UN at 80: Reform or fade into irrelevance

Eighty years after its founding, the United Nations stands at a defining moment. Created in 1945 to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war and to foster peace, security, and development, the UN emerged as humanity’s most ambitious experiment in global governance. Yet today, its credibility is under mounting strain. From the wars in […]

Eighty years after its founding, the United Nations stands at a defining moment. Created in 1945 to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war and to foster peace, security, and development, the UN emerged as humanity’s most ambitious experiment in global governance. Yet today, its credibility is under mounting strain. From the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, to the humanitarian crises in Sudan, Yemen, and Myanmar, to the accelerating climate emergency, the UN often appears paralysed, unable to act decisively when the world needs it most.

The very architecture that gave the UN legitimacy after the Second World War has become its greatest liability. The Security Council, meant to safeguard peace, is now a theatre of deadlock. Its five permanent members, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, hold veto powers that can, and often do, silence the will of the majority. This imbalance was evident in the repeated failures to adopt resolutions on Ukraine, Gaza, and Syria, where geopolitical rivalries eclipsed humanitarian imperatives. For countries in the Global South, the system entrenches inequality, leaving them marginalised in decisions that affect the entire world.

Eighty years later, that house of peace is showing its cracks. At this year’s 80th UN General Assembly in New York, the speeches of African leaders carried a blunt message, reform this institution, or it will wither into irrelevance. The tone was not begging, not diplomatic courtesy. It was direct, even defiant. Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima reminded the Assembly that when the UN was founded, Nigeria did not exist as a sovereign state. It was a colony of 20 million people, excluded from the tables where decisions about its future were made. Today, Nigeria is a nation of more than 236 million, projected to become the third most populous country on earth. It has been a stabilising force in West Africa, a consistent peacekeeping partner, and a youthful powerhouse. Yet it still has no permanent seat on the Security Council. His point was sharp, the UN can only recover its credibility when it reflects the world as it is, not as it was.

Kenya’s President William Ruto raised the stakes even higher. Standing at the UNGA podium, he cut through the diplomatic niceties. Africa, he declared, deserves two permanent seats on the Security Council, complete with veto power. This is not a favour to Africa, he said, but a necessity for the UN’s own survival. The world cannot keep pretending that a continent of 1.4 billion people, the youngest continent, home to some of the fastest-growing economies, should remain voiceless in the council that spends most of its time debating African crises. “Africa dominates most of the Security Council’s agenda,” Ruto said, “yet we remain the only continent without a permanent seat at the table.” His frustration was palpable, and his warning unmistakable.

The gap between the UN’s lofty ideals and its limited impact is widening. Peacekeeping missions are stretched thin, development goals remain unmet, and trust in multilateralism is varnishing. In Africa, the Lake Chad region remains a flashpoint of terrorism and displacement, yet UN responses are seen as sluggish. In Asia, the plight of the Rohingya people remains unresolved. And globally, the Sustainable Development Goals are far off track, with poverty, inequality, and hunger rising once again. 

Still, all is not lost. Across its vast system, there are pockets of innovation and resilience. The UN has been instrumental in shaping the Paris Agreement on climate change, advancing the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and coordinating global humanitarian aid during the COVID-19 pandemic. Its agencies such as WHO, UNICEF, UNHCR, WFP, and others remain lifelines for millions. These successes, however, highlight the paradox, the UN works best when insulated from geopolitics but falters when political will is required. This crisis of relevance is not happening in a vacuum. The world order is shifting. Finnish President Alexander Stubb said it out loud: the post-Cold War era is over, and power is moving south and east. Africa, Asia, and Latin America are no longer spectators. They are rising as political, economic, and cultural forces. Demographics alone make this inevitable, Africa’s population is booming, and its youth are pushing the boundaries of innovation, trade, and culture. To deny such regions a seat at the table is to deny reality itself

At this juncture, reform is no longer a luxury, it is an existential necessity. Calls to expand the Security Council, including permanent seats for Africa and Latin America, have gained traction but stalled in endless debate. Proposals for limiting the veto in cases of mass atrocities remain blocked by the very powers that benefit from the status quo. Meanwhile, younger and smaller nations grow impatient, questioning why an institution meant to represent “We the Peoples” should be beholden to a few powerful states.

At its 80th anniversary, the UN faces a stark choice, adapt or become irrelevant. Reform must start with restoring trust, making the UN more representative, transparent, and accountable. This means democratising the Security Council, strengthening the General Assembly’s role, and investing in preventive diplomacy rather than reactive crisis management. It also means giving civil society, youth, and marginalized voices a genuine seat at the table, not just token participation.

The world of 1945 is not the world of 2025. New challenges, cybersecurity threats, artificial intelligence, pandemics, climate-induced migration, demand a UN that is agile and forward-looking. Regional organisations from the African Union to ASEAN are already stepping in where the UN lags behind. If the UN cannot reform, its authority will continue to erode, and power will shift further to ad-hoc coalitions and regional blocs.

The UN has been called humanity’s “last, best hope.” Whether it lives up to that promise depends on the courage of its members to embrace change. The alternative is clear, a slow slide into irrelevance, where the UN becomes a bystander in global affairs, reduced to issuing statements while others shape the world’s destiny.

At 80, the United Nations is old enough to know better, and still young enough to change. The question is not whether it can reform, but whether the political will exists to make it happen. History will not wait. The world cannot afford a UN that drifts. The time to choose is now.

 

Samaila wrote from Damaturu and he can be reached at [email protected]