Guterres to world leaders: Choose peace and cooperation over chaos

The UN Secretary-General opened the General Assembly high-level debate with a stark message: the world is awash with overlapping crises – from wars and humanitarian emergencies to climate breakdown – and leaders must decide now “what kind of world we choose to build together.”

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, António 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.

A world under siege

The UN chief described a landscape marked by violence, hunger, and climate disaster.

“We have entered an age of reckless disruption and relentless human suffering,” he said, warning that the “pillars of peace and progress are buckling under the weight of impunity, inequality, and indifference.”

He cited military invasions, weaponised hunger, disinformation silencing truth, smoke rising from bombed-out cities, anger tearing at the social fabric, and seas swallowing whole coastlines.

Each was a warning – and a question about the choices governments now face.

The UN matters

Against this backdrop, Mr. Guterres argued that the UN remains indispensable.

“At its best, the United Nations is more than a meeting place, it is a moral compass, a force for peace…a guardian of international law and a lifeline for people in crisis.”

He noted that today’s multipolar world could bring dynamism, but without cooperation it risks instability.

“Multipolarity without effective multilateral institutions courts chaos – as Europe learned the hard way resulting in World War One,” he said.

International cooperation, he insisted, is not naïve but a necessity.

“No country can stop a pandemic alone. No army can halt rising temperatures. No algorithm can rebuild trust once it is broken.” It is, he said, “hard-headed pragmatism” in the face of shared global threats.

In this moment of crisis, the United Nations has never been more essential, the Secretary-General stressed.

“The world needs our unique legitimacy. Our convening power. Our vision to unite nations, bridge divides, and confront the challenges before us.”

Five urgent choices

The Secretary-General set out “five critical choices” for governments:

Peace over war: Conflicts from Sudan to Ukraine to Gaza show the cost of ignoring international law. “The Charter is not optional. It is our foundation,” he said, urging ceasefires, accountability, and diplomacy.

Dignity and rights: Human rights are “the bedrock of peace,” he continued. Protecting civic freedoms must go hand in hand with development finance so countries can invest in health, education, and opportunity.

Climate justice: “Fossil fuels are a losing bet,” he declared, urging faster investment in renewables, stronger national climate pledges, and more finance for vulnerable nations. “Science says limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees is still possible…but the window is closing.”

Technology for humanity: Artificial intelligence and other tools must be governed responsibly. “No machine should decide who lives or dies,” he said, calling for global standards to keep technology in service of people.

A stronger UN: With crises multiplying, Mr. Guterres said the UN must adapt and Member States must fund it properly. He criticized the imbalance where “for every dollar invested in building peace, the world spends $750 on weapons of war.”

‘We must never give up’

Mr. Guterres ended on a personal note, recalling growing up “in the darkness of dictatorship, where fear silenced voices and hope was nearly crushed.

That experience coming of age in post-authoritarian Portugal, taught him that “real power rises from people – from our shared resolve to uphold dignity.”

His overriding message was simple: leaders cannot surrender to despair.

“In a world of many choices, there is one choice we must never make: the choice to give up. We must never give up,” he vowed. “That is my promise to you.”