United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses the 81st United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City, Sep 22, 2026. (Photo: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton)

Commentary: UN’s Antonio Guterres steps down with a mixed legacy

The verdict of history will be harsh on Guterres’ record of protecting civilians and halting atrocities, says this professor.

30 Sep 2026, 21:59 by Simon Adams · CNA · Join

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PERTH, Australia: In his farewell address to the United Nations General Assembly last week, Antonio Guterres reminisced about his time as secretary general.

In his words, it was a decade during which wars "dragged on with despicable cruelty. Civilians were targeted. Human rights trampled. Hunger weaponised. Humanitarians killed. International law cast aside."

It’s true Guterres and the UN faced increasingly difficult challenges during his decade-long period in office, but as he prepares to depart office at the end of the year, how should his tenure be judged?

THE UN’S EXTREME CHALLENGES

There are currently 65 active armed conflicts in the world, the most since 1946.

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Two permanent members of the UN Security Council, Russia and the United States, have started wars in violation of the UN Charter.

Meanwhile, tech experts are now warning that AI might wipe out humanity. Accelerating climate change also poses an existential threat.

No UN secretary general could solve all these crises. But historical comparisons are not in Guterres’ favour.

The UN’s second leader, Dag Hammarskjold of Sweden, also served during a time of global tension. Despite the Cold War, he established the UN’s peacekeeping operations before dying in a 1961 plane crash while trying to negotiate an end to a bloody secessionist struggle in the Congo.

The UN’s seventh boss, Ghana’s Kofi Annan, used his diplomatic charm to implement significant reforms during the early 2000s, resulting in the establishment of the Human Rights Council; the “millennium development goals” aimed at reducing hunger, poverty and illness; and new global norms like the “responsibility to protect” civilians from mass atrocities.

Even Guterres’ mild-mannered predecessor, South Korea’s Ban Ki-moon, initiated a “human rights upfront” agenda that instructed UN field staff not to be prisoners of protocol and to speak up for those whose lives depended on their protection.

All of these initiatives took place despite the UN being a cautious and cumbersome organisation.

GUTERRES’ LEGACY IS LESS IMPRESSIVE

In terms of highlights, Guterres will be remembered for brokering the 2022 Black Sea Grain Initiative between Ukraine and Russia, promoting more women to senior roles in the UN, pursuing vigorous climate diplomacy and injecting a global perspective into debates about the threat and promise posed by AI.

But the lows have been truly subterranean.

Guterres was forced to impose crippling budget cuts due largely to the US starving the United Nations of US$4 billion in dues.

The “UN80” reform process, which Guterres launched in March 2025 to restructure and streamline the UN for its 80th anniversary, appears to be more about bureaucratic downsizing than refocusing the organisation’s moral vision. Hundreds of UN staff have lost their jobs and millions of people around the world will go hungry due to humanitarian funding shortfalls.

Most tragically of all, Guterres failed to help end the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine, Myanmar, Sudan and Gaza. Many critics believe he should have done more, pointing out that Guterres never travelled to Myanmar, Sudan or several other major crisis points where his presence would have sent a powerful political signal.

GUTERRES’ RISE TO TOP JOB

Before he came to UN headquarters in New York, Guterres served as prime minister of Portugal (1995 to 2002) and then as UN high commissioner for refugees (2005 to 2015). His candidacy for UN secretary general was largely built on his reputation as high commissioner in Geneva.

Under Guterres, the UN refugee agency underwent profound structural change in response to humanitarian emergencies in Syria and elsewhere. Guterres was seen as an energetic moderniser. He visited refugee camps and was considered an effective, if cautious, advocate for the world’s most vulnerable populations.

But since Guterres was appointed secretary general in 2016, the number of people around the world displaced by persecution, conflict and atrocities almost doubled, from 65.6 million to 118 million. That includes 45 million children currently living as refugees or sheltering in a tent beside the rubble of their home.

While Guterres was not responsible for their misery, he was noticeably low-key compared to some of his predecessors when it came to pushing for diplomatic solutions to crises.

While growing friction between the UN Security Council’s veto-wielding permanent members (China, France, Russia, the UK and US) has exacerbated this parlous situation, Guterres has appeared as a tired and marginal voice pleading for compromise.

It was Guterres’ fate, but not his fault, to serve as UN chief during the time of Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. In their own unique ways, that trio all sidelined him and the UN.

THE UN’S UNCERTAIN FUTURE

I remember a meeting sometime in 2018 with Guterres at UN headquarters in New York. I had been invited, along with several other senior civil society representatives, to discuss human rights.

During our conversation, I remarked he would be judged – as all previous UN leaders have been – by his ability to protect civilians and halt atrocities that shock the conscience of humanity.

He nodded in solemn agreement.

The verdict of history will be harsh regarding Guterres’ failure in this area.

When he leaves the 38th floor of the UN building on Dec 31 and takes the elevator down to the green marble lobby, he is leaving behind a UN that is more fragile than at any time since the fall of the Berlin Wall. If the world body is to survive, the next UN secretary general must do more to bridge the deadly gap between promise and performance.

Simon Adams is Professor of Human Rights at Murdoch University. This commentary first appeared on The Conversation.