LocationsMultilateralism at a Crossroads:
UN80 & the Road Ahead
By Mohamed Yahya | UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Pakistan
“The United Nations has never been more needed. Our values have never been more relevant. And the needs have never been greater.”UN Secretary-General António Guterres on 12 March 2025, during a press encounter launching the UN80 Initiative in New York
The UN was founded on a simple yet profound premise: cooperation among nations is the surest path to peace, prosperity, and dignity for all. Eight decades later, that vision is under strain. Today’s polycrisis including displacement, climate shocks, debt and inequality, is testing multilateralism. While trust is eroding globally, in Pakistan, the UN and government relations remain defined by confidence and continuity.
Since its inception, Pakistan has been a custodian of multilateralism, contributing to peacekeeping, disarmament, refugee protection and sustainable development; it continues to look to the UN as a trusted partner in moments of crisis and change. The question is not whether the UN remains relevant but how it can become more so. As the UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said: “The United Nations has never been more needed. Our values have never been more relevant. And the needs have never been greater.”
Multilateralism is humanity’s insurance against chaos, enabling countries to pool sovereignty to tackle challenges that no nation can face alone. It has delivered peace, human rights norms, and frameworks for trade, health and development. Therefore, weakening it erodes our resilience, while protecting it secures our shared future.
The UN Secretary-General launched the UN80 reform in the lead-up to the 80th anniversary of the UN. This is a critical moment of renewal. It builds on the three-tiered reform trajectory initiated in 2018 that includes structural reforms to reposition the UN development system, efficiency reforms to maximize impact, and a comprehensive Mandate Implementation Review to align the UN’s work with present realities and challenges.
The Mandate Implementation Review calls for streamlining over 40,000 mandates, many of which have become overly prescriptive and underfunded. The UN80 reforms are aiming to make them more efficient, better resourced and outcome-focused for greater impact.
Why does this matter for Pakistan? Pakistan stands at a pivotal juncture. Despite macroeconomic stability achieved in the last two years, the country is confronting simultaneous development and humanitarian pressures including a narrowing fiscal space, heavy debt servicing and a growing population. Climate change is no longer a distant threat; it is a lived reality, from record heatwaves, melting glaciers, to devastating floods. Women and girls are disproportionately affected as nearly 70 percent of women work in climate-sensitive agriculture and they make up the majority of those displaced by floods and other climate shocks.
In this context, the UN in Pakistan is aligning its work with the reform vision. Under the Sevilla Commitment1 on Financing for Development, we are engaging with international financial institutions, development partners, and government counterparts to mobilize and better target financing for the SDGs. The Resident Coordinator’s Office (RCO) is ensuring that all the UN agencies operate as a cohesive system, leveraging comparative advantages, avoiding duplication, and responding jointly to national priorities. Efficiency measures, such as the Common Back Office2 (CBO) initiative, are streamlining operational services to free up resources for programs and enhance the overall effectiveness of the UN’s work in Pakistan.
The UN is supporting the development of Pakistan’s Energy Transition and Investment Plan. We are advancing the rollout of digital policy frameworks and launching initiatives to strengthen the resilience of food systems.
The UN80 reforms are not inward-looking; they aim to retool multilateralism for the 21st-century realities. For Pakistan, this means a UN that can help navigate debt sustainability, unlock climate finance, harness the demographic dividend and manage global megatrends. The reforms will ensure the UN Country Team can convene partners in crises, deliver integrated policy advice, mobilize financing at scale and amplify Pakistan’s voice in forums on climate, trade, and digital governance. In an era of fragmentation, the UN remains as the only universal platform where all states can engage as equals while the UN Charter principles serve as enduring anchors in turbulent times.
Multilateralism’s future will be decided not in conference halls alone, but in the ability of institutions such as the UN to deliver tangible results in people’s lives. In Pakistan, as in many parts of the world, that means helping a farmer adapt to erratic monsoons, enabling a young woman to access digital skills, and ensuring that a displaced family can rebuild their lives with dignity.
As we mark the UN’s 80th anniversary, the challenge before us is to renew the compact between nations and peoples, to show that even in a changing world, we are united in purpose. The UN80 reforms are our opportunity to do just that.
1. The Sevilla Commitment was adopted at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), held in July 2025 in Seville, Spain, where Member States, UN agencies, and partners set out collective priorities to mobilize resources for the SDGs.
2. A shared service arrangement where UN agencies pool their administrative, procurement, HR, and IT functions