Poverty and hunger are rising worldwide for the first time in decades, the world is no longer moving forward but backward, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said at the opening of the 52nd session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Instead of continuing this progress, we have reversed. The scale of extreme poverty and hunger is rising for the first time in decades, he said.

According to the UN secretary-general, 339 million people worldwide will need humanitarian aid in 2023, a 25 percent increase from 2022.