UN Warns Of $4 Trillion Shortfall Threatening Global Development Goals
28 April 2025
Speaking at UN Headquarters in New York, Secretary-General António Guterres, General Assembly President Philémon Yang and Economic and Social Council President Bob Rae stressed the need for more resources and a global financial overhaul.
Without an effective response, they stressed, the world risks falling even further behind on ending poverty, fighting climate change, and building new sustainable economies.
They were addressing the ECOSOC annual forum on financing for development, which follows last week's World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Spring Meetings where global growth, trade tensions and the rising debt burden in developing countries were front and centre.
Everyone loses in a trade war
' This year's ECOSOC Forum comes at a pivotal time,' Mr. Guterres told delegates, warning that global cooperation itself is under threat.
He pointed to rising trade tensions as a major risk, noting that while fair trade is a clear example of the benefits of international collaboration, the surge in trade barriers poses a 'clear and present danger' to the global economy – as seen in recent downgrades to global growth forecasts by the IMF, the World Trade Organization (WTO), and UN economists.
' In a trade war, everybody loses – especially the most vulnerable countries and people, who are hit the hardest,' he said.
We must shift into overdrive
Mr. Guterres highlighted how many donors are pulling back from aid commitments while soaring borrowing costs drain public investments, putting the SDGs 'dramatically off track.'
' With just five years to reach the SDGs, we need to shift into overdrive,' he stressed, urging countries to deliver bold outcomes at the upcoming Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, in Seville.
'Against this turbulent background, we cannot let our financing for development ambitions get swept away.'
Crushing debt burdens
ECOSOC President Bob Rae echoed these concerns, emphasising that over three billion people live in countries where governments spend more on interest payments than on health or education.
'We desperately need a more affordable debt architecture – it's that simple,' he said, calling for urgent reforms that would allow countries a fair chance to repay what they owe while investing in their futures.
He also sounded the alarm over rising trade barriers – citing recent moves by major economies, like the United States, to impose new tariffs.
' Trade is not a four-letter word,' Mr. Rae said, ' it is a positive way for countries to exchange goods and services and emerge from poverty.'
He urged countries not to see trade as a zero-sum game – where there are only winners and losers – and embrace fair, open trading systems as a path to shared prosperity.
Calls for reform
General Assembly President Philémon Yang underscored the consequences of rising debts and shrinking fiscal space.
In more than 50 developing countries, governments now spend over 10 percent of their revenues on debt servicing – and in 17 of them, over 20 percent – a clear warning sign of default, according to UN economists.
'Our inability to reform the international financial architecture is severely restricting capital access,' Mr. Yang warned, stressing that closing the financing gap – now estimated at over $4 trillion annually – is critical to achieving the SDGs.
' Time is of the essence. Let us use this ECOSOC Forum to bridge divides, build trust, and lay the foundation for success. '
Looking ahead to Seville
As negotiations continue towards an agreed outcome in Seville, Secretary-General Guterres highlighted three priority areas – tackling unsustainable debt, strengthening multilateral development banks and unlocking new streams of sustainable finance.
He called for mobilizing more domestic resources, innovative financing solutions, better controls on illicit financial flows and stronger partnerships with the private sector.
ECOSOC President Rae added that the conversation must move beyond declarations to concrete, measurable action.
' We need innovation, creativity and partnerships that deliver lasting and transformative impact,' he said.
The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development – to be held from 30 June to 3 July in Seville, Spain – represents a critical opportunity to rebuild the global financial system to unleash the investments urgently needed to achieve the SDGs.
