The United Nations finished revising its 2026 proposed program budget, outlining over $500 million in reductions as part of a sweeping internal reform plan. The measures, known as the UN80 initiative, are a response to a critical funding shortage.
Briefing reporters at the opening of the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, Secretary-General António Guterres compared the upcoming high-level week to a "World Cup of diplomacy" that provides a crucial opportunity to solve global problems, including his own plans for 150 bilateral meetings among nations.
“International cooperation is straining under pressures unseen in our lifetimes,” he said. "Let this be a week of solutions."
As part of the assembly's work, an informal ad hoc working group held its first session, meeting for over three hours to hammer out UN80, which coincides with the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations.
"The UN80 initiative aims to move us towards an effective and sustainable United Nations," Guy Ryder, the U.N. undersecretary-general for policy appointed by Guterres to lead the effort since March, told the meeting.
The proposed budget, communicated to an advisory committee, would reduce resources by 15.1% and cut 18.8% of posts in the regular budget. The cuts are part of a broader goal to reduce the U.N.'s current budget of $3.72 billion by up to 20%. The staff reductions would affect approximately 2,800 posts out of 14,000 covered by the regular budget.
Guterres argued the cuts are "carefully calibrated" to protect core mandates while addressing a projected 30% shrinkage in resources.
An internal U.N. simulation concluded that without such cuts, the secretariat would run out of funds to pay salaries and suppliers by September. Guterres says the decline in resources over the past seven years is due to member nations failing to pay their annual dues in full. Last year, 41 of 193 member nations, including the U.S., did not do so.
Technology and transparency at issue
The austerity plan draws criticism from staff and observers. Ian Richards, executive secretary of the Staff Coordinating Council at the U.N. Office in Geneva, says the cuts disproportionately affect lower-grade positions, while leaving 97% of the undersecretary-general posts intact.
Departments critical to development and peacekeeping will be hit hardest. Peacekeeping staff face a 29% reduction in one category, and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs faces a 19% budget cut.
Some view UN80 as an attempt to deliver short-term results rather than make tougher but needed structural reforms. Richard Gowan, a director at the International Crisis Group in New York, suggests in a recent commentary that the U.N.'s relevance can be boosted through cost-efficient agile missions using new technologies like drones, instead of costly large-scale peacekeeping operations.
The U.N. also faces a transparency challenge. A report by non-profit ReformWorks indicates that while the organization provides vast amounts of financial data, it struggles to translate that into public trust and to counter public misinformation about foreign aid spending.
A recent working paper from the American Enterprise Institute adds a new dimension to the debate, arguing for a reduction in U.N. salaries. It says over two-thirds of the regular budget includes "unreasonable overcompensation" for U.N. professional staff who receive 10% to 20% more than equivalent U.S. civil servants.
The budget proposal now goes to the U.N. General Assembly’s budget-writing Fifth Committee to negotiate its final approval. A significant divide is expected fbetween Western countries that want greater efficiency and developing nations that fear the cuts jeopardize the aid they receive and their representation within the world body.
