UN80: Three Tests to Make Reform About People, Not Spreadsheets

This September the UN turns 80, but the lessons of peace, justice, and cooperation are still unfinished. The world today faces the flames of inequality, conflict, ecological collapse and growing digital threats. In short, the very problems the UN was created to solve are once again staring us in the face.

UN at 80: Civil Society Must Have a Say in the Struggle for Renewal

As the high-level opening week of the UN General Assembly unfolds, with heads of states delivering often self-serving speeches from the UN’s podium, the organisation is undergoing one of its worst set of crises since its founding 80 years ago. This year’s General Assembly – ostensibly focused on development, human rights and peace – comes as wars are raging across multiple continents, climate targets are dangerously being missed and the institution designed to address these global challenges is being hollowed out by funding cuts and political withdrawals.

Attention World Leaders: Prevent Nuclear War, End Arms Race & Abolish Nuclear Weapons

In 2013, frustrated at the lack of progress on nuclear disarmament, the United Nations General Assembly declared September 26 as the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. This international day provides an opportunity to enhance public awareness and education about the threat posed to humanity by nuclear weapons and the necessity for their total elimination.

Record Number of Women Living Within Striking Distance of Military Conflicts

The battlefield is no longer distant; for millions of women, it’s next door. An estimated 676 million women – nearly 17 percent of the global female population – lived within 50 kilometres of a deadly conflict last year, according to a new report from the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). That is the highest figure recorded since the end of the Cold War.

Prospects for the Upcoming High-Level Conference on Rohingya

Last month marked eight years since hundreds of thousands of Rohingya were forcibly displaced from Myanmar’s Rakhine State to Bangladesh by the Myanmar military.

The Rise of Androids Among Human Populations

Despite anxieties, concerns, and warnings, androids or humanoid robots that rely on generative artificial intelligence (GAI) and advanced robotics are increasingly being integrated into the modern lives of human populations. This integration raises serious challenges regarding humanity’s future in an era where androids are emerging rapidly.

Mamdani’s Stand on Genocide is More Important than the Dynamics of Arresting Netanyahu

No leader responsible for mass atrocities enjoys greater impunity on the international stage than Benjamin Netanyahu. This is due to the strange stranglehold of the pro-Israel lobby on the two major political parties in the United States.

UN at 80: a Mixed Legacy of Highs and Lows

As the UN commemorates its 80th anniversary, at a high-level meeting of 138 world political leaders, one lingering question remains: is there any reason for a celebration-- judging by the UN’s mostly failed political performances over the last eight decades?

The Humanitarian Sector is at a Breaking Point: Here’s How to Fix It

As world leaders convene in New York, September 22-30, for the 80th session of the UN General Assembly, they will confront a humanitarian sector in crisis. With only 9% of the $47 billion requested for global humanitarian needs currently funded, the sector faces what UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher calls "a crisis of morale and legitimacy" alongside devastating funding cuts. So where do we go from here?

New Report Investigates Violence Against Women and Girls Through Surrogacy, Sparks Global Dialogue

A United Nations report calling for the global abolition of surrogacy has sparked intense debate among experts, with critics arguing that blanket bans could harm the very women the policy aims to protect.

World Leaders Should Commit to Human Rights, International Justice

World leaders gathering at the United Nations General Assembly from September 22-30, 2025, should commit to protecting the UN from powerful governments seeking to defund and undermine the organization’s capacity to promote human rights and international justice, Human Rights Watch said today.

Gender Equality: The Key to Peace, Prosperity, and Sustainability

On Monday, three decades on from the historic Fourth World Conference on Women, the General Assembly meets to discuss recommitting to, resourcing, and accelerating the implementation of the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action – an historic agreement which mapped the path to achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.

A Meeting of Over 150 World Leaders Under One Roof—& the Day UN Came Under a Terror Attack

When the high-level meeting of the General Assembly takes place, September 22-30—with over 150 world political leaders in town--the UN will be in a locked down mode with extra tight security. With a rash of threats and political killings in the US—including an attempted assassination of Donald Trump when he was campaigning for the US presidency in July 2024-- the list continues.

When Civil Society is Kept Outside, We Should Build a Bigger Room

The recent IPS article, "UNGA’s High-Level Meetings: NGOs Banned Again," served as a stark and painful reminder of a long-standing paradox: the United Nations, an organization founded on the principle of "We the Peoples," often closes its doors to the very communities it was created to serve.

Why the Awaza Declaration Could Rewrite the Future for the World’s Landlocked Nations

The theater of diplomacy can be more revealing than the speeches. Under a scorching Caspian sun in Awaza, two marines lowered their flags with the precision of a ballet. The green silk of Turkmenistan, folded into a neat bundle before the UN’s blue-and-gold standard, fluttered briefly and vanished into waiting hands.

The Cruel Deceptions of Peace in Palestine

In a long past due move, the UN General Assembly voted 142-10 to approve a plan called “The New York Declaration” that hopes to revive the long dead Two State Solution for Palestinian Independence.

Closing the US$1.5 trillion Gap: How FDI can Help Achieve SDGs in Asia & the Pacific

Over the past two decades, foreign direct investment (FDI) has been the single largest and most stable source of external development capital in Asia and the Pacific (see Figure).

Why Collective Healing is Central to Peacebuilding

Wars and oppression leave behind not just rubble and graves. They leave behind invisible wounds, profound trauma carried by survivors. And most often, women carry the largest burden. They are targeted not only because of their gender, but because surviving and leading threaten structures based on patriarchy and domination.

AI Governance: Human Rights in the Balance As Tech Giants and Authoritarians Converge

Algorithms decide who lives and dies in Gaza. AI-powered surveillance tracks journalists in Serbia. Autonomous weapons are paraded through Beijing’s streets in displays of technological might. This isn’t dystopian fiction – it’s today’s reality. As AI reshapes the world, the question of who controls this technology and how it’s governed has become an urgent priority.

NGOs on a Virtual Blacklist at UN High-Level Meetings of World Leaders

When the high-level meeting of over 150 world political leaders takes place September 22-30, thousands of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and their accredited UN representatives will either be banned from the UN premises or permitted into the building on a strictly restricted basis-- as it happens every year.

The United Nations Turns 80: a Miracle it has Lasted So Long

At eighty, the United Nations is bogged down by structural limitations and political divisions that render it powerless to act decisively – nowhere more clearly than in the Gaza genocide.