Officially founded in 1945, the United Nations has six principal organs, including the General Assembly which established the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in 2012. The HLPF meets annually under the auspice of another UN organ, the Social and Economic Council and is tasked with following up on a country’s progress of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.
In 2022, the HLPF met from July 5th to July 15th at the UN headquarters in New York to discuss “Building Back Better” while advancing the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Among the many hours-long discussions on the effects of climate change, the importance of forests, and biodiversity, came subtle digs at the United Nations’ lack of real power.
Though only mentioned two or three times, some speakers such as Paula Caballero called for an end to the multiple annual summits that only result in the need for more summits. Instead, she called for a single summit that should be “disruptive” so that the UN is as relevant and decisive as it needs to be according to Ms. Caballero.
Ms. Caballero further emphasized the need for more than just political declarations but rather called for action instead. This call for action comes only days after Pope Francis stated that while the UN has been helpful in certain situations, it “has no power to assert its authority.”
Pope Francis is not the only one to share this concern or belief. There have been numerous articles published everywhere from Fox News to The Guardian detailing the many failings of the United Nations, such as stalling on dealing with apartheid or preventing genocides, and more recently for its inaction to help Ukraine. And while the statements made at the UN during the HLPF meetings did not directly call out the United Nations’ lack of action or power, it does beg the question of what the point of all these weeks and hours-long summits, sessions, and meetings is if they amount to no real change.
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