Plenary

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the General Assembly’s tribute to the memory of Queen Elizabeth II, in New York today:

The General Assembly opened its seventy-seventh session today, with its newly elected President urging Member States to work together to develop solutions rooted in sustainability and science for a world rife with conflict and crisis.

The General Assembly concluded its seventy-sixth session today, with outgoing President Abdulla Shahid (Maldives) urging the international community not to lose hope in the face of myriad global challenges so the United Nations can continue delivering to those in need.

The General Assembly adopted today a series of resolutions without a vote, including one in which it affirms its willingness to examine all options for “adequate, predictable and sustainable” financing of United Nations peacebuilding activities, further deciding to establish a United Nations Office for Youth and convening a “Summit of the Future”, to be held on 22 and 23 September 2024 in New York.

The General Assembly today commemorated the International Day against Nuclear Tests, with speakers underscoring the urgent need for universal adherence and entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.

The General Assembly adopted four consensus resolutions today on global health, zero-tolerance for sexual abuse and justice for victims of sexual violence, with the latter surviving four separate attempts to alter its language around multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination against women and girls.

With 161 votes in favour and 8 abstentions, the General Assembly adopted a landmark resolution today recognizing the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a human right and calling for greater global efforts to ensure that principle is upheld.

After the Russian Federation vetoed a draft Security Council resolution on 8 July which would have injected certainty and predictability into the humanitarian response in Syria, the General Assembly today held a debate on the issue, with delegates expressing diverging views on the formula for — and merits of — renewing aid deliveries through the Bab al-Hawa crossing in the country’s north-west.

The General Assembly adopted this morning, by consensus, an oral decision by which it decided to “immediately” continue intergovernmental negotiations on reform of the Security Council.

The General Assembly was unable this afternoon to elect either the Russian Federation or North Macedonia to sit on the United Nations Economic and Social Council, despite running through five rounds of voting.  As neither of the two States obtained the two-thirds majority required to be elected, the General Assembly postponed the continuation of the process to a later date, while also adopting a resolution on strengthening connectivity between Central Asia and South Asia.