IAEA chief warns of UN’s “slow death” as organisation loses influence

The United Nations is gradually losing its relevance and is slowly dying, Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and one of the candidates to become the organisation’s next secretary-general, told the Financial Times.

“I don’t see it [the UN] in immediate danger [of dying],” he said in an interview with the newspaper. “I see it as more of a slow death kind of thing. The UN has been drifting into irrelevance . . . without a meaningful contribution to recent crises or interstate wars.”

Grossi also referred to a “sense of frustration ” over the organization’s “dismal record” in other areas, such as social programs and climate change.

The IAEA chief is among seven candidates in the running to succeed António Guterres as UN secretary-general. The other candidates are UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica; former Chilean President and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, who served from 2018 to 2022; former Senegalese President Macky Sall; former Ecuadorian Foreign Minister and Defence Minister María Fernanda Espinosa; Guyana’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett; and former Uganda’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Olara Otunnu.

The term of António Guterres, who has served as UN secretary-general since 2017, expires on December 31, 2026.

By Jeyhun Aghazada