UN General Assembly 73rd Session

Special Coverage of the 73rd General Debate

25 September-1 October 2018

As world leaders gather in New York in the coming days, the curtain will rise on the busiest diplomatic season of the year at United Nations Headquarters.

Here, UN News gives you a front row seat to all the action during the General Assembly’s annual; high-level segment, known as the general debate. Follow monarchs, presidents and prime ministers, as they define global responses to many of today’s pressing challenges, including climate change, international migration, protracted conflicts, and extreme poverty and hunger.

María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President of the seventy-third session of the General Assembly, gavels to a close the General Assembly’s annual general debate.

UN Assembly wraps up annual general debate, its global multilateral role reaffirmed; now comes the task of reform

1 October 2018

Secretary-General António Guterres addresses the opening of the general debate of the General Assembly's 73rd session.

Climate change and multilateralism figure high on first day of UN General Assembly debate

25 September 2018

United Nations General Assembly prepares to hold a meeting on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals.

On day two of UN General Assembly’s annual debate, it’s multilateralism all the way

26 September 2018

Wide view of the General Assembly Hall at the opening of its seventy-third session, on 18 September 2018.

On day three, of UN Assembly debate, Israel and Palestine put sharp focus on complexities thwarting peace

27 September 2018

Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley of Barbados addresses the seventy-third session of the United Nations General Assembly.

On Day four of UN Assembly debate, leaders from vulnerable island States turn out in force to plead for climate action

28 September 2018

HeForShe

From Wakanda to Women’s Rights: actor Winston Duke shows his support for gender parity

27 September 2018

Interviews

Winston Duke, best known for his role as M’Baku in the hit film Black Panther, is an avowed activist and feminist.

On Wednesday, he joined Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan and award-winning actor Anne Hathaway at an event organised by UN Women, on the side-lines of High-Level week at UN Headquarters in New York.

Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of the Republic of Lithuania, addresses the general debate of the General Assembly’s seventy-third session.

UN Photo/Cia Pak

Reject passivity and embrace ‘responsibility for our future,’ Lithuania’s President tells UN Assembly

27 September 2018

UN Affairs

Multilateralism and cooperation must be the focus of dialogue between United Nations Member States as Lithuania’s President warned against ‘nationalism and division’ at the General Assembly on Thursday.

Nearly 160 tons of food from Uganda was sent via Sudan to help 8,000 of the 20,000 internally displaced people in south-eastern Central African Republic, including Pombolo, Gambo, Rafai, Zemio.

UN Photo/Hervé Serefio

Security, human rights, political upheaval in war-torn Central African Republic, focus of key Friday meeting at UN

27 September 2018

Peace and Security

What are the key events that have led the Central African Republic (CAR) to go from being a land-rich nation full of optimism at independence, in 1960, to an impoverished country facing multiple challenges, and the subject of a high-level meeting at UN Headquarters on Friday?

In Mexico City, an artistic installation consisting of a number of signs of Venus, representing women, stresses the magnitude of femicidal violence. (March 2018)

UN Women/Dzilam Mendez

Deputy UN chief hails ‘political courage’ of Latin American countries ‘to confront and end femicide’

27 September 2018

Women

A 50 million euro investment aimed at helping to end the scourge of femicide – where women and girls are killed just because of their gender – was announced at United Nations Headquarters on Thursday, thanks to the ‘political courage’ of a group of Latin American countries, said the UN deputy chief.

President Nicolás Maduro Moros of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela addresses the seventy-third session of the United Nations General Assembly.

UN Photo/Cia Pak

Maduro ‘brings the truth’ about Venezuela to UN Assembly; says he is ready to meet US President Trump

26 September 2018

UN Affairs

The people of Venezuela are being harassed and attacked in the economic, political, diplomatic spheres, and facing “permanent aggression by the media” at the hands of the United States, President Nicolás Maduro told the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.

UN Photo/Manuel Elías

On day two of UN General Assembly’s annual debate, it’s multilateralism all the way

26 September 2018

SDGs

From trade to climate change to development and fighting diseases, world leaders mounted the podium of the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday to deliver a ringing endorsement of multilateralism, singling out a strengthened UN as the prime tool for improving humanity’s lot.

President Faustin Archange Touadera of the Central African Republic addresses the seventy-third session of the United Nations General Assembly.

UN Photo/Cia Pak

From UN Assembly podium, Central African Republic leader appeals for lifting arms embargo

26 September 2018

Peace and Security

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly, Central African Republic (CAR) Head of State Faustin Touadera on Wednesday thanked the world body for helping to restore stability in his country, but also called for the complete lifting of the UN Security Council arms embargo affecting its army.

UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

‘We’re all in this together’ says UN Ocean Envoy, in battle to save life below the waves

26 September 2018

Interviews

Sea life, and the ocean that sustains it, is in “very deep trouble”, says the UN Special Envoy tasked with helping the world reach Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14, but it’s not too late to get there.

Peter Thomson has spent the last year travelling the world, galvanizing Governments, institutions and individuals, to follow up on the outcomes stemming from the 2017 Ocean Conference, which he championed in support of the SDGs.

President Iván Duque Márquez of the Republic of Colombia addresses the seventy-third session of the United Nations General Assembly.

UN Photo/Cia Pak

Colombian President calls for international support to ensure success of ‘fragile’ peace process

26 September 2018

Peace and Security

Describing himself as part of a new generation of Colombians, President Iván Duque Márquez told the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday that in the wake of the two-year old peace deal, his country was uniting around shared objectives, building a path of progress with democratic institutions.

Young students visiting UNHQ from Turkey pose at the #UNGA sign at the Visitors Plaza.

UN Photo/Kim Haughton

UN News Daily Guide: health focus, youth and tech for development, gender violence, water in Mongolia

26 September 2018

UN Affairs

On the occasion of the 73rd General Assembly, the UN is hosting a plethora of events with some of the world’s most prominent leaders and experts, to set the pace on dozens of critical global topics. To help you navigate the frenzy and make sure you don’t miss out on anything important, UN News has prepared this fourth daily guide to what’s going on.