Stressing ‘Your Courage Continues to Change Lives’, Secretary-General Urges Amnesty International Global Assembly to Keep Fighting for Human Rights

25 July 2025

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the Amnesty International Global Assembly today:

It is an honour to join you today — and to be the first United Nations Secretary-General to address your Global Assembly.  I see your invitation as a tribute to UN staff working around the world for human rights and for justice.  And I see it as a reflection of our shared, fundamental conviction in the equal dignity and worth of every person — a founding principle of both our organizations.

One morning in the early ′60s, a British lawyer opened his newspaper on his way to work.  It reported that the dictatorship then ruling my country — Portugal — had imprisoned two students.  Their crime:  raising a toast to freedom.  The barrister — Peter Benenson — was so outraged by their plight that he launched a global movement.  And Amnesty International was founded.

And ever since, you have been at the forefront of the global struggle for human rights — fearless, principled and relentless:  Campaigning to free prisoners of conscience around the world.  Contributing to the establishment of a number of international institutions and the conclusion of a number of treaties — including the Convention Against Torture. Defending the full spectrum of human rights — civil, political, social, economic and cultural.  Winning landmark victories for justice — and earning the Nobel Peace Prize along the way.

The work of Amnesty International reflects truths I lived under dictatorship: that morality demands the courage to stand against oppression; that solidarity and justice are both personal and global; and that the fight for freedom on one continent can reverberate across the globe. I saw this first-hand — when liberation struggles in Africa helped end Portugal’s authoritarian rule.

Today, all these truths are more important than ever.  Because powerful forces are ranged against human rights — and against the international system built to protect and uphold them.  We see attacks on the International Criminal Court.  Attacks on the international human rights system and its representatives. And flagrant violations of international law:  from the horrors in Sudan and beyond to Russia’s invasion in Ukraine where we need a just and lasting peace based on the UN Charter, international law and UN resolutions.  And, of course, the relentless Israeli onslaught on Gaza.

I commend Amnesty International for your strong voices.  From the beginning, I have repeatedly condemned the horrific 7 October terror attacks by Hamas.  But nothing can justify the explosion of death and destruction since. The scale and scope is beyond anything we have seen in recent times.

I cannot explain the level of indifference and inaction we see by too many in the international community.  The lack of compassion.  The lack of truth.  The lack of humanity.  Our own heroic staff continue to serve in unimaginable conditions.  Many are so numb and depleted that they say they feel neither dead nor alive.  Children speaking of wanting to go to heaven, because at least, they say, there is food there.

We hold video calls with our own humanitarians who are starving before our eyes. This is not just a humanitarian crisis. It is a moral crisis that challenges the global conscience.  We will continue to speak out at every opportunity.  But words don’t feed hungry children.

The United Nations stands ready to make the most of a possible ceasefire to dramatically scale up humanitarian operations across the Gaza Strip, as we successfully did during the previous pause in fighting.  Our plans are ready, and they are finalized.  We know what works — and we know what does not.

Since 27 May, the United Nations has recorded over 1,000 Palestinians killed trying to access food.  Let me repeat:  1,000 people — killed not in combat, but in desperation — while the entire population starves.

We need action.  An immediate and permanent ceasefire.  The immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.  Immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access.  At the same time, we need urgent, concrete and irreversible steps towards a two-State solution.

We are in a global battle for human dignity.  For human rights. For justice.  For the multilateral system itself.  Amnesty International is indispensable in that fight.

So, my central message to you today is this: the world needs you more than ever. We need your courage, your creativity, and your clarity.  We need your movements — rooted in communities and rising from the ground up —  making it clear that leaders cannot turn a blind eye to their obligations.

And, yes, we need what you’ve called “troublemaking”.  The kind that challenges complacency and inaction.  That exposes injustice.  That drives lasting change.  Because as I scan the global landscape, I see too many leaders who view human rights as the problem.

But we know human rights are the solution.  They are the foundation of peace.  They are the engine of progress.  And they are the path out of conflict and chaos to security and hope.  You know better than anyone:  this work is never easy.  And the struggle is always hardest when it matters most — when the urgency is greatest and the stakes are highest.

But I want to assure you:  you are not alone.  Human rights are — and will remain — a central pillar of the United Nations.  Despite financial challenges, we are determined to reinforce human rights for the twenty-first century.  The UN80 initiative, grounded in the UN Charter and international law, is aimed at strengthening our core work across peace, human rights and development.  And our Call to Action for Human Rights is mobilizing every part of the UN system.

