United Nations Leaders from around the world are gathering this week at its New York headquarters to discuss both the problems and priorities of their countries.
24 September i.e. on Tuesday General Assembly Global discussions are of particular importance in the 79th session of the UN.
What is a general discussion?
The general debate is the annual meeting of the heads of state and government of the 193 member states of the United Nations held in September. It begins at the beginning of the General Assembly session.
It is usually the first debate of the meeting and is the only occasion, apart from parallel high-level meetings, that heads of state and government regularly attend.
Is this really a debate?
Actually it is not. In the general debate, representatives of all member states get a chance to speak in the General Assembly.
There is no discussion or debate immediately after a speech. However, member states have the right to reply to a speech and this right is exercised by heads of state in writing.
In this regard, a letter is written to the Secretary General of the United Nations, who sends it to the representatives of all the member countries. Statements written in response to a speech during the general debate are issued at the end of each day.
“Leaving No One Behind: Joint Actions to Promote Peace, Sustainable Development and Human Dignity for Current and Future Generations” is the main theme of this month’s General Assembly session.
The theme was chosen after extensive consultation by the President of the General Assembly and many heads of state may refer to it in their speeches, but there is no restriction on them doing so.
Who speaks when?
Under the current procedure, after the opening of the session, the Secretary-General of the United Nations makes a statement, followed by the President of the General Assembly.
Traditionally, and at least since the 10th session of the General Assembly in September 1955, Brazil has initiated the debate.
According to the UN’s ‘Institutional Rules and Relations’, initially when discussions began, no country wanted to speak first. In such a situation, Brazil took the initiative on several occasions.
This section contains related reference points (Related Nodes field).
After Brazil, the host country of the United Nations, the United States, has to be addressed. The heads of state of the other 191 countries take turns to address the geographical balance, level of representation and their preferences, as it is possible that a head of state may not be in New York at the start of the debate. And that is why his turn came later than the appointed time.
In addition to member states, the State of Palestine and the European Union, which have observer status in the United Nations, are invited to address the debate.
Long and aggressive speeches
During the general debate each speaker is informally given 15 minutes to speak.
When a speaker’s time is up, a red light (flashlight) is used to notify him, but there is no tradition of interrupting and interrupting the speaker’s speech.
Speakers voluntarily try to complete their speech in 15 minutes, but many heads of state take longer.
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro gave a 269-minute long speech in 1960. This record of the longest speech in the general debate of the General Assembly still stands today.
In 2006, when tensions between the United States and Venezuela began, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called then-US President George W. Bush a ‘devil’ in his address to the General Assembly.
In 2009, former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi gave a 100-minute speech to the General Assembly in which he criticized the veto power of the UN Security Council and its five permanent members.
In 2012, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned the world that Iran could acquire the ability to build nuclear weapons in a matter of months, showing a bomb-like cartoon in his address to the General Assembly.
In 2017, US President Donald Trump, speaking at a public debate, threatened to completely destroy North Korea and derogatorily referred to its leader Kim Jong-un as ‘Rocket Man’.
The first debate of the General Assembly was held in 1946 and in the last eight decades many traditions, rituals, situations and some assumptions have been associated with this meeting.
Where can I find the general discussion?
Although the General Assembly debates take place behind closed doors, all proceedings are broadcast live and can be viewed on demand on UN WebTV.
All speeches in public debates Doug Hamerskhold Library I am present.
Many of the speeches or highlights of the 78 previous debates of the General Assembly of the United Nations Visual and audio library are available in
This information UN News website taken from
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2024-09-24 16:40:17
