UN, Reform & multilateralism September 2024-

UN High-level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence
UNGA Resolution 377
Multilateralism needs an overhaul.
– Here’s where to start
Multilateralism

Can a UN-Backed International Security Force Rescue the Gaza Ceasefire?
and a new push to revise the UN Charter
(Global Dispatches) … Anjali and Mark sit down with Heba Aly, director of a new coalition called Article 109, which is taking on a bold mission: reforming the U.N. Charter itself. Article 109 is a little-known provision of the Charter that enables member states to review and revise it — but it’s never been invoked. So, is now the right time to open up the U.N. Charter to review? What would that actually entail? And is it even a good idea? Listen and learn!

5 October
US retreat from UN may create ‘tremendous opportunity’ for nations like China
Global body is at a crossroads, and observers say a ‘leaderless’ era could emerge during second Trump administration
(SCMP) 23 years after Kofi Annan spoke of the UN’s “fork in the road”, when he was secretary general, the organisation remains adrift.
Concerns over its future were amplified last week after US President Donald Trump claimed the UN was ineffective and questioned its existence.
As the UN’s main architect, biggest single financial contributor and host nation, the United States has increasingly turned its back on the multilateral system it helped build.
… As the United States retreats from its traditional leadership role at the UN, countries including China – the world’s No 2 economy and the biggest provider of peacekeepers among the UN Security Council’s permanent members – appear to be racing to fill the void.
In New York last week, Premier Li Qiang pitched China as “a staunch defender of world peace and security” and touted its new Global Governance Initiative to reshape the international order.
China also announced that it would not seek special benefits as a developing nation in current and future WTO negotiations, a move seen as Beijing trading off economic privileges for greater global political standing.
Unesco launched its International Institute for STEM Education in Shanghai last week in another example of China’s growing influence in the UN. China will also partner with the UN to establish a global centre for sustainable development in the city.
… neither the US or China, both permanent Security Council members, mentioned reform of the body during their speeches at the UN General Assembly high-level week.
Many other countries did – including India, Japan, Finland and Singapore – shedding light on another aspect of the UN’s crossroads moment. As Washington steps back from its leadership role, other capitals, particularly in the Global South, are growing frustrated over their lack of permanent seats in the UN’s most powerful body.

1 October
Trump, the UN, and Peace in the Middle East
Jeremy Kinsman
(Policy) Over my years of engagement with UN institutions as a Canadian diplomat and beyond, I have often been asked to speak to US audiences. I’ve cautioned them not to misjudge the UN as being some kind of fixed, incorporated entity, like a bank, university, or company. The UN is not a strictly hierarchical “it,” as Trump seems to believe, but rather a reflection back to us of our complicated world, and the very different conditions and points of view of its member states. I’ve reminded audiences that the UN does not just debate and quarrel. Its functional, specialized agencies try to work beyond politics to deliver humanitarian, developmental, sectoral support to meet the needs and challenges of an interconnected world.
As Doug Saunders wrote in The Globe and Mail of Trump’s UN speech, it endorsed the very things the UN was created to oppose. This was not new for Trump, whose contempt for multilateralism, for diplomacy, for democracy and for status-quo global power arrangements converge in a hostility towards the United Nations that, this year, rivalled the most toxic rogue-leader moments of the past 80 years.
… During the UNGA, the [Trump peace plan] proposal was circulated secretly to various delegations, so in that respect the global organization played the role of a passive host. But it was not engaged in the active diplomacy beforehand, a sign of the US/Israeli disregard for its worth, and of its fractious history with Israel, including over the role of UNWRA in providing socioeconomic infrastructure for Palestinians
… It is consistent with both its long-fraught relationship with Israel and its recent marginalization from conflict resolution more broadly that UN offices have been sidelined from these latest negotiations. Although, in the prelude to the deal, the great majority of UN members, including most Arab neighbours, voted in favour of a French-Saudi General Assembly Resolution that foresaw most of the US-Israeli proposition.
The gradual erosion in this century of the UN’s earlier authority on issues of peace and security is a consequence of its broader status as a casualty of the shift away from democracy-led multilateralism, and the resulting decline — most alarmingly and most recently on the part of the US — of commitment to cooperative global solutions in a UN framework. The profile and influence at the UN of Canada, which had long kept the UN as a central focus of foreign policy, have drifted downward as well.
So, while Gazans remain under heavy bombardment at this writing and there is still no ceasefire in sight, the United Nations remains at least out of the crossfire of criticism, but ready to bring its aid delivery and historic experience to bear. Given this century’s record of thwarted and collapsed Middle East peace efforts, that may not be the worst place to be for now. The world body may yet resuscitate some of its somewhat lost allure as the last best hope the world has.

UN General Assembly (UNGA) 2025
September 9 to 28
UNGA High-Level Week
September 21 to 30

26 September
For all the UN’s flaws—and there are many—the much-maligned body has had a week to remember.
• The US may denounce it as merely a talking shop, while critics lament that it hasn’t stopped wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
• But France and other nations used this year’s stage to formally recognize a Palestinian state. And a chance encounter between Trump and Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva produced hopes that their countries can resolve an acrimonious spat.
• There was also the first address in more than 50 years by a leader from Syria, with a plea for help to rebuild his shattered nation.
• Bureaucratic bloat is just one of the challenges facing the UN as it turns 80. But, when the future looks this bleak, a glance backward—like this one—can offer a flicker of hope.

