00:00Civilians in the Middle East are being caught in the crossfire of the US and Israel's war against Iran,
00:05with strikes hitting homes, hospitals and schools.
00:08The UN says that the shockwaves of the war, including airspace closures and disruptions to trade and energy routes,
00:15are affecting its ability to respond.
00:18Euronews' Maeve McMahon sat down with United Nations Humanitarian Affairs Chief Tom Fletcher.
00:23She started by asking him whether the UN is being increasingly sidelined in a world where international law is in
00:30retreat.
00:31This is a time of impunity and division and polarisation.
00:36And a lot of people are attacking the UN.
00:37But every time you hear someone attack the UN, ask yourself what they gain by making us weaker.
00:43Because actually, impunity, brutality, polarisation, war, we were built for times like this.
00:48This is why we were invented.
00:50And look, in the last week, I've lost four colleagues on the front lines who've given their lives to go
00:56out there and save lives
00:57because of the mess the world is in right now.
01:00So is the UN perfect? No way.
01:02But, you know, I'm not going to accept the attacks that come our way.
01:05Will the UN still exist in 10 years?
01:07Yeah, absolutely.
01:09Because we represent the imperfections of the world.
01:12It's a complicated, messy world.
01:14We wish we could do more, actually, to end these conflicts, to send out our peacekeepers and our peacemakers.
01:20We can only do that where we get a mandate from the world, from the member states.
01:24And right now, the member states are in this kind of transactional, muscular, geopolitical moment
01:30where they're pulling apart rather than pulling together.
01:33And we've got to be a force for coexistence and solidarity.
01:36And just before the war began, President Trump inaugurated his so-called Board of Peace.
01:42Did he get Board of Peace very soon?
01:45Well, I mean, we look forward to hearing more from the Board of Peace about how they're ending a number
01:49of conflicts,
01:49apparently, around the world right now.
01:51I'm dealing with the consequences of so many of those conflicts,
01:54whether it's in Sudan or South Sudan or the DRC or Gaza or, I say, Lebanon at this moment.
02:02And the White House, when I talk to them, are very clear that the Board of Peace is not an
02:06alternative to the UN.
02:07And certainly, the other countries that have joined it have been absolutely categoric that this is not meant to replace
02:13the UN.
02:14We're still here.
02:15So you don't feel threatened by it?
02:17I don't feel threatened by it.
02:18You know, we're a member state organization of over 190 members.
02:22Of course, different groups of countries come together to try and talk about peace or other issues.
02:26There's enough conflict in the world right now.
02:29If people want to bring some peace, I'm completely relaxed about that.
02:32How many people are internally displaced in Iran?
02:35Hundreds of thousands, we estimate.
02:37What's interesting at the moment is that they're not crossing the borders at the scale that we expected.
02:42So you've got a lot of instability in those countries of the region.
02:45And, of course, the economic crisis is driving up that movement of people.
02:49But we're not seeing the large numbers of Iranians cross the borders at this stage.
02:54And what we're understanding from the local authorities is that local communities are responding and taking people into their homes.
03:00But that's a situation we're watching very closely.
03:03And, of course, what about potential spillover of refugees coming to Europe, potentially, even though you're not seeing that now
03:09yet?
03:10I think we will.
03:11Because this crisis can't be put neatly back into a box.
03:17Wars don't just end at frontiers.
03:19And actions have consequences.
03:21And we're in a period globally right now of reckless adventurism in so many places.
03:27And, of course, civilians will be displaced by that.
03:31Civilians will also be displaced by the next wave over the coming years of climate change.
03:36For every degree of climate increase, temperature increase, a billion people will be on the move from areas that we've
03:43lived in for millennia.
03:45And just on that point of people on the move, we've seen thousands internally displaced in Lebanon.
03:50What is the situation like there?
03:52Really grim.
03:53And my boss, the Secretary General, was in Lebanon at the end of last week.
03:57And I spent all weekend on the phone to our humanitarian team there.
04:00We were trying to get a convoy of support down to the south of Lebanon, which is taking a real
04:04smashing up at the moment.
04:06And we had to turn back because of the danger levels.
04:08We lost a colleague in Lebanon last week as well.
04:13So it's getting more and more dangerous for us to operate.
04:17And the needs are going up.
04:18We've got tens of thousands displaced, many of them people who were displaced already by previous conflicts.
04:24Do you fear that Lebanon could be the next Gaza?
04:28I do fear that.
04:29And in fact, I fear that because that's what we're hearing from some Israeli ministers right now who are speaking
04:35in increasingly belligerent language about what they plan to do to Lebanon.
04:39It's a country I know well.
04:41I was ambassador there for four years.
04:44It's an extraordinary country.
04:46One really interesting development in the last couple of weeks is that for the first time, the Lebanese government themselves
04:51are calling for direct negotiations with Israel, which hasn't happened in the past.
04:57And so there's potential here to reset the relationship in the region.
05:02But the path for that is through dialogue and diplomacy and not through more brutal violence.
05:08Just a final reflection, perhaps.
05:10Do you have any hope for the Middle East?
05:12I'm an optimist about humans.
05:14I think we have these two competing instincts, one to fight for resource.
05:18And we're doing a lot of that right now.
05:19And those people are shouting pretty loudly.
05:21But another more important one, which is to work together as communities for that resource.
05:25And I believe ultimately that is the most the more powerful instinct that we have.
05:29And as long as I believe that, then I'll have hope.
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