The General Assembly today adopted a resolution on the role of diamonds in fuelling conflict, amid concerns over certain States’ efforts to block updates to the text.
Plenary
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the informal plenary meeting of the General Assembly on human security, in New York today:
The scourge of slavery has left a painful legacy through persisting inequities, as well as marginalization, dehumanization and brutality, speakers in the General Assembly emphasized today, underscoring the need for education about its causes and consequences, as well as for meaningful collective action to end its modern-day forms and build a more just world.
Adopting a landmark resolution on steering the use of artificial intelligence towards global good, the General Assembly today also stressed the importance of addressing racial discrimination around the world, including through reparations.
Meeting on the International Day to Combat Islamophobia, the General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for measures against such a phenomenon despite reservations expressed by some Member States about the text’s narrow focus on one religion and the cost of creating a senior United Nations position dedicated to the matter.
The use of the Security Council veto by the United States to block an Algerian draft resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza only emboldens Israel to continue its crimes against the Palestinian people, speakers warned the General Assembly today, stressing that the humanitarian situation in the enclave is catastrophic and worsening as a result.
Lamenting the Security Council’s inability to call for a ceasefire while the entire world demands one, speakers in the General Assembly today drew attention to the mounting death toll and famine in Gaza, while Israel condemned the United Nations for collaborating with terrorists.
The General Assembly adopted four resolutions today on issues ranging from sustainable tourism to durable peace in Africa to the World Social Summit in 2025, as it also concluded its general debate on the situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
In a meeting held to mark the two-year anniversary of the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, many speakers stressed the continued need for a united front against a war whose inimical impacts extended far beyond the borders of Ukraine, emphasizing its repercussions on food and energy insecurity, as well as its erosion of the principles of the United Nations Charter and undermining of international law.
Although peace is the “raison d’être” of the United Nations, it is the one thing missing most dramatically from the world, Secretary-General António Guterres warned the General Assembly today as he laid out his critical priorities for 2024 amid a global landscape roiled by conflict, inequity and intensifying interlocking crises.