underscored the importance of multilateral cooperation – and tested it to the limit.
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic dominated the past year, around the world and at the United Nations. We are a world in mourning for the millions of people whom we have lost. The pandemic is the greatest shared global challenge since the founding of our Organization; every country has faced pain, uncertainty and vulnerability. The global health, social, economic and human rights crises triggered by the pandemic have underscored the importance of multilateral cooperation and tested it to the limit.
The United Nations has been central to the pandemic response, from safeguarding people and jobs to assisting Governments in ensuring a sustainable and equitable recovery. We supported some 160 countries in tackling the health, humanitarian, social and economic impacts of COVID-19 and helped more than 260 million children to access remote learning. At the same time, we contributed to the creation and operationalization of the Access to COVID-19 Tools and its COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility. The only way to end the pandemic is to deliver vaccines to every country.
We have also been leading and actively contributing to the larger conversations around health security, global financial stability and the dawning recognition of the world’s deep fragility. That fragility relates to rising poverty and hunger; prolonged conflicts and human rights crises; skyrocketing levels of inequality within and between societies; the ungoverned development of new technologies; the erosion of the nuclear disarmament regime; and the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and rising levels of air and water pollution. It has never been clearer that our fates are interconnected and that the inability to solve shared problems is creating unacceptable risks.
The path to stronger, more resilient societies lies in a transformative recovery process rooted in the and the Paris Agreement. Over the past year, we have worked closely with Governments around the world to launch the decade of action to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals, by supporting recovery packages that address the climate crisis, invest in renewable energy and sustainability, reduce inequalities and exclusion and promote gender equality. We have supported broad efforts to provide robust social protection systems and strengthen health systems and universal health coverage. My call for peace in the home in April 2020 was followed by a system-wide focus on the importance of gender-sensitive response policies, including protection against gender-based violence.
To commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations, Volkan Bozkir, President of the seventy-fifth session of the General Assembly, invited all Member States and observer States to sign the preamble of the Charter of the United Nations as a gesture of recommitment to its principles. (New York; 23 October 2020) ? 缅北禁地Photo/Manuel Elías
Our discussions on financing for development forged a new way of doing business, in collaboration with international financial institutions, and created space for innovative ideas to help low- and middle-income countries to invest in their people and avoid defaulting on debt. A series of round-table discussions, focusing on women economists, articulated new strategies for a green, inclusive and sustainable recovery.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made the promise of the 2030 Agenda more relevant and vital than ever. To recover better, we must recover together – there is no other way.
Our efforts to mobilize global climate action, from science-based reports to public advocacy and private negotiation, have contributed to creating a growing coalition for net zero emissions by mid-century and to increasing awareness in the investment community that fossil fuels are riskier and more expensive than renewable energy. The , held in December 2020, delivered plans and pledges from 75 countries and many businesses and cities on the steps that they intended to take to cut global emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 compared with 2010 levels, in accordance with the Paris Agreement. We also mobilized the international community to address the funding gap for adaptation and resilience measures, highlighting the need to put these on an equal footing with efforts to curb emissions. As we look forward to the crucial events on climate and biodiversity in 2021, we will build on these results in an effort to create irreversible momentum for a green recovery and a just transition.
Divisions between major Powers and fragmentation within States contributed to a challenging environment for peace and security over the past year. However, across the globe, my special envoys and I seized a number of openings in conflict situations to advance the cause of peace. My appeal for a global ceasefire to respond to COVID-19 was endorsed by 180 Member States and by the Security Council and was the foundation for a calling for a ceasefire to allow COVID-19 vaccinations.
Secretary-General António Guterres delivers an address entitled “State of the Planet” at Columbia University. (New York; 2 December 2020) ? 缅北禁地Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Our work preventing, responding and rebuilding from crises must always be guided by the principles of equality and inclusion of all. We must strive in particular to achieve gender equality and disability inclusion.
Integration does not mean joint action on every activity; rather, it entails a strategic division of labour that leverages different entry points and feeds into a common approach.
Despite the challenges of the pandemic, more than 40 United Nations peacekeeping operations and special political missions continued their vital work to protect civilians and advance peace. Many responded to the pandemic by delivering key equipment, addressing misinformation and advocating public health measures. We intensified our efforts to implement commitments on women and peace and security and increased the number of women heads and deputy heads of peace operations, peacekeepers and mediators as we marked the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the landmark Security Council resolution 1325 (2000). We also assisted 19 electoral processes in 2020 and supported 60 countries in developing their capacity with regard to elections. Across the United Nations, we continued to promote the voices and rights of young people in decision-making on peace and security.