25 September
Thanks to Trump’s Attack, the UN Might Have Rediscovered a Voice
Much maligned, the world body has had a week in the spotlight to remember.
(Bloomberg) The US may denounce it as a talking shop. Critics lament that it hasn’t stopped wars in Ukraine and Gaza. But for all the UN’s flaws, this week’s gathering at its New York headquarters showed one thing: the world body feels part of the conversation.
Recent years have seen the annual UN General Assembly event drift into somewhat sleepy affairs, memorable mostly for snarling traffic in midtown Manhattan and a mind-numbing procession of speeches.
Early on, France and other nations came to the UN to formally recognize a Palestinian state. It remains a far-off dream, but the move was heavy with symbolic portent.
Little moments also showed the UN’s utility. A chance encounter between Trump and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva produced hopes that their two countries can resolve an increasingly acrimonious spat.
Even President Donald Trump, fixated on broken escalators, saw an opportunity to make his own well-trodden sales pitch on migration and climate policies.
The UN is certainly no closer to a return to the days when it played a central role in peace and security. The permanent members of the Security Council are too divided for that: Russia and China in one corner, France and the UK in another, the US alone.
But the earnestness with which leaders felt the need to be heard — from Trump to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa — means one thing.
Don’t write off the UN just yet.

23 September
‘Your Countries Are Going to Hell’: Trump Airs His Grievances at the U.N.
(NYT) In a meandering address, President Trump rebuked global institutions and complained about immigration, environmentalists, windmills and more.
In his remarks, Mr. Trump lectured the United Nations and other countries about how they are failing and aired a list of grievances. Those included but were not limited to: a malfunctioning escalator at the U.N.; his not winning a renovation contract at the United Nations during his time as a real estate developer; windmills; other countries’ immigration policies, which he claimed were leading them to ruin; and the way Brazil is being run.
The White House had billed Mr. Trump’s address to the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly as a chance for the president to lay out his vision for how America should wield its power abroad.
Macron needles Trump’s Nobel ambitions after UN address
(Politico Eu) French President Emmanuel Macron fired back at U.S. President Donald Trump Tuesday over his repeated desire to win a Nobel Peace Prize, challenging him to bring the war in Gaza to an end.
“I see a U.S. president who is active, who wants peace… who wants the Nobel Peace Prize. But the Nobel Peace Prize is possible only if you stop this war,” Macron said on Tuesday.
During his own address to the U.N. gathering earlier Tuesday, Trump repeated his claim he had “ended seven un-endable wars” and that everyone said he “should get the Nobel Peace Prize.”
The French president’s comments came as European leaders grow increasingly frustrated with Trump’s apparent reluctance to impose sanctions on Russia over its ongoing invasion of Ukraine or put pressure on Israel to end military operations in the Gaza Strip.
Macron in turn has angered the U.S. and Israel with his push to get Western countries to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations annual gathering this week. On Monday, Macron himself recognized the Palestinian state, after the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada made the same move.

22 September
France Recognizes Palestine at UN Event Co-Led With Saudis
Takeaways by Bloomberg AI
France recognized Palestine as an independent state and called on Israel to end the war in Gaza immediately, along with Saudi Arabia at a United Nations conference.
The push by France and Saudi Arabia for more countries to recognize Palestinian statehood highlights the increasing concern among world powers about the devastation and humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Several countries, including the UK, Canada, Australia, and Portugal, formally recognized Palestine, joining almost 150 nations that had already made the move.

As the world convulses in war and contentiousness, its leaders convene at the UN to figure it out
(AP) — World leaders began convening Monday at one of the most volatile moments in the United Nations’ 80-year history, and the challenges they face are as dire as ever if not more so: unyielding wars in Gaza and Ukraine, escalating changes in the U.S. approach to the world, hungry people everywhere and technologies that are advancing faster than the understanding of how to manage them.
The United Nations, which emerged from World War II’s rubble on the premise that nations would work together to tackle political, social and financial issues, is in crisis itself. As Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said last week: “International cooperation is straining under pressures unseen in our lifetimes.”
Trump Heads to UN Gathering Facing Billions in Unpaid Dues
Takeaways by Bloomberg AI
The US owes the United Nations more than $3 billion, including $826 million for the 2025 regular budget assessment and arrears for past years or unpaid peacekeeping commitments.
The Trump administration has stopped paying its bills to the UN since Trump took office and has also refused to pay bills to non-UN organizations such as NATO.
The US could lose its vote in the UN General Assembly if it continues to refuse to pay, as the UN charter stipulates such a punishment for countries whose arrears exceed the amount they were supposed to pay the previous two years.
The financial delinquency tracks with a wider pullback from UN institutions such as the Human Rights Council and UNESCO, as well as a refusal to pay the bills with non-UN organizations such as NATO. Last week, Trump’s team announced it wouldn’t pay some $393 million in State Department contributions to peacekeeping activities and $445 million in separately budgeted peacekeeping aid.

17 September
Major western countries are going to recognize Palestine for the first time. Here’s why it matters.
As leaders from around the world arrive in New York for this year’s United Nations General Assembly, one of the thorniest global issues hangs over the proceedings.
“Palestine is going to be the elephant in the room,” said Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour during an interview with GZERO this week in New York.
That’s because in the coming days several major Western powers are set to recognize Palestinian statehood for the first time. France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Malta will all take this step.
Palestine exists in a paradox: it enjoys international recognition from nearly 150 countries, which allows it to field Olympic teams, maintain diplomatic missions abroad, and participate –partially, as an observer state – at the UN. Yet it lacks agreed upon borders, an army or capital, or full sovereignty under Israel’s ongoing occupation. France, in its announcement of its intention to recognize Palestine, said it was doing so to “reaffirm the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.” It also stressed that it was recognizing Palestinian Authority (PA), which is based in the West Bank, rather than Hamas, which rules Gaza, as having sovereignty over all of the Palestinian territories, because the PA “has come out strongly in favor of the two-State solution and peace.”

