<\/p>\n
25 July 2025<\/p>\n
Following are UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres\u2019 remarks to the Amnesty International Global Assembly today:<\/p>\n
It is an honour to join you today \u2014 and to be the first United Nations Secretary-General to address your Global Assembly.\u00a0 I see your invitation as a tribute to UN staff working around the world for human rights and for justice.\u00a0 And I see it as a reflection of our shared, fundamental conviction in the equal dignity and worth of every person \u2014 a founding principle of both our organizations.<\/p>\n
One morning in the early \u203260s, a British lawyer opened his newspaper on his way to work.\u00a0 It reported that the dictatorship then ruling my country \u2014 Portugal \u2014 had imprisoned two students.\u00a0 Their crime: \u00a0raising a toast to freedom.\u00a0 The barrister \u2014 Peter Benenson \u2014 was so outraged by their plight that he launched a global movement.\u00a0 And Amnesty International was founded.<\/p>\n
And ever since, you have been at the forefront of the global struggle for human rights \u2014 fearless, principled and relentless:\u00a0 Campaigning to free prisoners of conscience around the world.\u00a0 Contributing to the establishment of a number of international institutions and the conclusion of a number of treaties \u2014 including the Convention Against Torture.\u00a0Defending the full spectrum of human rights \u2014 civil, political, social, economic and cultural.\u00a0 Winning landmark victories for justice \u2014 and earning the Nobel Peace Prize along the way.<\/p>\n
The work of Amnesty International reflects truths I lived under dictatorship:\u00a0that 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.\u00a0I saw this first-hand \u2014 when liberation struggles in Africa helped end Portugal\u2019s authoritarian rule.<\/p>\n
Today, all these truths are more important than ever.\u00a0 Because powerful forces are ranged against human rights \u2014 and against the international system built to protect and uphold them.\u00a0 We see attacks on the International Criminal Court.\u00a0 Attacks on the international human rights system and its representatives.\u00a0And flagrant violations of international law:\u00a0 from the horrors in Sudan and beyond to Russia\u2019s invasion in Ukraine where we need a just and lasting peace based on the UN Charter, international law and UN resolutions.\u00a0 And, of course, the relentless Israeli onslaught on Gaza.<\/strong><\/p>\n I commend Amnesty International for your strong voices.\u00a0 From the beginning, I have repeatedly condemned the horrific 7\u00a0October terror attacks by Hamas.\u00a0 But nothing can justify the explosion of death and destruction since.\u00a0The scale and scope is beyond anything we have seen in recent times.<\/strong><\/p>\n I cannot explain the level of indifference and inaction we see by too many in the international community.\u00a0 The lack of compassion.\u00a0 The lack of truth.\u00a0 The lack of humanity.\u00a0 Our own heroic staff continue to serve in unimaginable conditions.\u00a0 Many are so numb and depleted that they say they feel neither dead nor alive.\u00a0 Children speaking of wanting to go to heaven, because at least, they say, there is food there.<\/strong><\/p>\n We hold video calls with our own humanitarians who are starving before our eyes.\u00a0This is not just a humanitarian crisis.\u00a0It is a moral crisis that challenges the global conscience.\u00a0 We will continue to speak out at every opportunity.\u00a0 But words don\u2019t feed hungry children.<\/strong><\/p>\n 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.\u00a0 Our plans are ready, and they are finalized.\u00a0 We know what works \u2014 and we know what does not.<\/strong><\/p>\n Since 27\u00a0May, the United Nations has recorded over 1,000\u00a0Palestinians killed trying to access food.\u00a0 Let me repeat: \u00a01,000\u00a0people \u2014 killed not in combat, but in desperation \u2014 while the entire population starves.<\/strong><\/p>\n We need action.\u00a0 An immediate and permanent ceasefire.\u00a0 The immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.\u00a0 Immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access.\u00a0 At the same time, we need urgent, concrete and irreversible steps towards a two-State solution.<\/strong><\/p>\n We are in a global battle for human dignity.\u00a0 For human rights. For justice.\u00a0 For the multilateral system itself.\u00a0 Amnesty International is indispensable in that fight.<\/p>\n So, my central message to you today is this: the world needs you more than ever.\u00a0We need your courage, your creativity, and your clarity.\u00a0 We need your movements \u2014 rooted in communities and rising from the ground up \u2014\u00a0 making it clear that leaders cannot turn a blind eye to their obligations.<\/p>\n And, yes, we need what you\u2019ve called \u201ctroublemaking\u201d.\u00a0 The kind that challenges complacency and inaction.\u00a0 That exposes injustice.\u00a0 That drives lasting change.\u00a0 Because as I scan the global landscape, I see too many leaders who view human rights as the problem.<\/p>\n But we know human rights are the solution. \u00a0They are the foundation of peace.\u00a0 They are the engine of progress.\u00a0 And they are the path out of conflict and chaos to security and hope.\u00a0 You know better than anyone: \u00a0this work is never easy.\u00a0 And the struggle is always hardest when it matters most \u2014 when the urgency is greatest and the stakes are highest.<\/p>\n But I want to assure you: \u00a0you are not alone.\u00a0 Human rights are \u2014 and will remain \u2014 a central pillar of the United Nations.\u00a0 Despite financial challenges, we are determined to reinforce human rights for the twenty-first century. \u00a0The UN80 initiative, grounded in the UN Charter and international law, is aimed at strengthening our core work across peace, human rights and development.\u00a0 And our Call to Action for Human Rights is mobilizing every part of the UN system.<\/p>\n In the face of crisis, we must stand together \u2014 and act together.\u00a0 Let me turn to your focus for this year\u2019s Global Assembly: \u00a0confronting the rise of authoritarian practices \u2014 and advancing climate justice.<\/p>\n First \u2014 authoritarianism.\u00a0Around the world, we are witnessing a surge in repressive tactics aiming at corroding respect for human rights. \u00a0And these are contaminating some democracies.\u00a0This is not a series of isolated events.\u00a0It is a global contagion.