Guterres Warns of 'Great Fracture' in Farewell UN Assembly Address

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres used his final address to the General Assembly's annual high-level gathering to warn that the world stands at a defining crossroads: continued fragmentation or collective action against climate change, unregulated artificial intelligence and deepening inequality.

Speaking in New York, Guterres placed power at the centre of these crises. He pointed to the irreversible shift toward a multipolar order, what he described as an extraordinary transfer of power from governments to a small number of private corporations and individuals, and the growing handover of authority from humans to machines.

He urged leaders to prevent what he termed "the great fracture" — a world split into two rival blocs with separate economic, technological and security systems. Superpowers, he said, should recognise that their power is not so super, that military strength alone cannot secure peace, and that no single power can meet today's challenges alone.

The UN chief identified four great tests of power: power over war and peace, power driving climate chaos, power unleashed by artificial intelligence, and power that concentrates wealth and fuels inequality.

On peace and security, which he called the first great power test of the 21st century, Guterres appealed to leaders to use their weeklong meeting to press for an end to fighting in the Middle East, Ukraine, Sudan, Myanmar and elsewhere, and to demand a return to dialogue.

He described the climate crisis as the most profound intergenerational power imbalance, with one generation consuming the future of the next. The world is on course to breach the 1.5-degree Celsius safety threshold set 11 years ago, he said, though he added that the dangers are real and so is the hope, citing a decade of momentum behind clean energy as one of the most promising power shifts of our time.

On artificial intelligence, Guterres said the danger lies not in the technology itself but in technology without accountability, noting that its own developers are raising alarms. He called on AI rivals to come together, as Cold War adversaries did after World War II, to manage shared existential risks, and insisted that life-and-death decisions must never be surrendered to machines. "Killer robots must have no place in our future," he said.

Turning to inequality, he said it too is a power problem. While humanity has never possessed so much wealth, knowledge and technological capability, billions remain cut off from food, clean water, education, decent work, health care and dignity. Most UN goals to end poverty and promote development will not be met by 2030, he lamented.

Guterres' second five-year term ends on December 31, and the organisation's future leadership remains unsettled: after three straw polls in the Security Council involving eight contenders, no clear successor has emerged.

He said the UN Charter provides the backbone for the effective, legitimate and responsible exercise of power in the 21st century, grounded in the primacy of international law, human dignity and justice. But he stressed the need to reform the 81-year-old institution, created by the victorious powers of World War II, so that it reflects a dramatically changed world.

He urged the presidents, prime ministers and ministers in the assembly chamber to commit to the wide-ranging reform package adopted by the UN's 193 member nations and to strengthen the body's resolve to build a future that works for everyone.

Closing with emotion, Guterres vowed never to give up on the values the UN stands for, including the rule of law, the sovereignty of nations and human rights. "Wherever I will be, whatever I will be doing, I will keep championing the conviction that peace is possible," he said, leaving the rostrum to a sustained standing ovation, his hand on his heart.