Amid Rise in Conflicts, Impunity for International Law Violations, Responsibility to Protect More Vital than Ever, Secretary-General Tells General Assembly

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Amid Rise in Conflicts, Impunity for International Law Violations, Responsibility to Protect More Vital than Ever, Secretary-General Tells General Assembly

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres' remarks, as prepared for delivery by Courtenay Rattray, Chef de Cabinet, to the plenary meeting of the General Assembly on the eighteenth report of the Secretary-General on the responsibility to protect, in New York today:

Twenty-one years ago, world leaders made a milestone commitment to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

The responsibility to protect commitment sent a clear signal. Each State has a primary responsibility to protect its own people. And in cases where national authorities have failed to do so, Member States undertook a promise to take collective, timely and decisive action in line with the UN Charter.

Atrocity crimes can happen anywhere. But, their effects on the world, and on our humanity, are shared. While prevention begins at home, it can be supported collectively.

The report we are discussing today - the eighteenth since this commitment was made - takes stock of two decades of progress.

It includes a clear re-affirmation of the responsibility of States to ensure constructive and sustained cooperation with affected communities, civil society, subregional and regional organizations and the United Nations.

And it includes inspiring examples of national, regional and institutional leadership in bringing this commitment to life: from the power of preventive diplomacy and dialogue, early warning and institutional innovations to prevent atrocity crimes - in periods of stability and instability alike; to the importance of applying an atrocity-prevention lens to identify risks faced by particular populations; to building independent and impartial justice systems that people can trust; to supporting independent media and civil society groups as they carry out their essential work; and to our progress in embedding atrocity prevention across the United Nations humanitarian, political and peacebuilding work, and in peace operations.

This report is not only about looking back, it's also about taking action, now. The responsibility to protect commitment is more vital than ever. The world faced more than 120 conflicts in 2025. Conflicts are becoming more protracted, more complex and more interconnected. We see widespread violations of international law and a growing sense of impunity.

Technology is heightening the danger, with sophisticated and increasingly autonomous new weaponry, including drones, able to inflict massive harm on populations. And online hate speech, misinformation and disinformation are spread and amplified in an instant. Too often, early warning signs are ignored. And responses are often too little, too late.

This report makes specific calls to strengthen the responsibility to protect norm for this new era of instability and geopolitical risk.

At the national level, it calls on Member States to invest in national prevention and protection programming, and forge partnerships with civil society by designating focal points and establishing new domestic institutional arrangements.

At the regional and multilateral levels, it calls for integrating atrocity prevention across all the tools of peacemaking, conflict prevention and humanitarian efforts - including mediation and preventive diplomacy and dialogue, as well as security, technological, human rights and accountability frameworks.

We need to be proactive and vigilant, and act before warning signs become mass graves. Where atrocity crimes have occurred, the responsibility does not end when the violence stops.

Non-recurrence requires truth, justice, accountability, reparations, institutional reform and the meaningful participation of survivors. It requires that women's voices are heard and actively shape these processes, with a gender perspective woven throughout every step.

I encourage Member States to join and implement relevant international legal instruments, including the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

The responsibility to protect goes to the heart of our mission at the United Nations. It provides a practical pathway to prevention and peace, rooted in our shared humanity and the dignity of every person.

Two decades on, let's keep the promise world leaders made in 2005. Let's ensure that atrocity prevention and protecting populations becomes a permanent and universal practice everywhere.