UN General Assembly 73rd Session

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 fifth daily guide for you to keep your finger on the pulse.

International donors on Thursday pledged an additional $118 million for the United Nations agency assisting Palestine refugees to help overcome what its chief called its “greatest and gravest financial crisis ever.”

Displaying photographs from the podium of the United Nations General Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday accused Iran of maintaining a secret atomic warehouse in Tehran, proving its intent to develop nuclear weapons despite the accord it reached with major powers in 2015.

The collapse of multilateralism would be “catastrophic,” Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand, said on Thursday in her first speech at the United Nations General Assembly.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is 70 this year and since then, it’s helped improve the rights of vulnerable women, children and men worldwide. The “Good Human Rights Stories” initiative was launched by 14 countries and the European Union to highlight the strengthening of rights, and inspire nations worldwide to follow suit. 

Reminding the General Assembly on Thursday that Macedonia had been a co-founder of the United Nations, Gjorge Ivanov, President of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, strongly rejected a referendum on changing the name of his country, calling it “a flagrant violation” of sovereignty.

On Thursday, the newly-elected President of Sierra Leone, Julius Maada Bio, told the United Nations, that “with a strong belief in a shared vision and a common destiny, Sierra Leoneans stand with the [international community] in meeting the world’s challenges.”

“Heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, chronic lung disease, depression” – just some of the illnesses outlined by World Health Organization (WHO) chief Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, who drove home the danger by asking delegates to stand up, when they heard the name of an illness that had killed someone they loved: One by one, every single person in the room, got to their feet.

World leaders joined with United Nations entities on Thursday to reaffirm their continued personal commitment to support efforts to combat sexual exploitation and abuse across the Organization.