UN Pushes for Streamlined Mandates to Boost Global Impact

Thousands of pages of documents used to be printed every day at the UN as pictured in June 1969.

Millions of lives have been improved by mandates assigned to the United Nations. However, duplication, fragmentation, and outdated tasks are stretching resources and undermining the organisation’s ability to deliver effectively. As part of the UN80 Initiative, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has presented a set of proposals to Member States to make the UN more efficient, coherent, and impactful.

Mandates — requests or directives for action issued by the General Assembly, the Security Council, and the Economic and Social Council — have multiplied significantly since 1945. Today, over 40,000 active mandates are serviced by around 400 intergovernmental bodies. These require more than 27,000 meetings a year and generate roughly 2,300 pages of documentation daily, at an estimated annual cost of $360 million.

Mandates guide the UN’s work in over 190 countries and territories, from peacekeeping to humanitarian response and development. However, many are outdated or overlapping, and their complexity is increasing. Since 2020, the average word count of General Assembly resolutions has risen by 55%, while Security Council resolutions are now three times longer than they were 30 years ago.

“Let’s face facts,” said Secretary-General Guterres during a briefing to the General Assembly on Friday, “we cannot expect far greater impact without the means to deliver. By spreading our capacities so thin, we risk becoming more focused on process than on results.”

A lack of coordination further adds to the strain. Several UN entities cite the same mandates to justify separate programmes and budgets, leading to duplication and reduced impact. More than 85% of mandates contain no provisions for review or termination.

“Effective reviews are the exception, not the rule,” Guterres said. “The same mandates are discussed year after year – often with only marginal changes to existing texts.”

The Report of the Mandate Implementation Review, released on 31 July, is part of the Secretary-General’s broader UN80 Initiative — a multi-year effort to modernise how the UN operates. Rather than assessing mandates individually, the report takes a “lifecycle” approach, examining how mandates are created, implemented, and reviewed, and suggesting improvements at each stage.

“Let me be absolutely clear: mandates are the business of Member States,” Guterres told the General Assembly. “They are the expression of your will. And they are the sole property and responsibility of Member States. The vital task of creating, reviewing, or retiring them lies with you – and you alone. Our role is to implement them – fully, faithfully, and efficiently.”

“This report respects that division,” he added. “It looks at how we carry out the mandates you entrust to us.”

To reduce duplication and complexity, the report proposes digital mandate registries to track adopted mandates across different bodies. It also encourages shorter, clearer resolutions with realistic resource allocations.

The report highlights the growing operational burden of meetings and reports. In 2023, the UN system supported 27,000 meetings and produced 1,100 reports — three out of five on recurring topics.

“Meetings and reports are essential,” said Guterres. “But we must ask: Are we using our limited resources in the most effective way?”

The proposals include reducing the number of reports and meetings, streamlining formats, and monitoring report usage to ensure relevance. The Secretary-General is also calling for stronger coordination among UN entities to avoid overlap and ensure each mandate is tied to clear outcomes.

The report warns that fragmented funding is weakening delivery. In 2023, 80% of UN funding came from voluntary contributions, 85% of which were earmarked.

“Fragmented funding, combined with fragmented implementation, leads to fragmented impact,” Guterres said. “Each of us has a role to play to address this. And each of us must act on the levers within our control.”

For Guterres, reform is not just about improving processes but about making real-world impact.

“Mandates are not ends in themselves,” he said. “They are tools – to deliver real results, in real lives, in the real world.”

He praised UN staff for their crucial role in this process. “None of the work in implementing mandates is possible without our staff – the women and men of the United Nations,” he said. “Their expertise, dedication, and courage are indispensable. If we are to improve mandate delivery, we must also support and empower our staff.”

In closing, the Secretary-General stressed that the next steps must come from Member States.

“The path forward is yours to decide,” he said. “My responsibility is to ensure the Secretariat provides the capacity and support required for the course of action you choose.”

The report invites Member States to consider a time-bound intergovernmental process to carry the proposals forward, aiming to build a more agile, coherent, and impactful UN capable of better serving people worldwide.