In light of the coronavirus pandemic, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has slammed leaders across the nation for ignoring inequality issues globally.
What We Know:
- Guterres introduced a new global deal that focuses on ensuring power, wealth, and opportunity is shared equally at the national level during a lecture for the Nelson Mandela Foundation. He says, “The nations that came out on top more than seven decades ago have refused to contemplate the reforms needed to change power relations in international institutions. The composition and voting rights in the United Nations Security Council and the boards of the Bretton Woods system are a case in point.”
- Guterres alo stated that COVID-19 has revealed deeper issues without the nation’s systems. These issues revolve around healthcare, the economy and race. He says it’s exposing fallacies such as “the lie that free markets can deliver healthcare for all; the fiction that unpaid care work is not work; the delusion that we live in a post-racist world;” and “the myth that we are all in the same boat”.
- According to news reports, the U.N. has requested $10.3 billion to help poor countries who have been severely affected by COVID-19. Of that $10.3 billion, they have only received $1.7 billion. Guterres says more developed countries only care about their own survival and has not offered other countries the help and support they may need.
- Guterres also stated developing countries, such as African nations are under-represented at the levels of power. “Inequality starts at the top: in global institutions. Addressing inequality must start by reforming them,” according to Guterres. He asked for support of developing countries including write-offs.
Guterres has called for a new model of global governance with inclusive and equal participation. He says the support by the G-20, the world’s 20 major economic powers, is not enough.
