Le Secrétaire général énonce dix priorités pour que le monde passe en 2021 d’une « annus horribilis » à une « annus possibilitatis », une année de possibilités et d’espoir

On trouvera ci-après le discours que le Secrétaire général de l’ONU, M. António Guterres, a prononcé lors de l’examen par l’Assemblée générale du rapport sur l’activité de l’Organisation, aujourd’hui:

2020 was a global annus horribilis – a year of death, disaster and despair. The COVID-19 pandemic unleashed havoc in every country and every economy. We lost 2 million lives, including many dear members of our UN family. The human toll continues to multiply. The economic costs continue to mount. 500 million jobs -- gone. Extreme poverty -- back up to levels not seen in a generation. Inequalities widening. Hunger rising again. And global fragilities continue to be exposed.

We have declared war on nature, and nature is striking back. The climate crisis is raging.Last year natural disasters caused $210 billion in damage – and incalculable human costs.Biodiversity is collapsing.Meanwhile, geopolitical tensions are undermining our collective efforts for peace.  Humanitarian needs are escalating. Forced displacement reached record levels last year.The risk of nuclear and chemical proliferation grows.  Human rights face a backlash.Hate speech is booming.Lawless behaviour in cyberspace has created a new domain for the propagation of crime, violence, misinformation and disruption.And COVID-19 has had an especially pernicious impact on the world’s women and girls.   

Excellencies,

2020 brought us tragedy and peril.2021 must be the year to change gear and put the world on track.We need to move from death to health; from disaster to reconstruction; from despair to hope; from business as usual to transformation. The Sustainable Development Goals are more important now than ever.Now is the time to secure the well-being of people, economies, societies and our planet.It is possible.  So we must make it happen.  Together. 

Excellencies,

Our first priority for 2021 is to respond to COVID-19.Vaccines are the first great moral test before us.These must be seen as global public goods – people’s vaccines – available and affordable to all.The COVAX facility urgently needs more resources to procure and deliver vaccines for low- and middle-income countries, and to continue vital research and development.I thank the countries and organizations that are supporting COVAX, and the leadership of the World Health Organization.

I welcome new engagement by major developed countries.

But the world is falling short.  Vaccines are reaching a handful of countries quickly, while the poorest countries have almost none.Science is succeeding – but solidarity is failing.Governments have a responsibility to protect their populations, but COVID-19 cannot be beaten one country at a time.If the virus is allowed to spread like wildfire in the Global South, it will inevitably mutate, it is mutating becoming more transmissible, more deadly and, eventually, more resistant to vaccines, ready to come back to hound the Global North.Moreover, recent studies have found that vaccine hoarding could cost the global economy up to $9.2 trillion – with almost half of that impact in the wealthiest countries themselves. That figure is over 340 times more than the $27 billion funding gap for the ACT-Accelerator. There is only one victor in a world of vaccine haves and vaccine have-nots: the virus itself.

Today I am calling for six specific steps: Prioritize healthcare workers and those most at risk everywhere. Protect health systems from collapse in the poorest countries.Ensure enough supply and fair distribution, including by having manufacturers prioritize supply to COVAX.Share excess doses with the COVAX facility.Make licenses widely available to scale up manufacturing.

Boost vaccine confidence.Our “Verified” initiative is fighting the infodemic.  But there is no panacea in a pandemic. We must continue to take the scientifically proven steps that reduce transmission.  Wearing masks.  Physical distancing.  Washing hands.  To defeat COVID-19 is possible.  We must make it happen.  Together.

Excellencies,

Second, the world cannot heal from the virus if economies are on life support.  An inclusive and sustainable recovery must start now.  We need massive investments in health systems everywhere.  Universal health coverage.  Mental health care. Social protection. Decent work.  And children safely back in school.  Developing countries have been drained of remittances, tourism revenues and earnings from commodities.  Wealthier countries are implementing recovery and stimulus plans worth trillions of dollars.

Yet the poorest countries have been able to spend only about 2 per cent of their small gross domestic product. 

