With the world suffering from a bad case of “trust deficit disorder”, its leaders must not only advance the welfare of their people, but also promote a reformed, reinvigorated and strengthened multilateral system, Secretary-General António Guterres said today as the General Assembly opened its seventy-third general debate.
Unanimously adopting a political declaration at the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit, nearly 100 Heads of State and Government, Ministers, Member States and representatives of civil society today committed to redoubling efforts to build a just, peaceful, prosperous, inclusive, and fair world, as they paid tribute to the late South African President’s celebrated qualities and service to humanity.
Acting on the recommendation of its General Committee, the General Assembly adopted the work programme and agenda for its seventy-third session today, deciding to include the item “Situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine”, and for the second consecutive year, the item “The Responsibility to Protect and the prevention of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity”.
Paying homage to the late Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who passed away on 18 August, Member States, colleagues and family convened in the General Assembly today to remember him as a child of Africa, the first and only United Nations chief to rise through the ranks of the Secretariat, and a leader who steered the Organization during some of its most troubling times.
On 5 June, the United Nations General Assembly elected María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, Foreign Minister of Ecuador, President of its seventy-third session — only the fourth woman to hold that position in the world body’s history and the first since 2006.
Commencing the seventy-third session of the General Assembly today, María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés (Ecuador), the organ’s fourth woman President in the Organization’s 73 years, said she is assuming her role with a “profound sense of responsibility” and a sense of urgency to go beyond a political agenda.
The intergovernmental conference drafting a legally binding treaty under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea governing marine biodiversity in ocean waters beyond national jurisdiction concluded its first session today with its President stating that it is firmly on the path to achieving its mission.
Concluding the General Assembly’s seventy-second session today, the outgoing President spotlighted salient trends emerging over recent years — ranging from more robust support for conflict prevention efforts to intensifying attacks on multilateralism — before handing the gavel to the President-elect of the seventy‑third session.
The General Assembly today adopted a resolution related to the ongoing process aimed at revitalizing its work, while also allocating a list of items for consideration at its seventy-third session, slated to open formally on 18 September.
Delegates to the first session of the intergovernmental conference drafting a legally binding treaty under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea governing marine biodiversity in ocean waters beyond national jurisdiction deliberated on how to move forward today, with the majority speaking in favour of a “zero draft” or similar text around which they could focus their negotiations.
