“Across all four tests, the decisive issue is power,” declared Guterres, stressing that the UN exists because “power requires rules” and “humanity needs a place where power answers to principle”.

Reaffirming the Organization’s pillars of peace, development and human rights, he emphasized that the UN Charter “leaves no room for selective reading” and warned that “to pretend that peace can be separated from dignity, opportunity and rights is an unacceptable illusion”.

Highlighting reform efforts, he said the Pact for the Future and the UN80 initiative are aimed at making the United Nations “more responsive, more effective, more coherent, more transparent” and “more present where people need us”.

Concluding his address, the Secretary-General said that “our shared future will be forged by whether humanity can govern power wisely” and that “the greatest power is not the power to dominate. It is the power to build a future that works for everyone”.

100 days left in office, but fight for peace continues

With 100 days left in office, he pledged to continue defending the values of the UN Charter, declaring: “I will keep championing the conviction that peace is possible,” while insisting that “the power of law must prevail over the law of power” and that humanity’s common future remains “worth fighting for”.