13 September
U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly votes for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict
The 193-member world body approved a nonbinding resolution endorsing the “New York Declaration,” which sets out a phased plan to end the nearly 80-year conflict. The vote was 142-10 with 12 abstentions. The United States was one of the 10 states that voted against.
UN overwhelmingly endorses two-state solution declaration that condemns Hamas
UN resolution condemns Hamas and Israeli attacks in Gaza
US and Israel criticize resolution as harmful, ‘publicity stunt’
Resolution supported by Gulf Arab states, opposed by US and Israel
(Reuters) – The United Nations General Assembly on Friday overwhelmingly voted to endorse a declaration outlining “tangible, timebound, and irreversible steps” towards a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians ahead of a meeting of world leaders.
The seven-page declaration is the result of an international conference at the U.N. in July – hosted by Saudi Arabia and France – on the decades-long conflict. The United States and Israel boycotted the event.

9 September
It’s been 80 years since the United Nations was formed
As the United Nations turns 80, NPR examines its legacy, its current challenges, and what lies ahead for the world’s multilateral body.
Today, the U.N. is deadlocked on key current issues, from Russia’s war in Ukraine to Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza. The Trump administration has been cutting funding and pulling out of some U.N. agencies, and countries in the Global South are still craving more of a voice. NPR’s Michele Kelemen reports.
UN chief argues that investing in fighting poverty instead of wars would make a more secure world
(AP) — Soaring global military expenditures are reducing essential investments in health, education and job creation and don’t guarantee peace, the United Nations chief warned on Tuesday.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the evidence is clear that heavy military spending often undermines peace by “fueling arms races, deepening mistrust and diverting resources from the very foundations of stability.”
With military spending surging to a record $2.7 trillion following a decade-long military build-up, the U.N. studied the impact on U.N. development goals for 2030. The resulting report, “The Security We Need: Rebalancing Military Spending for a Sustainable and Peaceful Future,” is expected to be discussed at the annual meeting of world leaders at the General Assembly starting Sept. 22.

8 September
The UN Turns 80 — and Faces an Era of Doing Less
What “UN80” is all about
(Global Dispatches) … Rather than using this milestone to expand the UN’s role in global affairs, this UNGA may mark an era of retrenchment. The geopolitical reality of 2025 is stark: ongoing conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan are eroding confidence in the UN’s ability to steer the world toward more peaceful outcomes. Meanwhile, the institution itself is mired in an unprecedented financial crisis, driven largely by U.S. funding cuts and clawbacks.
As in years past, the anniversary is being used as a catalyst for reform. But unlike the 60th and 70th, the reforms now on the table are not about expanding the UN’s reach. Quite the opposite. As the UN turns 80, the agenda championed by Secretary-General António Guterres and many member states would shrink the institution—preparing it for an era in which it must do less with less.

29 July
Saudi Arabia, France seek support for declaration on two-state solution between Israel, Palestinians
(Reuters) – Saudi Arabia and France on Tuesday called on countries at the United Nations to support a declaration that outlines “tangible, timebound, and irreversible steps” towards implementing a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.
The seven-page declaration is the result of an international conference at the U.N. this week – hosted by Saudi Arabia and France – on the decades-long conflict. The United States and Israel boycotted the event.

25-26 June
AI Overview: The United Nations will celebrate its 80th anniversary on June 26, 2025. This date marks the 80th anniversary of the signing of the UN Charter in San Francisco in 1945. The UN will be commemorating this milestone throughout the year
The United Nations, an institution founded after WWII, just marked its 80th anniversary. A lot has changed since the U.N.’s inception. War has remained a reality, and real questions persist about the institution’s ability to impact some of the world’s intractable problems.
(AP) There was no celebration. The deep geopolitical divisions and economic gap between the world’s rich and poor nations are getting worse. Since President Trump took office and cut funding to the U.N. agencies providing food to the world’s hungry, overseeing global health, and helping Palestinian refugees, the mood in the halls at U.N. headquarters has become even more somber. Staff cuts are on the way, and there are lots of unanswered questions about the future of its 133,000 far-flung staff.
‘Not something to celebrate’: As it turns 80 and faces dwindling global clout, can the UN survive？
Its clout on the world stage is diminished. Facing major funding cuts from the United States and others, it has been forced to shed jobs and start tackling long-delayed reforms. Its longtime credo of “multilateralism” is under siege. Its most powerful body, the Security Council, has been blocked from taking action to end the two major wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
And as the latest conflict between Israel, Iran and the United States flared, it watched from the sidelines.
Four generations after its founding, as it tries to chart a new path for its future, a question hangs over the institution and the nearly 150,000 people it employs and oversees: Can the United Nations remain relevant in an increasingly contentious and fragmented world?
With its dream of collaboration drifting, can it even survive?

