By Eric Vandenbroeck and co-workers

World Leaders Meet in New York for UNGA

Nearly 150 world leaders have touched down in New York City for the 77th session of the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA)—this year’s most significant diplomatic gathering—as the world confronts a grim reality of war, humanitarian crises, painful energy shocks, food shortages, climate change, and economic turmoil.

“The General Assembly is meeting at a time of great peril,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said last week. “Geostrategic divides have been the widest since at least the Cold War. They are paralyzing the global response to the dramatic challenges we face.”

The week’s main event, the General Debate, kicks off today and allows world leaders to speak on their key priorities and concerns. Following tradition, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will be the first to go; the hosting U.S. leader would typically be second, although U.S. President Joe Biden—delayed by Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral—will deliver his speech tomorrow instead.

Under discussion will also be that Putin orders partial Russian mobilization with Russia to call up 300,000 reservists. Including calls for 'urgent' action at the Ukrainian nuclear plant.

Standing at the UN rostrum in New York late on Tuesday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said there was “no justification whatsoever” for Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine in February. “This is imperialism, plain and simple,” he said, adding that it spelled disaster not just for Europe but also for the global, rules-based order.

Noticeably absent from the roster are the leaders of China, Russia, India, and Ethiopia, all of whom skipped the event and will have representatives standing in for them. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is not in attendance due to the war, but he was granted a rare exception to give a prerecorded speech.

On the sidelines of the General Debate, expect a spate of private meetings, other sessions, and summits, including discussions over global food security, the Iran nuclear deal, and the pandemic. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid plan to meet, as do Biden and new British Prime Minister Liz Truss. The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue is also set to convene this week.

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine rages on, observers expect the war and its global ramifications to dominate discussions. “We want to see Ukraine be in a position where it is strong when it goes to the negotiating table with the Russians,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., told Foreign Policy last week. “It’s been our goal to consolidate support for Ukraine at the United Nations.”

But at the UNGA, Thomas-Greenfield said she hopes to draw attention to three key issues: food insecurity, global health, and reforming the United Nations. “The war in Ukraine has made an already bad situation even direr,” she said. “So we will be hosting a ministerial, working with countries to commit to addressing the food insecurity issues.”

This year’s gathering comes as the U.N. grapples with a “profound crisis of faith,” as FP’s Robbie Gramer and Anusha Rathi report. Although calls for reform have mounted, precisely what those changes would look like remains far hazier. 

“The problem is everyone wants reform. There isn’t a country on Earth that doesn’t say in public it feels the U.N. needs to change and catch up with current realities of the world,” Richard Gowan, the U.N. director at the International Crisis Group, told them. “But everyone’s vision of what U.N. reform should look like is different.”

 

 

For updates click hompage here