UN chief warns world leaders of 'an age of reckless disruption and relentless human suffering'

With global peace and progress under siege, the United Nations chief challenged world leaders on Tuesday to choose a future where the rule of law triumphs over raw power and where nations come together rather than scramble for self-interests.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the UN’s founders faced the same questions 80 years ago, but he told today’s world leaders at the opening of their annual gathering at the General Assembly that the choice of peace or war, law or lawlessness, cooperation or conflict, is "more urgent, more intertwined, more unforgiving.”

"We have entered in an age of reckless disruption and relentless human suffering,” he said in his annual "state of the World” speech.

"The pillars of peace and progress are buckling under the weight of impunity, inequality and indifference.”

Guterres said the leaders’ first obligation is to choose peace, and without naming any countries he urged all parties - including those in the assembly chamber - to stop supporting Sudan’s warring parties.

He also didn’t name Israel but used his strongest words against its actions in Gaza, saying the scale of death and destruction are the worst in his nearly nine years as secretary-general, and that "nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”

While Guterres has repeatedly said only a court can determine whether Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, he referred to the case South Africa brought to the UN’s highest court under the genocide convention by name - and stressed its legally binding provisional measures, first and foremost to protect Palestinian civilians.

Since the International Court of Justice issued that ruling in January 2024, Guterres said, killings have intensified, and famine has been declared in parts of Gaza.

He said the court’s measures "must be implemented - fully and immediately.”

The UN also is facing financial cuts as the US and some other nations pulled back funding or have yet to pay their dues.

Guterres said aid cuts are "wreaking havoc,” calling them "a death sentence for many.”

With global support for a Palestinian state growing, Israel’s devastating war in Gaza is expected to take center stage. But humanity's myriad conflicts, rising poverty and heating planet will also be in the spotlight.

The General Assembly ’s big week of meetings began Monday with events including a conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Tuesday kicks off the "General Debate” - more of an agglomeration of speeches - in which presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and cabinet members give their annual take on the state of the world and their own nations.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, U.S. President Donald Trump, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Jordan's King Abdullah II, French President Emmanuel Macron, South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa are among those scheduled to speak Tuesday.

Associated Press