Ramaphosa asks UN General Assembly to back global inequality panel

President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on the United Nations General Assembly to back the establishment of an International Panel on Inequality, saying the time has come to turn international concern over inequality into coordinated global action.

In a pre-recorded message delivered on Wednesday at a high-level event on the margins of the 81st United Nations General Assembly, Ramaphosa said the proposed panel was one of the key outcomes of South Africa’s G20 Presidency in 2025 and should now be taken forward through the multilateral system.

The event, titled “Addressing the Global Inequality Crisis. A High-Level Event on an International Panel on Inequality”, was co-hosted by South Africa, Brazil, Norway and Spain, with Nobel Laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz. It brought together leaders, ministers and representatives of international organisations and civil society to build support for the proposed panel.

Ramaphosa said the four countries were united by a common objective. “President Lula, Prime Minister Store, Prime Minister Sanchez and I welcome you as leaders of nations united by a common cause, to overcome extreme inequality,” he said, referring to Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Norway’s Jonas Gahr Store and Spain’s Pedro Sanchez.

He recalled the words of South Africa’s founding President Nelson Mandela. “As South Africa’s founding father Nelson Mandela reminded us, for as long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest,” he said.

The initiative has its roots in South Africa’s G20 Presidency, which placed inequality prominently on the global economic agenda. An independent committee of experts on global inequality, commissioned by that presidency, recommended the establishment of an International Panel on Inequality to provide governments and multilateral institutions with authoritative assessments and analysis of inequality.

The proposed panel would monitor trends, assess the drivers and consequences of inequality and examine policy responses. It is envisaged as an independent, science-based and globally representative body that would organise, synthesise and assess existing knowledge on inequality and provide evidence to inform policymaking, drawing inspiration from the role played by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

“The decision to establish the Panel is one of the most consequential outcomes of the South African G20 Presidency last year,” Ramaphosa said. The initiative built on the work of Brazil, which held the G20 Presidency before South Africa.

The 2025 G20 South Africa Leaders’ Declaration recognised inequality, unemployment, under-employment and informal employment as significant threats to global growth, development and social and economic stability.

Ramaphosa said the growing support should now be converted into a formal UN process. “As evidenced by the wide range of representation in this room today, the coalition in support of an IPI is growing,” he said. “It is time to accelerate the momentum, and to get the backing of the General Assembly for a resolution on the IPI.”

The UN has described the proposed panel as a potential global body that would provide objective assessments of inequality, systematically monitor trends, analyse drivers and consequences, and assess policy responses at global and national levels. Wednesday’s event was specifically convened to build engagement and support for establishing the panel through a General Assembly resolution.

Drawing on the contribution of Professor Stiglitz, a leading advocate of the proposed panel, Ramaphosa said inequality should not be regarded as an unavoidable feature of the global economy. “As Professor Joseph Stiglitz reminds us, inequality is not and never has been inevitable. It is a problem we can solve with evidence, analysis and cooperation,” he said.

He called for countries to build on the momentum generated through the G20 and take the initiative forward within the United Nations. “Let us forge forward in the spirit of cooperation and common purpose,” he said.

Ramaphosa said the establishment of the panel was no longer a distant ambition. “An International Panel on Inequality is now firmly on the horizon, and fully within our grasp. The time for an International Panel on Inequality is now,” he said.

For South Africa, the initiative represents an effort to place inequality at the centre of the multilateral development agenda and strengthen the evidence available to governments when designing policies to address disparities in income, wealth and opportunity. It aligns with the broader South African position that global institutions need to respond more effectively to inequalities between and within countries, particularly at a time when developing economies face multiple economic and external pressures.

Whether the panel is established now rests with the General Assembly, which would need to adopt a resolution for the proposal to move forward. The coalition’s strength inside the 193-member body has not been tested in a vote. This account is based on the official SAnews report of the event.

Source: SAnews (South African Government News Agency), President Ramaphosa calls for UN backing on panel on inequality