In his farewell address to the United Nations General Assembly last week, António 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. Two permanent members of the UN Security Council, Russia and the United States, have started wars in violation of the UN Charter. No UN secretary general could solve all these crises. But historical comparisons are not in Guterres' favour.
Exceptional leaders from the past
The UN's second leader, Dag Hammarskjöld of Sweden, 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, including the Human Rights Council, the "millennium development goals" and the "responsibility to protect" civilians from mass atrocities.
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 and pursuing vigorous climate diplomacy.
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 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.
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.
The UN's uncertain future
I remember a meeting sometime in 2018 with Guterres at UN headquarters in New York. 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.
The verdict of history will be harsh regarding Guterres' failure in this area. When he leaves the 38th floor of the UN building on December 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 does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
This article was originally published on The Conversation by Simon Adams, Professor of Human Rights, Murdoch University and is republished here unaltered under a Creative Commons licence (CC BY-ND, no derivatives). Read the original article.
