United Nations: From France to South Korea, South Africa to Suriname, leaders gave strong support Tuesday to the UN chief’s call to work together to address global challenges – war, poverty and climate chaos. But US President Donald Trump had other ideas and touted his “America First” agenda.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the annual meeting of presidents, prime ministers and monarchs at the General Assembly with a plea to choose peace over war, law over lawlessness, and a future where nations come together rather than scramble for self-interests.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron warned that 80 years after the UN was founded on the ashes of World War II, “we’re isolating ourselves.”
“There’s more and more divisions, and that’s plagued the global order,” he said. “The world is breaking down, and that’s halting our collective capacity to resolve the major conflicts of our time and stopping us from addressing global challenges.”
But Macron said a complex world isn’t reason “to throw in the towel” on supporting the UN’s key principles of peace, justice, human rights and nations working together. Only respectful relations and cooperation among peers make it possible to fight against military proliferation, address climate change and have “a successful digital transformation,” he said.
A call for collaboration
Speaker after speaker made similar appeals to support multilateralism.
Suriname’s President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons called multilateralism “one of humanity’s most important achievements, which needs our protection at this time of change.”
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa said “our collective membership of the United Nations is our shared humanity in action,” and the UN at 80 compels members to build “an organisation that is able to address our common challenges.”agencies