{"id":6318,"date":"2026-06-13T19:22:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T16:22:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/?p=6318"},"modified":"2026-06-13T19:22:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T16:22:35","slug":"un-requires-complete-overhaul-to-restore-credibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/un-requires-complete-overhaul-to-restore-credibility\/","title":{"rendered":"UN Requires Complete Overhaul to Restore Credibility"},"content":{"rendered":"

Established in 1945 on Manhattan’s East River in the aftermath of World War II, the UN was conceived to prevent humanity from repeating the catastrophic conflicts that had claimed 100 million lives across two world wars. The institution was meant to succeed where the League of Nations had failed, creating a functional forum capable of resolving international disputes before they escalated into global disasters, according to New York Post<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Today, that founding vision faces unprecedented challenges. Outgoing Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres<\/strong> has warned of imminent financial collapse and what he described as a race to bankruptcy, as the organization struggles with severe fiscal instability and mounting arrears from member nations.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Harounoff<\/strong>, Israel’s outgoing International Spokesperson to the United Nations and author of “Unveiled: Inside Iran’s #WomanLifeFreedom Revolt,” has witnessed these failures from the inside during his two years working within the UN system. His observations include UNRWA’s troubling connections to Hamas surrounding the October 7 massacre and the secretary-general’s delayed response to the Islamic Republic’s killing of Iranian protesters in January.<\/p>\n

The failures stem largely from a bloated bureaucracy that has grown inefficient and unwieldy over the decades. Yet Harounoff maintains the institution can still be salvaged if it undertakes dramatic reforms at this critical juncture.<\/p>\n

Trump Administration Pushes Major Structural Overhaul<\/h2>\n

US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz<\/strong> outlined the Trump administration’s “Make the UN Great Again” initiative in comments to New York Post<\/em>, emphasizing that Washington is forcing the institution to prioritize effectiveness over expansive ambition. The United States contributes roughly one-quarter of the UN’s regular budget, exceeding the combined assessed dues of 180 member states.<\/p>\n

Waltz detailed sweeping cuts being pushed by the administration, including relocating nearly 3,000 bureaucrats from the New York headquarters and implementing a 25 percent reduction in peacekeeping personnel worldwide. These measures aim to reverse what the Trump team views as wasteful redundancy throughout the UN system.<\/p>\n

President Trump’s earlier withdrawal from several UN agencies, including UNESCO, the World Health Organization, and the UN Human Rights Council, reflected similar concerns about institutional bloat. Waltz pointed to the climate bureaucracy as a prime example, noting that seven separate agencies with their own headquarters, staff, and overhead all focus on climate issues.<\/p>\n

Leadership Crisis Looms as Candidates Acknowledge Dysfunction<\/h2>\n

Budget cuts alone will not restore the UN’s standing, according to a veteran European journalist covering the organization. The institution requires decisive leadership capable of defending the UN charter, breaking through paralysis, and demonstrating relevance to the populations it was created to serve.<\/p>\n

The severity of the leadership crisis is evident in how every candidate seeking to replace Guterres has acknowledged the organization’s dysfunction. Rebeca Grynspan<\/strong>, the Costa Rican candidate hoping to become the first female secretary-general, warned that trust in the UN is eroding as many perceive the organization as absent from critical war negotiations. She characterized the institution as confronting political, legitimacy, and operational crises simultaneously.<\/p>\n

Rafael Grossi<\/strong>, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency and another leading candidate, similarly called for renewed effectiveness. He emphasized the world needs a United Nations capable of responding to contemporary challenges with impartiality and a results-oriented approach grounded in facts.<\/p>\n

Financial Crisis Reflects Deeper Institutional Problems<\/h2>\n

The next secretary-general will inherit an organization plagued by diminishing public trust, deepening geopolitical divisions, chronic financial instability, and growing skepticism from its principal funders. The United States currently owes approximately four billion dollars in arrears to the UN, reflecting Washington’s dissatisfaction with the institution’s performance.<\/p>\n

Despite these formidable challenges, Harounoff argues that crises can generate opportunities for transformation. The fundamental premise behind the UN’s creation remains sound: international cooperation, however flawed, is preferable to global chaos. The question now is whether the organization can demonstrate it still possesses the capacity to fulfill that essential mission in a rapidly changing world.<\/p>\n

With information from New York Post<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United Nations faces potential irrelevance amid corruption scandals and funding crises, prompting calls for sweeping reforms as it struggles with bureaucratic inefficiency nearly 80 years after its founding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":6317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[4064,2382,6593,6592,6595,6594,204],"nfg_topic":[135],"class_list":["post-6318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-antonio-guterres","tag-corruption-scandal","tag-financial-crisis","tag-institutional-reform","tag-international-organizations","tag-new-york-usa","tag-united-nations","nfg_topic-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6318"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6330,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6318\/revisions\/6330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6318"},{"taxonomy":"nfg_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nfg_topic?post=6318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}