United Nations & Multilateralism - Archive

The debate over a global development agenda beyond 2030 has begun. One lesson should shape it from the outset: Ambitious goals are meaningless without the means to achieve them. 

The 2030 Agenda was underfunded from the beginning: The financial framework the international community could agree on were never sufficient to make the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) achievable. The promised "billions to trillions" model - assuming that a few billion in public finance would mobilise trillions in private investment - never [...]

In times like these, simply refusing to lose sight of the long-term goals in the fight for a better world takes courage. Despite the backlash against the global sustainability agenda, government representatives and stakeholders gathered from 7 to 15 July 2026 at the annual High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) to discuss progress in implementing the 2030 Agenda and its future. This blog presents the key insights that have emerged from the conference.

The global sustainable development agenda remains [...]

In July 2025, governments adopted the Sevilla Commitment, the UN's plan for financing development. We have launched a first independent assessment, which finds that the UN has mostly delivered where it can act alone. Member States are moving too slowly on commitments, and some commitments are even backsliding. But where the International Monetary Fund needs to act, progress has stalled, and civil society organisations have stepped in instead. Read the full assessment - 43 commitments, rated from done to backsliding.

Deepening fragmentation and a collapse in funding have plunged the global health system into a crisis. A growing number of international organisations, health funds, and multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) are operating in parallel, competing for resources and influence. This raises a central question: Who sets global health priorities and what role should the WHO play going forward?

This list, which is currently incomplete, presents the body of Jens Martens’ published work. Please send any information regarding missing publications to europe@globalpolicy.org.

With the passing of Jens Martens, we have lost a pioneer of global sustainability policy, a mentor and a dear friend. We are deeply saddened by his untimely death. Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time.

Jens Martens left this world far too soon. A world in which people like him are needed more urgently than ever. Jens would have dismissed this, as his marked modesty was one of his defining character traits.

This briefing analyses the political and structural causes behind the lack of progress in implementing the SDGs and discusses different options for an effective “Beyond 2030 Agenda”, from questions of development financing and international cooperation to a fundamental debate about the current understanding of development policy. It is the final publication by our former director Jens Martens, who passed away in May 2026. We publish it in grateful memory of his longstanding commitment to global justice and sustainable development.

This briefing assesses the outcomes of the 2026 UN Financing for Development Forum, examining whether it delivered meaningful progress on implementing the Sevilla commitments or reflected broader paralysis in global economic governance. It finds that the forum largely failed to advance implementation, with weak outcomes, misplaced priorities in the agenda, and growing divergence among Member States limiting progress.

In late January, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres sent a dramatic letter to UN Member States warning about the “imminent financial collapse” of the United Nations Organization. The letter followed earlier warnings that the UN Secretariat might have to reduce expenditure from the regular budget by 15 percent in 2026. This would mean reducing the workforce by about 2,600 staff. 

The situation for many of the UN funds and programmes that rely on voluntary contributions to provide live-saving assistance [...]

From October 20 to 24, 2025, negotiations on a legally binding instrument on business and human rights will take place in Geneva (11th session of the open-ended intergovernmental working group (OEIGWG) on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights).

The UN treaty aims to establish binding rules for companies to respect human rights and provide better access to justice for
victims of human rights violations. If adopted, it will pave the way for comprehensive legislation to [...]

For several weeks now, Germany has been engaged in an intense debate about the welfare state. This was triggered by a statement made by Chancellor Merz of the governing Christian Democratic Union (CDU) state party conference at the end of August: “We simply can no longer afford the system we have today.” Specifically, he wants to cut welfare payments and relieve the burden on the pension funds by making it more attractive to work into old age.

But the welfare [...]

Creating better institutions for international tax cooperation is considered a key pillar of international financial architecture reform. The first round of negotiations for a comprehensive United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation (FCITC) has just concluded at the UN headquarters in New York City. 

Building on preparations by three working groups, the negotiations lasted for two weeks and dealt with the core Framework Convention, as well as two additional protocols – on taxing cross-border services and on tax [...]

From 30 June to 3 July 2025, the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) took place in Sevilla, Spain. According to the United Nations (UN) Member States, the conference was designed to assess progress and obstacles in implementing the decisions of the three previous conferences in Monterrey (2002), Doha (2008) and Addis Ababa (2015), as well as agreeing on measures and initiatives to overcome the obstacles and address new challenges in light of current global crises. The main [...]

