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"President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on the international community to treat rising global disparity as a high-stakes emergency, demanding a total restructuring of the financial and political institutions that govern the world. Speaking at the Global Inequality Dialogue in Johannesburg on Friday, the President delivered a stark warning about the current trajectory of global wealth. "Humanity cannot advance in a world that is deeply unjust," Ramaphosa said. "It is really astounding that between 2000 and 2024, the richest 1% of people in the world are said to have captured 41% of all new wealth. The poorer half of humanity captured just 1% of the new wealth that was created." He stressed that inequality acts as a catalyst for climate disasters and the erosion of democracy, noting that the crisis transcends national borders. This data is part of a landmark report from the Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts on Global Inequality, which found that a mere 60,000 multimillionaires now own three times as much wealth as the bottom half of the entire human population. “No nation, in the end, can overcome inequality alone," he continued. "We have to work together." The African leader targeted the ‘rules and institutions’ of global finance and security, arguing that the current system fails to meet the developing world's urgent needs. "We've been quite vocal in terms of calling for not only the reform of financial institutions, but all multilateral institutions, including the United Nations Security Council itself,” Ramaphosa stated. “We need to restore the UN Charter to its rightful place at the centre of international relations, and to reform institutions like the UN Security Council so that they can be more reliable guarantors of peace,” he added. Linking economic justice to stability, Ramaphosa warned that conflict and inequality fuel a ‘destructive cycle,’ adding that it is of ‘utmost importance’ for the global community to resolve conflicts currently ‘afflicting the world,’ rather than just the countries directly involved. It marks the second meeting of the International Panel on Inequality (IPI), a body established during South Africa’s G20 Presidency and co-sponsored by the governments of Brazil, Norway, and Spain. Modelled after the IPCC for climate change, the IPI aims to become the global ‘gold standard’ for disparity data, with South Africa planning to present a formal resolution for its permanent establishment at the United Nations General Assembly later this year."
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