Overview

Antonio Manuel de Oliveira Guterres is the ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations; serving since January 1; 2017. A Portuguese politician; he previously served as Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002 and as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) from 2005 to 2015. As UN Secretary-General; Guterres has faced criticism for the institution's inability to address major global crises effectively. The UN failed to prevent or meaningfully respond to the Syrian civil war; the Myanmar Rohingya genocide; the Tigray War in Ethiopia; Russia's invasion of Ukraine; and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict escalation in 2023-2024. Israel declared Guterres "persona non grata" in October 2023 after he contextualized the Hamas October 7 attack by stating it "did not happen in a vacuum." He has been criticized by the Global South for the UN's structural bias favoring Western powers through the Security Council veto system; and by Western nations for being insufficiently forceful against Russia and China. During his tenure as UNHCR head; the refugee crisis expanded dramatically; and the organization faced allegations of covering up sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers and aid workers. His record as Portuguese PM included joining the Iraq War coalition and overseeing austerity measures that increased inequality.

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