United Nations

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told the UN General Assembly on Friday that any attempt by India to stop, impede or divert Pakistan’s share of the Indus River waters “will be treated as an act of war”. 

The UN said on Friday it remains gravely concerned by the continued deterioration of the security situation across northern Ethiopia, as fighting spreads across multiple fronts and increasingly disrupts humanitarian operations.

Climate change remains the greatest existential threat to Tuvalu, Prime Minister Feleti Teo told the UN General Assembly on Friday, warning that the pace and scale of international action are still falling far short of what vulnerable island nations need.

The situation in the occupied West Bank continues to deteriorate, the UN human rights office has said, pointing to the “mass destruction” of Palestinian villages and forcible transfer of residents in Msafer Yatta, South Hebron Hills.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Nawaf Salam, has stressed that decisions over war and peace, and control of weapons, must rest solely with the State and its constitutional institutions.

Iraq’s Prime Minister, Ali Faleh Al-Zaidi, said his country aims to exert its influence as an active economic power in the region, and as a bridge for dialogue and cooperation between its peoples.

Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah brought a stark warning from the Himalayas to the UN General Assembly on Thursday, saying catastrophic floods that killed at least 1,400 people in his country laid bare the human cost of climate change, and the failure of the international system to protect those least responsible for it.

Africa should focus its use of technology on solving its own real challenges rather than copying the systems and priorities of other parts of the world. 

The war in Sudan has devastated the economy and agricultural production, but a UN-backed plan aims to mobilise private sector investment to help farmers return to their fields.

At a time when war, climate crises and man-made disasters continue to displace millions around the world, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees briefed the Security Council on Friday. 

COVID-19 killed millions, shattered health systems and brought the global economy to a virtual standstill. World leaders are meeting Friday to review the lessons learned and cement a new approach to prevention and preparation for the next pandemic. Hopes are high that a World Health Organization-led international agreement can move forward.

Aid agencies in Yemen highlighted the growing hunger emergency sparked by renewed fighting between Houthi opposition forces and Government troops, after mobile health clinics reported that hundreds of children displaced by the violence are suffering from the most deadly form of malnutrition.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese underlined the need for countries to work together to address the climate crisis, emerging technologies such as AI, and the breakdown of international rules, at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday. 

As the high-level debate enters a fourth day, The Takeaway looks back at key highlights on Thursday, with Israeli and Palestinian leaders presenting divergent views on the Middle East conflict and their counterparts from across the world weighing in on the far-reaching impacts of the ongoing crisis in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. 

Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley called on world leaders on Thursday to turn knowledge into action, reform international institutions and ensure that new technologies and global wealth benefit everyone.

The Vice-President of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, Abdullah Al-Alimi Bawazir, told the UN General Assembly on Thursday that his Government had engaged “responsibly and positively” with regional and international peace initiatives and made significant concessions to end the suffering of the Yemeni people.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used his address to the UN General Assembly to defend Israel’s strikes against Iran as a matter of national survival and described the violence in the West Bank as the work of a few “juvenile delinquents” and rejected accusations of genocide in Gaza as “the greatest lie of the century.”

World leaders approved the UN Declaration on Sea Level Rise by consensus on Thursday as the UN chief warned that encroaching waters are already threatening the future of coastal communities worldwide.

“There is a people. A people who can wait no longer.  A people waiting to regain security, to return home to work, to send their children to school, and to freely choose their leaders.” Those are the words of the Haitian Prime Minister, Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, who spoke at a special UN meeting on the future of security in Haiti. 

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) continues to operate under “extraordinary pressure”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Thursday.