‘Not something to celebrate’

UNITED NATIONS (AP):

The United Nations, a collaborative global dream built into reality out of the ashes of World War II, marks its 80th anniversary this month. There’s little to celebrate.

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 conflict between Israel, Iran and now the United States flares, 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?

When the United Nations was born in San Francisco on June 26, 1945, the overriding goal of the 50 participants who signed the UN Charter was stated in its first words: “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”.

Earlier this year, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sounded that same theme: “Eight decades later, one can draw a direct line between the creation of the United Nations and the prevention of a third world war.”

There has been no such war – thus far. But conflicts still rage.

They continue not only in Gaza and Ukraine but Sudan, eastern Congo, Haiti and Myanmar – to name a few – and, most recently, Iran and Israel. The needs of tens of millions of people caught up in fighting and trapped in poverty have increased even as rich donor nations, not just the United States, are reducing their aid budgets.

The UN General Assembly is planning a commemoration on the 80th anniversary on June 26, but the mood in the halls of UN headquarters in New York is grim.

Diplomats are anxious about the immediate future, especially the outcome expected in August of a US review of the United Nations and other multilateral institutions ordered by President Donald Trump. And UN staff here and in more than 60 offices, agencies and operations that get money from its regular operating budget are facing 20% job cuts, part of Guterres’ reform effort and reaction to already announced Trump funding cuts.

“It’s not something to celebrate,” Kazakhstan’s UN. Ambassador Kairat Umarov said of the upcoming anniversary.

SIGNED BY 50 NATIONS

In a different world of landline telephones, radios and propeller planes, the UN Charter was signed by just 50 nations – mainly from Latin America and Europe. Over the decades, its membership has nearly quadrupled to 193 member nations, with 54 African countries now the largest bloc. The UN system has also expanded enormously from its origins.

Today, the map of the UN system looks like a multi-headed octopus with many tentacles. In 2023, its secretariat and numerous funds, agencies and entities dealing with everything from children and refugees to peacekeeping and human rights had over 133,000 staff worldwide.

Kishore Mahbubani, who served twice as Singapore’s UN ambassador, credited the United Nations with thus far preventing World War III. While there are still wars, deaths have continued a long-term decline “and the world is still, overall, a much more peaceful place,” he said.

Mahbubani and others also point to successes in the 71 UN peacekeeping operations since 1948, including in Angola, Cambodia, Sierra Leone (which is currently a member of the Security Council) and Liberia (which will join in January).

There is also wide praise for specialized UN agencies, especially those dealing with hunger, refugees and children as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is