Former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday challenged the Security Council to overcome deep rivalry and distrust, warning that failure to reform its practices, particularly the use of the veto, risks pushing the Organisation toward irrelevance or collapse.
Speaking during an open Security Council debate on “Leadership for Peace,” Ban called on Council members to look beyond narrow national interests and support UN leadership capable of steering the world away from catastrophe and toward renewed cooperation.
“The path of each for themselves is no different from the path of mutual destruction,” Ban told the Council.
Now an emeritus member of The Elders, Ban said global conditions have deteriorated significantly since he left office at the end of 2016, marked by growing confrontation among major powers, weakening multilateralism and persistent conflicts in which civilians bear the heaviest costs.
“This deeply disappointing situation is characterised by confrontation rather than cooperation among major powers,” he said, citing the war in Ukraine, mass civilian casualties in Gaza and the erosion of international cooperation even as the global climate crisis accelerates.
Ban said the broader crisis confronting the international system cannot be separated from the Security Council’s own shortcomings.
“The Security Council’s ongoing failure to properly function constitutes the most egregious cause,” he said, pointing to the repeated use of the veto by permanent members to shield themselves, their allies and their proxies from accountability.
Without meaningful reform, Ban warned, civilians would remain unprotected and impunity would persist. “Without it, the UN risks lurching towards either collapse or irrelevance,” he said.
Turning to the selection of the next Secretary-General, Ban urged Member States to consider adopting a single, non-renewable seven-year term, arguing that it would strengthen the independence of the office.
The current practice of two five-year terms, he said, leaves Secretaries-General “overly dependent on this Council’s Permanent Members for an extension,” even though the arrangement is a convention rather than a requirement of the UN Charter.
“The General Assembly holds the power to set the terms of the appointment itself,” Ban said, calling on Member States to exercise that authority to empower future UN leaders more fully.
Secretary-General António Guterres’s second term expires at the end of next year, and the formal selection process is already under way. In November, the Presidents of the General Assembly and the Security Council jointly launched the process in line with General Assembly resolution 79/327, which emphasizes transparency and inclusivity.
Under established procedures, candidates are nominated by Member States or regional groups and must submit a vision statement, curriculum vitae and disclosures on campaign financing. The President of the General Assembly convenes publicly broadcast interactive dialogues with candidates while engaging closely with Member States throughout the process.
As of mid-December, Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, is the only candidate formally nominated, put forward by Argentina.
Addressing the Council during the debate, Anjali Dayal, Associate Professor of International Politics at Fordham University, said the next Secretary-General would assume office at a moment of unprecedented strain for the United Nations, including a deepening funding crisis that is already reducing the Organisation’s capacity to deliver essential services.
“That will result not just in shrinking this Organisation, but also in less of the work that only the UN can do at scale,” Dayal said, warning of fewer vaccinations, reduced humanitarian assistance and diminished mine-clearance operations even as global needs continue to grow.
Dayal said history demonstrates that, even during periods of acute geopolitical division, the Security Council has been capable of selecting leaders who advanced peace and cooperation.
She recalled the prolonged deadlock that preceded the appointment of Javier Pérez de Cuéllar in 1981 and the criticisms faced by U Thant, noting that both Secretaries-General played key roles in helping to end the Iran-Iraq war, advance peace efforts in Cambodia and Nicaragua, and manage crises such as the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Those examples, Dayal said, illustrate that the Secretary-General’s influence lies less in material power than in the ability to shape ideas, narratives and long-term cooperation within the international system.