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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the 80th session of the General Assembly on Tuesday with a stark warning that the principles of the organization are “under siege,” citing Gaza, Sudan, and rising global instability as evidence of a crumbling world order.
“The pillars of peace and progress are buckling under the weight of impunity, inequality, and indifference,” Guterres told world leaders, adding that the U.N.’s founding values are being tested in ways “more urgent, more intertwined, more unforgiving” than at its creation.
Painting a grim picture of the Gaza conflict, Guterres said: “In Gaza, the horrors are approaching a third monstrous year. The scale of death and destruction is beyond any other conflict in my years as secretary-general.”
He said the crisis is “the result of decisions that defy basic humanity,” recalling that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) had issued “legally binding” provisional measures in the case of genocide in Gaza, but that “since then, a famine has been declared, and the killing has intensified.”
Guterres urged immediate implementation of those measures and pressed the Security Council to “live up to its responsibilities,” stressing it must become “more representative, more transparent, and more effective.”
The U.N. chief condemned international aid cuts, calling them “a death sentence for many” and “a stolen future for many more.” Without naming the United States, he said reductions in development budgets are “wreaking havoc.”
“This is the paradox of our time: we know what we need—yet we are pulling away the very lifeline that makes it possible,” he said.
Warning that “lawlessness is a contagion,” Guterres said unchecked conflicts risk spiraling into a “nuclear free-for-all.”
He pointed to Sudan, where “civilians are being slaughtered, starved, and silenced,” and to Gaza, which he described as humanity’s greatest moral test.
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“Sovereign nations invaded. Hunger, weaponized. Truth, silenced. Rising smoke from bombed-out cities. Rising anger in fractured societies. Rising seas swallowing coastlines,” he said.
“Around the world, we see countries acting as if the rules don’t apply to them. We see humans treated as less than human.”
Amid the bleak warnings, Guterres cited “glimmers of hope,” including a ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand and a U.S.-brokered agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
But his overarching message was that the world is again at a crossroads. “Eighty years on, we confront again the question our founders faced: What kind of world do we choose to build together?” he asked.
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