In his address to the UN General Assembly’s general debate on Friday, the Prime Minister of India outlined how the world’s largest democracy has embodied the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in its work towards “peace, development and progress in the world”.
Here’s a roundup of human rights news this Friday: UN’s Bachelet urges restraint over arrests of Egypt protestors; expert calls for ‘democratic shift’ in Zimbabwe; Human Rights Council agrees fact-finding mission to Venezuela; independent experts urge freedom for Saudi women's rights defender, after 500 days in prison.
All key actors in Afghanistan must “uphold their responsibility to support a peaceful, credible, transparent and inclusive electoral process”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement on Friday, the day before presidential elections are due to be held in the country, adding that “there is no place for violence, intimidation or fraud”.
Somalia is “the perfect example of the success of the multilateral system,” President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed told the UN General Assembly on Thursday, while acknowledging that the Horn of Africa country still needed international and regional support and cooperation, particularly to deal with threats from Al-Shabab.
The United Nations, and the world, have a moral responsibility “to apply utmost pressure with every tool available ... to end the terrorist and aggressive conduct of the Iranian regime,” Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister told the General Assembly on Thursday evening.
The international community must join together to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, the Foreign Minister of Israel told the UN General Assembly on Thursday evening.
As a United Nations Member State more than two deacades, Thursday was the first time the Republic of North Macedonia addressed the General Assembly under its settled-upon name after “a 27-year-old difference with Greece”.
Through the cooperation of the leaders of South Sudan, First Vice-President Taban Deng Gai on Thursday told the United Nations General Assembly that his country could become “a beacon of hope and peace”.
Climate change is putting Pacific tuna fish stocks at risk, potentially creating an “economic Armageddon” for Nauru, President Lionel Aingimea warned the UN General Assembly on Thursday.
Small island nations are “not sitting idly by” but are emerging as “frontrunners” in the fight against climate change according to Fekitamoeloa Katoa ‘Utoikamanu, the UN High Representative for Small Island Developing States.
