Plenary

A week of thoughtful and constructive interventions by the General Assembly’s Member States — nearly all of whom had touched on issues related to the theme of the sixty-seventh session, the peaceful settlement of disputes — had catalyzed a “fruitful discourse” on ways to stabilize the world’s increasing geostrategic volatility and unpredictability, said Assembly President Vuk Jeremić (Serbia) as he closed the body’s annual general debate.

Foreign Ministers of small nations today called on Member States to take responsibility for strengthening the international multilateral system through respect for the rule of law and with the United Nations at its centre, to overcome global security, human rights, economic, environmental and development crises, as the General Assembly held the fifth and penultimate day of its annual general debate.

With their countries locked in a life-and-death struggle against climate change — a battle they were currently losing — leaders of some of the world’s smallest and most vulnerable nations today warned the General Assembly that apathy about the health of the planet and “political cowardice” on reaching a post-Kyoto Protocol climate deal had left them one category 2 hurricane away from economic and social collapse.

In a move intended to bolster the chances for peace, Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, announced in the General Assembly today that his Government would seek status for Palestine as a non-Member State of the United Nations, following what he described as “aborted” efforts last year to have the Security Council allow the State of Palestine to “assume its rightful place in the United Nations”, despite widespread support for the initiative.

Even with a slow economic rebound, bloody conflict in Syria and a deadly consulate attack in Libya casting a long shadow across the Middle East and North Africa — leading some to conclude that the Arab Spring had faded to an Arab Winter — leaders addressing the General Assembly today stressed that the international community, far from turning its back on the volatile region, must redouble support to all fleeing tyranny and seeking to determine their own destiny.

“I am here to sound the alarm,” United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, urging political leaders gathered for the General Assembly’s annual debate to overcome divisions and wilful blindness before it was too late to effectively address such global challenges as widespread insecurity, deepening inequality, government waste, and the impacts of climate change.

World leaders and civil society representatives reaffirmed today their commitment to the rule of law as the foundation of equitable State relations and the basis upon which just and fair societies were built, as they adopted a lengthy declaration during the General Assembly’s first-ever high-level meeting on the rule of law at the national and international levels.

The General Assembly, convening the second meeting of its sixty-seventh session and acting on the recommendations of its General Committee, adopted a programme of work which contained nearly 170 items.

The General Assembly will hold the first-ever High-level Meeting devoted to the rule of law at the national and international levels on 24 September, a day before the general debate opens.

Faced with extraordinary challenges including terrorism, widespread geopolitical instability and the urgent need for sustainable development, the General Assembly — through a host of new initiatives and an unflagging commitment to the United Nations founding principles — must contribute more to the destiny of the planet, said that body’s new President, Vuk Jeremić, as he opened its sixty-seventh annual session this afternoon.