U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday the post-coronavirus world will have to embrace many changes, among them “enhancing climate action aiming at carbon neutrality by 2050 and protecting biodiversity.”
The U.N. chief also said there is discrimination in the delivery of public services to tackle the Chinese coronavirus and there are “structural inequalities that impede access to them.”
Guterres said the pandemic has seen “disproportionate effects on certain communities, the rise of hate speech, the targeting of vulnerable groups, and the risks of heavy-handed security responses undermining the health response.”
He warned that with “rising ethno-nationalism, populism, authoritarianism and a push back against human rights in some countries, the crisis can provide a pretext to adopt repressive measures for purposes unrelated to the pandemic.”
As to the future, Guterres saw a world grappling with many issues, and strengthened “rights” along with climate action principle among them.
His theme of ending inequality was a continuation of one the Portuguese administrator has carried throughout 2020:
“The recovery must also respect the rights of future generations, enhancing climate action aiming at carbon neutrality by 2050 and protecting biodiversity,” he explained.
The secretary-general said he was releasing a report Thursday on how human rights must guide the response to the virus and recovery from the pandemic. Neither he nor the report name any countries or parties responsible for human rights violations.
Instead, Guterres outlined any emergency measures — including states of emergency — must be “legal, proportionate, necessary and non-discriminatory, have a specific focus and duration, and take the least intrusive approach possible to protect public health.”
“Emergency powers may be needed but broad executive powers, swiftly granted with minimal oversight, carry risks,” the report warned.
“Heavy-handed security responses undermine the health response and can exacerbate existing threats to peace and security or create new ones.”
This is not the first time Guterres has issued a call for global action, as Breitbart News reported.
Last month he demanded the world end all wars and instead join the fight against the “common enemy” of Chinese coronavirus.
He also called for $2 billion to be transferred from wealthy countries to the poor via the globalist body as a first step in tackling the global health crisis.
AP contributed to this report
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