Tag: Antonio Guterres

UN chief urges Israel and Hamas to reach ceasefire deal in Gaza | Israel War on Gaza News

Antonio Guterres says he fears war in Gaza ‘will worsen exponentially’ without a truce as Israel’s Rafah assault looms.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has renewed his calls for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip as a Hamas delegation is set to visit the Egyptian capital, Cairo, soon for renewed indirect talks.

“For the sake of the people of Gaza, the hostages & their families, and the region & the wider world – I strongly encourage the government of Israel & Hamas leadership to reach an agreement in their negotiations,”  the secretary-general said in a post on X on Friday.

The UN chief added that he fears “the war will worsen exponentially” without a ceasefire.

His comments come as CIA Director William Burns arrived in Cairo for meetings, the Reuters news agency reported, citing an Egyptian security source and three sources at Cairo airport.

Egypt, along with Qatar and the United States, has been leading efforts to mediate between Israel and Hamas to broker a deal for a ceasefire and captive release in Gaza.

A day earlier, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said he discussed the latest Israeli proposal for a truce with Egyptian and Qatari mediators.

Hamas confirmed on Thursday that talks are scheduled to take place in the coming days with the aim of ending the war on Gaza.

This week, the Palestinian group said it had received Israel’s latest position and would study it before submitting a reply.

Both US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron urged Hamas to accept the deal describing it as a “generous” offer. It includes a halt in fighting for 40 days and the exchange of dozens of Israeli captives for many more Palestinian prisoners.

But Hamas has stressed that it would not accept an agreement that does not lead to a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the unhindered return of displaced families to their homes.

Looming Rafah incursion

Amid the push for a ceasefire, Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, voiced concern for civilians in the besieged enclave.

Laerke warned that a looming Israeli ground offensive into Gaza’s southern city of Rafah would put the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians there at risk.

“It could be a slaughter of civilians and an incredible blow to the humanitarian operation in the entire Strip because it is run primarily out of Rafah,” Laerke said at a Geneva news briefing on Friday.

Rafah has been the main gateway for aid into Gaza, which has been under a severe Israeli blockade that has brought the territory to the verge of famine.

Aid operations conducted out of Rafah include medical clinics and food distribution points, such as centres for malnourished children, Laerke said.

More than 1.5 displaced Palestinians are sheltering in Rafah, which is enduring deadly Israeli attacks on a daily basis.

At least 34,622 Palestinians have been killed and 77,867 wounded in the Israeli assault on Gaza since October.

Its offensive has driven more than 80 percent of the territory’s 2.3 million people from their homes. Most displaced people have moved to the south of the territory and ended up in Rafah near the border with Egypt.

Countries around the world have urged Israel against invading Rafah, warning of disastrous humanitarian consequences. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to launch a full scale attack against the city regardless of the outcome of the ceasefire talks.

This week, he said Israel will destroy Hamas’s remaining battalions in Rafah “with or without a deal” so Israel can achieve “total victory” in the war.

In November during a weeklong truce, dozens of captives were released by Palestinian groups in Gaza in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. But Israeli forces renewed their offensive after the ceasefire expired.



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Israel has brought ‘relentless death and destruction’ to Gaza: UN chief | Israel War on Gaza News

Antonio Guterres says ‘nothing can justify the collective punishment’ in Gaza, and calls for more aid access to the enclave.

Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has brought “relentless death and destruction” to Palestinians in the strip, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said.

In a speech marking six months since Israel’s war on Gaza began, the UN chief said that “nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”

“Lives are shattered. Respect for international humanitarian law is in tatters,” he added.

“During my visit to the Rafah crossing 10 days ago, I met veteran humanitarians who told me categorically that the crisis and suffering in Gaza is unlike any they have ever seen,” Guterres said, adding that long lines of trucks with aid continued to face “obstacle after obstacle”.

“When the gates to aid are closed, the doors to starvation are opened,” he said.

“More than half the population – over a million people – are facing catastrophic hunger. Children in Gaza today are dying for lack of food and water.

“This is incomprehensible, and entirely avoidable.”

Since Israel’s war on Gaza began on October 7, more than 33,000 people have been killed, according to health authorities. Hundreds of thousands have also been displaced and aid organisations warn that the strip is on the brink of famine.

Aid access

The UN secretary-general said he sincerely hoped Israel will quickly and effectively boost aid access to the Gaza Strip.

