Category: The Civic Circle

Highlights:

UNGA 80 General Debate – Speakers
UNGA
General Assembly/Secretary-General
Two-State Solution
Occupied Palestinian Territory
Thirtieth Anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women
SDG Moment Event
Global Initiative in Support of the Global Initiative to Galvanize Political Commitment to International Humanitarian Law
Security Council
Ukraine
Central African Republic
Sudan
South Sudan
Haiti

UNGA 80 GENERAL DEBATE – SPEAKERS
We expect about 193 delegations in total with approximately 89 Heads of State, 5 Vice-Presidents, one Crown Prince, 43 Heads of Government.
Also, about 1,642 bilateral meetings have been scheduled in the lobby of the General Assembly building, where the temporary meeting booths are.

UNGA
Tomorrow at the opening of the 80th session of the high-level session of the General Assembly, the Secretary-General will address world leaders.
His speech will be a stark wake-up call to the world, framed around the need to make clear decisions in this decisive time.
It will be an appeal for renewal and the urgency of action and moral leadership. He will call out the impunity and the lawlessness that threatens the world’s order.
His speech will be framed around a fundamental question that he will pose to world leaders: What kind of world do we want to choose to build together?
The Secretary-General will speak of the unique challenges facing our world – and the organization itself and point out that we have our work cut out for us … as our ability to carry out that work is being cut from us.
He will lay out five critical choices facing humanity: peace, dignity, climate justice, technology in the service of humanity, and a stronger UN.
He will also remind world leaders that it is not enough to know what the right choice is, we must have the courage to act.
He will also recall his own experience growing up in the dictatorship of Portugal and underscore the importance of never giving up.
We will share the Secretary-General’s remarks under embargo later today.
The Spokesman also reminded reporters that because of the many competing events, there will be no briefing Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, unless there is major breaking news.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY/SECRETARY-GENERAL
This morning, in the General Assembly Hall, the Secretary-General delivered remarks marking the 80th Anniversary of the United Nations.
Eight decades ago, he said, this organization was established to become the place where all nations, whether large or small, could come together to solve problems that no country can solve alone.
And yet, he added, at this moment, the principles of this same organization are under assault as never before.
The Secretary-General listed a number of challenges facing the world today. To address these challenges, we must not only defend the UN, he said, but we must also strengthen it.
Those remarks were shared with you.

TWO-STATE SOLUTION
This afternoon, the Secretary-General will speak at the conference on a two-state solution co-sponsored by France and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
He is expected to say that the situation on the ground is intolerable, and it is deteriorating by the hour.
He will also welcome the measures many Member States are taking to galvanize support for the Two-State solution – including pledges to recognize the State of Palestine.
The Secretary-General is to emphasize that we must recommit ourselves to the Two-State solution before it is too late – a solution in which two independent, democratic, viable and contiguous and sovereign States are mutually recognized and fully integrated in the international community.
And he will stress that statehood for the Palestinians is a right, not a reward, and denying statehood would be a gift to extremists everywhere.

Maryam Bukar Hassan, at the High-level plenary meeting to commemorate the eightieth anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations – General Assembly, 80th session.

Watch the full video here: https://youtube.com/live/Mws45VNffA0?feature=share

The impact of the funding cuts is already being felt in countries with high burdens of HIV, including Eswatini, Mozambique, and South Africa, which are now facing shortages of community health workers and data collectors. UNAIDS has warned that if funding is not fully restored, as many as 6 million people could become newly infected with HIV and 4 million people could die from AIDS-related deaths between 2025 and 2029.

Produced by acclaimed Hollywood writer and producer Ron Nyswaner, the film features high-profile advocates in the global fight against HIV, including Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Charlize Theron, Earvin “Magic” Johnson and actress Thuso Mbedu. Together they highlight the need for global solidarity and sustained support to end AIDS. It also includes Fabian Quezada, a Mexican-born HIV activist and Andiswa Cindi, a 22-year-old South African social media influencer who uses Tiktok to create awareness about HIV.

“The global HIV response has saved millions of lives for over two decades, bringing countries together in international solidarity to end the AIDS crisis,” said Mr. Nyswaner. “We hope the film captures that success while serving as a call to action for continued funding for this essential work.”

Mr Nyswaner’s deep connection to HIV was demonstrated in the 1993 film Philadelphia, that earned Tom Hanks an Oscar for his portrayal of a young lawyer fighting HIV discrimination. Mr Nyswaner continued this work in the acclaimed 2023 television series, Fellow Travelers, that brought the story of the AIDS crisis to a new generation.

