UN General Assembly President Baerbock demands sweeping reform of the United Nations

Security Council and international law

Germany is a candidate for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council, with the vote scheduled for Wednesday in the General Assembly. Baerbock acknowledged the difficulty of the moment: "Jetzt in dieser Phase in den Sicherheitsrat zu gehen, ist keine einfache Aufgabe." Critics have accused US President Donald Trump of violating international law in connection with US-Israeli attacks on Iran, but the German federal government has not joined those accusations.

The President of the General Assembly singled out the Security Council as the main body for peace and security and for upholding the UN Charter. She said the Council must work to ensure that all members, including the five permanent members with veto power — Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France and the United States — adhere to international law. She pointed to the Strait of Hormuz, a key artery for global energy supply that is blocked by Iran, as an example of a crisis in which the Council's credibility is being tested.

US payment crisis and the Gaza peace council

Baerbock also issued a warning about the steady erosion of the international order. "Mit jedem Tag, wo Mitgliedsstaaten nicht den Mut haben, auch das Völkerrecht zu verteidigen, erodiert ein kleiner Strang dieser starken Vereinten Nationen," she said. She urged supporters of the UN not to cede ground to its opponents, saying that those who want to strengthen the organization must not leave the field to those "die eigentlich die Vereinten Nationen kaputt machen wollen."

The financial pressure on the world body is acute. The United States, one of the most important contributors to the UN budget, has fallen into payment arrears, contributing to a deep crisis for the organization. The Trump administration is reportedly seeking to use those arrears to leverage its own reform demands.

Under Trump, the United States has withdrawn from numerous UN organizations and agreements, and has pushed the creation of a separate peace council for the Gaza conflict. Critics interpret the Gaza peace council as an attempt to challenge the UN's authority as the primary instance for conflict resolution.

End of Baerbock's term

Baerbock argued that the cooperative spirit of earlier decades has faded. "Die Zeiten, wo wir einfach alles im Konsens hier lösen konnten, im ganz netten diplomatischen Umgang, die sind halt vorbei," she said. The UN, with all its weaknesses, remains the only global forum in which all member states have an equal voice, she added, and the UN Charter and international law must be protected.

Baerbock assumed the presidency of the UN General Assembly in September 2025 for a one-year term. The General Assembly is set to decide on her successor on 2 June 2026, with Bangladesh's Foreign Minister Rahman among the candidates to follow her in the role.

Baerbock's intervention comes at a moment of unusual strain for the organization: a major financial contributor in arrears, an expanding set of parallel diplomatic initiatives, and open conflicts in which the Council's permanent members stand on opposing sides. Her message was that the choice facing member states is not whether to keep the UN, but whether to invest the political capital needed to make it work.