{"id":38074,"date":"2016-01-11T17:57:31","date_gmt":"2016-01-11T22:57:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/?p=38074"},"modified":"2016-01-14T11:21:43","modified_gmt":"2016-01-14T16:21:43","slug":"un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"UN General Assembly celebrates 70th anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"

[wooslider slider_type=”attachments” limit=”14″ thumbnails=”default” show_captions=”true”]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

11 January 2016<\/strong> \u2013 Marking the 70th anniversary of the first meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, the President of the 70th<\/sup> session Mogens Lykketoft described it as the birth of the \u201cinternational community\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first meeting of the General Assembly was without any doubt the beginning of something special,\u201d he told member states. \u201cIt was a major step forward by what is now commonly referred to as the international community.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing a horrific period of war, destruction, genocide and nuclear bombings, nations of the world deliberately decided to come together. They decided to choose the only genuine path to achieve global peace, security, justice, human rights and social advancement. And in the General Assembly, they created the one true space in which \u2018We the peoples\u2019 \u2013 voices both big and small \u2013 would be heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

UN Secretary-General<\/a>\u00a0Ban Ki-moon said the body has truly become the \u201cParliament for all people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe resolutions adopted by the General Assembly may not all be acted on right away. Yet they stand as our common position on the most pressing issues of our times,\u201d Mr. Ban\u00a0told<\/a> UN officials and delegates attending the commemoration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese resolutions tell the story of our resolve. They reflect our conviction that the countries of the world coming together can do far more collectively than they ever could alone. Each delegate who speaks, each vote that is cast, every gavel that opens a new meeting adds a little more hope to the world,\u201d said the Secretary-General.<\/p>\n

Seventy years ago on 10 January 1946, 51 nations came together at Westminster Central Hall in London, England, and called to order the first meeting of the UN General Assembly. Among the many people who participated in that meeting was Sir Brian Urquhart, a British Government official who went on to serve the United Nations over four decades. He was among the participants in today\u2019s events.<\/p>\n

\u201cSir Brian did more than live history,\u201d the UN Secretary-General stressed. \u201cHe shaped history. And he recorded that history as a brilliant writer and journalist. We are privileged to have him here today.\u201d<\/p>\n

The President of the 193-Member body\u2019s current session, who himself turned 70 on Saturday, began his address<\/a>\u00a0by highlighting several features from the first ever meeting, such as it lasting just over one hour with only one decision taken \u2013 whom to elect as its first President.<\/p>\n

\u201cInterestingly, but not surprisingly, not one of the Permanent Representatives (PRs) that day were female \u2013 a matter which remains a concern today where only 18 per cent of PRs are female,\u201d stressed Mr Lykketoft.<\/p>\n

Mr. Lykketoft recalled that today, with 193 members representing 99.5 per cent of the world\u2019s population, the General Assembly has become the \u201csingle most representative, deliberative body in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

In their remarks, both Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and President Lykketoft highlighted some of the most notable General Assembly achievements in the past year, including agreeing the\u00a0Addis Ababa Action Agenda<\/a>, the\u00a02030 Agenda for Sustainable Development<\/a>, and the\u00a0Paris Agreement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must also expand the spirit of cooperation of 2015 into every area of work of the General Assembly in 2016,\u201d insisted the President of the 70 year-old Assembly.<\/p>\n

Other speakers at today\u2019s commemoration included representatives from Sudan (on behalf of African States), Fiji (on behalf of Asia-Pacific States), Albania (on behalf of Eastern European States), Trinidad and Tobago (on behalf of the Latin American and Caribbean States), Italy (on behalf of Western European and other States) and the United States (on behalf of the host country).<\/p>\n

After the informal session in the General Assembly Hall, PRs joined the Secretary-General and President for Birthday cake in the shape of the General Assembly building and a toast in the Delegates Lounge. The UN Singers wearing national costume led the crowd in singing Happy Birthday in the six official UN languages.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Listen to UN Radio report<\/a>\u00a0by Dianne Penn:<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2016\/01\/NEWS-PGA-70-11JAN15.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

