After two years of in-person restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, leaders from across the world convened in New York for the 77th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), which opened last week on September 13, with Tuesday (September 20) being the first day of the high-level General Debate.
More than 150 delegates will deliver speeches from the UNGA podium, in the backdrop of heightened geopolitical tensions, a climate crisis and global food shortages.
The UN General Assembly (UNGA), the United Nation’s chief policy-making and representative organ, was created in 1945. It meets from September to December every year, and then again between January and August.
Each of the 193 member states of the UN has an equal vote in the General Assembly, where key decisions for the body are made, such as appointing the UN Secretary-General, approving the UN budget, electing non-permanent members to the Security Council and making recommendations through resolutions. However, it has no power to enforce these resolutions.
At the beginning of each regular session in September, the Assembly holds its main event — the general debate, where representatives of each member state are provided the opportunity to raise any issues that concern them.
What are the issues that are likely to be raised at UNGA?
The theme for the 77th session is “A watershed moment: transformative solutions to interlocking challenges,” which emerges from the recognition that the world is at a critical moment due to “complex and interconnected crises,” the UN states.
“The General Assembly is meeting at a time of great peril,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said last week.
“Our world is blighted by war, battered by climate chaos, scarred by hate, and shamed by poverty, hunger, and inequality.”
The Assembly meetings are also taking place after a heightened climate crisis has led to deadly floods in Pakistan, leaving thousands dead and millions more displaced, while severe droughts affect parts of Europe and China.
Seven months into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the war between the two countries will likely dominate discussions at the event. Guterres had said geopolitical divisions were the “widest they have been since the Cold War.”
Both Russia and Ukraine are significant exporters of grains and fertilisers, and the UN has said that the war has exacerbated the food shortage crisis caused by pandemic and climate change.
India was among the 101 countries that voted on September 17, in favour of allowing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who hasn’t left his country since the outbreak of the war, to address delegates at the General Debate via a pre-recorded speech.
It remains unlikely that Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal will come up on the sidelines of the 77th session. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi before leaving Tehran for the meeting on Monday (September 19) said that he had “no plan for a meeting or negotiations with US leaders,” in New York, as reported by the Associated Press.
Reuters reported that Raisi had said the previous day that Tehran would need serious guarantees that the US would not withdraw from the deal again, as former President Donald Trump had done in 2018.
What is the order of the speakers and how is it decided?
The General Assembly date is divided into two segments each day — a morning session and an afternoon session. Everything from the order of speakers, to the length of their speeches, is laid down in a complex set of conventions and bylaws.
The General Debate is first called to order by the President of the General Assembly, which this year is Hungarian diplomat Csaba Korös. Subsequently, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will introduce the annual “Report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organisation.” The debate is then opened after the president makes a speech.
Brazil has been the first Member State to speak in the annual general debate for nearly seven decades, ever since the 10th UNGA in 1955. The tradition dates back to the early years of the UN, when most countries were reluctant to be the first to address the delegation. At the time, Brazil was the country that volunteered to speak first.
The US, as the host country, is the second member state to speak. However, President Joe Biden will address the chamber on Wednesday (September 21), since he has been away to attend Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.
After the first two speeches, the speaking order is not fixed and is based on factors such as level of representation, the rank of the representatives, preference and geographical balance.
What are the issues India will be focusing on at UNGA?
Prime Minister Modi is not attending this year’s UN General Assembly Session. Instead, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who arrived in New York on Sunday (September 18), will be the country’s official representative at the event. He is slated to address the world leaders during the week-long General Debate on September 24, and will take part in more than 50 official engagements, which will include bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral meetings.
The key issues that India will be focusing on during the high-level UN General Assembly session are counter-terrorism, peacekeeping, reformed multilaterism, climate action and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.
The five S’s: Samman (Respect), Samvad (Dialogue), Sahyog (Cooperation), Shanti (Peace) and Samriddhi (Prosperity), laid out by PM Narendra Modi will be the “guiding light” in India’s approach to the UNGA, India’s Permanent Mission to the UN stated in a video posted on Twitter.
During his trip to the US, which will continue till September 28, Jaishankar will meet UN Secretary General António Guterres in New York, PTI reported. He will also be hosting a Ministerial meeting of the G4 nations — India, Japan, Germany and Brazil, according to the Ministry of External Affairs. Additionally, Jaishanker will take part in the High Level Meeting of the L.69 group, a major bloc of developing countries from Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific, that are focused on reforms of the UN Security Council.
Some memorable moments from the UNGA
Despite being the foremost diplomatic event, the UNGA’s General Debate has been able to capture the public’s imagination because of the many striking speeches that world leaders have given at the event.
In 2006, former President of Venezuela, Hugo Chaves referred to then-US President George W Bush as “the devil” and said he detected the smell of sulphur in the air, a day after Bush delivered his speech at the General Debate.
In 2009, former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi crossed the voluntary 15 minute limit and delivered a 96-minute speech to the Assembly, called for Israel and Palestine to be formed into a new state called Isratine, addressed the assassination of former US President John F Kennedy and criticised the UN Security Council, before appearing to tear a page from the UN Charter.
Iran’s former President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad condemned the West during his address in 2010, and claimed that the US had helped orchestrate the deadly 9/11 attacks, claiming it was done to reverse “the declining American economy and its scripts on the Middle East in order to save the Zionist regime,” CNN reported. This led to various representatives from Western countries leaving the Assembly during his speech.
In 2017, former President Donald Trump called North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “Rocket man” and threatened to “totally destroy North Korea” if it was required.
Visitors to the United Nations headquarters take photos at the General Assembly speaker's podium ahead of the General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
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