Israel has approved the reopening of the Beit Hanoon (Erez) crossing into northern Gaza and temporary use of Ashdod port in southern Israel after US President Joe Biden demanded steps to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, saying conditions could be placed on US support for Israel if it did not act.

Global outrage at the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave of 2.3 million people escalated after an Israeli air attack on Monday killed seven people working for US-based food charity World Central Kitchen.

The UN says at least 196 humanitarian workers have now been killed in the war.

Guterres also said he was “deeply troubled” by reports that the Israeli military has been using artificial intelligence to help identify bombing targets in Gaza. The Israeli military has denied AI was used to identify suspected fighters and targets.

“No part of life and death decisions which impact entire families should be delegated to the cold calculation of algorithms,” the UN chief said.

Guterres also called Hamas’s October 7 attack “a day of pain for Israel and the world”, said he mourned for those killed “in cold blood”, and called for the unconditional release of all the captives still held in Gaza.

Israel has said some 1,200 people were killed during the October 7 attack and more than 200 taken captive – dozens of whom have since been released.

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UN secretary-general invokes Article 99 on Gaza | Israel-Palestine conflict News

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter, urging the UN Security Council to act on the war in Gaza.

The rare move by the secretary-general comes as the Security Council is yet to adopt a resolution calling for a ceasefire between Israel, Hamas and their allies.

Considered the UN’s most powerful body, the 15-member Security Council is tasked with maintaining international peace and security.

In his letter to the council’s president, Guterres invoked this responsibility, saying he believed the situation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, “may aggravate existing threats to the maintenance of international peace and security”.

Guterres – who has been calling for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” since October 18 – also described “appalling human suffering, physical destruction and collective trauma across Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories”.

In response to Guterres’s letter, Security Council member the United Arab Emirates posted on X to say it had submitted a new draft resolution to the council, and “called for a humanitarian ceasefire resolution to be adopted urgently”.

If the council does choose to act on Guterres’s advice and adopt a ceasefire resolution, it does have additional powers at its disposal to ensure the resolution is implemented, including the power to impose sanctions or authorise the deployment of an international force.

But the council’s five permanent members – China, Russia, the US, the UK and France – hold veto power.

The US used that veto on October 18 against a resolution that would have condemned Hamas’s attack on Israel while calling for a pause in the fighting to allow humanitarian assistance into Gaza. Twelve other council members voted in favour, while Russia and the UK abstained.

Catastrophe looms

Guterres said the Security Council’s continued lack of action and the sharp deterioration of the situation in Gaza had compelled him to invoke Article 99 for the first time since he took on the top job at the UN in 2017.

He warned public order in Gaza could soon break down amid the complete collapse of the humanitarian system.

“The situation is fast deteriorating into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole and for peace and security in the region,” he wrote.

“Such an outcome must be avoided at all costs.”

But Guterres’s invocation of Article 99 was not welcomed by Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan.

In a post on X, Erdan described the letter as “more proof” of Guterres’s “moral distortion and his bias against Israel”.

“The secretary-general’s call for a ceasefire is actually a call to keep Hamas’s reign of terror in Gaza,” said Erdan, who also repeated his call for Guterres to resign.

The UN Charter only provides limited powers to the UN secretary-general, who serves as the UN’s Chief Administrative Officer and is elected by member states.

Article 99 of the UN Charter gives the secretary-general the power to “bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security”.

“The fact that this tool has not been used since 1989 does resonate diplomatically and symbolically here in New York,” Daniel Forti, a senior analyst on UN advocacy and research at the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera.

But Forti added that it will not “fundamentally change the political calculation of the Security Council’s most powerful members”.



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‘Epic Humanitarian Catastrophe’ in Gaza Strip | Antonio Guterres

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An “epic humanitarian catastrophe” is unfolding in Gaza says UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. He welcomed the extension of a truce between Israel and Hamas but said a true humanitarian ceasefire is needed.

Published On 30 Nov 2023

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Rebuilding Climate-Devastated Pakistan will Run in Excess of 16 Billion Dollars — Global Issues

A flooded village in Matiari, in the Sindh province of Pakistan. Credit: UNICEF/Asad Zaidi
  • by Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General (geneva)
  • Inter Press Service
  • An address to the International Conference on a Climate-Resilient Pakistan

GENEVA, Jan 10 (IPS) – For decades, I have been privileged to witness the boundless generosity and resilience of the Pakistani people amidst grave threats and upheaval.

