This Week @UN: Next UN SecGen poll; GenZ Moroccans; UN pay cuts?; Russia/China manipulate human rights funding; reviving the UN Charter.
Plus: West Bank olives; Sudan overlooked; new UNDP boss; ICJ ruling; Gaza goods; UN the Octogenarian.
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• Our #1 story this week: Vote for the Next UN Secretary-General, from PassBlue POLL CLOSES 11:59 PM, SUNDAY, OCT. 26.
• US-UN Tracker: The current US-led Security Council draft text to soon renew the mandate of Minurso, the UN peacekeeping mission in the contested territory of Western Sahara, backs Morocco’s autonomy proposal; welcomes “President Trump’s leadership on conflict resolution in Western Sahara”; and aims to extend Minurso’s mandate to only Jan. 31, 2026. According to sources familiar with the negotiations, Russia is likely to veto the text, but Minurso’s future remains doubtful. (Relatedly: France 24 report on a “peace agreement” between Algeria and Morocco.)
Letter to the monthly rotating president of the UN Security Council (Russia), from Ambassador Sidi Omar, representative of the Frente Polisario independence movement at the UN, in part: “The Frente POLISARIO underscores that the draft resolution, which reflects the national position of the penholder, is a very dangerous, unprecedented departure not only from the principles of international law underpinning Western Sahara as a question of decolonization, but also from the basis upon which the Security Council has addressed Western Sahara. It also contains elements that strike at the heart of the foundations of the UN peace process in Western Sahara and constitute a grave violation of the international status of the Territory.” — DULCIE LEIMBACH
PassBlue this week:
• Vote for the Next UN Secretary-General, an informal, independent poll from PassBlue; vote closes at 11:59 PM, Oct. 26
• GenZ212: Young People Confront Morocco’s Political Void, op-ed by Said Salmi
• US Wants UN Salaries Cut, but D.C. Is Singing to the Wrong Choir, by Damilola Banjo
• Russia and China Accused of Damaging UN Human Rights Funding, by Michelle Langrand
• Why the UN Needs a Charter Conversation, Not More Power Struggles, by Kerstin Leitner & Jordan Ryan
UN News:
Monday, Oct. 20
• Spokesperson’s briefing: The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that half of the 71 Israeli settler attacks it registered in the West Bank from Oct. 7-13, amid the olive-harvest season, included “attacks on harvesters, theft of crops and harvesting equipment, and vandalism of olive trees,” resulting in Palestinian casualties and property damage in 27 villages. DropSite: Gaza’s olive trees destroyed.
Tuesday, Oct. 21
• Spokesperson’s briefing: OCHA said it continues to scale up response in Sudan as rising violence deepens the humanitarian crisis in North Darfur State, noting that on Oct. 19-20 alone, some 350 families, mostly women, children and older people, fleeing the besieged state capital of El Fasher arrived in the town of Tawila in “dire condition.” Approximately 600,000 displaced people fleeing the capital and surrounding areas now seek refuge in the town, arriving after walking for days, finding no shelter, inadequate food and unsafe water.
Conditions in El Fasher and across North Darfur remain extremely precarious, UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq noted, with heavy shelling striking main parts of the city, endangering thousands of civilians. Authorities report more than 109,000 people displaced across 127 sites, with limited access to essentials and several community kitchens shut due to depleted supplies.
While the war in Gaza and Ukraine still dominate headlines, Sudan’s tragedy keeps unfolding largely unnoticed by the world. “It’s a silent catastrophe,” said a senior humanitarian analyst in Nairobi. “We are seeing entire regions collapse, but without political urgency or international spotlight.” [Update, Oct. 23: Four United Nations agencies called for “urgent international attention on the crisis in Sudan. . . ., adding that “Over 900 days of brutal fighting, widespread violations of human rights, famine, and the breakdown of life-sustaining services have pushed millions to the brink of survival, particularly women and children.”] — ASIM AHMED KHAN
• Asked whether the next UN leader should be a woman, UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said the decision is “in the hands of the Member States, and we don’t have a say in that particular process” but acknowledged the notion has received “widespread support,” including from the current secretary-general, and that “a larger number of Member States are talking about that.”
• US ax to grind on UN peace mission in Kosovo, saying: “There is no security crisis in Kosovo, and UNMIK no longer has a role in the governance of Kosovo. The time has come to draw down the mission.” UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s report on the mission.
• Alexander De Croo, a former prime minister of Belgium, has reportedly been picked by Guterres to head the UN Development Program, subject to board approval and a General Assembly vote.
• Musical chairs: Miroslav Jenca of Slovakia shifts from UN assistant secretary-general for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas to special representative for Colombia and head of the UN Verification Mission in Colombia, effective Oct. 23. His former post is proposed to be merged, per UN80 reform, with the Mideast and Asia/Pacific portfolio, according to an announcement seen by PassBlue. The director of the Europe and Central Asia division, Kayoko Gotoh will be officer-in-chief for Jenca’s portfolio. Gotoh will work with Laura Flores and her team in the Americas Division, as well as Josiane Ambiehl and the Decolonization Unit.