Recovery must be inclusive.  No country should be forced to choose between providing basic services and servicing their debts.  The High-Level events I convened last year with the Prime Ministers of Canada and Jamaica highlighted the urgent need for a quantum leap in financial support.  This includes: An expansion of the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative.  Debt relief for all developing and middle-income countries that need it.  Increased resources for multilateral financial institutions, and a new allocation of Special Drawing Rights to the benefit of developing countries.  A voluntary reallocation of unused Special Drawing Rights.  Liquidity is crucial to prevent debt defaults.

Recovery must also be sustainable – embracing renewable energy, and green and resilient infrastructure.  Otherwise, we will lock in harmful practices for decades to come.  The 2030 Agenda points the way.  A sustainable and inclusive recovery is possible.  We must make it happen.  Together.

Excellencies,

Our third priority must therefore be making peace with nature.  2021 is a critical year for climate and biodiversity.  Last month, I called on all Member States to declare a climate emergency in their countries.  Today, I call on the international community to reach five key milestones by COP26 in November.  First, let’s keep building the global coalition to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.  The coalition now represents 70 per cent of the world economy and 65 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions.

In the year ahead, let’s ensure it covers at least 90 per cent of emissions.  G20 countries and main emitters must lead the way. I call on every city, company and financial institution to adopt concrete roadmaps with clear intermediary milestones to get to carbon neutrality by 2050.  Key sectors such as shipping, aviation, industry and agriculture must do the same.  Second, Governments must submit Nationally Determined Contributions to cut global emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 compared with 2010 levels.  Third, we need to achieve a breakthrough on adaptation.  Adaptation cannot be the forgotten component of climate action.  Donors and multilateral development banks should increase the share of adaptation finance from 20 to at least 50 per cent by 2024.  Fourth, meet all finance commitments. Developed countries must fulfil their pledge to mobilize $100 billion annually for climate action in developing countries and it is not yet happening.  This should include full capitalization of the Green Climate Fund.  All development banks should align their portfolios with the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals by 2024, and help mobilize private finance and investment through guarantees and partnerships.  This will shift billions of financial flows.  The UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance and Global Investors for Sustainable Development Alliance are critical to this effort.

Fifth, adopt transformational policies.  It is time to: Put a price on carbon.  Stop building new coal power plants.  Phase out coal in OECD countries by 2030, and everywhere else by 2040.  Phase out fossil fuel finance, starting with the overseas financing of coal. End subsidies to fossil fuels.  Shift the tax burden from income to carbon, from taxpayers to polluters.  Make climate-related financial risk disclosures mandatory.  Integrate carbon neutrality into all economic and fiscal policies and decisions.  And finally, promote, fund and implement just transition plans. 

Excellencies,

Particular solidarity is owed to the world’s small island developing states. Some face an existential threat – their territories could disappear within our lifetimes. We must never allow any Member State to be forced to fold its flag because of a problem that is within our power to fix.

COP26 in November will be a moment of truth for climate action.  COP15 on biodiversity is a chance to halt the extinction crisis through a new post-2020 biodiversity framework.  Let’s not forget that 75 per cent of new and emerging human infectious diseases are zoonotic.  This year’s high-level dialogue on energy will propose solutions for the shift to renewables and the expansion of energy access.  As we prepare for the Ocean Conference in Portugal, the world must accelerate action to stop overfishing, drastically reduce pollution -- including plastics -- and promote the blue economy.  The Food Systems Summit and the global conference on sustainable transport can transform these vital sectors. 2021 will also be critical in advancing the New Urban Agenda and all cities are important.  To reconcile with nature is possible.  We must make it happen.  Together.

