The general debate of the 81st United Nations General Assembly runs the risk of becoming a mere stage for an increasingly unilateral world. But, paradoxically, it is the only stage that continues to exist so that the 193 countries that are part of it can make themselves heard. Even if it is to threaten the "annihilation" of the other, to make warmongering proclamations of "not bowing one's head" or to attempt to whitewash a genocide.

"We, the peoples of the United Nations, determined to save future generations from the scourge of war." Thus begins the text signed by 50 countries in the summer of 1945, still amidst the smoke from the bombs of World War II. Four months later, on October 24, 1945, the United Nations Charter came into force. The text committed the world's governments to resolve conflicts without the use of weapons, to promote peace and respect for human rights, cooperation among nations on equal terms, and economic and social development throughout the world. These principles—currently so much in question—have been adhered to so far by 193 states, almost all of those in existence.

The United Nations will turn 80 on October 24th, immersed in its worst crisis. Not only because of the frontal attack staged on Tuesday by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, with a speech at the General Assembly where he accused him of all the evils and where it certified the distancing of the world's leading power from the multilateral system created after the Second World War. The crisis is also financial and one of resources, because Trump's drastic cuts have forced the Secretary General, António Guterres, to propose a 20% reduction in next year's budget, which will entail thousands of layoffs.