‘Nothing can justify collective punishment of Palestinians’: UN chief urges peace over chaos, warns ‘aid cuts wreaking havoc’
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "‘Nothing can justify collective punishment of Palestinians’: UN chief urges peace over chaos, warns ‘aid cuts wreaking havoc’")
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres speaks during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the United Nations headquarters on September 23, 2025 in New York City. Photograph: (AFP)
Guterres also urged world leaders to choose peace and cooperation over chaos amid the conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, warning them of “an age of reckless disruption and relentless human suffering.”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday (Sep 23) said that aid cuts were “wreaking havoc”. He made the remarks in his opening address during the organisation’s annual meeting of world leaders. He also urged world leaders to choose peace and cooperation over chaos amid the conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, warning them of “an age of reckless disruption and relentless human suffering.”
“We have entered in an age of reckless disruption and relentless human suffering,” he said in his speech. “The pillars of peace and progress are buckling under the weight of impunity, inequality and indifference.”
“Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” the UN chief said.
Without naming the United States, Guterres also warned, “development aid cuts are wreaking havoc. They are a death sentence for many. A stolen future for many more.”
“This is the paradox of our time: we know what we need – yet we are pulling away the very lifeline that makes it possible.”
Guterres painted a dark picture of the world order, highlighting worsening crises in several countries. He also warned of the risk of nuclear proliferation.
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“Far too many crises continue unchecked. Impunity prevails. Lawlessness is a contagion. It invites mayhem, accelerates terror, and risks a nuclear free-for-all,” he said.
Although he also highlighted the ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand, and the agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia, “brokered by the United States.”
But the UN chief cautions that the “pillars of peace” were “buckling under the weight of impunity, inequality, and indifference.”
“Sovereign nations, invaded. Hunger, weaponised. Truth, silenced. Rising smoke from bombed-out cities. Rising anger in fractured societies. Rising seas swallowing coastlines,” he said.
Guterres said that “around the world, we see countries acting as if the rules don't apply to them. We see humans treated as less than human.”
He also said “civilians are being slaughtered, starved, and silenced” in Sudan, while “horrors are approaching a third monstrous year” in Gaza.
