LONDON: Among other global hotspots, the UN chief voiced strong hopes for an end to the conflict in Ukraine in 2023, condemned the Iranian government's crackdown on protesters, urged all countries to confront threats from the far-right, and urged international urged the community to inform Israel's new right-wing government that "there is no alternative to a two-state solution."
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said during a lengthy news conference to end the year that he does not anticipate any talks to end the war in Ukraine in the near future and expects the already escalating military conflict to continue . However, he demanded that everything must be done to end Europe's most devastating conflict since World War II by the end of 2023, which he has high hopes for.
In addition, Guterres urged the Taliban government in charge of Afghanistan to stop all terrorist activities on its soil, restore employment rights for women, and include all ethnic groups in the government. He also reaffirmed the UN's resolve to work toward denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, saying the international community should do the same because it is "vital to peace and security in East Asia and the rest of the world"
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The Secretary-General gave the following advice to administrators of all social media sites, including Twitter: You have a duty to protect freedom of the press, while also ensuring that hate speech and extremist viewpoints, such as those held by neo-Nazis and white supremacists , is kept away from your website.
The cost of living crisis, rising inequality, and the fact that most of the world's poorest countries are "staring at the abyss of bankruptcy and default" led to a 35 percent increase in debt service payments, the biggest increase in decades, just As we look to 2022, Guterres said "there could be a lot of reasons for gloom" some of the geopolitical divide.
He added, however, that "as the year draws to a close, we are working to push back against the gloom, to fight against the disillusionment, and to find real solutions."
"We are finally starting to make a peace deal with nature," the secretary-general declared, citing Monday's landmark agreement on the protection of the world's land and oceans, which is essential to protecting biodiversity in developing countries. Provides wealth. Additionally, he noted "some progress" in some of the conflicts.
He said there is hope in Ethiopia because of the African Union's efforts to mediate peace. A "framework for political dialogue" has been established in the Congo as a result of diplomatic efforts by Angola and the East African Community to end the crisis in the country's mineral-rich east. A six-month ceasefire in Yemen has "paid real dividends for the people" despite the fact that it was not extended, and flights, fuel and food deliveries are still being carried out.
A UN and Turkey-brokered deal to resume grain shipments from Ukraine and food and fertilizer exports from Russia is "making a difference," he claimed, even in Ukraine.
Guterres said the UN is focusing its efforts on expanding the initiative that has moved more than 14 million metric tons of Ukrainian grain from three Black Sea ports by increasing exports and inspections, even though there is no immediate prospect of talks Is.
He claimed that Russian wheat exports "have tripled," and the United Nations is looking into the possibility of exporting Russian ammonia, an important component of an urgently needed fertilizer, from a port on the Black Sea.
According to the UN chief, the UN is also very interested in expediting the exchange of Ukrainian and Russian prisoners of war ahead of the Orthodox Christmas celebrated in January.
With regard to terrorism, Guterres urged the condemnation of all forms of extremism such as neo-Nazism, white supremacy, anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim hatred in Western countries and around the world.
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Obviously, there is danger here and we should fight it firmly. As just one example of the threat to democratic societies around the world, Guterres cited the recent alleged coup attempt in Germany, which resulted in the arrest of more than 20 individuals linked to the far-right movement.
Also harshly criticized by the secretary-general was Iran's crackdown on peaceful protesters who took to the streets in September following the death of a 22-year-old woman who was detained by morality police and her headscarf was improperly removed. He was accused of donating. Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group tracking the protests, reports that more than 450 people have been killed and more than 18,000 detained.
Guterres said, referring to the Iranian government's actions as "totally unacceptable," that "we are witnessing massive violations of human rights that we strongly condemned."
He claimed that after discussing the matter with the Iranian president in September, the UN has kept up its protests to Iran.
According to Guterres, "we will do everything we can in the context of our limited sphere of confidence to make sure" the 2015 nuclear agreement—also known as the JCPOA—between Iran and six major powers isn't lost. Former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018.
The US's re-entry into the agreement, which loosened sanctions in exchange for limits on Iran's nuclear programme, has been the subject of stalled negotiations.
According to Guterres, "we are currently in a serious risk of losing the JCPOA," which would be extremely detrimental to peace and stability in the region and elsewhere.
Guterres was questioned about the more than 200 Palestinians killed this year, the majority of whom were civilians, and Israel's election of the most right-wing government in its history, which includes individuals opposed to a Palestinian state, in relation to the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The UN, he claimed, has been very clear in its condemnation of violence against Palestinians, and the organisation is worried "because we believe there is no Plan B to the two-state solution and we are very concerned with what the next Israeli government might do in that regard."
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According to Guterres, "I think it's very important that the entire international community be very clear explaining to the government in Israel that there is no other option than the two-state solution, and that no unilateral actions should be taken putting the two-state solution into question."