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michael møller:

multilateralism and the united nations

in Transition: building Forward better

The following speech was delivered by Michael Inequality is widening. Global health is
Møller, a Kofi Annan Foundation Board increasingly threatened. International law and
member, on 22 January 2026, during a special human rights are openly violated. Democracy
event entitled “The Future of the United is retreating while authoritarianism advances.
Nations in a Turbulent World” at the Danish Wars have returned to Europe and the Middle
Parliament in Copenhagen. East, while dozens of other conflicts simmer
around the world. Trust—between states, within
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen. societies, and in institutions—is eroding at an
Thank you very much for the invitation to reflect alarming speed.
with you on the transition of multilateralism Confidence in political leadership and
and the United Nations, and the choices that lie international institutions is weakening, and
before us. simplistic, populist narratives are gaining
It is an honour and a pleasure to be with you ground.
today. These are not isolated crises. They reinforce one
Much of what I will say may be familiar and another. And our collective inability to properly
even self-evident, and by some of you, maybe address these cascading challenges threatens us
considered wishful thinking, but at a moment of all.
profound global uncertainty, certain truths bear
repeating. The picture is undeniably bleak.
I am here to talk with you about the future of And yet—perhaps counterintuitively to some
multilateralism with the United Nations at its —I remain an optimist.
heart. But to understand how to get there, we Because if we step back and look at the past
need to briefly reflect on how we arrived at the eighty years, we see something extraordinary.
present moment. Until very recently, humanity as a whole was
better off than at any other point in our history.
We are clearly in trouble. This progress was neither accidental nor
The impacts of climate change are visible, inevitable. It coincided with the establishment of
immediate, and global. Extreme poverty is rising a multilateral structure with the United Nations
again for the first time in a generation. Famine at its heart. It was the result of international
threatens millions. Humanitarian needs are at cooperation, of multilateralism.
their highest level since the Second World War. We have been living in the best of times, and yet

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