Guyana’s President Donald Ramotar on Thursday issued a call for the United Nations to pay more attention to the issue of inequality and address concerns by many nations.

In his address at the UN General Assembly in New York, President Ramotar said if the world is to become a better place for everyone the issue of inequality must be addressed. He said income distribution continues to be skewed in favour of the rich nations and rich persons within countries. “The gap has grown dangerously wider”, the President said.

According to the President, “inequality leads to great discontentment and social unrest. At the heart of many of the conflicts we see today is the widening gap between the haves and have nots”.

He further stated that “sometimes this is not readily visible as the fight for social and economic justice is often clouded by inter-ethnic, inter-religious and other types of conflicts.”

President Ramotar challened the United Nations to defend the gains that have been made and to expand further on those gains. He said it is necessary for the United Nations to focus on narrowing the gaps in income, access to social services, infrastructure, land distribution, and in other critical areas.

“If there is one lesson to be drawn from efforts to achieve the MDGs, it is that addressing inequality is crucial to the achievement of sustainable development objectives. The approach adumbrated in the UN Resolution for a New Global Human Order remains relevant in the struggle to eradicate poverty and inequality and indeed the post-2015 Development Agenda”, Mr. Ramotar noted.

The President also touched on the ongoing war and conflict in Syria, telling the UN General Assembly that it is an illusion to believe that military intervention will bring peace to that country. He said what is badly needed is a political dialogue among the Syrian parties.

“The international community also has an important role to play. We welcome the agreement between Russia and the United States which will facilitate the destruction of chemical weapons held in Syria. We call on all countries that possess such weapons to do the same. We hope too, that there would be a withdrawal of terrorist forces operating in Syria. After all, they cannot be terrorists when they were fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, but freedom fighters when fighting the Syrian Government. A terrorist is a terrorist”, Mr Ramotar concluded.

Related posts:

President Ali calls on international community to re-examine financial gap and debt portfolio of developing states President calls on UN to support rebuilding efforts of developing nations battling COVID-19 President calls on UN to dedicate more resources in fight against COVID-19 Guyana and Venezuela against any U.S attack on Syria