Trust is crumbling, inequalities are exploding: UN Chief

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned international leaders of a looming “winter of global discontent” in a world beset by multiple crises from the Ukraine war to a warming climate.

“A winter of global discontent is on the horizon,” Guterres said as he opened the annual General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York City.

“Trust is crumbling, inequalities are exploding, our planet is burning. People are hurting – with the most vulnerable suffering the most.”

Guterres spoke of conflicts in  Afghanistan, where the economy is in ruins and human rights are being trampled. He also mentioned the fighting that has resumed in Ethiopia, and in Haiti, where gangs are “destroying the very building blocks of society”.

“In Libya, divisions continue to jeopardise the country. In Iraq, ongoing tensions threaten ongoing stability,” he noted.

“In Israel and Palestine, cycles of violence under the occupation continue as prospects for peace based on a two-state solution grow ever more distant,” he said. _Agencies