UN Secretary-General António Guterres delivered a stark warning to the Security Council, linking poverty, inequality, and underdevelopment to the surge in global conflict. “Poverty breeds despair. Despair fuels unrest. And unrest tears at the fabric of societies,” he said, emphasizing that nine of the ten countries with the lowest Human Development Indicators are currently in conflict.

Guterres noted that 40% of the world’s 700 million extremely poor people live in conflict-affected or fragile settings, a figure expected to rise if current trends continue. He called for urgent action ahead of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, set to begin June 30 in Seville, Spain.

“The engine of development is sputtering,” he warned, citing a $4 trillion annual shortfall in resources needed to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. He urged nations to reform the global financial architecture, provide debt relief, and channel public and private finance to the areas of greatest need.

Peace Through Opportunity

“Peace is not built in conference rooms. It is built in classrooms, in clinics, in communities,” Guterres said. “Investing in development today is investing in a more peaceful future”.

African Union Echoes the Call

Mahmoud Youssouf, head of the African Union Commission, echoed the Secretary-General’s message, stating: “Wherever the guns are allowed, the human development is weakest.” He highlighted the AU’s Silencing the Guns initiative as a blueprint for tackling the socioeconomic and governance roots of violence.

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