Live blog of world leaders' week at the United Nations, New York - covering the General Assembly and other happenings in and around headquarters
The UN is almost 80 years old. Take a look at some of the pivotal moments and the people who make it happen during the Super Bowl of global diplomacy – the UNGA – from 1945 to today.
President Mahmoud Abbas: Those who think peace can prevail in the Middle East without Palestinian people enjoying their full national and legitimate rights are mistaken.
Once again, I come to you carrying the cause of my people who are struggling for freedom and independence, to remind you of the tragedy caused by the Naqba 75 years ago.
The effects continue and are exasperated by the Israeli occupation of our lands; this occupation challenges over 1,000 resolutions, it violates international law. It races against time to change the historic, demographic and geographic reality on the ground…
Summit of the Future 2024:
"The challenges we face are universal.
— United Nations (@UN) September 21, 2023
They require universal solutions."
– @antonioguterres says next year’s Summit of the Future must be a moment to reinforce the connection between global governance & the people of the world. https://t.co/8x59R43Cl0
In the GA Hall, Kenya President William S. Ruto: "If any confirmation was ever needed that the United Nations Security Council is dysfunctional, undemocratic, non-inclusive, unrepresentative and therefore incapable of delivering meaningful progress in our world as presently constituted, the rampant impunity of its actors on the global scene settles that matter."
Describing the commitments made in the Nairobi Declaration of the Africa Climate Summit as both radical and transformative, President Ruto said: "Development, in our opinion, is a fundamental imperative, and green growth is the only sustainable way to achieve it. From our standpoint, there is no need to be trapped in a false choice. Sustainable development is robust climate action, and climate action is development."
UN News covers the High-level Week in 10 languages with text, audio and video. The team members try to keep pace with the number and complexity of events making up the first fully in-person UNGA in three years.
Dr Bruce Aylward explains what Universal Health Coverage is and what countries need to do to get back on track to achieve?
At #UNGA, Dr Bruce Aylward explains what Universal Health Coverage is and what countries need to do to get back on track to achieve #HealthForAll pic.twitter.com/n8QiMC5ywq
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) September 21, 2023
Applauded by his African peers in the GA Hall, President of Guinea, Mamadi Doumbouya said: "We are neither pro- nor anti-American, we are neither pro- nor anti-Chinese, nor or pro- nor anti-French, nor pro- nor anti-Russian, nor pro- nor anti-Turkish. We are simply pro-African. That is all. Placing us under the influence of this, or that power is an insult. It is contempt and racism towards a continent of more than one billion three hundred million people. It is important that in this prestigious and influential assembly we understand clearly and definitively that the era of the old Africa is over.
UN Global Communications chief, Melissa Fleming, reflects on one of the Organization's most symbolic art works.
Every day on my way into work, I’m struck by this powerful sculpture.
— Melissa Fleming (@MelissaFleming) September 21, 2023
It's confronting world leaders with a stark message at @UN HQ as they attend #UNGA.
Known as The Knotted Gun, it has become a universal symbol of non-violence.
On #PeaceDay, I wanted to share it with you. pic.twitter.com/O3iwMCY0vU
Yes. It is. Being on international territory and housing thousands of staff and delegates, the UN has the population of a small town, and also is home to decades-long urban myths and legends.
There’s the storied broom closet used by a certain delegate as a smoking lounge when tobacco was banned at HQ. There is the story about a secret underground road.
Then, there is the North Delegates Lounge, where diplomats take a break from their busy schedules. There is a tale behind the two tiny sports cars that managed to be painted on a gigantic tapestry gifted by China in 1974. Spanning 10m by 5m and weighing 280 kilogrammes, it took 26 technicians one year, over 53 million woollen yarns, and over 5 million knots to complete.
Rumour has it that some visitors to the Delegates Lounge cheekily painted a red and blue car at the base of the Great Wall. Keen observers noticed that when the enormous tapestry was removed for cleaning, it returned one car short. The mystery continues.
Matt Damon (left), appearing at the SDG Media Zone, talks about the work of Water.org and Waterequity, both non profit organizations he co-founded and which aim to help people living poverty get access to safe water and improved sanitation. He explained to fellow panelists that his organizations have helped 58 million people gain access to safe water and sanitation through microfinance, water credit and grass roots solutions. Now they are scaling up to deliver climate resilient infrastructure. He said: "Gender equality, education and health are all touched by access to safe water, it's a non-partisan issue, everyone can get behind it!"