\u00a0 Political opposition crushed. \u00a0Accountability dismantled. \u00a0Equality and non-discrimination trampled.\u00a0 The rule of law cast aside.<\/p>\n On the other hand, civil society \u2014 the lifeblood of any free nation \u2014 is suffocated.\u00a0 We see activists and journalists silenced \u2014 even murdered.\u00a0 Minorities scapegoated.\u00a0 Women and girls stripped of their most basic rights \u2014 most brutally in Afghanistan.\u00a0 And all of this is amplified by digital technology.<\/p>\n We must right these wrongs.\u00a0 Many countries we must recognize stand firm with human rights.\u00a0 And we must push all countries to defend them \u2014 consistently, and universally, even \u2014 or especially \u2014 when inconvenient.\u00a0 We must urge them to protect and strengthen the international human rights system.\u00a0 We must demand accountability for human rights violations \u2014 without fear or favour.\u00a0 And insist that countries honour commitments in the Pact of the Future \u2014 to protect civic space and uphold human rights and gender equality.<\/p>\n We must also demand action to confront the flood of lies and hate polluting our digital spaces.\u00a0 Social media manipulation has become a powerful weapon in the authoritarian playbook.\u00a0Many algorithms are boosting the worst of humanity \u2014 rewarding falsehoods, fuelling racism and misogyny and deepening division.<\/p>\n Last year, countries took steps to tackle these issues.\u00a0 They adopted in the UN General Assembly the Global Digital Compact \u2014 committing to apply human rights to cyberspace \u2014 and to protect information integrity.\u00a0 Now we must hold them to it.<\/p>\n And we must go further \u2014 to rebuild trust in the international system by grounding it in justice, inclusion and results.\u00a0 That means reforming the United Nations Security Council.\u00a0 It is a scandal that Africa still has no permanent seat at the table.\u00a0 It means delivering on the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.<\/p>\n And it means transforming the international financial system \u2014 with debt relief, a surge in development finance, and a stronger voice and greater participation for developing countries in international financial institutions.\u00a0 I applaud your work on such issues, including through the 2048 Commission \u2014 helping to shape a fairer, more inclusive global order.<\/p>\n The second focus of this Global Assembly is one of the defining struggles of our time: \u00a0securing climate justice.\u00a0 The climate crisis is not just an environmental emergency.\u00a0 It is a human rights catastrophe.\u00a0 We must confront and correct the deep injustices it has laid bare:\u00a0The poor, the vulnerable and the marginalized \u2014 suffering most from a crisis they did nothing to create.<\/p>\n Environmental defenders \u2014 arrested, threatened, and even killed for protecting communities and ecosystems.\u00a0 Land and livelihoods \u2014 plundered in the race for minerals critical to clean energy.\u00a0 And climate finance \u2014 still wholly inadequate as fossil fuels are propped up by subsidies as others pay the price.\u00a0 All while their political enablers stall and sabotage action.<\/p>\n But we have seen what people power can achieve:\u00a0 from Amnesty\u2019s 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\u2019 obligations on climate.<\/p>\n Just two days ago, the International Court of Justice issued a historic advisory opinion.\u00a0 It made clear that States are obliged to protect the global climate system, that climate change is a human rights issue.\u00a0 And that the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius must guide climate policies, in accordance with the Paris Agreement.\u00a0 We have young Pacific Islanders to thank for this landmark victory.<\/p>\n And all of us must build on these hard-won gains \u2014 by insisting on legal accountability and demanding climate justice.\u00a0 That means the biggest economies and emitters leading an urgent global reduction in emissions, and a just transition away from fossil fuels.<\/p>\n New national climate action plans \u2014 or NDCs \u2013 must align with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.\u00a0 They must respect human rights.\u00a0 And they must be shaped in partnership with those most affected \u2014 especially marginalized groups.<\/p>\n We also need action on critical minerals \u2014 to protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples and front-line communities.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Our United Nations Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals has laid out a path \u2014 placing human rights at the core of the critical mineral value chains.\u00a0We are working with partners to deliver.<\/p>\n And we need finance \u2014 real finance \u2014 for developing countries to cut emissions, adapt to climate shocks, and recover from loss and damage.\u00a0 We must push governments to provide funds they have pledged.\u00a0 And explore new sources of finance \u2014 including putting an effective price on carbon and establishing solidarity levies on polluting sectors and industries.<\/p>\n As a young man living under dictatorship in Portugal I learned \u2014 as Amnesty\u2019s founders knew \u2014 that standing up for freedom is standing on the right side of history.<\/p>\n And today, I am more certain than ever:\u00a0 When you stand for human rights, you stand with what is right.\u00a0 That is your history.\u00a0 When Amnesty was founded in the \u203260s the fight for a fairer world was raging:\u00a0 for civil rights; for women\u2019s rights; for liberation from colonial rule.<\/p>\n These causes once seemed a distant dream. \u00a0So did Portuguese democracy.\u00a0 I can assure you that your courage continues to change lives.\u00a0 Your persistence is shifting the course of history.\u00a0 Let\u2019s keep going.\u00a0 Let\u2019s keep fighting.\u00a0 Let\u2019s meet this moment with the urgency it demands.\u00a0 And let\u2019s never, ever give up.<\/p>\n Thank you very much for your attention and your patience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 25 July 2025 Following are UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres\u2019 remarks to the Amnesty International Global Assembly today: It is an honour to join you today \u2014 and to be the first United Nations Secretary-General to address your Global Assembly.\u00a0 I see your invitation as a tribute to UN staff working around the world for 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