UN chief on UN at 80: Humanity strongest when we stand as one | United Nations Association-UK

Addressing a landmark event in London today (17 Jan) commemorating the 80th anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly, Secretary-General António Guterres said the multilateral system “is under threat” and called on civil society “to take a stand.”

Speaking at Methodist Central Hall, the very same venue where the first-ever UN General Assembly was held on 10 January 1946, Guterres said, “for eight decades, the General Assembly has been the place the world comes together to help advance peace, promote sustainable development, and safeguard human rights,” and is “the stage on which our shared story plays out.”

He said, “today, we are entering a new chapter of that story.”

The Secretary-General said, “if this period has taught us anything, it is that our challenges are ever more borderless, and ever more interconnected. And the only way to address them is together. And that requires a robust, responsive and well-resourced multilateral system. Yet as we speak, that system is under threat.”

He highlighted the “quiet victories of international cooperation” such as “the wars prevented, the famine averted, the vital treaties secured,” stressing that “if we wish to secure more such victories, we must ensure the full respect of international law and defend multilateralism, strengthening it for our times.”

Guterres said, “the world of 2026 is not the world of 1946. As global centres of power shift, we have the potential to build a future that is either more fair — or more unstable.”

He said, “in this moment when the values of multilateralism are being chipped away, it is up to us — in our capacity as professionals, as voters, and as members of organizations like the UNA-UK — to take a stand. More than ever, the world needs civil society movements that are fearless and persistent — that make it impossible for leaders to look away.”

To conclude, the Secretary-General said, “the General Assembly which we celebrate today exists because of a simple truth — humanity is strongest when we stand as one.”