UN chief calls global situation ‘unsustainable’ as leaders’ meeting opens

24 September 2024, 14:34

Antonio Guterres addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York
UN General Assembly Secretary General. Picture: PA

Antonio Guterres said humanity is ‘edging towards the unimaginable – a powder keg that risks engulfing the world’.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is warning that impunity, inequality and uncertainty are creating an “unsustainable world” where a growing number of countries believe they should have a “get out of jail free” card.

“We can’t go on like this,” he said.

Mr Guterres was speaking as the General Assembly’s annual debate among presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and other leaders began on Tuesday.

Citing deepening geopolitical divisions, wars with no end in sight, climate change and nuclear and emerging weapons, he said humanity is “edging towards the unimaginable – a powder keg that risks engulfing the world”.

Antonio Guterres addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters (Seth Wenig/AP)

But, he says, “the challenges we face are solvable” if the international community confronts the uncertainty of unmanaged risks, the inequality that underlies injustices and grievances and the impunity that undermines international law and the UN’s founding principles.

“Today, a growing number of governments and others feel entitled to a ‘get out of jail free’ card,” he said in a reference to the classic board game Monopoly.

The world leaders’ meeting opened under the shadow of increasing global divisions, major wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan and the threat of an even larger conflict in the wider Middle East.

Mr Guterres previewed his opening speech at Sunday’s Summit Of The Future, where he pointed to conflicts from the Middle East to Ukraine and Sudan and to the global security system, which he said is “threatened by geopolitical divides, nuclear posturing, and the development of new weapons and theatres of war”.

He also cited huge inequalities, the lack of an effective global system to respond to emerging and even existential threats, and the devastating impact of climate change.

By Press Association

Latest World News

See more Latest World News

A vehicle carrying impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol leaves for Seoul Detention Centre

Impeached South Korean President taken to detention centre after questioning

Donald Tusk points as he shakes hands with Volodymyr Zelensky

Polish leader vows to use EU presidency to speed up Ukraine’s membership bid

Sweden announces tough new migration policy.

Sweden announces strict new citizenship policy - including proving you demonstrate 'honest living'

Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Tusk shake hands

Zelensky visits Poland amid deal on exhuming Polish wartime massacre victims

Robby Kinlan

Backpacker's cause of death revealed after body found mysteriously on Thai 'death island'

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip

Palestinian Authority should run Gaza in future, leader says

INS Nilgiri, left, along with Submarine Vaghsheer, right, and INS Surat

Indian navy launches submarine and warships to guard against Chinese presence

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off

Two private lunar landers head for the moon in roundabout journey

NATO jets were scrambled today following a Russian attack on Ukraine (FILE)

NATO jets scrambled as Putin launches 'massive' attack on Ukraine near Polish border

Frankfurt skyline by night

Germany’s economy shrank for second consecutive year in 2024, figures show

Wildfires destroy thousands of acres of homes across Los Angeles.

Oscar fears as high winds threaten to spread Los Angeles wildfires

Bangladesh’s former prime minister and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Khaleda Zia leaves after a court appearance

Bangladeshi supreme court acquits ex-PM Zia

Jefferson Luiz Moraes' wife died after eating the Christmas cake

Husband of woman who died in 'Christmas cake poisoning' breaks silence after relative arrested for murders

Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol arrives at the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials in Gwacheon

South Korea’s impeached president detained in martial law investigation

A burned car is seen among debris in the wreckage of a home destroyed by the Palisades Fire in Malibu

Fresh warnings as death toll from wildfires rises to 25

South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol speaks during the declaration of emergency martial law at the Presidential Office on December 03

Impeached South Korean president finally arrested for trying to impose martial law