The United Nations remains the only and irreplaceable space where humanity comes together to overcome common challenges, the place where States, despite their legitimate differences, work daily to understand one another. In times of difficulty, as today, we must seize every opportunity for collaboration to advance towards peace and people’s well-being. This document outlines my vision for a successful and forward-looking organization. The priorities presented are not exhaustive, but they reflect key areas of focus under the mandate entrusted to the Secretary General. They serve as guiding lines for action, rooted in the responsibility to uphold the values and effectiveness of the United Nations.
Building the United Nations the world needs must be the cornerstone of our collective mission: an effective, efficient, agile, transparent, and accountable institution capable of reflecting the complexity of our time and conveniently addressing the challenges of the future, including through developing and strengthening international law as a collective response to new and fast evolving international realities, To achieve this, we must promote a renewal that stays true to the Organization’s founding principles while fully adapting to the challenges of the twenty-first century.
To guide this renewal, we must look in several directions at once. First, backward, reaffirming the principles that gave birth to this Organization, valuing what has been built, and honoring the agreements that have sustained it. Second, inward, with the resolve to carry out the reforms the system requires, always with the goal of strengthening it. Third, outward, to reconnect with people and respond to their demands. And finally, forward, designing a future with collective vision and leadership that will project us toward the centennial of the UN.
All this requires a management approach focused on real, sustainable, and verifiable results that concretely reflect progress in peace, development, and human rights. We need a modern Organization with more straightforward, interconnected, and accessible systems for planning, monitoring, and evaluating that facilitate accountability and transparency before Member States and harness the benefits of digital advances. Administrative efficiency is not an end in itself, but a necessary condition for better serving people, especially those most in need.
In this context, we must transform crises into opportunities, see breaking points as turning points and turn vulnerability into momentum. From climate change to armed conflict, from growing inequality to technological disruption, the future of the UN will depend on its ability to adapt, renew, and lead.
The time to act is now, and it must be done with the highest sense of unity, because only through a revitalized, effective multilateral cooperation, will we be able to respond to the shared challenges of all peoples, everywhere. The vision we propose looks ahead to the Organization’s centennial and rests on four strategic directions.
Looking Inward: Institutional Reform with Purpose
The United Nations faces the challenge of reviewing and modernizing its internal structures to make them more effective, efficient, and coherent, and capable of responding to current challenges. Ongoing reform initiatives represent an opportunity and a strong starting point. We must embrace these necessary processes, turning them into a continuous, day-to-day effort rather than an episodic one, constantly seeking to optimize processes and better manage existing mandates. In this sense, reviewing and adapting does not mean and must not lead to weakening, but strengthening institutional capacity through the elimination of redundancies and the streamlining of bureaucracy. Transparency, accountability, and results assessment must guide the daily actions of the Secretariat and all organs, agencies, funds, and programs.
Equally important is placing prevention at the center of the institutional agenda. Anticipating risks, acting early, and avoiding the escalation of crises requires not only operational capacity but also a comprehensive strategic vision. To achieve this, it is key to reorient and optimize existing human and technical resources, such as political teams deployed in regional and country offices, reinforcing their role in preventive diplomacy, always in full respect of State sovereignty and national ownership, without creating new structures or incurring additional expenses.
Furthermore, neutrality and impartiality are fundamental principles that must be exercised with full respect for international law and in accordance with the UN’s founding principles. Upholding this stance not only reaffirms the Organization’s, particularly the Secretariat’s, commitment to international legality but also strengthens its legitimacy and authority as a reliable actor that provides guarantees to all parties in promoting international peace and security, sustainable development, and the protection of human rights worldwide.
Looking Outward: Reconnecting with People
The UN’s legitimacy is inseparably linked to its ability to be perceived as useful and close to people. In a hyperconnected world saturated with information, where disinformation can undermine trust, it is vital to communicate clearly and transparently the concrete impact of the Organization’s work. Demonstrating tangible results, improving the quality of life, and strengthening people’s identification with multilateralism are strategic priorities.
