Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress
The fight for women’s rights over the past fifty years is a story of progress. Women and girls have demolished barriers, dismantled stereotypes and driven progress towards a more just and equal world. Women’s rights were finally recognised as fundamental and universal human rights. Hundreds of millions more girls are in classrooms around the world.…
Investing in Women and Girls is the Surest Way to Uplift All People, Says UN Secretary-General
Around the world, progress on women’s rights is vanishing before our eyes. The latest forecasts estimate that on our current track, it will take another 300 years to reach full gender equality. Today’s cascading crises, from the war in Ukraine to the climate emergency, affect women and girls first and worst. And as part of…
UN Secretary-General Calls the World “To Act for Health and Survival of People and Planet” on International Day Against Nuclear Tests
From the steppes of Kazakhstan, to the pristine waters of the Pacific Ocean and the deserts of Australia, nuclear testing has long poisoned our planet’s natural environment and the species and people who call it home. The International Day Against Nuclear Tests represents a global recognition of the catastrophic and lingering damage done in the…
Tenth Review Conference of Parties to Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
We live in worrying times. The climate crisis, stark inequalities, bloody conflicts and human rights abuses, and the personal and economic devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have put our world under greater stress than it has faced in my lifetime. But the existential threat that cast a shadow over the first half of my…
The Glasgow Climate Test
The climate crisis is a code red for humanity. World leaders will soon be put to the test at the UN Climate Conference — known as COP26 — in Glasgow. Their actions — or inactions — will show their seriousness about addressing this planetary emergency. The warning signs are hard to miss: temperatures everywhere are…
Climate Action for People and Planet: The Time is Now
In this pivotal year for humanity, now is the time for bold climate action. The science is irrefutable and globally agreed: to stop the climate crisis from becoming a permanent catastrophe, we must limit global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius. To do this, we must get to net zero emissions of greenhouse gases by mid-century. …
A Crisis With a Woman’s Face
As the world marks International Women’s Day in the midst of a global pandemic, one stark fact is clear: the COVID-19 crisis has a woman’s face. The pandemic is worsening already deep inequalities facing women and girls, erasing years of progress towards gender equality. Women are more likely to work in sectors hardest hit by…
A Continent of Hope
Far too often, the world views Africa through the prism of problems. When I look to Africa, I see a continent of hope, promise and vast potential. I am committed to building on those strengths and establishing a higher platform of cooperation between the United Nations and the leaders and people of Africa. This is…
