This article focuses on what UN80 reform means for the UN’s development pillar, which is expected to be a part of it. Proposals on the table include merging UN entities, relocating staff from headquarters to cheaper cities, and “boosting” the leadership role of resident coordinators and national ownership. Yet based on past reform experiences, caution is advised.
Author: Max-Otto Baumann
-
-
For Resolution 2719 to succeed, it must be decoupled from its narrow association with peace enforcement and instead be leveraged across a broader spectrum of peacemaking approaches.
-
At a UN Security Council meeting in February, member states referred to the “crisis of confidence in the UN,” a “palpable loss of trust,” “ruinous mistrust,” and an “unprecedented crisis of credibility.” To help us understand whether the crisis of trust is primarily among political leaders or also the broader public, the survey data we have can provide some insight into what the global public thinks about the UN.
-
The United Nations Peacekeeping Ministerial took place in Berlin earlier this month, bringing together one of the largest numbers of delegations of any ministerial. The UN is grappling with challenges not only from changes in the peace and security landscape, but also due to broader geopolitical shifts, major funding shortages. Against this backdrop, this article outlines three major themes from the ministerial that may continue to influence policymaking and peace operations in the near future.
-
The adoption of the Pandemic Agreement at the 78th World Health Assembly marks a historic milestone in global health governance. It expands the scope for how member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) will address pandemics moving forward. The agreement complements the International Health Regulations and includes language on building health system capacities, the […]
-
One of the core goals of the Pandemic Agreement is to tackle global disparities in access to vaccines, diagnostics, and treatments. A key part of this effort involves technology transfer—the sharing of know-how, intellectual property, and manufacturing capacity. To that end, the agreement introduces a set of obligations aimed at shifting from a charity-based model to an end-to-end ecosystem grounded in equity. This article examines how effectively the agreement addresses technology transfer—one of the most contested issues in the negotiations.
-
Amid geopolitical fragmentation and rising nationalist sentiment, the negotiations leading to the Pandemic Agreement—which was adopted on May 20, 2025 at the World Health Assembly—have shown that multilateral diplomacy is more difficult than ever—but also more vital. For decades, cooperation on global health was treated as self-evident. The shared logic was clear: pandemics, like the climate […]
-
Experts have highlighted that the Latin America and Caribbean region is unique in that several countries’ care policies are situated within their gender equality policies (encompassing a root cause approach) rather than being siloed within economic and poverty reduction policies. Recognizing the vital role of care work and transforming care systems to change the unequal distribution of labor is critical to addressing the root causes of gender inequality.
-
This article looks at five priorities for UN80 reforms based on the outcomes of the 2021 UN Integration Review. The article suggests that reforms cannot be measured by departments merged or posts abolished, but by whether the UN delivers more coherent, effective, and principled support to those it serves. This will require reform not only of structure, but of behavior, leadership, and the compact with member states.
-
Coalitions of the willing are the talk of the town these days and will play a central role in the future security of Ukraine and Europe. Yet, European leaders should not forget that coalitions are only stop-gap measures and anchoring them in a longer-term political-diplomatic strategy is essential.
