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UNITED NATIONS — <\/span>The United Nations<\/a> chief lashed out Thursday at countries that violate international law and called the concentration of power and wealth<\/a> by the world\u2019s richest 1% \u201cmorally indefensible.\u201d<\/p>\n At the start of his final year at the helm of the United Nations, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres<\/a> told the U.N. General Assembly that its 193 member nations are facing \u201ca world marked by self-defeating geopolitical divides, brazen violations of international law, and wholesale cuts in development and humanitarian aid.\u201d<\/p>\n All these forces are shaking the foundations of global cooperation at a time when it is needed most, said Guterres, whose second five-year term ends on Dec. 31.<\/p>\n \u201cSome seek to put international cooperation on deathwatch,\u201d the secretary-general said. \u201cI can assure you: We will not give up.\u201d<\/p>\n Guterres has repeatedly criticized Russia for violating the U.N. Charter<\/a>, which requires that every country respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations, by invading Ukraine in February 2022. He also has criticized the United States for its military operation in Venezuela to capture President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a> and its deadly attacks on boats<\/a> in the Caribbean and Pacific that the U.S. says are carrying drugs.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen leaders run roughshod over international law \u2014 when they pick and choose which rules to follow \u2014 they are not only undermining global order, they are setting a perilous precedent,\u201d Guterres said.<\/p>\n The U.N. chief said people around the world are watching the erosion of international law and the consequences of impunity. He pointed to \u201cthe illegal use and threat of force; attacks on civilians, humanitarian workers and U.N. personnel; unconstitutional changes of government; the trampling of human rights; the silencing of dissent; the plundering of resources.\u201d<\/p>\n He also criticized countries that don\u2019t pay their U.N. dues on time \u2014 another jab at the Trump administration, which did not pay its mandatory dues to the U.N.\u2019s budgets in 2025. <\/p>\n Guterres warned of the dangers of a concentration of power and wealth in the world’s richest 1%, who hold 43% of global financial assets. <\/p>\n \u201cIncreasingly, we see a world where the ultra-wealthiest and the companies they control are calling the shots like never before \u2014 wielding outsized influence over economies, information and even the rules that govern us all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n