Global

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon presents his annual report on the work of the Organization at the opening of the general debate of the General Assembly’s seventy-first session.
UN Photo/Cia Pak

Opening Assembly debate, Ban calls on world leaders ‘act now,’ work together for a better future

20 September 2016
SDGs

Highlighting the challenges confronting the global community, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today opened the 71st annual debate of the UN General Assembly with a call on world leaders to recognize that the important positions they hold are a reflection of the trust the people have in them and “not personal property.”

21 March 1958 – Margaret Anstee, shown here during her tenure as Officer-in- Charge of the Technical Assistance Board Field Office in Montevideo, Uruguay.
UN Photo/MB

INTERVIEW: Margaret Anstee – first woman to become UN Under-Secretary-General

19 September 2016
UN Affairs

“A woman of firsts” is perhaps only a summary description of Dame Margaret Anstee, the first woman to serve as a United Nations Under-Secretary-General.

Greek volunteer life-guards help a young child out of a boat that reached the shores of Lesbos, having crossed the Aegean sea from Turkey.
UNHCR/Achilleas Zavallis

World leaders at UN summit adopt 'bold' plan to enhance protections for refugees and migrants

19 September 2016
Migrants and Refugees

With more people forced to flee their homes than at any time since World War II, world leaders came together at the United Nations today to adopt the New York Declaration, which expresses their political will to protect the rights of  refugees and migrants, to save lives and share responsibility for large movements on a global scale.

Peter Thomson (foreground), President-elect of the seventy-first session the General Assembly, takes the oath of office during the concluding meeting of the preceding session, becoming the first Assembly President to do so.
UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

FEATURE: Curtain rises on world's busiest diplomatic arena at UN Headquarters

16 September 2016
UN Affairs

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

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (right) meets with Nadia Murad Basee Taha, a young Iraqi woman of the Yazidi faith, human rights activist and survivor of abduction and torture by the terrorist group Islamic State, on the margins of the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul. 24 May 2016.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe (file)

Yazidi survivor of ISIL’s human trafficking appointed UN Goodwill Envoy for victims

16 September 2016
Human Rights

Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Nadia Murad Basee Taha, who survived trafficking at the hands of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) was today appointed a United Nations advocate for the victims of human trafficking.

Mogens Lykketoft, President of the seventieth session of the General Assembly, gives an interview for the UN News on the Assembly’s work during its current session.
UN Photo/JC McIlwaine

INTERVIEW: Selection of next UN Secretary-General has been game-changing process, says outgoing General Assembly President

8 September 2016
UN Affairs

On 15 June 2015, the United Nations General Assembly elected Mogens Lykketoft – a Danish national – to serve as the President of its seventieth session. At the time of his election, Mr. Lykketoft was the Speaker (President) of the Danish Parliament, a position he had held since 2011. Born on 9 January 1946, it was a fitting coincidence that he would turn 70 during his term as President of the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly– a personal fact he highlighted during his acceptance speech to the world body upon his election.