Covid-19 highlights ‘fragility’ of the world – UN chief Guterres
United Nations secretary-general António Guterres says the world is in turmoil and in need of a new order.
He was delivering the 18th annual Nelson Mandela Lecture from New York.
"A new global deal based on fair globalisation, on the rights and dignity of every human being, on being in balance with nature, on taking account of the rights of future generations and on success measured in human rather than economic terms is the best way to change this," Guterres said.
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He believes Covid-19 has highlighted inequalities which have been ignored and that the time has come for governments, business, civil society and the rich to bring an end to poverty.
"The pandemic has demonstrated the fragility of our world, it has laid bare risks we have ignored for decades, inadequate health systems, gaps in social protection, structural inequalities, environmental degradation and the climate crisis."
Guterres added that the world will only be able to start dealing with inequality once corruption has been defeated.