United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres during an interview with The Hindu in New Delhi on September 12, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Tayyab Hussain

In a speech last year, you said that the promise of never again for genocide is dangerously close to being broken. 80 years Since World War II and the UN’s creation, do you think the United Nations is no longer able to fulfil the role it was created for? 

Well, first of all, let’s be very clear. The United Nations has guaranteed that we would not have a third world war. We have many conflicts around the world, but we have not two superpowers fighting each other directly. And this is largely because of the work of the United Nations has done during these 18 years. The problem is that we now have a strong geopolitical divide. On one hand, we have superpowers that have not yet recognised that their power has limits and get into adventures that produce terrible results. The division between these superpowers creates a situation of impunity for mid-sized powers to start wars, not respecting any rules, with a total sense of impunity. With the Security Council that is paralysed because of the divisions that exist at the level, especially of the superpowers, this has created a world that became very, very dangerous. 

I do want to get to the role of the superpowers in all of this, but on news now that groups in Yemen have captured the Bab el-Mandeb strait. Can the United Nations help with the situation?

We have been trying to help as much as possible in relation to guaranteeing something that is fundamental, which is the freedom of navigation. The rights and freedoms of navigation that must be respected in the Black Sea, in the Strait of Hormuz, in the Bab el-Mandeb. That is essential. No tolls, no permission to some and the refusal to others. Freedom of navigation is a basic principle we are defending. On top of that, United Nations has been involved in creating mechanisms and proposing those mechanisms in order to allow for these blockades to at least have exceptions in relation to food and fertilisers. We did it with the Black Sea Grain Initiative [in the Russia-Ukraine conflict]. We have made an offer in relation to fertilisers for the Strait of Hormuz that Iran has not accepted. We are also interested in discussing, both for the Ukrainians and for the Russians, the possibility of exporting food, fertilisers and energy in the Black Sea. This would require, again, political will.

Leaders and high officials from Iran, UAE and Saudi Arabia are here at the BRICS Summit. Are you going to take the opportunity to get that political will going? 

I’ve been talking to all of them. But the question is, when the superpowers are divided, there is no respect. Everybody believes that everybody can do whatever they want, and what we see is mid-sized powers getting involved in different conflicts. Look at Sudan. How many countries are involved in the conflict in Sudan? It would be enough to have a conflict between Sudanese, but then lots of other countries get involved because there is a sense of impunity. As the superpowers are divided, the Security Council is paralysed. There is no way to put order in the world. So, we badly need to overcome this divide. Superpowers must also understand that their powers have limits. I mean, if you look at what happened in Ukraine, Russia’s attacked Ukraine four-and-a-half years ago, and it goes on and on. Even the U.S. with Iran, we see the difficulties that U.S. is facing. I think it’s time for superpowers to understand the limits of their power, and that will help the world become more peaceful.

India has declared it stands ready to offer its services for peace efforts in Ukraine. Did you discuss that with Prime Minister Modi? 

We discussed both the war in Ukraine and the situation in the Gulf with a common, clear perspective — that we need peace and at the same time we need, even if peace will not be immediately in place, we need absolute freedom of navigation. That is an area where we are totally in agreement. I’m very appreciative of the efforts of mediation that India has had — the contacts, the permanent contacts with the parties to the conflicts in order to create conditions to allow for trust to be reestablished. One of the biggest problems is that there is a total lack of trust and even a reasonable agreement is not made because each party thinks that the other will not implement the agreement. The existence of true mediators, messengers of peace, of bridge-builders is extremely important and no country is better placed than India.

At BRICS they are discussing the future of global governance. Is it time for a reformed UN or is it time to push for a completely overhauled multilateral system?

