United Nations chief calls global situation ’unsustainable’ as annual meeting of leaders opens

U.N. Secretary-General warns of unsustainable world due to impunity, inequality, and uncertainty at General Assembly meeting.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned world leaders Tuesday (September 24, 2024) that impunity, inequality and uncertainty are creating an “unsustainable world" where a growing number of countries believe they should have a “get out of jail free” card.

“We can't go on like this,” he said as the General Assembly’s annual debate among presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and other leaders began.

Also read | Reform global institutions for peace and development, Modi tells U.N.

Citing deepening geopolitical divisions, wars with no end in sight, climate change and nuclear and emerging weapons, he said humanity is “edging towards the unimaginable – a powder keg that risks engulfing the world.”

But, he said, “the challenges we face are solvable” if the international community confronts the uncertainty of unmanaged risks, the inequality that underlies injustices and grievances and the impunity that undermines international law and the U.N.‘s founding principles.

“Today, a growing number of governments and others feel entitled to a "get out of jail free’ card,” he said in a reference to the classic board game Monopoly.

The world leaders' meeting opened under the shadow of increasing global divisions, major wars in Gaza, Ukraine and, Sudan and the threat of an even larger conflict in the wider Middle East.