NEW YORK: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday urged member states and all parties concerned to engage “seriously and constructively” with a UN-led mechanism aimed at easing disruptions to the movement of essential goods through the Strait of Hormuz, warning that maritime crises across key global shipping routes are deepening pressure on the world’s most vulnerable people.
Guterres said the practical, time-bound confidence-building mechanism, developed by a UN task force he established in March, could be put into operation quickly and would initially focus on fertilizers and related raw materials, with the possibility of expanding to other products.
“The purpose is simple: to reduce immediate risks, support more orderly and predictable transit, and help rebuild the confidence necessary for diplomacy and de-escalation,” he told reporters at UN headquarters in New York.
The UN chief urged the parties concerned to cooperate with the initiative, while stressing that it would not authorize passage through the Strait of Hormuz or alter the rights or obligations of any member state under international law.
“Sovereign decisions remain entirely with participating member states,” he said, adding that the UN “would serve as a neutral facilitator.”
The task force is led by the executive director of the UN Office for Project Services and includes the UN Conference on Trade and Development, the International Maritime Organization and the International Chamber of Commerce. It has worked with other stakeholders to develop the proposed mechanism.
Guterres said international support for the effort had been encouraging, particularly from vulnerable countries that understand the consequences when maritime lifelines are disrupted.
“What is needed now is the cooperation and political will of the parties,” he said. “I urge all concerned to engage seriously and constructively.”
Guterres said conflicts in different regions were converging in their impact on global trade and food security, with attacks and disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz and Bab Al-Mandab constraining the movement of energy, fertilizers, and other essential commodities.
He also pointed to attacks threatening shipping routes vital to exports of oil, grain, and other agricultural products in the conflict following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“These crises are choking arteries of global trade and squeezing the global food system especially hard,” Guterres said.
The consequences include higher prices, worsening hunger, weaker harvests, and greater suffering for vulnerable populations, he warned.
In the Strait of Hormuz alone, transits have “come to a near standstill,” Guterres said. Oil prices remain about 33 percent higher than at the start of the conflict, while global container rates are 84 percent higher than a year ago.
Fertilizers and other essential agricultural inputs are also becoming sharply more expensive, adding to the pressure on food-producing countries.
Guterres stressed that navigational rights and freedoms are not abstract principles but obligations under international law.
“Those rights and freedoms are vital for international peace and security — and for the flow of food, energy, and essential goods on which billions of lives depend,” he said.
Guterres called for full respect for international law, including the law of the sea and international humanitarian law, as well as protection for civilian shipping, infrastructure, and seafarers.
“Maritime chokepoints must never become instruments of coercion,” Guterres said. “And the world’s food supply must never become collateral damage of conflict.”
He emphasized that the proposed UN mechanism is not a substitute for fully restoring navigational rights and freedoms or for the political solutions needed to end the conflicts.
