Powerful forces are lining up to undermine global cooperation, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned at a landmark event commemorating the UN's 80th anniversary in London, the United Kingdom, but he urged that "humanity is strongest when we stand as one".
Speaking at Methodist Central Hall, the very same venue where the first-ever UN General Assembly was held on 10 January 1946, Mr. Guterres called on delegates at the event to be "bold enough to change. Bold enough to find the courage of those who came to this Hall 80 years ago to forge a better world."
From bomb shelter to diplomatic gathering
Organised by the United Nations Association-UK , Saturday's anniversary event gathered over 1,000 delegates from across the world, with speakers including President of the General Assembly , Annalena Baerbock , the UN Champion for Space Professor Brian Cox and the UN Refugee Agency's Goodwill Ambassador Maya Ghazal. The event also marks the 80th anniversary of the first UN Security Council , which took place on 17 January 1946 at nearby Church House.
During his keynote address, Mr. Guterres reflected on the symbolic location of the commemoration. The first General Assembly took place within the same walls four months after the end of the Second World War, in a heavily bombed London where tens of thousands had been killed, a powerful reminder as to why the UN had been created.
"To reach this Hall, delegates had to pass through a city scarred by war. Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, and the House of Commons had been shelled by the Luftwaffe. And as those bombs fell, terrified civilians huddled here, in the basement of the Methodist Central Hall - one of the largest public air-raid shelters in London," said the Secretary-General.
Throughout the Blitz, as many as 2,000 people gathered in the hall for protection, before the nations of the world assembled there in 1946 to 'save succeeding generations from the scourge of war' .
"In many ways, this Hall is a physical representation of what the United Nations is: a place people put their faith - for peace, for security, for a better life," reflected Mr. Guterres.
The world of 2026 is not the world of 1946
In the 80 years since the first General Assembly, the UN has expanded from 51 members to 193. Mr. Guterres emphasised that the General Assembly, the UN's chief deliberative, policymaking and representative body, is "the parliament of the family of nations. It is a forum for every voice to be heard, a crucible for consensus, and a beacon for cooperation."
Whilst he acknowledged that the General Assembly's work "may not always be straightforward or seamless," he described it as a "a mirror of our world, its divisions and its hopes. And it is the stage on which our shared story plays out."
Reflecting on the last decade, Mr. Guterres spoke of how "the conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan have been vicious and cruel beyond measure; artificial intelligence has become ubiquitous almost overnight; and the pandemic poured accelerant on the fires of nationalism - stalling progress on development and climate action."
Mr. Guterres emphasised how 2025 was a "profoundly challenging" year for international cooperation and the UN's values.
"Aid was slashed. Inequalities widened. Climate chaos accelerated. International law was trampled. Crackdowns on civil society intensified. Journalists were killed with impunity. And United Nations staff were repeatedly threatened - or killed - in the line of duty."
The UN reported in 2025 that global military spending reached $2.7 trillion - over 200 times the UK's current aid budget, or equivalent to over 70 per cent of Britain's entire economy.
Fossil fuel profits have also continued to surge whilst the planet broke heat records, Mr. Guterres underlined.
"And in cyberspace, algorithms rewarded falsehoods, fuelled hatred, and provided authoritarians with powerful tools of control."
Multilateralism over division
A "robust, responsive and well-resourced multilateral" system is needed to address the world's interconnected challenges, Mr. Guterres urged, but the "values of multilateralism are being chipped away."
The Secretary-General gave the example of a landmark international agreement to protect marine life in international waters and the seabed , which comes into force on Saturday, as a "model of modern diplomacy, led by science, with the participation not just of governments, but of civil society, Indigenous Peoples and local communities."
"These quiet victories of international cooperation - the wars prevented, the famine averted, the vital treaties secured - do not always make the headlines. Yet they are real. And they matter. If we wish to secure more such victories, we must ensure the full respect of international law and defend multilateralism, strengthening it for our times."
As he addressed the London audience, the Secretary-General expressed his "gratitude to the United Kingdom for its decisive role in creating the United Nations," and for being "such a strong pillar of multilateralism and champion of the United Nations today."
High stakes for a better world
Looking towards the future, the Secretary-General called for an international system that reflects the modern world, including reforming international financial systems and the Security Council .
"As global centres of power shift, we have the potential to build a future that is either more fair - or more unstable."
The Secretary-General reminded delegates in London that when the UN first opened its doors, "many of its staff bore the visible wounds of war - a limp, a scar, a burn."
"There is a persistent myth - now echoing louder each day - that peace is naïve. That the only 'real' politics is the politics of self-interest and force," Mr. Guterres said.
"But the founders of the United Nations were not untouched by reality. On the contrary, they had seen war, and they knew: Peace, justice and equality, are the most courageous, the most practical, the most necessary pursuits of all."
*Miranda Alexander-Webber is a writer for the United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe (UNRIC).
