Overweight and weak: On the UN, the 81st session of the UN General Assembly

The 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) could have been written off as just another year, with another set of speeches delivered on the global multilateral stage. However, this year, the UN’s annual Summit has a unique sense of urgency. This is UN Secretary-General (UNSG) António Guterres’s final session, after a tenure marked by a record number of global crises, conflicts, pandemics, climate disasters and the advent of a dangerous age of Artificial Intelligence. Not since the Second World War have there been so many conflicts; one study recorded more than 65 conflicts across 35 countries in 2025, the highest since 1946. Growing polarisation on every major issue, wars by global superpowers in violation of the UN charter, nuclear threats and the imposition of unilateral and illegitimate sanctions have weakened the UN, which at 81 seems overweight, weak and unrepresentative of the world. This makes it an important year for the world to unite in favour of a strengthened and reformed UN while choosing the next UNSG to guide that process over the next decade. This is an important year for South Asia too, with the election of Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman as the President of the UNGA’s 81st session; he will oversee the UNSG’s selection. It was disappointing that the world’s most powerful leaders and those at the heart of the conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza and the Persian Gulf failed to suggest solutions for the future. U.S. President Donald Trump spoke about the possible “annihilation” of Iran, and defended U.S. actions in Venezuela. Much to India’s chagrin, he again claimed to have negotiated peace in conflicts including the 2025 India-Pakistan four-day war. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian referred to the U.S. and Israel as “murderers, terrorists and assassins”. The Russian President skipped the session, while the U.S. denied visas to the Palestinian delegation. An initiative led by the European Union and a few other countries, co-sponsored by India, to build a Partnership for Multilateralism (P4M) beyond superpower hegemony is well-meaning, but was drowned out by the rancour at this year’s UNGA.

For India, this year was significant as the Narendra Modi government launched a campaign for a second two-year non-permanent term in the UN Security Council in 2028-29. It was therefore surprising that Mr. Modi decided to skip the UNGA speech this year, and the multilateral summits on the side-lines, fresh from his hosting of the Delhi BRICS Summit. India’s voice, of a balancing power that speaks for a rules-based international order based on the UN Charter, diplomacy and dialogue, is needed more than ever amidst the global warmongering.