Reconnecting with people also means ensuring that the UN is seen as an entity delivering effective results in conflict prevention, human rights promotion, sustainable development, and climate action, while remaining accountable to citizens and demonstrating that all entrusted resources are used responsibly and to maximum impact, without adding bureaucratic burdens. This can be achieved through better internal coordination, transparency in management, and consistent communication of progress via accessible and trustworthy digital channels. A concrete example of this service-oriented approach is UNICEF’s work, which combines territorial presence, technological innovation, and partnerships with local communities to ensure access to education, nutrition, and child protection in crisis contexts. This approach demonstrates how coordinated and visible UN action can translate into tangible results that strengthen public trust and reaffirm the value of multilateralism.
The UN must therefore consolidate itself not only as a forum for debate but also as an effective tool at the service of States and societies. To this end, the Organization must directly support the strengthening of national institutions, the adoption of best practices, and cooperation aligned with national priorities. This approach helps build consensus, reinforcing collective well-being and global trust. Achieving this vision also requires a Secretariat that embodies excellence, composed of the most capable and dedicated professionals, selected through transparent and merit-based processes. In this regard, the Secretary General bears a particular responsibility to ensure that the appointment of senior officials reflects the highest standards of competence, integrity, and efficiency, in full service to the Charter and to Member States. Only through such commitment can the Organization fully serve its founding purpose: to advance the collective well-being of all peoples and strengthen global trust.
Looking Backward: Reaffirming Founding Principles
The Preamble of the 1945 Charter remains a living guide to preserve peace, defend human dignity, uphold international law, and promote social progress. These principles must be applied in a manner that effectively responds to current realities and challenges, without losing their validity. The UN’s credibility lies in its capacity to represent and serve all Member States impartially, remaining the common space for dialogue, cooperation, and the peaceful settlement of disputes.
Over the past 80 years, the UN has been the stage for the most significant international collaboration of sovereign states in history: it has prevented and ended wars, advanced decolonization, eradicated diseases, promoted sustainable development, defended human rights and gender equality, and protected humanity’s common heritage, its oceans, biodiversity, and cultural legacy. It has helped confront food crises, protected displaced persons, and denounced violence and oppression. This history is not only a legacy, it is living proof that multilateralism transforms lives, nations, and the very course of humanity. In a few words, it is a testament of the contribution of the United Nations to the advancement of humankind. The Organization’s strength must lie in its ability to effectively implement mandates agreed upon by Member States within the framework of the Charter.
Looking Forward: Designing the Future with Collective Vision and Leadership
Despite the complexity of today’s challenges, this juncture also presents a unique opportunity. For the first time in history, humanity possesses tools capable of connecting global knowledge, eradicating extreme poverty, and aligning economic development with protecting the planet. In this context, the UN’s leadership, with the support of Member States, must embody a transformative vision: preserving its founding principles while boldly adapting itself to the demands of the present and future. The UN cannot confine itself to safeguarding the past; it must act as an architect of the future.
The future of the UN should be built as a space where States not only solve immediate problems but also collectively imagine and design a fairer, more peaceful, and more sustainable world. To achieve this, multilateral governance must become more inclusive, recognizing diverse voices, strengthening cooperation with regional organizations, and distributing responsibilities more equitably among all States.
Strengthening inter-agency coordination and optimizing existing resources allows for more effective responses to global challenges without higher costs or bureaucratic complexity. UN leadership must promote a multilateralism that inspires trust in and, in so doing, stimulates cooperation as the only path to addressing common challenges, from conflict prevention and human rights protection to sustainable development and integrated climate action. Designing the UN’s future for its centennial, therefore, demands a collective vision combining loyalty to its founding principles with the courage to adapt its internal mechanisms, strengthen its legitimacy before societies, and deliver concrete, efficient, and sustainable results for peace, development, and human rights.
We envision a UN guided by leadership that combines continuity and adaptation, principles and action: a leadership capable of serving all Member States equally, strengthening strategic alliances, improving coordination, and linking the three pillars of the Organization—peace and security, development, and human rights—into a coherent, preventive, and efficient agenda.
The strengthening of these three pillars does not require reinventing the UN but fulfilling its mandate rigorously and effectively. Renewal is not about starting from scratch; it is about transforming and improving what is built with courage, responsibility, and creativity. The UN must be the place where bridges are constructed and permanently maintained, where all voices are heard, regardless of size or power, where cooperation is not an option but the only real path toward peace, dignity, and shared development.