From earthquakes and floods. To years of relentless terrorist attacks. To geopolitical nightmares like the wars in Afghanistan that have sent millions fleeing across the Pakistani border in search of safety over the decades — a trend that continues today.

But even through the darkest moments, the giving spirit of the Pakistani people has shone brightly. I have seen neighbours helping neighbours with food, water and shelter.

And I have seen Pakistani communities welcome Afghan refugees with open arms despite their scarce resources So my heart broke when I saw first hand the utter devastation of last summer’s floods.

No country deserves to endure what happened to Pakistan. But it was especially bitter to watch that country’s generous spirit being repaid with a climate disaster of monumental scale.

As the video we just watched showed, the epic floods were nothing short of a “monsoon on steroids” – as I mentioned in my visit – submerging one-third of the country, three times the area of my own country, Portugal.

A terrifying “wall of water” killed more than 1,700 people, injured thousands more, and affected a total of more than 33 million, displacing 8 million people.

It swept over roads, ruined millions of acres of agricultural land, and damaged or destroyed 2 million homes. And it pushed back 9 million people to the brink of poverty.

These are not numbers on a page. They are individual women, children and men. They are families and communities.

And under the leadership of the Government of Pakistan, the United Nations, donors and friends rallied to assist.

Tents, food, water, medicine and cash transfers were distributed. And a humanitarian response plan of $816 million was launched.

But all of that is just a trickle of support in the face of the growing flood of need.

At the same time, the people of Pakistan met this epic tragedy with heroic humanity.

From the first responders rushing to affected communities. To the doctors and nurses I met, fighting against time to save lives in overcrowded hospitals.

And I will never forget hearing the personal testimonies of women and men I met in September in the wake of the ruins.

They left their own homes and all their worldly possessions to help their neighbours escape the rising waters. They sacrificed all they had to help others and bring them to safety.

We must match the heroic response of the people of Pakistan with our own efforts and massive investments to strengthen their communities for the future.

Rebuilding Pakistan in a resilient way will run in excess of $16 billion — and far more will be needed in the longer term.

This includes not only flood recovery and rehabilitation efforts. But also initiatives to address daunting social, environmental and economic challenges.

Reconstructing homes and buildings. Re-designing public infrastructure — including roads, bridges, schools and hospitals.

Jump-starting jobs and agriculture. Ensuring that technology and knowledge are shared with Pakistan to support its efforts to build a climate-resilient future.

And throughout, supporting women and children, who are up to 14 times more likely than men to die during disasters, and face the brunt of upheaval and loss in humanitarian crises.

Women are consistently on the front lines of support during times of crisis — including in Pakistan. Their efforts are essential to a strong, equal, inclusive recovery.

It is crucial that women play their full part, as leaders and participants at every level, contributing their insights and solutions.

We also need to right a fundamental wrong. Pakistan is doubly victimized by climate chaos and a morally bankrupt global financial system.

That system routinely denies middle-income countries the debt relief and concessional funding needed to invest in resilience against natural disasters.

And so, we need creative ways for developing countries to access debt relief and concessional financing when they need it the most Above all, we need to be honest about the brutal injustice of loss and damage suffered by developing countries because of climate change.

If there is any doubt about loss and damage — go to Pakistan.

There is loss. There is damage.

The devastation of climate change is real. From floods and droughts, to cyclones and torrential rains.

And as always, those developing countries least responsible are the first to suffer.

Pakistan — which represents less than one per cent of global emissions — did not cause the climate crisis.

But it is living with its worst impacts.

South Asia is one of the world’s global climate crisis hotspots — in which people are 15 times more likely to die from climate impacts than elsewhere.

At the recent UN Climate Conference in Egypt, the world made some important breakthroughs.This includes progress on addressing loss and damage, speeding the shift to renewables, and an unprecedented call to reform the global financial architecture, particularly Multilateral Development Banks.

It also includes accelerating efforts to cover every person in the world with early warning systems against climate disasters within five years.

But we need to go much further. Countries on the frontlines of the climate crisis need massive support.

Developed countries must deliver on their commitment to double adaptation finance, and meet the $100 billion goal urgently, without delay.

And we need to reverse the outrageous trend of emissions going up, when they must go down to prevent further climate catastrophe.

Today’s conference is the first step on a much longer journey towards recovery and reconstruction in Pakistan.

The United Nations will be there for the long haul. The world must be, too.

And at every step, we will be inspired by the endurance and generosity of the people of Pakistan in this critical and colossal mission.

