#UN70:
The United Nations General Assembly in Review
This past week, world leaders descended upon New York City for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) high-level week. This year’s UNGA coincided with the 70th Anniversary of the founding of the United Nations (UN) and set the stage for the international community to reflect on the UN’s accomplishments over the past seven decades.
“This progress is real. It can be documented in lives saved, and agreements forged, and diseases conquered, and in mouths fed. And yet, we come together today knowing that the march of human progress never travels in a straight line, that our work is far from complete; that dangerous currents risk pulling us back into a darker, more disordered world.” — President Barack Obama, UN General Assembly, September 28, 2015
UNGA high-level week also provided an important opportunity for the world leaders and the international community to come together to take stock of the shared challenges we face and the critical work that lies ahead. In his remarks to the UN General Assembly, President Obama underscored the need for members of the United Nations to work together more effectively, acknowledging that no one nation alone can solve the world’s problems.
The world has changed over the last seven decades, but the UN Charter and the international system it underpins remain central to promoting common aspirations across countries, communities, and peoples. President Obama urged the international community to remain committed to the founding principles of the United Nations as it takes on today’s challenges such as violent extremism, political turmoil, and ongoing conflicts that have displaced an unprecedented number of people.
“…We are called upon to offer a different type of leadership — leadership strong enough to recognize that nations share common interests and people share a common humanity, and, yes, there are certain ideas and principles that are universal.” — President Barack Obama, UN General Assembly, September 28, 2015
It is in this spirit that President Obama, Secretary Kerry, and other U.S. leaders set out to solidify our commitment to four key foreign policy priorities:
Advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
The world has made significant progress since the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were adopted 15 years ago. A child born today is nearly twice as likely as they were in 1990 to survive into adulthood, 16 percent more likely to finish primary school, and about 40 percent less likely to be malnourished.
World leaders kicked-off the UNGA with a towering achievement: the adoption of 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which set out a global development vision and priorities for the next 15 years.
“Today, we commit ourselves to new Sustainable Development Goals, including our goal of ending extreme poverty in our world. We do so understanding how difficult the task may be. We suffer no illusions of the challenges ahead. But we understand this is something that we must commit ourselves to. Because in doing so, we recognize that our most basic bond - our common humanity- compels us to act.” -President Barack Obama, SDGs Summit, September 27, 2015
The 2030 Agenda builds on the MDGs, reflecting the lessons the world has learned since 2000 about what works, including the need to focus on transformative priorities that have sustainable impact, and to leverage the full array of resources for development, as well as the importance of pursuing more transparent, accountable, and inclusive approaches to development.
United Nations Photo
The adoption of the 2030 Agenda captures the hopes and ambitions of people around the globe — including here in the United States — for meaningful change and progress. Through the adoption of this historic framework, the United States joins with countries around the world in pledging to end extreme poverty and prioritize policies and investments that are sustainable and will have long-term, transformative impact.
Fact Sheet: U.S. Global Development Policy and the 2030 Agenda.
Engaging a Broader Range of Actors on Countering ISIL and Violent Extremism
During the UNGA, President Obama hosted a Leaders’ Summit on Countering ISIL and Violent Extremism that brought together leaders from over 100 countries, 20 multilateral bodies, and 120 civil society and private sector organizations to review progress in countering ISIL, addressing the threat posed by foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs), and countering and preventing violent extremism. Participants expressed support for the efforts of the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL since its founding one-year ago and for the work of ministers guiding the Coalition. Participants underscored the central role that the United Nations should continue to play in addressing these challenges and demonstrated the international community’s resolve to address these issues by announcing new initiatives on ISIL, FTFs, and CVE.
The President made clear that ISIL poses a threat to the United States and the international community, and that we will use all instruments of power to defeat it. He also made clear that this fight will not be won quickly, solely through military means, or by the United States alone.
This fight is a long-term struggle that will be won with a comprehensive approach undertaken in concert with state and nongovernmental actors across the globe — which is exactly what we are doing. The United States established and is leading a Coalition of more than 60 partners committed to degrading and ultimately destroying ISIL. As part of this counter-ISIL effort, the Coalition is supporting the Iraqi government’s progress toward effective governance while pursuing with a negotiated political transition that removes from power Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and establishes a transitional government uniting the Syrian people. At the same time, the Coalition is working to disrupt ISIL’s efforts on the battlefield, its ability to raise funds and counter the impact of its propaganda.
“ To conclude, we face a grave challenge. We’re clear-eyed about the very hard work ahead. But I am optimistic. In Iraq and Syria, ISIL is surrounded by communities, countries and a broad international coalition committed to its destruction. We’ve seen that ISIL can be defeated on the battlefield. And here at this summit, we’re seeing a new global movement to counter the violent extremism that ISIL needs to survive. efforts.” — President Barack Obama, Leaders’ Summit on Countering ISIL and Violent Extremism, September 29, 2015
During this forum, the international community demonstrated its resolve to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL and break the life cycle of terrorism — from radicalization to conflict zones and everywhere in between.
Like terrorists and tyrants throughout history, ISIL is going to lose — because it offers nothing but suffering and death.
