- Notwithstanding all kinds of smear campaigns against it, the UN has audaciously tried its best, through tools of ‘dialogue and diplomacy’, for the peaceful settlement of international disputes.
- It is a miracle that in a troubled world where 2 billion people live in the world’s conflict zones, the UN can provide material assistance to hundreds of millions of people by spending over $60 billion.
- The UN is not infallible. It was not designed to take the ‘peoples’ to heaven but to try to save them from falling into a hell on planet Earth.
- Without the proverbial battles fought in the UNGA, the elimination of apartheid and the liberation of colonies would just not have been possible.
- Introduction
On October 24, 2025 the United Nations (UN) reaches historic milestone of 80 years even as it faces an uphill task in an increasingly difficult world wherein 2 billion people live in conflict zones (SIS Blog: Jan 23, 2025), 1.1 billion face multidimensional poverty (Oct 17, 2025), 887 face climate hazards (Oct 17, 2025), 670 million go hungry (Oct 14, 2025), 100 economies will take at least 123 years to close the global gender gap (Oct 22, 2025) and one in three women face physical and/or sexual violence at least once in their lifetime (UN Women 2025; Author: SGBV in International Law: 2022; 2023). And yet this beleaguered political organisation of 193-member states always remains ready for firefighting each of the present-day challenges in an era of a planetary crisis (Green Diplomacy: Jan 02, 2025; Oct 01, 2024; Nov 08, 2023; Feb 08, 2023; Jan. 19, 2023. SIS Blog: June 30, 2024). The Report of the Secretary-General on the work of the organisation 2025 – For Humanity – has listed the “ten ways” in which the UN makes a difference in the lives of the “peoples” (Charter Preamble) in whose name it was established.
- Saving from the Scourge of War
Notwithstanding all kinds of smear campaigns against it, the UN has audaciously tried its best, through tools of “dialogue and diplomacy”, for peaceful settlement of international disputes (Part VI and VII of the UN Charter), to live up to the expectations of the original 50 founding members (including India; two years before her independence) who solemnly resolved to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war” (Charter Preamble). The year 2025 has brought “race to bankruptcy” (Oct. 17, 2025) for the UN and its chief administrative officer, the UN Secretary-General (UNSG), in view of the refusal by some countries to provide their contributions based on the UN scale of assessments. By September 2025, only 136 of the 193 Member States had paid their assessments in full. Several contributors, including the United States, China, Russia and Mexico, had yet to complete their payments. As a result, the UN has been forced to bring down the programmed budget for 2026 (May 28, 2025) by 15.1 per cent (from $3.715 billion) to $3.238 billion (SGReport: Sep 04, 2025). This cost-cutting will adversely affect the “UN80 Initiative” (GAReso. 79/318, July 18, 2025; SGReport: Sep 22, 2025), including the peacekeeping operations (SIS Blog: Sep 18, 2024). During his tenure (since 2017), the UNSG Antonio Guterres has sought to create a stronger, more effective organisation that is more agile, responsive and resilient. The formation of the Ad-hoc Working Group on Mandate Implementation to ensure the UN is better equipped to deliver on all its “mandates” (GARes 79/318, July 18, 2025). The Co-Chairs (Ambassadors Wallace of Jamaica and Schwalger of New Zealand) held the first meeting of the Group on September 16, 2025.
- Looking Back: UN not to Take “Peoples” to Heaven
Built on the ashes of the League of Nations at the end of the Second World War, the UN has survived four times (1945-2025) the life of its predecessor League (1920-1939), though given formal legal burial on April 20, 1946. Like human beings (who represent the member states), the UN is not infallible. It was not designed to take the “peoples” (Charter Preamble) to heaven but to try to save them from falling into a hell on planet Earth. Hence, the UN seems to have learned vital survival skills, adaptability and resilience amidst the pitfalls of “how nations behave” (Louis Henkin, 1970). There is no other general international political organisation of sovereign states with the legitimacy, convening power and normative impact as the UN that genuinely works for “a better future for the world, and a better world for the future” (Indian PM Modi’s Address to the US Congress; June 22, 2023).
