ICYMI: UN secretary-general delivers poignant remarks on eradicating inequality in annual Nelson Mandela Lecture

In light of the global Covid-19 pandemic, the Nelson Mandela Foundation’s annual lecture was, for the first time, an online-only event, delivered from the United Nations headquarters in New York City.

The eighteenth annual lecture was delivered by the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres on 18 July. The day also marks the celebration of Mandela Day each year, which commemorates Nelson Mandela’s birthday. The theme of this year’s lecture was: Tackling the Inequality Pandemic: A New Social Contract for a New Year.

To begin the lecture, Sello Hatang, the CEO of the Nelson Mandela Foundation said that Covid-19 has brought both a sense of peril and promise and has exposed inequality, racism and ecological depredation. “It is calling us to change human behaviours fundamentally.”

The lecture took place just days after Mandela’s daughter with Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Zindziswa Mandela, passed away. Hatang said that the lecture was dedicated to her.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said that on this day, they celebrate the triumph over adversity and called on South Africans to perform 67 minutes of community service to uplift others. “Across the world, people are rising and taking a firm stance against racism, injustice and inequality. In his memory, we must strive to build societies that are rooted in mutual respect, tolerance and reconciliation.”

Guterres said that Nelson Mandela dedicated his life to fighting inequality, which has reached crisis proportions around the world in recent decades. “Today, on Madiba’s birthday, I will talk about how we can address the many mutually reinforcing strengths and layers of inequality before they destroy our economies and societies.”

He said that Covid-19 has helped shine a light on these injustices and has laid bare the fragility of the world. “It has laid bare risks we have ignored for decades- inadequate healthcare systems, gaps in social protection, structural inequalities and environmental degradation.”

He said that nations that have made significant strides in addressing inequality have now been set back years due to the pandemic. “We face the deepest global recession since World War Two and the broadest collapse in incomes since 1870. One hundred million more people will be pushed into extreme poverty and we could see famines of historic proportions.”

He added that while there is a myth that every person is in the same boat, it is evident that while everyone might be floating in the same sea, it is clear that some are in superyachts while others cling to drifting debris.

“The vision and promise of the United Nations is that food, healthcare, water and sanitation, education, decent work and social security are not commodities for sale to those who can afford them but basic human rights to which we are all entitled.”

He said that the anti-racist movements that have spread around the world since George Floyd’s death are proof that people have had enough of inequality and discrimination. “These movements point to two historic sources of inequality in our world – colonialism and patriarchy.

“Inequality starts at the top, in global institutions. Addressing inequality must start by reforming them.”

He added that globally, patriarchy is still evident with violence against women at epidemic levels and women are still excluded from senior positions in governments and corporate boards. “Gender inequality harms everyone because it prevents us from benefiting from the intelligence and experience of all of humanity.

“The corrosive effects of inequality are clear. We are sometimes told that the rising tide of economic growth lifts all boats, but rising inequality sinks all boats.”

He said that while Covid-19 is a tragedy, it has created a generational opportunity to create a better and more sustainable world where people have equal rights and respect the rights and freedoms of others.

He highlighted that preschool education can enormously change the lives of individuals and bring benefit to societies. “Within a generation, children in low and middle-income countries could have access to quality education at all levels. This is possible, we just have to decide to do it.”

Guterres added that the changing world requires new social protection policies, such as universal health coverage and the possibility of a universal basic income. “We need affirmative action programmes and targeted policies to address and redress historic inequalities in gender, race or ethnicity that have been reinforced by social norms.”

He added that the vicious circle of corruption needs to be broken which wastes funds that could be used for social protection. “The global political and economic system is not delivering on critical global public goods…The Covid-19 pandemic has brought home the tragic disconnect between self-interest and the common interest.

“To close those gaps and make the new social contract possible, we need the new global deal to ensure that power, wealth and opportunities are shared more broadly and fairly at an international level.”

He said that a new model for global governance must be based on full, inclusive and equal participation in global institutions. “We must work together to integrate the principals of sustainable development into financial decision making. Financial markets must be responsible for shifting resources from the brown and grey to the green, sustainable and the equitable. ”

Guterres concluded by quoting Mandela who said, “One of the challenges of our time is to reinstall in the consciousness of our people that sense of human solidarity of being in the world for one another and because of and through others.”

He said that the pandemic has reinforced this message. “We stand together or we fall apart, today in demonstrations for racial equality, in campaigns against hate speech, in the struggles of people claiming their rights and standing up for future generations, we see the beginnings of a new movement.

“This movement rejects inequality and division and unites young people, civil society, the private sector, cities, regions and others behind policies for peace, our planet and human rights for all. It is already making a difference. Now is a time for global leaders to decide if they will succumb to chaos, division and inequality or will they right the wrongs of the past and move forward together for the good of all.”