Guterres Warns of Impunity and Paralysis as He Prepares to Leave UN

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, preparing to leave office at the end of the year after nearly a decade in the post, said he still sees hope for the coming years — but only if governments can cooperate on conflict, inequality and artificial intelligence.

Speaking in an interview days before world leaders gather for the annual UN General Assembly, Guterres said the world faces at least three existential problems: runaway artificial intelligence, accelerating climate change, and widening inequality that is becoming a serious driver of instability and conflict.

He warned that a "huge geopolitical divide" and paralysis in the Security Council have created an environment of impunity, with powerful countries flouting international law and the UN Charter. He cited Russia's invasion of Ukraine and attacks on Iran by the United States, both veto-wielding council members, as examples.

"Many countries say, 'If superpowers can violate the law, why can't we?'" he said, adding that more and more situations see countries acting as they please in the belief that there will be total impunity.

Those violations, he said, have caused death and enormous destruction, and the combination of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the broader Middle East conflict is having a dramatic impact on the world economy, with food and energy prices rising, interest rates climbing and developing countries struggling to meet their people's needs.

He expressed hope that these pressures will push countries to recognise that such problems cannot be solved alone and require international cooperation. That is especially true, he said, of reforms to institutions shaped by the victorious powers of World War II — the UN, especially the Security Council, and the International Monetary Fund and World Bank — which must be overhauled to reflect a 21st-century world of emerging economies and powers.

As UN chief, Guterres noted, he has no army, no intelligence service and not much money, but he holds two powers: to speak out on global issues and to convene the world's nations. Because of geopolitical divides, he said, the UN has "no leverage" on promoting peace in Ukraine and the Middle East, though he has been firm in defending the UN Charter and the territorial integrity of countries and in condemning human rights violations.

He condemned Hamas's "intolerable" attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and also condemned "the horrible situation that Israel has created in Gaza with levels of death and destruction that have no parallel in the history of the United Nations."

The UN, he stressed, is not "in a transactional approach to politics" and must remain "a reference of values and principles for the whole world, because someone must affirm that the law of force cannot prevail over the force of law." He acknowledged that this sometimes limits the organisation's capacity to negotiate agreements when one side is a clear violator, but said it would never move the UN away from the values on which a civilised society must be based.

This year's gathering is also expected to spotlight the future of the UN and the threat of AI slipping beyond human control. Guterres has called for international cooperation and guardrails for AI, describing it as "a universal problem." Countries developing AI at a higher capacity, he said, should exchange information, establish transparency mechanisms, adopt guardrails and help create what would ideally be a multilateral mechanism to guarantee that risks can be avoided.

The UN itself faces serious financial issues, largely because of the US failure to pay billions of dollars to its regular operating budget and the separate budget for peacekeeping operations. But it has avoided a financial meltdown and is undergoing major reforms, which the Trump administration has pressed for. Even with fewer resources, Guterres said, the UN has maintained its activities and demonstrated the best control of public expenditure of any organisation in any country.

Guterres has dealt with US President Donald Trump for nearly six of his 10 years at the helm, and stressed the importance of the US-UN relationship, which he said has sometimes been difficult and sometimes easier. The UN is now cooperating with the US on peace negotiations in Western Sahara and other parts of the world.

When he meets Trump on Tuesday, the opening day of the global gathering, Guterres said he plans to raise peace in Ukraine and the Middle East, and expressed hope that these two objectives might unite the efforts not only of the US and the UN but of the whole international community.