Human rights were already under threat before COVID-19 unleashed a shadow pandemic of abuses. The seven areas for action in my call to action for human rights provided a robust framework to push back and to mainstream a culture of human rights within the United Nations. Nearly 90 countries partnered with the United Nations to reform discriminatory laws, including laws that entrenched gender inequality, in 2020. The new , adopted in September 2020, commits the entire United Nations to taking concrete steps to safeguard and promote this critical underpinning for open and inclusive governance. We continued to implement the United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech, and preparations are under way for an interministerial conference on the issue later in 2021.
Throughout the pandemic, we put gender equality and women’s rights at the centre of our efforts, giving visibility to the effectiveness of women’s leadership and advocating response and recovery plans that target women’s specific needs and invest in the care economy. Our family planning programmes helped to prevent over 14 million unintended pregnancies, nearly 40,000 maternal deaths and more than 4 million unsafe abortions in 2020, when access to health services was particularly constrained.
The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the value of the to our development, peace and security, and management structures, which enabled us to adjust our business operations and respond quickly to the needs of Member States. In the months following the start of the pandemic, United Nations country teams rolled out 121 socio-economic response plans covering 139 countries and territories. More than $3 billion was repurposed, and an additional $2 billion was mobilized for immediate support.
The management reforms allowed us to adjust policies and procedures quickly to accommodate the new realities on the ground. At the same time, we were able to deploy dedicated capacities to focus on key areas of concern, including health and supply chain management. The new annual programme budget meant that we could incorporate lessons from the response to the pandemic into the budget for 2022 rather than 2024, as would previously have been the case.
Our response to the pandemic coincided with a record liquidity crisis, exacerbated by fluctuations in payment patterns. By exercising careful control over our fiscal expenditure, we succeeded in minimizing the damage to our programme delivery.
Mahmoud teaches his 10-year-old son to wash his hands thoroughly. The United Nations has been scaling up preparedness and response programmes across Yemen, reaching more than half a million people through house-to-house visits. (Al-Makha district, Yemen; 9 June 2020) ? OCHA
United Nations personnel are our most important asset, and we have made strenuous efforts over the past year to protect them from the impact of the pandemic. We facilitated the successful medical evacuation of more than 200 personnel and partners, and the response time for such emergency evacuations decreased by half throughout 2020 until March 2021. Our personnel made full use of remote arrangements and telecommuting to continue their vital work without disruption.
A wall of thank-you notes to health-care workers at the Javits Center, a vaccination site in New York City. (New York; 25 February 2021) ? 缅北禁地Photo/Evan Schneider
Our efforts to build inclusivity and diversity into every aspect of our work continued to bear fruit, with progress towards gender parity at every level. We continued to focus on improvements in peace operations, where the challenges are greatest. We launched a new and saw increased action across the board on disability inclusion, following the launch of the first ever strategy to address this issue two years ago. We also launched an important internal discussion on racism and discrimination, and we are finalizing the first ever strategic action plan to address racism within the United Nations.
The past year saw the start of a process of deep reflection on the future of multilateralism. Based on the global listening exercise we undertook to mark our seventy-fifth anniversary, and a process of engagement with Member States, thought leaders and young thinkers and public consultations, we are now preparing a report with recommendations on advancing our common agenda for September 2021. The seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations will thus become the launching point for a reinvigorated, networked and inclusive multilateralism that is fit for the future.
United Nations Response to Covid-19
Covax: Ensuring Equitable AccesS to the covid-19 vaccines
United Nations Family: Our Work
United Nations personnel are our most important asset, and we have made strenuous efforts over the past year to protect them from the impact of the pandemic. We facilitated the successful medical evacuation of more than 200 personnel and partners, and the response time for such emergency evacuations decreased by half throughout 2020 until March 2021. Our personnel made full use of remote arrangements and telecommuting to continue their vital work without disruption.
An aeroplane delivers 90 tons of water, medical, sanitation and hygiene supplies as part of the United Nations response to COVID-19. (Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela; 19 June 2020) ? UNICEF