Faced with escalating global challenges and deepening financial woes, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is spearheading an ambitious drive to reform how the UN functions.
His proposals, part of the broader UN80 Initiative launched in March, aim to cut costs, streamline operations, and modernize the organization’s approach to peace, development, and human rights.
“These are times of peril but they are also times of profound opportunity and obligation. The mission of the United Nations is more urgent than ever.”
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres
The UN80 Initiative revolves around three strategic pillars: enhancing operational efficiency, reviewing the implementation of member-state mandates, and considering significant structural reforms across the UN system. The initiative’s results will shape revised budget estimates for 2026, to be presented in September, with more in-depth proposals slated for the 2027 budget.
According to Mr. Guterres, these reforms are anticipated to deliver “meaningful reductions” to the overall budget. A prime example is the potential 20% staff reduction in the departments for political and peacekeeping affairs, achieved by eliminating duplication in roles and services. He noted that this could serve as a standard across the organization while accounting for the specific needs of each department.
Further cost-cutting measures include consolidating all counter-terrorism efforts under the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), terminating expensive building leases, and relocating jobs away from high-cost duty stations to more affordable areas.
“There might be immediate, one-off costs involved in relocating staff and providing potential termination packages. But by moving posts from high-cost locations, we can reduce our commercial footprint in those cities and reduce our post and non-post costs.”
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres
Areas of Reform
The first area of reform — efficiencies and upgrades — focuses on creating a new model for centralizing services, using more automation, and expanding digital platforms. Departments based in New York and Geneva have been tasked with assessing whether teams can be moved to cheaper locations, reduced in size, or dissolved altogether.
The second stream of the UN80 Initiative tackles the operational review of how mandates are executed. The review, however, does not reconsider the mandates themselves, which remain under the jurisdiction of Member States. A preliminary survey revealed more than 3,600 unique mandates handled by the UN Secretariat alone, triggering a deeper review to determine how effectively these are being implemented.
Mr. Guterres emphasized that the vast number of mandates and their complex implementation disproportionately burdens smaller Member States, which often lack the capacity to fully engage in the bureaucracy. “Based on this work, Member States may wish to consider the opportunity to conduct themselves a review of the mandates,” he noted.
The third and most transformative focus area — structural reform — is already in motion. Nearly 50 reform proposals have been submitted by senior UN officials. Mr. Guterres praised the contributions for their “high level of ambition and creativity.” The key sectors earmarked for structural review include peace and security, development, human rights, humanitarian response, training, and specialized UN agencies.
Despite the scope of the reforms, Mr. Guterres acknowledged that these initiatives “are not an answer” to the UN’s ongoing liquidity crisis, although they are expected to soften its impact. The core issue, he stressed, is persistent non-payment of dues by Member States.
“The liquidity crisis is caused by one simple fact – the arrears,” he said, pointing out that structural reform cannot replace the need for timely and full financial contributions.
Data shared by the UN Controller shows that only $1.8 billion of the $3.5 billion regular budget for 2025 has been received, leaving a funding gap of nearly 50%. As of April 30, unpaid contributions totaled $2.4 billion, with the United States alone owing around $1.5 billion. Other significant arrears include China ($597 million), Russia ($72 million), Saudi Arabia ($42 million), Mexico ($38 million), and Venezuela ($38 million). An additional $137 million remains outstanding from various other countries.
The peacekeeping budget, which operates on a separate July-to-June cycle, also faces serious shortfalls. Unpaid dues, including past arrears, now stand at $2.7 billion. For the International Tribunals, contributions in arrears total $79 million.
As the UN moves forward with its reform agenda, Mr. Guterres remains clear-eyed about the challenges ahead. But he believes the changes are essential to secure the organization’s future relevance and ability to respond to a rapidly evolving global landscape.
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