Summit of the Americas is an opportunity to tackle inequality, corruption, invest in education, says Guterres
The UN Secretary-General addressed the Summit of the Americas, which this year is being held in the US city of Los Angeles, on Thursday, where he listed the challenges facing the region and the opportunities to address them.
After thanking US President Joe Biden for his invitation to participate in the Summit, António Guterres said that throughout the Americas region "we see countries that remain burdened by a toxic mix of inequality, poverty, crime, insecurity, corruption and mistrust".
On these scourges, COVID-19 has also hit the region hard, reversing hard-won development gains.
Another source of anxiety and unease, said Guterres, in a bilingual speech delivered in English and Spanish, is that of climate change "threatening to wipe out entire communities" in the small island developing states of the Caribbean or areas of California that have been ravaged by wildfires.
To this must be added Russia's war in Ukraine, the consequences of which "are spreading across a world already struggling with rising commodity prices, food insecurity and high levels of poverty and inequality".
All this has led to rising inflation, soaring debt and a lack of fiscal space and financial support for many countries to invest in recovery. Other middle-income nations that also desperately need such help are deemed ineligible by international financial institutions.
"People see violence and insecurity forcing them to flee their homes and countries. They also see increasing levels of gender-based violence. More fundamentally, people are losing faith in their governments and institutions. They see crime and corruption going unpunished. They see a broken global financial system that benefits the rich and punishes the poor. They see lies, misinformation and hate speech going viral, sowing divisions, mistrust and hatred. And they hear the voices of democracy drowned out by the rise of authoritarian and nationalist sentiments, spreading false promises of security and prosperity," he said.
But precisely because of all this, the Summit of the Americas offers an opportunity to address these challenges, he said.
"This means rescuing the Sustainable Development Goals and investing in all the systems that support people, from health and decent work to social protection systems and vaccines for all" the Secretary-General said.
It also means investing in quality education and reforming the global financial system so that all countries can access the financing and debt relief they need to invest in recovery.
In addition, he recommended ending dependence on fossil fuels, safeguarding biodiversity and increasing financial support for developing countries.
Guterres then addressed the issue of migration, calling for a new approach to ensure that people are welcomed and protected, and that they are offered the safety, dignity and support that all human beings deserve, in accordance with the Global Compact on Migration.
"This requires greater cooperation between countries of origin, transit and destination, with human rights at its core. It also requires fair justice systems impervious to corruption, and new efforts to tackle crime and violence", he said.
The UN number one, who offered the Organisation's support at every step to improve the current situation in the region, noted that democratic systems also need to protect human rights defenders and truly reflect the voice of the people, and called for "a renewed multilateralism that can bring all nations of the world together in search of common solutions".
