Plenary

The General Assembly today elected, by secret ballot, 15 States to serve on the Human Rights Council, the United Nations body responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe.

Delegates voiced both support for reform efforts and concerns about their potential implications today, as the General Assembly considered that issue alongside other agenda items, including follow-up to the outcomes of major United Nations conferences and summits.

The United Nations must ensure that the impact of its Economic and Social Council — a critical platform for measuring sustainable development progress and amplifying stakeholders’ voices — was “greater than the sum of its parts”, the General Assembly heard today as it considered the Council’s diverse activities in 2017.

Facilitating diplomacy, preventing conflicts and uniting countries around efforts to combat terrorism, climate change and other rapidly evolving global crises were among the United Nations most critical tasks, the General Assembly heard today, as it took up Secretary-General António Guterres’ first annual report on the work of the Organization.

Concluding its high-level meeting on human trafficking today, General Assembly President Miroslav Lajčák (Slovakia) urged the United Nations to not let down millions of victims and survivors of human trafficking around the globe.

Continuing its high‑level meeting on human trafficking today, speakers in the General Assembly called for more tailored, effective multilateral responses to that “heinous” crime while outlining national efforts to protect its victims and prosecute perpetrators.

Survivors of human trafficking today recounted painful stories of kidnapping, violence and rape — often the result of criminals exploiting their hopes for a better life — as the General Assembly adopted a Political Declaration aimed at combating that brutal practice.

Against a backdrop of rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula, speakers in the General Assembly today emphasized the urgent need for firm political will to advance towards the total elimination of all nuclear weapons.

Following a week of clarion calls for diplomacy, promises to build a more equitable world order and impassioned accounts of such crises as war and climate change, General Assembly President Miroslav Lajčák (Slovakia) closed the seventy-second annual general debate today with a vow to “do even more” to resolve those myriad challenges.

Security, human rights and international law took centre stage at the General Assembly today, with States diverging over how best to preserve their stability in the face of existential threats, as the 193-member body entered the fifth day of its annual high-level debate.