The UN chief met with civil society organizations as part of activities of the Commission on the Status of Women at the UN where he said: “Conflicts raging around the world are catastrophic for women and girls.”
Guterres highlighted the worldwide assault on women’s rights, the narrowing of their spaces in society and threats faced by women’s rights defenders.
“At our current rate, 340 million women and girls will still be living in extreme poverty by 2030. We cannot allow this to happen,” he added.
Referring to raging global conflicts, Guterres said at least two-thirds of those killed in Gaza are women and children.
“The people of Gaza are living in one waking nightmare,” he added.
Guterres further noted that targeting civilians and failing to protect them violates international humanitarian law, as he urged all to condemn instances of sexual violence in conflicts.
Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack led by the Palestine resistance group, Hamas, in which less than 1,200 people were killed.
More than 31,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and over 73,000 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of most food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has also stated that the “very survival of the population in” the Gaza Strip hangs in the balance.
“We need to act,” Borrell said before meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the State Department.
“We need to clear the humanitarian access through sea, by air – that’s good. That’s not enough.”
“You cannot replace hundreds of trucks by sending parachutes. The most important thing is to open the borders by land and continue working – or start working on the two-state solution that both of us, US and EU, endorse,” he added.
“It is the only way for a lasting peace. I hope that we can join our efforts in order to make that a reality.”
Blinken said he and Borrell would discuss support for Ukraine, the crisis in the Middle East and in Gaza, issues related to the Western Balkans and relations with China.
The meeting is being held after Borrell accused Israel of obstructing the delivery of aid and using starvation as a “weapon of war” in Gaza.
Addressing the UN Security Council in New York, Borrell stated: “There is a humanitarian crisis, which is not a natural disaster.”
“It is man-made. When we look for alternative ways of providing support by sea or by air, we have to remind that we have to do it because the natural way of providing support through road is being closed, artificially closed. Starvation is being used as a war arm,” he added.
