{"id":624106,"date":"2026-09-22T17:58:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T17:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/624106\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T17:58:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T17:58:20","slug":"superpowers-cannot-solve-worlds-problems-un-chief-says-in-final-general-assembly-address-united-nations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/624106\/","title":{"rendered":"Superpowers cannot solve world\u2019s problems, UN chief says in final general assembly address | United Nations"},"content":{"rendered":"

The world\u2019s fault lines have turned from cracks into canyons as superpowers show that they alone do not have the military, economic and technological power to guarantee security or solve the world\u2019s problems, the outgoing secretary general of the United Nations<\/a> has said in his final address to the general assembly.<\/p>\n

In a speech laced with despair but also glimpses of defiant hope, Ant\u00f3nio Guterres<\/a> said that over the last decade, largely spanning his 10-year period in office, \u201cwars erupted with devastating consequences and dragged on with despicable cruelty. Civilians were targeted. Human rights trampled. Hunger weaponised. Humanitarians killed. International law cast aside.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cGeopolitical divides have deepened. Inequalities have intensified. Trust has frayed. The climate crisis went from distant warning to daily reality. And artificial intelligence moved at a speed that has blindsided even those who created it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without naming Israel, he said what followed the Hamas attack of October 2023 \u201cwas an onslaught on Palestinians in Gaza, with a scale of killing and destruction unlike anything I have witnessed in all my years as secretary general\u201d.<\/p>\n

He rounded on profiteering energy companies for \u201ctreating the world as an open sewer\u201d, described Africa\u2019s omission from a permanent place on the UN security council as stunning, and called for a new compact to regulate AI.<\/p>\n

Throughout, the 77-year-old Portuguese politician and diplomat argued that a multilateral system centred on a newly representative UN was the only way to address this new convergence of problems. However, he warned: \u201cAt the very moment when humanity faces an unprecedented convergence of threats, our mechanisms for collective action are under growing strain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without mentioning Donald Trump once, he said what was required was \u201ca recognition, especially by superpowers, that their power isn\u2019t so super. Their power has limits. The events of recent years have made that unmistakably clear. Military power alone cannot secure peace. Economic power alone cannot command stability. And technological power alone cannot guarantee security.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guterres addresses the 81st United Nations general assembly at the UN headquarters in New York City. Photograph: Brendan McDermid\/Reuters<\/p>\n

It was critical to avoid hegemonic tendencies and what Guterres described as the \u201cgreat fracture\u201d \u2013 the division of the world into two rival blocs with separate economic, technological and security systems.<\/p>\n

The defining challenge of the age, he said, was that world governance, reflecting the power realities of a bygone age, was not adapting to the way power was being redistributed between and within states.<\/p>\n

At the same time there was \u201can extraordinary transfer of power away from governments to a handful of private corporations and individuals. Their reach now extends across politics, economies, information flows, technological development, and the civic space on which societies depend,\u201d he said. \u201cHumans are increasingly handing over power to machines \u2013 with artificial intelligence agents going rogue, and lethal autonomous weapons going from science fiction to military reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

The choice was now whether the world was going to continue to fragment with rising tension, transactionalism and shrinking cooperation or change course towards a multilateral system centred on a UN that was balanced and representative. \u201cThe test before us is whether power will be exercised with the law \u2013 or beyond it,\u201d Guterres said. \u201cWe must pass that test. We must defend the charter without double standards. Protect civilians without exception.\u201d<\/p>\n

He urged world leaders to stop letting civilians pay the price for the cascading conflicts across the Middle East. Demanding that the fighting must stop and humanitarian aid must flow, he pointed out that the international court of justice had ordered last year that the UN be allowed to fulfil its mandates in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeanwhile violence, displacement and settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank are bulldozing the path to peace and raising the spectre of ethnic cleansing. We cannot allow the two-state solution to disappear before our eyes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In Ukraine, Guterres said, \u201cRussia\u2019s full-scale invasion has subjected a sovereign country to a brutal war in blatant violation of the charter\u201d. But now, he also warned, \u201cin parts of Russia homes, energy and water systems and transport have come under repeated attack, threatening food and energy supply chains globally\u201d.<\/p>\n

For decades, he said, \u201cbig oil has treated the atmosphere as an open sewer \u2013 and cashed in on the consequences. Since Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, five major western oil companies have pocketed nearly half a trillion dollars in profits. Compare that with just $34bn in international public adaptation finance for developing countries in the latest year reported.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWith a supersized El Ni\u00f1o coming towards humanity, everyday people are paying more for energy, food and insurance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although he admitted a 21st-century security council without permanent African representation was unjust and indefensible, he defended the cash-strapped and much maligned organisation, saying the UN was where the powerful were held to account.<\/p>\n

He announced that the United Nations had \u201cachieved gender parity for the first time in history across all senior leadership \u2026 all headquarters \u2026 and all professional staff\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cEquality is not a dream. It is a decision,\u201d he said. \u201cIf the UN can change, so can businesses, parliaments, governments, peace processes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The world\u2019s fault lines have turned from cracks into canyons as superpowers show that they alone do not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-624106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}