Celebrating the 79th anniversary of the United Nations with focus on the future

On this day 79 years ago, the United Nations Charter came into force, creating an international organization that has since served as the global forum for countries to discuss common problems and develop shared solutions in pursuit of a better world.

- By GUSTAVO GONZÁLEZ

As Secretary General António Guterres has repeatedly said: for all of its successes over the last decades, the UN is showing its age. To make it fit to adequately respond to the challenges of the 21st century, it needs to be made fit for purpose – and the decision-making structures of the multilateral system need to resemble the global realities of today, rather than of 79 years ago.

The Philippines has been a strong UN supporter and advocate for UN reform for longer than most.

As one of the 51 founding members of the UN, it was a contributor to the drafting of the UN Charter. Filipino statesman Carlos P. Romulo was the country's delegate to the United Nations Organization Conference in San Francisco. He later went on to become president of the UN General Assembly and the Security Council.

In 1982, as one of the last living signers of the UN Charter, Mr. Romulo was interviewed by the United Nations Oral History Project for his insights on the organization. At the time, he was pushing for a "re-study" of the Charter to give new members – by then, total membership was 157 – the chance to comment on the agreement.

When asked why he was so strongly advocating for this review, he shared a conversation he had with Russian diplomat Andrei Gromyko: “[He] once came to me and he said, 'Now, General, why are you insisting on this restudy of the Charter? You are a father of this baby and you want to kill it.' I said, 'Mr. Gromyko, I'm not killing this baby, I'm just trying to give it more vitamins to make it stronger.'