UN report shows: Almost no one reads UN reports
The United Nations issues more than 1,000 reports a year, but most are barely read, according to a study by the organisation itself on how to make its work “more impactful and coherent”. The revelation comes as the UN marks its 80th anniversary amid a deepening identity crisis.
In March, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres launched the UN80 Task Force – a reform initiative to review how the Secretariat carries out its thousands of tasks and reduce administrative overload.
According to a report released a few days ago, the Secretariat published 1,100 reports last year - a 20% increase since 1990 - and supported 27,000 meetings with the participation of 240 units.
“The sheer number of meetings and reports is pushing the system – and all of us – to the brink of collapse,” Mr. Guterres said at a press conference on August 1.
Many of these reports are not widely read. The top 5% were downloaded more than 5,500 times, while 1 in 5 received fewer than 1,000 downloads. And downloading does not necessarily mean reading.
It's unclear how many people have downloaded the latest version of these reports, but a UN tweet about the effective reform effort — despite its compelling video clip — has only garnered a few thousand views.
Founded after World War II by the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain, France and China, the organization originally had 51 members and was designed to prevent war and promote cooperation. Now with 193 member states, the UN is facing what many experts describe as a crisis of confidence. Mr. Guterres has hit back, insisting that “our values have never been more aligned.”
In that context, calls for reform of the United Nations have become increasingly strong. Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a meeting with Mr. Guterres at the BRICS summit last year, declared that the United Nations should reform to keep up with global changes and bring greater representation to developing countries.
India is also one of the strongest advocates for reform of global governance institutions. Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar has compared the UN to “an old company that has not kept up with the market but is still occupying space”.
