United Nations — As we mark the 80th anniversary of the United Nations this year, our world is facing challenges on every front. These trials and tests affect every aspect of our work: multiplying and enduring conflict; inadequate progress in reducing poverty and advancing sustainable development; the widespread flouting of international law and violation of human rights; the lack of guard rails for transformative technologies; and many other obstacles to effective multilateral responses.
And all of them are aggravated by major reductions of funding for humanitarian aid and development cooperation. In many cases, these obstacles are fuelling dangerous levels of geopolitical tensions and division.
In the “Pact for the Future”, adopted by consensus by the United Nations General Assembly last September, Member States came together to recognize these challenges and to agree on a series of commitments to meet them through multilateral action rooted in the United Nations Charter.
That means that we come to our eightieth anniversary with a shared understanding in two fundamental areas. First, the United Nations remains the essential one of a kind meeting ground to advance peace, sustainable development, humanitarian action and human rights. Second, we also have an explicit and shared determination to improve the way we work together on urgently needed global responses to the pressing global challenges of our time.
As we all know, the governance mechanisms and practice of the international system continue to reflect the world as it was eighty years ago. Our world has changed dramatically over the last eight decades. The multilateral system has not kept pace. It is vital that the organizational system of the United Nations – one that is both complex and crucial – subject itself to rigorous and regular scrutiny to assess its fitness for purpose in carrying out its goals efficiently.
That was the driving force of the reforms that we have undertaken in recent years and the UN 2.0 process of innovation and modernization. The eightieth anniversary is a perfect moment to expand on these efforts. Our current circumstances, with the crises and challenges they bring, underline the urgency and ambition with which we need to act.
For all these reasons, I am launching, today, the UN80 Initiative. I will devote priority attention to this Initiative so that, through our joint action, we help to ensure the effective and cost effective, networked and inclusive multilateralism needed to reduce human suffering and build better lives and futures for all. We must step up our efforts and our cooperation to deliver the 2030 Agenda and the Pact for the Future.
The UN80 Initiative will be based on a comprehensive assessment by a dedicated all-of-United Nations system task force, appointed by myself, in order to present proposals to Member States in three areas:
Efficiencies and improvements within current arrangements; The implementation of all mandates received from Member States; and the need for structural changes and programme realignment within the United Nations system.
The Under-Secretary-General for Policy will lead the task force, which will include principals representing the United Nations Secretariat and the different entities of the United Nations System.
In this endeavour, I am keenly aware of my responsibilities as Chief Administrative Officer of the Organization and equally of the prerogatives of Member States. Under the leadership of the President of the General Assembly, I will consult closely and regularly with all Member States on the progress made, seeking guidance on ways forward and presenting concrete proposals for discussion and decision-making when appropriate.
This Initiative is entirely in line with the actions already announced by the President of the General Assembly to commemorate the eightieth anniversary of the United Nations.
Only by assuming our shared and complementary responsibilities will we be able to reach our goals for a stronger and more effective United Nations tuned to the twenty-first century.
I look forward to your support and cooperation in this critically important Initiative.
IPS UN Bureau
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