He has held numerous advisory, board, and leadership roles in international organizations, foundations, and councils spanningjournalism,finance,humanitarian aid, innovation,gender equality, and global policy. Guterres, amultilingual practicing Catholic, was married twice and has two children. He has received numerous national and international honors,honorary doctorates, and prestigious awards recognizing contributions todiplomacy,democracy, andglobal leadership.
António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres was born on 30 April 1949,[5] in the parish ofParede, in the municipality ofCascais. Because he was born while his family was on vacation, he was registered when his family returned toLisbon as having been born inSantos-o-Velho inLisbon, the son of Virgílio Dias Guterres and Ilda Cândida dos Reis Oliveira Guterres.[6]
Guterres attended the CamõesLyceum (nowCamões Secondary School), where he graduated in 1965, winning the National Lyceums Award (Prémio Nacional dos Liceus) as the best student in the country.[citation needed] He studied physics and electrical engineering atInstituto Superior Técnico –Technical University of Lisbon in Lisbon. He graduated in 1971 and started an academic career as an assistant professor teachingsystems theory andtelecommunications signals, before leaving academic life to start a political career.[7] During his university years, he joined the Group of Light, a club for young Catholics, where he met FatherVítor Melícias, a prominentFranciscan priest and church administrator who remains a close friend and confidant.[8]
Guterres's political career began in 1974, when he became a member of theSocialist Party. Shortly thereafter, he quit academic life and became a full-time politician. In the period following theCarnation Revolution of 25 April 1974 that put an end toCaetano's dictatorship, Guterres became involved in Socialist Party leadership and held the following offices:
Head of Office of the Secretary of State of Industry (1974 and 1975)[9]
Leader of the parliamentary bench of the Socialist Party, succeedingJorge Sampaio (1989–1990)[11]
Guterres was a member of the team that negotiated the terms of Portugal's entry into theEuropean Union in the late 1970s.[12] He was a founding member of the Portuguese Refugee Council[clarification needed] in 1991.[13]
His election represented a break with tradition for the Socialists: not only was Guterres not associated with either the faction around then-president and former prime ministerMário Soares or the party's left wing led by Guterres's predecessor Sampaio, but he was also a devout Catholic, running counter to the party's historical secularism. He consulted with Portugal's civil society in formulating policy, meeting a range of intellectuals, scientists and entrepreneurs from across the country and the political spectrum in the run-up to the next general election.[14]
Guterres and Prime Minister of SpainFelipe González, in January 1996Guterres and President of ArgentinaCarlos Menem in July 1997Guterres with Russian presidentVladimir Putin in May 2000
Aníbal Cavaco Silva did not seek a fourth term as prime minister of Portugal (in order to run for the1996 presidential election) and the Socialist Party won the1995 parliamentary election. President Soares appointed Guterres as prime minister[18] and his cabinet took the oath of office on 28 October that year.
Guterres ran on a platform of keeping a tight hold on budget spending and inflation in a bid to ensure that Portugal met theEuro convergence criteria by the end of the decade, as well as increasing rates of participation in the labor market, especially among women, improving tax collection and cracking down on tax evasion, increased involvement of themutual andnonprofit sectors in providing welfare services, a means-testedguaranteed minimum income (known as theRendimento Mínimo Garantido), and increased investment in education.[14] During his time as prime minister, various reforms were carried out in areas such as education,[19] housing,[20] social welfare,[21] healthcare,[22] health and safety,[23] sex discrimination,[24] and family leave.[25]
He was then one of seven Social Democratic prime ministers in the European Union, joining political allies in Spain, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Greece and the Netherlands.[26]
With a style markedly different from that of his predecessor, and based on dialogue and discussion with all sections of society, Guterres was a popular prime minister in his first years in office. Portugal was enjoying an economic expansion that allowed the Socialists to reduce budget deficits while increasing welfare spending and creating newconditional cash transfer programs.[8] His government also accelerated the program of privatizations thatCavaco Silva's government had begun: 29 companies were privatized between 1996 and 1999, with proceeds from privatizations in 1996–97 greater than those of the previous six years, and the public sector's share of GDP halved from 11% in 1994 to 5.5% five years later. Share ownership was also widened, with 800,000 people investing inPortugal Telecom upon its privatization in 1996 and 750,000 applying for shares inElectricidade de Portugal.[14]
In 1998, Guterres presided overExpo 98 in Lisbon, commemorating the 500th anniversary of the voyage ofVasco da Gama.[27] Also in 1998, two nationwide referendums were held. Thefirst one was held in June and asked voters whetherabortion rules should be liberalized. The Socialist Party split over the issue of liberalization, and Guterres led theanti-abortion side, which eventually won the referendum.[8] Asecond referendum was held in November, this time over the regionalization of themainland. Both Guterres and his party supported such an administrative reform, but the voters rejected it.