In the face of crisis, we must stand together — and act together.  Let me turn to your focus for this year’s Global Assembly:  confronting the rise of authoritarian practices — and advancing climate justice.

First — authoritarianism. Around the world, we are witnessing a surge in repressive tactics aiming at corroding respect for human rights.  And these are contaminating some democracies. This is not a series of isolated events. It is a global contagion.  Political opposition crushed.  Accountability dismantled.  Equality and non-discrimination trampled.  The rule of law cast aside.

On the other hand, civil society — the lifeblood of any free nation — is suffocated.  We see activists and journalists silenced — even murdered.  Minorities scapegoated.  Women and girls stripped of their most basic rights — most brutally in Afghanistan.  And all of this is amplified by digital technology.

We must right these wrongs.  Many countries we must recognize stand firm with human rights.  And we must push all countries to defend them — consistently, and universally, even — or especially — when inconvenient.  We must urge them to protect and strengthen the international human rights system.  We must demand accountability for human rights violations — without fear or favour.  And insist that countries honour commitments in the Pact of the Future — to protect civic space and uphold human rights and gender equality.

We must also demand action to confront the flood of lies and hate polluting our digital spaces.  Social media manipulation has become a powerful weapon in the authoritarian playbook. Many algorithms are boosting the worst of humanity — rewarding falsehoods, fuelling racism and misogyny and deepening division.

Last year, countries took steps to tackle these issues.  They adopted in the UN General Assembly the Global Digital Compact — committing to apply human rights to cyberspace — and to protect information integrity.  Now we must hold them to it.

And we must go further — to rebuild trust in the international system by grounding it in justice, inclusion and results.  That means reforming the United Nations Security Council.  It is a scandal that Africa still has no permanent seat at the table.  It means delivering on the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

And it means transforming the international financial system — with debt relief, a surge in development finance, and a stronger voice and greater participation for developing countries in international financial institutions.  I applaud your work on such issues, including through the 2048 Commission — helping to shape a fairer, more inclusive global order.

The second focus of this Global Assembly is one of the defining struggles of our time:  securing climate justice.  The climate crisis is not just an environmental emergency.  It is a human rights catastrophe.  We must confront and correct the deep injustices it has laid bare: The poor, the vulnerable and the marginalized — suffering most from a crisis they did nothing to create.

Environmental defenders — arrested, threatened, and even killed for protecting communities and ecosystems.  Land and livelihoods — plundered in the race for minerals critical to clean energy.  And climate finance — still wholly inadequate as fossil fuels are propped up by subsidies as others pay the price.  All while their political enablers stall and sabotage action.

But we have seen what people power can achieve:  from Amnesty’s role in promoting international recognition of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment to legal victories that have led courts to clarify States’ obligations on climate.

Just two days ago, the International Court of Justice issued a historic advisory opinion.  It made clear that States are obliged to protect the global climate system, that climate change is a human rights issue.  And that the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius must guide climate policies, in accordance with the Paris Agreement.  We have young Pacific Islanders to thank for this landmark victory.

And all of us must build on these hard-won gains — by insisting on legal accountability and demanding climate justice.  That means the biggest economies and emitters leading an urgent global reduction in emissions, and a just transition away from fossil fuels.

New national climate action plans — or NDCs – must align with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.  They must respect human rights.  And they must be shaped in partnership with those most affected — especially marginalized groups.

We also need action on critical minerals — to protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples and front-line communities.  We cannot accept a clean energy future built on dirty practices with enormous violations of human rights and many times of human rights of children.  Our United Nations Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals has laid out a path — placing human rights at the core of the critical mineral value chains. We are working with partners to deliver.

And we need finance — real finance — for developing countries to cut emissions, adapt to climate shocks, and recover from loss and damage.  We must push governments to provide funds they have pledged.  And explore new sources of finance — including putting an effective price on carbon and establishing solidarity levies on polluting sectors and industries.

As a young man living under dictatorship in Portugal I learned — as Amnesty’s founders knew — that standing up for freedom is standing on the right side of history.

And today, I am more certain than ever:  When you stand for human rights, you stand with what is right.  That is your history.  When Amnesty was founded in the ′60s the fight for a fairer world was raging:  for civil rights; for women’s rights; for liberation from colonial rule.

These causes once seemed a distant dream.  So did Portuguese democracy.  I can assure you that your courage continues to change lives.  Your persistence is shifting the course of history.  Let’s keep going.  Let’s keep fighting.  Let’s meet this moment with the urgency it demands.  And let’s never, ever give up.

Thank you very much for your attention and your patience.