10 March
Will the United Nations Survive Trump 2.0?
Jayati Ghosh
Recent actions by the United States may foreshadow its withdrawal from the world’s foremost multilateral institution. Paradoxically, however, the breakdown of the multilateral order the US helped establish nearly eight decades ago could serve as a catalyst for greater international cooperation.
(Project Syndicate) Of all the geopolitical stunts Donald Trump has pulled since returning to the White House, the United States’ votes at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on March 4 stand out as some of the most revealing.
…the paradigm shift in US foreign policy does not necessarily signal the impending decline – if not outright collapse – of multilateralism and the UN system. To be sure, the Trump administration has made its preference for unilateralism and coercion abundantly clear, using its power to bully individual countries rather than work through international institutions. As the world’s leading superpower turns its back on global cooperation, the system of multilateral governance that the US helped establish nearly eight decades ago could begin to unravel. Paradoxically, however, Trump’s actions could also serve as a catalyst for greater international cooperation, impelling other countries to work together more closely. The reason is simple: no matter how vehemently the White House denies it, humanity’s most pressing challenges are global in nature. They will not go away simply because Trump refuses to acknowledge them. After all, climate change, environmental degradation, extreme inequality, emerging health threats, the rise of disruptive new technologies, and the erosion of stable employment all transcend national borders. These forces are fueling social and political polarization around the world, underscoring the need for collective solutions.

27 February
Seismic Shift At The UN Following A Jaw-Dropping Vote On Ukraine
“Unprecedented” is an understatement
Mark Leon Goldberg and Anjali Dayal
On Monday February 24, the General Assembly convened for a long-scheduled vote marking the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In a stunning shift, the United States abandoned its European allies and abruptly sided with Russia in an attempt to block any condemnation of Russia’s aggression and any affirmation of Ukrainian sovereignty.
This vote sent shockwaves through the halls of the General Assembly, with a ripple effect that could shake the foundations of the entire United Nations system.
24 February
UN general assembly backs resolution condemning Russia for Ukraine war
The United States voted with Russia, North Korea, Iran and 14 other Moscow-friendly countries Monday against a resolution condemning Russian aggression in Ukraine and calling for the return of Ukrainian territory.

25 February
What Should Be on the Global Financial Agenda?
José Antonio Ocampo
(Project Syndicate) The United Nations Conferences on Financing for Development have been great occasions for building consensus on global financing issues. The next meeting, set for mid-2025 in Spain, will continue the progress made previously in Monterrey (2002), Doha (2008), and Addis Ababa (2015), and preparations are already underway with the launch of two major background documents. Both reflect the ambition to build on the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.
A crucial issue is public-sector over-indebtedness, which affects about one-third of developing countries, while several others face high debt levels and interest costs. This problem stems from the large fiscal imbalances during the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise in interest rates in recent years. Managing it will require an ambitious short-term renegotiation instrument, which can build on the G20’s 2020 Common Framework for Debt Treatments. This time, however, the renegotiation process must be faster, and access should be extended to middle-income countries. In the long term, we need a permanent mechanism for sovereign debt restructuring, which could be housed either in the UN or the International Monetary Fund, provided, in the latter case, that it remains independent of the IMF Board. Another urgent objective is to reinvigorate development financing. An estimated $4 trillion more is needed annually to fund the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

4 February
What the Foreign Aid Freeze Means for the UN
(Global Dispatches) In our new episode of To Save Us From Hell (paywall), Anjali Dayal and I take a deep dive into the ways in which the Trump administration’s foreign aid freeze may impact the United Nations. We are already seeing signs of certain agencies bracing for impact. The UN Refugee Agency (of which the U.S. is historically a top funder) is under a hiring freeze, has stopped ordering new supplies, and has reportedly halted international air travel for staff. …the actions taken by the Trump administration to dismantle USAID and stop most foreign aid will reverberate throughout the UN — and the entire multilateral system.

8 January
What to Expect at the UN in 2025 (paywall)
A new year. A new United Nations?
(Global Dispatches) Five members of the Security Council rotating off and five new ones rotating in. How will the new composition of the Security Council shape its work in the coming year, and who are the key new Security Council members to watch?
Speaking of new Security Council members… two of them happen to be Panama and Denmark, whose territories the incoming U.S. President has threatened to annex. Will this actually impact diplomacy at the UN?
For the first time ever, China will contribute more than 20% of the UN’s budget, just below the contributions expected from the United States this year. How might China use its status as a major funder to exert influence within the UN system?
Why the UN will face a cash crunch in 2025 and what impact this might have on the entire UN system. (And will Guterres shut off the escalators again to save on the Con Edison bill?)
What opportunities for chaos Donald Trump may exploit at the UN, and how the so-called “middle powers” might respond.

2024

The Promise and Potential of the UN’s Summit of the Future
Negotiations have begun in earnest
Mark Leon Goldberg
(Global Dispatches) The United Nations is hosting a Summit of the Future in September during the annual opening the UN General Assembly. If all goes according to plan, world leaders will endorse a so-called “Pact for the Future” that will serve as a vehicle for enacting meaningful reforms to the United Nations.
The Summit of the Future is a big deal in UN circles — it is very much a force that is driving the agenda at the United Nations even as other crises may dominate the news cycle. Namibia and Germany are co-facilitating complex negotiations over what will be included in the pact.

79th Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 79)
10–24 September 2024

24 to 28 and 30 September
The general debate of the seventy-ninth session of the General Assembly
(High-Level Week)

4 December
These are the 32 Global Crises the UN Expects to Confront in 2025
Mark Leon Goldberg
The “Global Humanitarian Overview” is a particularly meaningful UN report
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released its annual assessment of global humanitarian needs today.
It’s a grim document.
The report, known as the Global Humanitarian Overview, surveys the dozens of man-made and natural disasters around which the UN has mounted a response over the current year. It also projects the crises expected to demand international attention in 2025. The report estimates that 305 million people across 32 countries and 9 refugee-hosting regions will require humanitarian assistance in the coming year, with a staggering price tag of $47 billion.
Many of these crises are well-known to those who follow the news: Gaza, Sudan, Syria, and Afghanistan. However, many others have faded from the headlines but remain massive in scale, such as Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Myanmar.

