António Guterres

Israel's Foreign Minister declares Guterres persona non grata and bans him from entering Israel, criticising him notably for not explicitly naming Iran in his initial response to a missile attack and accusing him of anti-Israel bias.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

The annual UN report on conflict-related sexual violence adds Israeli and Russian forces to a list of actors subject to documented reports. Israel rejects the report as biased and announces that it will cut off all contact with Guterres.

State of the evidence

Documented

In a Reuters interview, Guterres states that the way Israel has conducted the war in Gaza is fundamentally wrong and that there are strong reasons to believe war crimes may have been committed. The statement prolongs his diplomatic confrontation with the Israeli government.

State of the evidence

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Attribution

Personally implicated

Guterres attends the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, and meets Vladimir Putin. Ukraine strongly criticises the decision, pointing out that he had not attended the Swiss peace summit several months earlier. According to Reuters, Volodymyr Zelensky subsequently refuses a proposed visit by Guterres to Kyiv.

State of the evidence

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Attribution

Directly implicated

Addressing the Security Council, Guterres condemns the Hamas attacks of 7 October but adds that they did not happen 'in a vacuum', referring to decades of occupation and Palestinian suffering. Israel accuses him of justifying or understanding terrorism and its ambassador calls for his resignation.

State of the evidence

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Attribution

Personally implicated

In his annual report on children and armed conflict, Guterres removes the Saudi-led coalition from the annex listing parties responsible for grave violations in Yemen, while stating that the coalition was responsible for 222 children killed or injured and four attacks on schools or hospitals in 2019. Human Rights Watch and several NGOs denounce politicisation and a loss of credibility for the list.

State of the evidence

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Attribution

Directly implicated

Facing criticism of UN inaction before and during the persecution of the Rohingya, Guterres commissions an independent review covering 2010–2018. The Rosenthal report finds serious mistakes, missed opportunities, a fragmented strategy and a 'systemic failure' by the UN. Guterres accepts the findings and promises to implement them.

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, FIDH, ICJ and the World Uyghur Congress publicly criticise Guterres for failing to clearly condemn mass detention of Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang, while praising certain aspects of the Belt and Road Initiative. The NGOs consider that his preference for private diplomacy weakens the UN's public defence of human rights.

State of the evidence

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Attribution

Directly implicated

After Guterres's departure, official public accounts establish that Portugal's 2001 deficit, in the last full year of his government, reached 4.1% of GDP, above the Stability Pact's 3% ceiling. The Commission and then the Council found an excessive deficit. The case became symbolic of criticism concerning fiscal deterioration at the end of the Guterres era.

State of the evidence

Documented

After the 1999 parliamentary elections, the PS lacks an absolute majority. CDS-PP MP Daniel Campelo enables adoption of the 2000 and 2001 budgets after securing investment commitments for Ponte de Lima and the district of Viana do Castelo, notably involving a new cheese factory. The affair becomes known as the 'orçamento do queijo Limiano' and fuels accusations of trading votes for local investments.

State of the evidence

Documented

The Guterres government chooses co-incineration in cement plants as part of its policy for treating hazardous industrial waste, notably at Souselas and Outão. The project leads to demonstrations, health concerns, local opposition and political divisions, including within the PS. Guterres publicly states that the government will continue fulfilling its role in treating this waste.

State of the evidence

Documented

Under the Guterres governments, the traditional killing of bulls in Barrancos remained unlawful but continued despite the government's stated intention to enforce the law. The affair pitted authorities, residents, defenders of tradition and opponents of bullfighting against one another, becoming a national political issue that contributed to the government's declining standing.

State of the evidence

Documented

The collapse of the Hintze Ribeiro bridge at Entre-os-Rios kills 59 people and raises serious questions about infrastructure maintenance. Guterres is booed on arrival at Castelo de Paiva. His Equipment Minister Jorge Coelho resigns, declaring that responsibility could not remain unassigned. The disaster sharply accelerates the political crisis affecting Guterres's second government.

State of the evidence

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Attribution

Political responsibility

Following a heavy PS defeat in municipal elections, including the loss of several major cities such as Lisbon and Porto, Guterres announces his resignation. He states that he wants to prevent the country falling into a 'political swamp' and ends his second term early.

State of the evidence

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Attribution

Political responsibility

Armando Vara, a political ally of Guterres and minister in his government, was forced to resign following reports of irregularities at the Fundação para a Prevenção e Segurança Rodoviária, a privately constituted body funded by the state and run by members of his office. An examination by the Tribunal de Contas had identified, among other matters, substantial public transfers that had been improperly managed. Guterres proposed Vara's resignation.

State of the evidence

Documented

Guterres, a practising Catholic personally opposed to liberalising abortion, agrees with Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on the political framework leading to the 1998 referendum. The PS adopts no official position despite much of its leadership supporting 'yes'. Guterres supports 'no' but limits his campaign involvement; 'no' wins.

State of the evidence

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Attribution

Political responsibility

The Guterres government and the PS support the creation of administrative regions on the mainland. The referendum of 8 November 1998 results in a clear victory for 'no'. Guterres publicly accepts personal responsibility for the project's defeat.

State of the evidence

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Attribution

Political responsibility

At the start of his term as Prime Minister, António Guterres stated in a television interview that homosexuality was not something he particularly liked and referred a question about his views on homosexuality to his wife, whom he described as a psychiatrist. The remarks were subsequently cited regularly in Portuguese studies and debates on homophobia and the pathologisation of homosexuality.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Personally implicated