Updates from the UN General Assembly 2025

World leaders are gathering in New York during the week of 22 September for the UN General Assembly’s annual high-level session. They will find an organisation in trauma, reeling from U.S. funding cuts and facing both political pushback and operational threats in conflict-affected states around the globe. Amid the chaos of today’s world, there has been little real debate at the UN about where the organisation is headed.

Despite its many flaws, the UN handles humanitarian and peacekeeping tasks that few other organisations can undertake. It offers a safety net for civilians in numerous war zones and a channel for communication among states about divisive issues. The wider UN membership faces tough choices about how to manage the fallout of U.S. decisions, both for the UN as an institution and for the various crises where it is engaged.

Though the UN cannot avoid retrenchment, its member states should try to minimise the fallout. They can offer the organisation political, diplomatic and financial support in tackling both headline-grabbing crises and those that have been forgotten. They can also work with international officials to reform the institution as it weathers today’s global turbulence.

This special coverage page will feature all of Crisis Group’s work related to the UN General Assembly’s High-Level Week in 2025, as well as its broader work on the UN from the past year.

In the run up to and during UNGA High-Level Week, Crisis Group will publish regular previews providing insight into upcoming events of interest at the UN, including brief comments from Crisis Group analysts.

• UN General Assembly Insights: Monday 22 September
• UN General Assembly Insights: Tuesday 23 September
• UN General Assembly Insights: Wednesday 24 September
• UN General Assembly Insights: Thursday 25 September
• UN General Assembly Insights: Friday 26 September

As the annual high-level meeting of the General Assembly at the UN approaches, the organisation faces severe political and financial challenges. But it can still use sanctions, peace operations and aid to address mounting crises.

Published 9 September 2025. Available here and in French here.

World leaders arriving in New York for the UN General Assembly in September will find a world organisation in trauma. Funding cuts have hit hard, and the wider UN membership faces tough choices about how to manage the fall out. Despite long-term questions over its future, the UN can still play a major role in a wide range of countries, conflicts and areas of work.

Published 15 September. Available here.

This week on Hold Your Fire!, Richard Atwood speaks with Richard Gowan, Crisis Group’s UN director, about this year’s UN General Assembly High-Level Week and whether the organisation can remain relevant.

Published 19 September. Available here. 

New York is set to become the stage for the UN’s General Assembly next week. In a series of short reels, our UN expert, Maya Ungar, explains what the UNGA is and what is likely to happen there: 

• Reel one, published 17 September 2025.
• Reel two, published 19 September 2025.
• Reel three, published 26 September 2025. 

• Overlooked Crises Compete for Oxygen at the U.N. General Assembly
  By Richard Gowan, originally published in World Politics Review on 22 September 2025.
• The U.N. Security Council is Struggling. We Still Need It
  By Richard Gowan, originally published in Time on 22 September 2025.
• America’s Infuriating and Irreplaceable Role at the U.N.
  By Richard Gowan, originally published in Foreign Policy on 19 September 2025.
• At the Coming U.N. Leaders Meetings: Existential Questions on the U.S. Role, Israel-Palestine, and the U.N. Itself
  By Richard Gowan, originally published in Just Security on 16 September 2025.
• 80 Years After Hiroshima, Nuclear Risks Are Rising
  By Comfort Ero, originally published in Foreign Policy on 5 August 2025.
• At 80, the U.N. Is Down But Not Out
  By Richard Gowan, originally published in Foreign Policy on 25 July 2025.
• To Survive Its Existential Crisis, the U.N. Must Learn From the Past
  By Richard Gowan, originally published in World Politics Review on 16 April 2025.

The UK, France and Germany are preparing to trigger reimposition of UN sanctions on Iran unless Tehran agrees to restore international monitoring and negotiate restrictions on its nuclear program. In this Q&A, Crisis Group experts Naysan Rafati and Daniel Forti explain what might come next.

Published 25 August 2025. Available here.

On 18 August, Murithi Mutiga, Crisis Group’s Program Director for Africa, spoke to the UN Security Council on the need for global and regional partners to take urgent action in addressing the perilous situation in South Sudan.

Published on 18 August. Available here.

The mandate for the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon is up for renewal at the end of August. Israel and the U.S. dispute the force’s utility, but it continues to play a key role in stabilising the precarious situation in the country’s south.

Published 14 August. Available here.

In this expanded and edited version of a lecture given to the Geneva Centre for Security Policy on 6 May 2025, Crisis Group expert Richard Gowan explores the dilemmas facing UN conflict management and the role multilateral bodies can still play.

Published 24 July 2025. Available here.

Crisis Group expert Maya Ungar on UN Security Council votes on sanctions on South Sudan and enforcement of Libya’s arms embargo. 

Published 3 June 2025. Available here.

Crisis Group President Comfort Ero on her takeaways from the UN peacekeeping summit in Berlin.

Published 19 May 2025. Available here.

Sweeping cuts in U.S. contributions have put UN finances under great strain. Many at the UN have long felt it should slim down, but less thought has been given to what a smaller organisation will mean in practice. It is time to contemplate that question.

Published 16 May 2025. Available here.

Crisis Group expert Daniel Forti on the AU Somalia mission’s financial woes and prospects for future multilateral assistance. 

Published 16 May 2025. Available here.

The annual renewal of the UN arms embargo on South Sudan comes up for a vote in May. In this Q&A, Crisis Group expert Maya Ungar warns that ending the mandate entirely would risk fuelling a return to civil war in the country.

Published 6 May 2025. Available here.