Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, says the world is “witnessing a global assault on democracy and freedom,” calling for action at what he dubs a “pivotal moment.”
The 37-year-old British royal family member delivered a fiery address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Monday to mark Nelson Mandela International Day.
Harry called the current moment a “time of global uncertainty and division, when it’s all too easy to look around and feel anger or despair.”
“How many of us feel battered, helpless in the face of the seemingly endless stream of disasters and devastation?” Harry asked.
Citing the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Harry called 2022 a “painful year in a painful decade.”
Harry — who in 2020 stepped down along with his wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, as a full-time working member of the royal family and moved to California — called out “a few weaponizing lies and disinformation at the expense of the many.”
Saying the United States is seeing a “rolling back of constitutional rights,” Harry told the General Assembly, “We are witnessing a global assault on democracy and freedom — the cause of Mandela’s life.”
“As we sit here today, our world is on fire … again,” Harry said.
The climate change crisis, he said “will only grow worse unless our leaders lead, unless the countries represented by the seats in this hallowed hall make the…
