WHAT WOULD A LIVED REALITY OF THE UNGA 81 THEME LOOK LIKE?
“Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations That Delivers for All.”
The theme of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly comes at a time when the world needs to ask an important question:
What would this theme actually look like if it became a lived reality for ordinary people?
The United Nations has extraordinary advantages. It is an organization created by the nations of the world. It brings together 193 Member States, with each having one vote in the General Assembly.
Its membership includes many of the world's most powerful nations. It brings together diplomats, scientists, humanitarian workers, development experts and professionals in virtually every major area of human life.
It has also repeatedly expressed the collective commitment of nations to pursue peace, development, human rights, equality and a better future for humanity.
Yet the UN operates within a difficult international environment.
Some Member States are involved in wars or serious international tensions. Conflicts continue in different parts of the world. Many people remain trapped in poverty and insecurity. The United Nations does not have its own standing military or police force through which it can simply impose decisions upon sovereign states.
It must work largely through the cooperation and decisions of Member States.
It must encourage nations to change course.
It must negotiate.
It must build consensus.
And consensus can take time.
This is not necessarily a weakness of the United Nations alone. It also reflects the international system the UN was created to serve: sovereign nations with different interests, histories, political systems, resources and perceptions of security.
Therefore, restoring trust cannot mean promising that the UN will suddenly become a world government capable of commanding every nation.
It can mean making multilateral cooperation more effective, fair, transparent and practical, so that nations and ordinary people can see the value of working together.
WHAT WOULD PEOPLE ACTUALLY SEE?
If the theme becomes a lived reality, the success of the 81st Session should eventually be visible beyond the UN headquarters.
A person should be able to ask:
Has my community become safer?
Has my family gained greater access to food, water, healthcare, education and economic opportunity?
Are conflicts being prevented before they become wars?
Are civilians better protected when wars occur?
Are countries that make commitments being encouraged and supported to implement them, with progress reported transparently?
Are poorer nations receiving meaningful opportunities to develop rather than remaining permanently dependent on assistance?
Are young people being prepared for the future economy rather than being educated without realistic pathways into productive work?
Is technology being used to reduce inequality rather than deepen it?
These are the kinds of questions that can turn an international theme into a lived reality.
FROM RESOLUTIONS TO RESULTS
One important transformation would be to strengthen the connection between international decisions and measurable results.
Major international commitments should increasingly answer five questions:
What has been agreed?
Who is responsible?
What resources are available?
By what date should progress be demonstrated?
How will the world know whether meaningful progress has been made?
The President of the 81st General Assembly has emphasized that restoring trust requires both delivery and reform, and that concrete results are necessary to demonstrate that the Organization effectively serves the world's people.
This does not mean turning every international problem into a simple numerical target. Some problems require years of diplomacy, institution-building and cooperation.
But the world should be able to distinguish between:
a promise,
a plan,
implementation,
and an actual result.
PEACE WOULD MEAN MORE THAN WAITING FOR WAR
A United Nations that delivers for all would increasingly be judged not only by how it responds after war begins, but also by how effectively international cooperation helps prevent conflict.
The UN's role can therefore include early warning, mediation, preventive diplomacy, peacebuilding, humanitarian preparedness and dialogue between societies before disagreements become armed conflicts.
The objective would not be to remove legitimate differences between nations.
It would be to strengthen mechanisms through which differences can be managed without violence.
Where war nevertheless occurs, important measures of progress include whether civilians are protected, humanitarian assistance reaches those who need it, international humanitarian law is respected and credible pathways toward negotiated solutions remain open.
Peace, security and justice are central to the programme of the 81st session.
THE POWERFUL AND THE WEAK MUST BOTH HAVE A STAKE
Restoring trust will also require confidence that international cooperation is not simply a system in which powerful nations determine what happens to less powerful nations.
At the same time, sovereignty cannot mean that a country has no international responsibilities.
The practical challenge is therefore to strengthen a culture in which sovereignty and responsibility exist together.
Every nation should have a voice.
Every nation should have responsibilities.
And international rules should be applied as consistently as the international system and applicable law permit.
The General Assembly provides an important foundation because all 193 Member States have an equal vote there.
But equal voting rights should also be accompanied by meaningful participation, access to information, capacity-building and opportunities for countries with fewer resources to contribute their knowledge, expertise and interests.
DEVELOPMENT WOULD BECOME SOMETHING PEOPLE CAN EXPERIENCE
A United Nations that delivers for all cannot be satisfied with development conferences while millions of people remain without basic necessities.