The UN Charter was adopted at the end of the UN Conference on International Organisation (UNCIO; April 25-June 26, 1945) at the Opera House in San Francisco after a series of confabulations (1941-1945), in places such as London, the Atlantic, Moscow, Tehran, Dumbarton Oaks, Yalta and San Francisco. The UN came into being after the Charter entered into force as per Article 110 (3) on October 24, 1945 (UN Day). The Charter is not only a “blueprint for peace” (UNGA President, Sep 29, 2025) but also a vision for shared progress across every pillar. “If we had had this Charter a few years ago-and above all, the will to use it–millions now dead would be alive. If we should falter in the future in our will to use it, millions now living will surely die”, President Truman prophesied in the closing address on June 26, 1945 (UNCIO; San Francisco). Yet, within 41 days, President Truman ordered the first dropping of the two nuclear bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima (August 6) and Nagasaki (August 9). The US action killed between 150,000 and 246,000 people and inflicted the first major blow to the Charter ‘blueprint’ wherein all members “shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force” [Article 2 (4)].
The UN provides us with vital lessons for the realisation of the idealism to “eliminate war as an appalling evil” (SIS Blog: Jan 13, 2025). It provides us a pathway to rein in human proclivity to UN-bashing by the leaders of the member states, enable it to realise the cherished purposes and principles of the UN Charter and make international law work effectively to deter lawlessness of the powerful nations to protect the “peoples” (Charter Preamble) of the UN. Notwithstanding all the faults attributed to it, we still have only one UN that is indispensable for the maintenance of international peace and security.
- Maintenance of Peace & Security: The Blueprint
It is only a truism to state that the UN Charter is the cornerstone of International Law. It has emphatically declared the purposes and principles of the “equal rights and self-determination of peoples” (Article 1.2), “sovereign equality of all States” (Article 2.1), as well as respect for the “territorial integrity and political independence of states” (Article 2.4). Without the proverbial battles fought in the UNGA, the elimination of apartheid and the liberation of colonies would just not have been possible. As a consequence, the UN membership today stands at 193 (from the original 50).
Even though there have been numerous conflicts (PRIO, June 10, 2024) raging around the world, the UN has been the most important whistleblower that has sought to hammer on the principles of non-intervention in the internal affairs of States and the resolution of international disputes by peaceful means (Chapter VI and VII of the Charter). The UN and its agencies have often invoked the ‘advisory jurisdiction’ of its principal judicial organ: the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The ICJ has given some landmark Opinions including the recent ones on the “Occupied Palestinian Territories” (July 19, 2024; SIS Blog: July 29, 2024), “Obligations of States in Respect of Climate Change” (July 23, 2025; SIS Blog: Jan 02, 2025); and the opinion on “Obligations of Israel…Activities of the UN” (Oct 22, 2025).
The UN Charter does provide a concrete ‘blueprint’ for the prohibition of “the threat or use of force” (Article 2.4) along with “inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs” (Article 51). Ironically, this core Charter provision has been gradually eroded over the past eight decades, as seen in the numerous conflicts that have played havoc in the world. However, it is due to the self-serving interests of some of the UN member states as reflected in the lack of political will of the UNSC, especially due to the exercise of the ‘veto’ by the P5 (Article 27.3) and not any organisational weakness of the UN per se. The instrument of veto was not inserted “in a fit of absent-mindedness”. It was a “deliberate decision to render the UNSC incapable of undertaking enforcement action against, or against the will of, any of the Big Five” [Inis Claude, Jr., International Conciliation 532 (1961) 329]. It can also be seen in constant stone-walling of the quest for UN restructuring, including expansion of the Security Council (SIS Blog: March 22, 2024; Oct. 01, 2022) and “repurpose” of the Trusteeship Council (Green Diplomacy, Jan 19, 2023; EPL 52 (2-3) 2022) to reflect realities of the 21st century. A layperson needs to understand that the UN cannot do anything unless the member states want it to be done.
