On October 24, 2025, the United Nations celebrated 80 years of its charter. It was signed in 1945, and it was the beginning of the UN and the start of international cooperation efforts, the establishment of a global peace framework, and the protection of human rights. While the global system and international relations are based on multilateralism, the international community and global peace framework observe it.
The UN established a framework for a new kind of diplomacy
It stated that the world was to be divided into a series of sovereign nations, all of which have the right to peacefully resolve their differences and remain as a collective security structure. The Organization, in the peace-driven world, humanitarian aid activities, and sustainable development, has incorporated 193 member states into its structures, which are current global system’s activities and structures of the organization.
However, the UN’s 80th birthday is not the same as the global optimism of the UN’s post-war years. On the UN’s 80th anniversary page, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres states that the world is in a post-war global optimism. He states that the system is in crisis, and that the world paths of the international order, global systems, and relations frameworks are in a global systems integration crisis due to integration, climate change, and inequality.
The breakdown of global alliances, the rise of nationalism, and the growing disregard for international norms have all contributed to what many experts call a crisis of multilateralism. Global solidarity was already weak before the COVID-19 pandemic, and vaccine nationalism and unequal recovery highlighted the systems flaws. The Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan conflicts, on the other hand, emphasize the UN’s incapacity to maintain peace and protect civilians.
In order to retain relevance, the UN needs to make systematic changes
A recent policy brief for the International Peace Institute, “The UN at 80: Charting a Path for the Future of Multilateralism,” focuses on the claim that to retain relevance, the UN needs to make systematic changes. The report suggested the UN Security Council, civil society reframing, and the establishment of digital governance to handle the threats of cyber-warfare, disinformation, and other emerging tools of governance.
Failure to modify its decision-making skills remains the most burning of labels placed on the UN. As a crisis ensues, the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council and veto holders remaining in place keep the Council stagnant. While voices on reforms, including the addition of permanent members from the Global South, circulate, it remains politically difficult.
Challenges don’t prevent the UN from being an important forum for communications and partnership. With the World Health Organization, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and UNICEF, the UN offers critical services globally.
Challenges don’t prevent the UN from being an important forum for communications and partnership
With the World Health Organization, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and UNICEF, the UN offers critical services globally. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were established in 2015 to target the challenges of poverty, inequality, and climate change by 2030.
The UN has a positive reputation, but as it celebrates its anniversaries, it has been said that the UN has to be more flexible, more accommodating, and more responsive. The anniversary is not a time to look back but to change. Antonia Guterres has asked the delegates to the UN to take the values of the UN charter and reimagine multilateralism for the 21st century.
To make progress, there must be confidence in bold leadership and innovative new ideas. No matter the challenges the UN has, the world has trust in the UN to make a positive change. Complex world problems need cooperation, especially the cooperation outlined in the UN charter.