The UN general assembly is the world’s parliament, where all the UN’s 193 member states are represented. Each sovereign state gets only one vote so it is not exactly representative of the world’s population.
The 74th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA-74) has opened on 17 September 2019. The first day of the high-level General Debate will be Tuesday, 23 September 2019.
The only time the world is going to pay attention to the global issues from climate change to the global and regional crisis is this week from September 24, when the high-level general debate takes place at its usual moment according to the diplomatic timeframe.
The world’s leaders reached New York, where each is given an (unenforced) time limit of 15 minutes to speak in front of the green marble podium and orate in front of the world. Leaders occupy positions in the hall in alphabetical order by country name, usually with a different nation occupying the first seat each year.
In reality, the general assembly week usually catches attention in the first day or two, when the US president and other powerful heads of state tend to have their moment, and then attention starts to falling down.
For that reason, there is always some horse-trading before the general assembly week, with prime ministers from powerful and strategically important countries try to swap debate slots with presidents of small countries.
This year, there is a climate action summit, a week before the general debate, attended by the teen activist, Greta Thunberg. But Raising the voice for climate emergency at the center and forcing states to do something are two very distinct things, however.
Greta should be visiting China and India, one of the world’s largest pollution and waste contributors, to urge them for taking actions. But she was trying to draw attention, addressing Congress on the climate crisis (which could be better carried out by scientists and experts), speaking in front of climate scientists without any relevant academic qualification or affiliation. She is definitely holding a “background” for making her way this far.
