October 24 was United Nations Day By Marc-André Franche, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka Sri Lanka first applied for membership of the United Nations in 1948 but had to wait until 1955 to join, caught in Cold War veto politics. It is a fitting reminder of the challenges of multilateralism, as the [...]
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By Marc-André Franche, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka first applied for membership of the United Nations in 1948 but had to wait until 1955 to join, caught in Cold War veto politics. It is a fitting reminder of the challenges of multilateralism, as the UN Charter turns 81 and Sri Lanka marks nearly 71 years of membership.
Seen against history, the UN Charter is a miracle. Winners rarely write rules that bind themselves. In 1945, they largely did. The record since is imperfect, but the world without it would be poorer, sicker and far more violent. All states gained, notably those with the most power, and Sri Lanka has both benefited and contributed. The UN has strengthened Sri Lankan sovereignty, helped build institutions and improve basic services. It has also stood with Sri Lankans through the conflict, the 2004 tsunami and, more recently, the economic crisis and Cyclone Ditwah. Sri Lanka, in turn, helped write the rules. Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe presided over the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea, Gamani Corea led UNCTAD’s fight for fairer trade, and Jayantha Dhanapala steered the indefinite extension of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. More than 21,000 Sri Lankan peacekeepers have served under the UN flag. Sri Lanka has never been just a recipient of UN support. It is one of the UN’s architects.
The UN has survived difficult moments before: the Cold War, Rwanda or Iraq. The one at hand today feels different, for five reasons. First, humanity’s challenges have never been more global and interdependent. Carbon emitted in one place contributes to rising seas and extreme weather elsewhere. A virus can cross the world at extraordinary speed. A war in West Asia can affect fuel prices, shipping and remittances in Sri Lanka within weeks. These are problems without borders, and no country can solve them alone.
Second, the system’s principal backers are retreating. The UN’s 2026 budget was cut, with nearly one in five posts abolished. Meanwhile, world military spending has risen by 41 per cent in real terms over the past decade. The UN’s entire regular budget equals about ten hours of global military spending.
Third, the rules are eroding. Humanitarian law is trampled, and attacks on aid workers reached a record high in 2025. If history is any guide, we risk further conflict, either because rising powers grow more assertive or because the dominant power stops providing global public goods and no one steps in.
Fourth, democracy is in retreat. Global freedom declined for the twentieth consecutive year in 2025, according to Freedom House, and the V-Dem Institute estimates that three-quarters of humanity lives under autocratic rule. This matters for the UN, because research suggests that democracies, bound by parliaments, courts and voters, tend to be more reliable defenders of international rules. At the same time, disinformation erodes trust in every institution, the UN included.
Finally, perceptions of double standards have perhaps reached a tipping point. When the same Charter is invoked loudly over one war of aggression but applied very differently elsewhere, or when doors open to some refugees and close to others, people draw a conclusion. Rules that apply only to the weak are not rules. They are instruments of power.
There are many reasons for hope, though. Big powers are discovering the limits of force. And people still believe in cooperation. In a Pew survey this year, 66 per cent of Sri Lankans viewed the UN favourably, up from 58 per cent in 2024. Young people in nearly every region are the UN’s strongest supporters. Importantly, humanity has never had so much knowledge and technology available to tackle its most pressing challenges.
One thing is certain: a very different international system is emerging as the world becomes multipolar. The question is whether it will be managed through rules or driven by the belief that might is right. Most states share an overriding interest in rules, and together they carry the weight to insist on them. Small states don’t get to choose whether the world becomes multipolar. They can help decide whether it becomes lawless.
Defending the system does not mean preserving everything or excusing its failings. The UN must also earn confidence through greater accountability, consistency and results. Through the Secretary-General’s UN80 reform drive, the UN is working to become leaner and more integrated. In Sri Lanka, that means less project management and more of what a middle-income country needs: implementation support, policy advice, technical expertise, convening power and access to finance. The institutions that remain must also be fairer. The Security Council has been enlarged only once, in 1965, and Africa still has no permanent seat. The system must be funded by a broader base rather than by a small group of countries, and it must stand up for its principles without preaching. Fewer institutions, but stronger ones: fairer, better funded and owned by all.
Which brings us to Sri Lanka. For a small country, sovereignty is not guaranteed by power. It is protected by rules. An island at the crossroads of the Indian Ocean depends on the Law of the Sea and safe shipping lanes. An economy that has just regained upper-middle-income status and faces reduced access to cheaper finance needs fairer rules on debt. A country still recovering from Cyclone Ditwah needs climate finance and adaptation. An export economy built on apparel, tea and services cannot win a tariff war; it needs predictable trade rules. Hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankan workers in West Asia depend on international law and the protection of civilians. Small states also need a voice when international rules on artificial intelligence are written. For a country like Sri Lanka, multilateralism is not charity. It is strategy.
In the short term, that strategy runs on two tracks at once. The first is to protect: build buffers against external shocks, diversify partners, keep a balance and avoid entanglement in great-power rivalry. The second is to invest in rebuilding the system that protects the small. It is not either-or. That investment starts at home by protecting and deepening democracy. Sri Lanka’s peaceful transfers of power, its vibrant civil society and its recent mandate for clean governance are assets abroad as well as at home. Strong democracies tend to defend international law better because they are accountable, open to scrutiny and bound by their own courts.
Looking ahead, what could Sri Lanka want from the UN? A UN where small states keep an equal vote and a real voice. Fair rules on debt, trade and climate finance. An Indian Ocean of peace and cooperation, an idea Sri Lanka first brought to the General Assembly in 1971. And a strong technical partner as it climbs the income ladder.
And what could it be ready to do? Keep paying its dues in full and on time. Put Sri Lankans forward for leadership posts. Build coalitions with other small states, the G77 and Indian Ocean partners. Bring its own ideas to UN80, Security Council reform and the reform of global finance. Lead on the oceans, as it did half a century ago. With its experience, it could forge new multilateral partnerships as part of its new UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for 2028 to 2032, linking debt sustainability, climate resilience, and food and energy security. And train a new generation of multilateral diplomats to carry this work forward.
None of this is naive. Small states move the system more often than we think. Vanuatu, a country of about 335,000 people, led a coalition that secured a landmark International Court of Justice advisory opinion on climate change in 2025. Small island states helped secure the Loss and Damage Fund. Sri Lanka has done it before, with Amerasinghe on the oceans and Corea on trade. It can do it again.
The UN of the future is being shaped now, in budget negotiations, reform debates and the choices of countries large and small. Sri Lanka can help shape it. Its citizens can help too, by getting informed, countering disinformation, joining the consultations on the next Cooperation Framework and holding all of us, the UN included, to account. In 1955, Sri Lanka had to fight its way into the UN. Today, the UN is worth fighting for.
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