Addressing the Common Meeting, António Guterres briefed Member States on the structural reforms and programme realignments which can be wanted throughout the UN System to make it absolutely match for right this moment’s challenges.
“My imaginative and prescient for the United Nations system is evident: Entities that work collectively as one, to ship higher – overcoming fragmentation, eliminating duplication, enhancing funding fashions, and maximizing synergies,” the Secretary-Common stated.
‘For the individuals we serve’
He harassed the necessity for a extra streamlined, collaborative, and cost-effective method, “making certain that assets entrusted to us ship most impression for the individuals we serve.”
As a part of the reform drive, Mr. Guterres introduced the creation of a devoted UN80 implementation crew to advance reform proposals, both by bringing them to decision-making intergovernmental our bodies – or shifting ahead unilaterally the place it’s inside his authority.
“The final word path of the UN80 Initiative rests with you, the Member States of the United Nations,” Mr. Guterres emphasised.
The briefing is a part of the UN80 Initiative, which goals to streamline operations, sharpen impression, and reaffirm the UN’s relevance in a quickly altering world.
That is the third of three workstreams created to information the reform course of.
Workstream 1 focuses on modernising enterprise operations and enhancing effectivity throughout the Secretariat and the UN System -including by way of consolidated administrative platforms, relocations to lower-cost obligation stations, and decreased actual property costs-while safeguarding core programme supply.
Preliminary proposals included within the revised estimates for the 2026 funds, at the moment are earlier than the Common Meeting’s Fifth Committee, with choices anticipated by December this 12 months.
Workstream 2 examines the total lifecycle of mandates to strengthen coherence, accountability, and impression.
Its preliminary suggestions are into consideration by an Casual Advert Hoc Working Group of the Common Meeting, co-chaired by Jamaica and New Zealand, which is main a “discovery section” by way of the tip of 2025.
Shifting paradigms
Among the many over 70 proposals included within the first progress report for workstream 3 is the plan to consolidate and reconfigure peace and safety groups at Headquarters in New York, in addition to particular political missions in Yemen, Cyprus and Central Africa.
Different potential reforms embody a merger between the UN Growth Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Workplace for Mission Companies (UNOPS), a transfer Mr. Guterres stated would “create a stronger engine for sustainable growth, with larger attain and scale.”
He additionally pointed to the opportunity of merging UN Ladies and the United Nations Inhabitants Fund (UNFPA) to kind “a unified and extra highly effective voice on gender equality and the rights of girls and women.” [More details on the proposals on this UN News story]
‘Greater than a cost-cutting train’
Forward of his briefing, Member States heard from Annalena Baerbock, the President of the Common Meeting, who echoed the necessity for Member States to have interaction on the reform proposals set forth within the Secretary-Common’s report.
Calling it “greater than a cost-cutting train,” she summarized the UN80 Initiative as being “about effectivity, agility, and the power to leverage state-of-the-art applied sciences.”
She additionally harassed that whereas Member States can not ignore the “precarious fiscal state of affairs”, they’ve a accountability to the individuals which the United Nations serves.
“We can not sacrifice the rules of this establishment within the identify of the ‘backside line,” Ms. Baerbock stated.
