As the world grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, inequality across the world has come to the forefront. On Saturday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres slammed world leaders for ignoring inequality issues in global institutions.
During an online lecture for the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Guterres pushed for a new global deal to ensure power, wealth, and opportunity are shared equally at the international level.
READ MORE: World Health Organization says global coronavirus cases ‘still on the way up’
“The nations that came out on top more than seven decades ago have refused to contemplate the reforms needed to change power relations in international institutions,” Guterres said. “The composition and voting rights in the United Nations Security Council and the boards of the Bretton Woods system are a case in point.”
“Inequality starts at the top – in global institutions. Addressing inequality must start by reforming them,” he said.
Guterres went on to explain how the spread of COVID-19 revealed an even deeper issue within our current system when it comes to healthcare, the economy, and race.
“It is exposing fallacies and falsehoods everywhere: the lie that free markets can deliver healthcare for all; the fiction that unpaid care work is not work; the delusion that we live in a post-racist world; the myth that we are all in the same boat,” said Guterres.
“Because while we are all floating on the same sea, it’s clear that some are in superyachts while others are clinging to the floating debris.”
The U.N. has asked for $10.3 billion to help poor countries impacted by the coronavirus, but has only received $1.7 billion.
READ MORE: Federal stockpile of PPE for coronavirus may be running low
According to Reuters, there are more than 14 million coronavirus cases worldwide and about 600,000 people have lost their lives due to the deadly respiratory virus.
On Saturday, the World Health Organization confirmed that there were close to 250,000 cases reported to them, making it the largest single-day increase since the pandemic first began.
Subscribe to theGrio’s Dear Culture podcast on Spotify, Apple and Stitcher.