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, who features prominently in the film, has long championed global efforts to end AIDS, supporting initiatives in countries including Botswana and Lesotho. “Right now, babies are being born with HIV due to interruptions in antiretroviral treatment for their mothers. Without urgent action to reverse these crippling funding cuts, 6 million more people will become infected with HIV while 4 million will die from AIDS-related causes within the next four years,” he said. “It is not just the at-risk communities that will be affected. We’ve proven that sustained investment saves lives and builds stronger communities. Abandoning this life-saving work now would be a devastating betrayal of progress for the millions who depend on these essential services.”

Academy Award-winning actress and philanthropist Charlize Theron and HIV advocate and basketball legend and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Magic Johnson Enterprises Earvin “Magic” Johnson are not new to global HIV campaigns. Ms Theron is a longstanding leader in advocating for young people and tackling the systemic inequalities that drive HIV infections among young women and girls through founding the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project (CTAOP), while Mr Johnson has lived openly with HIV for many years, helping to fight the stigma against the disease.

The film also highlights recent scientific innovations which could save lives, alluding to the groundbreaking new medicine lenacapavir, which is almost 100% effective in preventing HIV with injections just twice a year which could be a game-changer in stopping new HIV infections if it is made available and affordable to all in need.

“The end of AIDS is not a distant dream—it is within our grasp, built on decades of relentless activism, advocacy, and shared commitment. From groundbreaking treatments to global solidarity, we’ve built a path to epidemic control,” said Ms Theron. “And now, as world leaders gather at the United Nations General Assembly, we have the power to finish what we’ve started. The time to end AIDS is now, and we must have the courage to see it through.”

South African Hollywood actress, Thuso Mbedu, has been working with UNAIDS, encouraging world leaders to embrace human rights in the global HIV response and working with the Elton John AIDS Foundation to shine a light on critical lifesaving HIV work. “Ending AIDS requires collective action and support of humanity to ensure that no one who needs the lifesaving antiretroviral treatment in Uganda or Mozambique is left behind, she said. “World leaders must continue to invest in the global HIV response to save lives.”

The global HIV response has been transformative. For example, in sub-Saharan Africa the roll out of medicine to treat HIV, among other advances, has led to a rebound in life expectancy from 56.5 years in 2010 to 62.3 years in 2024. New HIV infections have been brought down by 40%, while AIDS-related deaths decreased by 56% since 2010.

The film highlights that no single country can end AIDS alone, and that the world must stand together in global solidarity to end AIDS.

“Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
As we mark the 80th anniversary of the United Nations, I invite you to return for a moment to our earliest days.
When the Organization first opened its doors, many of its staff bore visible wounds from war — a limp, a scar, a burn.
One of them was Major Brian Urquhart, the second person to be hired by the UN.
A British soldier during the Second World War, he had been blown up on a ship in the Channel;
Witnessed the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp;
And carried, for the rest of his life the limp from a parachute that failed to open.
He was not alone.
A clerk might quietly mention a bullet wound.
A delegate, the shard of shrapnel still lodged in his chest.
They had seen the worst of humanity — the horrors of the death camps, the cruelty of combat, cities entirely wiped out.
And it was precisely because of what they had witnessed that they chose to serve peace.

Excellencies,
There is a persistent myth that peace is naïve. That justice is sentimental. That the only “real” politics is the politics of power and self-interest.
But those early staff were not idealists untouched by reality.
They had seen war. And they knew:
Peace is the most courageous, the most practical, the most necessary pursuit of all.
In building the United Nations, they created something extraordinary.
A place where all nations — large and small — could come together to solve problems that no country can solve alone.
And yet, at this moment, the principles of the United Nations are under assault as never before.
As we meet, civilians are targeted, and international law trampled in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and beyond.
As we meet, poverty and hunger are on the rise as progress on the Sustainable Development Goals falters.
As we meet, the planet burns, with fires, floods, and record heat raging through climate chaos.
At the same time, we are moving towards a multipolar world.
But without strong multilateral institutions, multipolarity has its risks –– as Europe learned in the First World War.
To meet these challenges, we must not only defend the United Nations, we must strengthen it.
That is the purpose of Agenda 2030, the Pact for the Future, and the UN80 initiative: to renew the foundations of international cooperation, and to ensure that we can deliver for people everywhere.