The UN stands at a critical juncture, facing unprecedented challenges that test its capacity to respond and adapt. The intensification of armed conflict across regions, the rapid advance of technology, and the growing threat of cyberattacks have outpaced States’ capacities. Added to this are climate crises, no longer future risks but constant and daunting realities affecting millions, and numerous other serious difficulties. All this unfolds amid rising distrust in international institutions and a growing gap between the results of multilateral action and people’s expectations.
Peace and Security
Prevention must lie at the heart of the UN’s action. This means promoting more effective diplomacy, always respectful of State sovereignty and national ownership, strengthening regional and subregional organizations, and consolidating early-warning mechanisms adapted to local realities. When prevention is not enough, responses must be effective, timely, coordinated, impartial, and grounded in international law, integrating peace operations, humanitarian assistance, and political dialogue support, as appropriate.
A Secretary General who maintains a strong field presence and actively engages on the ground can significantly contribute to preventive diplomacy. Through direct interaction with national authorities, regional organizations, and local communities, the Secretary General helps foster dialogue and mutual understanding in contexts of emerging tension. By effectively using their convening power, they can bring together relevant stakeholders to support confidence-building measures and peaceful solutions, reinforcing collective efforts to prevent crises and sustain stability.
Mediation, as part of the “good offices” role of the Secretary General, is one of the essential mechanisms that should be implemented at all stages of a conflict timeline. It is crucial for anticipation, response, and trust-building, which should be employed to prevent crises, protect lives, and achieve lasting peace. By reinforcing the UN’s leadership in mediation, we ensure that diplomacy remains the first and most effective line of defense for international peace and security. Having this solid and well-resourced mediation capacity available to States is essential to act swiftly and impartially. This role requires strengthening partnerships with regional organizations and ensuring coherent coordination among all relevant actors as crucial steps. It also includes, strengthening the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) and its Mediation Support Unit (MSU), which function as key enablers for rapid and flexible responses to emerging crises.
Operational efficiency in peace missions can be improved through regular technical mandate reviews aimed at simplifying tasks, reducing logistical footprints, and making greater use of remote monitoring and data collection technologies. Collaboration among peace, development, and human rights components, in accordance with specific circumstances, can also optimize resources and prevent duplication, all within the existing structure.
It is equally essential to reinforce the existing global legal framework for security and rebuild trust among States to confront both traditional and emerging threats from armed conflict to cyberattacks and disinformation. In this context, transnational organized crime is also a growing challenge, which demands international cooperation and integrated and sustained responses.
Gender perspective must be incorporated into peacebuilding and prevention strategies. Recognizing women as key actors in building peaceful and resilient societies not only improves policy effectiveness but also reflects the UN’s commitment to equality, inclusion, and lasting justice.
Sustainable Development
Sustainable development is not only a goal in itself; it is also a tool for conflict prevention and stability. Eradicating poverty, reducing structural inequalities, and ensuring that no one is left behind remain global priorities. It is essential to strengthen existing multilateral mechanisms, simplify access to climate funds, and promote innovative financial instruments to address the triple planetary crisis effectively. These interconnected global challenges require coordinated, inclusive, and sustainable responses that ensure climate justice, particularly for developing countries and vulnerable communities.
We must advance a true reform of the international financial architecture, facilitating debt relief, promoting investment in sustainable infrastructure, and accelerating a just energy transition. Effective coordination among governments, UN agencies, and local actors, together with results-based management, transparency, and national adaptation, will be crucial.
Emerging technologies such as Al, biotechnology, and advanced data analytics offer unprecedented opportunities to improve education, health, and climate resilience. The UN can play a key role as a global forum for dialogue ensuring that innovation serves everyone, advances sustainable development, and respects human rights.
Special attention must be given to countries in special situations, Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs), and Least Developed Countries (LDCs), which face heightened economic, geographic, and environmental vulnerabilities. These countries need differentiated and sustained support to strengthen resilience, access climate finance, and ensure equitable sustainable development.
