The 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly begins in New York on 22 September, with around 130 heads of state and government taking part. The meetings will put the international organisation’s ability to deal with wars and cross-border crises to a new test, amid financial pressures threatening its capacity to fulfil its roles and declining scope for consensus among major powers.
The main meetings will continue until 26 September, with the session scheduled to conclude on 28 September under the theme: “Restoring trust, managing transformation: delivering for all through the United Nations.”
The agenda is not limited to leaders’ speeches and diplomatic meetings, as it also encompasses open conflicts and economic and security challenges, alongside the rapid rise of artificial intelligence as an issue whose repercussions exceed any one country’s ability to control.
The session is being held at a time when the United Nations is facing questions over its ability to move from managing crises and monitoring their repercussions to having a real influence on their course. The widening disputes among major international powers make this role more difficult, reducing the chances of reaching common positions on a number of conflicts and issues before the organisation’s institutions.
Limits on consensus and a test of the organisation’s role
This year’s meetings will see US President Donald Trump return to the United Nations platform, while Chinese President Xi Jinping will be absent from New York. The session also coincides with UN Secretary-General António Guterres approaching the end of his term in December 2026, adding another dimension to discussions about the organisation’s role and the effectiveness of its institutions.
The Middle East is at the top of the international agenda amid the continuing confrontation between the United States, Israel and Iran, and its repercussions, which are no longer confined to direct battlefields. The effects of the escalation have extended to maritime security, energy supplies and global trade, making the crisis linked to economic and security interests beyond the region’s borders.
Concerns are focused particularly on vital maritime routes, amid the possibility of the Houthis becoming involved in shipping through the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
This possibility is adding further pressure on the shipping sector and energy markets at a time when military calculations overlap with international commercial interests, while containing the escalation is becoming more difficult as its regional and international effects expand. In Europe, the Russia-Ukraine war remains one of the most prominent tests facing the international system as the conflict enters its fifth year.
The escalation’s repercussions for shipping and energy
The war’s repercussions are not limited to security issues or military operations within the borders of the two countries, but extend to energy and food markets and global trade, placing developments in the conflict firmly among the issues discussed by leaders taking part in the General Assembly meetings.
Black Sea security is an important issue linked to the war, alongside the continued flow of grain, fertiliser and energy exports. These matters are receiving international attention because of their impact on supplies and markets, while diplomatic efforts continue to find paths that could help reduce the escalation and create conditions for a political settlement to the conflict.
The United Nations faces clear political constraints over Ukraine, as Russia’s veto power on the Security Council limits the council’s ability to adopt binding measures to end the war.
This obstruction highlights the gap between the scale of the challenges confronting the international system and its ability to build consensus among major powers on mechanisms to address them, directly affecting the organisation’s role and the effectiveness of its institutions. Alongside armed conflicts, artificial intelligence is imposing itself on the session’s agenda as one of the international system’s most prominent new challenges.
The Ukraine war and the limits of Security Council action
This technology is no longer merely an economic or technical issue. It has become linked to security, the labour market, the economy and the future of global risk management, as its uses expand and its capabilities are developed at an accelerating pace by multiple countries and companies.
One of the main difficulties surrounding this issue is that artificial intelligence capabilities are developing faster than the process of establishing rules governing their use. This is fuelling an international debate over how to balance the benefits of the technology with limiting the risks that could result from its deployment and widespread use in sensitive and influential sectors.
Guterres places artificial intelligence governance among the United Nations’ priorities, calling on the countries and companies leading its development to adopt shared safeguards to prevent technological competition from becoming a race whose repercussions are difficult to control.
Efforts to regulate artificial intelligence internationally
These calls are part of the organisation’s efforts to build an international framework that treats the technology as an issue transcending national borders. In 2023, the United Nations established an advisory body comprising government officials and experts from the technology sector and academia.
The move aimed to develop an international approach to artificial intelligence governance, as the organisation seeks to bring together governments, technology developers and scientific experts to formulate shared rules that limit risks while enabling the benefits of technological progress.
