Dear friends,

As 2025 comes to a close, let us reflect on this year that has been characterized by political heartbreaks and failures for so many, and find ways to choose action and determination in 2026!

I don’t want to interrupt your holidays with the number of people murdered in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, DR Congo, or tell you about the rise of HIV due to funding cuts by the US to UNAIDS, or the climate disasters claiming lives. But we cannot afford to turn a blind eye to reality. People are losing everything while many of us live in safety, relative prosperity and with a future we can be excited about. This has never been and will never be acceptable.

We all know that politicians are failing to address those crimes and crises. That the United Nations is failing to act where action is most urgently needed. Instead of rising to the moment, the UN continues with business as usual. Statements without consequences. Leadership without courage. This is not a communications problem. It is a structural one.

And yet, in a little over a year, the UN will quietly select its next Secretary General through one of the most opaque and undemocratic appointment processes still in existence. Five countries will decide. The rest of the world will be expected to accept it. This is our moment to challenge a system that is failing us, humanity, and our future.

Because for all its wrongs, the UN does a lot of good, and is one of the few hopes we have to one day deal with those atrocities keeping me awake at night. But for this hope to materialise, I need your help.

Endorse 🇺🇳 my campaign

I’m Running For UN Chief

As a quick recap, I’m running for United Nations Secretary-General to fix this broken and undemocratic system. This way, we will finally be able to tackle climate change, artificial intelligence, wars, dictatorships, pandemics, and poverty. The selection process will take place in 2026; You can find more details here.

Through this campaign, by mobilizing people across the world, raising awareness, getting support and shaking up the system, I aim to:

• Get our political programme implemented to quell survival threats,

• Start a reform of the United Nations for it to have the competencies, legitimacy and leadership to act and preserve peace and security,

• Bring the people’s voice to this institution by giving you a vote!

Now, what have I done since announcing this? Alone, nothing. With Atlas volunteers, and my campaign team, a lot!

2025 saw our First successes

1. We developed the 1st global political programme for the United Nations: the Survival bill 📜

We crowdsourced, wrote, and approved the first people-backed political programme for the UN.

Read the Survival Bill

This programme is our roadmap to ensure that climate change, artificial intelligence, wars, dictatorship, pandemics, and poverty are quelled to enable humanity to thrive! The policies we voted on are radical, bold, and forward-looking. The world needs political leadership, radical action, and a clear moral compass. We must prioritize the interests of people and the planet over those of individual countries. And I will do my utmost best to ensure I deliver on this. I’m not saying it will be easy. It won’t. However, I hope this can shake up the UN enough for us to take a better course because, together united, we cannot be defeated.

Next up? We will publish our practical guide on how to implement those proposals and pay for them!

2. We filed a formal complaint against the United Nations 🇺🇳

In October, on the UN’s 80th anniversary, we filed a formal complaint against the United Nations, showing that the United Nations Secretary-General is chosen in a broken and undemocratic process, more opaque than presidential elections in China and Russia!

We did this not only because it’s right, but because it’s the only way for the UN to respond to the chaos our world is living through. From Israel’s genocide in Gaza, to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to the climate crisis threatening our very survival, we need a UN that acts. And it never will as long as it remains controlled by a handful of superpowers responsible or complicit in these very crimes.

We are still awaiting for UN experts to get back to us, and will let you know as soon as we have word!

Find out more about our complaint here

3. We called out the UN’s wrongs 📣

Together, we came up with clear ways for the UN to do its job better: from making international law enforceable to creating a democracy caucasus!

And we continued to push for this every day, by calling out the UN’s wrongs, such as

• the Secretary General conveniently forgetting that they have the power to act to stop Israel’s genocide in Gaza, for example by naming and shaming every country complicit with Israel’s genocide; demanding explanations in front of the General Assembly; creating a coalition of countries willing to act; and joining a freedom flotilla or an aid boat, or simply flying to Gaza, and literally put his body on the line to stop the genocide.

• The General Assembly electing a genocide-enabler, Germany’s Annalena Baerbock, to preside over the General Assembly’s 80th session. As foreign minister from 2021 to 2025, she repeatedly defended Israel’s war crimes as self-defence, rejected ceasefires, and oversaw her country’s supply of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of weapons to Israel, making Germany its second-largest arms provider. This was a direct violation of the UN’s own conventions against complicity in genocide.