Contrary to his party's stance and following the removal ofhomosexuality from the list of mental illnesses by theWorld Health Organization in 1990, Guterres said, in 1995, that "he did not like homosexuality" and that it was "something that bothered him".[28]
In the1999 parliamentary election the Socialist Party and the opposition won exactly the same number of seats (115). Guterres was reappointed to office and from January to July 2000 occupied the six-month rotating presidency of theEuropean Council. His second term in government was not as successful, however. Internal party conflicts, an economic slowdown, and theHintze Ribeiro Bridge disaster damaged his authority and popularity. Nevertheless, some long-lasting measures were taken during his second term: in October 2000, the Parliament approved thedecriminalization of drug use (effective 1 July 2001)[30] and in March 2001, same-sexcivil unions were legalized.[29][31]
Guterres was elected president ofSocialist International in November 1999,[33] overlapping with his second term as prime minister of Portugal until his resignation from the latter post in December 2001. He remained president of the Socialist International until June 2005.[33]
In 2005, following Guterres's proposal,George Papandreou was elected vice president of theSocialist International; in 2006, Papandreou succeeded him as president of the Socialist International.
As High Commissioner, Guterres headed one of the world's largest humanitarian organizations, which at the end of his term had more than 10,000 staff working in 126 countries providing protection and assistance to over 60 million refugees, returnees, internally displaced people andstateless persons.[citation needed] His time in office was marked by a fundamental organizational reform, cutting staff and administrative costs in the UNHCR's Geneva head office and expanding UNHCR's emergency response capacity during the worst displacement crisis since the Second World War.[35][36]
From 19 to 23 March 2006, Guterres visitedBeijing, China, and expressed his objection to repatriation ofNorth Korean refugees by the Chinese government.[37][38]
In a February 2007NPR interview devoted mainly to the plight of Iraqi refugees, Guterres said that this was one of the greatest refugee crises in theMiddle East since 1948. Among poorly publicized refugee crises, he cited those in theCentral African Republic and theDemocratic Republic of the Congo.[39] During his final years as High Commissioner, he worked chiefly to secure international aid for therefugees of the Syrian civil war, calling the refugee crisis an "existential" one for host countries (such asLebanon andJordan), and calling additional aid a "matter of survival" for the refugees.[40] He was an outspoken advocate for a more coordinated and humane approach by European countries to the Mediterranean refugee crisis.[41] In June 2013, he launched a US$5 billion aid effort, its biggest ever, to help up to 10.25 million Syrians that year.[42]
In early 2015, the General Assembly voted to extend Guterres's mandate by 61⁄2 months to 31 December, on recommendation ofUnited Nations Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon. In light of theEuropean migrant crisis, the UNHCR's 98-member executive committee (EXCOM) later requested that Ban recommend extending Guterres's term by another year, but Ban disregarded the request.[47] Guterres left office on 31 December 2015, having served the second-longest term as High Commissioner in the organization's history, after PrinceSadruddin Aga Khan.[48]
On 29 February 2016, Guterres submitted his nomination as Portugal's candidate for the 2016 UN secretary-general selection.[52] This was the first time candidates for secretary-general had to present their platform in public hearings in the UN General Assembly, a process during which Guterres emerged as a much stronger candidate than had been initially expected, given that he fit the bill on neither the gender nor the geographic scores.[53]
On 5 October, the 15-memberUnited Nations Security Council announced that it had agreed to nominate Guterres, after an informal secret ballot in which he gained 13 "encourage" votes and two "no opinion" votes.[54][55] The Security Council officially nominated Guterres in a formal resolution on 6 October. A week later, he was formally elected by theUnited Nations General Assembly in its71st session. Guterres took office on 1 January 2017.[56] Guterres is the first national leader to become the U.N. Secretary-General.[57]
Guterres with Japanese Prime MinisterShinzō Abe inTokyo, Japan, 14 December 2017
