The UN's 193-nation General Assembly appointed Antonio Guterres on Friday to head the world body for a second five-year term.
The secretary general said he would work for a “greener, safer and better future” in his next term, which begins on January 1, 2022.
Mr Guterres has been praised for navigating the UN through the difficulties of the Trump era, while weathering deepening US-China tension and the Covid-19 pandemic, but critics say he goes too easy on human rights abusers.
“The pandemic has revealed our shared vulnerability, our interconnectedness and the absolute need for collective action,” Mr Guterres said.
“We need to do everything we can to overcome current geostrategic divides and dysfunctional power relations.”
Mr Guterres took office in January 2017, weeks before Donald Trump became US president, leading with a go-it-alone attitude and a disdain for multilateralism.
Previously serving as Portugal’s prime minister from 1995 to 2002, Mr Guterres headed the UN refugee agency from 2005 to 2015.
As the world’s top diplomat, he has pushed for climate action, coronavirus vaccines for all and action in the fight against poverty.
“Equity needs to start now. Vaccines need to be available for everyone, everywhere, and we must create the conditions for sustainable and inclusive recovery both in the developed and developing world,” he said.
Still, under his watch, the conflicts and humanitarian crises in Yemen and Syria have dragged on without resolution, while new emergencies have erupted in Myanmar and Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region.
Louis Charbonneau, UN director for the campaign group Human Rights Watch, said that in his second and final term Mr Guterres could start “calling out” human rights abuses by heavyweights such as Russia and China.
“He’s condemned the likes of Myanmar and Belarus. But China shouldn’t get a free pass in the form of private diplomacy for its crimes against humanity in Xinjiang,” Mr Charbonneau said.
“Nor should Russia over its support for Syrian government atrocities. Guterres’s legacy will depend on his willingness to speak out for all the oppressed, wherever they are.”
Seven people nominated themselves as challengers to Mr Guterres, including former Ecuadoran president Rosalia Arteaga, but none of them had the necessary backing of a UN member state. Mr Guterres was the candidate for his native Portugal.
