'A Global Order That Works for Everyone': UN Chief at the Munich Security Conference 2024

Remarks by the UN Secretary-General: "Growing the Pie: A Global Order That Works for Everyone".

Calling for a new global order that works for all, Secretary-General António Guterres in Munich said, “our world is facing existential challenges, but the global community is more fragmented and divided than at any time during the past 75 years.”

Addressing world leaders attending the Munich Security Conference Guterres today (16 Feb) said, “today's global order is not working for everyone. In fact, I would go further and say it's not working for anyone.

The Secretary-General said, “when power relations are vague, the dangers of aggressive opportunism and miscalculation grow. And today we see countries doing whatever they like with no accountability. Impunity seems to be the name of the game. And so, we must all be determined to re-establish the primacy of the rule of law.”

Addressing the conflict in Gaza, he said the situation was “an appalling indictment of the deadlock in global relations.”

Guterres said, “the level of death and destruction is shocking in itself. The war is also spilling over borders across the region and affecting global trade. Humanitarian aid operation is now on life support. It's barely functioning.”

Repeating his call “for an immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and a humanitarian ceasefire,” he said this is “the only way to massively scale up a delivery in Gaza” and must be “the foundation for concrete and irreversible steps towards a two-state solution, based on international law and the United Nations resolutions.”

He warned that an all-out offensive on the city of Rafah – the core of the humanitarian aid operation in Gaza, and where nearly half the population is now sheltering – would be devastating for civilians already on the edge of survival.

Turning to the war triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine two years ago, the Secretary-General said, “we desperately need a just and sustained peace for Ukraine, for Russia and for the world. But the peace in line with UN charter and international law, which establishes the obligation to respect the territorial integrity of sovereign states.”

Around the world, he said, “from the Sahel to Libya and Sudan, from the Great Lakes to the Horn of Africa, from Yemen to Myanmar, we need concerted efforts to strengthen regional organisations and for global powers to pressure the parties to the war, to come to the peace table and pursue their goals through negotiations.”

Beyond these and other immediate crises, the international community must strengthen the global peace and security architecture to address threats and challenges that were inconceivable when the UN Charter was drafted, such as the climate crisis, Artificial Intelligence or cyberweapons, he told the Conference.

Guterres said, “we need peace with justice. Today's global financial architecture, based on frameworks agreed nearly 80 years ago, is outdated, dysfunctional and unfair.”

He said, “the climate crisis is gathering pace. Last year it was the hottest on record. It would be the coolest for many years to come. The next few years are decisive. Emissions must have peaked by next year, 2025, and must fall by 45 percent by 2030. We have the tools. We know what to do. We need to progressively phase out fossil fuels and promote a just and equitable transition to renewable energy, led by the G20 countries that are responsible for 80 percent of global emissions.”

To conclude, the Secretary-General said, “it is clear that our world is in deep trouble. Global governance in its present form is entrenching divisions and fuelling discontent. We must work based on just this with renewed urgency and solidarity. There is always an opportunity to create a more inclusive, comprehensive, and effective global order that works for everyone based on international law. A safer world and the bigger pie for all. That is the objectives of the UN summit of the Future in September.”

On the eve of the conference, Guterres visited the Ohel Jakob synagogue at the invitation of the World Jewish Congress, together with Charlotte Knobloch, President of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria and former Vice President of the World Jewish Congress.

The Munich Security Conference (MSC) 2024 will take place from February 16 to 18, 2024, at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich. Founded in the fall of 1963, the MSC will celebrate its 60th anniversary and provide an opportunity for high-level debates on the world's most pressing security challenges.