Global governance in its present form is entrenching divisions and fuelling discontent, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told world leaders attending the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Friday, according to the official website of the organization.

“Our world is facing existential challenges, but the global community is more fragmented and divided than at any time during the past 75 years,” he said, highlighting the need for “a global order that works for everyone”.

Guterres said if countries fulfilled their obligations under the UN Charter, every person on Earth would live in peace and dignity.

However, governments are ignoring these commitments, and millions of civilians are paying a terrible price, with record numbers forced to flee.

Guterres pointed to his New Agenda for Peace, launched last July, which aims to update global collective security systems through what he has called “a more networked and inclusive multilateralism”.

Recommendations include reforming the UN Security Council, recommitting to eliminate nuclear weapons and giving greater emphasis to the role of sustainable development and climate action in preventing conflict.

The New Agenda for Peace will be discussed at the Summit of the Future, to be held in September at UN Headquarters in New York.

Guterres said there needed to be a "Bretton Woods moment to reform the global financial architecture", referring to the creation of the existing global finance institutions in the 1940s.

This would help "create a true global safety net, in particular for developing countries drowning in debt".

The Summit of the Future, he continued, will consider the need for deep reforms to make these institutions and frameworks truly universal and inclusive.

The UN chief said the international community should work for just solutions based on justice.

“There is always an opportunity to create a more inclusive, comprehensive and effective global order that works for everyone.”