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Reasons For Supporting Ethnic Cleansing, Through Genocide, In Palestine When I despairingly contemplate the horrors and cruelty that Palestinians in Gaza are being subjected to, I sometimes try to put in the context of where I live. I live on the Kāpiti Coast in the lower North Island. Geographically it is around the same size as Gaza. Both have coastlines running their full lengths. But, whereas the population of Gaza is a cramped two million, Kāpiti 's is a mere 56,000. I find it incomprehensible to visualise what it would be like if what is presently happening in Gaza occurred here. The only similarities between them are coastlines and land mass. One is an outdoor prison while the other's outdoors is peaceful. New Zealand and Palestine state recognition Currently Palestine has observer status at the United Nations General Assembly. Earlier this month, the Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favour of Palestine being granted full membership of the United Nations. To its credit New Zealand was among 143 countries that supported the resolution. Nine, including the United States as the strongest backer of Israeli genocide outside Israel, voted against. However, despite this massive majority, such is the undemocratic structure of the UN that it will only require US opposition in the Security Council to veto the democratic vote. Notwithstanding New Zealand's support for Palestine broadening its role in the General Assembly and its support for the two-state solution, the government does not officially recognise Palestine. While its position on recognition is consistent with that of the genocide-supporting United States, it is inconsistent with the over 75% of UN member states who, in March 2025, recognised Palestine as a sovereign state (by 147 of the 193 member states). Christopher Luxon's government does have the opportunity to correct this obscenity as Palestine recognition will soon be voted on again by the General Assembly. In this context it is helpful to put the Hamas-led attack on Israel in its full historical perspective and to consider the reasons justifying the Israeli genocide that followed. 7 October 2023 and genocide justification The origin of the horrific genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the associated increased persecution, including killings, of Palestinians in the Israeli occupied West Bank (of the River Jordan) was not the attack by Hamas and several other militant Palestinian groups on 7 October 2023. This attack was on a small Israeli town less than two kilometres north of the border. An estimated 1,195 Israelis and visitors were killed. The genocidal response of the Israeli government that followed this attack can only be justified by three factors: The Judaism or ancient Jewishness of Palestine in Biblical times overrides the much larger Palestinian population in Mandate Palestine prior to formation of Israel in 1948. The right of Israelis to self-determination overrides the right of Palestinians to self-determination. The value of Israeli lives overrides the value Palestinian lives. The first factor is the key. The second and third factors are consequential. In order to better appreciate their context, it is first necessary to understand the Nakba. Understanding the Nakba Rather than the October 2023 attack, the origin of the subsequent genocide goes back over 70 years to the collective trauma of Palestinians caused by what they call the Nakba (the Disaster). The foundation year of the Nakba was in 1948, but this was central feature of the ethnic cleansing that was kicked of between 1947 and 1949. During this period Zionist military forces attacked major Palestinian cities and destroyed some 530 villages. About 15,000 Palestinians were killed in a series of mass atrocities, including dozens of massacres. During the Nakba in 1948, approximately half of Palestine's predominantly Arab population, or around 750,000 people, were expelled from their homes or forced to flee. Initially this was through Zionist paramilitaries. After the establishment of the State of Israel in May this repression was picked up by its military. Massacres, biological warfare (by poisoning village wells) and either complete destruction or depopulation of Palestinian-majority towns, villages, and urban neighbourhoods (which were then given Hebrew names) followed By the end of the Nakba, 78% of the total land area of the former Mandatory Palestine was controlled by Israel. Genocide to speed up ethnic cleansing Ethnic cleansing was unsuccessfully pursued, with the support of the United Kingdom and France, in the Suez Canal crisis of 1956. More successful was the 'Seven Day War' of 1967 which included the military and political takeover of the West Bank and Gaza. Throughout this period ethnic cleansing was not characterised by genocide. That is, it was not the deliberate and systematic killing or persecution of a large number of people from a particular national or ethnic group with the aim of destroying them. In fact, the acceptance of a two-state solution (Israel and Palestine) under the ill-fated Oslo Accords in 1993 and 1995 put a temporary constraint on the expansion of ethnic cleansing. Since its creation in 1948 Israel, along with South Africa the same year (until 1994), has been an apartheid state. I discussed this in an earlier Political Bytes post (15 March 2025): When apartheid met Zionism. However, while sharing the racism, discrimination, brutal violence, repression and massacres inherent in apartheid, it was not characterised by genocide in South Africa; nor was it in Israel for most of its existence until the current escalation of ethnic cleansing in Gaza. Following 7 October 2023, genocide has become the dominant tool in the ethnic cleansing tool kit. More recently this has included accelerating starvation and the bombing of tents of Gaza Palestinians. The magnitude of this genocide is discussed further below. The Biblical claim Zionism is a movement that sought to establish Jewish nation in Palestine. It was established as a political organisation as late as 1897. It was only some time after this that Zionism became the most influential ideology among