- Endless Global Firefighting: Role of the UNSG
The UNSG provides regular briefings and reports on the ground situation that enables the UNSC (and the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council) to provide authorizations (drawing mandates from Chapter VI and VII of the Charter) for the UN “peacekeeping missions” (SIS Blog, September 18, 2024) as well as performs onerous tasks in making available crucial humanitarian assistance (SIS Blog, August 23, 2022) in situations of conflicts, misery, mass violence, hunger, droughts, disasters, displacements etc. The regular updates provided by the UNSG personally to the UNSC have become a stuff of legends. When UNSG Guterres walks (frequently) into the hallowed chamber of the UNSC (or the UNGA), his whole lifetime experience as a statesman, including as Prime Minister of Portugal, walks with him. The crisp statements, laden with facts, figures and marshalling of data as well as authentic updates from the ground speak for themselves. We have not seen in recent decades a UNSG speaking with such authenticity, sincerity, candour, power of language, facial expressions and sheer force of personality.
In his 2021 Vision: Restoring Trust and Inspiring Hope (as a S-G candidate) for the second term (2022-2026), Antonio Guterres, without mincing words, stated: “The Charter perseveres even in the face of profound transformation. Its purposes, principles and provisions epitomise all that we stand for and guide all that we do”. As Guterres inches closer to the end of his second (and final) term of office as the SG in 2026, as well as the world organisation attains a historic milestone of 80 years (1945-2025), everyone is convinced that we have only one UN to secure our only abode – planet Earth. Having failed within 20 years (1919-1939) after the Second World War broke out, the League of Nations (emanating from the great peacemaking at the 1919 Treaty of Versailles), did provide “vital lessons to reaffirm the resolve to work for realization of the idealism to eliminate war as an appalling evil.” (Author: International Studies 57(3) 2020 (201–222) at 216).
Thus, the advent of the UN became a necessity that was built upon the ashes of the League of Nations, to eliminate war as a ‘scourge’ (Charter Preamble): “which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind”). Hence, notwithstanding all the UN-bashing and personal targeting of the UNSG, as a messenger of peace (SIS Blog: Oct 08, 2024), the UNSG keeps reminding all the UN members to rise to the occasion, after 80 years (1945-2025) of its existence, “to help deliver the better, safer and greener world we need” (April 22, 2024; UN 2.0, Sep 2023; Sep 07, 2023). Pending revitalization of the UN to face “21st century challenges” (UNSG, Summit of the Future; September 22, 2024), we need to cherish and value the stellar role played by the UNSG (including use of negotiations, good offices and mediation), in espousing and symbolizing United Nations ideals and as a spokesperson for the interests of the world’s peoples.
Since January 01, 2017, as the 9th occupant of the post of the UNSG [previous UNSGs were: Ban Ki-moon, Republic of Korea (2007-2016); Kofi Annan, Ghana (1997-2006); Boutros Boutros Ghali, Egypt (1992-1996); Javier Pèrez de Cuèllar, Peru (1982-1991); Kurt Waldheim, Austria (1972-1981); U Thant, Burma (1961-1971); Dag Hammarskjöld, Sweden (1953-61); Trygve Lie (Norway (1946-1952)], Antonio Guterres has left an indelible imprint on the organization wherein he has played the role of an elder stateman, a whistle-blower, a guide, a trouble-shooter and a diplomat par excellence. During his second term (2022-2026), the UNSG has exercised power and competence scattered throughout the Charter to make the UN work to heal the wounds of our troubled world.
The UNSG can invoke the Charter’s “implied powers” (R Khan, Implied Powers of the United Nations: Vikas, 1970). Moreover, he can take recourse to expressly provided powers too, as seen in the unprecedented invocation of Article 99/ Chapter XV (December 6, 2023 letter to the President of the UNSC). When the UNSG Guterres speaks, his words ring loud and clear. Even his October 2, 2024, UNSC address, “on the situation in the Middle East”, gave this crisp wakeup call to the Council: “We must never lose sight of the tremendous toll that this growing conflict is taking on civilians. We cannot look away from systematic violations of international humanitarian law. This deadly cycle of tit-for-tat violence must stop. Time is running out”. Nothing could be more befitting the role envisaged for the SG in the UN Charter.
