United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Ms Amina Mohammed, has urged countries to protect the UN Charter and stand up for a rules-based international order, warning that failure to do so would come at a high cost.
Mohammed made the call on Thursday while addressing the Danish Parliament, describing the UN Charter as the organisation’s “moral compass” and calling for renewed commitment to multilateralism founded on solidarity, international law and human dignity.
She stressed the need to invest in peace, noting that both the UN Security Council and General Assembly had affirmed the Charter’s principles through resolutions supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as backing the two-State solution between Israelis and Palestinians.
According to her, while these resolutions show how the Charter’s values can be brought to life, “the very foundation those resolutions rest on is being attacked.”
Mohammed warned against what she described as “dangerous nostalgia” threatening international cooperation, where the rule of law is interpreted according to the “whims and caprices of a strong arm.”
She recalled that UN Secretary-General António Guterres had recently emphasised that the Charter is not an “à la carte menu” and that all countries are obliged to uphold it.
“Today, it is smaller countries who are holding the line on the Charter,” she said, adding that such nations understand that if rules fail to protect the vulnerable, they protect no one.
“You either stand up for a rules-based order, or you pay the price of ignoring it. Yesterday, the price was Venezuela, tomorrow it may be Greenland,” she warned.
Mohammed also called on the international community to accelerate sustainable development, warning that rising geopolitical tensions are reversing gains in poverty reduction, child and maternal health, and girls’ access to education.
She noted that trade wars are shutting markets that once lifted millions out of poverty and highlighted what she described as a global rollback of the rights of women and girls.
The Deputy Secretary-General revealed that global military spending reached a record $2.7 trillion in 2025, while funding for basic development needs faces an annual shortfall of $4.2 trillion.
She also criticised widening inequality, saying that while the wealth of billionaires grew by $2 trillion last year, the poorest half of the world’s population owns just two per cent of global wealth.
Mohammed pointed to last year’s UN conference on financing for development in Spain, which she said demonstrated ways to create fiscal space for sustainable development, address the global debt crisis and reform the international financial system.
She underscored the need to reset the UN system to preserve multilateralism, highlighting the UN80 initiative on system-wide reform aimed at making the organisation more effective amid shrinking resources and growing global needs.
She concluded by calling on all countries, including Denmark, to lead efforts toward a reformed UN that delivers on the promise of the Charter and meets today’s global realities.