-President Barack Obama, Leaders’ Summit on Countering ISIL and Violent Extremism, September 29, 2015
Fact Sheet: Leaders’ Summit to Counter ISIL and Violent Extremism
Strengthening UN Peace Operations
President Barack Obama also co-chaired a Leaders’ Summit on Peacekeeping, a gathering that culminated a year-long effort by the UN to address critical gaps in peacekeeping missions initiated by a leader-level summit co-hosted last year by Vice President Biden.
The United States recognizes the critical importance of UN peacekeeping in promoting peace and security around the world, and our contributions reflect this — from our assessed dues, which at more than $2 billion make us by far the largest financial contributor to UN peacekeeping, to additional support that we provide often through both UN and bilateral channels.
At the Summit, over 50 countries announced a total of nearly 150 military and police contributions to UN peacekeeping, amounting to more than 40,000 new troops and police, a surplus of nearly 40 percent of all uniformed personnel in UN operations today.
President Obama issued a new Presidential Memorandum — the first Presidential guidance on multilateral peace operations in more than 20 years — reaffirming the strong support of the United States for UN peace operations and directing U.S. government departments and agencies to undertake a wide range of actions to strengthen and modernize UN operations for a new era. President Obama also announced additional concrete U.S. contributions to and support for UN peace operations.
“ We’ll work to double the number of U.S. military officers serving in peacekeeping operations. We will offer logistical support, including our unrivaled network of air- and sea-lift. When there’s an urgent need and we’re uniquely positioned to help, we’ll undertake engineering projects like building airfields and base camps for new missions. And we’ll step up our efforts to help build the U.N.’s capacity, from identifying state-of-the-art technology to offering training to protection against IEDs.” — President Barack Obama, UN Peacekeeping Summit, September 28, 2015
Fact Sheet: U.S. Support to Peace Operations 2015 Leaders’ Summit on UN Peacekeeping
Advancing U.S. Global Climate Change Goals
The United Sates also leveraged the UNGA as a platform to continue to underscore the need to reach an ambitious and inclusive global agreement in Paris in December during the meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP21) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Change. From the President’s remarks at the SDGs Summit, to Secretary Kerry’s participation at the Major Economies Forum and throughout a range of other high-level UNGA engagements, the issue of global climate change was a recurring priority.
“Climate change is not a distant problem that we can keep putting off.” — President Barack Obama, Rolling Stone, September 23, 2015
During the UNGA, U.S. leaders highlighted our leading role in addressing climate change by advancing an ever-expanding suite of measures at home and abroad, such as the President’s Climate Action Plan.
The President’s Climate Action Plan includes unprecedented efforts by the United States to reduce carbon pollution, promote clean sources of energy that create jobs, protect communities from the impacts of climate change, and work with partners to lead international climate change efforts. The Plan will cut power plant emissions in the United States some 30 percent by 2030, saving more than $50 billion in climate and health-related costs in the process.
“I think everybody here understands that we share a moral responsibility to future generations. It’s as simple as that. I can’t think how many times I’ve heard politicians in our elections in our country stand up and talk about kids and future generations. If there’s any issue that ever applied in reality to future generations, it is this one.” — Secretary Kerry, Major Economies Forum, September 29, 2015
At the UNGA, the United States aimed to encourage national governments, subnational actors, enterprising businesses, creative scientists and engineers, and an enlightened global public to continue to urge its leaders take heed and, more importantly, take action to address climate change.
This global nature of climate change also was rigorously discussed in the context of the SDGs and identified as a critical component of achieving this ambitious set of global goals. Achieving a healthy ocean and marine environment is essential to ending poverty, drives prosperity, and ensures the health of our planet for generations to come. In their discussions about the SDGs at the UNGA, global leaders recognized that we cannot talk about sustainability without talking about the ocean.
One of the greatest challenges threatening our ocean is acidification. The same carbon emissions that cause climate change make the ocean more acidic. On the heels of UNGA, Secretary Kerry will convene global leaders in Chile, October 5–7, to discuss collective actions the global community can take to make our ocean healthy again for future generations.
In the lead-up to COP12 in December, the United States will continue to encourage responsible national and international action to meet the climate challenge. The United States is hopeful that the international community will succeed in coming to an agreement that applies in a fair manner to all countries, focuses on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, building resilience, includes strong accountability measures, and ensures ongoing financial and technical assistance to those in need.
So let’s get started. Let’s not miss this opportunity.
The stars are more aligned now for an historic, universal
agreement than they ever have been. — Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern, Climate Week, September 28, 2015
The United States’ robust engagement across a range of priorities during the 70th Session of the UNGA reaffirmed our commitment to the founding ideals of the United Nations and demonstrated our strong intent to leverage the UNGA thoughtfully and strategically — and that was our goal. But we also recognize that U.S. leadership and engagement in this system matters more than one week of the year in New York. The United States will continue, each and every day, to advance our objectives and global priorities through steadfast strong and constructive leadership across multiple UN fora.
For more about the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly by visiting the Department of State’s Official Blog, DipNote and the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Impact Blog.
