The United Nations General Assembly held secret-ballot elections for the Human Rights Council (HRC) on Friday.  As of 1 January next year, the 18 newly-elected States will serve for three years on the UN’s highest inter-governmental body, mandated to protect and promote human rights worldwide.

After a direct challenge from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to personally and immediately visit what he called a secret atomic warehouse in Iran, the United Nations nuclear energy chief on Tuesday reaffirmed that his agency has conducted all necessary additional visits.

In the end, after all was said and done in the marathon of speeches from Heads of State and Government at the General Assembly’s seventy-third annual general debate, it all came down to one thing – the centrality of a strengthened United Nations as the only global forum that can address the multiple challenges facing the world, from conflict resolution to climate change mitigation and sustainable development.

The United Nations needs to adapt to meet the challenges facing the world, Thailand’s Deputy Foreign Minister Virasakdi Futrakul told the General Assembly on Monday, endorsing Secretary General António Guterres’s efforts to make the Organization more effective.