Day one recap of the UN General Assembly

The annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) convened on Tuesday, September 24, with a slew of speeches from world leaders, who discussed several imperative topics, including ongoing conflicts and climate change.

MORNING SESSION

Secretary-General of the UN, His Excellency António Guterres, opened the morning session of the General Assembly with a speech that highlighted the need for world peace.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva began the lineup of world leader speeches at UNGA, stressing the need to end international conflicts in a peaceful manner.

Among Lula’s key initiatives was the Brazilian-Chinese proposal to end the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, which he said would de-escalate tensions and bring about dialogue between Kyiv and Moscow.

One of the most anticipated speeches was U.S. President Joe Biden’s UNGA address, which was the final of his presidential tenure.

He called for diplomatic solutions in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and the Sudanese conflict.

Several speeches focused on the humanitarian disaster in Gaza, as South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, King Abdullah II of Jordan, Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Türkiye heavily criticized Israel’s execution of the war.

AFTERNOON SESSION

The afternoon session of the UNGA had nearly 20 speeches from several world leaders, including Polish President Andrzej Duda, Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni, Argentine President Javier Milei, Vietnamese President To Lam, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

The Eastern European leaders, including Poland’s Duda and Estonia’s Alar War, called for an end to the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, while also pressing for a peaceful solution to the war in Gaza.

Argentine leader Javier Milei slammed the UN as a ‘leviathan’ monster, while simultaneously rejecting its “Pact for the Future”.

"It has become a multi-tentacled Leviathan that seeks to decide what each nation-state should do and how the citizens of the world should live,” Milei said.

Milei defended Israel’s right to self-defense, claiming that “there has been a systematic vote against the State of Israel, which is the only country in the Middle East that defends liberal democracy.”

Other important topics were discussed, such as expanding the UN Security Council by adding Brazil, India, and an African representative.

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