United Nations 78th General Assembly
World leaders are speaking at a huge United Nations (U.N.) meeting in New York City. The leaders form a powerful group called the General Assembly. Together, they work to make the world better. There are 193 countries in the U.N., and officials from each one are part of the event. This is the 78th General Assembly session.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres got the speeches started on September 19. He shared a warning. “Our world is becoming unhinged,” Guterres said. He talked about challenges such as climate change, poverty, and war. “We seem incapable of coming together to respond,” he said. Guterres believes government groups are stuck in time. “The world has changed,” he said. “Our institutions have not.” He is calling on leaders to take action.
After that, the first leader of a country took the stage. It was Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the president of Brazil. Every year, Brazil’s leader is the first to speak! Lula started by saying he believes people can solve their problems. He said he has an “unshakable trust in humanity.” Lula shared that Brazil has cut down on deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. “The whole world has always talked about the Amazon,” Lula said. “Now, the Amazon is speaking for itself.”
U.S. President Joe Biden spoke about togetherness. “No country can meet the challenges of today alone,” he said. “Our future is bound up with yours.” The president described the world everyone is working toward. His vision was a place where “our children do not go hungry and everyone has access to quality health care, where workers are empowered, and our environment is protected.”
One by one, speakers stood at the podium and shared their thoughts. Leaders from Colombia, Jordan, Poland, and Qatar all spoke on the first day. President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa said countries spend so much on war, “but we cannot take action to meet the basic needs of people around the world.” President Katalin Novák of Hungary spoke too. “Today, we need solidarity with each other more than ever,” she said.
One of the biggest topics at the event was the war in Ukraine. Russia invaded that nation in February 2022, and fighting has continued ever since. This war has had an impact all across the globe, and leaders at the U.N. spoke out against Russia’s actions. Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, gave a speech at the big U.N. meeting. The leaders in the room clapped for him as he took the stage.
Zelensky asked for the world’s continued support. He pointed out that many leaders are worried about Russia using powerful nuclear weapons. But Zelensky said Russia is using food as a weapon by blocking ports and keeping food from being delivered to certain areas. “We must stop it,” Zelensky said about the war. Zelensky will meet with President Biden and other U.S. lawmakers while he is in America.
The U.N. speeches will continue until September 26.
