UN News Daily Guide: debate continues, ‘soft power’ for peace, protecting minorities and the press

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.

Here’s what you need to know for Friday 28 September (Please note: all timings are based on the New York time zone, Eastern Daylight Time, or EDT).

General Debate: Day 4

• For the fourth day of the General Debate, 40 Heads of State and Government are scheduled to address the Assembly, including South Sudan, Denmark, Greece, China, Russia, Germany, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan and Chad. The complete list of speakers is available here.
  The General Debate runs all day every day except for Sunday until 1 October, and you can watch it all live on UN Web TV.

Promoting a culture of peace

• From 3 pm to 6 pm, "Building Bridges: Using Soft Power to Promote a Culture of Peace”: Join UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the UN alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) for some cross-cultural bonding, and to discuss ways to promote lasting peace through mutual understanding. Watch live.
• Also at 3 pm, a high-level event on counter-terrorism will take place to discuss ways to achieve a world free of terror. It will be broadcast live.  
• “Economic Resilience and Sustaining Peace”, will feature lessons learned from conflict-affected countries that remain fragile in their pursuit of peace, inclusivity and economic resilience. It starts at 9 am. Watch it here.

Sustainable development at the fore

• Day 5 for the SDG Media Zone (#SDGLive) will present a conversation with the UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet, and panels with inspiring change-makers working to make a difference in various fields. You can watch everything as it happens but you can also catch up later on all the recordings here.
• Ever wondered how Bitcoins could be used to advance sustainable development? At 1:15 pm, join the Leading Group on Innovative financing for Development, for an event titled “Cryptocurrencies and Blockchains – A New Boost For SDG-Financing?”. Watch it here.
• Small Island Developing States (SIDS) remain heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels for their energy needs. At 1:15 pm, follow live an event titled “Increasing ambition to accelerate energy transformation in SIDS.”

Protecting the rights of religious minorities, migrants, journalists

• The persecution of Christian and other religious minorities is an alarming and often unnoticed reality in conflict and post-conflict areas of the Middle East. At 8 am, the event “Freedom from Persecution: Christian Religious Minorities, Religious Pluralism in Danger” will host a high-level panel discussion to identify gaps in protection and development efforts for Christian communities in the Middle East. The event will be broadcast live.  
• Join UN-Women live at 9:30 am to ensure that the recently launched Global Compact for Migration is gender responsive for the more than 120 million migrant who are women and girls. 
• Journalists continue to be imprisoned, threatened, attacked and killed – undermining not only their own fundamental human rights, but also the public’s right to know. International human rights lawyer Amal Clooney will be participating in an event at 11:00 am tilted “Press behind bars: Undermining Justice and Democracy” which you can watch here as it happens.

The above is only a curated selection of high profile events. For a comprehensive list of everything that you can follow remotely, this calendar should help.

>>> Find all of UN News’ coverage of the UN 73^rd session of the General Assembly carefully collected here.