UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said there is "outrage" in the world over the inability of the international community to end the wars in Syria and Yemen, address the Rohingya refugee crisis, and to combat terrorism.
He said the threat of a new arms race looms, while nations close their borders to those in need and concerns grow over weaponisation of artificial intelligence.
Addressing world leaders at the start of the General Debate at the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly, Guterres said in his address last year, he had highlighted seven challenges that sadly still remain unresolved.
"There is outrage at our inability to end the wars in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere.
The Rohingya people remain exiled, traumatised and in misery, still yearning for safety and justice.
Palestinians and Israelis are still locked in endless conflict, with the two-state solution more and more distant," he said.
He voiced concern that the threat of terror looms, fed by the root causes of radicalisation and violent extremism.
"And terrorism is ever more interlinked with international organised crime and the trafficking of people, drugs and arms," he said.
Nuclear security is another concern facing the world as the nuclear peril has not eased, with non-proliferation at serious risk.
"Nuclear-armed states are modernising their arsenals. A new arms race could be triggered, and the threshold for their use lowered. We have seen outrageous uses of chemical weapons, in full impunity despite their ban. Protections against dangerous biological weapons are weak," he said.
He also stressed that tensions over trade are on the rise and migrants and refugees continue to face discrimination and demagoguery in the context of clearly insufficient international cooperation.
"As the politics of pessimism spreads, we must guard against self-fulfilling prophecies.Those who see their neighbours as dangerous may cause a threat where there was none. Those who close their borders to regular migration only fuel the work of traffickers. And those who ignore human rights in combatting terrorism tend to breed the very extremism they are trying to end," he said.
On climate change, Guterres said there is a direct existential threat and if nations do not change course in the next two years, there is risk of runaway climate change.
He said nations are not doing enough and there is need for greater ambition and a greater sense of urgency.
"We must guarantee the implementation of the Paris Agreement. It has immense potential to set us on the right course, but its targets -- which represent the bare minimum to avoid the worst impacts of climate change -- are far from being met".
Next September, the UN chief will convene a climate summit to mobilise action and finance, bringing together countries and cities, business, finance and civil society, to focus on the heart of the problem.
The summit will take place one year before countries have to enhance their national climate pledges under the Paris Agreement.
Talking about new technologies, Guterres said rapidly developing fields such as artificial intelligence, blockchain and biotechnology have the potential to turbocharge progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
"Artificial Intelligence is connecting people across languages, and supporting doctors in making better diagnoses. Driverless vehicles will revolutionise transportation," he said adding that there are also risks and serious dangers.However, technology is being misused by terrorists and for sexual exploitation and abuse.
Organised criminal networks lurk on the dark web, profiting from encryption and near-anonymous cryptocurrency payments to traffic in people and illegal goods.
He emphasised that cybercrime is now putting USD 1.5 trillion in the pockets of cybercriminals annually.
"Malicious acts in cyberspace, such as disinformation campaigns -- are polarising communities and diminishing trust among states," he said.
He further said the impacts of new technologies on warfare are a direct threat to the common responsibility to guarantee peace and security.
"The weaponisation of artificial intelligence is a growing concern. The prospect of weapons that can select and attack a target on their own raises multiple alarms and could trigger new arms races," he said.
Guterres said diminished oversight of weapons has implications for nations' efforts to contain threats, prevent escalation and adhere to international humanitarian and human rights law.
"Let's call it as it is. The prospect of machines with the discretion and power to take human life is morally repugnant. Heaven forbid, any new war could very well include a massive cyberattack not only targeting military capacities, but also critical civilian infrastructure," he said.
He said technological advances may disrupt labour markets as traditional jobs change or disappear, even as the number of young job-seekers continues to grow as the very nature of work will change, governments may have to consider stronger social safety net programmes, including, possibly, universal basic income.
He also voiced concern over the deep gender gap in access to digital technologies, widening the digital divide.