António Guterres Quotes

gender equality is “vanishing before our eyes...[it is] 300 years away.”

There is more than enough food in the world to feed our population of 7.8 billion. But, today, more than 820 million people are hungry & #COVID19 is making things worse. To eradicate hunger, we must ensure inclusive access to healthy and nutritious food.

As we work to build back better after #COVID19, let’s put nature where it belongs -- at the heart of our decision making. The global community must commit to a green and resilient future.

We must end all violence – from the warzone to the home. 124 Member states and observers so far have answered my call for peace at home during the #COVID19 crisis. Now more than ever, there must be zero tolerance for violence against women and girls.

The transatlantic slave trade is one of the biggest crimes in the history of humankind. And we continue to live in its shadow. We can only move forward by confronting the racist legacy of slavery together.

Climate change is the defining issue of our time – and we are at a defining moment. We face a direct existential threat.

With our bottomless appetite for unchecked and unequal economic growth, humanity has become a weapon of mass extinction. We are treating nature like a toilet. And ultimately, we are committing suicide by proxy

This war is unwinnable. Sooner or later, it will have to move from the battlefield to the peace table. That is inevitable. The only question is: How many more lives must be lost? How many more bombs must fall? How many Mariupols must be destroyed? How many Ukrainians and Russians will be killed before everyone realizes that this war has no winners — only losers? How many more people will have to die in Ukraine, and how many people around the world will have to face hunger for this to stop? Continuing the war in Ukraine is morally unacceptable, politically indefensible and militarily nonsensical. What I said from this podium almost one month ago should be even more evident today. By any measure — by even the shrewdest calculation — it is time to stop the fighting now and give peace a chance. It is time to end this absurd war.

I think there is a way this war has been conducted in which there has been no effective protection of civilians. I think there are violations of international humanitarian law.

This is not a typical humanitarian UN operation in a developing country, with lots of problems of governance and lots of difficulties. Ukraine is a country with a government and a system of support to its citizens, and so the role of the UN is not replace that system, it is to support the Government to support the people of Ukraine.

The greatest shortcoming of the international community today is its failure to prevent conflict and maintain global security.

One month ago, the Russian Federation launched a massive invasion of the sovereign territory of Ukraine in violation of the UN Charter. It was done after months of building up a military force of overwhelming proportion along the Ukrainian border. Since then, we have seen appalling human suffering and destruction in cities, towns and villages. Systematic bombardments that terrorise civilians. The shelling of hospitals, schools, apartment buildings and shelters. And all of it is intensifying — getting more destructive and more unpredictable by the hour.

The health of humanity depends on the health of the planet. Today, we are gradually killing our planet. On Desertification and Drought Day, I call for scaling up of land restoration & nature-based solutions for #ClimateAction.

I am pleased that more than 100 civilians have successfully been evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, in an operation successfully coordinated by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross. I hope the continued coordination with Kyiv and Moscow will lead to more humanitarian pauses that will allow civilians safe passage away from the fighting and aid to reach people where the needs are greatest.

As the world fights #COVID19, we are also fighting an epidemic of harmful falsehoods & lies. I'm announcing a new @UN Communications Response initiative to spread facts & science, countering the scourge of misinformation - a poison putting more lives at risk.