Online Reporter
Wallace Ruzvidzo in New York, USA
President Mnangagwa today joined other Heads of State and Government at the opening session of the General Debate of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 81) here in New York.
UNGA 81 is being held under the theme, “Restoring trust, managing transformation: A United Nations that delivers for all,” with world leaders deliberating on pressing international issues.
Opening the General Debate, UN Secretary-General Mr Antonio Guterres said widening fault lines in the world are a cause for concern, amid deepening geopolitical divisions, rising inequalities and growing threats to international peace and security. Over the last decade, wars erupted, with devastating consequences.
“Civilians were targeted, human rights trampled upon. Humanitarians were killed.
“International law was cast aside,” he said.
The UN Secretary-General said geopolitical divides had widened and inequalities intensified, while trust among nations had frayed.
He said the climate crisis had moved from being a distant warning to a daily reality, while artificial intelligence is advancing at a pace that had blindsided even those who created it.
“These are not separate crises.
“They are chapters of the same story, the story of power.
Mr Guterres said power is being reshaped in three fundamental ways.
First, he said, power is shifting among States, with the emergence of new centres of economic, political and technological influence.
Secondly, he said the world is witnessing an extraordinary transfer of power from governments to private corporations and individuals.
Thirdly, the UN Secretary General said humanity is increasingly handing power to machines, with artificial agents going rogue and lethal autonomous weapons moving from science fiction to military reality.
“Yet our institutions and systems of governance continue to reflect the power, realities, and interests of a largely bygone era.
“That is the challenge before us, when humanity faces an unprecedented convergence of threats, our mechanisms for collective action are under growing strain,” said Mr Guterres.
He said the world is clearly moving towards a multipolar order, and that the movement “is irreversible”.
“There are different ways that multipolarity can take shape.
“One possibility is a world of fragmentation and transactionalism, a world of rising tensions and deepening mistrust, a fractured market and weakened institutions, a shrinking cooperation.
“And in many respects, that is the trajectory we are on today.
“But there is another path, a path towards networked multipolarity, a world built on interdependence and sustained by a dense web of economic, political, social and technological connections, a world in which multiple centres of influence co-exist with a common framework of international law and shared rules,” he said.
President Mnangagwa is scheduled to be the first speaker at the General Debate on Thursday.