The UN's role in theHaiti cholera outbreak was widely discussed and criticized[58] after the Ban Ki-moon administration denied the issue for several months. According to the Boston-basedInstitute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti as well as numerous conclusive scientific studies, the UN is the proximate cause for bringing cholera toHaiti. Peacekeepers sent to Haiti fromNepal in 2010 were carrying asymptomatic cholera and failed to treat their waste properly before dumping it into one of Haiti's main water streams.[58] During his UNSG informal dialogue,Jamaica, on behalf of theCaribbean Community, asked if the UN should assume liability for any deaths within local populations that result from the introduction of infectious disease by its peacekeepers. Jamaica also asked if Guterres believed compensation should be provided.[59] Guterres responded by calling the situation a "particularly complex question", saying it was difficult to preserve diplomatic immunity while also ensuring there is no impunity, but that he would "pay a lot of attention in trying to find the right equilibrium between these two aspects that are absolutely crucial".[59] In a UN General Assembly meeting in late October 2016, the representative from Haiti called the UN's current and future response to the cholera epidemic "a litmus test of the system's commitment to the promotion of human rights".[60] Though many had hoped Guterres's term would mark a break with the inaction that characterized Ban's response to the epidemic, Guterres has done little to signal a commitment to Haitian cholera victims. As of April 2017, five months into his term as secretary-general, only $10 million had been contributed to the $400 million fund to fight cholera and provide material assistance to victims the UN announced in 2016.[61]
In 2016,Anders Kompass exposed thesexual assault of children by peacekeepers in the Central African Republic and, as a consequence, was dismissed by Ban's administration before being rehabilitated in court.[62] During the United Nations Secretary-General Candidate informal dialogues, Guterres indicated it was completely unacceptable that there be UN forces committing human rights violations such as rape and sexual violence. "All of us together—states and UN—must do our utmost to ensure that any kind of action of this type is severely punished," he said.[59] The United States raised the question of international tribunals to try peacekeepers for their crimes. Guterres responded by saying an independent jurisdiction would be excellent but that "the only way to get there is through a new compact with all key parties—true contributors, financial contributors—and to make sure that there is an adjustment in the relation between countries, the UN, and the support those that are contributing with troops receive, in order to be able to do it much better."[59]
Guterres with U.S. PresidentDonald Trump, 2 October 2017Guterres speaking about artificial intelligence and climate change at the 2024 World Economic Forum
On 1 January 2017, on his first day as secretary-general of the United Nations, Guterres pledged to make 2017 a year for peace. "Let us resolve to put peace first," he said.[63] On 12 April 2017, Guterres appointed an eight-member independent panel[64] to assess and enhance the effectiveness ofUN-Habitat after the adoption of theNew Urban Agenda. The panel's recommendation to establish an independent coordinating mechanism, 'UN-Urban',[65] met with criticism from urban experts and theAfrican Urban Institute.[66] On 20 June 2017, "Secretary-General António Guterres warned the Trump administration, that if the United States disengages from many issues confronting the international community it will be replaced".[67]
In response to the death of ChineseNobel Peace Prize laureateLiu Xiaobo, who died of organ failure while in government custody, Guterres said he was deeply saddened.[68] After the violence during the2017 Catalan independence referendum, Guterres trusted Spanish institutions to find a solution.[69] He gave the same message whenCatalonia declared independence on 27 October 2017 but said the solution should be made under the constitutional framework.[70]
Guterres criticized theSaudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen and the naval, land and airblockade of Yemen. The blockade has further aggravated Yemen's severehumanitarian crisis.[71] Guterres said that the intervention in Yemen "is a stupid war. I think this war is against the interests ofSaudi Arabia and the Emirates... [and] of the people of Yemen."[72] Guterres opposed US President Donald Trump's decision torecognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.[73] In March 2018, Guterres said the population of Syria's EasternGhouta was living in "hell on earth". In one district, 93% of buildings had been damaged or destroyed by December, according to UN satellite imagery analysis. A recent wave of bombings has caused further destruction.[74]
Guterres with Brazilian PresidentJair Bolsonaro, September 2019