Well, we have been pushing a lot for fundamental reforms, and the question is a question of power. We still have a number of institutions, multilateral institutions, economic governance mechanisms that correspond to the situation of the world in 1945. It is obvious that we need a deep reform in the UN, especially in the Security Council. We are doing a lot of reforms in the operational aspects of the UN, but the central question is a question of power. This Security Council does not correspond anymore to the world of today. It creates a problem of legitimacy, and it creates a problem of effectiveness. The Bretton Woods system doesn’t correspond to the reality of the emerging economies that are underrepresented in an obvious way, both in the World Bank and the IMF and in several other institutions. So, we need to readjust the power systems and the mechanisms of governance in the world to the reality of today’s world instead of the reality of 1945. This is a hard battle. What I have been recommending is more than a simple reform. It is really an overhaul.

Even so, it’s incremental. The question is if the UN is broken, does it need to be fixed or replaced?

But the UN is not broken. I mean, look at all the humanitarian action that is done in the world. Even with less resources, even with the cuts that were made, no UN institution has collapsed. and they are going on working and supporting people in the most dangerous places in the world. Look at peacekeeping, still active in the most dangerous locations. Look at the support the UN has been providing to the reforms in international financial architecture. Our involvement in artificial intelligence — the first international scientific independent panel on artificial intelligence was created in the UN. The first global dialogue on artificial intelligence was created in the UN, very much in line with the initiative that India has taken. I mean, many things demonstrate that the UN is full of vitality and is able to inclusively reform its own ways of work, its own structures. But there is, as I said, a central question, and the central question is the question of power. Power relations in this world are distorted, and that makes the Security Council — the central entity for the preservation and peace and security in the world — completely non-operational.

The UN has now adopted a resolution to reform the Map the world uses to be more representational of size. Has India raised concerns over the map online at the UN website that draws parts of Indian territory disputed with Pakistan and China separately?

There is no such a thing as a “UN map with borders”. The resolution that was approved in the General Assembly is not a map. It is a resolution that, and I think quite correctly, says that there are distortions in the landmasses that correspond [to real sizes] and also to power relations in the past. Those distortions should be corrected. However, the UN has not published any map with borders, and it’s not for the UN to define those borders.

So, there’s nothing to do with the border or disputed territories between two countries.

There is a map on the UN’s website that represents what was seen as the new map. 

That’s not an [official] UN map. It is the contribution of an NGO. That map is indicative, but there is not at all any definition by the UN of what borders should be. 

Of course, it also raises one of the challenges you have dealt with as UN Secretary General, and that is the India-Pakistan conflict. When you had come to India in 2018, your first visit, you had spoken hopefully of trying to help or you had offered your good offices to help with the India-Pakistan situation to mediate if required. Was there a time in which you did actually mediate between the two sides? The U.S. claims it did. 

Well, I don’t know if the U.S. mediated or not. I’m not a mediator. Let’s be clear. I respect the two countries. I discuss issues with the leaders of the countries. I hope that it will be possible for the two countries to come together, but the UN is not directly involved in any mediation process. In any case, to mediate, you need the agreement of both parties. That isn’t the case here.

We aren’t just seeing superpowers carry out wars. But superpowers now offering alternatives to the UN- like the U.S. Board of Peace, and China’s Global Governance Initiative. 

Do you think the Board of Peace is an alternative thing? 

It’s what the U.S. is presenting it as. 

Even the U.S. has always said that this is not to replace the UN, and in the global governance initiative in China, it’s clear that the UN should be at the center of the global governance. 

But these are unilateral initiatives that take the place of what the UN system itself is doing. 

Those initiatives are not correcting anything that the UN is doing and the Board of Peace, let’s be clear, is a proposal that is trying to solve the question of Gaza. Let’s be clear it is not something to replace the UN. The UN is present all over the world and I still believe that the UN is an indispensable instrument in order to minimise the enormous existential risks that we face. The risk of inequality, the risk of climate, and the risk of unregulated artificial intelligence. 

Another threat to the UN comes from Israel — it has not just exited many UN institutions and declared you personally PNG, not given you a visa. So many UN officials have been killed. 

