Next UN chief faces reform test as wars and funding strains mount

The next United Nations secretary-general will take office on January 1 with the task of leading an 81-year-old organisation that many say no longer reflects the modern world. The UN has also been pushed out of the main efforts to end wars in Iran, Ukraine and Gaza, while a financial crisis has forced cuts to humanitarian and development work.

The annual gathering of world leaders at the UN, which ended last week, offered a clear sense of what the next chief will need to address: reform of the organisation, a stronger role in conflict mediation, and restoring confidence in multilateralism at a time of deep global divisions.

In his farewell address to the General Assembly, outgoing Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, "The world does not need a weaker United Nations." He added, "It needs a UN strong enough to face the world as it is, and determined enough to build the world as it should."

After 10 years at the helm, Guterres said he remained firmly convinced that the UN's greatest strength was its ability to help build a better future for everyone. "Our shared future will be forged by whether humanity can govern power wisely," he said. He then set out the challenges for his successor, the 193 countries in the General Assembly and "humanity itself".

He asked whether they would "uphold the law before impunity becomes normalised", "end wars before they consume generations", tackle inequality "before societies fracture", accelerate climate action "before tipping points are crossed", and govern artificial intelligence "before it governs us".

For the next secretary-general, whose selection is under way, a top priority will be reshaping the UN to reflect the 21st century rather than the post-World War II order in which it was created. Kizito Byenkya, advocacy director at the Open Society Institute, said the new UN chief "will have the most monumental task that the UN has faced in decades because you have a UN that's going through this critical reform process that it has not gone through for a long time".

The UN's financial crisis, driven mainly by billions of dollars owed by the United States, has led to budget cuts, attempts to consolidate programmes and agencies, and efforts to remove hundreds of mandates requiring the Secretariat to take action and submit reports, many of which are never read.

At the same time, Byenkya said there was strong pressure on the next secretary-general to take on a more direct political role. "You have huge pressure on all sides for the new secretary-general to act like a general and really play a central role in mediation for world conflicts," he told The Associated Press, citing the late Kofi Annan as a secretary-general who became directly involved in conflicts and was a skilled mediator and negotiator.

Referring to recent wars, he said, "If you look at the conflicts we've been facing in the last few years, let's say from Gaza to Sudan to Ukraine and more, you often have to ask yourself: Where has the role of the United Nations been with all of these?" He added, "In the time of Kofi Annan, he was center to all."

During the high-level week, many leaders backed reform, but major differences remain over how to achieve it, especially in the Security Council. All UN member states want the council to better reflect today's world, but there is no agreement on how it should be expanded. That has blocked progress for decades.

The five permanent members - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France - still hold veto power. Africa, with 1.5 billion people, has no permanent seat. Latin America has none, and neither do island nations threatened by climate change.

Ghana President John Mahama told world leaders, "Security Council reform is not a favour to Africa. It is an imperative for the legitimacy, credibility, and survival of the United Nations." He also pointed to what may be the hardest challenge for the next UN chief: the world's "intense fragmentation, deepening inequality and eroded trust in our multilateral system".

"We must address the alarming breakdown of global order today," Mahama said, warning of "the dangerous drift toward unilateralism". Praising the UN Charter, he said its founding purpose of preventing another world war "must reign supreme over the cynical doctrine that 'might makes right.'"

As the selection process continues, the next secretary-general faces a broad agenda: reform a body shaped by World War II, deal with a financial squeeze, push the UN back into global peacemaking, and respond to appeals from leaders for a stronger and more credible multilateral system.