State of world getting worse as UN Security Council paralysed: Guterres

The UN chief’s mandate ends on December 31 this year, with a successor yet to be named.

Antonio Guterres: Can the UN still meet today’s global crises?

The state of the world “is getting worse” as wars multiply and become more complex, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has said, warning that growing geopolitical divides have paralysed the Security Council and leave the most vulnerable “in very dramatic situations”.

In a wide-ranging interview with Al Jazeera on Monday, the eve of his final address as secretary-general to the UN General Assembly (UNGA), Guterres discussed the major military conflicts happening in the world and whether the UN is still relevant in addressing today’s challenges.

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Guterres said the involvement of “superpowers” and key council members in the wars has created a crisis due to the continued violations of international law.

“That creates an environment of impunity, in which midsize powers believe that they can do whatever they want because nothing will happen to them,” Guterres said.

The UN chief outlined the real-life impacts that the Russia-Ukraine war and the US-Israel war on Iran are having on people, particularly around food accessibility, rising fuel prices and global inflation.

“The combination of the war in Ukraine with the problems of exports of foods, fertilisers, and energy through the Black Sea, if you combine it with the difficulties in the Strait of Hormuz [in the Gulf], in the Bab al-Mandeb [in the Red Sea], and in the attacks [on] oil installations in several countries of the [Middle East] region, we are creating a situation that has a devastating impact on many economies around the world,” Guterres said.

He added that rising interest rates and fuel prices in developed countries could eventually be managed, whereas people in the developing world “are in a desperate situation” due to the increasing energy and food costs and the lack of fertilisers .

Dire need for reforms

Guterres, who previously served as prime minister of Portugal and UN high commissioner for refugees, has been the UN chief since January 1, 2017, though his mandate is coming to an end on December 31, 2026.

His successor, who is yet to be named, will take charge of an organisation that is grappling with multiple crises and is, in Guterres’s opinion, in dire need of reforms to stay relevant and important on the global stage.

He notably cited the Security Council, saying it “still essentially represents the world of World War II”.

Candidates in the running to replace Guterres include the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Rafael Grossi, former Senegalese President Macky Sall and Ecuadorian diplomat Maria Fernanda Espinosa.

To be recommended by the UNSC, a candidate for UN secretary-general needs at least nine of the council’s 15 members to vote in favour and must avoid a veto from any of the five permanent members – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States – before a final vote in the UNGA.

联合国秘书长的任期将于今年12月31日结束，继任者尚未任命。

安东尼奥·古特雷斯：联合国还能应对当今的全球危机吗？

联合国秘书长安东尼奥·古特雷斯表示，随着战争数量增加和局势变得更加复杂，世界局势“正在恶化”。他警告说，日益加剧的地缘政治分歧已经使安理会陷入瘫痪，使最脆弱的国家“处于非常严峻的境地”。

在周一接受半岛电视台的广泛采访中，古特雷斯在联合国大会发表其作为秘书长的最后一次讲话的前一天，讨论了世界上正在发生的主要军事冲突，以及联合国在应对当今挑战方面是否仍然具有相关性。

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古特雷斯表示，“超级大国”和安理会主要成员卷入战争，导致国际法持续遭到违反，从而引发了危机。

古特雷斯说：“这就造成了一种有罪不罚的局面，中等强国认为他们可以为所欲为，因为不会受到任何惩罚。”

联合国秘书长概述了俄乌战争和美以对伊战争对人们造成的现实影响，尤其是在粮食供应、燃料价格上涨和全球通货膨胀方面。

古特雷斯说：“乌克兰战争，加上黑海食品、化肥和能源出口问题，再加上霍尔木兹海峡（波斯湾）、曼德海峡（红海）的困境，以及中东地区多个国家石油设施遭受的袭击，这些因素叠加在一起，正在造成一种对世界许多经济体造成毁灭性影响的局面。”

他还补充说，发达国家不断上涨的利率和燃料价格最终是可以控制的，而发展中国家的人们由于能源和食品成本不断上涨以及化肥短缺而“处境艰难”。

亟需改革

古特雷斯曾任葡萄牙总理和联合国难民事务高级专员，自 2017 年 1 月 1 日起担任联合国秘书长，但他的任期将于 2026 年 12 月 31 日结束。

他的继任者尚未公布，将接管一个正面临多重危机的组织。古特雷斯认为，该组织亟需改革，才能在全球舞台上保持相关性和重要性。

他特别提到了安全理事会，称其“本质上仍然代表着二战时期的世界”。

竞选接替古特雷斯的候选人包括国际原子能机构的拉斐尔·格罗西、塞内加尔前总统马基·萨勒和厄瓜多尔外交官玛丽亚·费尔南达·埃斯皮诺萨。

要获得联合国安理会的推荐，联合国秘书长候选人需要获得安理会 15 个成员国中至少 9 个成员国的赞成票，并且在联合国大会进行最终投票之前，必须避免五个常任理事国（中国、法国、俄罗斯、英国和美国）中的任何一个投否决票。