Marc Limon and Lola Sánchez Arcos

As the UN enters its 80^th year, it does so amid a profound financial, political, and legitimacy crisis, marked by significant shortfalls in mandatory and voluntary funding, growing contestation of the value of multilateralism, and waning confidence in the UN’s ability to prevent conflict, protect human rights, and ensure sustainable development. UN Secretary-General Guterres’ proposed ‘UN80’ reforms seek to address these challenges by answering one vital question: ‘How can the UN adapt to become more agile, integrated, and equipped to respond to today’s complex global challenges amid tightening resources?’ The stakes are higher than bureaucratic streamlining: UN80’s success will determine whether the multilateral system can regain public trust and relevance in an era of global uncertainty.

In this new policy brief, URG’s Executive Director Marc Limon and researcher Lola Sánchez Arcos argue that key to the success of UN80 will be to place human rights at its core. Doing so will ensure that the reforms improve the efficiency of the system, but also strengthen the UN’s capacity to protect and promote the rights of the people it is meant to serve.