Antonio Guterres

UN Secretary-General Guterres speaking at the opening ceremony of the 2019 Climate Action Summit in the General Assembly Hall, Sept. 23. His first words to the scores of international leaders and others gathered at the conference were: “Nature is angry.” ARIANA LINDQUIST/UN PHOTO
The United Nations Climate Action Summit kicked off in New York with powerfully direct statements by Secretary-General António Guterres and several youths invited to speak in a panel set up in the vast General Assembly Hall.

Secretary-General António Guterres giving a toast at the annual heads of state luncheon during the opening session of the UN General Assembly, Sept. 25, 2018. This year, the session will include conferences on climate change, universal health care and the Sustainable Development Goals. And, of course, there will be the parade of speeches by global leaders. LI MUZI/UNCA POOL PHOTO

Hours before the crash that killed UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold (with sunglasses) waiting to board the DC-6 Albertina, Ndjili airport, Léopoldville (now Kinshasa, Congo), Sept. 17, 1961. TARA BURGETT/LONDON DAILY EXPRESS
Fifty-eight years ago, Dag Hammarskjold, the United Nations secretary-general at the time, set off on a perilous journey across the African heartland.

The “Chernobyl” tapestry by a Belarusian artist was gifted in 1991 to the United Nations in New York, five years after the cataclysmic nuclear explosion in Ukraine, which also affected Belarus and Russia. Decades later, the world is still unable to fully turn its back on nuclear power in all its forms. 
The third floor of the United Nations headquarters in New York is coveted real estate for member states that have donated art to the organization.

Lieut. Comdr. Marcia Braga, left, a 45-year-old Brazilian naval officer, spent a year as a UN military gender adviser in the war-wracked Central African Republic, above. She called it “the most rewarding experience she has ever had.” BRAGA ARCHIVES

At an entrance to the UN headquarters in New York, Indonesian diplomats passing one of the many signs, including some sterner than others, announcing the ban on single-use plastic in the UN dining areas. DULCIE LEIMBACH
People who regularly work or visit the United Nations headquarters in New York have surely noticed something new in the cafeteria this summer: no more single-use plastic, not even for takeout.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, center, meeting US embassy staffers and families in Ottawa, Aug. 22, 2019. It was the last day of Kelly Knight Craft, right, as the American ambassador to Canada, yet the US can’t say when she begins her post as ambassador to the UN. ASHLEY FRASER/US EMBASSY
Donald Trump must have known just what he was getting into when he named Kelly Knight Craft to be the United States ambassador to the United Nations.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, second from left, and his entourage about to attend the UN Security Council meeting on peace and security in the Middle East. He talked about Iran’s role in sowing unrest in the region. MANUEL ELIAS/UN PHOTO
In the middle of a muggy August afternoon in New York, the United Nations Security Council gathered once more to figure out how to “maintain peace and security” in the Middle East. But the recurring topic always leaves conversations wide open for interpretation by the Council’s 15 members.

In Parliament on Aug. 6, 2019, Imran Khan, Pakistan’s leader, called the move by Narendra Modi of India to end the special status of Kashmir “racist.” The UN Security Council met on Aug. 16 to debate the crisis.

President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil with President Donald Trump of the United States, March 19, 2019, in the White House. Both men are scheduled to attend the annual opening session of the UN General Assembly, which will feature not only the parade of leaders but also a climate-change conference. ALAN SANTOS/PR
Donald Trump will shake hands with Emmanuel Macron, Jair Bolsonaro and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. But will Benjamin Netanyahu; Boris Johnson and Angela Merkel be there, too?