Published on: 2026-09-22
Source: United Nations – United Nations –
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The UN chief devoted his speech to four main challenges of our time: wars and security, inequality, the climate crisis, and the rapid development of artificial intelligence.
“Divisions in our world are growing deeper. Cracks have turned into chasms,” said the Secretary-General.
Over the past decade, he recalled, wars repeatedly broke out that led to destructive consequences, dragged on, and were accompanied by monstrous cruelty. Civilians and humanitarian workers became targets, human rights were violated, hunger was used as a weapon, and international law was ignored.
At the same time, geopolitical disagreements deepened, and inequality intensified. The climate crisis has transformed from an abstract threat into a daily reality, and artificial intelligence is developing so rapidly that it “even caught its own creators off guard.”
According to Guterres, all of this is not separate crises, but chapters of one story: a story about power, about who has it, who is deprived of it, how it is wielded, and how it changes.
Two paths for a multipolar world
The Secretary-General highlighted three fundamental changes in the distribution of power. First, new centers of economic, political, and technological influence are emerging in the world. Second, there is an unprecedented transfer of power from governments to a small group of private corporations and individuals. Their influence extends to politics, the economy, information flows, technological development, and the civil sphere.
Thirdly, people increasingly yield control to machines. AI agents behave less and less predictably, and autonomous lethal weapons, which until recently existed only in science fiction, are becoming real tools of war.
At the same time, international institutions and global governance systems still largely reflect the distribution of power and interests of a bygone era.
“We are clearly moving towards a multipolar world. And this movement is irreversible,” Guterres stated.
However, multipolarity, according to him, can take different forms. One possible scenario is a fragmented world operating on a ‘service for service’ basis, with increasing tensions, deepening mistrust, fragmented markets, weakened institutions, and diminishing cooperation.
Another path is “networked multipolarity”: a world built on interdependence, where multiple centers of influence coexist within a common framework of international law and unified norms.
Such a world order, the Secretary-General believes, can help prevent hegemonistic tendencies and the “Great Divide” – the division of the world into two rival blocs with separate economic, technological, and security systems.
“Peace cannot be ensured by military power alone. Stability cannot be achieved by economic power alone. And technological power alone cannot guarantee security,” he emphasized.
To build a networked multipolar world, a more balanced multilateral system is needed, with the United Nations at its center. The Charter of the Organization remains the mandatory starting point for everyone, and the main principles are the supremacy of international law, the protection of human dignity, and the pursuit of justice.
Wars and civilians
The first challenge cited by the Secretary-General was peace and international security.
He urged world leaders to use the High-Level Week to achieve de-escalation and dialogue in the Middle East.
“Let a single and unequivocal call come from this hall: hostilities must cease; humanitarian aid must flow unhindered; and the rights and freedoms of navigation must be fully restored in accordance with international law,” said Guterres.
The UN chief paid special attention to the catastrophic situation in the occupied Palestinian territory.
“It has been almost three years since the horrific terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas on October 7. They were followed by an offensive against Palestinians in Gaza, the scale of killings and destruction during which exceeded anything I have witnessed during my years as Secretary-General,” he stated.
Guterres recalled that the International Court issued a legally binding order on provisional measures in the case “Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Sector.”
Furthermore, in the advisory opinion issued last year, the Court clearly stated that the UN must be able to carry out its mandates in Gaza, and that its staff and humanitarian personnel must be protected.
“All parties are obliged to comply with the norms of international law and to carry out the Court’s orders,” the Secretary-General emphasized.
Meanwhile, violence, forced displacement of people, and expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank, he said, are destroying hopes for peace and “creating a threat of ethnic cleansing.” The prospect of a settlement based on the principle of two-state coexistence “must not disappear before our eyes,” Guterres said.
© WFP/M. Le Lisur Residents of the tent camp in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, receive humanitarian aid.
Speaking about Ukraine, the head of the UN stated that Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukrainian territory “thrust a sovereign country into a brutal war and became a flagrant violation of the UN Charter.”
Civilians continue to die even far from the front line. Residential buildings, power and water supply systems, as well as transportation, are regularly subjected to attacks mainly in Ukraine, and recently also in some regions of Russia. This poses a threat to global food and energy supply chains, noted the UN chief.
In Sudan, Guterres continued, the war for absolute power, fueled by external forces, has turned into a war against the civilian population. Millions of people have been forced to leave their homes, hunger is spreading, hospitals and residential buildings are being hit by drones, and the scale of sexual violence and ethnically motivated attacks is increasing.
Another crisis, at risk of going unnoticed by the international community, is unfolding in Myanmar, where violence is escalating, mass displacement continues, and transnational crime is growing.
“We have to determine whether the authorities will obey the law or if they will be placed above it,” said the Secretary-General.
He called to uphold the UN Charter, avoid double standards, protect civilians without exception, ensure unobstructed humanitarian access, shield humanitarian personnel from danger, and achieve rapid progress in nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.
Africa should have a permanent seat on the Security Council
Guterres called for reforming the Security Council so that it reflects the realities of the modern world and has the legitimacy and effectiveness necessary to address today’s challenges.
The unfairness towards Africa is particularly evident, according to him. When the UN was created, much of the continent was still under colonial rule. Today, Africa still does not have a single permanent seat on the Security Council.
“The situation where the Security Council of the 21st century lacks permanent representation of Africa is unjust and unjustifiable. It needs to be corrected,” said the Secretary-General.
Inequality is a question of power
The second “test of power,” Guterres called inequality. It is often seen as an economic problem. However, according to the UN chief, it is a problem of power – over opportunities, resources, and the right to vote.
Humanity has never had such wealth, knowledge, and technological capabilities, yet progress remains inaccessible to billions of people. They see prosperity around them but do not prosper themselves.