Guterres condemned thepersecution of theRohingya Muslim minority inMyanmar and called for a stronger response to the crisis.[77] In September 2018, during his address to the 73rdUnited Nations General Assembly, Guterres became the first secretary to say that advancing technology will disrupt labor markets like never before and to advocate stronger safety nets likeUniversal Basic Income.[78] In 2019, human rights groups criticized Guterres for being "silent" asChina sent ethnicUyghurs and other predominantlyMuslim ethnic minorities to theXinjiang internment camps.Human Rights Watch chiefKenneth Roth said that Guterres "has been notably silent on one of the most important, ... the most brazen human rights abuses, ... because he is worried about upsetting the Chinese."[79]
In June 2019, Guterres stated that the "U.N. has the obligation to assume global leadership" in tacklingclimate change in the context of a visit to the pacific island ofTuvalu.[80] He had previously supported other multilateral environmental initiatives, such as ecocide becoming a crime at theInternational Criminal Court and theGlobal Pact for the Environment that was put forward byFrance in September 2017.[81][82][83] In September 2019, Guterres condemned Israeli plans toannex the eastern portion of the occupiedWest Bank known as theJordan Valley.[84] Guterres expressed his "deep concern" at the spiralling violence in Syria a day after Turkey launched anoffensive in Kurdish-controlled areas. He said any solution to the conflict needed to respect the sovereignty of the territory and the unity of Syria.[85][86]
In 2020, theWorld Jewish Congress awarded him theTheodor Herzl Prize. In the laudatory speech, its presidentRonald Lauder called Guterres a "true and devoted friend of the Jewish people and the state of Israel." More than that: "the voice of fairness and justice that the State of Israel and the Jewish people had hoped for at the United Nations for a very, very long time."[87]
Guterres praised theIsrael–United Arab Emirates peace agreement, stating that he welcomes "any initiative that can promote peace and security in the Middle East region."[88] Guterres expressed the hope that theagreement betweenIsrael andSudan to normalize relations would create opportunities for peace and prosperity.[89] On 10 August 2020, responding to anexplosion in Beirut, Guterres expressed his support for all people in need inLebanon, especially women and girls who are most vulnerable in times of crisis.[90] On 22 September, he appealed for global solidarity to overcomeCOVID-19, and again called for a global ceasefire by the end of 2020.[91] In September 2020, Guterres stated that he would continue with "a serious dialogue" with UN member states, for a comprehensiveReform of the UN Security Council.[92]
Guterres with President of the European CouncilCharles Michel, German ChancellorAngela Merkel and Polish Prime MinisterMateusz Morawiecki in Brussels, 24 June 2021António Guterres addresses the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
In April 2022, Guterres went to Ukraine during theRussian invasion. He was surprised to see that the Russian army shelled parts ofKyiv even when he was there.[97] In response to evacuation efforts initiated by the UN on 30 April following Guterres's visit to Ukraine and Russia, dozens of civilians were photographed byReuters as being allowed by Russian troops to be evacuated from their entrenched positions in theAzovstal Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol.[98] Guterres stated that "instead of hitting the brakes on the decarbonization of the global economy, now is the time to put the pedal to the metal towards arenewable energy future."[99]
In May 2022, Guterres went on a tour through West Africa. There, he met families who had been affected by theIslamist insurgency, and pushed for robust African peace initiatives and other counter-terrorism operations under the wing of the African Union.[100]
In November 2022, Guterres met withEthiopian Prime MinisterAbiy Ahmed. He praised theceasefire between the Ethiopian government and Tigray rebels that ended the two-yearTigray War, saying the war in Ethiopia had resulted in "more casualties" than theRussian invasion of Ukraine.[102]
In January 2023, Guterres called for a global effort to transform education and added that it was time to "translate their Summit Commitments into concreate actions", create an inclusive learning environment that supports all students and "to end all the discriminatory laws and practices that hinder access to education".[103]
In May 2023, Guterres stated thatpeace negotiations to end theRusso-Ukrainian War were "not possible at this moment", saying it was clear that Russia and Ukraine "are completely absorbed in this war" and "are convinced that they can win."[105]
In July 2023, Guterres proposed the creation of an international body to overseeartificial intelligence. He stated that "Generative AI has enormous potential for good and evil at scale. Its creators themselves have warned that much bigger, potentially catastrophic andexistential risks lie ahead". He also said that the United Nations has an opportunity to adopt rules that make consensus and to foster international coordination.[106]