9 October
Former foreign policy adviser to three UK PMs appointed as UN aid chief
Tom Fletcher becomes sixth Briton in a row to take up post despite calls for it to be subject to open competition
A former foreign policy adviser to three prime ministers including Gordon Brown has been appointed to the key post of UN coordinator for humanitarian affairs.
Tom Fletcher is the latest in a line of six UN humanitarian chiefs from the UK. The most recent was Martin Griffiths, who stepped down in the summer.
Fletcher’s appointment is controversial because there has been a push from the Middle East and elsewhere for the post no longer to be monopolised by a British candidate, and that all such senior UN postings should be subject to open competition.
More than 60 eminent diplomats and humanitarians wrote a letter to the UN secretary general, António Guterres, in April saying that at a time of unprecedented humanitarian crises it would be “quite wrong arbitrarily to restrict the search of a humanitarian coordinator to nationals of any one member state”.

27-28 September
Netanyahu’s uncompromising UNGA address
He spoke to a nearly empty General Assembly hall thanks to a walkout by a number of national delegations.
…Netanyahu’s stance was clear: Israel is acting in self-defense, and for that reason, it has no plans to stop fighting.
… He directly warned Iran, which backs Hamas, Hezbollah, and other proxy groups in the region that have attacked Israel.
Within hours of his address on Friday, the Israeli military said it carried out an airstrike on the central headquarters of Hezbollah in Beirut. By early Saturday, it had been confirmed that longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in the strike.
Netanyahu, at UN, vows that Israel will keep ‘degrading Hezbollah’ until its objectives are met
(AP) — Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu signaled to the world from the United Nations on Friday that the multiple conflicts in the Middle East were far from resolved, and he vowed to continue battling the Lebanese Hezbollah and defeat Hamas in the Gaza Strip until “total victory.”
Shortly after the prime minister spoke, blasts rocked the Lebanese capital Beirut and the Israeli military said it had struck Hezbollah’s headquarters. The exact target wasn’t immediately clear, but it appeared to be significant enough to prompt Netanyahu to cut short his trip to New York by a day and make unusual travel on the Jewish Sabbath to get home.
Palestine and Lebanon’s leaders address UNGA ahead of Netanyahu’s arrival
Both speeches came as the US, France, and several Arab nations tried to use the tail end of the UN General Assembly to broker a temporary Israel to agree to a cease-fire with Lebanon.

26 September
Scandals and hope at the UN: Is it worth it?
Evan Solomon
What good is the United Nations in 2024?
(GZERO media) With wars raging, AI disrupting, inequality growing, and climate change accelerating, UN Secretary-General António Guterres says that “a powder keg risks engulfing the world.”
It’s easy to be cynical about the UN. As Brett Stephens once described it, “The U.N. is a never-ending scandal disguised as an everlasting hope. The hope is that dialogue can overcome distrust, and collective security can be made to work in the interests of humanity. Reality says otherwise.”
Scandals, failures, hypocrisies, and disappointments fly around the UN as prominently as the flags around its New York City headquarters, and Stephens waved many of them, from the failure to stop the genocide in Rwanda and the massacre in Srebrenica, to corruption in the oil-for-food program in Iraq. That was back in 2018.
Today there are even more, from the outrage surrounding allegations that some UNRWA workers worked with Hamas during the Oct. 7 massacres, to the obstructive dysfunctions of the five permanent members that have veto powers, which has proven to be a tragic obstacle to real global action in key conflicts, like Sudan. It’s hard to take the UN seriously when Iran gets a turn chairing its Human Rights Council Social Forum.
Even reading through the main agenda of the 79th General Assembly session, it’s understandable why some critics experience high-speed eye-rolling that rivals the backspin on a Roger Federer backhand. For example, one goal says: “Achieving global nuclear disarmament is the highest disarmament priority of the United Nations.” How’s that going? Just yesterday, Russian leader Vladimir Putin announced that he was alerting his nuclear doctrine to lower the threshold needed to justify the use of nuclear weapons, a major escalation in the war in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, less than 20% of the famed 17 Sustainable Development Goals are on track to be completed by 2030.
“The Secretariat Building in New York has 38 stories. If you lost 10 stories today it wouldn’t make a bit of difference,” quipped John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN under former President George W. Bush. Many critics today still think he’s right.
Only pointing out the UN’s failures to solve complex global problems is like describing Ted Williams as a guy who failed to get a hit 60% of the time, instead of noting that a baseball player hitting .400 is one of the greatest feats in sports. It’s like dismissing venture capital investors as losers because at least 80% of their investments go bust, instead of focusing on the ones that succeed and more than make up for the other losses. In very hard challenges, a low success rate can still be a major victory.
Back in 1973, Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber coined the term “wicked problem” to describe political, environmental, or security challenges that are uniquely difficult to solve and may have no single right answer. That’s where the UN is needed most, to pull in global voices that often disagree or are at war with each other and make a genuine attempt to solve wicked problems. That takes time.
The fact is, there are many UN successes, notably the World Food Programme, which helps over 80 million people, delivering food, medicines, and vaccines to countries in crisis. There are peace treaties and accords establishing norms and conventions, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, its most famous document.
This past week, there was a major success in global governance on AI with the Global Digital Compact, which was signed by most major countries except Russia. They agreed to everything from global standards on accessibility, use, and design, to the establishment of an international scientific panel, which will — like the IPCC does for climate — create a measuring tool and a road map for how AI governance might unfold. There is literally no other place in the world where this could happen.