<\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[wooslider slider_type=”attachments” limit=”14″ thumbnails=”default” show_captions=”true”]   11 January 2016 \u2013 Marking the 70th anniversary of the first meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, the President of the 70th session Mogens Lykketoft described it as the birth of the \u201cinternational community\u201d. \u201cThe first meeting of the General Assembly was without any doubt the beginning of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":38082,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[1738,39,336,621],"class_list":["post-38074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-stories","tag-anniversary","tag-featured","tag-un70","tag-unga"],"yoast_head":"\nUN General Assembly celebrates 70th anniversary - General Assembly of the United Nations<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UN General Assembly celebrates 70th anniversary - General Assembly of the United Nations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[wooslider slider_type=”attachments” limit=”14″ thumbnails=”default” show_captions=”true”]   11 January 2016 \u2013 Marking the 70th anniversary of the first meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, the President of the 70th session Mogens Lykketoft described it as the birth of the \u201cinternational community\u201d. \u201cThe first meeting of the General Assembly was without any doubt the beginning of […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"General Assembly of the United Nations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-11T22:57:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-01-14T16:21:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2016\/01\/659272-cake-cutting-celebration-11_01_2016-12.48.031-e1452552754764.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1022\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"622\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Katharina Kandt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Katharina Kandt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Katharina Kandt\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/#\/schema\/person\/06bf09e43d46846c087701ec99ac8412\"},\"headline\":\"UN General Assembly celebrates 70th anniversary\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-11T22:57:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-14T16:21:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/\"},\"wordCount\":666,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2016\/01\/659272-cake-cutting-celebration-11_01_2016-12.48.031-e1452552754764.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"anniversary\",\"featured\",\"UN70\",\"UNGA\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News stories\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/\",\"name\":\"UN General Assembly celebrates 70th anniversary - General Assembly of the United Nations\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2016\/01\/659272-cake-cutting-celebration-11_01_2016-12.48.031-e1452552754764.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-11T22:57:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-14T16:21:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/#\/schema\/person\/06bf09e43d46846c087701ec99ac8412\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2016\/01\/659272-cake-cutting-celebration-11_01_2016-12.48.031-e1452552754764.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2016\/01\/659272-cake-cutting-celebration-11_01_2016-12.48.031-e1452552754764.jpg\",\"width\":1022,\"height\":622,\"caption\":\"\u00a9UN Photo\/Garten: UNGA 70th birthday celebration with cake cutting ceremony\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UN General Assembly celebrates 70th anniversary\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/\",\"name\":\"General Assembly of the United Nations\",\"description\":\"President of the 70th session\u2014a new commitment to action\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/#\/schema\/person\/06bf09e43d46846c087701ec99ac8412\",\"name\":\"Katharina Kandt\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e28c19bf52d2ea02ca4d78c4548f4e118fe08e94744f59f7938769a04ae856e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e28c19bf52d2ea02ca4d78c4548f4e118fe08e94744f59f7938769a04ae856e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Katharina Kandt\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/author\/kandtun-org\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UN General Assembly celebrates 70th anniversary - General Assembly of the United Nations","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UN General Assembly celebrates 70th anniversary - General Assembly of the United Nations","og_description":"[wooslider slider_type=”attachments” limit=”14″ thumbnails=”default” show_captions=”true”]   11 January 2016 \u2013 Marking the 70th anniversary of the first meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, the President of the 70th session Mogens Lykketoft described it as the birth of the \u201cinternational community\u201d. \u201cThe first meeting of the General Assembly was without any doubt the beginning of […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/","og_site_name":"General Assembly of the United Nations","article_published_time":"2016-01-11T22:57:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-01-14T16:21:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1022,"height":622,"url":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2016\/01\/659272-cake-cutting-celebration-11_01_2016-12.48.031-e1452552754764.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Katharina Kandt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Katharina Kandt","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/"},"author":{"name":"Katharina Kandt","@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/#\/schema\/person\/06bf09e43d46846c087701ec99ac8412"},"headline":"UN General Assembly celebrates 70th anniversary","datePublished":"2016-01-11T22:57:31+00:00","dateModified":"2016-01-14T16:21:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/"},"wordCount":666,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2016\/01\/659272-cake-cutting-celebration-11_01_2016-12.48.031-e1452552754764.jpg","keywords":["anniversary","featured","UN70","UNGA"],"articleSection":["News stories"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/","url":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/","name":"UN General Assembly celebrates 70th anniversary - General Assembly of the United Nations","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2016\/01\/659272-cake-cutting-celebration-11_01_2016-12.48.031-e1452552754764.jpg","datePublished":"2016-01-11T22:57:31+00:00","dateModified":"2016-01-14T16:21:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/#\/schema\/person\/06bf09e43d46846c087701ec99ac8412"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2016\/01\/659272-cake-cutting-celebration-11_01_2016-12.48.031-e1452552754764.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2016\/01\/659272-cake-cutting-celebration-11_01_2016-12.48.031-e1452552754764.jpg","width":1022,"height":622,"caption":"\u00a9UN Photo\/Garten: UNGA 70th birthday celebration with cake cutting ceremony"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/2016\/01\/11\/un-general-assembly-celebrates-70th-anniversary\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UN General Assembly celebrates 70th anniversary"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/","name":"General Assembly of the United Nations","description":"President of the 70th session\u2014a new commitment to action","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/#\/schema\/person\/06bf09e43d46846c087701ec99ac8412","name":"Katharina Kandt","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e28c19bf52d2ea02ca4d78c4548f4e118fe08e94744f59f7938769a04ae856e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e28c19bf52d2ea02ca4d78c4548f4e118fe08e94744f59f7938769a04ae856e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Katharina Kandt"},"url":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/author\/kandtun-org\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/70\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}