In the context of the new normal that has unfolded post-COVID-19, and as we plan and rebuild to recovery, what does the future of the United Nations look like to you? To answer this question, we must go back to the beginning.
2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the signing of the U.N. charter — an agreement built upon a war that swept the world into mistrust, hatred, and destruction. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, history is repeating itself.
The new normal has exposed the fragility of the global balance in a world that is increasingly fragmented. It has exposed the worst of humanity by exacerbating inequality and climate change. And most of all, it has exposed the U.N.’s own weaknesses in its painfully slow response.
The U.N. is in dire need of modernization, and from this crisis we are forced either to fail or to evolve. The outcome lies in the future generation.
Young people are powerful in their fearless optimism — an optimism that 75 years prior believed in peace after a raging world war. As similar world reordering repeats itself, today’s youth can see beyond the crisis: A recent poll indicated that 93% of young participants believed the U.N. would see its centennial year.