UN Needs Reform to Reflect Reality, But Mindset Should Change First, Kiribati Envoy Says

The United Nations needs reform to reflect current global trends, but world leaders must first change their mindset, Kiribati's former president and current ambassador to the UN Teburoro Tito, told Sputnik.

"The organization started 79 years ago — the world then was different from now, right? We need to reform it. We need to change it. There's a need to change something which was planted 80 years ago. I'm sure we should try to adjust that organization created 80 years ago to suit the circumstances of today," Tito said on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Any reform, however, should not only be about changing the structure, but also the mindset.

"They were leaders 80 years ago - the leaders of Russia, Britain, France, whoever founded - that mentality and the mindset then is very different from the mindset of leaders now. So the leaders now must also reform their mindset," Tito said. "I don't believe in structure creating the change. The mindset will create a change."

Human beings in charge of different countries must reform their mindset and stop the trend of global fragmentation, according to the Kiribati envoy.

"Fragmentation is going on and on to many groups, and they talk in silos. They don't want to communicate," he said. "The Global South and Global North. I watch this and I'm not very supportive of creating more and more groups ... I see the United Nations creating groups or promoting groups that are not talking to each other. I don't want that."

Tito stressed that he wants to see more UN members coming together, talking more, and socializing more.

"We should minimize the hate speech. That contributes to more fragmentation, more divisions," he said. "United Nations was created to create unity. United means come together. That's what the United Nations was created for."

In recent years, reforming the UN has been a widely addressed issue, as many countries and entities doubt the organization's efficiency in tackling emerging challenges. Last year, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that if the organization could be called a global family, it is a "rather dysfunctional" one.

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