Guterres Warns Security Council Paralysis Fuels Global Impunity

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that deep geopolitical divisions and a paralysed Security Council have fostered a global climate of impunity, with powerful nations flouting international law and the UN Charter.

In an interview ahead of the annual gathering of leaders from the UN's 193 member states, Guterres said systematic violations — including by Security Council members themselves — have undermined the rules-based order. "Many countries say, 'If superpowers can violate the law, why can't we?'" he said, adding that more and more states now act with disregard for consequences, confident that the Council will neither condemn nor sanction them.

Guterres, who leaves office at the end of the year after nearly a decade, pointed to the war in Ukraine and attacks on Iran as examples involving veto-wielding powers. He said the combination of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and broader Middle East tensions is having a dramatic impact on the world economy, driving up food and energy prices, pushing interest rates higher and leaving developing countries struggling to meet their people's needs.

He defended his record of upholding the UN Charter and the territorial integrity of states, saying he had condemned both Hamas's "intolerable" attack in southern Israel on 7 October 2023 and "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." He stressed that the UN must remain a reference point for values and principles, insisting that force cannot prevail over the force of law — even when that stance complicates negotiations with a clear violator.

Looking ahead, Guterres identified three existential challenges confronting the world: runaway artificial intelligence, galloping climate change and escalating inequality that is becoming a serious driver of instability and conflict. He said the AI revolution will loom large over this year's General Assembly leaders' meeting.

Calling AI "a universal problem" that has no borders, he urged countries with high AI capacity to exchange information, establish transparency mechanisms and adopt common guardrails. He warned that if competition prevails, safety standards could spiral downward as each nation tries to outdo the other, and said governments — not just companies — bear responsibility for protecting citizens. Ideally, he added, these efforts should feed into a multilateral mechanism to avert risks.

Guterres also renewed his call to overhaul the institutions shaped by the victorious powers of World War II, including the Security Council and the major global financial institutions, so that they reflect the realities of the 21st century and the rise of emerging economies. He acknowledged that geopolitical divides have left the UN with "no leverage" on promoting peace in Ukraine and the Middle East, but expressed hope that the scale of today's problems will force governments to recognise that no country can solve them alone.