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“I think that people are sometimes reluctant to confront the powerful. But the truth is that if we don’t confront the powerful, we will never be able to have a better world.” – UN Secretary General António Guterres
Waiting in queues that would flow into numerous streets to cope with the capacity of the audience, on the 17th of January 2026, I was fortunate to have attended the 80th Anniversary of the United Nation’s General Assembly, ‘UNGA at 80: From 1946 to Our Future’. Marketed as an event that would see 1800 people in attendance and was open to the public, post-event, the organisers broadcasted that in fact “2,000 brilliant people had come together “to remember the reasons why the UN was founded in the first place and to talk seriously about how to keep the spirit of peace and cooperation alive in a changing world.”
This powerful event took place at the iconic Central Hall in Westminster, where the first general assembly had taken place in 1946. This is our account of the festivities, an event that would was jam packed with influential figures of our time, notwithstanding the departing UN Secretary General António Guterres, who despite the current geo-political turbulence, gave the opening address. Guterres himself would be in campaigning in the UK, and on the news, about the importance of the UN and its founding principles, as well as the institutes pressing financial crisis, that would see much of its work hanging on a shoe thread.
The UN currently is made up of 193 member states, countries, that are bound by the UN Charter, an instrument or rulebook rather on international law. Tellingly, in reference to the founding structure and its principles, given the current geo-political turbulent climate that the world sees itself in now, Guterres himself, a former Portuguese prime minister would go on to say to the audience, that “1945 problem- solving” wouldn’t solve 2026 problems”. These problems centred on growing global conflict, inequality and unpredictability, wilful violations of international law and on the death of multilateralism.
The message was clear, not just in remembering the importance and need for the United Nations, but also of the Security Council as one of its main organs. The Security Council was designed to maintain international peace and security, however, its image of late, was no longer seen to represent the world and was “ineffective”. Despite these challenges however, for a better world and society, we are urged to come together, as people beyond borders. Borders which are not just in terms of land and sea, geography, but borders on an interpersonal level.
Guterres said, ‘if this period has taught us anything, it is that our challenges are ever more borderless, and ever more interconnected. The only way to address them is together.
And that requires a robust, responsive and well-resourced multilateral system.”
Indeed, the key theme throughout the event, was advocating for ‘multilateralism,’ meaning the alignment of multiple countries in pursuit of a common goal. The idiom “united we stand, divided we fall”, has never chimed truer.
A few other takeaways from this historic moment included:
This article was written by Dr Ope Lori, Founder and CEO of Pre-Image Learning and Action.
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