- Text size
| 
| 
| 
The sixty-fourth General Assembly of the UN is taking place at present in New York.
Stories
September 24 – The sixty-fourth General Assembly of the UN is taking place at present in New York.
The world’s most pressing challenges can only be solved when countries unite through the United Nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told dozens of world leaders gathered at the opening of the sixty-fourth UN General Assembly’s annual high-level meeting in New York.
“Now is our time. A time to put the ‘united’ back into the United Nations,” Mr. Ban emphasized, calling for the international community to be both united in purpose and in action.
Simultaneous crises on multiple fronts - food, energy, recession and pandemic flu - have shown the importance of renewed multilateralism, he said in his address to the 192-member Assembly’s General Debate at UN Headquarters.
Now is our time. A time to put the ‘united’ back into the United Nations
Ban Ki-moon
“The world looks to us for answers,” the Secretary-General stressed, adding that the moment is now to “create a United Nations of genuine collective action.”
He spotlighted the need for joint efforts on issues ranging from climate change and disarmament to ensuring that the world’s poorest people are not left behind by efforts to deal with the economic crisis.
The General Assembly has adopted a work programme and agenda for its sixty-fourth session which contains more than 160 items.
Among the topics being considered are agriculture development and food security; global health and foreign policy; cooperation between the United Nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization; Observer status for the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission in the General Assembly; Observer status for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in the General Assembly; Observer status for the International Olympic Committee in the General Assembly; Cooperation between the United Nations and the Collective Security Treaty Organization; Sixty-fifth anniversary of the end of the Second World War; and Observer Status for the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region of Africa in the General Assembly.
With the adoption of its work programme and agenda, the Assembly decided that its current session would recess on Tuesday, 15 December 2009, and close on Monday, 13 September 2010.
The General Assembly's general debate will be held on Wednesday, 23 September, to Saturday, 26 September, and from Monday, 28 September, to Wednesday, 30 September 2009.
UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, is governed by the UN General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). In 2003, the General Assembly extended the organization's mandate "until the refugee problem is solved." The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (currently Mr. António Guterres), is elected every five years by the UN General Assembly. The High Commissioner reports annually to the ECOSOC and the General Assembly on the work of UNHCR.