he United Nations was established in October 1945 by 50 participating nation states with the aim of preventing future wars and to realise global peace and security. Though the League of Nations, which ceased to exist a year later, had served as a point of reference, what emerged was not only a very powerful international organisation but a system comprising several organisations. The UN system comprises six major organs and a plethora of affiliated bodies and subsidiaries. Technically speaking, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank are also part of the UN system.

Out of the six major organs of the UN, the General Assembly (UNGA) works as the parliament of the organisation. All 193 members of the UN have equal representation in the UNGA voting through a ‘one country, one vote’ mechanism. The General Assembly meets in regular sessions from September to December each year, and thereafter when its input is needed on a particular issue. Each year, its members discuss the agenda at length. Resolutions are usually adopted along with recommendations for necessary action in the deliberated domains. The UNGA has key decision making roles in the UN. It appoints the secretary general on the recommendation of the Security Council (UNSC), elects the non-permanent members of the Council and approves the UN budget. The Assembly is chaired by its president who is a prominent figure within the organisation.

This year’s General Assembly session is being held currently. “A watershed moment: transformative solutions to interlocking challenges” has been put forth as this year’s theme that guides policy debates and discussions. The “interlocking challenges” have discursively unfolded in the speeches made by top leaders of the world, including Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Guterres said the world has congregated “at a time of great peril” where it is “blighted by war, battered by climate chaos, scarred by hate and shamed by poverty, hunger and inequality”. Joe Biden, the US president, shared similar concerns with the member states. He said, “Let us speak plainly. A permanent member of the United Nations Security Council invaded its neighbour, attempted to erase a sovereign state from the map… That’s why 141 nations in the General Assembly came together to unequivocally condemn Russia’s war against Ukraine. The United States has marshalled massive levels of security assistance and humanitarian aid and direct economic support for Ukraine — more than $25 billion to date… more than 40 countries represented here have contributed billions of their own money and equipment to help Ukraine defend itself.” Importantly, the UNGA passed a resolution by a significant majority, urging UN member states not to recognise the annexation of the four regions of Ukraine where Russia has held a controversial referendum.

The UNGA passed a resolution by a significant majority, condemning Russia’s annexation of four regions of Ukraine.

The said resolution was favoured by 143 members of the UNGA; five voted against it; and 35 abstained. Belarus, North Korea, Nicaragua, Russia and Syria voted against the resolution. China and India along with a host of African countries were counted as abstentions. The resolution, while referring to UN Charter and principles, posited that the regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia have been temporarily occupied by Russia as an act of aggression while violating Ukraine’s territorial integrity and state sovereignty. The UNGA demanded reversal of what it called an “attempted illegal annexation.”

The UN is clearly divided over the Ukraine issue. The West-aligned world prefers not only an end to this prolonged war but also reverence for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Nonetheless, Russia seems to have a different view. It is supported in part by some global players including India that have economic relations with the US, too. Whether the US will leverage its economic ties to promote its geopolitical agenda with regard to the abstentions remains to be known.

Besides the war in Ukraine, the climate crisis has attracted attention of many world leaders who spoke at the UNGA session. President Biden, for example, said “From the day I came to office, we’ve led with a bold climate agenda. We re-joined the Paris Agreement, convened a major climate summit and helped deliver critical agreements on COP26. We helped get two thirds of the world GDP on track to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius…And now I’ve signed a historic piece of legislation here in the United States that includes the biggest, most important climate commitment we have ever made in the history of our country: $369 billion towards climate change. That includes tens of billions in new investments in off-shore wind and solar, doubling down on zero emission vehicles, increasing energy efficiency and supporting clean manufacturing.”

Representatives of other countriesalso heighted the role of major greenhouse emitters in perpetuating the climate crisis. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said, “For 40 days and 40 nights, a biblical flood poured down on us, smashing centuries of weather records, challenging everything we knew about disaster and how to manage it. Today, huge swathes of the country are still underwater. In this ground zero of climate change, 33 million people, including women and children are now at high risk from health hazards, with 650,000 women giving birth in makeshift tarpaulins. More than 1,500 people have perished in the great flood, including over 400 children and far more are in peril from disease and malnutrition. Millions of migrants continue to look for dry land with heart-breaking losses to their families, futures and their livelihoods. A million homes have been destroyed and another million damaged”.

The climate crisis is indeed an existential threat to life of all sorts on the planet. All members of the UN must work in tandem for a comprehensive climate document to be implemented in letter and spirit as a top-most priority. The UNGA also needs to take into account the detrimental effects of the war in Ukraine on the environment. Last but not the least, strategies to mitigate challenges relating to Covid-19 and other diseases have also been discussed. In addition, socio-economic development in the Global South, human rights, disarmament, global crime prevention, women’s empowerment as well as collaboration with regional and international organisations are also a part of the agenda for the 77^th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

The writer is a DAAD, FDDI and  Fulbright  fellow and an associate professor.