They are told that globalization opens up new horizons, but in reality they face alienation, noted the Secretary-General. They are promised that technology will provide new opportunities, but many fear that technology will take away their sources of income.
Billions of people still lack the most essential goods provided for by the Sustainable Development Goals: food, clean water, education, decent work, healthcare.
Many developing countries suffer from an unbearable debt burden, bear the brunt of disasters to which they are almost not responsible, and lack access to affordable financing.
The Secretary-General called for timely, effective, and fair debt relief. According to him, multilateral development banks must expand, act more decisively, and have broader capacities to provide long-term affordable financing in the necessary volumes and to more actively mobilize private capital. Special drawing rights should benefit the countries that need them the most.
He called the most common form of inequality the inequality between women and men.
“Around the world, women and girls continue to face discrimination, violence, isolation, and abuses,” Guterres said.
“The rights they have won are being restricted everywhere. They are being deprived of a voice. Their bodies have become a battlefield. And their freedoms have become subjects of bargaining,” he added.
He reported that the UN has ensured gender parity for the first time in its history at all senior leadership positions, in all headquarters, and among staff in the specialist category.
“Equality is not a dream. It is a choice,” emphasized the UN chief, adding that following the Organization, governments, parliaments, businesses, peace processes, and the General Assembly itself can change.
Climate crisis
The Secretary-General named the climate crisis as the third challenge. It is here, according to him, that the intergenerational imbalance becomes especially clear: one generation takes away the future from the next, and earlier and more severely suffer those who are least to blame for what is happening.
Guterres warned that exceeding the critical temperature increase threshold of 1.5 degrees is now practically inevitable, and humanity faces an unprecedentedly strong El Niño.
At the same time, the rapid development of clean energy gives reason for hope.
“The sun belongs to no one. You cannot impose an embargo on the wind. Innovations can emerge anywhere,” he said.
Today, in most countries around the world, renewable energy sources allow generating new electricity at the lowest costs and open up the most viable path to energy security, independence, and sustainable growth.
The Secretary-General called on the governments of all countries to adopt national plans to phase out fossil fuels, align them with the 1.5-degree target, set clear deadlines, and provide protection for workers and communities affected by such a phase-out.
He sharply criticized the largest oil companies.
“For decades, oil giants have used the atmosphere as a free sewer and profited from the consequences of their actions,” Guterres said.
According to the data they provided, since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory, the five largest Western oil companies have gained nearly half a trillion dollars in profits. For comparison: international state funding for adaptation measures in developing countries amounted to only 34 billion dollars in the last reporting year.
“Those who polluted the environment the most and profited the most from it must make significantly greater efforts to eliminate the damage they caused,” said the Secretary-General.
He called on governments to act on all fronts: to end deforestation, invest in power grids and storage systems, and reduce methane emissions.
Developed countries, in turn, must fulfill their commitments, triple the financing for adaptation measures, and ensure the full-scale operation of the Loss and Damage Fund.
Guterres also called to prevent the extraction of critical minerals from exacerbating inequality. Producer countries and local communities must receive a significantly greater share of the value created from their resources.
Do not entrust life-and-death decisions to machines
The fourth “test of power,” the Secretary General called technologies, primarily artificial intelligence.
Whereas power used to be derived from territory, industry, and finance, it is now increasingly based on data, computing power, and algorithms. This new power is concentrated in the hands of a few, and the opportunities associated with it are growing faster than society’s ability to comprehend all the consequences of this process.
Guterres recalled that back in 2017 he warned about the possible impact of artificial intelligence on labor markets, global security, and the very foundations of society. Today, AI opens up tremendous opportunities for the development of medicine, acceleration of scientific discoveries, expansion of capabilities, and improvement of quality of life.
“The danger lies not in the technologies themselves. The danger arises when technologies are unaccountable. When capabilities are uncontrolled by anyone. When decisions are made opaquely,” he said.
States leading in the field of AI should exchange information about emerging security threats, collaborate on testing and evaluations, and establish common protection mechanisms.
At the global level, the Secretary-General stated, it is necessary to “create conditions for responsible regulation of the pace of AI development,” as well as to ensure additional protective measures to mitigate risks.
Moreover, according to him, it is necessary to work on creating a multilateral risk management system in the field of AI, supported by a reliable and independent oversight mechanism.
“Artificial intelligence must be shaped by humanity, with the participation of humanity, and in the interests of all humanity,” emphasized Guterres.
“Since this threat concerns everyone, we cannot do without global coordination. And there is only one place where every country can express its opinion on how our common future should be shaped. That place is the United Nations,” he stated.
The Secretary-General called on states to adhere to two fundamental principles: children should not become test subjects in unregulated systems, and matters of life and death must not be entrusted to machines.
“There should be no place for killer robots in our future,” said the head of the UN.
The last hundred days in office
Guterres emphasized that peace, development, and human rights cannot be separated from each other.
“There can be no peace without development. There can be no development without peace. And without human rights, there will be neither peace nor development,” he said.
The Pact for the Future and the ‘UN-80’ initiative, according to the Secretary-General, are designed to make the Organization more effective, coherent, and transparent, more results-oriented, more “resource-efficient,” and more broadly present where people need it.
“The world does not need a weaker United Nations. It needs a UN that is strong enough to see the world as it is, and persistent enough to build the world as it should be,” Guterres said.
Speaking about the last hundred days of his tenure, the Secretary-General promised to uphold the values of the UN Charter and to continue doing so even after the completion of his mandate.
“Wherever I am and whatever I am doing, I will continue to uphold the conviction that peace is possible. That human dignity is universal. That the power of law must triumph over the law of power. And that it is worth fighting for our common future,” he said.
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