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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.

UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

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

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.

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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

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.

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King Mswati III, Head of State of the Kingdom of Eswatini, addresses the seventy-third session of the United Nations General Assembly.
UN Photo/Cia Pak

Africa’s voice must be heard, says Eswatini leader, calling for UN reforms to make continent key player in peace and security

With Africa absorbing the most United Nations peacekeeping missions, King Mswati III, of Eswatini, said the continent’s voice must be featured “prominently and permanently” at the UN, advocating for increased participation of Africa in the work of the world Organization, particularly the Security Council.

President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine addresses the seventy-third session of the United Nations General Assembly.
UN Photo/Cia Pak

In UN address, Ukraine President denounces Russia's ‘aggressive expansionist policies’

Devoting most of his speech before the United Nations General Assembly to castigating Russia for what he said was its “2014 annexation of Crimea” and backing separatists fighting in the Ukraine’s east, Petro Poroshenko, President of Ukraine, said that only international action will stop Moscow’s “aggressive expansionist policies.”

President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi Mansour of the Republic of Yemen addresses the seventy-third session of the United Nations General Assembly.
UN Photo/Cia Pak

Yemen in the grip of war imposed by Iran-backed militia, country’s President tells UN assembly

The Yemeni Government is striving to restore peace, security and stability and provide essential services to its people, while the country remains gripped by a war imposed by Iran- and Hizbullah-backed armed militias, Yemen’s President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi Mansour told world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.