4. We got noticed, sometimes in unlikely circles 🗞️

In the last year, I gave lectures and spoke at conferences on the need to radically change the way we are governed, and how we are governed, from

• Boston University where I spoke about “How to Reform the United Nations to Confront the Climate Crisis.” (watch it here)

• The European Union, where I talked about Seeking trust when institutions preach values but enable injustice (watch it here)

• Arendal’s political festival on how Europe’s only chance at remaining relevant and resilient is to act based on values (watch it here)

• To the European Forum in Alpbach, where I taught a seminar on change and joined a panel with UN officials on “the strengths of the UN charter”, with many refusing to acknowledge any of its issues.

This campaign also got covered in the press, such as in Fox News (who would have thought, and check it out as it’s quite hilarious). in October, I told you that PassBlue, one of the main outlets covering the United Nations, launched a poll on who should be the next UN Secretary-General. They listed several traditional candidates - former presidents, ministers, and insiders - but left me out. I asked you to send them my name, and thanks to you I came in fourth ahead of the heads of UN agencies and states, despite not being listed at first! While this won’t change the world, it puts the UN on notice that they can’t ignore the voice of people much longer, as we are rising up!

5. We met with ambassadors & officials… and this didn’t always go as planned.⚡️

I met with UN officials and ambassadors to try to create momentum from the inside

This was often the most disappointing part (with a few exceptions). I have been repeatedly asked to stop this campaign as it is “too destructive” and “the UN doesn’t need more criticism”. Granted, the UN is going through an enormous crisis of legitimacy. Some of the things thrown its way are unfounded, but many are grounded in people’s discontent with it. I believe that unless it is radically transformed, the UN will die. And then… well then it’s hell.

However, when those inside the system refuse to even acknowledge that there are reasons to want reform and change, it is exhausting. Often acting as gatekeepers, they will spend hours of your time justifying a system made of first and second-class countries, and trying to play down some of the worst crises the world is going through: “Why just focus on those hot topics? There are plenty of other things the UN tackles we can speak about,” told me a high UN official when I mentioned the UN’s failure to stop Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, or Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Silver lining: there were also those rare instances where those seated across from me were moved to tears when discussing the life-and-death situations the UN could help alleviate if it did its job properly (check out our political programme to find out how).

6. ….and much more, navigating difficult tides

We tried many other strategies and activities, with many of them not working out. Often, almost naively, we expected people to want to see change at the United Nations, but often and understandably, I got the feedback that the UN was failing so badly that seeing it disappear was better. And I understand. I’m also angry. Because the truth is, for so long I believed that despite all those monumental failures, the United Nations was the best hope we had for the future: global crises need global solutions, collaboration, redistribution, action, and the UN is the main forum for this.

I always knew its flaws: a hierarchy of “1st class” countries with veto power, “2nd class” countries with no real say, zero enforcement, weak funding. But what is happening now shows that this is beyond repair. Nothing short of a revolution will do. The institution keeps applying bandages to hemorrhages while superpowers act for themselves and most other countries bow down. That’s why I’m running for UN chief, that’s why I want your endorsement, and your help.

​​So, what will you do to build a world you have a say in? Here are some ideas!

2025 has been busy, but 2026 is much more important. In just over a year, the selection process will lock in. So join me to make some noise! Only by working together can we change institutions that could become life-saving, but have been passive too often.

Over the next few months, our small but mighty team will publish how our programme can be implemented, lobby countries to put my name forward in the UN race, speak with other candidates to get them to support our proposals, and try to galvanise people to change the UN and our future!

I’m not going to lie: this is a tough battle. And I need your support. I’m lucky enough to work with incredible people changing the United Nations from the ground up, and you could be part of this revolution.

✊ Endorse my campaign here to show the UN there is strength in numbers

💡 Meet the team. Denise & Cristian aren’t just making all of this possible, they’re constantly coming up with the boldest, most creative, and, let’s be honest, completely wild (in the best way) ideas to challenge the system. From using UN mechanisms against itself to trolling the likes of Musk & Trump, they stop at nothing to change the world.

👉 Let me know if you’d like to volunteer! From lobbying ambassadors to dreaming up the craziest campaigns possible, we need every bit of energy and ambition.

📢 Spread the word. I need you to help me get this campaign out there. Forward this email to 10 people, get them to sign on. Talk about it. Get others involved.

💰 And if you know funders who believe in this fight, let me know. We need money, fast, to make this happen

I wish you a beautiful end of 2025, and I hope that you’ll enter 2026 ready to change the world!

Onward,

Colombe

Colombe Cahen-Salvador (she/her)
Co-Founder & Candidate for United Nations Secretary-General
Atlas
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