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UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that the situation in Gaza is unprecedented, urging the international community not to allow the suffering of Palestinians to fade from global attention.
Addressing the opening of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday morning, Guterres said the scale of killing of Palestinians in Gaza since the October 7, 2023 attacks and subsequent Israeli military campaign was unlike anything he had witnessed during his years as secretary-general.
He urged world leaders to keep Gaza among their priorities despite the many other crises confronting the international community.
Guterres also addressed the war in Ukraine, describing Russia’s full-scale invasion as a clear violation of the UN Charter. He said civilians continue to be killed away from the front lines, with most such casualties occurring in Ukraine, while some civilian deaths have also been reported in parts of Russia.
The UN chief stressed that military, technological or economic power alone cannot deliver lasting peace.
“Power must be governed by law,” he said, emphasizing that force should not be the ultimate means of determining whose lives and future matter.
According to Guterres, peace in the 21st century means more than simply the absence of war; it also requires restraint and respect for international law.
He also warned that the global balance of power is undergoing rapid change in three major ways: new centres of economic, political and technological influence are emerging among states; greater power is moving into the hands of private corporations and individuals; and advances in technologies such as artificial intelligence are transferring some forms of power from humans to machines, including through the development of autonomous weapons.
Guterres said international institutions and systems have yet to adequately adapt to these rapid shifts in power.
He described the world as facing an increasingly interconnected set of crises, ranging from war and climate change to the rapid development of artificial intelligence.
“These are not separate stories,” he argued, saying they are different chapters of a broader global challenge centred on the question of who holds power and how that power is exercised.
The UN General Assembly’s 81st session began on September 22 and will continue through September 28 at UN Headquarters in New York.
Guterres has also previously warned of the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, calling for unrestricted humanitarian assistance and a political path toward a two-state solution.
Source : Al Jazeera
