By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS, Sept 17 (Reuters) – World leaders gather in New York every September for several days of high-level debate starting on Tuesday at the United Nations General Assembly.
WHO SPEAKS WHEN?
The United Nations was formed in 1945 with 51 original members and has since grown to 193 members. Leaders of two non-member observer states – known at the UN as the Holy See and the State of Palestine – and an observer member, the European Union, can also speak. This month marks the start of the 81st session.
It is tradition for Brazil to always be the first member state to speak. This is because in the early years of the world body Brazil stepped up to speak first when other countries were reluctant to do so, say UN officials.
As host to the UN headquarters in New York, the United States is the second country to address the General Assembly.
From there the list is then based on hierarchy and generally on a first-come, first-served basis. Heads of state speak first, followed by deputy heads of state and crown princes, heads of government, ministers and lower-ranking heads of a delegation.
HOW LONG WILL THEY SPEAK?
Leaders are asked to stick to a voluntary 15-minute time limit.
According to UN records, one of the longest speeches made during the opening of a General Assembly was in 1960 by Cuban leader Fidel Castro who spoke for about 4-1/2 hours. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi spoke for more than 1-1/2 hours in 2009.
WHAT WILL THEY TALK ABOUT?
Each start of a General Assembly session has a theme. Leaders might briefly refer to the theme before moving on to whatever topic they like.
This year’s theme is: “Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations That Delivers for All.”
Other topics that leaders are likely to address and discuss in meetings on the sidelines of the General Assembly include:
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. The high-level General Assembly will convene just weeks after several AI industry leaders called for a coordinated slowdown of the development of the increasingly powerful technology, warning that it could soon improve on its own and slip beyond human control.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday the warnings cannot be ignored and that AI would be a major topic of his discussions with world leaders next week, telling reporters that countries on the frontiers of AI needed to communicate and establish “common guardrails in order to avoid this race to the bottom that could lead one day to a gigantic disaster at the global level.”
The UN Security Council may meet next week on AI, diplomats said. The 15-member council met for the first time on artificial intelligence in 2023.
IRAN. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is scheduled to address the General Assembly on Wednesday, seven months after the United States and Israel went to war with Tehran.
However, his travel to New York appears uncertain. Abbas Mousavi, Pezeshkian’s chief of protocol, said on Monday it was still unclear how many members of the Iranian delegation would be issued visas by the United States and when.
While US President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the leaders of several countries involved in trying to mediate an end to the war will also be at the United Nations next week, a breakthrough in the stalled diplomacy is unlikely.
The UN Security Council may hold an informal meeting with Arab leaders next week, diplomats said, at which Iran is expected to be the key topic of discussion.
UKRAINE. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will be seeking to shore up global support for Kyiv as Trump tries to broker an end to the war more than four years after Russia invaded its neighbor. He is due to address the assembly on Wednesday while Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will speak on Saturday.
The UN Security Council is also expected to hold a high-level meeting on Ukraine next week. It has been unable to take any action to try to end the war as Russia is a veto power.
Trump has at times appeared frustrated that he has been unable to broker an end to the war, a goal he declared a priority when he began his second term in January last year. The US president spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin earlier this month, but it is unclear if he plans to meet Zelenskiy in New York.
ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS. Israel’s Netanyahu – wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, which Israel denies – is due to address the General Assembly on Thursday next week.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani believes Netanyahu should be arrested, but said in July he lacked the legal authority. Mamdani said on Wednesday he had no plans to attend any anti-Netanyahu protests next week, but that he respected the right of New Yorkers to demonstrate.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will not attend the General Assembly in person. The United States, a close Israeli ally, has again said it will not give him a visa. He is likely to appear via video – also on Thursday – as he did last year.
There is also likely to be a high-level meeting on the sidelines of the General Assembly next week to promote a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, diplomats said, but no progress toward that goal is expected.
RACE TO APPOINT A NEW UN SECRETARY-GENERAL. The United Nations has started the process of choosing a new secretary-general, but there is no clear frontrunner.
Guterres will finish his second five-year term on December 31, 2026. There is likely to be chatter on the sidelines of the General Assembly next week about who should replace him.
The UN Security Council has to agree on a candidate to recommend to the 193-member General Assembly for election, which means the five council veto powers – Britain, China, France, Russia and the US – have to agree.
SUDAN. There is likely to be a high-level meeting on the conflict in Sudan on the sidelines of the General Assembly, diplomats said. Sudan’s war, which erupted in April 2023 following a power struggle between the military and the Rapid Support Forces, has displaced more than 14 million people and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the Sudanese army and head of state after the overthrow of veteran leader Omar al-Bashir in 2019, is due to address the General Assembly on Thursday.
CLIMATE. As the world struggles to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels – as agreed in the 2015 Paris climate agreement – leaders of smaller island nations and other states most affected by climate change are expected to again urge action. August was the first month since November 2025 in which the world’s average temperature exceeded 1.5 C.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Howard Goller)
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