Rafael Grossi Says UN Is Increasingly Losing Relevance

Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and a candidate for the next Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), said in an article published on Thursday that the international organisation is increasingly losing relevance and slowly heading towards death.

“I do not see the UN in danger of dying in the near future… I see it more as a kind of slow death. The UN has been moving towards irrelevance… without making a meaningful contribution to the recent crises and wars between states,” he told the Financial Times.

Grossi spoke of a “sense of frustration” over the poor results achieved by the organisation in various other areas, particularly social issues and efforts to combat climate change.

Members of the UN Security Council are conducting preliminary voting to select a candidate for Secretary-General and to recommend them to the UN General Assembly, which, under the UN Charter, formally appoints the Secretary-General.

The second and final term of the current UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, ends on 31 December 2026.

On 31 July, the Permanent Representative of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the UN and President of the UN Security Council, Zenon Mukongo Ngay, said that the first round of closed voting on the Secretary-General candidates had been completed.

There are seven candidates running for the post: Michelle Bachelet of Chile, Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces of Ecuador, Rafael Mariano Grossi of Argentina, Rebeca Grynspan Mayufis of Costa Rica, Olara Otunnu of Uganda, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett of Guyana, and Macky Sall of Senegal.