By R Anil Kumar
New York/Bengaluru, Sep 28, 2026. After six days of speeches from the UN General Assembly podium, one word rose above all others: Peace.
This final edition of The Takeaway distils the messages General Assembly President Khalilur Rahman said reverberated through the Assembly Hall and looks at where the 193-member body goes from here.
Closing the annual general debate on Monday, September 28,General Assembly President Khalilur Rahman said leaders had confronted a world of conflict, stalled development, deepening inequality and rapidly accelerating technological change. But amid sharply differing perspectives, he heard a common conviction: the United Nations remains indispensable.
Six days, in six takeaways
- Peace came first. Leaders spoke of it not as a distant ambition, President Rahman said, but as an urgent defence of the UN Charter, international law and the protection of civilians.
- Development is running out of time. With only a fraction of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on track, he offered a blunt verdict on whether more should have been done: “The answer must be a resounding yes.”
- Inequality is shaping the debate. Countries facing the greatest debt burdens, climate vulnerability and fiscal constraints also have among the least influence over the institutions shaping the global economy, he observed.
- Human rights are tested when defending them is difficult. He pointed particularly to the treatment of civilians, minorities, migrants and refugees, and the exclusion of women and girls from education, employment and public life.
- AI has arrived at centre stage. Just four years ago, only five delegations raised artificial intelligence in the Assembly Hall, he said. This year, 128 did, with questions of control, accountability and equitable access looming large.
- Trust may be the hardest deficit to repair. “Trust cannot be commanded,” President Rahman said. “It must be earned through consistency between words and deeds.”
AI’s extraordinary ascent
The striking shift: President Rahman’s numbers illustrate just how dramatically the diplomatic conversation has changed.
AI was discussed by more delegations this year than climate change or human rights, he said. Leaders saw enormous potential in the technology, but also profound questions: Who designs it? Who benefits? Who assumes the risks?
He highlighted one intervention in particular: “No machine possesses democratic legitimacy. No algorithm inherits constitutional responsibility.”
His takeaway was clear: governance must remain human-centred, inclusive and responsive to developing countries, while avoiding a new divide in which a handful of countries and companies control the technologies shaping everyone’s future.
Reform means more than budgets
The bigger question: Can an institution built for an earlier era deliver in this one?
President Rahman said speakers had strongly defended multilateralism, while demanding reform of the institutions through which it operates.
Administrative changes alone would not suffice, he argued, highlighting calls for deeper political reform and describing Africa’s continued exclusion from permanent membership of the Security Council as an injustice.
Ultimately, he suggested, multilateralism must be judged by results rather than process: not by the number of resolutions adopted or meetings held, but by whether collective action “changes realities on the ground.”
The numbers:
According to the Assembly President, 194 speakers took the floor during the 2026 General Debate, including 113 Heads of State and Government, one crown prince, 11 Vice Presidents, seven Deputy Prime Ministers and 48 Ministers.
And up next: The speeches end, the work doesn’t
Monday closes the General Debate, not the General Assembly session.
From 1 October through December, the 193-member Assembly moves deeper into its substantive work, debating global issues, electing key officials and considering the UN budget.
Much of the detailed negotiation and drafting shifts to its six Main Committees, where every Member State is represented and issues range from disarmament and international security to economic, financial, humanitarian and social affairs.
And one particularly consequential decision lies ahead: following a recommendation from the Security Council, the General Assembly will appoint the next UN Secretary-General, who will succeed António Guterres on 1 January 2027.
As President Rahman put it in closing the debate: “This is only the beginning of the session.”
Time to accept ‘hard truths’ so trust can be rebuilt: General Assembly President
The UN’s survival for 80 years is not, by itself, proof of success, and now, the institution must confront painful truths if it hopes to rebuild public trust, said Khalilur Rahman, president of the General Assembly’s 81st session.
Key Points
- The UN has grown from 50 Member States in 1945 to 193 today, but survival alone is not evidence of success
- Global military spending has climbed toward $3 trillion while development assistance fell 23 per cent year-on-year even as progress has stalled for a third of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets
- Africa remains without a permanent Security Council seat after eight decades, which must change as a matter of “fairness, justice” and credibility
“Outside these walls, people are not asking whether the United Nations still exists. They are asking whether it works,” said Khalilur Rahman.
Acknowledging the UN’s failures – including the unresolved Palestinian question and ongoing wars in Sudan, Gaza, Ukraine, Myanmar and across the Middle East – Mr. Rahman balanced this with lesser-known successes.
He cited the return of nearly five million people to their homes in Iraq, ongoing delivery of aid in Haiti despite security challenges and the work of peacekeepers described by one war-torn nation’s representative as builders of “roads and communities”, not just “Blue Helmets”.
Three Paths towards Trust
“Trust is not given,” Mr. Rahman said. “It is earned. Passive ownership is not enough. If we do not claim proactive ownership of this place, we cannot expect it to heal.”
He outlined three paths:
- Honest acknowledgment of institutional shortcomings
- Deep structural reform beyond cosmetic budget changes
- Greater inclusion of businesses, scientists and civil society in UN decision-making, particularly on artificial intelligence (AI)
On Security Council reform, Mr. Rahman renewed calls for fairer representation.
“When the Security Council works, the United Nations works,” he said.
After eight decades without a permanent African seat despite the continent’s central role in peacekeeping operations, Mr. Rahman called for action.
“Africa needs a seat at the table, not to be on the menu,” he said,
Military Spending Spikes
He flagged a stark funding imbalance: development assistance fell 23 per cent year-on-year to roughly $175 billion, even as global military spending approached $3 trillion – marking 11 consecutive years of growth.
Despite this, Mr. Rahman pointed to genuine progress:
- Nearly a billion people gained access to safe drinking water over the past decade
- Electricity now reaches 92 per cent of the world’s population
- Internet access has risen from 40 to 74 per cent
AI Guardrails
On artificial intelligence, Mr. Rahman urged the UN not to fall further behind.
He warned that AI is already embedded in critical systems worldwide and called for “prudent and reliable guardrails” developed with scientific input from outside government.
“We cannot allow an arms race for control of AI to carry us over the precipice,” he said.
Fighting Hate
Hateful narratives are spreading like wildfire across borders and into homes at unprecedented speed and scale, targeting women and girls, minorities, migrants, refugees and persons with disabilities, often for political gain, Mr. Rahman said.
“We must choose dialogue and tolerance and foster a culture in which human rights are respected not only in law, but in our daily interactions, and we must stop the cherry picking of those rights that fit our respective cultures or the politics of the day,” he said.
In addition, new and emerging technologies are used to amplify lies, manipulate public debate, spread hatred and give incitement to violence faster and farther than ever before.
“Whether it is islamophobia, antisemitism, homophobia, or misogyny, it’s all the same… hatred, repackaged and relabelled,” he said. “Let us use the tools of our age not to deepen fear, but to widen understanding and advance human dignity, for everyone, everywhere.”
Transformation Time
Mr. Rahman said it was time to address those concerns.
“We cannot continue treating a chronic ailment with temporary painkillers when what we need is a deeper diagnosis and a more profound plan for transformation,” he said.
“The task is not easy, nor can it be done overnight. Let us dedicate ourselves to the task of rebuilding trust and confidence in the United Nations so that it lives up to that incredible potential for many decades to come.”
