PGA

UN Secretary-General António Guterres (file photo).
© UNESCO/Christelle Alix

Quality education an ‘essential pillar’ of a better future, says UN chief

12 November 2019
Culture and Education

Education is an “essential pillar” to achieving the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, UN chief António Guterres told an audience on Tuesday at the Paris headquarters of UNESCO, the UN Educational, Scientific and Culture Organization, ahead of the agency’s General Conference.

An elderly women sells colorful paper lanterns with candles to float down the Thu Bon River in Hoi An, Vietnam.
© Eric Ganz

Tuesday’s Daily Brief: Greek island shelter crisis, only 8 per cent of UNGA speakers women, Russian alcohol laws extending lives, Older Persons Day

1 October 2019
Migrants and Refugees

Tuesday’s top stories: Greece urged to fast-track asylum-seekers as 1,000 die on the Mediterranean; just 16 women addressed UN General Assembly; less alcohol means longer lives in Russia; cholera campaign in Sudan; standing up for older people on international day.

Newly Elected PGA for the upcoming 74th session of the General Assembly speaks to reporters at the Stakeout. (September 2019)
UN Photo/Mark Garten

The uneducated are ‘denied almost everything’, says new General Assembly President

17 September 2019
Interviews

Back in June, Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, was elected by acclamation to preside over the 74th session of the General Assembly, which begins on Tuesday.

In his first major interview with UN News, Mr. Muhammad-Bande told Cristina Silveiro that poverty eradication, inclusion and quality education would be his top priorities in office.

Calling education “a complex matter”, he spelled out that “whoever is denied an education is denied almost everything”.

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7'54"
UN General Assembly President María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés underscores the importance of indigenous languages and their contribution to cultural diversity and sustainable development.
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‘Champion for multilateralism’ readies to hand over UN General Assembly gavel

16 September 2019
UN Affairs

Through consultation, collaboration and consensus, the UN chief on Monday described outgoing President of the General Assembly, María Fernanda Espinosa, as “a champion for multilateralism” who had succeeded in making the United Nations “relevant to all”.

María Fernanda Espinosa, President of the Seventy-third Session of the General Assembly visits the Zaatar Camp in Jordan where she speaks to women and girls about their hopes and dreams and how the international community can support refugees.(23 July 2019)
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More women should wield UN General Assembly gavel, says Espinosa

16 September 2019
Interviews

We “need more women in power positions”, the outgoing President of the 73rd General Assembly, María Fernanda Espinosa has told UN News, saying that gender parity and women's rights are not only about justice, but “about common sense”. 

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12'19"