24 September
World Leaders Confront Global Turmoil at U.N.
Hours after President Biden delivered his final U.N. speech, Masoud Pezeshkian, who was elected in July, gave his first.
(NYT) Calls to end the Middle East conflict and wars in Ukraine and Sudan were expected to dominate the weeklong General Assembly session, but resolutions appear to be out of reach now for any of the three conflicts. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is grinding into its third year with no end in sight. And the ruthless civil war in Sudan has “unleashed one of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” Mr. Biden said.
“Our task, our test, is to make sure that the forces holding us together are stronger than those that are pulling us apart,” Mr. Biden said. “I truly believe we’re in another inflection point of world history. For the choices we make today will determine our future for decades to come.”
Mr. Biden’s speech also covered the climate crisis, the urgent need for aid to strife-torn areas and the challenge of artificial intelligence. And it was a farewell of sorts. He has long spoken about the power of personal relationships as an instrument of diplomacy, and aides say he is likely to have a number of one-on-one meetings with fellow world leaders on the sidelines of the summit. The speech also came at a time of uncertainty, with the presidential election six weeks away, and Mr. Biden cast his decision to step down from the presidential ticket as a larger lesson for the world’s leaders, saying, “Some things are more important than staying in power.”
If Biden Wants to Save the UN, He Should Kill the Veto
Washington is hopping on the bandwagon to modernize the Security Council. But it refuses to change the thing that matters most.
By Andreas Kluth
(Bloomberg) The whole world, literally, knows that the United Nations and its Security Council are anachronistic, unfair if not downright rigged, generally dysfunctional and in dire need of reform.
On paper, such an upgrade is on the agenda this week, as the General Assembly convenes in New York for the 79th time. In a feat of communication last attempted in Babel, the 193 member states have approved an optimistically titled “Pact for the Future.” Now they have to figure out what that means.

23-24 September
‘The nervousness in New York was palpable’
Michael Bröning on the UN Pact for the Future, Germany’s role in the negotiations and Russia’s last-minute attempts to disrupt them
(IPS) In New York, the United Nations General Assembly has adopted the Pact for the Future. Has multilateralism been saved?
Well, at least there is a sign of life. It really would have sent a rather dramatic signal if the negotiations on the Pact for the Future had failed after years of preparation. But, of course, the result is a document of ambivalence. After all, we are experiencing a time in which members of the Security Council are openly hostile towards each other. And now these same states are adopting a document that eulogizes cooperation and the United Nations Charter. Naturally, it is right to ask what this language means in reality.
One thing is clear: this document, too, reflects the geopolitical tensions and the ongoing dysfunctionalities of the United Nations in times of confrontation. Even a ‘Pact for the Future’ is rooted in the present. In this present, however, the signs are still pointing to conflict. And the plain truth is that the United Nations has not yet been able to act as a game changer in the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Of course, this is not going unnoticed — nor are Western double standards when dealing with these conflicts. Nevertheless, the broad approval across continents also shows that there is a broad base for multilateralism and cooperation, and that, too, should not be underestimated.

Mark Leon Goldberg: These Stories Will Drive the Agenda During UN Week
…some of the stories I believe will drive the agenda in New York during what is known as “High-Level Week” at the UN. This includes two substantive meetings that are not likely to get the attention they deserve: one on antimicrobial resistance and another on sea-level rise
Drama at the Summit of the Future
On Sunday morning, as delegates gathered to vote on the Pact for the Future, Russia sought to introduce its poison-pill amendment. But rather than hold a divisive vote on this amendment, The Republic of Congo stood up with its own proposal: to evade the Russian amendment altogether and instead vote on a motion to proceed. This was significant because Congo is the rotating head of the African Union—not exactly a Western imperialist institution! Congo’s procedural craftsmanship led to a lopsided vote of 143-7, with 15 abstentions. (The seven against: Russia, Iran, Belarus, Nicaragua, North Korea, Syria, and Sudan.) Russia’s proposal was duly ignored.
Moments after the vote concluded, the President of the General Assembly called for a vote by acclamation to adopt the Pact for the Future. The room erupted in applause soon after. No country (including Russia) raised any formal objections at this point. The Pact for the Future was therefore adopted, and by consensus.
An UNGA Amid Global Crises
…we are in the midst of an escalating series of provocations between Israel and Hezbollah. … Expect speeches from Netanyahu and Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, to draw considerable attention. There will be a Security Council meeting on this crisis on Friday, which notably was not even on the Council’s schedule as of last week.
A meeting on Ukraine has long been on the Security Council’s agenda this coming week, on Tuesday afternoon. I would expect Biden to attend, given that the meeting is scheduled following his farewell UNGA address that morning. Don’t expect any major outcomes from this meeting, but do expect sparks. I imagine Zelenskyy will attend, as well as a representative from Russia.
The third crisis top of mind for many diplomats this week is Sudan. This is currently the largest humanitarian catastrophe by the numbers, and the UN continues to issue warnings of a growing food and famine crisis. Notably, one of the generals involved in this war, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, is also the titular head of state. He’ll be addressing UNGA, and I expect his speech will be cringeworthy, to say the least. There will be side events on Sudan, potentially including extra scrutiny on the United Arab Emirates’ role in fueling this conflict.

19-20 September
Mark Leon Goldberg: What if UNGA Takes Place Amidst a Widening Regional War in the Middle East?
Bad timing
One of the first podcast interviews I did after the October 7th attacks was with Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator. I asked him a question on everyone’s mind at the time: how could Israel, with its vaunted intelligence and security apparatus, be so vulnerable to this kind of terrorist attack?
I’ve been thinking about his answer in recent days. Citing the prevailing conventional wisdom of the Israeli security establishment prior to October 7th, he said, “the serious people don’t deal with the Palestinian file. The Palestinian file is a mowing-the-lawn maintenance file. Serious people deal with the Iranian file.” The implication here is that top talent and energy were focused on threats from Iran, and by extension, its proxy Hezbollah. Hamas in Gaza was not deemed worthy of such attention.
Over the last week, we’ve been seeing the logical extension of this mindset play out in Lebanon—and in the process, potentially ignite a broader regional war.

