During the first three months of its seventy-ninth session, the General Assembly plenary adopted landmark resolutions, including one demanding Israel end its presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory within 12 months and another outlining a blueprint for future generations, while also holding sessions deploring the Security Council’s failure to address the crises in Gaza and Sudan.
The international community “seems incapable of coming together” to respond to intensifying crises, pushing the multilateral system into dysfunction and deadlock in a more fragmented world, the United Nations Secretary-General warned this September at the annual high-level General Assembly debate.
Speaking at the largest General Assembly gathering since the COVID-19 pandemic halted in-person events and devastated global travel some three years ago, world leaders this September called on the international community to unite in the face of the conflict in Ukraine, global climate emergency, and emerging food, fuel and cost-of-living crises.
Along with the escalating climate crisis, the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing vaccine inequity captured the attention of world leaders gathered for the General Assembly’s seventy-sixth session this September.
The COVID-19 pandemic cast a long shadow over what should have been a celebratory seventy-fifth session of the United Nations General Assembly, forcing Member States to adopt unprecedented working methods as world leaders grappled with the far-reaching consequences of the worst global health crisis in a century on top of long-standing issues ranging from climate change and poverty eradication to human rights and arms control.
The global climate emergency as well as zero-sum geopolitics, declining development assistance and rising global debt set the backdrop for world leaders as the General Assembly began the annual general debate for its seventy-fourth session, with many calling for solidarity to meet the planet’s most pressing challenges.
Amid the backdrop of rising unilateralism and large-scale migration, world leaders attending the General Assembly united under the theme of making the United Nations relevant to all people, stressing that only through a multilateral rules-based order can the international community meet emerging challenges.
Convening for its seventy-second session amid a multilateral system overwhelmed by crises, the General Assembly heard world leaders defend diplomacy and dialogue while expressing a strong will to galvanize support to confront climate threats, resolve languishing conflicts and build a sturdy path towards sustainable development for all.
Beginning its work against the backdrop of an expanding global refugee crisis, deepening political divisions and a spate of terror attacks across the globe, the General Assembly’s seventy-first session convened a record number of topical meetings, while also embarking on the daily business of implementing the newly adopted 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Climate change, environmental issues, the migrant and refugee crisis, and the general threat of terrorism were among the concerns voiced by delegates at the General Assembly, speaking as world leaders gathered in New York for the seventieth session of the six-day general debate, which was preceded by a three-day summit on the Sustainable Development Goals as well as a high-level thematic debate on the maintenance of international peace and security.