UN calls for prevention of mass atrocities as global conflicts escalate

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday warned that increasing global conflicts, impunity, and new technologies are heightening the risk of mass atrocities, urging the international community to act “before warning signs become mass graves.”

“We are witnessing widespread violations of international law and growing impunity,” Guterres said in a speech to the UN General Assembly on the Responsibility to Protect, delivered by his Chef de Cabinet, Earle Courtenay Rattray. “The commitment to the Responsibility to Protect is more important than ever.”

In 2025, the world faces more than 120 conflicts that are increasingly protracted, complex, and interconnected, Guterres said. He warned that technology is compounding the dangers, with new, increasingly sophisticated and autonomous weapons systems, including drones, capable of inflicting massive harm on populations. Furthermore, online hate speech, misinformation, and disinformation are spreading widely and gaining influence rapidly.

“Too often, early warning signs are ignored. And responses are too little, too late,” he said. Guterres recalled that 21 years ago, world leaders made a historic commitment to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. He stated that each state has the primary responsibility to protect its own people, and when national authorities fail, UN member states have committed to taking timely and decisive collective action in accordance with the UN Charter.

“While prevention begins at home, it can be supported collectively,” he said. Guterres noted that the report under discussion is the 18th since the Responsibility to Protect commitment was agreed. The report reviews progress over the past two decades and calls for concrete steps to strengthen the Responsibility to Protect norm in a new era marked by instability and geopolitical risk. Affirming that the Responsibility to Protect is at the core of the UN’s mandate, Guterres urged member states to join and implement relevant international legal instruments, including the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. “Let us ensure that the prevention of atrocities and the protection of populations become a permanent and universal practice everywhere,” he said.