In 2018, the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, made history during the high-level General Debate (UNGA73) as the first female world leader to attend UNGA with her newborn baby in tow. During the 2018 high-level week, her three-month-old daughter, Neve Te Aroha, became the youngest person ever to attend the General Assembly.
CNN contributor Van Jones (far right) moderates a discussion on the partnership between the public and private sectors to combat malaria at this year's UNGA78
“Every minute of every day, nearly one child dies from malaria” and this is not good enough said Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen (Owner and Board Member, Vestergaard). The other panel members - Amar Ali (Chief Executive Officer, Vestergaard), Oliva Ngou (Executive Director of Impact Sante Afrique), Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate (Minister of Health, Nigeria), and Hui C. Yang, (Head of Supply Operations, The Global Fund) all agreed on the need of continuing innovations and partnerships between the public and private sectors to end malaria and ensure health for all.
President Salva Kiir of South Sudan spoke to the GA about his country's work towards achieving the SDGs. With education as the key to allowing South Sudan to achieve its development goals, he announced that in February this year he: "directed the Ministry of Education to implement a free primary and secondary education policy across the country." He went on to say that "This policy has directly led to the enrolment of 2.3 million children in our schools."
"Today the UN marks Int. Day of Peace. Spanish News interviewed the indigenous Mexican climate activist Xiye Bastida who came here to commemorate it. Her message: The concept of peace has changed. Peace is also knowing that your house will not burn down, that it will not flood, that you will not see a hurricane."
“La definición de la paz ha cambiado. Ahora, la paz también es saber que no se va a incendiar tu casa, que no va a haber un huracán
— Noticias ONU (@NoticiasONU) September 21, 2023
Hay refugiados de guerra. Y ahora hay refugiados climáticos”
Entrevista con la activista @xiyebastida en el #DíadelaPaz https://t.co/Wwy50C1ysU pic.twitter.com/gxDJqnAOqe
Emma Stewart (Chief Sustainability Officer, Netflix), Natalia Vega-Berry (CEO, New Zero World), Tim Kelly (Executive Director of Earth HQ, Global Commons Alliance), and Marcius Extavour (TIME CO2's Chief Climate Solutions Office) explore the role the role that communications can play in addressing the issues around climate change.
Emma said there was “no superhero arriving late in the day to save the day” when it came to the global phenomenon of climate change. “We all have to understand our respective roles and responsibilities and the benefits of transitioning to a clean economy”. Netflix was looking to “decarbonize the making of film and television” and to support creators who authentically and entertainingly represent climate on screen.
Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni in her speech to the GA yesterday evening suggested that that no criminal activity is, today, more lucrative than human trafficking, and called on the international community to act. She announced an effort involving Mediterranean and various African countries in a process that follows two main paths: defeating slave traders and tackling the root causes of migration.
What will it take to ensure everyone has access to affordable and quality health services by 2030? Hear what world leaders have to say at the High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage.
Varaidzo Kativhu, an Education activist from Zimbabwe speaking at the Summit of the Future:
"We [young people] want meaningful engagement, that goes beyond just consultation but also includes implementation... we want to be at the table where decisions are being made... please stop talking about us and start talking to us, and not only talking to us but working with us."
Lebanon's President, Mohammad Najib Azmi Mikati, spoke in one of the closing addresses to UNGA78 last night.
He drew attention to the vital work of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) https://unifil.unmissions.org/ while reminding the Assembly that the Palestinian people continue to suffer under Israeli occupation and calling for a just solution that includes the two-state solution.
He called for the international community to support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) https://www.unrwa.org/ and reminded them of their humanitarian and moral responsibility towards Palestine refugees.
“The Summit of the Future is a unique opportunity to help rebuild trust and bring outdated multilateral institutions and frameworks into line with today’s world, based on equity and solidarity,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said today at a meeting to prepare for next year’s Summit.
“But it is more than an opportunity. It is an essential means of reducing risks and creating a safer and more peaceful world.”
Work on the 2024 Summit of the Future has already begun. Find out more about the Summit.