A week of U.N. summitry that saw U.S. President Joe Biden’s farewell address to the United Nations General Assembly, the passage of a major U.N. reform package, the escalation of violence in Lebanon, and the cross-town indictment of New York City Mayor Eric Adams on bribery charges comes to an end today.
So, what did this gathering of 193-member states accomplish, beyond paralyzing midtown Manhattan with gridlock, setting the stage for protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies, and inflating rates at neighborhood hotels?
World leaders at the U.N. Summit of the Future overcame angry Russian objections to adopt a Pact for the Future, which aims to revitalize multilateralism in an institution that has been struggling to tackle the great challenges it faces, from climate change to wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. As if on cue, a Category 4 hurricane smashed into the coast of Florida as foreign dignitaries addressed their peers at the U.N. General Assembly.
The gathering also adopted agreements on a Declaration on Future Generations, which seeks to enhance the role of youth in public and national decisions; a Global Digital Compact, which grants the U.N. a still-undefined role in governance of artificial intelligence; and a Political Declaration on Antimicrobial Resistance outlining steps to confront the health scourge.
Read: Antimicrobial resistance is a ‘solvable problem,’ but needs momentum
ICYMI: UN states call Russia's bluff, adopt Pact for the Future
Further reading: AMR in livestock could threaten food security for 2 billion by 2050
+ Catch up on the news and announcements from the 79th U.N. General Assembly.
Haiti versus Trump
Edgar Leblanc Fils, the president of Haiti’s Presidential Council of the Transition, weighed in on former U.S. President Donald Trump’s unfounded claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, ate residents’ dogs and cats.
“I would like to extend a brotherly greeting to all friends of Haiti that have shown solidarity towards the migrants from our country, and in particular those living in Springfield, Ohio,” he said. “The passions that naturally arise during an election campaign should never serve as a pretext for xenophobia or racism in a country such as the United States, a country forged by immigrants from all countries, and which has become a model of democracy for the world.”
Fils also backed the Biden administration’s calls for transitioning a Kenyan-led multinational police force into a full-fledged U.N. peacekeeping mission. But U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has publicly opposed placing the Kenyan-led team under a U.N. flag. It shouldn’t be a surprise. The U.N. has a troubled history in Haiti, where Nepalese peacekeepers introduced cholera and other Blue Helmets engaged in sexual exploitation.
But Fils said he is “convinced that this change of status, whilst recognizing that the errors of the past cannot be repeated, would guarantee the full success of the mission in Haiti.”
Background reading: How ‘Haiti fatigue’ makes US and others hesitant to help
And don’t miss this podcast: A look at the humanitarian crisis in Haiti, and addressing malnutrition
Cash crunch
The U.N. may be cash-poor, but that’s not stopping it from putting on a summit.
Earlier this year, the U.N. unveiled a series of cost-cutting measures, including restrictions on electricity and stopping translation services for meetings that ran into overtime. The U.N. liquidity crisis — brought on by late payment of dues by the U.S. and other member states — has left the U.N. short on cash.
But the U.N. waived its austerity measures in the run-up to the high-level meetings. In an internal Sept. 6 letter, the U.N. secretary-general’s chief of staff, Earle Courtenay Rattray, informed staff that the U.N. would “lift temporarily some of the measures pertaining to operating hours and meeting support and related services.” Those measures will go back into effect on Oct. 1, after world leaders depart. “We will continue to closely monitor the cash situation and will adjust our spending restrictions as the situation changes.”
ICYMI: Cash-strapped UN can't afford its heating bill (Pro)
Dive into the data: Inside the finances of the United Nations (Pro)
+ A Devex Pro membership lets you access all our expert analyses, insider insights, funding data, exclusive events, and more. Not yet gone Pro? Start your 15-day free trial today. And check out all the exclusive content available to you.
Bibi talk
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to New York last week to deliver his standard, defiant denunciation of the U.N. and its members.
As Netanyahu spoke, Israeli war planes launched strikes against Hezbollah’s Beirut headquarters, killing the movement’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
In keeping with tradition, he brought props — two poster boards, one titled “The Blessing,” and the other “The Curse.” He also brought his own cheering squad, which filled most of the spectator chamber, hooting and clapping loudly as Arab delegates walked out in protest at the beginning of the speech.
“The Blessing” board bore a map of the Middle East highlighting a red arrow — a land bridge through Saudi Arabia and Jordan to Israel, connecting Asia to the Mediterranean Sea with future rail lines, energy pipelines, and fiber-optic cables. “The Curse” was a map of Iran and its proxy states, each painted in black. “That is the choice we face,” he said. “Which of these two maps that I showed you will shape our future.”