Jews generally. Despite its prevalence, however, there are many Jews who are oppose Zionism and play leading roles in the international protests against the genocide in Gaza. Based on Zionist ideology the justification for replacing Mandate Palestine with the state of Israel rests on a Biblical argument for the right of Jews to retake their 'homeland'. This justification goes back to the time of that charismatic carpenter and prophet Jesus Christ. The population of Palestine in Jesus' day was approximately 500,000 to 600,000 ( a little bigger than both greater Wellington and similar to that of Jerusalem today). About 18,000 of these residents were clergy, priests and Levites (a distinct male group within Jewish communities). Jerusalem itself in biblical times, with a population of 55,000, was a diverse city and pilgrimage centre. It was also home to numerous Diaspora Jewish communities. In fact, during the 7th century BC at least eight nations were settled within Palestine. In addition to Judaeans, they included Arameans, Samaritans, Phoenicians and Philistines. A breakdown based on religious faiths (Jews, Christians and Muslims) provides a useful insight into how Palestine has evolved since the time of Jesus. Jews were the majority until the 4th century AD. By the fifth century they had been supplanted by Christians and then from the 12th century to 1947 Muslims were the largest group. As earlier as the 12th century Arabic had become the dominant language. It should be noted that many Christians were Arabs. Adding to this evolving diversity of ethnicity is the fact that during this time Palestine had been ruled by four empires – Roman, Persian, Ottoman and British. Prior to 1948 the population of the region known as Mandate Palestine approximately corresponds to the combined Israel and Palestine today. Throughout its history it has varied in both size and ethnic composition. The Ottoman census of 1878 provides an indicative demographic profile of its three districts that approximated what became Mandatory Palestine after the end of World War 1. Group Population Percentage Muslim citizens 403,795 86–87% Christian citizens 43,659 9% Jewish citizens 15,011 3% Jewish (foreign-born) Est. 5–10,000 1–2% Total Up to 472,465 100.0% In 1882 the Ottoman Empire revealed that the estimated 24,000 Jews in Palestine represented just 0.3% of the world's Jewish population. The self-determination claim Based on religion the estimated population of Palestine in 1922 was 78% Muslim, 11% Jewish, and 10% Christian. By 1945 this composition had changed to 58% Muslim, 33% Jewish and 8% Christian. The reason for this shift was the success of the Zionist campaigning for Jews to migrate to Palestine which was accelerated by the Jewish holocaust. By 15 May 1948, the total population of the state of Israel was 805,900, of which 649,600 (80.6%) were Jews with Palestinians being 156,000 (19.4%). This turnaround was primarily due to the devastating impact of the Nakba. Today Israel's population is over 9.5 million of which over 77% are Jewish and over 20% are Palestinian. The latter's absolute growth is attributable to Israel's subsequent geographic expansion, particularly in 1967, and a higher birth rate. The current population of the Palestinian Territories, including Gaza, is over 5.5 million. Compare this with the following brief sample of much smaller self-determination countries – Slovenia (2.2 million), Timor-Leste (1.4 million), and Tonga (104,000). The population size of the Palestinian Territories is more than half that of Israel. Closer to home it is a little higher than New Zealand. The only reason why Palestinians continue to be denied the right to self-determination is the Zionist ideological claim linked to the biblical time of Jesus Christ and its consequential strategy of ethnic cleansing. If it was not for the opposition of the United States, then this right would not have been denied. It has been this opposition that has enabled Israel's strategy. Comparative value of Palestinian lives The use of genocide as the latest means of achieving ethnic cleansing highlights how Palestinian lives are valued compared with Israeli lives. While not of the same magnitude appropriated comparisons have been made with the horrific ethnic cleansing of Jews through the means of the holocaust by Nazi Germany during World War 11. Per capita the scale of the magnitude gap is reduced considerably. Since October 2023, according to the Gaza health ministry (and confirmed by the World Health Organisation) about 54,000 Palestinians have been killed. Of those killed over 16,500 were children. Compare this with less than 2,000 Israelis killed. Further, at least 310 UNRWA (United Nations Relief & Works Agency) team members have been killed along with over 200 journalists and media workers. Add to this around 1,400 healthcare workers including doctors and nurses. What also can't be forgotten is the increasing Israeli ethnic cleansing on the occupied West Bank. Around 950 Palestinians, including around 200 children, have also been killed during this same period. Time for New Zealand to recognise Palestine The above discussion is in the context of the three justifications for supporting the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians strategy that goes back to 1948 and which, since October 2023, is being accelerated by genocide. First it requires the conviction that the theology of Judaism in Palestine in the biblical times following the birth of Jesus Christ trumps both the significantly changing demography from the 5th century at least to the mid-20th century and the numerical predominance of Arabs in Mandate Palestine. Second, and consequentially, it requires the conviction that while Israelis are entitled to self-determination, Palestinians are not. Finally, it requires that Israeli lives are much more valuable than Palestinian lives. In fact, the latter have no value at all. Unless the government, including Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters, shares these convictions (especially the 'here and now' second and third) then it should do the right thing first by unequivocally saying so and then by recognising the right of Palestine to be an independent state.
