‘Put Humanity Back at Centre of Our Common Endeavours’, Urges Secretary-General, Opening Economic and Social Council Humanitarian Affairs Segment

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the Economic and Social Council humanitarian affairs segment, in New York today:

Excellencies, distinguished guests, dear friends,

Welcome to this year’s Economic and Social Council humanitarian affairs segment.  We meet at a time of immense challenges — to the international order, to our planet and to our humanity.

As we mark the seventy-fifth anniversary of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, conflict, disregard for the rules of war and a runaway climate crisis are creating appalling human suffering.

In Gaza, Israeli military operations have reportedly claimed the lives of more than 36,000 people in just eight months.  More than three quarters of the population have been forced to flee, many several times, and severe obstacles to humanitarian access have brought people to the brink of famine.

In Sudan, more than a year of brutal fighting, indiscriminate attacks on civilians, rape, torture, and ethnically motivated violence have created the world’s largest displacement crisis.  Famine and disease are closing in while aid trucks wait weeks for clearance and access.

We see the same cruel patterns of civilian suffering from Haiti to Ukraine, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar and beyond. In most cases, there is no accountability.  The perpetrators enjoy complete impunity.

Meanwhile, vulnerable communities and countries are being pounded by the humanitarian and economic impacts of the climate crisis.  In Southern Africa alone, more than 60 million people have been severely affected this year by drought, floods and other extreme weather conditions, exacerbated by El Niño and supercharged by our overheated climate.

Across the world, these factors are driving vast levels of humanitarian need — including record levels of hunger and displacement.  For millions of people facing these challenges, the only ray of hope is humanitarian aid, often provided by the United Nations and our partners on the ground — the local humanitarian organizations working to save lives and reduce suffering.

Humanitarian workers represent the spirit of multilateralism and humanity; they are the face of our duty of care for our fellow human beings.  But an unconscionable number of our humanitarian colleagues are losing their lives and suffering injury, abduction, and intimidation alongside the civilians they support.  This is totally unacceptable.

Humanitarian efforts are also undermined by a shortfall in funding.  Nearly halfway through the year, donors have provided just $8 billion of the $48 billion required for life-saving humanitarian aid programmes.

Excellencies, dear friends,

I call on all Member States to step up, to draw on their spirit of humanity and solidarity, and their commitment to multilateralism. I urge every Government to commit to the political solutions required to address today’s conflicts, the climate crisis and the vicious cycles driving intolerable levels of humanitarian suffering.

I call on all those with influence to champion international law, the protection of civilians and the unobstructed provision of humanitarian aid.  And I encourage Member States to provide the funding needed for our humanitarian plans, as a matter of urgency.

The Summit of the Future in September is an opportunity for leaders to make bold commitments to ensure that people affected by humanitarian crises receive the assistance and protection they need.  It will take a holistic view of conflict, as set out in the New Agenda for Peace, and will seek to ensure that we can better address the root causes of all forms of violence in the twenty-first century.

I call on all to put humanity back at the centre of our common endeavours.  I thank everyone across the humanitarian community for your dedication and indispensable work in support of millions of people caught up in crises across the world. And I wish you a successful humanitarian week at ECOSOC [the Economic and Social Council].  Thank you.