IPS UN Bureau


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UN Chief Urges Governments to Tax “Immoral” & Excessive” Oil and Gas Profits — Global Issues

UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Credit: UN Photo/Mark Garten
  • Opinion by Antonio Guterres (united nations)
  • Inter Press Service
  • Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, in his address to the UN press corps while launching the third brief by the Global Crisis Response Group on Energy.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 04 (IPS) – The war in Ukraine continues to have a devastating impact on the people of that country. Civilians are dying in the most tragic circumstances every day. Millions of lives have been destroyed or put on hold.

This war is senseless, and we must all do everything in our power to bring it to an end through a negotiated solution in line with the UN Charter and international law.

We are doing all we can to reduce suffering and save lives in Ukraine and the region, through our humanitarian operations. And Martin Griffiths will be able to soon brief you on those developments.

But the war is also having a huge and multi-dimensional impact far beyond Ukraine, through a threefold crisis of access to food, energy and finance.

Household budgets everywhere are feeling the pinch from high food, transport and energy prices, fueled by climate breakdown and war.

This threatens a starvation crisis for the poorest households, and severe cutbacks for those on average incomes.

Many developing countries are drowning in debt, without access to finance, and struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and could go over the brink.

We are already seeing the warning signs of a wave of economic, social and political upheaval that would leave no country untouched.

That is the reason why I set up the Global Crisis Response Group: to find coordinated global solutions to this triple crisis, recognizing its three elements – food, energy and finance – that are deeply interconnected.

The GCRG has presented detailed recommendations on food and finance. I believe we are making some progress, namely on food.

Today’s report looks at the energy crisis, with a wide array of recommendations.

Simply put, it aims to achieve the energy equivalent of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, by managing this energy crisis while safeguarding the Paris Agreement and our climate goals.

I would like to highlight four of the recommendations of the report.

First, it is immoral for oil and gas companies to be making record profits from this energy crisis on the backs of the poorest people and communities and at a massive cost to the climate.

The combined profits of the largest energy companies in the first quarter of this year are close to $100 billion.

I urge all governments to tax these excessive profits and use the funds to support the most vulnerable people through these difficult times.

And I urge people everywhere to send a clear message to the fossil fuel industry and their financiers that this grotesque greed is punishing the poorest and most vulnerable people, while destroying our only common home, the planet.

Second, all countries – and especially developed countries – must manage energy demand. Conserving energy, promoting public transport and nature-based solutions are essential components of that.

Third, we need to accelerate the transition to renewables, which in most cases are cheaper than fossil fuels.

Earlier this year, I outlined a 5-point plan to spark the renewables revolution.

Storage technologies including batteries should become public goods.

Governments must scale up and diversify supply chains for raw materials and renewable energy technologies.

They should eliminate red tape around the energy transition, and shift fossil fuel subsidies to support vulnerable households and boost renewable energy investments.

Governments must support the people, communities and sectors most affected, with social protection schemes and alternative jobs and livelihoods.

Fourth, private and multilateral finance for the green energy transition must be scaled up.

Renewable energy investments need to increase by factor of seven to meet the net zero goal, according to the International Energy Agency.

Multilateral development banks need to take more risks, help countries set up the right regulatory frameworks and modernize their power grids, and mobilize private finance at scale.

I urge shareholders in those banks to exercise their rights and make sure they are fit for purpose.

Today’s report expands on these ideas, and Rebeca Grynspan will elaborate on them in a moment.

Every country is part of this energy crisis, and all countries are paying attention to what others are doing. There is no place for hypocrisy.

Developing countries don’t lack reasons to invest in renewables. Many of them are living with the severe impacts of the climate crisis, including storms, wildfires, floods and droughts.

What they lack are concrete, workable options. Meanwhile, developed countries are urging them to invest in renewables, without providing enough social, technical or financial support.

And some of those same developed countries are introducing universal subsidies at gas stations, while others are reopening coal plants. It is difficult to justify such steps even on a temporary basis.

If they are pursued, such policies must be strictly time-bound and targeted, to ease the burden on the energy-poor and the most vulnerable, during the fastest possible transition to renewables.

Footnote: Launching the third brief of the Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres thanked the GCRG Task Team, coordinated by Rebeca Grynspan, and the Energy Workstream, for making this report possible.

