‘Your power isn’t so super’: Guterres challenges world powers in final UN address

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged world leaders to embrace interdependence and cooperation during his final address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday. Guterres highlighted the widening fault lines in the world, citing raging wars, rising temperatures, and the threat of artificial intelligence. He called for a world built on a dense web of economic, political, social, and technological connections, rather than fragmentation, transactionalism, and mistrust.

Guterres rejected the notion that military power alone can secure peace, emphasizing that recent years have shown military might is insufficient in maintaining global stability. The annual high-level meeting brought together representatives from the UN's 193 member countries to discuss pressing issues, including conflicts in Iran, Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Congo, and Myanmar, as well as global warming, inequality, and economic disruptions caused by shipping blockages and supply chain shocks.

Guterres' speech underscored the urgent need for reform within the UN, particularly in updating the outdated UN Security Council, which is dominated by the victorious nations from World War II. No clear successor to Guterres has emerged, as his second five-year term concludes on December 31. The UN General Assembly will feature speeches from 130 heads of state and government, including US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.