The following text is a transcript of a video statement by Bodo Ellmers providing an overview of the final day of the FfD4 conference in Sevilla. You can find the video here.

The final day of the conference focused on systemic issues – namely, the reform of the international financial architecture, including institutions like the IMF and World Bank.

A central theme was Special Drawing Rights (SDRs). Many countries from the Global South voiced disappointment that the conference could [...]

The following text is a transcript of a video statement by Bodo Ellmers providing an overview of his third day at the FfD4 conference. You can find the video here.

Day three of the #FfD4 conference in Sevilla centred on two critical and politically charged issues: Trade and debt.

In the wake of renewed tariff disputes, trade featured prominently on the agenda. But as Bodo Ellmers from Global Policy Forum Europe noted, the conference offered no real solutions — [...]

From 4-6 November 2025, the United Nations (UN) will hold the second World Summit for Social Development (WSSD2) in Doha, Qatar. The first summit on social development took place 30 years ago in Copenhagen. The initiative for a new World Social Summit came from UN Secretary-General António Guterres. He had already spoken out in favour of a global summit in his 2021 Our Common Agenda report. At the time, he took up an initiative from the Club de Madrid. This [...]

From May 19 to 27, 2025, States meet in Geneva for the 78th World Health Assembly (WHA). The central topic on the meeting’s agenda is the pandemic treaty. Governments want to use it to learn lessons from COVID-19 and be better equipped to prevent, prepare for, and respond to future pandemics. After three years of intensive negotiations, governments agreed on the draft text of the treaty on April 16, 2025. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised the agreement as a [...]

From 26 to 28 February 2025, the first key events of the South African G20 presidency took place as Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors held their inaugural meeting in Cape Town, the country’s coastal metropolis. The fifth edition of the Finance in Common Summit, the world’s major gathering of public development banks, took place at the same time, attracting around 2,000 delegates. South Africa is trying to pursue several important streams of financial architecture reforms during their Presidency, but [...]

The international community has made significant strides on the road to the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4). On 17 January 2025, the UN released the draft outcome document for the upcoming Sevilla Conference. The set of multilateral agreements included in the document will become the main global policy framework for development finance, complementing earlier agreements such as the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the Monterrey Consensus. So what does the zero draft include? 

Debt takes centre [...]

The Global People's Assembly 2024 will take place in person from 22-24 September at the UN Church Center in New York. In the PROGRAMME you will find event descriptions for everything happening over the three days. Because of technical challenges people will be able to follow online only the first day of the assembly.

Please click here to register to attend in New York in person

Please click here to register to attend the first day online

 

Tax dodging and harmful tax competition remain major challenges to mobilising sufficient resources for development and public services. A landmark agreement reached in New York on 16 August 2024 could finally provide the international community with an effective tool to tackle these problems. After three weeks of intense negotiations, an ad hoc committee of the UN General Assembly agreed on the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the new UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation. The adopted ToR outline [...]

From 22 to 26 June 2024, the international community gathered in Addis Ababa for the first session of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) for the UN's Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4). The well-attended meeting took place against the backdrop that time is running out to close the financing gap for the SDGs. At the same time, high debt levels in many developing countries are making it increasingly difficult to find suitable financing instruments. 

Wrapping up a decade of [...]

By Bodo Ellmers

International financial architecture (IFA) reform has been a hot topic lately. Numerous expert groups have made policy recommendations, and the developing countries among the UN member states in particular are calling for faster and more fundamental reforms. In the run-up to the Summit of the Future, scheduled for September this year, civil society organisations have been campaigning for a wide range of changes. The latest Spotlight on Global Multilateralism highlighted campaigns for more inclusive global tax [...]

National and regional go-it-alone efforts characterized government action against the COVID-19 pandemic. The guidance of the World Health Organization (WHO), as the overarching and coordinating health body, to ensure equitable and efficient distribution of vaccines and other necessary medical products to contain the pandemic was not heeded. Several governments, philanthropic foundations, and the WHO launched the global multi-stakeholder initiative (MSI) Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) at short notice, with participation of pharmaceutical industry and other MSIs, as a key [...]