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The World is Burning. We Need a Renewables Revolution — Global Issues

Secretary-General António Guterres
  • Opinion by Antonio Guterres (united nations)
  • Inter Press Service

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 12 (IPS) – The only true path to energy security, stable power prices, prosperity and a livable planet lies in abandoning polluting fossil fuels and accelerating the renewables-based energy transition.Nero was famously accused of fiddling while Rome burned. Today, some leaders are doing worse. They are throwing fuel on the fire. Literally.

As the fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ripples across the globe, the response of some nations to the growing energy crisis has been to double down on fossil fuels – pouring billions more dollars into the coal, oil and gas that are driving our deepening climate emergency.

Meanwhile all climate indicators continue to break records, forecasting a future of ferocious storms, floods, droughts, wildfires and unlivable temperatures in vast swathes of the planet.

Our world faces climate chaos. New funding for fossil fuel exploration and production infrastructure is delusional. Fossil fuels are not the answer, nor will they ever be.

We can see the damage we are doing to the planet and our societies. It is in the news every day, and no one is immune.

Fossil fuels are the cause of the climate crisis. Renewable energy is the answer – to limit climate disruption and boost energy security. Had we invested earlier and massively in renewable energy, we would not find ourselves once again at the mercy of unstable fossil fuel markets.

Renewables are the peace plan of the 21st century. But the battle for a rapid and just energy transition is not being fought on a level field. Investors are still backing fossil fuels, and governments still hand out billions in subsidies for coal, oil and gas – some US $11 million every minute.

Secretary-General António GuterresThere is a word for favouring short-term relief over long-term well-being. Addiction. We are still addicted to fossil fuels. For the health of our societies and planet, we need to quit. Now.

The only true path to energy security, stable power prices, prosperity and a livable planet lies in abandoning polluting fossil fuels and accelerating the renewables-based energy transition.

To that end, I have called on G20 governments to dismantle coal infrastructure, with a full phase-out by 2030 for OECD countries and 2040 for all others.

I have urged financial actors to abandon fossil fuel finance and invest in renewable energy. And I have proposed a five-point plan to boost renewable energy round the world.

Five-point plan

First, we must make renewable energy technology a global public good, including removing intellectual property barriers to technology transfer.

Second, we must improve global access to supply chains for renewable energy technologies components and raw materials.

In 2020, the world installed 5 gigawatts of battery storage. We need 600 gigawatts of storage capacity by 2030. Clearly, we need a global coalition to get there.

Shipping bottlenecks and supply-chain constraints, as well as higher costs for lithium and other battery metals, are hurting deployment of such technologies and materials just as we need them most.

Third, we must cut the red tape that holds up solar and wind projects. We need fast-track approvals and more effort to modernize electricity grids. In the European Union, it takes eight years to approve a wind farm, and 10 years in the United States. In the Republic of Korea, onshore wind projects need 22 permits from eight different ministries.

Fourth, the world must shift energy subsidies from fossil fuels to protect vulnerable people from energy shocks and invest in a just transition to sustainable future.

And fifth, we need to triple investments in renewables. This includes multilateral development banks and development finance institutions, as well as commercial banks. All must step up and dramatically boost investments in renewables.

We need more urgency from all global leaders. We are already perilously close to hitting the 1.5°C limit that science tells us is the maximum level of warming to avoid the worst climate impacts.

To keep 1.5 alive, we must reduce emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 and reach net zero emissions by mid-century. But current national commitments will lead to an increase of almost 14 per cent this decade. That spells catastrophe.

The answer lies in renewables – for climate action, for energy security, and for providing clean electricity to the hundreds of millions of people who currently lack it. Renewables are a triple win.

There is no excuse for anyone to reject a renewables revolution. While oil and gas prices have reached record price levels, renewables are getting cheaper all the time.

The cost of solar energy and batteries has plummeted 85 per cent over the past decade. The cost of wind power fell by 55 per cent. And investment in renewables creates three times more jobs than fossil fuels.

Of course, renewables are not the only answer to the climate crisis. Nature-based solutions, such as reversing deforestation and land degradation, are essential. So too are efforts to promote energy efficiency. But a rapid renewable energy transition must be our ambition.

As we wean ourselves off fossil fuels, the benefits will be vast, and not just to the climate. Energy prices will be lower and more predictable, with positive knock-on effects for food and economic security.

When energy prices rise, so do the costs of food and all the goods we rely on. So, let us all agree that a rapid renewables revolution is necessary and stop fiddling while our future burns.

Antonio Guterres, a former Prime Minister of Portugal, is the Secretary-General of the United Nations

Source: Africa Renewal, United Nations

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