UN General Assembly’s high‑level week proves its continued relevance, says expert

NEW YORK, 21 SEPTEMBER 2026 —

The United Nations General Assembly opened its annual high‑level week with all 193 member states present, and Richard Gowan, director of UN and multilateral diplomacy at the International Crisis Group, told UN News the gathering demonstrates the body’s enduring importance.

When the UN was created in 1945, its founders expected the Security Council to handle most decisions. Gowan explained that early Cold‑War divisions quickly pushed political debates to the General Assembly, where it addressed the Palestinian question and the Korean conflict while the Council stalled.

The 1956 crises over the Suez Canal and the Soviet invasion of Hungary tested the Assembly’s capacity. Gowan noted that the body authorised the first UN peace‑keeping mission to defuse the Suez standoff, marking a landmark contribution to crisis management during the Cold War.

Membership soon far exceeded the founders’ projection of 80‑90 countries. In the 1960s, newly independent states used the Assembly to amplify their voices, targeting apartheid South Africa. Gowan recalled that the Assembly passed successive resolutions condemning apartheid and eventually suspended South Africa’s membership in the 1970s, illustrating the rise of the Global South as a decisive bloc.

Developing nations also leveraged the forum to challenge the post‑war economic order. Gowan cited the 1974 resolution calling for a new international economic order as a catalyst for prolonged negotiations on trade fairness, even though the promised reforms never materialised. The Assembly, he said, gave the majority of UN members a platform to voice concerns that would otherwise have been ignored.

After the Cold War, diplomats found more room for cooperation within the Assembly. Gowan pointed to the 2005 establishment of the Peacebuilding Commission, a body created through General Assembly consensus to strengthen post‑conflict recovery, as evidence of the institution’s ability to innovate beyond its original mandate.

The global financial crisis of 2008‑09 introduced a new challenge. Gowan observed that major economies turned to the G20, prompting criticism from Global South members that the Assembly was being sidelined. Nevertheless, the period also saw heightened discussion of climate change and environmental protection within the Assembly’s agenda.

Today, while groups such as the G7 and BRICS provide alternative venues, many small and middle‑power states rely on the Assembly as their primary stage. Gowan highlighted that record numbers of leaders attend each September, and that the Assembly remains the default venue for urgent international crises where no alternative forum exists.