UN marks 80 years amid warnings of principles under assault

The United Nations (UN) marked its 80th anniversary with a ceremony in the darkened General Assembly hall as world leaders arrived for the annual debate, according to UN News. The historic chamber was bathed in blue light for the milestone event.

Assembly President Annalena Baerbock recalled how the UN emerged from the ashes of two world wars and “the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust” when 72 territories still lived under colonial rule. The signing of the UN Charter on June 26, 1945, “was a promise from leaders to their peoples, and from nations to one another, that humanity had learned from its darkest chapters,” she told delegates.

But Baerbock warned that “the hours indeed feel dark once again” with wars raging in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, and chaos in Haiti, plus “unfiltered hatred online.” She said the world stands “once again at a crossroads” and can’t take “the easy path and simply give up.” Instead, countries need to “choose the right path” and “show the world that we can be better together.”

Secretary-General António Guterres took delegates back to the UN’s early days, noting that many of the first staff and delegates “bore visible wounds from war.” These weren’t idealists but people who had seen humanity’s worst and knew that “peace is the most courageous, the most practical, the most necessary pursuit of all.” They built “something extraordinary” where “all nations – large and small – could come together to solve problems that no country can solve alone.”

But Guterres warned that “the principles of the UN are under assault as never before.” Civilians get targeted and international law gets trampled while poverty and hunger rise and climate change worsens. Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals is stalling as the world moves toward becoming multipolar.

Guterres urged the international community to “rise to this moment with clarity, courage, and conviction” and not just defend the UN but strengthen it to meet today’s challenges.