I didn’t ask for any visa. If there is something that is clear, it is that the UN, and I’m responsible largely for that, has had a very clear position always. Be it in the Russian conflict, be it in the Israel-Palestine conflict, the UN has always been a reference point in defence of the charter, in defence of international law, in defence of international humanitarian law.  It is not our fault that unfortunately several countries around the world, and sometimes some of the most responsible, have apparently decided that international law must not be respected, and that the law of the force must prevail over the force of the law. 

Do you think Israel’s war in Gaza qualifies as the “never again”, the genocide that you spoke about in that speech that I referred to? 

Genocide is a legal definition that belongs to the courts and in principle to the International Criminal Court. What we say is that what is happening in Gaza is absolutely outrageous. It’s absolutely unacceptable. It’s a dramatic violation of all principles under international law. But, we are not giving a legal definition of that. It’s so horrible that it doesn’t even need to be qualified as such. 

Do you wish it would be qualified? 

This is not our matter. We are not qualifying in legal terms what happens in different circumstances. What we are describing is a reality that is a reality in which the Palestinian people have suffered dramatically after what was also something condemned clearly — the barbarous attacks by Hamas on October 7 (2023).

So, what happens when the next country decides that it too can keep UN officials out, keep the Secretary-General out, carry out these kind of killings — 70,000 dead, 20,000 of them children? 

The UN does not have the power to stop it, and that is the problem that I mentioned in the beginning. We have a power relations situation in which you have a number of superpowers that are divided. That creates a situation in which countries like Israel or Iran, or any other think that they can do whatever they want. There is no instrument in the international community to guarantee that those violations of international law are effectively punished. 

There is a UN Secretary-General election this year. Do you think you need another term just to resolve these issues? 

No, I absolutely need not to have another term. 

There are many women candidates for your position. Do you hope to be succeeded by the first woman UN Secretary-General? 

Well, I don’t interfere with the campaign, but I think it’s absolutely natural that in the UN, like in any other country, women have access to the highest position. And I think it’s a matter of gender equality and gender parity. During these last 10 years, we reached full parity, women and men, at 170 positions of leadership in the UN, with 55% of women in the resident coordinators of the UN in the different countries of the world. We will get to the 50% in relation to the international stuff of the UN all over the world. This was a true revolution to ensure that the power relations are changed to guarantee that women really have the role that they should have. If an organisation is led by women and men at the same level, the problems of bias against women in governance, in the way that organisations operate, will disappear. 

The actual definition of a glass ceiling is that you have women in all these positions, but not at the top- would you like to see a woman as Secretary-General

I would be very happy with that.

Given the challenges that we have just discussed and there are so many more, wars, pandemics, climate disasters, including what we just saw in Nepal, what do you think was your biggest achievement and what do you think was your biggest failure? 

It is for others to decide what my achievements or failures are. I think that what I’m happier with is with the fact that we were able to navigate during these 10 years, with full respect for the principles of the UN. We never had double standards.

The worst failure has been the failure to make countries understand, and especially those countries that have the instruments of power, that we absolutely need to seriously reform the global governance institutions, Security Council. system and others. 

I thought you were going to say — the fight against climate change, lack of commitments for the Green Climate Fund 

That is not the failure of the UN. The UN has been in the front line of fighting for climate action. That is the failure of member states that go on putting their short-term interests before what is an existential share to humankind. The UN is what the member states want the UN to be. Member states should not use the UN as an excuse for what they are not able to do or are unwilling to do. 

 Have you given a thought to what next? What will you do after you step down as UN Secretary-General? 

I have absolutely no idea. I’ve been working hard to make sure that I do what I have to do until the 31st of December. Afterwards, we will see. 

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is expected to underscore that multipolarity can help bring balance to global systems and institutions. File
| Photo Credit: AP

FILE PHOTO: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

UN chief Antonio Guterres has condemned the attack on a Palau-flagged tanker off the coast of Oman in which three Indian seafarers have been killed, his spokesperson said.

On Wednesday (June 10, 2026), the U.S. struck another Palau-flagged tanker, MT Settebello, killing three out of the 24 Indian sailors on board.

