TRT: 5:08
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH / NATS
DATELINE: 06 FEBRUARY 2023, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
SHOTLIST:
RECENT – NEW YORK CITY
1.Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
06 FEBRUARY 2023, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, General Assembly Hall
3. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“As we look to priorities for this year, a rights-rooted approach is central to achieving our ultimate priority: a safer, more peaceful, more sustainable world. The Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights point the way out of today’s dead end. They are a source of solutions and a source of hope. Let us draw from that hope and act decisively before it is too late.”
4. Wide shot, General Assembly Hall
5. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“If every country fulfilled its obligations under the Charter, the right to peace would be guaranteed. When countries break those pledges, they create a world of insecurity for everyone. So it is time to transform our approach to peace by recommitting to the Charter — putting human rights and dignity first, with prevention at the heart.”
6. Wide shot, General Assembly Hall
7. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Nuclear-armed countries must renounce the first use of these unconscionable weapons. In fact, they must renounce any use, anytime, anywhere. The so-called “tactical” use of nuclear weapons is an absurdity. We are at the highest risk in decades of a nuclear war that could start by accident or design. We need to end the threat posed by 13,000 nuclear weapons held in arsenals around the world.”
8. Wide shot, General Assembly Hall
9. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The global financial architecture does not need a simple evolution; it needs a radical transformation. It is time for a new Bretton Woods moment. A new commitment to place the dramatic needs of developing countries at the centre of every decision and mechanism of the global financial system. A new resolve to address the appalling inequalities and injustices laid bare once again by the pandemic and the response. A new determination to ensure developing countries have a far greater voice in global financial institutions. And a new debt architecture that encompasses debt relief and restructuring to vulnerable countries, including middle-income ones in need — building on the momentum of the Bridgetown Agenda.”
10. Wide shot, General Assembly Hall
11. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“2023 is a year of reckoning. It must be a year of game-changing climate action. We need disruption to end the destruction. No more baby steps. No more excuses. No more greenwashing. No more bottomless greed of the fossil fuel industry and its enablers.”
12. Wide shot, General Assembly Hall
13. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“I have a special message for fossil fuel producers and their enablers scrambling to expand production and raking in monster profits: If you cannot set a credible course for net-zero, with 2025 and 2030 targets covering all your operations, you should not be in business. Your core product is our core problem. We need a renewables revolution, not a self-destructive fossil fuel resurgence.”
14. Wide shot, General Assembly Hall
15. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“We will call for action from everyone with influence on the spread of mis- and disinformation on the internet – Governments, regulators, policymakers, technology companies, the media, civil society. Stop the hate. Set up strong guardrails. Be accountable for language that causes harm.”
16. Wide shot, General Assembly Hall
17. SOUNDBITE (French) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Gender equality is a question of power. The patriarchy, with millennia of power behind it, is reasserting itself. The United Nations is fighting back and standing up for the rights of women and girls everywhere.”
18. Wide shot, General Assembly Hall
19. SOUNDBITE (French) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Sixth, civil and political rights as the basis of inclusive societies. Freedom of expression and participation in political life are the essence of democracy and strengthen societies and economies.”
20. Various shots, General Assembly Hall
STORYLINE:
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said, “As we look to priorities for this year, a rights-rooted approach is central to achieving our ultimate priority: a safer, more peaceful, more sustainable world.”
Guterres briefed the General Assembly today (06 Feb) in New York, on the world body’s priorities for 2023.
The UN chief said that the world had started 2023 staring down the barrel of a confluence of challenges unlike any in our lifetimes: wars grind on, the climate crisis burns on, extreme wealth and extreme poverty rage on. The gulf between the haves and have nots is cleaving societies, countries and our wider world. Epic geopolitical divisions are undermining global solidarity and trust.
This path is a dead end, he said.
Guterres said that the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights point the way out of today’s dead end, adding that “they are a source of solutions and a source of hope.”
It starts with the right to peace, the UN chief said.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is inflicting untold suffering on the Ukrainian people, with profound global implications. The prospects for peace keep diminishing. The chances of further escalation and bloodshed keep growing.
Guterres fears the world is not sleepwalking into a wider war. It is doing so with its eyes wide open.
He reiterated that the world needs peace. Peace in line with the United Nations Charter and international law.
Guterres said, “if every country fulfilled its obligations under the Charter, the right to peace would be guaranteed,” adding that “when countries break those pledges, they create a world of insecurity for everyone.”
He highlighted, “it is time to transform our approach to peace by recommitting to the Charter — putting human rights and dignity first, with prevention at the heart.”
The Secretary-General said that it is also time to bring disarmament and arms control back to the centre – reducing strategic threats from nuclear arms and working for their ultimate elimination.
Guterres reiterated, “Nuclear-armed countries must renounce the first use of these unconscionable weapons. In fact, they must renounce any use, anytime, anywhere.”
He added, “the so-called “tactical” use of nuclear weapons is an absurdity. We are at the highest risk in decades of a nuclear war that could start by accident or design. We need to end the threat posed by 13,000 nuclear weapons held in arsenals around the world.”
Second is social and economic rights and the right to development.
The UN chief said, “the global financial architecture does not need a simple evolution; it needs a radical transformation.”
Guterres further explained, “It is time for a new Bretton Woods moment. A new commitment to place the dramatic needs of developing countries at the centre of every decision and mechanism of the global financial system. A new resolve to address the appalling inequalities and injustices laid bare once again by the pandemic and the response. A new determination to ensure developing countries have a far greater voice in global financial institutions. And a new debt architecture that encompasses debt relief and restructuring to vulnerable countries, including middle-income ones in need — building on the momentum of the Bridgetown Agenda.”
The right to development goes hand-in-hand with the right to a clean, healthy, sustainable environment, the Secretary-General said.
He reiterated that “2023 is a year of reckoning. It must be a year of game-changing climate action.”
Guterres continued, “We need disruption to end the destruction. No more baby steps. No more excuses. No more greenwashing. No more bottomless greed of the fossil fuel industry and its enablers.”
The UN chief also had a special message for fossil fuel producers and their enablers “scrambling to expand production and raking in monster profits.”
He said, “if you cannot set a credible course for net-zero, with 2025 and 2030 targets covering all your operations, you should not be in business. Your core product is our core problem. We need a renewables revolution, not a self-destructive fossil fuel resurgence.”
Fourth is respecting for diversity and the universality of cultural rights.
The Secretary-General said that many in positions of power profit from caricaturing diversity as a threat. They sow division and hatred. They weaponize cultural differences. Social media platforms use algorithms that amplify toxic ideas and funnel extremist views into the mainstream. Advertisers finance this business model. Some platforms tolerate hate speech – the first step towards hate crimes.
Guterres said, “we will call for action from everyone with influence on the spread of mis- and disinformation on the internet – Governments, regulators, policymakers, technology companies, the media, civil society.”
He reiterated, “stop the hate. Set up strong guardrails. Be accountable for language that causes harm.”
Fifth is the right to full gender equality.
The UN chief said, “Gender equality is a question of power. The patriarchy, with millennia of power behind it, is reasserting itself.”
He continued, “the United Nations is fighting back and standing up for the rights of women and girls everywhere.”
Sixth is civil and political rights as the basis of inclusive societies.
Guterres said, “Freedom of expression and participation in political life are the essence of democracy and strengthen societies and economies.”
Finally, the Secretary-General said that we must recognize that all the threats we face undermine not only people’s rights today, but also the rights of future generations. This is a basic responsibility — and a litmus test of good governance.
He added that there is no greater constituency to champion that future than young people – and the new UN Youth Office that will be up and running this year is designed to strengthen our work.
