UNITED NATIONDS, Sep 23 (APP): UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres opened the first day of speeches by world leaders at this year’s General Assembly by warning on Tuesday about the chaotic state of the world but projecting optimism that cooperation can bring change.
“We have entered an age of reckless disruption and relentless human suffering,” Guterres said to the 193-member Assembly. “The principles of the United Nations that you have established are under siege.”
Each September, heads of state and government gather in New York for high-level week, where leaders present their global priorities. The Secretary-General’s opening address traditionally sets the tone.
This year, as the UN marks its 80th anniversary, Guterres recalled the institution’s founding after World War Two, when nations created the United Nations “as a practical strategy for the survival of humanity.”
“Eighty years on – we confront again the question our founders faced – only more urgent, more intertwined, more unforgiving,” he told delegates.
In his wide-ranging address, one of the most pressing issues he listed were the invasion of sovereign nations, the weaponization of hunger, the silencing of truth and the rising seas swallowing coastlines.
He addressed the three raging wars — in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan — overshadowing the U.N.’s 80th anniversary this year, saying that a diplomatic solution was the only way to end all three conflicts. But he reserved his sharpest words for the Israeli war in Gaza, where Palestinians are experiencing catastrophic suffering and the U.N. has lost the highest number of staff members than in any other conflict in its history.
“In Gaza, the horrors are approaching a third monstrous year,” Guterres said. “They are the result of decisions that defy basic humanity. The scale of death and destruction are beyond any other conflict in my years as secretary general.”
Guterres’s speech highlighted the value of the U.N. as the premium forum where the world congregates under one roof. He also sought to convince the leaders gathered at the Assembly that the organization and the principles it upholds — multilateralism, human rights, development and aid — were worth preserving and strengthening.
“Together, let us choose to invest in a United Nations that adapts, innovates and is empowered to deliver for people everywhere,” he said.
Guterres, who has about 15 months left in his tenure at the helm of the United Nations, is navigating a precarious period of multiple challenges and crises. The world body faces questions about its relevance and capability to deliver on its core mission of preventing and mediating conflict. And although these issues are more a result of divisions among world powers in the U.N. Security Council than the actions of the organization itself, they have damaged the U.N.’s reputation.
The UN chief is also managing a severe budget crisis and has revised the 2026 budget to slash about $500 million. He is spearheading an ambitious reform project known as UN80, which will streamline some operations and bring deep cuts to U.N. staffing and programs around the world.
Guterres, a politician by training and mild-mannered by nature, treaded the tensions carefully during the first Trump administration. He had hoped that friendlier U.S. administrations would follow. But Mr. Trump is back and some of his policies and funding cuts to the U.N. are even more aggressive than the first time around.
The two men are scheduled to meet later today for the first time since Mr. Trump took office in January. The outcome of the meeting could have a significant effect on the working relationship between the U.N. and the Trump administration, and Guterres said in an earlier news briefing that he hoped to forge a peacemaking partnership with Mr. Trump.
Guterres ended his speech to the Assembly with a defiant tone. “That is my promise to you,” he said. “For peace. For dignity. For justice. For humanity. I will never give up.”
Guterres wrapped his speech with a reference to the ambitious plan for structural reform known as UN80 and the adjustments to the U.N. budget as the body faced a financial crisis. The acknowledgment was meant to inject some confidence that the United Nations is taking preemptive steps to address its challenges. “No matter the challenge, no matter the obstacle, no matter the hour,” he said, “we must — and we will — overcome.”