Guterres with President of the European CommissionUrsula von der Leyen, November 2023
Guterres condemned the actions ofHamas during theGaza war, but said he was "deeply distressed" by Israel's decision to impose atotal blockade on the Gaza Strip.[107] AsThe Nation mentioned, Guterres condemned Israel for the "clear violations of international humanitarian law" and demanded an immediate ceasefire.[108] After Guterres made statements critical of Israel's actions in Gaza, particularly his claim that Hamas' attack "did not happen in a vacuum", and "the Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation,"[109]Israeli ambassador to the United NationsGilad Erdan demanded Guterres's resignation, calling his statements "pureblood libel".[110][111] In the aftermath of Guterres's statement, Israel blocked issuing visas to UN representatives.[112] Following this, Guterres said that he was "shocked by the misrepresentations" of his statement, pointing out he had also said that "...the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas."[113][114]
Guterres with US PresidentJoe Biden, 24 September 2024
In August 2024, Guterres was awarded, unanimously, East-Timorese citizenship[116][117][118] by theNational Parliament ofEast Timor for his dedication to the country's independence. On his citizenship acceptance speech Guterres alluded to the fact that "from now on there is a UN Secretary-General who is both Portuguese and East-Timorese". This is first time a UN Secretary-General holds double-citizenship.
In October 2024, Israeli Foreign MinisterIsrael Katz declared Guterrespersona non grata in Israel for his declarations about theOctober 2024 Iranian strikes against Israel in which he called for a ceasefire but did not mention the Iranian attack on Israel. Later he condemned the Iranian strikes on Israel.[119]
On 24 October 2024, Guterres attended the16th BRICS summit inKazan, Russia, where he called for a "just peace" in Ukraine "in line with the UN Charter, international law andUN General Assembly resolutions."[120] After Guterres warmly shook hands withVladimir Putin during the BRICS summit in Kazan,Volodymyr Zelenskyy refused to meet with Guterres inKyiv with theMinistry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine releasing the statement: "This is a wrong choice that does not advance the cause of peace. It only damages the UN's reputation." and adding "The UN secretary general declined Ukraine's invitation to the first Global Peace Summit in Switzerland. He did, however, accept the invitation to Kazan fromwar criminal Putin."Putin has been afugitive since 17 March 2023 when theInternational Criminal Court (ICC) issued anarrest warrant following aninvestigation ofwar crimes,crimes against humanity andgenocide by Putin during theRusso-Ukrainian War.[121][122][123] On the contrary, scholars like Bahauddin Foizee defended Guterres’s engagement with controversial leaders like Putin as a pragmatic necessity for maintaining diplomacy.[124] Foizee argued that excluding major powers such as Russia from international dialogue could undermine the United Nations’ capacity to facilitate broader peace initiatives.
Guterres with Azerbaijani PresidentIlham Aliyev and Pakistani Prime MinisterShehbaz Sharif at theCOP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, 12 November 2024
In December 2024, Guterres stated that he also wants to see a permanent seat for theAfrican Union on the UN Security Council, for more fairness and justice in this world towards African countries.[125]
On 18 March 2025, Antonio Guterres as United Nations Secretary-General said in a statement issued by his spokesperson that he is "shocked" by theIsraeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, which have killed "a meaningful number" of civilians, further stating that he "strongly appeals for the ceasefire to be respected, for unimpeded humanitarian assistance to be reestablished and for the remaining hostages to be released unconditionally".[127]
In 1972, Guterres marriedchild psychiatrist[8] Luísa Amélia Guimarães e Melo, with whom he had two children, Pedro Guimarães e Melo Guterres (born 1977) and Mariana Guimarães e Melo Guterres (born 1985). His wife died of cancer at theRoyal Free Hospital inLondon in 1998 at the age of 51.[15][137][138]
^"Catarina Vaz Pinto".UNESCO – World Forum On Culture and Cultural Industries – Florence 2 – 4 October 2014. Archived fromthe original on 14 October 2016. Retrieved15 October 2016.
^"III. Otras disposiciones"(PDF).Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish). No. 143. 15 June 2002.Archived(PDF) from the original on 14 January 2020. Retrieved20 August 2018.
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