António Guterres
Over the last decade, wars have erupted with devastating consequences and dragged on with despicable cruelty.
Civilians were targeted. Human rights trampled. Hunger weaponised. Humanitarians killed. International law cast aside. Geopolitical 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.
These are not separate crises. They are chapters of the same story.
The story of power. Who has it. Who is denied it. How it is used. And how it is changing.
Power is being reshaped in three fundamental ways.
First, among States. New centres of economic, political and technological influence have emerged.
Second, we are witnessing an extraordinary transfer of power away from governments to a handful of private corporations and individuals.
And, third, humans are increasingly handing over power to machines – with Artificial Intelligence agents going rogue, and lethal autonomous weapons going from science fiction to military reality.
Yet our institutions and systems of global governance continue to reflect the power realities and interests of a largely bygone age. That is the defining challenge before us. At the very moment when humanity faces an unprecedented convergence of threats, our mechanisms for collective action are under growing strain.
We are clearly moving towards a multipolar world. And that movement is irreversible. One possibility is a world of fragmentation and transactionalism. A world of rising tensions and deepening mistrust. But there is another path. A path towards networked multipolarity.
A world in which multiple centres of influence coexist within a common framework of international law and shared rules. Building a networked future begins with a recognition, especially by superpowers: That their power isn’t so super. That 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.
A networked multipolar world can create the conditions for more balanced and representative global problem-solving. But it requires a multilateral system centred in the UN that is balanced and representative. Strong, effective institutions that reflect the realities and the progressively changing relative weight of countries and economies in today’s world – not the power arrangements of 80 years ago.
We already have a binding foundation: The Charter of the United Nations. And the principles that give it life. The primacy of international law. Looking ahead, our future will be shaped by how we address four great tests of power:
- The power over war and peace.
- The power that concentrates wealth and drives inequality.
- The power fuelling climate chaos and the war on nature.
- And the power unleashed by artificial intelligence.
The first great power test in the 21st century is peace and security.
Peace is far more than the absence of conflict. It is the presence of restraint of power by law. It is the recognition, as enshrined in the UN Charter, that force cannot be the final arbiter of whose lives, rights and future matter.
Today that principle is under profound strain.
Across the Middle East, conflicts are cascading. So-called ceasefires have amounted to little more than “lesser fires” – with civilians continuing to pay the price. Amid the turmoil engulfing the region, we must not lose sight of the devastating situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Violence, displacement and settlement expansion by Israel 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.
In Ukraine, Russia’s full-scale invasion has subjected a sovereign country to a brutal war in blatant violation of the Charter.
In Sudan, a war for raw power fed by outside actors has become a war on civilians: Millions displaced. Hunger spreading. Drones striking hospitals and homes. Sexual violence and ethnically driven attacks escalating. And a country being torn apart as the world looks away.
These and so many other conflicts show what happens when power gets out of control, force outpaces diplomacy, military budgets soar, and accountability goes out the window.
We must also reform the Security Council so that it reflects today’s world with the legitimacy and effectiveness that today’s challenges demand. The Security Council was designed in the aftermath of World War II. But the world has fundamentally changed since then. A change that is far from reflected in the Security Council.
The most stunning example is Africa. When the UN was founded, most of Africa was still under colonial rule. Today, Africa still has no permanent representation on the Council. A 21st-century Security Council without permanent African seats is unjust and indefensible. This must change.
The second test of power is inequality. Inequality is often framed as an economic problem. It is a power problem. Yet for billions, progress remains out of reach. They see prosperity around them, but not for themselves. That is why we have pushed relentlessly for reform of the international financial architecture – which is not a technical debate, but a question of representation, fairness and power. For debt relief that is timely, effective and just.
No discussion of inequality can ignore its most universal form: The inequality between women and men. Everywhere, women and girls continue to face discrimination, violence, exclusion and abuse. Peace is more durable when women are at the table. Economies are more dynamic when women have equal opportunity. And institutions are more effective when power is shared equally.
The third great power test is the climate crisis. In many ways, it is the most profound intergenerational power imbalance of all: One generation consuming the future of the next. One group profiting, while those least responsible suffer first and worst. The last decade has fuelled one of the most promising shifts in power of our time.
The rise of clean energy. A future beyond fossil fuels is in sight. The question is how. Will it be a just and orderly transition built on international cooperation – or chaotic and costly, leaving people and countries behind? Those who polluted the most – and profited the most – must do far more to repair the damage they caused.
The fourth power test is technology, and above all artificial intelligence. AI is indeed a game changer. The danger is not technology. The danger is technology without accountability. The first duty of government is to protect its people. Governments must assume their responsibilities. And governments with the greatest AI capabilities have the greatest responsibilities to humanity.
Across all four tests, the decisive issue is power. Power over force, money, energy, technology, rules and the future. That is why the UN Charter – and the work of the United Nations – matter more than ever.
And the Charter leaves no room for selective reading. The Charter created an organisation rooted in three pillars. Peace. Development. And human rights. These are not competing agendas. They are one reality: There is no peace without development. No development without peace. And no peace or development without human rights.
The world does not need a weaker United Nations. It needs a UN strong enough to face the world as it is – and determined enough to build the world as it should be.
* Guterres is the outgoing Secretary-General of the United Nations. This is an edited version of his final address to the 81st session to the UN General Assembly.
** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Media Group.