UN | The world doesn’t work, and now in New York is the most serious effort in a long time to fix it

UN can’t get anything done, is the general lament. The world organization has long been unable to intervene in wars, for example, because its only solid institution is broken.

Only the decisions of the Security Council bind the member countries, but the veto power of its five permanent members – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States – overturns the intentions of this.

The Security Council reflects the world almost 80 years ago: the permanent members are the victorious powers of the Second World War (Russia as the heir of the Soviet Union).

There has been enough talk about reforming the UN since the end of the Cold War, and at the same time the gap between Western countries and Russia has become more and more insurmountable.

To the problem we are looking for a solution with the forces of 193 member states in New York, where the future summit will be held from Sunday to Monday and from Tuesday the culmination of the general assembly, a high-level week that brings together the heads of state.

It is to be approved at the summit futures contract. Its ambitious goal is to reform the way in which multilateral cooperation and institutions under the UN function. The agreement is going to get the support of every single member country, which is apt to water down very bold policies.

“The risk is that it only brings the obstacles to international cooperation into the spotlight”, wrote earlier in September Richard Gowanwho leads the work of the International Crisis Group conflict resolution organization at the UN.

“As one high-ranking diplomat who participated in the negotiations before the summit noted, it has been difficult to focus on innovation at the UN when there are arguments over Gaza and Ukraine in the background.”

of the UN general secretary António Guterres has called the future summit he conceived as “the best opportunity in a generation” to strengthen the functionality and effectiveness of global cooperation.

In that, Guterres is right that there hasn’t been any similar attempt in a couple of ten years.

It’s about how the UN countries together solve conflicts, climate change and nature loss or, for example, defend human rights. There are two additional parts to the agreement that apply commitments to future generations and pain points of digital development.

One of the most controversial issues is the reform of international financial cooperation. Everyone talks about a fairer distribution of decision-making power, but the prosperous countries are not ready to give up their dominant position in the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Carnegie think tank researchers Stewart Patrick and Minh-Thu Pham they wrote on Thursday that the biggest dividing line in the handshake of the futures contract is not between West and East but between North and South. Developing countries demand a more active role and say in the new world order.

In the worst the node still has the security council. Its reform would require changing the UN Charter, which requires two-thirds of the General Assembly and all five permanent member countries of the Council to support it.

The most common questions are: Should the number of rotating or also permanent members of the Council be increased? Which countries could qualify as new permanent members? Could they also be offered the right of veto? On the contrary, should the right to veto be taken away from the current ones as well?

The latter demanded President of Finland Alexander Stubbalthough experts and even Stubb himself rated it unrealistic.

Stubb would double the number of permanent member countries and enable their membership to be suspended, for example, on the basis of an illegal war.

Abundant for Stubb, who has been president for half a year, the general assembly is like a big cocktail party: an opportunity to meet several heads of state at once, whom he doesn’t often come across in Europe. It lowers the threshold for cooperation and, in the best case, increases Stubb’s and Finland’s influence.

Stubb will give Finland’s national speech at the future summit on Monday late afternoon Finnish time and at the general assembly on Wednesday evening Finnish time. His program also includes a meeting with Secretary-General Guterres and the President of the United States Joe Biden reception.

Stubb travels with his spouse By Suzanne Innes-Stubb with. The Finnish delegation also includes the Minister of Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen (kok), Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio (ps) and the Minister of Social Security Sanni Grahn-Laasonen (cook).

Tuesday the most burning topics of the high-level week that begins are the wars in the Middle East, Sudan and Ukraine. The most anticipated speakers in the General Assembly Hall include the parties to the conflicts.

Iran’s new president Masud Pezeškian appearing on Tuesday, the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu and the President of the UN Observer State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday.

Iranian sources told Reuters that Pezeškian is trying to defuse tensions but “emphasizes Iran’s right to retaliate” against Israel.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi speaks on Wednesday and has promised to present his new “winning plan” to his allies during the week. President of Russia Vladimir Putin has not been to the UN General Assembly for years. Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov the speech is on Saturday.

According to established custom, the host country’s Biden speaks second on the opening day, right after the president of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva after.

The standard start stems from the fact that in the early days of the UN, Brazil always offered to speak when no other country wanted to.