“…Notably, the Settebello tanker was hit and a number of Indian seafarers were killed. And that is an attack that was clearly condemned by the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). And we fully support and second that language,” Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric, said at the daily press briefing on Thursday (June 11).

Mr. Dujarric was referring to a statement issued by IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez, in which he had expressed his “deep sadness” and “strong condemnation” of the attack on the tanker MT Settebello, sailing under the flag of Palau, off the coast of Oman.

The IMO statement added that the incident, which occurred near the Strait of Hormuz and is reported to have followed a projectile strike against the vessel, resulted in a fire on board and the deaths of the three seafarers.

Mr. Dominguez said in the statement that he “strongly” condemns any act from any party that endangers the lives of seafarers and the safety of international shipping.

“This is simply unacceptable. My thoughts are with the families of the three seafarers who lost their lives and with all those awaiting news of the crew members.” Mr. Dominguez said IMO has underscored the need to protect seafarers, civilian shipping and the freedom of navigation at all times.

“All actions affecting international shipping must fully respect international law and the safety of life at sea. The protection of seafarers is a shared responsibility that must remain paramount,” Mr. Dominguez said.

IMO said it is monitoring the situation closely and calls for a full and transparent investigation into the circumstances of the incident.

On the situation in West Asia, Mr. Guterres said he is deeply concerned by the continuing escalation in the region, including the strikes by the United States on Iran and the strikes by Iran on neighbouring countries in the Gulf and beyond that are not parties to the conflict and a significant increase in hostile rhetoric.

Mr. Guterres urged the parties to return to the full implementation of the ceasefire, to avoid any further deterioration, which could trigger a full resumption of the conflict, with unpredictable consequences for the region and the world, especially the most vulnerable countries. 

The Secretary-General underscored that the exercise of navigational rights and freedoms, in accordance with international law, must be respected.

He further called on all parties to uphold their obligations under international law and to take all feasible precautions to protect civilians, reiterating that the only way forward is through genuine dialogue and negotiations. 

Mr. Guterres called on the United States and Iran to redouble their efforts towards a peaceful, comprehensive and durable agreement that advances regional and international peace and security.

Following Wednesday’s (June 10) incident, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) summoned U.S. Charge d’Affaires Jason Meeks, and he was handed a diplomatic note of protest.

India has described the attacks on commercial vessels as “deeply worrisome”, and it has strongly taken up the matter with the U.S.

India on Thursday (June 11) said three merchant ships with Indian crew members came under attack from American military off the coast of Oman in the last four days, resulting in the death of the three nationals. New Delhi has lodged a strong protest with the U.S. over the strikes.

A Palau-flagged oil tanker, Marivex, carrying 24 Indian seafarers, was disabled by U.S. forces on June 8. All crew members were safely rescued.

On June 10, the U.S. struck another Palau-flagged tanker, Settebello, killing three out of the 24 Indian sailors on board. Another vessel, ‘Jalveer’, a Guinea-Bissau-flagged tanker with 20 Indians, was attacked on Thursday.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on Friday (June 12) said at a news briefing that the three separate strikes on the Settebello, Marivex and Jalveer “came from the U.S. Navy”.

The U.S. military imposed a blockade on Iranian ports after Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which around 20% of global energy supplies are transported in normal times.

Published – June 12, 2026 11:34 am IST

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
| Photo Credit: AP

The United Nations leader warned Monday (February 23, 2026) that “the rule of force” was spreading, as the powerful trample on international law and wield artificial intelligence and other technologies to attack human rights.

“Human rights are under a full-scale attack around the world,” Antonio Guterres told the opening of the U.N. Human Rights Council’s annual session in Geneva. “The rule of law is being outmuscled by the rule of force.”

The U.N. secretary-general stressed that “this assault is not coming from the shadows, or by surprise. It is happening in plain sight and often led by those who hold the greatest power”.

He did not mention specific situations, although he did voice outrage at Russia’s war in Ukraine, where he said more than 15,000 civilians had been killed in four years of violence. “It is more than past time to end the bloodshed,” he said. Mr. Guterres also highlighted the “blatant violations of human rights, human dignity and international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”.

