UN gathers amid its 80th anniversary and a ‘free fall’

UNITED NATIONS – When world leaders converge on New York City this week for the annual gathering of the UN General Assembly, the organisation will be observing its 80th anniversary. But the mood is far from celebratory, as wars rage around the world, a budget crisis looms and questions abound about whether the UN is even relevant any more.

Year after year, UN officials and world leaders use the annual gathering to put forth lofty ideas and offer elaborate road maps for change. But tangible progress remains stubbornly elusive.

Russia’s war against Ukraine is more than three years old.

The Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip

has been raging for nearly two years. And the world is still nowhere near achieving its goals on development or a solution for climate change.

Even the UN’s global humanitarian aid work – one of the few areas where the organisation has continued to excel and lead the world – is now threatened by budget cuts, donor apathy and staff reductions.

“We can actually say we are in an organisation that is in sort of a free fall,” said Mr Richard Gowan, the UN director for the International Crisis Group, adding that the coming week is not “going to offer us clear answers to all the UN’s problems, but it may give us a more acute sense exactly how difficult the situation is”.

Still, the annual meeting is a big stage. In addition to US President Donald Trump, more than 140 world leaders and senior officials and delegations from Russia, Ukraine, China, Iran, Syria, Israel and North Korea will convene in one place for what diplomats call “the World Cup of diplomacy”.

It will happen against the backdrop of wars in Ukraine, Sudan and Gaza. Israel’s conduct in Gaza and Palestinian suffering and starvation are expected to be among the themes dominating 2025’s gathering.

On Sept 22, the idea of Palestinian statehood will take centre stage at a conference co-hosted by France and Saudi Arabia. There, France is expected to formally recognise Palestine as a state, joining most of the other UN member states that already do. Australia, Britain and Canada did so on Sept 21, just before the General Assembly.

But Israel and the US oppose the move, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying it will only make Hamas “feel more emboldened”. He warned that a fresh push for Palestinian statehood could provoke an Israeli backlash.

Mr Trump will also figure prominently at 2025’s gathering, with a speaking slot on Sept 23, the first day of speeches.

He returns to the UN podium even as he has been wielding power in unilateral fashion at home and abroad. His relationship with the UN has long been fraught, but he has not completely dismissed it.

“There are great hopes for it but it’s not being well run; to be honest, they are not doing the job,” Mr Trump said in February of the international body. “They’ve got to get their act together.”

Diplomats and UN officials say they will be closely watching Mr Trump’s address to the General Assembly for clues on how his administration intends to engage with the UN in the coming year. Mr Trump has ordered a review of US interactions with the organisation, slashed funding to many of its programmes and withdrawn from multiple UN agencies, as well as from the Paris Agreement on global warming.

Acting US Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea told a reception she hosted for the General Assembly that “the United States approaches this session with a clear vision, rooted in three enduring priorities: peace, sovereignty and liberty”.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said last week at a news conference that he would be “delighted” to meet Mr Trump. The two men have not met or spoken since Mr Trump took office in January, despite several outreach attempts by Mr Guterres, according to two diplomats and a senior UN official.

Seemingly appealing to Mr Trump’s affinity for playing peacemaker, Mr Guterres suggested that the two leaders could work together in novel ways to resolve global conflicts. He said the UN possessed contacts, experience and expertise but had no mechanism to enforce pressure on countries or grant rewards.

The US, however, “has carrots and sticks”, he said. “So in some situations, if you are able to combine the two, I think we can have a very effective way to make sure that some peace processes at least can lead to a successful result.”

The UN has repeatedly shown itself to be unable to stem conflict. This is because conflict resolution and prevention is the work of the UN Security Council, where geopolitical divisions among world powers cripple its work.

In 2025, anxiety over the organisation’s finances is also palpable. The UN is currently short on cash because countries are delaying payment of their mandatory dues or not paying at all. Separately, it is also facing a budget crisis, which could prevent it from running its agencies and peacekeeping missions, after cuts from member states – especially from the US, which has been the UN’s top donor. NYTIMES