More than eight years after over 750,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Myanmar for sprawling camps in Bangladesh, the crisis remains unresolved. On Tuesday, world leaders, UN officials and civil society groups will convene in New York for a high-level summit to confront not just the humanitarian emergency, but the geopolitical deadlock that perpetuates it.
In Ukraine, people across the country have been dealing with the aftermath of a massive Russian bombing raid that lasted into the early hours of Monday, reportedly killing four, including a teenage girl.
Deputy UN Secretary-General Amina Mohammed thanked the crowd at New York’s Global Citizen Festival on Saturday for using their voice for justice and “refusing to give up on a better world.”
Bruno Rodríguez Parilla, in his address to the General Assembly on Saturday, said that there can be no effective global response to serious challenges because the current world order “reflects a bygone era, when most developing countries did not even exist as independent states.”
Widespread violations of the principle of the equality of states are the cause of crises and conflicts, Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, told the General Assembly on Saturday. Mr Lavrov added that the founding principles of the UN are as relevant as ever in today’s “age of multipolarity.”
In his address to the General Assembly, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India’s Minister for External Affairs outlined the failings of a “gridlocked” UN, whilst asserting the need for more international cooperation and a reformed Organisation.
Young people are at the heart of the world’s most urgent challenges, and on Friday, their role in shaping solutions took centre stage at the UN General Assembly. World leaders spoke of the remarkable promise held by today’s generation, even as they acknowledged the persistent barriers millions of children and youth face in accessing education, healthcare and political voice.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Friday marked the UN’s 80th anniversary with a call for world leaders to defend multilateralism, reject “Cold War” thinking and step up cooperation in the face of global turmoil.
World leaders have thrown their weight behind the first-ever United Nations global political declaration tackling noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health together.
Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados on Friday told world leaders the survival of small States and global peace depends on preserving a rules-based international system.
A resolution to extend sanctions relief to Iran under a 2015 nuclear deal failed to pass in the UN Security Council on Friday.
The UN Secretary General on Friday warned a high-level meeting in New York focused on ridding the world of nuclear weapons that the threat is only “accelerating and evolving”.