He charged that the trajectory in the conflict-torn territories under Israeli occupation was “stark, clear and purposeful: the two-state solution is being stripped away in broad daylight”. “The international community cannot allow it to happen,” he insisted.

Rights attacked ‘deliberately, strategically

In his final in-person address to the U.N.’s top rights body, Mr. Guterres said the worst conflict-hit areas were not the only places where rights were eroding. “Around the world, human rights are being pushed back deliberately, strategically and sometimes proudly,” he said.

“We are living in a world where mass suffering is excused away, where humans are used as bargaining chips, where international law is treated as a mere inconvenience.” U.N. rights chief Volker Turk echoed the concerns.

In a “deeply worrying trend”, he warned that “domination and supremacy are making a comeback”. “A fierce competition for power, control, and resources is playing out on the world stage at a rate and intensity unseen for the past 80 years,” he warned.

“The use of force to resolve disputes between and within countries is becoming normalised.” Mr. Turk highlighted how “the gears of global power are shifting”, calling for people to band together to protect rights and create “a strong counterbalance to the top-down, autocratic trends we see today”.

‘Democracies eroding’

While the U.N. says that conflicts are multiplying, impunity is spreading, and humanitarian needs are exploding, its traditional top donor, Washington, has dramatically slashed its foreign aid spending since President Donald Trump returned to power last year. Other major donors have followed.

“When human rights fall, everything else tumbles,” Mr. Guterres warned. The crisis of respect for human rights “mirrors and magnifies every other global fracture”, he said, pointing out that “inequalities are widening at staggering speed.

At the same time, “climate chaos is accelerating, and technology, especially artificial intelligence, is increasingly being used in ways that suppress rights, deepen inequality and expose marginalised people to new forms of discrimination both online and offline”, he warned.

Mr. Turk, meanwhile, lambasted leaders, without naming them, who seem to believe “that they are above the law, and above the U.N. Charter”.

“They claim exceptional status, exceptional danger or exceptional moral judgement to pursue their own agenda at any cost,” he said, pointing to how “some weaponise their economic leverage”. “They spread disinformation to distract, silence and marginalise,” he charged.

What is clear, Mr. Guterres warned, was that “across every front, those who are already vulnerable are being pushed further to the margins”. “Democracies eroding, migrants harassed, arrested, and expelled with total disregard for their human rights and their humanity. Refugees scapegoated,” he pointed out, also highlighting how “LGBTIQ+ communities [are] vilified, minorities and indigenous peoples targeted, religious communities attacked”.

Mr. Guterres, who is to step down this year after a decade at the U.N. helm, called for urgent action to reverse the trend. “Do not let power write a new rulebook in which the vulnerable have no rights and the powerful have no limits,” he said.

Published – February 23, 2026 10:34 pm IST

India’s permanent contribution to the agenda of the international community and that of the United Nations (U.N.) is of “enormous importance for us”, the U.N. chief Antonio Guterres has said, as he pointed to a “positive mega trend” of the increasingly enhanced roles of developing economies such as India in the world.

These remarks were made by Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who will be heading to New Delhi to attend the India AI Impact Summit, the first-ever summit on Artificial Intelligence hosted in the Global South.

India AI Summit 2026 Day 2 LIVE updates: Summit aims to capture use of AI for public interest, PM Modi says

“India became an extremely important leader in the discussions on all aspects of the activities of the U.N., in peace and security, sustainable development, where I remember the G20 presided by India, the very important decisions that were taken there,” Mr. Guterres told PTI in an exclusive interview here.

“And also in human rights as a democratic country in a world where, unfortunately, we see democracy in trouble in so many parts of the world,” Mr. Guterres said.

To a question on India’s role at the U.N., Mr. Guterres said “first of all, we have a huge debt of gratitude to India” for its presence in U.N. Peacekeeping, noting that currently about 5,000 Indian women and men are deployed in peacekeeping missions across the world.

