South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on world leaders to support the creation of an International Panel on Inequality (IPI), arguing that the time has come for stronger global cooperation to tackle poverty, injustice and widening economic disparities.
In a pre-recorded message to the UN General Assembly’s 81st International Panel on Inequality High-Level Event, Ramaphosa said leaders must move beyond declarations and take concrete action to confront extreme inequality.
He joined Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in welcoming participants to the event, describing them as leaders united by a common cause: overcoming extreme inequality.
“Let today be a day of action,” Ramaphosa said, invoking the words of South Africa’s former president and founding democratic leader, Nelson Mandela, who warned that poverty, injustice and gross inequality prevent the world from achieving lasting peace and progress.
Ramaphosa said the proposed panel would help establish “a new multilateral frontier” and expand the international coalition working to address inequality.
He described the decision to establish the IPI as one of the most significant outcomes of South Africa’s G20 presidency, building on Brazil’s earlier effort to place inequality at the centre of the global agenda.
The South African president noted that support for the initiative was growing, reflected in the broad representation at the high-level event.
He urged countries to build momentum and secure backing from the UN General Assembly for a resolution formally establishing the panel.
Ramaphosa also rejected the idea that inequality is unavoidable. Citing economist and Nobel laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz, he said inequality is neither inevitable nor beyond capacity of governments and international institutions to address.
“It is a problem we can solve with evidence, analysis and cooperation,” he said.
The proposed International Panel on Inequality would, according to Ramaphosa’s remarks, provide a platform for evidence-based analysis and coordinated international action.
Its establishment would signal a renewed commitment to placing distributional justice, poverty reduction and inclusive development at the centre of the multilateral agenda.
Concluding his message, Ramaphosa said the initiative was no longer a distant ambition but a realistic and achievable goal.
“An International Panel on Inequality is now firmly on the horizon, and fully within our grasp,” he said, adding: “The time for International Panel on Inequality is now.”
