War set to dominate agenda at UN General Assembly meeting

World leaders are set to descend on the United Nations in the coming days to talk about a lengthy list of global challenges. But will they spur significant action on any of them?
“We see out-of-control geopolitical divisions and runaway conflicts — not least in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan and beyond,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters at a news conference ahead of the annual U.N. General Assembly meetings.
Those three wars are set to dominate the agenda — both in leaders’ speeches before the assembly and at numerous side meetings.
Gaza
Getting to a cease-fire in Gaza is even more urgent now that Israel has turned its attention to its northern border with Lebanon and looks determined to build on a significant blow to Hezbollah militants there.
“We are at the start of a new phase in the war — it requires courage, determination and perseverance on our part,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told soldiers at the northern Ramat David Airbase on Wednesday. “It is critical that we operate in close cooperation between the [security] organizations, at all levels.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas plan to address the General Assembly.
“President Abbas will focus on the plight of his people — he will focus on the genocide campaign that’s taking place, he will warn of the danger of this conflict exploding in the West Bank, and will warn also of the dangers of this conflict not reaching a cease-fire soon, in terms of its implications for the region and regional stability,” Randa Slim, senior fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, told VOA.
In March, a U.N. official said there were reasonable grounds to believe genocide had been committed in Gaza.
Slim continued, “On the other hand, you are going to see the Israeli prime minister reminding people of the terror of October 7, casting the light on the fact that they are in a war of defense, and he is going to reemphasize the priorities of the war … which is the eradication of Hamas.”
In March, Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, said there were “reasonable grounds” to think Israel has been committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Ukraine
More than 2½ years after Russia invaded Ukraine, peace remains elusive.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be in New York calling for international support at a critical time in the war, and as the conflict, in many capitals, has been superseded by the situation in Gaza.
“I think Ukrainian diplomats themselves are a bit worried that their war is going down the agenda,” Richard Gowan, U.N. director at International Crisis Group, told VOA. “But the reality is that the battle between Israel and Hamas has torn the U.N. apart over the last year, and that is going to be the number one focus for a lot of presidents and prime ministers.”
On Tuesday, Zelenskyy will address a high-level U.N. Security Council meeting on Ukraine, and the following day he will speak at the General Assembly.
“I think he will emphasize the problem of Russian aggression, and that not only Europe, but the rest of the world, must remain on guard for Russia’s attempt to assert its imperial powers,” William Pomeranz, senior fellow at the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute told VOA. “And that the support of Ukraine is a crucial part of global security at the present time.”
On Thursday, Zelenskyy will head to Washington to meet with President Joe Biden at the White House.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be coming to New York, but veteran Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is scheduled to address the General Assembly on September 28.
Sudan
On the African continent, two rival generals in Sudan have been mired in a brutal 17-month struggle for power that has devastated the country. Violence, famine and disease are stalking the population, and 10 million people have fled their homes in search of safety.
The war’s current epicenter is the North Darfur capital of El Fasher, where the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have advanced on the city and the Sudanese Armed Forces inside El Fasher have been trying to repel them.
“The lives of hundreds of thousands of people, including more than 700,000 internally displaced persons in and around El Fasher, are at immediate threat,” acting U.N. humanitarian chief Joye Msuya told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday.
The United States, Saudi Arabia, African Union and others have pursued a variety of peace initiatives for months. They have failed to silence the guns, but the U.S. has been successful in opening up some new routes for humanitarian relief into Sudan.
On September 25, ministers will meet to discuss the humanitarian response at a session organized by officials from the U.N., U.S, European Union, African Union, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
The head of the Sudanese Armed Forces and chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, General Abdel Fattah Burhan, is coming to New York. U.N. chief Guterres said he would “express my enormous frustration” to him about the lack of a cease-fire and the start of a serious political process.
Haiti
While it may not grab as many global headlines as Ukraine and Gaza, there is a lot of international solidarity around helping Haiti recover from its latest cycle of insecurity.
The U.N. independent expert on the human rights situation in Haiti wrapped up a visit to the country on Friday and told a news conference that human rights violations are rampant.
“Sexual violence, used as a weapon by gangs to control the population, has drastically increased in recent months,” William O’Neill said. “Gangs have increasingly trafficked children, forcibly recruited them into gangs, and often used them to carry out attacks against public institutions and police operations.”
A multinational security support mission was approved nearly a year ago in the U.N. Security Council to assist Haitian National Police in subduing criminal gangs terrorizing the capital and other regions. After many delays, the first international police contingent from Kenya deployed in June.
There are now about 500 police in total on the ground — 400 from mission leader Kenya and the rest from Jamaica and Belize. Diplomats say they expect other countries will also be deploying.
Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille and his Canadian counterpart, Justin Trudeau, are co-chairing a side meeting on Monday that will look at both the urgent humanitarian situation and longer-term development issues.
“I think we are all beginning to understand how drastic the damage in Haiti is and how devastating the current attacks by the gangs has proven to be,” Canadian Ambassador Bob Rae told VOA. “We are doing everything we can to mobilize international attention on what we can do to turn that around.”
Hello and goodbye
Several new leaders will make their debut at this year’s gathering, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
“I’m going to be looking for any signal he is going to give about restarting the nuclear negotiation,” MEI’s Slim said of the Iranian leader, noting that his administration has indicated an interest in restarting nuclear talks.
This will be Biden’s final time at the General Assembly podium.
“I think his appearance will create mixed emotions among other leaders,” said Crisis Group’s Gowan. “I think there is still some respect for his engagement with multilateralism, but there is also a lot of regret that he didn’t give the U.N. a greater role in dealing with the war in Gaza.”
Looking to the future
Two years ago, Biden announced that the United States supported expanding the number of permanent members on the 15-nation Security Council.
On September 12, his U.N. envoy, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, announced that the administration would support two permanent seats for Africa and one for Latin American and Caribbean countries, in addition to India, Japan and Germany — albeit, without veto power. She said Washington is ready to begin text-based negotiations on the expansion.
“It means we’re ready to work with other countries to negotiate language, prepare amendments, and ready this resolution for a vote in the General Assembly and, ultimately, amend the U.N. Charter,” Thomas-Greenfield told an audience last week at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
Security Council reform, as it is known, has for decades been a topic of much discussion but no action. U.N. chief Guterres also would like to see the council change. On Sunday, he opens his signature two-day “Summit of the Future,” in which institutional reform will be high on the agenda.
“And one of the questions that is important in relation to the future relates exactly to the role of the P5 [permanent five members] and to the need to have a certain redistribution of power to make things more fair and more effective,” Guterres told reporters.
In the seventh year of his 10-year tenure, Guterres wants to see better multilateral cooperation to resolve current conflicts, fight climate change, and ease global hunger and debt. He is also worried about emerging challenges, including the power of artificial intelligence.
He is hoping for a strong “Pact for the Future” to be adopted by consensus on Sunday. The document, a policy blueprint to address global challenges and drastic reforms to the U.N. and global financial institutions, has been mired in difficult negotiations.
Germany and Namibia have been facilitating the negotiations for months and their leaders will co-chair the summit. The president of the General Assembly, Philemon Yang, has now taken over negotiations to try to get it over the finish line.
Diplomats said 19 countries, including Russia, raised objections on Thursday night to some language in the latest draft, including around human rights, climate action and fossil fuels. With less than 48 hours to go until the summit opens, discussions are getting down to the wire.
“We very much hope that member states will agree in the coming hours on a way forward for the Summit of the Future, and show ambition and show courage and do whatever they can to get these documents over the finish line,” Guterres’ spokesperson said.
Kim Lewis contributed to this report.