At Salamanca the UN Secretary-General calls missing permanent Security Council seats for Africa and Latin America a historic injustice

6 November 2026

Speaking at the University of Salamanca in Spain, where he received an honorary doctorate, the United Nations Secretary-General warned that the unlawful use of force is being normalised, that borders are being redrawn by force, and that some states apply international law only when it suits them. He named Ukraine, Sudan, the Sahel and Gaza as places where civilians bear the cost. He invoked Francisco de Vitoria, the sixteenth-century Salamanca theologian regarded as a forerunner of international law, to argue that the Charter binds every state equally. He called the absence of permanent seats on the Security Council for Africa and for Latin America and the Caribbean a historic injustice that must be rectified. He also set record military spending against aid budgets that are falling. The address came less than two months before his term ends.