The Secretary-General’s 2020 Nelson Mandela Lecture: A Call for a New Social Contract

In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic raged across the globe, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres delivered the annual Nelson Mandela Lecture, focusing acutely on the theme of rising inequality and the urgent need for a "New Social Contract" rooted in justice, solidarity, and equality. Drawing inspiration from Nelson Mandela’s lifelong struggle against injustice and discrimination, Guterres paid tribute to Mandela’s vision of dignity and equality for all, asserting that “inequality defines our time” and presents a critical threat to global peace and development.

The Secretary-General did not frame this crisis as a passing episode, but rather as the culmination of decades of policy failures, structural injustices, and broken promises that have left the world exposed to the pandemic’s worst consequences. He declared that the COVID-19 pandemic “is shining a spotlight on this injustice,” exposing both new and historic layers of inequality and making clear that “some are in superyachts while others are clinging to drifting debris”. Guterres’ call for a New Social Contract thus echoes Mandela’s enduring principles, demanding that societies be rebuilt to ensure equal opportunity, inclusion, and respect for human rights.

Linking the New Social Contract to Nelson Mandela’s Legacy and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals

Throughout his lecture, Guterres explicitly positioned the New Social Contract as being in direct continuity with Nelson Mandela’s life work. He invoked Mandela not only as a symbol of resistance to apartheid and racism, but also as a guidepost for contemporary struggles against all forms of inequality, including gender discrimination, economic disparity, and inherited privilege. Guterres quoted Mandela’s warning that “as long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest,” underscoring the moral and political obligation to renew the fight for equality.

The Secretary-General located this struggle within the framework of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, stating: “It is at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, our agreed blueprint for peace and prosperity on a healthy planet, captured in SDG 10: reduce inequality within and between countries”. He made it clear that achieving the SDGs, particularly those on poverty (SDG 1), hunger (SDG 2), gender equality (SDG 5), and reduced inequalities (SDG 10), requires a transformation of societies through a new social contract that leaves no one behind.

Guterres argued that “equality is at the centre of Agenda 2030”—not only as an ethical imperative, but as a practical necessity for sustainable development and resilience, directly referencing the SDGs as both guidance and a measuring stick for the global recovery and for future policy action.

The Devastating Impact of COVID-19 on Equality

The Secretary-General was unequivocal about the pandemic’s catastrophic impact on the ideal and reality of equality. COVID-19 did not strike as a “great equalizer”; rather, it relentlessly exploited and exacerbated existing societal divisions, deepening the rifts between rich and poor, men and women, and those of different races, ethnicities, and abilities.

Guterres detailed how inadequate health systems, gaps in social protection, environmental degradation, and pre-existing inequalities left billions unprotected and disproportionately exposed the most vulnerable—those living in poverty, the elderly, women, and minorities—to the pandemic's harm. Globally, millions have lost jobs and income, driving the largest rise in extreme poverty in decades, with young, female, and minority groups suffering most. The disruption of education, particularly for girls and marginalized children, threatens to create a permanent widening of opportunity gaps across generations.

The Secretary-General described the COVID-19 pandemic as an “x-ray, revealing fractures in the fragile skeleton of the societies we have built,” exposing the myth that “we are all in the same boat” when, in reality, vast inequalities dictate who is protected and who suffers most.

Food Insecurity During the Pandemic: A Major Driver and Consequence of Deepening Inequality

One of the starkest manifestations of these inequalities was the dramatic spike in global food insecurity during the pandemic. Before 2020, approximately 820 million people already suffered from hunger worldwide. The economic shock, loss of income, and breakdown in food supply chains triggered by COVID-19 pushed this number much higher.

The impact was particularly acute in countries with large informal sectors, limited social protection, and pre-existing vulnerabilities, but no region was spared. Women, children, ethnic minorities, and those below the poverty line were most susceptible, with millions of children missing school meals due to closures and entire families forced to skip meals or shift to less nutritious diets. New research has shown food insecurity was closely associated with higher rates of COVID-19 infection, as the most vulnerable had less capacity to isolate, seek medical care, or afford protective behaviors.

Guterres located the spike in hunger and malnutrition as both a cause and effect of growing inequality: food-insecure populations became more vulnerable to disease, job loss, poor educational outcomes, and social disintegration—a “vicious cycle” which, unchecked, undermines all prospects for peace, dignity, and sustainable development.

The Interconnection of Food Insecurity, Social Instability, and Global Inequality

The severity of global hunger during COVID-19 became a “multiplier of instability,” as rising food insecurity was linked to unrest, increased crime, migration pressures, and the risk of violent conflict. The Secretary-General warned that failure to address food insecurity would derail not only health and development but also jeopardize the very foundations of peace and cooperation, as inequalities within and between nations fueled division and distrust.

He called for solidarity at the national and international levels, highlighting that only through a New Social Contract—integrating employment, health, education, and social protection, and targeting historic injustices—could societies break the cycle of deprivation and inequality exacerbated by the pandemic.

The World Food Programme and the Nobel Peace Prize: Recognition of Critical Action in a Global Crisis

Against this grim backdrop, the World Food Programme (WFP) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020. The Nobel Committee cited WFP's relentless efforts to combat hunger, improve conditions for peace in regions affected by conflict, and act as “a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict”. WFP’s critical role during the COVID-19 pandemic—often being the last lifeline delivering food to the most desperate populations—exemplified the organization’s mission at a moment when support for the vulnerable was more vital than ever.

The Secretary-General lauded the WFP’s Nobel recognition as a global acknowledgment of the essential link between food security, peace, and the reduction of inequality. In a world where pandemic disruptions left millions in danger of starvation, the WFP’s work was not just humanitarian assistance; it was a bulwark against “the corrosion of inequality” and a safeguard of human dignity and hope.

The Secretary-General’s Vision for Equality at the Center of Agenda 2030

In his 2020 statements, Guterres articulated a vision of recovery and progress with equality and justice at its core, contending that “a better way” lies in renewed investment in inclusive education, health, digital infrastructure, affirmative social policies, and global financial reform. Equality, he insisted, is not a peripheral ideal but “the central objective and the most profound value of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”—a foundation without which peace, human progress, and solidarity are unattainable.

He called on global leaders to emulate Mandela’s example by prioritizing the voices and rights of the marginalized, confronting the legacies of colonialism and patriarchy, and constructing fair economic and political systems that deliver public goods, stability, and opportunity for all. Only by refusing to accept a return to the unjust status quo and instead pressing for new, unified efforts across every sector could the world hope to recover from the pandemic “better, fairer, and more sustainable”.

In sum, the Secretary-General’s 2020 address, deeply rooted in the legacy of Nelson Mandela and guided by the 17 SDGs, recognized the COVID-19 pandemic as both a devastating blow to equality and a historic opportunity to place equality at the very center of the world’s future—where the fight against hunger and the pursuit of peace are inseparable pillars of human dignity and security.