The 81st-session programme places sustainable development, acceleration of the Sustainable Development Goals and support for countries in special situations among its priorities, including reducing inequalities, building climate resilience and strengthening development partnerships.
A lived reality would mean that international development cooperation reaches the level of ordinary people.
It would mean:
More safe water.
Better sanitation.
Accessible healthcare.
Quality education.
Food security.
Housing.
Employment and entrepreneurship.
Infrastructure.
Climate resilience.
Protection of vulnerable children, families and communities.
And, importantly, greater opportunities for people to become economically productive and self-reliant rather than remaining permanently dependent on assistance.
AFRICA AND THE DEVELOPING WORLD SHOULD NOT ONLY RECEIVE — THEY SHOULD PARTICIPATE
Managing transformation should also mean recognizing that developing countries are not merely recipients of solutions designed elsewhere.
They have knowledge, experience, young populations, natural resources, entrepreneurs, scientists, professionals and community-based solutions.
The 81st-session programme gives attention to countries in special situations and to international cooperation, including South-South and triangular cooperation.
A lived reality would therefore involve greater exchange of knowledge and practical solutions among countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and other developing regions, alongside continued cooperation with developed countries.
TECHNOLOGY MUST SERVE HUMANITY
The transformation facing the world is also technological.
Artificial intelligence, big data and digital platforms can create enormous opportunities, but they can also create risks involving inequality, bias, surveillance and misuse.
The 81st-session programme therefore places innovation with inclusion among its six pillars and calls for inclusive and evidence-based approaches to emerging technologies.
A lived reality would mean that a child in a poor community is not excluded from the benefits of the digital age simply because of where he or she was born.
It would mean technology helping farmers, teachers, health workers, businesses, governments and communities solve real problems.
RESTORING TRUST WOULD REQUIRE TRANSPARENCY
Trust cannot simply be requested.
It has to be earned.
The UN and Member States would therefore need to communicate clearly about what they are doing, what has succeeded, what has not succeeded, what has been delayed and why.
Citizens should not have to rely only on speeches to determine whether international institutions are working.
They should be able to see evidence.
Progress should be reported.
Failures should be acknowledged.
Lessons should be learned.
Resources should be traceable.
And institutions should be willing to improve approaches that do not produce the intended results.
The President of the 81st General Assembly has specifically emphasized accountability alongside Member States' financial obligations to the Organization.
THE UN WOULD NOT NEED TO BECOME A WORLD GOVERNMENT
Perhaps one of the most important realizations is that the UN can become more effective without becoming a world government.
Its strength can remain in bringing nations together.
It can provide trusted information.
Create common standards.
Coordinate humanitarian action.
Facilitate negotiations.
Support mediation.
Mobilize resources.
Monitor agreed commitments.
Bring expertise together.
Give smaller nations a voice.
And provide a forum where disputes can be addressed before they become catastrophes.
Its strength may therefore lie not in commanding nations, but in making cooperation possible on a scale that no individual nation could achieve alone.
WHAT WOULD THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE?
If the theme succeeds over time, perhaps the most important change would be a change in the relationship between the world's people, their governments and the international system.
A farmer would know that international climate agreements are connected to the resilience of his crops.
A child would experience international cooperation through access to education, healthcare and protection.
A young graduate would see international development creating opportunities rather than merely producing conferences and reports.
A refugee would experience the international system through protection and a realistic pathway toward a durable solution.
A small country would know that its voice matters.
A powerful country would understand that power comes with responsibility.
A country experiencing conflict would have stronger diplomatic pathways available before violence becomes widespread.
And ordinary citizens would increasingly be able to say:
“The international community is not perfect, but it is working together to solve problems that no country can solve alone.”
That is what a lived reality of “Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations That Delivers for All” could begin to look like.
The challenge is not to create a perfect United Nations.
The challenge is to create a United Nations whose words increasingly become action, whose action produces measurable results, whose results restore confidence, and whose cooperation gives humanity greater capacity to solve common problems peacefully.
The 81st Session has identified practical areas through which this can be pursued: peace and security, sustainable development, climate and environmental cooperation, rights and protection, innovation and inclusive multilateral reform.
The ultimate test, however, will not be only what is said in the General Assembly Hall. It will also be what people experience in their homes, communities and nations because the world chose to work together.
Elijah Mutua Kirima
Social Worker
THE WORD OF GOD IS THE WILL OF GOD
