Guterres Warns: Global Unity at Risk

By Staff, Agencies

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will warn Saturday that "powerful forces" are threatening global cooperation, speaking on the 80th anniversary of the UN’s first major meeting.

Speaking in London’s Methodist Central Hall, Guterres will urge multilateralism and respect for international law amid rising global uncertainty.

From the UN’s first 1946 resolution on disarmament to today’s threats like climate change, cyber risks, and a new arms race, Guterres warns the world faces dangers unimaginable at the organization’s founding.

The secretary general, who will step down at the end of 2026, will say: “Last year, global military spending reached $2.7tn – over 200 times the UK’s current aid budget, or equivalent to over 70% of Britain’s entire economy.”

The deepening investment in weaponry runs alongside his concerns that the drivers of climate breakdown are being wilfully ignored and online content is undermining democracy.

“As the planet broke heat records, fossil fuel profits continued to surge. And in cyberspace, algorithms rewarded falsehoods, fuelled hatred, and provided authoritarians with powerful tools of control,” he will tell the London audience.

Comments from the 76-year-old come at a time of chronic funding difficulties for the UN, largely driven by the decisions of the US president, Donald Trump.

The US will cut its UN humanitarian funding to $2 billion, warning the organization to "adapt, shrink or die," and a week later announced withdrawals from several UN agencies and the climate treaty.

Experts say the funding cut will lead to a shrunken, less effective international aid system, with the UN already saying a funding shortfall threatens to cripple its global peacekeeping operations.

Guterres, however, says reforms will ensure the “United Nations is more agile, more coordinated and more responsive”.