UN@80: Reforms essential for continued relevance

The reform of the Security Council — the UN’s lynchpin for international peace and security — must remain front and centre. Though now it may seem implausible, there is no avoiding this

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September 23, 2025 — this should have been a milestone to write home about. Eighty years of the United Nations — eight decades since 1945 —ought to have produced a moment that feels consequential, not merely ceremonial. A standout deliverable, not justa commemorative logo. The leaders will show up. The numbers and the spectacle will be there. But will the substance match the stage?

The reality is pragmatic, even mundane: Internal administrative reform to make the UN more coherent, effective, and better equipped to serve “we the peoples”. The UN80 Initiative explicitly urges change in how the organisation works —with belt-tightening as the burning platform. As secretary-general Anténio Guterres warned in May 2025, “The United Nations’ resources have been shrinking because member-States are not all paying their dues, some not paying on time, contributing to what many describe asa liquidity crisis.”

That's welcome and long overdue. For years, the UN has suffered from unrealistic mandates, siloed structures, overlapping duties, and bureaucratic drag. It needs to streamline, rationalise, optimise. That could mean trimming overlapping mandates between peacebuilding and development agencies, consolidating back-office functions across the UN system, or enforcing stricter budget accountability.

Now, the core question. With rising conflicts, climate change accelerating, new technologies outpacing regulations, and inequality soaring, is the UN fit for purpose? Can it really serve us for the next 80 years? Secretary-general Guterres warned on September 18, 2024, that “without fundamental reform, we risk sleepwalking into irrelevance”.