What to watch for at the 2024 UN General Assembly
Brookings scholars weigh in
Brahima Sangafowa Coulibaly, Landry Signé, George Ingram, Priya Vora, Rebecca Winthrop, Caren Grown, Belinda Archibong, Brad Olsen, Jennifer L. O’Donoghue, and Sweta Shah
(Brookings) A multilateral system fit for the challenges of the 21st century
The highlight of the September meetings of the United Nations General Assembly will undoubtedly be the Summit of the Future to forge a new international consensus on “how we deliver a better present and safeguard the future.” At the summit, the hope is that the global community will endorse the Pact for the Future, the road map to fit the multilateral system to address the challenges of the 21st century.
… While the current multilateral system has served the world well for the past 80 years, it is increasingly unable to tackle rising inequality, job insecurity, environmental degradation, and escalating social and geopolitical tensions. As documented by the midpoint review of the Sustainable Development Goals during last year’s UNGA, despite some success, shortfalls in progress are widespread.
There is a growing consensus and demand for profound reforms. Through a series of studies and convenings initiated by the Global Economy and Development program at the Brookings Institution, numerous scholars and think tanks from the Global North and Global South have proposed recommendations to modernize various multilateral institutions, including the United Nations Security Council, the World Trade Organization, and the global financial architecture comprising the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Implementing these recommendations will equip the multilateral system to deliver on the aspirations in the Pact for the Future.

18-19 September
The UN unveils plan for AI
(GZERO media) Overnight, and after months of deliberation, a United Nations advisory body studying artificial intelligence released its final report. Aptly called “Governing AI for Humanity” it is a set of findings and policy recommendations for the international organization and an update since the group’s interim report in December 2023.
“As experts, we remain optimistic about the future of AI and its potential for good. That optimism depends, however, on realism about the risks and the inadequacy of structures and incentives currently in place,” the report’s authors wrote. “The technology is too important, and the stakes are too high, to rely only on market forces and a fragmented patchwork of national and multilateral action.”
The HLAB-AI report asks the UN to begin working on a “globally inclusive” system for AI governance, calls on governments and stakeholders to develop AI in a way that protects human rights, and it makes seven recommendations.
Can the UN get the world to agree on AI safety?
Artificial intelligence has the power to transform our world, but it’s also an existential threat. There’s been a patchwork of efforts to regulate AI, but they’ve been concentrated in wealthy countries, while those in the Global South, who stand to benefit most from AI’s potential, have been left out. Can the United Nations come together at this year’s General Assembly to agree on standards for a safe, equitable, and inclusive AI future?

18 September
UN members back resolution directing Israel to leave occupied territories
(The Guardian) General assembly votes overwhelmingly in favour of Palestinian resolution after ICJ ruling in July
In a symbolic step exposing Israel’s continued international isolation, the UN general assembly has voted overwhelmingly to direct Israel to leave the occupied Palestinian territories within a year.
The non-binding vote follows a historic advisory ruling in July by the international court of justice (ICJ) urging Israel to cease “its unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory as soon as possible and stop all settlement activity there immediately”.
Wednesday’s resolution was passed by 124 votes to 14 with 43 abstentions, prompting applause across the general assembly chamber in New York. The UK and Australia abstained while the US voted against.
Canada abstains from UN motion calling on Israel to end occupation of Gaza, West Bank
Canada abstained Wednesday from a high-profile United Nations vote demanding that Israel end its “unlawful presence” in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank within a year.

17 September
What to expect at UNGA
John Haltiwanger
(GZERO media) …As world leaders gather in New York, the wars raging in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan will be major topics, as will issues ranging from climate change to nuclear disarmament.
The UN has often appeared powerless in the face of such crises. The beginning of this year’s session offers an important opportunity for the UN to chart a new way forward and challenge critics who feel it’s a bloated, self-important, impotent institution. Along these lines, one of the issues on the agenda is whether to reform the UN Security Council — a key body focused on preserving peace around the world. This could include adding African countries as permanent members to the council.

10 September
Ten Challenges for the UN in 2024-2025
The war in Gaza has highlighted how debilitating major-power division can be for the UN. Yet the organisation is not hamstrung: in several crises around the world, diplomats can agree on modest initiatives to curb violence and shore up stability.
(International Crisis Group) Leaders will meet at the UN General Assembly at a bleak moment. The war between Israel and Hamas has cast a long shadow over the world organisation, and many of its members worry that it is failing to fulfill its core mandate of preserving peace and security.
Why does it matter? Fraying geopolitical relations and resource gaps are reducing the UN’s influence. But the organisation is still deeply involved in mediation, peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts – often in very troubled settings where the chances of success are low and no other state or multilateral body can play the same role.
What should be done? UN members should beef up the organisation’s mediation efforts in cases such as Sudan and Myanmar, in addition to reinforcing its presence in Gaza. At an institutional level, there are opportunities for reforms to UN peacekeeping, peacebuilding and sanctions. The organisation must also prepare for new leadership in Washington.
Dumbarton Oaks: creating a new world order
Andrew Ehrhardt
(Engelsberg Ideas) Eighty years ago, representatives of the soon-to-be victorious allied powers gathered outside Washington DC to lay the foundations of the United Nations. Examining how delegates dealt with the enduring dilemmas of internationalism provides a lesson in how to deal with our global future.
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Dumbarton Oaks Conference, where diplomats from the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and China met to negotiate a settlement of the postwar world. Their deliberations and eventual agreement laid the foundation for what would become, by the summer of 1945, the United Nations Organisation.
Though the contemporary world looks very different from that of 1944, there are some distinct echoes from that tumultuous period in world history. Major tensions between the great powers in Europe and Asia, along with emergent regional conflicts and rapid technological innovations, have upended our notion of a stable international system.
In this period of uncertainty and transition, scholars, analysts, and leading statesmen and women are questioning whether the United Nations, and international organisations more broadly, remain fit for purpose.

