FIRST ON FOX: The United Nations’ UN80 Task Force is examining multiple suggested methods for reorganizing the institution, according to a leaked, confidential document shared with Fox News Digital. The six-page paper cites multiple inefficiencies and areas of improvement needed to combat “geopolitical shifts and substantial reductions in foreign aid budgets” which are “challenging the legitimacy and effectiveness of the organization.”
The effort is “eight and a half years late,” Hugh Dugan, former National Security Council Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for International Organization Affairs, told Fox News Digital: “If [Secretary-General António] Guterres really comprehends that the system needs a major overhaul, he should step down and facilitate an early U.N. Secretary-General election.” Dugan said that “the person with the fresh mandate” should overhaul the U.N.
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Flags of the UN and USA fly outside the United Nations headquarters ahead of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on September 15, 2023. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
The UN80 Task Force document notes that “overlapping mandates, inefficient use of resources, and inconsistent delivery of services” are among the problems with proliferating agencies, funds and programs, and notes ways to integrate, consolidate, and coordinate among reformed entities to maximize the benefit for those who rely on the U.N.
As another means of reducing outlays, the task force also recommended reducing the quantity of high-level posts, establishing single entities to coordinate Peace and Security, Humanitarian Affairs, and Human Rights, and “reduc[ing] the number of U.N. development system entities.”
Dugan said the document “looks more like a whiteboard stream of consciousness approach that you find on the first day of a business retreat.” He said that it lacks mention of human resource improvements, finding ways of recruiting “the very best in the world,” or “identifying performance measurements or metrics against the leaders of the organization, branches, [or] offices.”
Dugan said that the task force is also missing the important confidence-building measures needed to increase buy-in from members, to keep them “impressed and enthusiastic” about U.N. programs. “They’re assuming that they are the leaders that are the right people at the right time.” Dugan said this is “a real shortcoming.”
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is shown on the screen while speaking at the opening ceremony of the UN Internet Governance Forum – IGF 2021 at the International Congress Center in Katowice, Poland, on December 7th, 2021. (Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto)
“I don’t think they have the confidence of the world community or the talents or the resources to hold out another year and a half under this regime of Secretary Guterres,” Dugan said. Rather than utilize the “Noah’s Ark management mentality” of attempting to “weather the storm,” Dugan said that the U.N. must “get very creative very quickly with what they have at hand.”
Dugan noted that the U.N. has gone through a “fall-off in relevance” with its lack of involvement in “real world dynamics between member states.” He urged the organization to identify “the multilateral collateral, meaning we’ve got to identify what’s good, and then we have to get rid of what’s damaged after eight years.”
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In response to concerns shared by Dugan, Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, said that the memo “is the result of an exercise to generate ideas and thoughts from senior officials on how to achieve the Secretary-General’s vision” and is one “of the three work streams that we are working on.”
Dujarric pointed to a speech Guterres delivered in March when introducing the UN80 Initiative, in which he called for an “ambitious reform agenda to strengthen how we work and deliver.” Guterres said this involves increasing transparency and accountability, being more effective and cutting costs, and decentralizing decisions to serve those who rely on the U.N.
The symbol of the United Nations outside the Secretariat Building at United Nations Headquarters. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File) (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
Dujarric also mentioned a speech Guterres gave eight years ago in September 2017, when he lamented the Byzantine bureaucracy that hampers progress at the U.N., and said that he was “pursuing sweeping management reform – to simplify procedures and decentralize decisions, with greater transparency, efficiency and accountability.”
For Dugan, Guterres’ failure to attempt those “sweeping” reforms prior to 2025 is an indication that regime change is needed. He reiterated that “the Secretary-General’s ‘Trust me’ window dressing is no longer convincing us to pay full retail.”
U.S. contributions to the U.N. may also take a hit. In April, a White House Office of Management and Budget passback to the State Department indicated the desire to end funding for international organizations, including the U.N.
Other countries are also falling short with contributions. In March, Guterres’ spokesperson Farhan Haq told Fox News Digital that member states’ non-payment of dues had forced the closure of one staff entrance to the U.N. headquarters in New York City at the time.
