United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres marked the 80th anniversary of the Organization on Monday with a solemn reminder of its founding purpose: the pursuit of peace, born out of the ashes of global war.
Addressing world leaders at the General Assembly in New York, Guterres evoked the early days of the UN, when many of its first staff carried visible scars from the Second World War. He recalled figures like Major Brian Urquhart, the second UN employee, who survived battlefield explosions, witnessed the liberation of Bergen-Belsen, and lived with the physical reminder of a parachute accident for the rest of his life.
“These were not idealists untouched by reality,” Guterres said. “They had seen war. And they knew: peace is the most courageous, the most practical, the most necessary pursuit of all.”
The Secretary-General warned that the UN’s founding principles are now “under assault as never before,” citing wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, growing poverty and hunger, and escalating climate disasters. He cautioned that as the world moves toward multipolarity, the absence of strong international institutions risks repeating the mistakes that plunged Europe into the First World War.
“To meet these challenges, we must not only defend the United Nations, we must strengthen it,” Guterres declared, pointing to Agenda 2030, the Pact for the Future, and the UN80 initiative as key efforts to renew global cooperation.
Reflecting on the UN’s achievements, Guterres highlighted the eradication of smallpox, the healing of the ozone layer, and above all, the prevention of a third world war. But he warned that the decades ahead will bring not only familiar battles against war and poverty, but also unprecedented tests, from climate chaos to unregulated technologies and the militarization of space.
“The only way forward is together,” he concluded. “Let us rise to this moment with clarity, courage, and conviction. And let us realize the promise of peace.”
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