In a key address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, Annalena Baerbock repeated her call to uphold multilateralism amid “trying times” globally. She noted that just 40 days into 2026, the world has already seen crises around Venezuela, Iran and Greenland, on top of continuing devastation in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan and elsewhere. International order ‘under attack’ “The international order is not only under pressure, it is under attack,” she told lawmakers. “And […]
Speaking at the session Who Brokers Trust Now? at the World Economic Forum, Annalena Baerbock warned that multilateral institutions – long seen as the brokers of global trust – are under unprecedented strain as conflicts multiply and respect for international law erodes. “Who brokers trust?” she asked. “In ordinary times, there would be a simple […]
The assembly is the world’s highest-level decision-making body for matters related to the environment. More than 6,000 people – representing 186 countries – took part in the week-long gathering which was held at the headquarters of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). Wide-ranging resolutions The UNEA-7 resolutions cover issues such as the sound management of minerals and materials essential to the shift to clean […]
The New York Declaration is the outcome of an international conference held in July at UN Headquarters, organized by France and Saudi Arabia, which resumes later this month. The General Assembly comprises all 193 UN Member States and 142 countries voted in favour of a resolution backing the document. Israel voted against it, alongside nine […]
This will be “no ordinary session,” she pledged, with the multilateral system beset by overlapping crises and heightened disunity. A former foreign minister of Germany, Ms. Baerbock becomes only the fifth woman in history to preside over the General Assembly. In a symbolic gesture linking past to present, she swore her oath on the UN’s […]
On Tuesday, Germany’s Annalena Baerbock will become the first European woman to hold the post and only the fifth female President in the Assembly’s history. On the eve of Baerbock’s inauguration, UN News spoke with one of her predecessors. María Fernanda Espinosa, a former Minister of Defence and Foreign Affairs of Ecuador, led the Assembly […]
The text, introduced by Russia and adopted without a vote, “welcomes the efforts of the Secretary‑General to strengthen the United Nations in order to keep pace with a changing world” and calls on UN entities and specialised agencies to align their reform efforts “as appropriate”. In the resolution, the 193-member Assembly “recognises the central role […]
Acting on the recommendation of its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), the Assembly endorsed the budgets for 12 missions, the logistics centres in Entebbe (Uganda) and Brindisi (Italy), and the support account for peacekeeping. The budgets were adopted without a vote, except for the resolution on the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which was […]
The move followed the Security Council’s failure to pass a similar resolution last week due to a lone veto by permanent member the United States. The resolution was backed by 149 Member States, with 12 voting against and 19 abstaining. Among those opposing the resolution were the United States and Israel, who were joined among […]
The General Assembly meets at 3pm in New York on Thursday in emergency session following the Security Council’s failure to adopt a resolution on 4 June calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, which was vetoed by permanent member the United States. As starvation looms across the Strip, mass casualties continue to be […]
President Abbas underscored his commitment to peace and the two-state solution, as well as the path of negotiation to achieve them, reiterating that peace in the Middle East cannot be realized without an independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital. “We have always fully and positively engaged with the various initiatives of the […]
She assumes the role at a challenging time, with ongoing conflicts, faltering development goals, mounting financial pressures, and the upcoming selection of the next Secretary-General. Ms. Baerbock received 167 votes following the secret ballot. Write-in candidate Helga Schmid (also from Germany) received seven. Fourteen delegations abstained. She becomes the first woman from the Western European […]
In addition, the Assembly endorsed a wide range of measures to promote health equity, reduce air pollution, and strengthen protections for vulnerable populations. “The words ‘historic’ and ‘landmark’ are overused, but they are perfectly apt to describe this year’s World Health Assembly,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the Assembly’s closing, ending nine days […]
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, urged Member States to remain focused on shared goals even amid global instability. “We are here to serve not our own interests, but the eight billion people of our world,” he said in his keynote address at the Palais des Nations. “To leave a heritage for […]
Annalena Baerbock presented her priorities during an informal dialogue with Member States held on Thursday at Headquarters in New York. If chosen, she will only be the fifth woman to lead the UN’s main policy-making organ and most representative body, comprising all 193 Member States who elect a new president annually, rotating among regional groups. […]
