The United Nations: Looking into the Future
Expected Council Action
On 24 October, the day the UN Charter entered into force eighty years ago, the Security Council is expected to hold an open debate on “The United Nations Organization: Looking into the Future”. Secretary General António Guterres is expected to brief via videoconference.
This meeting is Russia’s signature event during its October presidency. It has circulated a concept note to all member states suggesting that the open debate will explore issues such as the implementation of the UN Charter, efforts to promote dialogue and unity (especially in the Security Council), and the long-term vision for the UN in the context of the UN80 initiative (S/2025/592).
Key Recent Developments
In March, Secretary-General António Guterres launched UN80 as a major reform initiative coinciding with the organisation’s 80th anniversary and aimed at overhauling the UN system to make it more “effective, cost-efficient, and responsive”. While this significant milestone is a moment of celebration, the prevailing mood has been sombre, as the organisation faces what many regard as an existential crisis. UN80 is focused on achieving efficiency gains and cost reductions by eliminating redundancies, streamlining processes and relocating services to low-cost locations, among others.
The reform effort has been launched in the context of a liquidity crisis facing the UN—largely driven by member states’ failure to pay their assessed contributions in full and on time—that has forced the world body to operate in a resource-constrained environment, leading to a hiring freeze and reduced services. Funding cuts are already severely undermining the UN’s humanitarian efforts to alleviate human suffering. They are also expected to have an acute impact on UN peacekeeping operations—with the US (apportioned to pay 27 percent of the assessed peacekeeping budget) indicating that it will entirely forego its contribution in its 2026 fiscal year. In anticipation of potential funding shortfalls, the UN has apparently developed a contingency plan involving deep budget cuts across all peacekeeping missions.
Over the past decade, several Council members, especially China and Russia, have chosen to convene signature events during their presidencies that focus on the UN Charter or multilateralism. This is the third consecutive presidency, dating back to 2023, that Russia has held a signature event that explores these issues. In this regard, Russia held an open debate on “Effective multilateralism through the defence of the principles of the UN Charter” on 24 April 2023 and another on “Multilateral cooperation in the interest of a more just, democratic and sustainable world order” on 16 July 2024. These meetings featured contrasting interpretations of the UN Charter and questions about the future of multilateralism in an increasingly polarised world in which the UN system has faced intense criticism. A key focus of this criticism has been the Security Council, which has struggled to fulfil its Charter-given mandate to maintain international peace and security, as the world is facing more armed conflicts than at any time since World War II.
Key Issue and Options
An overarching issue is the credibility and legitimacy of the Security Council, as it fails to play a meaningful role in resolving some of the world’s deadliest conflicts.
Another issue is the lack of respect for international law in the international system. In his 23 September address at the opening of the 80th General Assembly, Guterres called on member states to “choose peace rooted in international law” and said that at its best, the UN is a “guardian of international law”. In their subsequent statements to the General Assembly, several world leaders similarly emphasised the importance of upholding international law as a key pillar of the international order, referring to several conflicts in which international law is being violated.
A related issue that hinders the Council’s work is the contrasting and selective interpretations of the UN Charter, which have led to deep divisions among the body’s members.
An additional important issue for the Council is how to build trust and cooperation among its members. As the Secretary-General noted in A New Agenda for Peace—his July 2023 policy paper presenting ideas for member states to prevent conflict and advance peace—the lack of trust and cooperation among member states, including the major powers, is a key obstacle to a more peaceful international system.
In this regard, it might be helpful if Council members were able to meet more frequently in an informal format, such as “sofa talks”, which are usually held off-site but have been barely used in recent years. This could allow for more frank discussions about the state of the Council and help build trust among members.
Although different views on multilateralism in the Council may be an obstacle, an option for the Council would be to consider a presidential statement that:
- affirms the centrality of the UN Charter in international law and urges member states to adhere to its norms and principles; and
- emphasises the need to enhance the effectiveness of long-standing Council tools such as peace operations and sanctions.
Council and Wider Dynamics
The open debate comes at a time of significant geopolitical tensions among the permanent members of the Council. Differing interests among these members continue to undermine the Council’s ability to respond to crises in Gaza, Myanmar, Sudan, Ukraine, and several other places.
Contrasting views regarding which countries adhere to the values of the UN Charter are likely to be expressed during the open debate. In this regard, China and Russia have maintained that the “rules-based international order” referred to by many Western countries is a façade for the selfish pursuit of their strategic interests. They maintain that Western states adhere to international law only when it is convenient and beneficial for them to do so. On the other hand, many member states continue to see Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing conflict there as a violation of a core tenet of the UN Charter, namely the prohibition of the use of force against the territorial integrity of states outlined in Article 2(4).
This year has also witnessed the return to the White House of Donald Trump, whose administration has demonstrated a deep scepticism of multilateral institutions and whose policies on several issues have clashed with its traditional European allies. For example, the US has expressed criticism of norms and policies related to gender equality, climate action, and sustainable development.
As the Council fails to meet expectations to maintain international peace and security, calls for structural reform of the body have continued to grow. This was reflected in the September 2024 Pact for the Future; agreed by world leaders through intergovernmental negotiations led by Germany and Namibia, the document is intended to provide a roadmap for adapting international cooperation and institutions to today’s realities and the challenges of the future. In the Pact, member states call for structural reform of the Security Council with greater representation “of… underrepresented and unrepresented regions and groups”, including the Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and especially Africa.
With the selection process for a new Secretary General about to kick into gear, during the open debate, some members may raise the importance of a transparent and efficient selection process for a new Secretary General to lead the world body into the future at a particularly challenging time in its history.
| Security Council Meeting Records | |
| 16 July 2024S/PV.9686 | This was an open debate on “Multilateral cooperation in the interest of a more just, democratic and sustainable world order”. |
| 24 April 2023S/PV.9308 | This was a ministerial-level open debate on “Effective multilateralism through the defense of the principles of the UN Charter”. |
