United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterre (L) speaks during Labor Day celebration, at the UN headquarters in New York, May 1, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, May 1 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed on Tuesday that ending sexual harassment inside the world body is one of his top priorities.

"We have been very committed to make sure that we put an end to this," Guterres said at the outdoor Labor Day celebration at the UN headquarters, affirming that a number of measures and massive efforts were being taken to this end.

Earlier Tuesday, Deputy UN Spokesman Farhan Haq said it received 54 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse in the first quarter of this year throughout the UN system, compared with 40 such cases in the last quarter of 2017.

Haq said "combating this scourge, and helping and empowering those who have been scarred by these egregious acts" continue to be key priorities for Guterres.

In his speech, Guterres expressed his keenness on gender parity, vowing to make sure that UN staff members have full equality between men and women.