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Brazil’s Foreign Minister blasted the 15-member UN Security Council on Monday for its “inability to act” on the many crises facing the world, particularly the Israel-Gaza war.
“The eyes of the world are staring at us and will not move away from our distressing inability to act,” said Mauro Vieira, whose country currently holds the Security Council's rotating presidency.
“They all see that our incapacity to unite in response to the humanitarian crises facing us today questions the very raison d'etre of this council."
“We have the means to get something done and yet we repeatedly and shamefully fail.”
Speaking at an emergency Security Council session requested by the UAE, the Brazilian minister argued that the body is not able to discharge its responsibility of safeguarding international peace and security due to old antagonisms – and this is “morally unacceptable”.
“The Security Council holds meetings and hears speeches, without being able to take a fundamental decision: to end the human suffering on the ground,” he said.
The UN General Assembly adopted a non-binding resolution last week calling for an immediate humanitarian truce in the Israel-Gaza war, but the Security Council has so far been unable to reach agreement on any text related to the conflict.
Since October 7, the UN Security Council has met several times and rejected four draft resolutions submitted by Russia, the US and Brazil.
With permanent members Russia, China and the US applying their vetoes to previous resolutions, the Security Council's 10 elected members have begun working on a new draft they hope will garner consensus.
“At the risk of restating the obvious, I want to put it bluntly: there cannot be rescuing of hostages and humanitarian aid under shells,” stressed Mr Vieira.
The latest draft resolution, seen by The National, which rejects and condemns “the heinous terrorist attacks by Hamas” on October 7, demands “urgent humanitarian pauses”.
Palestine’s UN ambassador Riyad Mansour also implored the council to act.
“The General Assembly acted. The Secretary General acted … humanitarian agencies and the heroes leading them … acted,” he said.
But there is one important body still not acting: “It is you.”
Gilad Erdan, Israel’s UN ambassador, who wore a yellow star with the words inscribed "never again", attacked the "silence" of the UN Security Council in the face of atrocities committed by the "Nazi Hamas terrorists."
“Our enemies have become emboldened. They have seen that this council has not even condemned the Nazi murderers,” he said.
“They have even seen the UN General Assembly applauding efforts to prevent the Jews from defending ourselves."
The Israeli diplomat continued: “And this is precisely why we have seen the most staggering rise in Jew-hatred since the Nuremburg laws and their aftermath. The anti-Semites have been empowered.”
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How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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