Excellencies,

Our fourth priority is to tackle the pandemic of poverty and inequality. More than 70 per cent of the world’s people are living with rising wealth inequality. But wealth is not the only measure. People’s chances in life depend on their gender, race, family and ethnic background, whether they have a disability, and other factors. These injustices feed each other, cause people to lose trust in governments and institutions -- and resound down the generations. The pandemic has made things worse.We see it in the way Covid-19 has preyed on the vulnerable and marginalized.  This week’s report by Oxfam found also that simply the increase in the wealth of the ten richest men, and they are men, during the crisis would be enough to prevent anyone from falling into poverty because of the virus, and to pay for COVID-19 vaccinations for all everywhere.

I continue to call for a New Social Contract within countries – to ensure that all people have prospects and protection.  Education and digital technology must be the two great enablers and equalizers.

Reforms to labour markets and forceful efforts against corruption, tax havens, money-laundering and illicit financial flows will also be critical.Societies must transform the world of care.

Official Development Assistance remains a lifeline.It is time to redress the wrongs of the past and address the systemic injustices of our time.To keep our promise to leave no-one behind is possible.  We must make it happen.  Together.

Les droits humains sont l’objet d’une attaque en règle: notre cinquième priorité doit être de renverser cette tendance.  Bien avant la pandémie, les droits humains étaient la cible d’assauts de plus en plus sérieux.  L’état de droit était en péril, à cause de la fragilité des systèmes judiciaires.  Des systèmes politiques répressifs portaient atteinte aux libertés fondamentales.  Des crimes atroces restaient largement impunis.  Les femmes, les filles, les minorités et les personnes LGBTI étaient confrontées à des discriminations et à des violences chroniques.  D’ailleurs, mon Appel à l’action en faveur des droits humains, le Plan d’action pour la lutte contre les discours de haine et l’initiative pour la sauvegarde des sites religieux précèdent tous le COVID-19.

Aujourd’hui, la pandémie a déclenché une nouvelle crise des droits humains.  Les discours de haine se sont propagés.  Certains États ont profité des mesures de confinement pour contrôler l’espace civique et le travail des journalistes et des défenseurs des droits humains.  Et la maladie a un impact disproportionné sur les minorités, les personnes handicapées et celles et ceux qui vivent en marge de la société.

Je salue le nouvel élan de lutte pour la justice raciale que nous voyons aujourd’hui à travers le monde.  Les inégalités raciales gangrènent les institutions, les structures sociales et notre quotidien.  Nous devons faire front commun face à la montée du néonazisme et du suprématisme blanc.  L’Organisation des Nations Unies ne baissera jamais les bras dans sa lutte contre le racisme et la discrimination.  Il n’y a pas de place pour le racisme au sein de notre Organisation – et nous continuerons à tout faire pour l’éradiquer.  Promouvoir et protéger pleinement tous les droits humains est possible.  Nous devons en faire une réalité.  Ensemble.

Notre sixième priorité est la réalisation de l’égalité des genres, peut-être le plus grand défi qui soit en ce qui concerne les droits humains.  Le COVID-19 a mis en évidence ce que l’on ignore trop souvent.  Les femmes sont des travailleuses essentielles qui font vivre les autres.  Pourtant, elles sont plus affectées par les pertes d’emploi et ont été poussées dans la pauvreté en plus grand nombre.  La pandémie a également engendré en parallèle une épidémie de violences contre les femmes: violences domestiques, violences en ligne, augmentation des mariages d’enfants et de l’exploitation sexuelle.

Dans le même temps, face à la COVID-19, les femmes ont fait montre de tout leur leadership.  Les dirigeantes ont réussi à maintenir les taux de prévalence à des niveaux plus bas que leurs homologues masculins, et leurs pays sont en bonne voie de se relever.  La liste des effets transformateurs lorsque les femmes participent sur un pied d’égalité est longue, et elle ne cesse de s’allonger.  Davantage d’investissements dans la protection sociale.  Une gouvernance plus transparente.  Des processus de paix plus durables.  Le leadership et la représentation égale des femmes est la clef du changement dont nous avons besoin.  Il est temps de changer les vieilles structures et d’abandonner les vieux modèles.  Si l’économie formelle fonctionne, c’est seulement parce qu’elle est subventionnée par le travail de soins non rémunéré des femmes.  Les investissements dans l’économie des soins pourraient stimuler la croissance économique et favoriser le relèvement après la pandémie.  Il est temps de prendre des mesures plus ambitieuses et ciblées pour en finir avec les approches et les attitudes qui privent les femmes de leurs droits.  D’en finir avec les ajustements à la marge.  L’égalité des genres est possible.  Nous devons en faire une réalité.  Ensemble.

