By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 29 (Reuters) – Global problems will not be solved by one power “calling the shots,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday, warning that international law was being trampled and cooperation eroded.
Although Guterres did not reference any particular country, his remarks come a week after U.S. President Donald Trump launched his Board of Peace. This was initially designed to cement Gaza’s rocky ceasefire, but Trump foresees it taking a wider role, an approach that worries some global powers.
“Global problems will not be solved by one power calling the shots. Nor will they be solved by two powers carving the world into rival spheres of influence,” Guterres told a press conference to mark the start of his 10th and final year in office.
Trump, who began his second term a year ago, is resuscitating what much of the international community had long spurned as an outdated worldview – spheres of influence carved out by the big powers. He has vowed to restore U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere.
MULTILATERALISM ‘UNDER ASSAULT’
Guterres’ second five-year term has been marked by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the conflict in Sudan, the war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip, a rapid end to Syria’s civil war and the U.S. capture of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro.
“International law is trampled. Cooperation is eroding. And multilateral institutions are under assault on many fronts,” said Guterres. “Impunity is driving today’s conflicts – fueling escalation, widening mistrust, and kicking the doors open for powerful spoilers to enter from every direction.”
Guterres spoke to reporters amid a cash crisis as the world body’s largest contributor – the United States – has slashed voluntary funding to U.N. agencies and refused to make mandatory payments to the U.N.’s regular and peacekeeping budgets. He launched a reform task force in March, known as UN80, which seeks to cut costs and improve efficiency.
Trump has described the U.N. as having “great potential” but said it is not fulfilling that, slamming it for failing to support American-led peace efforts.
“Despite all the hurdles, the United Nations is acting to give life to our shared values,” Guterres said. “And we won’t give up. We are pushing for peace – just and sustainable peace rooted in international law. Peace that addresses root causes. Peace that endures beyond the signing of an agreement.”
Guterres also had a warning for the world on technology. He has made pushing for a governance framework for artificial intelligence a priority.
“We are witnessing perhaps the greatest transfer of power of our times – not from governments to people, but from governments to private technology companies,” he said. “When technologies that shape behavior, elections, markets, and even conflicts operate without guardrails, the reaction is not innovation, it is instability.”
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols, writing by David Ljunggren, editing by Rod Nickel)
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