In a context of expanding global needs, the United Nations remains uniquely positioned to act where others cannot, as a reliable and impartial actor capable of mobilizing collective action and delivering. Its presence on the ground, combined with its normative mandate, allows the Organization to connect global decisions with the daily realities of people, ensuring that multilateralism delivers tangible benefits and reinforces trust in international cooperation. The UN Development System plays a strategic role in these efforts and must serve States in translating shared commitments into real, sustainable transformations on the ground, ensuring that development contributes to peace, resilience, and social justice.
Human Rights
The respect for and promotion of human rights must remain at the core of all UN action. This requires a more independent, effective, and sustainably financed international system with clear accountability mechanisms.
To strengthen the agility and coherence of the Human Rights pillar, the UN system can consolidate integrated reports that combine information from different agencies, providing a coherent and unified vision of global and regional situations. At the same time, the Office of the High Commissioner can enhance support networks for local defenders through digital training, institutional protection, and legal assistance, using existing platforms to ensure safe and effective communication.
Empowering women and girls, their full and meaningful participation in peace processes and decision-making spaces, and their equal access to education, employment, and technology, are essential to build more just, peaceful, and resilient societies. Preventing and eliminating violence against women is integral to promoting and protecting human rights and demanding a sustained commitment to dignity, security, and well-being for all. This vision reaffirms the importance of international cooperation and joint work within the UN framework to build environments where every person can live free from fear, coercion, and violence.
Reaffirming the centrality of human rights in multilateral action will ensure that the UN remains a global reference for human dignity and social justice.
Toward the Centennial and Beyond
Looking toward the UN’s centennial must inspire a transformation that makes the Organization more efficient, results-oriented, and capable of anticipating crises while fostering trust in dialogue and cooperation as the legitimate and effective path to delivering on mandates in the three pillars of the Charter. The UN’s effectiveness is measured not only by the breadth of its mission but by the quality and impact of its actions. Management must focus on verifiable, sustainable, and measurable results that concretely reflect progress in peace, development, and human rights.
Strengthening institutional capacity must be guided by the principle of doing the most with existing resources, which must be appropriate, optimizing structures, reducing duplication, and promoting inter-agency coordination. Management should be proactive, flexible, and evidence-based, with an organizational culture that rewards innovation, responsibility, and service. The leadership of the Secretary General must steer this modernization effort, fostering a Secretariat that is agile, coherent, and fully committed to the Organization’s strategic objectives and principles.
The new Secretary General, with the concurrence and support of the Member States, must be in a position to sustain and advance ongoing administrative reforms through the formulation of concrete and structured plans, established within clearly defined timeframes and supported by measurable and verifiable results. Such an approach is essential to ensuring institutional efficiency, transparency, and accountability, and to enabling systematic evaluation of progress toward agreed objectives.
Reinforcing the UN as the preeminent global forum means reaffirming its role as the legitimate, impartial, and universal space where the most urgent and important issues of common concern to humanity are addressed. In a world fragmented by disinformation, polarization, and power competition, the UN must be the place where differences become consensus, where words are coupled with action and outweigh violence, and where collective decisions reflect our shared responsibility to preserve peace and human dignity.
The UN Secretariat building, the first of its kind in New York, stands as a symbol of modernity and openness. Its glass facade, reflecting the sky and the city around it, was designed to project transparency and hope, a mirror in which the entire world can see itself. In that reflection, humanity recognizes both its achievements and contradictions and finds the opportunity to adjust its course and project outward the light of its highest aspirations. Thus, the UN Headquarters not only houses multilateral diplomacy but also reminds us, day after day, that building global peace and justice begins by daring to look at our own reflection and deciding to shine together into the future.
Looking toward its centennial, the UN must project itself as an organization that is efficient in management, coherent and effective in action, and reliable in leadership, capable of once again inspiring the peoples of the world. Its relevance lies not only in its history but in its constant capacity for renewal to remain the place where the world imagines, negotiates, and builds its common future.
Because the twenty-first century demands a UN that does not merely administer the present, but transforms it: an organization that anticipates, that prevents, that unites; a UN that, with effectiveness and humanity, once again becomes the guiding principle and operational compass of international cooperation.
