The Conference, which was established with the primary goal of fostering cooperation for mutual disarmament, has faced significant challenges in recent times. “Something looks wrong if a disarmament conference leads to no meaningful disarmament, year after year,” Secretary-General António Guterres said. “Humanity needs the Conference on Disarmament to work successfully. The paralysis and deadlock that…
“Our world is facing existential challenges, but the global community is more fragmented and divided than at any time during the past 75 years,” he said, highlighting the need for “a global order that works for everyone”. Mr. Guterres said if countries fulfilled their obligations under the UN Charter, every person on earth would live…
“Sadly, women and girls continue to face systemic barriers and biases that prevent them from pursuing careers in science,” he noted in a message for the day. Today, women make up only a third of the global scientific community and, compared to men, they get less funding, are underrepresented in publications and hold fewer senior…
Addressing the General Assembly with a list of priority areas for action, António Guterres underscored that the UN was founded on the pursuit of peace. “Peace is our raison d’être. Yet, as I scan the landscape of today’s world, the one thing missing most dramatically is peace,” he said. From the conflict in Gaza to the…
The independent Review Group – appointed in consultation with UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini – will examine whether the agency is doing everything it can to ensure neutrality and to respond to allegations of serious breaches when they arise. It will be led by former French Foreign Minister, Catherine Colonna, who will work with three research organizations: the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in…
“Even one mutilation is one too many,” António Guterres said in his message to mark the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), observed annually on 6 February. The UN estimates that globally, more than 200 million women and girls have been subjected to some form of FGM, which involves the removal…
Addressing the annual session of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, the UN chief voiced deep concern over the violence and suffering that has intensified, particularly since the October 7 attack by Hamas and other militants based in Gaza and the subsequent military offensive by Israel. “The death,…
Observing Saturday’s International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, he highlighted the millions of Jewish children, women and men, along with countless others, who suffered persecution and death during that dark period. “We honour their memory. We stand with the survivors, their families and descendants. We pledge never to forget…
Video feed of the Council meeting, expected to start at 2 PM. There are dozens of countries remaining who want to speak in this high stakes open debate on the Middle East in the Security Council. All the Council members have already had their say, along with many of the big regional players. Here are…
More than 130 countries are members of the bloc – the largest grouping of the global South, representing 80 percent of the planet’s population – and their solidarity and partnership are essential to building a sustainable, peaceful, and just world for all, he said. “Let us face it: those that benefit most from the present…
