Plenary

The tragic 30-year arc of the AIDS virus, which had left in its wake some 30 million people dead, nearly as many struggling to live with the disease and vast numbers of orphans, had likewise left the international community scrambling to answer a host of complex questions, such as how to accelerate targeted prevention interventions, and perhaps most critically, what can be done stop new infections.

Ten years after the world community had come together to forge the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, participants in the first of five panels scheduled during this week’s three-day United Nations high-level meeting on HIV/AIDS called for a new paradigm in AIDS response that focused not only on the disease, but championed broader social development, supported the establishment of robust national health systems and, most importantly, responded to those without a voice.

After three decades, the global fight against AIDS was at a moment of truth and Governments, civil society and the private sector must come together to ensure that past commitments to achieve universal access to life-saving treatments were met and that the elusive pandemic was stopped in its tracks in the coming decade, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon declared today as he opened the General Assembly High-level Meeting on AIDS, which aimed to shape the future global response.

United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro this morning made a strong call for creating a global green economy characterized by abundant jobs, sustainable livelihoods, dynamic economic growth and clean energy. Kicking off a day-long informal General Assembly thematic debate on “Green economy: a pathway to sustainable development”, she said the green economy also must address the menaces caused by climate change, notably food and energy insecurity and deforestation.

To help promote a better understanding on the concept of the green economy — one of the biggest emerging issues as countries seek to promote economic development, poverty eradication and the protection of the environment — the United Nations General Assembly is convening a one-day thematic debate on Thursday, 2 June.

The General Assembly today elected 15 States to serve on the Human Rights Council for three-year terms beginning next month, in a single round of secret balloting which followed the candidates’ nomination by their respective regional groups.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today opened the General Assembly’s first-ever thematic debate on international migration and development with a strong call for an intelligent, cooperative approach, focused on the positive “to harness the unstoppable force of migration for the greater good”.

Recognizing the importance of cooperation between the United Nations and regional organizations, as well as its benefits to the world body, the General Assembly today adopted a set of modalities granting the delegation of the European Union the right to make interventions, as well as the right of reply and the ability to present oral proposals and amendments.

The current threats posed by Japan’s nuclear power plant echoed the Chernobyl disaster and, thus, the anniversary of that event should be a time for reflection and “robust global debate” on nuclear safety, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said this morning as the General Assembly held a special commemorative meeting on the twenty-fifth anniversary of Chernobyl.

The world’s current economic growth model – characterized by extreme production and consumption, slashed forests, and polluted air and water supplies — was operating at nature’s expense and, while it was not too late to change course and improve our relationship with Mother Earth, “time is running short,” the General Assembly was told today.