U.N. General Assembly Starts with UN 80 Report as Guideline for the Future
TRANSCEND MEMBERS, 15 Sep 2025
René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service
10 Sep 2025 – The United Nations General Assembly has started in New York with the world grappling with armed violence, massive migration, deepening inequalities, and eroding trust in its effectiveness as indicated by the shrinking budgets of the U.N. and its Specialized Agencies. In order to improve trust, the U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has requested a study called UN80 to streamline operations, sharpen impact, and reaffirm the U.N.’s relevance for a rapidly changing world.
UN80 was drawn up under the leadership of Guy Ryder, now the U.N. Under-Secretary General for Policy and chair of the UN80 Task Force. Guy Ryder was the long-time director of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and before that, the U.N. representative in Geneva of a major branch of the world trade union movement. I knew Guy Ryder well in his NGO representative days.
UN80 makes proposals to improve coordination, reduce fragmentation, and realign functions when needed. The report stresses the clear urgency of reforms. The UN80 report merits close study both by governments and non-governmental organizations. Unfortunately, the deep divisions among governments is such that any agreed-upon changes are unlikely. Nevertheless, the discussions on UN80 will be important to analyse.
The deep divisions among governments and their inability to reach positive policies requires more resolute action on the part of non-governmental organizations (NGO) in consultative status. NGOs are also under strain financially, some have been overly dependent on USA fundings which has now been cut. Thus there is a need for greater cooperation and possible combining of services such as publications or combined representation at U.N. meetings.This 80th anniversary should be a time of evaluations and plans for the future.
______________________________________
René Wadlow is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment. He is President of the Association of World Citizens, an international peace organization with consultative status with ECOSOC, the United Nations organ facilitating international cooperation and problem-solving in economic and social issues, and editor of Transnational Perspectives.
Tags: UNGA, UNSC, United Nations
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 15 Sep 2025.
Anticopyright: Editorials and articles originated on TMS may be freely reprinted, disseminated, translated and used as background material, provided an acknowledgement and link to the source, TMS: U.N. General Assembly Starts with UN 80 Report as Guideline for the Future, is included. Thank you.
If you enjoyed this article, please donate to TMS to join the growing list of TMS Supporters.
This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License.
Join the discussion!
We welcome debate and dissent, but personal — ad hominem — attacks (on authors, other users or any individual), abuse and defamatory language will not be tolerated. Nor will we tolerate attempts to deliberately disrupt discussions. We aim to maintain an inviting space to focus on intelligent interactions and debates.