Wednesday, Oct. 22
• Spokesperson’s briefing: Secretary-General António Guterres said he “hopes that Israel will abide by” the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) advisory opinion that, as the occupying force, the country is responsible under international law for facilitating “relief schemes” led by the UN and other aid organizations in the Palestinian territories. The UN boss said the opinion “comes at a moment in which we are doing everything we can to boost our humanitarian aid in Gaza.” His full remarks.
• Steven Hill of the US is named assistant secretary-general for legal affairs, succeeding Stephen Mathias, also American.
Thursday, Oct. 23
• Spokesperson’s briefing: Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN deputy special coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, told the Security Council that aid flow into Gaza has increased 46 percent since the first week of the ceasefire, as tracked by the UN 2720 Mechanism for Gaza, but Israel must allow “more crossings and functional relief corridors, safe passage for aid workers and civilians, unrestricted entry of goods, sustained entry of fuel, and operational space for the UN and NGOs,” he said. An OCHA assessment of two collective centers in Gaza City, hosting more than 200 families, found services “almost non-existent, with no medical points, mobile health teams or nutrition screening available” and latrines and sewage systems needing urgent repairs. Population-monitoring flows across Gaza report that people continue to move toward areas that were off-limits before the ceasefire. More than 435,000 movements have been reported from southern to northern parts of the strip since Oct. 10.
Friday, Oct. 24
• Spokesperson’s briefing: On the 80th anniversary of enacting the UN Charter, in 1945, UN Deputy Spokesperson Haq said that the UN, facing “new and complex challenges,” is working to “renew the foundations of international cooperation, and to ensure that it can deliver for people everywhere” through the 2030 Agenda, the Pact for the Future, and the UN80 initiative.
Joining the Security Council session on the “future” of the UN, a topic initiated by Russia, Guterres reminded the members by videolink of the “many pivotal occasions” in which the body has ended the “scourge of war” — helping Cambodia to emerge from genocide and South Africa to overcome apartheid — but warned that the Council’s “legitimacy is fragile” and called for its reform, notably expanding its membership, saying, “It is our duty to forge a body that can meet the challenges of the next 80 years, one that delivers justice and safety for all.”
Other comments, in part, ranged from the triumphs and flaws of the UN, the Gaza war, fixing the Security Council and even selecting the next UN leader:
China: “The UN should remain the primary platform for the world to jointly formulate international rules, jointly govern global affairs, and jointly share the fruits of development.”
Denmark: “The selection of the Secretary-General is much more than filling a position, it is perhaps the most consequential act this Council will make in the next year. How we come to that decision is also important. It must be transparent and inclusive, building on the important progress made in 2015. After 80 years, it is long past time for a woman to be at the helm of this organisation.”
France: “In the face of excesses, fragmentation and disorder in the world, it is a multilateralism of values, law, and action that must guide us.”
Pakistan: “Today, nothing is more anachronistic than the individual permanent membership [of the Security Council] – who pursue their own national interest represent nobody and are accountable to no one. The overwhelming majority of UN membership believes that this is the fundamental problem facing the Security Council.”
Russia: “The challenges of our time cannot be surmounted without involving the UN as a unique coordinating mechanism for finding collective solutions.”
South Korea: “The history of the Republic of Korea stands as evidence of the UN‘s critical role: rising from the scars of division and the ashes of war, our nation has achieved progress in industrializaion and democracy.”
US: “The next Secretary-General should reject initiatives that fall outside the Charter’s founding purpose, prioritize accountability and transparency, and respect state sovereignty. We believe the process for selection of such an important position should be purely merit-based with as wide a pool of candidates as possible. Colleagues, with this in mind, the United States invites candidates from all regional groupings.”
ICYMI:
• Japan: 1st female prime minister
• Women: Wars on Women Escalate as Global Conflicts Reach Record Highs: UN report
• UN SecGen selection: General Assembly’s 2025 ‘Revitalization’ Resolution Advances Process for Appointing Next Secretary-General
• SecGen civil society: Atlas Movement activist group petitions UN independent expert on the international order to reform the selection process
• UN Trade/Development budget woes? https://genevasolutions.news/sustainable-business-finance/unctad-meets-in-geneva-as-budget-pressures-put-mission-on-the-line?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
• Gaza: UN Staff for Gaza launch memorial project
• Brunei Darussalam: Joins the Inter-Parliamentary Union
• Hate speech: Online speech provokes offline attacks: PRIO report
• UN80: A new photo exhibition, “Building Our Future Together,” at UNHQ and elsewhere, sponsored by Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland
We welcome your comments on this article. What are your thoughts on the UN's 80th birthday?
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Arthur Bassas is a researcher and writer who graduated from St. Andrews in Scotland, majoring in international relations and terrorism. He lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., and speaks English and French.
