General Assembly

A historic first at the UN General Assembly high-level debate: an all-female bench from Norway. From left front row: Prime Minister Erna Solberg; Foreign Minister Ine Marie Eriksen Soreide; Ambassador Mona Juul; and parliamentarians in the back row. NORWAY MISSION TO THE UN
How women’s issues could be more prominent at the United Nations General Assembly’s annual opening session remains an enigma. The topics of women’s rights and gender equality pop up in speeches by world leaders, including those by women, but their remarks just don’t stand out — especially this year.

Prime Minister Trudeau addressing the Unifor Constitutional Convention in Quebec City, Aug. 19, 2019. He was not scheduled to come to the UN General Assembly opening session in September, but deciding who would speak in his stead has been a belabored process for Canada.

President Trump at the General Assembly lunch, Sept. 24, 2019, only hours before the US House of Representatives announced it would begin an impeachment inquiry of Trump. LI MUZI-XINHUA/UNCA POOL

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.

Kersti Kaljulaid, the president of Estonia, after her country’s election to the UN Security Council, June 7, 2019. She is scheduled to speak at the UN General Assembly on Sept. 25. Eastern Europe appears to dominate now with the most female government leaders globally. LOEY FELIPE/UN PHOTO

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.

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?

Vice President Pence suddenly showed up at the UN on April 10, 2019, to demand that the Security Council strip the current Venezuelan ambassador’s UN credentials. That has not happened. The US mission to the UN lacks a permanent representative amid an outflow of a range of personnel. Some UN diplomats say, “There is no one left.” MANUEL ELIAS/UN PHOTO

Hasmik Egian, center, director of the Security Council Affairs Division of the UN, receiving requests from diplomats who want to speak at the emergency Council session on Venezuela, Jan. 26, 2019. MANUEL ELIAS/UN PHOTO
Jockeying for a two-year seat on the United Nations Security Council starts early — way early. Three countries are already vying for the two open seats in the regional group known as Weog — Western Europe and Others — for the 2021-22 term. The election is June 2020, and the “others” are Australia, Canada, Israel and New Zealand.