Independent Working Group on the Future of the United Nations

The Independent Working Group on the Future of the United Nations was convened by the Ford Foundation in late 1993 at the request of Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to reassess the role, mission, and function of the United Nations. It met four times at the Rockefeller conference facility at Pocantico Hills, and once at Yale University. The Working Group's Report, The United Nations in Its Second Half-Century, was presented to the Secretary-General and released to the public in 1995. The Working Group was chaired by Moeen Qureshi, former Prime Minister of Pakistan, and Richard von Weiszacker, former President of Germany.

The Secretariat of the International Working Group continues at UNSY. The co-directors of the project are Paul Kennedy and Bruce Russett; Jean Krasno serves as Associate Director and James Sutterlin as Special Consultant. The Secretariat has been busy discussing the Report in many settings, including government briefings, academic conferences, international organizations, and non-governmental organization meetings in the United States and worldwide.