He also highlighted the “first entirely female police unit in peacekeeping” from India, which he described as “something remarkable”, given that gender equality is a “fundamental objective” for the U.N.

India, which has traditionally been among the largest troop contributors to U.N. Peacekeeping, was the first country to deploy the all-women Formed Police Unit to Liberia in 2007, a landmark in the global organisation’s history.

“This permanent contribution of India to the agenda of the international community, which is the agenda of the U.N., is of enormous importance for us,” Mr. Guterres said in the interview ahead of his visit to India.

Mr. Guterres, whose tenure as the U.N. chief will end this year, highlighted some “positive mega trends” emerging in the world at a time of growing conflicts and increasing inequalities.

“My message is that there are many reasons to be, of course, worried. We have seen conflicts multiplying, injustices, inequalities increasing, poverty and hunger not being solved in the world. We have seen terrorism developing and becoming a nightmare in different parts of the world. So there are many reasons to be worried but there are a few positive mega trends,” he said.

Mr. Guterres stressed that one of the “most important mega trends” has to do with the role of countries and economies such as India.

“Every single day, the group of developed countries — G7 and similar countries — they represent a smaller share of the global economy than the day before. And every single day, the emerging economies, in which India is a fundamental pillar, represent a larger share of the world economy than the day before,” he said.

“And this happens every single day, which means that this mega trend will, in time, contribute to a world in which justice, equality, and based on justice, equality, peace will have much more conditions to prevail,” he said.

Mr. Guterres has previously emphasised that global structures and institutions must reflect the complexity and opportunity of these “new times and realities”.

Against this backdrop, he has called for reform of the U.N. Security Council but noted that it is important to distinguish the powerful 15-nation organ from the rest of the United Nations.

“The U.N. is not the Security Council,” he said, adding that the U.N. is fully represented in the 193-member General Assembly, where all states have the same weight.

“Of course, it’s the fact that the Security Council has not only been unfair in its composition but ineffective in its action. That facilitates some easy criticism of the United Nations.” He voiced full support for the U.N., underscoring that he is proud of the work the world organisation does.

“I’m extremely proud of the extraordinary work that the United Nations is doing in humanitarian aid around the world, in support of sustainable development around the world, in leading the extremely important campaign for climate action and in developing more and more new areas in relation to what we were doing traditionally,” he said.

“The United Nations has been a strong ally of developing countries fighting for reform of the international financial architecture to make sure that developing countries have a much stronger participation and voice in the international financial institutions,” he said.

“I am very proud to work with the U.N. and very proud of my colleagues who do humanitarian aid in the most remote and dangerous areas of the world, and very proud of the peacekeepers, like the Indian peacekeepers, that protect people in very difficult circumstances, also in some very dangerous situations,” he said.

Asserting that the U.N. plays a “very important and positive role”, he said “our brand of the Sustainable Development Goals became a universal brand that all countries, and India has been leading in this dimension, are pursuing with determination.”

Mr. Guterres is scheduled to participate in the Summit’s opening ceremony, a plenary with Heads of State and Government, as well as a session on the role of science in international AI governance, his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said.

Mr. Guterres will have bilateral meetings with President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and will meet with global and tech leaders attending the Summit, as well as with members of the International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence.

Head of the Department of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (DSAI) at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Balaraman Ravindran, is among a global group of 40 distinguished experts named by Mr. Guterres to serve on the panel.

Mr. Guterres is also scheduled to take part in a roundtable organised by the U.N. to discuss renewable energy and energy transition.

“With India emerging as a global leader in renewable energy expansion, the discussion will bring together senior figures from industry, finance, policy and civil society to identify concrete steps to further accelerate renewable energy deployment, strengthen grids and storage, and mobilise investment at scale. This engagement is part of the Secretary-General’s continued efforts to advance a faster, fairer and more inclusive global energy transition, aligned with the Paris Agreement,” Mr. Dujarric said.

A file image of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
| Photo Credit: Reuters