Netanyahu used the speech to rebuff calls from the broad majority of U.N. members, including the United States, to agree to commit to cease-fires in Gaza and Lebanon. He also threatened to take the battle to Iran. “If you strike us, we will strike you,” Netanyahu said. “There is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach, and that’s true of the entire Middle East.”
But Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide challenged Netanyahu’s black-and-white vision of the world. “This division into a simplistic notion of black and white, leaving no space for nuance or complexity, let alone impartiality, and with an excessive trust in military force alone is utterly dangerous,” he said.
Meanwhile, Guterres presented a darker account of Israeli conduct in Gaza, citing repeated attacks on U.N. aid workers.
“So far this month, almost half of coordinated humanitarian movements in Gaza were denied access or otherwise impeded by the Israeli authorities,” he told the 15-nation U.N. Security Council. “Instead of scaling up humanitarian operations, we see a scaling up of attacks and harassment against humanitarian personnel.
He added: “Gaza is the most dangerous place in the world for the delivery of humanitarian assistance.”
ICYMI: How 7 deaths changed aid work in Gaza
Climate justice
Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh’s 84-year-old transitional leader, highlighted his support for the U.N.’s development agenda, including the Pact for the Future, and appealed for “climate justice” in the form of greater resources for countries like Bangladesh that are suffering from the consequences of global warming.
Yunus said Bangladesh is keen to hold those accountable for a violent crackdown on young protesters by the former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, whom they ultimately drove from power in August.
ICYMI: The rise and fall (and rise?) of Bangladesh as a development darling
Follow the money: What climate finance is flowing to the most vulnerable countries? (Pro)
Madam secretary-general
The campaign for a successor to Guterres when his term ends in December 2026 is well underway, according to U.N.-based diplomats who say they have been lobbied by aspirants for one of the world’s most visible diplomatic jobs.
But for now, it’s largely a whisper campaign, and nobody wants to say publicly that they are running. Diplomats say that María Fernanda Espinosa, a former Ecuadorian minister for foreign affairs and defense who served as one of four female former presidents of the U.N. General Assembly, is among a slate of likely candidates, which includes Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley, Costa Rican economist Rebeca Grynspan, and Rafael Grossi, the U.N.’s Argentine director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
But in an interview on the sidelines of the U.N. annual summit of world leaders, Espinosa demurred when asked if she was planning a run. “Well, I’m not going to say because I haven’t made up my mind yet. You know, I haven’t taken that decision yet.”
Espinosa came to New York along with Susana Malcorra, a former Argentine foreign minister who ran an unsuccessful campaign for the top U.N. job against Guterres, to make the case for selecting a woman to succeed the former Portuguese prime minister. And that cause got a boost this week from German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
“In 80 years of this organization, there has never been a female secretary-general. So, if this organization calls for equality and justice in the world, it is long overdue for us to show it here in New York, ” Baerbock told the U.N. General Assembly. “We probably all should already practice the words ‘Madam secretary-general, you have the floor.’ Because the next secretary-general of the United Nations has to be a woman.”
Argentine disconnect
In his address to the U.N. General Assembly, Argentina’s free libertarian president, Javier Milei, left few doubts about his views on the Summit of the Future. Though by all accounts Argentine diplomats engaged as constructive participants and joined the consensus on the key agreements during the summit, their leader publicly denounced it as part of a collectivist movement that is imposing a socialist ideology on the world. “I’d like to officially express our dissent on this Pact for the Future that was signed on Sunday, and I invite all nations of the free world to support us, not only in relation to this pact, but also in the establishment of a new agenda for this noble institution.”
“Long live freedom, Goddamit,” he said in his sign-off.
By the numbers
165 million: Number of people who fell into poverty from 2020 to 2023.
3 million: The number of children displaced by war in Sudan (inside and outside).
$97 trillion: Amount of global public debt in 2023.
47,690: The number of people killed by European heat waves in 2023.
60%: The percentage of low-income countries facing a high risk of debt distress or are already in debt distress.
Sign up to Newswire for an inside look at the biggest stories in global development.
About the author
Colum Lynch
Colum Lynch is an award-winning reporter and Senior Global Reporter for Devex. He covers the intersection of development, diplomacy, and humanitarian relief at the United Nations and beyond. Prior to Devex, Colum reported on foreign policy and national security for Foreign Policy Magazine and the Washington Post. Colum was awarded the 2011 National Magazine Award for digital reporting for his blog Turtle Bay. He has also won an award for groundbreaking reporting on the U.N.’s failure to protect civilians in Darfur.