9 September
The UN chief calls the death and destruction in Gaza the worst he’s seen
(AP) — The U.N. chief said Monday that the United Nations has offered to monitor any cease-fire in Gaza and demanded an end to the worst death and destruction he has seen in his more than seven-year tenure.
Secretary-General António Guterres said in an interview with The Associated Press that it’s “unrealistic” to think the U.N. could play a role in Gaza’s future, either by administering the territory or providing a peacekeeping force, because Israel is unlikely to accept a U.N. role.
But he said “the U.N. will be available to support any cease-fire.” The United Nations has had a military monitoring mission in the Middle East, known as UNTSO, since 1948, and “from our side, this was one of the hypotheses that we’ve put on the table,” he said.
Palestinians’ UN proposal demands Israel leave Gaza and the West Bank in 6 months
(AP) — The Palestinians have circulated a draft U.N. resolution demanding that Israel end its “unlawful presence” in Gaza and the West Bank within six months.
The proposed General Assembly resolution, which was obtained by The Associated Press, follows a ruling by the top United Nations court in July that said Israel’s presence in the Palestinian territories is unlawful and must end.
Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon denounced the resolution and described it as a “reward for terrorism.” He called for the resolution to be rejected.
22 August
Palestinians plan UN resolution enshrining court demand for Israel to end occupation with time frame

The UN General Assembly Speaker Schedule is Here!
Who’s speaking at UNGA. And when.
(Global Dispatches) The address by the U.S. President always sets the tone for UNGA. Some other interesting and notable speeches to track include Zelenskyy on Wednesday morning, Palestine’s Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday, and Netanyahu on Thursday. Keir Starmer will make his UN debut on Friday. He’s not someone with much of a foreign policy profile, so it will be interesting to see how he frames some of the big issues of the day. (See Comment below)

4 September
Mark’s Personal UNGA 2024 Preview
Some stories I’ll be following during UN Week
Mark Leon Goldberg
(Global Dispatches) The Summit of the Future kicks off “High-Level Week” on September 21 and 22, with the expected adoption of three outcome documents intended to outline a new set of reforms aimed at making the UN more responsive to future global challenges.  The Summit of the Future is the culmination of years of diplomacy and discussions focused on enhancing the UN’s ability to tackle current and future challenges. While the Summit of the Future hasn’t garnered much attention outside the UN bubble, within UN circles, it carries a level of significance that is hard to overstate.
22 August
Everything You Need to Know About the Summit of the Future
It’s a really, really big deal for the UN
Mark Leon Goldberg
(Global Dispatches) The significance of the Summit of the Future is a somewhat tricky to convey. On the one hand, it is hard to overstate how much of a big deal the Summit of the Future for the United Nations, which bills it as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity.” On the other hand, the Summit of the Future has not really penetrated outside the UN bubble. Not yet, at least.
It is truly an occasion to revitalize the UN in a time of great global turmoil and restore trust in international cooperation as a means of solving common global challenges. That may sound impractically idealistic, but the Summit itself is the culmination of years of discussions, negotiations and diplomacy around concrete policies and reforms intended to make the UN more responsive to future global challenges.

2 September
Peacekeepers Need Peacemakers
What the UN and Its Members Owe the Blue Helmets
By Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Undersecretary-General for Peace Operations
(Foreign Affairs) …multiple studies have shown that peacekeeping missions are one of the most effective tools the UN Security Council has at its disposal to prevent the expansion of war, stop atrocities, and make it more likely that peace agreements endure.
Today, however, the challenges facing UN Peacekeeping are greater than ever. Currently, the United Nations has 11 peacekeeping missions deployed around the globe—missions that are making extraordinary contributions to containing violence amid a surge in conflict worldwide. In the Golan Heights and Cyprus, peacekeepers are monitoring and preserving cease-fires. In the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan, they are protecting the lives of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable civilians. In the context of escalating exchanges of fire between Israel and Lebanon following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, the UN Peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon has worked to help avert escalations beyond those that have occurred throughout the ten-month conflict. Preserving cease-fires, protecting civilians, and containing violence are among the intermediate goals of peacekeeping, which also include mediating local conflicts and strengthening local institutions.
But the ultimate objectives of all peacekeeping operations are political. Such operations’ primary goal is to resolve conflicts by helping quarreling parties reach and implement the kind of agreements that help establish durable peace that outlasts the presence of peacekeepers. As the head of the UN’s peacekeeping efforts, however, I can attest that recent developments make it extremely challenging for UN Peacekeeping missions to accomplish these long-term goals. More and more, conflict is driven by armed groups that operate across national borders, weaponize cheap technologies such as improvised explosive devices, spew hate speech online, engage in terrorism and transnational organized crime, and often lack any political ambition beyond sparking disorder. Although the practice of peacekeeping must adapt to meet these daunting challenges, there is only so much peacekeeping can do on its own.