A new internal report by the United Nations has found that the vast majority of UN reports receive limited readership, with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calling for fewer meetings and more impactful documents as part of broader efforts to streamline the organisation’s work.
Addressing member states on Friday, Guterres revealed the findings of a report prepared by the UN80 taskforce — a reform initiative launched earlier this year as the UN marks its 80th anniversary. The taskforce examined how UN staff implement thousands of mandates issued by key bodies such as the General Assembly and the Security Council.
According to Guterres, while the UN system supported 27,000 meetings in the previous year involving 240 bodies, it also produced 1,100 reports — a 20 per cent increase since 1990. Despite this volume, many of these documents go largely unread.
“The sheer number of meetings and reports is pushing the system – and all of us – to the breaking point,” he told representatives. “Many of these reports are not widely read. The top five per cent of reports are downloaded over 5,500 times, while one in five receives fewer than 1,000 downloads. And downloading doesn’t necessarily mean reading.”
The Secretary-General said the taskforce’s findings highlighted the need for a more efficient and targeted approach to reporting and meetings, stressing that both human and financial resources were being stretched.
Guterres proposed a leaner system: “Fewer meetings. Fewer reports, but ones that can fully meet the requirements of all mandates.”
The findings come amid a continued liquidity crisis facing the United Nations, now in its seventh consecutive year. Not all 193 member states are paying their assessed contributions in full or on time, leading to growing budgetary constraints for the world body.
The taskforce’s report is one of several reform initiatives underway at the UN as it prepares to mark eight decades of multilateral diplomacy. Guterres is expected to unveil additional proposals in the lead-up to the Summit of the Future scheduled later this year.
