UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at the ReutersNEXT Newsmaker event in New York City, New York, US, November 8, 2023. PHOTO: REUTERS
UNITED NATIONS:
Powerful forces are aligning to undermine global cooperation, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned at a historic event in London on Saturday to mark the 80th anniversary of the UN General Assembly, but urged that “humanity is stronger when we come together.”
Speaking at the Methodist Central Hall, the same venue where the first UN General Assembly was held on January 10, 1946, Guterres called on delegates at the event to be “bold enough to change. Bold enough to find the courage of those who came to this Hall 80 years ago to forge a better world.”
Hosted by the United Nations Association-UK, Saturday’s anniversary event brought together more than 1,000 delegates from around the world, with speakers including General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock, UN Space Champion Professor Brian Cox, and UN Refugee Agency Goodwill Ambassador Maya Ghazal.
The event also marks the 80th anniversary of the first UN Security Council, which took place on January 17, 1946 at nearby Church House.
During his keynote address, Guterres reflected on the symbolic place of commemoration. The first General Assembly took place within the same walls four months after the end of the Second World War, in a heavily bombed London where tens of thousands had died, a powerful reminder of why the United Nations had been created.
“To reach this Hall, delegates had to pass through a city scarred by war. Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and the House of Commons had been bombed by the Luftwaffe. And as those bombs fell, terrified civilians huddled here in the basement of the Methodist Central Hall, one of the largest public air raid shelters in London,” said the General Secretary.
During the Blitz, some 2,000 people gathered in the hall seeking protection, before the nations of the world gathered there in 1946 to “save coming generations from the scourge of war.”
“In many ways, this Hall is a physical representation of what the United Nations is: a place where people put their faith in peace, security and a better life,” Guterres reflected.
In the 80 years since the first General Assembly, the UN has expanded from 51 members to 193.
The UN chief emphasized that the General Assembly, the main deliberative, policy-making and representative body of the UN, is “the parliament of the family of nations. It is a forum for all voices to be heard, a crucible for consensus and a beacon for cooperation.”
While he acknowledged that the work of the General Assembly “may not always be simple or smooth,” he described it as “a mirror of our world, its divisions and its hopes. And it is the stage on which our shared history plays out.”
Reflecting on the past decade, Guterres spoke of how “the conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan have been vicious and cruel beyond measure; artificial intelligence has become ubiquitous almost overnight; and the pandemic has accelerated the fires of nationalism, stalling progress on development and climate action.”
The UN chief emphasized that 2025 was a “deeply challenging” year for international cooperation and UN values.
“Aid was drastically reduced. Inequalities widened. Climate chaos accelerated. International law was trampled. Repressive measures against civil society intensified. Journalists were killed with impunity. And United Nations staff were repeatedly threatened – or killed – in the line of duty.”
The UN reported in 2025 that global military spending reached $2.7 trillion, more than 200 times the current UK aid budget, or the equivalent of more than 70 percent of the entire British economy.
Profits from fossil fuels have also continued to rise as the planet broke heat records, Guterres stressed.
“And in cyberspace, algorithms rewarded falsehoods, fueled hate, and provided authoritarians with powerful tools of control.”
A “robust, responsive and well-resourced” multilateral system is needed to address the world’s interconnected challenges, Guterres urged, but the “values of multilateralism are being undermined.”