The proverbial ‘reports’ of the Secretary-General are eagerly awaited, including on the ‘work of the organisation’. The UNSG also provides reports to the other three principal organs: the GA, the SC and the ECOSOC. For instance, the 2025 UNSG report (For Humanity) speaks upfront on the “year of headwinds and hope for humanity”. Similarly, the 2024 UNSG report (Resolve) literally and figuratively declares what the UN stands for and the entire secretariat staff (35,000 plus), led by the UNSG, strives to achieve in furtherance of the UN’s objectives. “At every step, our Organisation and our personnel will continue to stand in solidarity with the people of the world through these trying times, as we seek to forge a more peaceful, healthy, equal and prosperous future together,” the UNSG said. Significantly, there are ‘statements’ issued by the UNSG or (on his/her behalf) by the spokesperson. The quantum of these finely crafted, nuanced and to-the-point statements is staggering. During January 3 to October 4, 2024, alone, the UNSG’s statements reached the figure of 298. As of October 19, 2025, the total number of statements of the UNSG stands at 16,220.
The entire UN organisation-wide efforts comprise contributions of over 100 bodies and organisations, including some 30 agencies, funds, commissions and programs. It is a miracle that in a troubled world where 2 billion people (out of a total 8 billion) live in the world’s conflict zones (PRIO, June 10, 2024), the UN can provide material assistance to hundreds of millions of people by spending over $60 billion (SG Report 2024). The 2025 UNSG report (For Humanity) enlists the expenses (total $14.7 billion) incurred by the UN comprising, peace and security ($7.1 billion); drug control, crime prevention and combating terrorism ($544 million), promotion and protection of human rights ($476 million); promotion of justice and international law ($195 million); development in Africa ($133 million); and disarmament ($46 million). The entire UN system-wide expenses stood at $69 billion (including the specialised agencies, funds and programs).
Most of the UN member states have been looking to the UN System, comprising commissions, programs, funds, expert bodies, research & training, special entities, and ‘specialised agencies’ (functional organisations). These agencies do commendable jobs, such as civil aviation (ICAO), health (WHO), education & culture (UNESCO), food & agriculture (FAO), atomic energy (IAEA), labour (ILO), meteorology (WMO), etc. In the face of insurmountable global challenges, the UN system has sought to address the gigantic task within very limited resources against heavy odds, including periodic “shooting of the messenger” (UNSG; SIS Blog: Oct 08, 2024). It is no wonder that whenever the UNSG has sought to translate into action “mandates” and other Charter ordained tasks that go against narrow national interests of some member states, they have stopped their contributions to the UN fully or partially as well as withdrawn from some of the UN agencies (e.g. WHO and UNICEF) and even declare the UNSG persona non grata (SIS Blog: Oct 08, 2024)!
- Look Ahead: Beyond 80 Years
On September 29, 2025, at the conclusion of the high-level segment of the 80th session of the UNGA, President Annalena Baerbock underscored that “this organisation was created: to tackle the problems no country alone can solve…for a better future that is better together”. During this high-level week (September 23-27 & 29), 189 Member States spoke from the iconic green marbled podium – including 124 heads of states and government, underscoring both the gravity of today’s global challenges and the possibilities of collective action. The institutionalisation of ‘multilateralism’ by the UN, on the bedrock of International Law, would still be relevant at least in the next 75 years of the 21st century.
The 2024 UN Summit of the Future has set an ambitious Pact for the Future (GA Reso. 79/1, Sep 22, 2024) that also comprises (two annexes) the Global Digital Compact and the Declaration on Future Generations. In fact, the Pact provides the UN’s raison d’être to address borderless challenges for securing our common “planetary future” (Green Diplomacy: Oct 01, 2024; EPL 54 (4-6) 2024 205-221; EPL 54 (4-6) 2024 298-305; SIS Blog, June 30, 2024). “Let us be inspired by the legacy of our past…and dare for a better future that is better together. Unafraid. Unbroken. United,” the UNGA President Baerbock (Sep 29, 2025) aptly summed up. Hence, the task is cut out for all the UN members, including founders such as India, who aspire for a rightful seat on the UNSC’s horseshoe table (SIS Blog, March 22, 2024; Oct 01, 2022), to stand by the UN in its hour of existential crisis.
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Prof. Dr. Bharat H. Desai is a Humboldt Award Professor at the University of Bonn, Germany, and serves as the Editor-in-Chief of Environmental Policy and Law, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He was formerly the Chairperson and Professor of International Law at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India.
Daljeet Singh 
Anshu Mishra 
Aayush Pal