reforms, using the convening power of the United Nations for real change. The right to development goes hand in hand with the right to a clean, healthy, sustainable environment. We must end the merciless, relentless and senseless war on nature. It is putting our world at immediate risk of hurtling past the 1.5°C temperature increase limit as we continue to move towards a deadly 2.8°C. Meanwhile, humankind is taking a sledgehammer to our world’s rich biodiversity, with brutal and even irreversible consequences for people and planet. Our ocean is choked by pollution, plastics and chemicals. And vampiric overconsumption is draining the lifeblood of our planet: water. The year 2023 is a year of reckoning. It must be a year of game-changing climate action. We need disruption to end the destruction. No more baby steps. No more excuses. No more greenwashing. No more bottomless greed of the fossil fuel industry and its enablers. We must focus on two urgent priorities: cutting emissions and achieving climate justice. Global emissions must be halved this decade. That means far more ambitious action to cut carbon pollution by speeding up the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy  — especially in countries belonging to the Group of 20 — and decarbonizing the highest emitting industrial sectors, such as steel, cement, shipping and aviation. It means delivering on the Just Energy Transition Partnerships with South Africa, Indonesia and Viet Nam and expanding on that cooperation through a climate solidarity pact, in which all big emitters make an extra effort to cut emissions and wealthier countries mobilize financial and technical resources to support emerging economies in a commonly planned effort to keep 1.5 °C alive. And it means more ambitious 2030 emissions targets from businesses, investors and cities, backed by credible and immediate action — meaning actual emissions and not fake carbon credits. By September, all businesses, cities, regions and financial institutions that took the 2050 net-zero pledge should present their transition plans with credible and ambitious targets for 2025 and 2030, aligned with the standards set by my High-Level Expert Group on the Net-Zero Emissions Commitments of Non-State Entities. And I have a special message for fossil-fuel producers and their enablers scrambling to expand production and raking in monster profits. If they cannot set a credible course for net-zero, with 2025 and 2030 targets covering all their operations, they should not be in business. Their core product is our core problem. We need a renewables revolution, not a self-destructive fossil-fuel resurgence. Climate action is impossible without adequate financing. Developed countries know what they must do. At the minimum, they must deliver on commitments made at the latest Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP), make good on the $100 billion-promise to developing countries, finish the job and deliver on the loss and damage fund agreed in Sharm El-Sheikh, double adaptation funding, replenish the Green Climate Fund by COP28, advance plans for early-warning systems to protect every person on Earth within five years, stop subsidizing fossil fuels and pivot investments to renewables. In September, I will convene the Climate Ambition Summit on our pathway to COP28 in December. The invitation is open to any leader in Government, business or civil society. But it comes with a condition: show us accelerated action in this decade and renewed ambitious net-zero plans, or please do not show up. COP28 in December will set the stage for the first-ever global stocktaking — a collective moment of truth to assess where we are and where we need to go in the next five years to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement. We must also bring the global biodiversity framework to life and establish a clear pathway to mobilize sufficient resources. And Governments must develop concrete plans to repurpose subsidies that are harming nature into incentives for conservation and sustainability. Action on oceans means new partnerships and tougher efforts to tackle marine pollution end overfishing, safeguard marine biodiversity and more. The United Nations 2023 Water Conference, to be held in March, must result in a bold water action agenda that gives our world’s lifeblood the commitment it deserves. Climate action is the twenty-first century’s greatest opportunity to drive forward all the Sustainable Development Goals. A clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a right that we must make real for all. Fourthly, we must ensure respect for diversity and the universality of cultural rights. Wherever we are from, wherever we live, culture is humankind’s heart and soul. It gives our lives meaning. Universality and diversity are critical to cultural rights. Those rights become meaningless if one culture or group is elevated over another. But from the destruction of sacred burial sites to State-sponsored religious conversion and so-called re-education programmes, universal cultural rights are under attack from all sides. Antisemitism, anti-Muslim bigotry, the persecution of Christians, racism and white supremacist ideology are on the march. Ethnic and religious minorities, refugees, migrants, indigenous people and the LGBTQI+ community are increasingly the targets of hate, on- and offline. Many in positions of power profit from caricaturing diversity as a threat. They sow division and hatred. They weaponize cultural differences. Social media platforms use algorithms that amplify toxic ideas and funnel extremist views into the mainstream. Advertisers finance that business model. Some platforms tolerate hate speech  — the first step towards hate crimes. The Holocaust and the United Nations outreach programme, the outreach programme on the 1994 genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda and the United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech are part of our commitment to protecting cultural rights and diversity around the world. We will call for action from everyone with influence on the