What Does the Global Governance Forum Propose for UN Charter Reform?

The Global Governance Forum publishes a package of draft documents aimed at modernizing the United Nations: a proposed "Second United Nations Charter," a set of protocols complementary to that charter, and a revised Statute of the International Court of Justice. All three are offered as downloadable PDFs on globalgovernanceforum.org, and the Forum explicitly frames them as "an invitation to a much-needed conversation" rather than a finished campaign. If you want to understand or critique the substance of UN Charter reform, these documents are the place to start.

The Core Document: A Second UN Charter

The centerpiece is A Second United Nations Charter: Modernizing the UN for a New Generation. According to the Forum, it was produced over roughly a 12-month period by "a diverse and experienced cadre of individuals" who set out to explore what Charter reform might entail and, specifically, what a new Charter could actually look like.

Two things are worth noting about how the Forum positions it:

• It is a conversation starter, not a treaty text with political backing. The Forum says the output is "at a minimum an invitation" to discuss what a reformed Charter could contain to help the UN confront 21st-century challenges.
• It is a full-charter exercise, not a set of amendments. The framing is a "new generation" charter rather than piecemeal edits to the 1945 text.

The document is available both to view on the site and as a PDF download.

The Supporting Package

Charter reform does not stand alone on the site. The Forum pairs the main document with two companion pieces:

The inclusion of an ICJ statute revision is a useful signal: the proposal treats the judicial pillar of the UN system as part of the reform package, not an afterthought.

The Mechanisms It Points To

The Forum's site references specific reform machinery rather than only broad principles. Among the items listed under its UN reform material are:

• Article 109 — the UN Charter provision governing review and amendment through a General Conference, which is the formal route any charter revision would have to travel.
• The Declaration and Protocols — the Forum's own framing for the proposed charter and its addenda.
• Coalition initiatives — the site groups its reform work alongside coalition-building efforts, suggesting the proposals are meant to anchor advocacy rather than sit as academic drafts.

The Forum's stated rationale is that "mechanisms of international cooperation, capable of acting on behalf of the interests of humanity and the planet, are due" — the reform case is built on the gap between existing institutions and planetary-scale problems.

How to Use These Materials

If you are researching, teaching, or advocating on UN reform, a practical sequence is:

1. Read the main charter document first to see the overall architecture the authors propose.
2. Check the protocols to see how the drafters handle the details a charter text cannot carry.
3. Compare the revised ICJ statute against the current statute if judicial reform is your focus.
4. Use the Forum's subject pages — climate change, gender equality, extremes of wealth and poverty, rule of law, peace and security, corruption and transparency, migration and population — to see how each proposed reform connects to a policy area.

What to Keep in Mind

The Forum presents these as evidence-based proposals from a convening organization, not as negotiated outcomes or official UN documents. The site does not indicate any formal governmental sponsorship, and the framing as "an invitation to conversation" is the authors' own characterization. Treat the texts as substantive draft proposals to evaluate on their merits — useful for understanding what a modernized charter might contain, but not a signal of where member states currently stand.