Cyril Ramaphosa has warned that climate change is reversing progress in developing countries already caught in a debt crisis
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on the international community to act with urgency and unity to confront multiple global crises that he warned are threatening peace, development, and human dignity.
Addressing the General Debate at the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, Ramaphosa delivered an appeal for multilateral reform, climate justice, economic equality, and peace in regions plagued by conflict.
Ramaphosa told world leaders that South Africa’s presidency of the G20 in 2025 is guided by the theme “Equality, Solidarity and Sustainability,” and that it offers an opportunity to re-centre Africa in global economic governance.
”To give full meaning to our theme,” he said, “we have invited the G20 countries to join us in prioritising disaster resilience, debt sustainability, a just energy transition, and critical minerals beneficiation at source, to foster inclusive growth and sustainable development.”
He warned that climate change continues to reverse hard-won development gains, particularly in the Global South. “Although Africa carries the least responsibility for climate change, many countries on the continent experience much of its harshest effects,” he said.
”Extreme weather events, like floods and droughts, are driving food insecurity, displacing populations, damaging infrastructure and destroying livelihoods.”
He also pointed to the debt crisis facing many developing countries. “Many countries with developing economies, especially in Africa and the Global South, do not have adequate capital to finance their development goals,” he said.
”They are indebted and are paying much more on debt servicing than they do on health and education.” Ramaphosa urged fairer lending rules and reforms to global financial institutions to support low-income economies.
The president reaffirmed South Africa’s call for reforms to the multilateral trading system, warning that trade is increasingly being used as a geopolitical weapon.
”Trade is now being used as a weapon against a number of countries in the world,” he said.
He called for the lifting of the United States’ decades-long embargo on Cuba, saying: “This unfair embargo must be lifted – and we want it lifted sooner rather than later.”
Amid global uncertainty, Ramaphosa praised the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as “a pragmatic example of constructive collaboration and cooperation” and said it has the potential to become the “central pillar of economic cooperation and integration” across the continent.
As part of efforts to promote global equity, he announced the formation of an Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts on Global Wealth Inequality, chaired by Nobel laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz. The committee will present its first report to G20 leaders when they meet in Johannesburg in November, he said.
Ramaphosa strongly criticised the weakening of multilateral institutions and the growing disregard for international law. ”We are fighting wars that cause death and destruction when we should be fighting poverty and developing the livelihoods of vulnerable people,” he said.
He condemned the failure of the United Nations Security Council to respond effectively to worsening crises in places such as Gaza, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
”The United Nations Security Council has proven to be ineffective in its current form and composition in carrying out its Charter mandate to maintain international peace and security,” he said.
On the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Ramaphosa delivered a firm statement of condemnation. “There is growing global consensus that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza,” he said.
”Just last week, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry found that Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide in Gaza.”
He added, “South Africa has acted in the interest of saving lives by insisting that the International Court of Justice should make a ruling that, indeed, genocide is being committed in Gaza and that it should stop. And we stand here to say: it must stop.”
He welcomed global efforts to recognise the State of Palestine, saying this reflects “the determination of the global majority” to see a peaceful Palestine existing side by side with Israel. ”The long-overdue announcement by an increasing number of countries to recognise the State of Palestine is testament to this determination,” he said.
Ramaphosa also reiterated South Africa’s support for the right to self-determination of the people of Western Sahara and renewed calls for global nuclear disarmament.
He said South Africa would preside over the first Review Conference of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in 2026 and emphasised that “there is no greater assurance of non-proliferation than the complete prohibition of nuclear weapons.”
On gender equality, Ramaphosa reaffirmed South Africa’s commitment to women’s empowerment and declared support for the election of a female UN Secretary-General.
”We would support also the election of a female Secretary-General of the United Nations,” he said, marking the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
He made a resounding call for the reform of the United Nations Security Council to better represent Africa and the Global South. ”We can no longer accept that a large portion of the world’s population is not represented in the United Nations Security Council,” he said. “My own continent, Africa, home to 1.4 billion people, as well as South America, are not represented. This is unjust. This is unacceptable. And it must end.”
“We must rise to the occasion and do our utmost together to ensure the political, economic, and social freedom of all humanity,” Ramaphosa said. ”We must reaffirm that freedom is indivisible and that the denial of the rights of one person diminishes the freedom of all of us.”
