Antonio Guterres appointed to second term as UN Secretary General

UNITED NATIONS: The UN General Assembly on Friday appointed Antonio Guterres, to a second term as the Secretary General to lead the world body through the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fight against global warming, which he has made his priority.

After being sworn-in to his second term, Guterres said that he would work for a "breakthrough" for a world at "a critical moment in history".

The world is "at the cusp of a new era", he said. "We are truly at a crossroads, with consequential choices before us. Paradigms are shifting. Old orthodoxies are being flipped."

The 193-member General Assembly's resolution adopted by acclamation said that in "appreciation for the effective and dedicated service rendered to the United Nations", it approved the Security Council recommendation to give the former Portuguese Prime Minister another five years starting in January as the world's top diplomat.

Security Council President Sven Jurgenson said that Guterres conformed to the highest standards of competence and integrity.

The Assembly's endorsement of the Council's recommendation was only a formality because, in reality, the five permanent members of the Council through their veto powers control the selection and reappointment of the Secretary General.

Guterres ran unopposed because none of the self-nominated candidates was sponsored by a member nation.

India, which is a non-permanent member of the Security Council, supported Guterres's re-election there and in the Assembly.

After a meeting with Guterres last month, India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar tweeted that New Delhi "values" his leadership and would back his re-election.

Guterres said on Friday: "We are writing our own history with the choices we make right now."

But he warned, "It can go either way: breakdown and perpetual crisis or breakthrough and prospect of a greener, safer and better future for all." However, he said that there were hopeful signs and "we feel a new momentum everywhere for an unequivocal commitment to come together to chart a course towards a better future" because of the pandemic's lessons of "our shared vulnerability, our inter-connectedness and the absolute need for collective action".

The cooperation seen now in the fight against Covid-19 may not have been possible a decade ago, he said. He said that the world was beset by "geostrategic divides and dysfunctional power relations" that are manifest in "too many asymmetries and paradoxes".

They have to be met head-on and "we also need to be aware of how power plays out in today's world when it comes to the distribution of resources and technology", he said. (IANS)

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