The UN General Assembly begins with the world more divided than ever

As humanity faces an unprecedented series of crises, some 150 leaders are expected to gather in New York this week for the UN General Assembly, with countries remaining deeply divided over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Our world is wounded by war, affected by climate chaos, stained by hatred, covered by the shame of poverty and inequalities,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres complained a few days earlier.

But geostrategic divisions “that have never been so great at least since the Cold War (…) are paralyzing the global response to these dramatic challenges,” he added, calling on countries to “come together” to find solutions.

However, there is little hope for unity, as evidenced by discussions about the appearance of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a taped message to the General Assembly.

Due to the covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 some leaders’ speeches at the General Assembly were made via video message. This year the usual rules apply again: to have the right to address the General Assembly, leaders must be present. However, after a special vote, Zelensky was allowed to send a video message.

Russia immediately denounced “the politicization of a procedural issue.”

Although he would be “the star” of the General Assembly if he traveled to New York, even via video, Zelensky’s speech “will attract a thousand times more attention than most of the speeches of other leaders who will be present.” commented International Crisis Group analyst Richard Gowan.

But he warned that “many non-Western political officials accuse the West of focusing on Ukraine.”

“Countries are concerned that while we are focusing on Ukraine, we are not paying enough attention to the other crises on the planet. This is not happening,” assured the American ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

“The World Still Turns”

“The world is still turning. We cannot ignore what is happening in the rest of the world,” he noted, emphasizing the food crisis, a topic that will occupy many events.

The US is co-hosting with the EU and the African Union a conference on food security on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, and there will also be a ministerial-level meeting on the global action plan to deal with covid-19, as well as a conference on the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Moreover, developing countries, which are less responsible for global warming but are often the first victims of its effects, are tired of the fact that action to tackle climate change is often on the back burner.

“We have no time to waste,” said Antigua and Barbuda Ambassador Walton Webbson, president of the Association of Small Island States (AOSIS), who is hoping for “commitments” of funding.

Two months before the COP27 climate conference in Egypt, Guterres is not going to miss the opportunity to stress the importance of taking immediate action in his speech to open the General Assembly on Tuesday and during closed-door roundtables on “ frank talks’ with some leaders.

Ahead of leaders’ speeches on Tuesday, a session on education is due to take place on Monday, but with fewer leaders attending the funeral of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.

Although the leaders of most of the world’s countries are returning to the General Assembly this year – with significant absences of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping – some health restrictions remain in place: delegations have reduced their size, while less media allowed to cover the event. At the same time, the use of a mask is mandatory.

RES-EMP

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