UN Secretary General urges action to avoid a new Cold War - MPPRE

UN Secretary General urges action to avoid a new Cold War

The Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), António Guterres, on Tuesday urged all countries of the world to bet on inclusion and respect, having multilateralism as a fundamental basis, as well as the ceasefire and the construction of an inclusive peace process with the hope of a sustainable society, all this also as a key to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic.

During his speech to start the General Debate of the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly, the Secretary General stated that the humanitarian cost of the war and the pandemic is accompanied by a devastating blow to the peoples’ food security, causing the death of millions of people due to the hunger.

“This is the moment to promote peace and reconciliation. I ask the international community, led by the Security Council, to make the call for an end of conflicts to come true before the end of the year. We must do everything possible to avoid a new Cold War”, he stressed.

Renewal of the collective commitment to multilateralism


For his part, the President of the UN General Assembly, Volkan Bozkir, agreed with the Secretary General and called on the member countries to renew their collective commitment to multilateralism and thus, face the problems caused by the global health crisis.

In his speech, he stated that “mankind seldom faces such an imminent common threat; Today we must put aside our differences, we must renew our collective commitment to multilateralism, we must combine our efforts to address this global problem and ensure that no one is left behind”, indicating that multilateralism is essential to implement the main UN mandates, written in its Charter as they are: maintaining peace, promoting inclusive and sustainable development and protecting human rights.

“People need to know that they are not alone. The people we serve recognize that the multilateral system is the best system available to offer solutions to complex problems such as climate change, peace and security, the protection of human rights and global pandemics”, he added while stating that the UN must act and implement reforms to make the United Nations fit for purpose and provide the wanted future.