Leaders had taken to the world stage since 24 September to spotlight hopes and gains, as well as profound concerns, at the start of a session that United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said could be the “most consequential” in a generation.
A geographically and sociopolitically diverse group of Heads of State sounded the alarm today about the unprecedented combination of challenges facing the troubled Middle East that was taking “terror to a new era and a new level”, as the General Assembly continued its high-level debate.
“If we did what we must, it could be remembered in history as the session that helped us turn the corner in ensuring effective custodianship of the environment, economic justice and social responsibility,” the General Assembly was told today as its annual debate continued.
The world’s fasten seat belt light is illuminated, with turbulence testing the multilateral system, national institutions and people's lives, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the General Assembly today as he opened the sixty-ninth session’s general debate.
Despite remarkable strides in women’s rights and empowerment worldwide in the last two decades, greater global efforts were needed to ensure full gender equality, human dignity, sustainable growth and the future of the planet, senior United Nations officials told the General Assembly today.
Committing to further advance the rights of indigenous peoples, global leaders today called for actions that would bridge the gap between promises and results at the first-ever international conference on that disadvantaged group.