spread of mis- and disinformation on the Internet — Governments, regulators, policymakers, technology companies, the media and civil society. Stop the hate. Set up strong guardrails. Be accountable for language that causes harm. And, as part of my report Our Common Agenda, we are rallying all stakeholders around a code of conduct for information integrity on digital platforms. We will also further strengthen our focus on how mis- and disinformation are impacting progress on global issues, including the climate crisis. (spoke in French) Fifthly, concerning the right to full gender equality, gender equality is both a fundamental human right and a solution to some of our greatest global challenges. However, half of humankind is being held back by the most widespread abuse of human rights of our time. In Afghanistan, women and girls are exiles in their own country, while they are banned from public life and see every aspect of their lives controlled by men. As one young woman said, “We are dead, yet alive.” In Iran, women and girls have taken to the streets to demand that their fundamental human rights be upheld at great personal cost. While the most extreme examples get attention, gender discrimination is worldwide, systematic and pervasive and hinders the development of every country. The disparity in salaries between men and women remain enormous even in the most developed economies. Less than one in four countries have reached gender parity in secondary and higher education. At the current rate, women will have to wait 286 years to achieve the same legal status as men in all domains. And the situation is only getting worse. At the international level, certain Governments are currently opposed to the mere inclusion of a gender perspective in multilateral negotiations. We are witnessing an intense challenge to the rights of women and girls. Women’s sexual and reproductive rights and legal protections are under threat. I often find myself on all-male panels, or “manels”, on issues that affect women and girls as well as men and boys. That practice must stop. Gender equality is about power. In justifying its existence by the fact that it has wielded power for thousands of years, the patriarchy is reasserting itself. The United Nations will oppose it and continue to defend the rights of women and girls throughout the world. Within that framework, I have commissioned an independent review of our gender-equality capacity across all pillars of our work. The findings and recommendations will address structures, funding and leadership so that we can better serve women throughout the world. I will also redouble my efforts to support measures, including quotas, to close gaps in women’s representation in elections, supervisory boards and peace negotiations. The Commission on the Status of Women will focus on gender gaps in science and technology that reinforce huge inequalities in the digital realm. Within our Organization, I will sustain and build on the gains made in senior leadership and strengthen efforts at every level. Sixthly, with regard to civil and political rights as the basis for inclusive societies, the freedom of expression and participation in political life are the essence of democracy and strengthen societies and economies. But, in many parts of the world, those rights are under threat as democracy is in retreat. The pandemic was used as cover for a pandemic of civil and political rights violations. Repressive laws restrict the freedom to express opinions. New technologies often provide excuses and methods to control the freedom to assemble and even the freedom of movement. Human rights activists are often targeted for harassment, abuse, detention and worse. The space for civil society is vanishing before our eyes. In an increasing number of countries, the media is in the line of fire. The number of journalists and media workers killed last year skyrocketed by 50 per cent. Many more were harassed, imprisoned and tortured. To help realize my Call to Action for Human Rights, we are working to advance fundamental freedoms, promote more systematic participation by civil society in all our work and protect civic space around the world. We are strengthening our support for laws and policies that protect the right to participation and the right to the freedom of expression, including a free and independent media. Lastly, we must recognize that all the threats that we face undermine not only people’s rights today, but also the rights of future generations. That is a basic responsibility and a litmus test of good governance. Yet, too often, future generations are barely an afterthought. Next year’s Summit of the Future must bring those rights to the heart the global discussion, including making peace with nature, ensuring an open, free, inclusive digital future for all, with a global digital compact, eliminating weapons of mass destruction and building more just and inclusive governance. There is no greater constituency to champion that future than young people, and the new United Nations Youth Office that will be up and running this year is designed to strengthen our work. Those efforts are also an opportunity to bolster global action and build a United Nations fit for a new era  — ever more creative, diverse, multilingual and closer to the people we serve. I look forward to briefing the General Assembly more fully on Our Common Agenda on Monday. (spoke in English) As we look to priorities for this year, a rights- rooted approach is central to achieving our ultimate priority  — a safer, more peaceful, more sustainable world. The Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights point the way out of today’s dead end. They are a source of solutions and a source of hope. Let us draw from that source. Let us draw from that hope and act decisively before it is too late. Time is short; the clock is ticking.

I thank the Secretary-General for his statement. As mentioned earlier, I will now suspend the meeting for an informal meeting. The formal meeting will then resume for delegations to deliver statements under agenda item 113.