This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

Multilateral diplomacy in spotlight as UN HQ prepares for UNGA77

In New York, locals and diplomats are bracing themselves for the UN General Assembly, whose High-Level segment begins in earnest on Tuesday.

After two years of disruption caused by COVID-19, dozens of Heads of State are expected to arrive at UN Headquarters in the Big Apple, to deliver messages in person, in the world body’s famous green and gold Assembly Hall.

While the exact VIP list has yet to be finalised, one thing is certain: there’s a new General Assembly President. His name is Csaba Kőrösi and he’s Hungarian. Mr. Kőrösi has previously held several senior foreign ministry roles.

In a break with tradition, the US President will reportedly not address the Assembly first, as Joe Biden has been attending Queen Elizabeth’s funeral in London.

UN Member States also voted last week to allow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to address the General Assembly by video link.

Top rights expert urges provision of ‘humane’ reception facilities for older people

Countries should do much more to provide “humane” reception facilities for older people who could be victims of systemic ageism, a top rights expert has told the Human Rights Council.

Claudia Mahler, UN Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights of older persons, told the Geneva forum that States also needed to do more to ensure that older people are treated with dignity:

“Ageism and age discrimination are underlying to most situations of deprivation of liberty for older persons. Ageist attitudes are persistent worldwide, leading to discriminatory laws, policies, and practices that hinder the right of older persons to personal liberty. As a heterogenous group, older persons are not all equal when facing deprivation of liberty.”

Independent rights expert Ms. Mahler said that when older people were detained because of criminal proceedings, they must be treated with dignity, and with their specific needs taken into consideration.

She insisted that States were obliged to provide “open and humane reception arrangements” for older asylum-seekers and refugees; while in care settings, the independent expert warned that any adoption of laws that enabled “coercive care and health interventions” ran “contrary to international human rights standards”.

Afghanistan: UN repeats call for full access to high school for girls

Marking one year since Afghanistan’s de facto rulers excluded girls from high school, the UN Mission there has reiterated its call for the ban to be overturned.

Markus Potzel, acting-head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), described the anniversary as “a tragic, shameful, and entirely avoidable” development.

The ongoing exclusion of girls from secondary school classes “has no credible justification and has no parallel anywhere in the world,” Mr Potzel said, adding that the decision had been “profoundly damaging to a generation of girls and to the future of Afghanistan”.

When the country’s high schools reopened to boys on 18 September last year, the newly installed Taliban rulers issued an order for girls aged 12 to 18 to remain at home.

It’s estimated that more than one million girls have been barred from attending high school over the past year, despite international condemnation and promises from the authorities that the situation would be remedied.

Daniel Johnson, UN News.