Guterres receives Salamanca honorary doctorate, says mandates pass but the fight for peace continues

An honorary doctorate in Salamanca

On Friday, 6 November, the University of Salamanca in Spain conferred an honorary doctorate (doutoramento honoris causa) on António Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, in a solemn session. The ceremony was presided over by the university's rector, Juan Manuel Corchado, and was attended by Portuguese President António José Seguro and several Spanish government representatives. The rectors of the University of Aveiro and the Pontifical University of Salamanca were also present. The university said the award formed part of the celebrations of the V Centenary of the School of Salamanca. The closing act unveiled a tribute to Guterres in the lower cloister under the motto 'Human rights are the oxygen of humanity'.

The university's vice-rector, José Miguel Mateos Roco, said Guterres's figure carries the institution's strategic ideals into society through ethical commitments based on social justice, coexistence and the defence of individual rights. He described Guterres as an intellectual and statesman who has devoted his career to humanising global governance. The university added that the honorary doctorate is the highest academic distinction it awards, reserved for figures of recognised international prestige.

A farewell two months before the end of his term

Guterres, a former Portuguese prime minister, leaves the UN post at the end of this year, two months from now. In his speech he said it had been a privilege to serve the organisation for 20 years, as Secretary-General and as UN High Commissioner for Refugees. He recalled meeting people who had lost everything except hope, in cities destroyed by war, refugee camps and islands threatened by the sea, and said they taught him that dignity has a face and a name. He dedicated the award also to those people and to UN staff who stay with them every day, often at the cost of their own lives.

He framed his remarks around a single line on power and time:

“Mandates pass. The fight for peace, dignity and justice continues. What we said yesterday we will continue to say and defend tomorrow.”

Five tests for his successor and a warning on the Charter

Guterres said the multilateral system faces five decisive tests as he hands over: prevention, the search for and maintenance of peace; guaranteeing the dignity of all people; equity; climate justice; and control and regulation of the technological revolution linked to artificial intelligence. He summed them up in a single demand:

“Five tests and, at bottom, one same demand: to subject force to law and power to the common good.”

According to ABC, he warned that the UN Charter is cracking in the face of the use of force. He denounced the illegal use of force, the redrawing of borders by arms and what he called a selective application of international law by numerous states. He said the UN still reflects the world of 1945, the year the Second World War ended, and that an attempt to reform the organisation is under way. He called for changes to the composition of the Security Council, greater government engagement on climate change and warned about technological advances concentrated in the hands of a few companies and countries.

He also said universities are irreplaceable because they teach students to doubt, verify and debate, and he urged protection of academic freedom and the independence of research.

Reaction in Portugal

Seguro told reporters in Salamanca that the award was a matter of national pride:

“It is a great honour for Portugal. It is indeed gratifying to see how this honoris causa was awarded unanimously by the University of Salamanca.”

He said he had attended on behalf of the Portuguese people and described the ceremony as emotional. He spoke of values tied to respect for human dignity and an end to suffering, and recalled that after past periods of suffering people had pledged that those horrors would not return. He added that today the rules and norms once thought permanent are being broken.