Challenging superpowers and advocating for a greener future, António Guterres embodies a paradoxical crusade for change from within the system.
Why António Guterres?
Considering UN-aligned is an organisation whose chief aim is to supplant the United Nations with a workable structure and agenda, António Guterres may seem one of the most unlikely choices for the UN-aligned Person of the Year. Nevertheless, all said and done, he too is striving for a better world order; the difference is that he is doing it from within: a losing battle, perhaps, but one that is not without its relevance and impact. He has proved to be brave and outspoken and unflinching in his support for the issues that matter.
Standing up to Russia, the US and China, or any permanent member of the Security Council for that matter, is no mean feat which has cost at least one Secretary General, Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary General from 1953 to 1961, his life. António Guterres’ fight for what is right, in this light, deserves recognition.
Background and achievements
Guterres, who is now in his second term as Secretary General, was first appointed in 2017 after a glittering career as a politician. From 1995 to 2002 he was the socialist Prime Minister of Portugal, during which time his government introduced some bold reforms, such as the decriminalisation of drug use and the legalisation of same-sex civil unions. He also served as President of the Socialist International from 1999 to 2005, after which he held the post of UN High Commissioner for Refugees until 2015.
Throughout his tenure as Secretary General, Guterres has focused on the issues that matter. In 2023 alone, he stood up to three superpowers over their support of abuses carried out in various parts of the globe including Yemen, Palestine, Syria, Ukraine and Burma, and he has faced the backlash boldly. Moreover, he has been relentless in his struggle against environmental degradation and the advent of the sixth mass extinction, which many people in politics, no doubt bribed or pressured by powerful corporations, prefer to gloss over.
Addressing ambassadors, after his second term was confirmed in June 2022, Guterres stated: “We are writing our own history with the choices we make right now. It can go either way: breakdown and perpetual crisis or breakthrough and prospect of a greener, safer and better future for all. There are reasons to be hopeful.”
Sadly, “breakdown and perpetual crisis” appear to have won the day, but that is the fault of the organisation, not of those who are valiantly trying to make the best of it, despite its countless flaws.