Excellencies,

Our seventh priority for the year must be to heal geopolitical rifts and find common ground.To address today’s roiling peace and security threats, we need to find a bridge back to common sense.We need a united Security Council.And we need to avoid a Great Fracture that would divide the world into two -- working instead to ensure one world economy, one secure and open Internet, cybersecurity, respect for international law and rules agreed by and adhered to by all.  Any dysfunction in the relations among major powers creates space for spoilers.  And spoilers trigger and prolong conflicts.We can’t solve our biggest problems when our biggest powers are at odds.

In the early weeks of the pandemic, I called for a global ceasefire to focus on the enemy that all countries are facing.We have seen some encouraging signs, and new life breathed into faltering peace processes.Cease-fires and pauses in hostilities are more or less holding in a number of places, from Libya to the Ukraine, from Syria to Sudan, from Nagorno-Karabakh to South Sudan.

But elsewhere, fighting continues and new conflicts have erupted.In Yemen, which is on the brink of famine, I reiterate my call for a nationwide ceasefire, economic and humanitarian confidence-building measures, and a resumption of an inclusive political process.In the Central African Republic, I condemn the increased violence by armed groups and call on the newly elected authorities to pursue peaceful and inclusive dialogue and national reconciliation.  In Mali, attacks by extremist groups, human rights violations and violence across community lines continue, in the context of challenging efforts towards the restoration of constitutional order and implementation of the peace agreement.In Afghanistan, violence is going unabated, even if peace negotiations hold out the possibility of an end to decades of conflict.

There is no military solution to any of these situations.I call on all Member States to pressure all relevant parties to end these senseless wars.United Nations mediators and political missions continue to explore every opening.2021 must also be the year in which we re-start the peace process in the Middle East and create conditions for a two-state solution.

In the Sahel, Lake Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mozambique, we see terrorism rising in the absence of effective security arrangements, and insufficient capacity to address economic, climatic and social root causes.  It is time to recognize the need for African peace-enforcement and counter-terrorism operations to receive a mandate by the Security Council under Chapter VII, and sufficient and predictable funding, including assessed contributions.  Our peacekeeping operations are totally committed to the protection of civilians in volatile situations, and are providing vital support to peace processes.  But they operate more and more in areas where there is no peace to keep.Already this year, nine peacekeepers have been killed in hostile incidents.

We must ensure that every peacekeeping mission and every peacekeeper possesses the full resources and equipment necessary to fulfil their duties.We will continue to implement the reforms, namely the Action for Peacekeeping.We need a global cease-fire but we must also intensify our efforts to prevent crises form erupting in the first place.  Unity and peace are possible.  We must make it happen.  Together.

Notre huitième priorité est de remettre sur pied le régime de désarmement et de non-prolifération nucléaires, qui connaît une véritable érosion.   Vendredi dernier, le Traité sur l’interdiction des armes nucléaires est entré en vigueur.  J’appelle tous les États à soutenir l’objectif de ce Traité.  Malgré ce développement, nous devrions tous être alarmés par la détérioration des relations entre États dotés d’armes nucléaires.  J’exhorte ces États à trouver un terrain d’entente lors de la conférence d’examen du Traité sur la non-prolifération des armes nucléaires qui aura lieu cette année.  Je me félicite que les États-Unis et la Fédération de Russie aient décidé de prolonger le Traité « New START » pour une durée de cinq ans, le maximum prévu, laissant ainsi le temps de négocier de nouvelles réductions.   Un monde sans armes nucléaires est possible.  Nous devons en faire une réalité.  Ensemble.

