UN chief says world in ‘age of chaos’ with divided Security Council

million people southward.

“It is time for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the unconditional release of all hostages,” Guterres said during a speech to the General Assembly presenting his 2024 priorities.

In the speech, he called for changes to the Security Council and international financial system, among other reforms, touting his “Summit of the Future” in September

in New York as a critical venue to address dysfunction “deeper and more dangerous” than ever.

“The Security Council – the primary platform for questions of global peace – is deadlocked by geopolitical fissures,” said Guterres, a former Portuguese prime minister. “This is not the first time the council has been divided – but it is the worst. Today’s dysfunction is deeper and more dangerous.”

He said that unlike during the Cold War, when “well-established mechanisms helped manage superpower relations”, those mechanisms are missing “in today’s multipolar world”.

“Our world is entering in an age of chaos ... a dangerous and unpredictable free-for-all with total impunity,” he warned.

His remarks come amid devastating conflicts in Ukraine, Sudan, the Middle East and elsewhere, with millions of people displaced by the fighting and in need of assistance.

“As conflicts proliferate, global humanitarian needs are at an all-time high, but funding is not keeping pace.”

He said: “Humanity has waged a war we can only lose: our war with nature. It is a crazy fight to pick.”

Guterres encouraged world leaders to seize the opportunity of the “Summit of the Future”, to “shape multilateralism for years to come”. |