Guterres | Pakistan

UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary General António Guterres has warned member states that the world body is facing an “imminent financial collapse” as unpaid annual dues, rigid financial rules and dwindling liquidity push the organisation towards “a moment of truth”. Dawn has obtained a copy of a letter the UN chief sent this week to all permanent representatives to the United Nations, in which he cautions that unless member states either pay their assessed contributions in full and on time or agree to fundamentally overhaul the UN’s financial rules, the organisation may soon be unable to function. In the unusually stark message, dated Jan 28, the secretary general said the UN’s current financial trajectory is “untenable”, leaving the organisation “exposed to structural risk and forcing a stark choice” between reform and collapse”. He noted that while the UN has weathered periods of unpaid contributions in the past, the present situation “is categorically different” because decisions not to honour assessed contribu...

United Nations: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday that Israel’s Gaza control plan was a “dangerous escalation” that risked worsening conditions for ordinary Palestinians, his spokesperson said. “The Secretary-General is gravely alarmed by the decision of the Israeli Government to ‘take control of Gaza City’. This decision marks a dangerous escalation and risks deepening the […]