Notre neuvième priorité est de tirer parti des possibilités offertes par les technologies numériques tout en nous prémunissant des dangers de plus en plus grands qu’elles présentent.  Pendant la pandémie, les technologies numériques ont permis aux sociétés de fonctionner et à l’humanité de rester connectée.  Mais la pandémie a également mis en évidence l’écart immense dans l’accès à ces outils, et notamment l’existence de vastes disparités entre les femmes et les hommes.  La fracture numérique n’est toujours pas réduite.  Notre objectif est que tout le monde, partout, dispose d’un accès abordable, stable et sûr à Internet d’ici à 2030, et que toutes les écoles soient connectées le plus tôt possible.  Nous devons renforcer la cybersécurité et promouvoir l’adoption de comportements responsables dans ce domaine.

Nous devons établir un « cessez-le-feu » dans le cyberespace, notamment pour mettre fin aux cyberattaques visant des infrastructures importantes.  Nous devons nous attaquer au problème de la propagation de la haine, de l’exploitation et de la désinformation en ligne.   Et nous devons régler la question de l’utilisation de nos données.  Une partie importante des informations recueillies est utilisée à des fins positives.  Mais il y a une demande croissante pour que nous ayons tous notre mot à dire sur la façon dont les données sont utilisées, notamment pour influencer et contrôler nos comportements.

La manière dont les gouvernements peuvent exploiter les données pour violer les droits humains des personnes ou de groupes discriminés est aussi de plus en plus préoccupante. Nous devons réunir toutes les parties prenantes pour examiner ces pratiques et ces modèles d’exploitation et convenir d’une voie qui ne porte pas atteinte à la vie privée ou la dignité de chacun. Il faut à cet égard poursuivre les efforts qui ont été engagés avec tous les acteurs pour définir des normes internationales et des régimes fiscaux appropriés.

L’essor rapide de l’intelligence artificielle rend d’autant plus pressante cette question de la gestion des données.  L’intelligence artificielle est porteuse d’immenses promesses.  Mais des données biaisées peuvent conduire à des biais dangereux dans son application.  Et les êtres humains doivent rester maîtres de la situation.  Je continue d’appeler à une interdiction des armes létales autonomes.  L’an dernier, j’ai lancé un Plan d’action de coopération numérique.  Dans l’année à venir, je continuerai à tout mettre en œuvre pour le faire appliquer, et notamment par le renforcement du Forum sur la gouvernance d’Internet.  Je salue l’intention du Président de l’Assemblée générale d’organiser un débat sur la coopération numérique en avril.  Un avenir numérique ouvert, libre et sûr est possible.  Nous devons en faire une réalité.  Ensemble.

Excellencies,

Our tenth priority must be a reset for the 21st century.  Our governance of critical global commons, not just public health but also peace and the natural environment, needs to be reinforced and re-imagined. The General Assembly has recognized the pivotal nature of this moment.  In your declaration marking the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, you called on me to make recommendations to advance our common agenda.

I am well-embarked on a process of profound reflection, building on last year’s UN75 global consultations.The challenges ahead clearly demand a more inclusive and more networked multilateralism.  I have also called for a New Global Deal among countries to ensure that power, benefits and opportunities are shared more broadly and fairly.Developing countries merit a larger voice in global decision-making.Young people must also be at the table – as designers of their own future, not as recipients of decisions of elders who have, let’s be honest, failed them in so many key respects.My report in September should be seen as the beginning of this reset.Strengthening global governance to deliver global public goods is possible.  We must make it happen.  Together.

Excellencies,

With your support, we have taken important steps to strengthen our United Nations.The pandemic has been the first major test of these reforms -- and I am grateful for your feedback indicating that these changes have improved our work.I am totally committed to continue this effort.  Opportunity has been granted to us in the most unfortunate of ways.But crisis gives rise to change. We can move from an annus horribilis to make this an “annus possibilitatis” – a year of possibility and hope.It is possible to build the world we want.  We must make it happen.  Together.  Thank you.