More than 100 heads of state and government joined the 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, which started on September 19, 2023.
The world leaders discussed urgent challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, escalating US-China tensions, Afghanistan’s uncertain future under Taliban rule, and persistent conflicts in Yemen, Syria, and Ethiopia’s troubled Tigray region.
Leaders of China, UK, France, Russia skip event
Chinese President Xi Jinping was one of four leaders from the permanent members of the Security Council who did not attend this year’s meeting. French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Russia’s Putin also skipped the event. The United States President Joe Biden was the only leader of a permanent Security Council member to address the assembly.
The first day of the summit included speeches from high-profile leaders, including U.S. President Biden, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
Biden urges world leaders to stand up to Russia
At the UN General Assembly summit, President Biden urged the world to stand up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, calling for leaders to stand firm in their support of President Volodymyr Zelensky and his nation against Putin’s aggression. “Russia alone bears responsibility for this war,” the president said. “Russia alone has the power to end this war immediately” Biden stressed.
“It’s Russia alone that stands in the way of peace.”
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) September 19, 2023
US President Joe Biden calls on the world leaders to stand with Ukraine against Russia’s invasion at the #UNGA ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/rvVpsKTX7R
“If we allow Ukraine to be carved up, is the independence of any nation secure? I respectfully suggest the answer is no. We have to stand up to this naked aggression today and deter other would-be aggressors tomorrow,” Biden said. “That’s why the United States, together with our allies and partners around the world, will continue to stand with the brave people of Ukraine as they defend their sovereignty and territorial integrity and their freedom,” he added.
Biden’s address at the UN summit was the centerpiece event of his three-day visit to New York, which included meetings with the heads of five Central Asian nations – Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – as well as the leaders of Israel and Brazil.
Zelenskyy calls for unity against Russia
During his speech at the United Nations General Assembly, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of committing genocide against his country’s people. “This is clearly a genocide,” Zelensky said. “When hatred is weaponized against one nation it never stops there. Each decade Russia starts a new war.”
President Zelenskyy also blamed Russia of attempting to “weaponize a food shortage” with attacks on grain exports and revoking the Black Sea grain deal. He also accused Russia of the “weaponization of energy,” and called for Russia’s nuclear disarmament. “While Russia is pushing the world to the final war, Ukraine is doing everything to ensure that after Russian aggression, no one in the world will dare to attack any nation,” Ukrainian president said. “We must be united to make it, and we will do it.”
Turkish President meets Greek and Israeli leaders
In New York, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held two separate bilateral meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Erdogan discussed issues concerning the energy reserves in the eastern Mediterranean and Cyprus problem with Greek prime minister. “Our objective is to diffuse the negative atmosphere in the Aegean. This is also Mitsotakis’ objective. The most important step toward this will be the summit we will hold in Thessaloniki,” Erdogan said.
The Israeli Prime Minister discussed his country’s effort to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia during his first-ever known meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkiye and Israel will begin cooperating in the field of energy, including joint drilling and energy transmission lines, Erdogan has said, following his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York. Erdogan informed journalists that he and Netanyahu have agreed to pay official visits.
UN reforms urged
At the UN summit, the Ukrainian president joined many world leaders in calling for reforms at the Security Council, where five permanent members wield veto power “Ukrainian soldiers are doing with their blood what the UN Security Council should do by its voting, Zelenskyy said, adding that “veto power in the hands of the aggressor is what has pushed the U.N. into deadlock.”
Turkish President Erdogan also spoke of the need of the reform of the United Nations to better reflect the realities of the modern world, saying that the institutions established after the Second World War no longer reflect today’s world.
Speaking at the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called for urgent reform within the UN security council, reiterating that the world is bigger than five. pic.twitter.com/lujkJHoV04
— ANews (@anews) September 19, 2023
“The world is bigger than five,” he said referring to the five Permanent Members of the Security Council. Advocating for reform, he said that “the Security Council has ceased to be the guarantor of world security and has become a battleground for the political strategies of only five countries.”
World leaders urged to boost measures against climate crisis
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told world leaders the climate crisis had “opened the gates to hell” as the world is witnessing increasing extreme weather events and record-shattering global temperatures amid rising greenhouse gas emissions.
“Humanity has opened the gates to hell. Horrendous heat is having horrendous effects. Distraught farmers watching crops carried away by floods; Sweltering temperatures spawning disease; and thousands fleeing in fear as historic fires rage. Climate action is dwarfed by the scale of the challenge. If nothing changes we are heading towards a 2.8 degree temperature rise — towards a dangerous and unstable world” Guterres warned.
However, there is still hope. “We can still limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees,” Guterres said, referring to the target seen as needed to avoid long-term climate catastrophe.
“Humanity has opened the gates to hell,” warns UN Secretary General @antonioguterres.
— UN Climate Change (@UNFCCC) September 21, 2023
But here is the good news: It is not too late. We can still course-correct and bring the world back on the 1.5 degree path.
If we #ActNow.#ClimateAmbitionSummit | #COP28 pic.twitter.com/KpCWIrrftU
Climate change was the key area of focus for the U.S. president. “We see it everywhere – record-breaking heatwaves in the US and China, wildfires ravaging North America and southern Europe, a fifth year of drought in the Horn of A frica; tragic, tragic flooding in Libya — my heart goes out to the people of Libya — that has killed thousands — thousands of people. Together, these snapshots tell an urgent story of what awaits us if we fail to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and begin to climate-proof the world.”
At the UNGA, President Cyril Ramaphosa said, “Africa is warming faster than the rest of the world. We are told that of the 20 climate hotspots in the world, 17 are in Africa.
Congo President wants UN peacekeeping mission to leave country
Congo’s president wants the world’s second largest United Nations peacekeeping force to leave the country, starting this December. In an address at the UN gathering, President Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi accused the 17,000-strong peacekeeping mission of being unable to confront the fighting in eastern Congo that is “tearing apart” the central African nation. After a quarter-century of peacekeeping efforts, “it’s time for our country to take its destiny fully in hand” and become the leading security force in Congo, he said.
Eastern Congo has long been overrun by dozens of armed groups seeking a share of the region’s gold and other resources. Thousands of civilians have suffered, and many Congolese complain that no one is protecting them from rebel attacks. “In the past year, the political and security environment has deteriorated sharply, creating a severe humanitarian and protection crisis,” according to a UN report that discussed options for the peacekeeping mission’s withdrawal.
