UN chief’s last annual speech slams world leaders for lack of cooperation 

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has lashed out at world leaders he accused of turning their backs on international cooperation amid “self-defeating geopolitical divides” and “brazen violations of international law”.

Addressing the UN General Assembly on Thursday, the UN secretary-general slammed “wholesale cuts in development and humanitarian aid”, warning that they were “shaking the foundations of global cooperation and testing the resilience of multilateralism itself”.

“At a time when we need international cooperation the most, we seem to be the least inclined to use it and invest in it. Some seek to put international cooperation on deathwatch,” he said.

The secretary-general, who will step down at the end of 2026, held off naming offending countries, but appeared to refer to deep cuts to the budgets of UN agencies made by the United States under the “America First” policies of US President Donald Trump.

While other countries have also cut funding, the US announced at the end of last year that it would be allocating only $2bn to United Nations humanitarian assistance, representing a small fraction of the leading funder’s previous contributions of up to $17bn.

Trump’s administration has effectively dismantled its primary platform for foreign aid, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), calling on UN agencies to “adapt, shrink or die”.

Setting out his last annual list of priorities as secretary-general for the year ahead, Guterres said the UN was “totally committed in the cause of peace in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and far beyond and tireless in delivering life-saving aid to those so desperate for support”.

The UN chief insisted humanitarian aid be allowed to “flow unimpeded” into Gaza, said no effort should be spared to stop the Russia-Ukraine war, and urged a resumption of talks to bring about a lasting ceasefire in Sudan.

Those three deadly, protracted conflicts have come to define Guterres’s time at the helm of the UN, with critics arguing the organisation has proved ineffective at conflict prevention.

The organisation’s top decision-making body, the Security Council, is paralysed because of tensions between the US, Russia and China, all three of which are permanent, veto-wielding members.