UNGA80 / 80 ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATION

Commemorating the 80th anniversary of the United Nations, Secretary-General António Guterres outlined the Organization's achievements, reiterating that to meet the world challenges, “the only way forward is together,” with “clarity, courage, and conviction.” UNIFEED

• Video Length: 00:07:00
• Production Date: 22 September 2025
• Asset Language: English; French
• Personal Subject: ANTONIO GUTERRES; ANNALENA BAERBOCK
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS
• Subject Topical: ANNIVERSARIES; COMMEMORATION; UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION; MULTILATERALISM
• MAMS Id: 3449516
• Parent Id: 3448940
• Alternate Title: unifeed250922bb

Description

STORY: UNGA80 / 80 ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATION
TRT: 7:00
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 22 SEPTEMBER 2025, NEW YORK CITY

Shotlist

1. Various shots, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
2. Various shots, delegations arriving at the United Natiosn
3. Various shots, General Assembly Hall music performance
4. Wide shot, Annalena Baerbock, President of the General Assembly for its 80th session speaking at the podium
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Annalena Baerbock, President of the 80th Session General Assembly:
“This is why this is the theme of this 80th session – better together. It is more than a motto; it is a hard-won truth. It’s our commitment for the next 80 years. Our commitment to not only hope for problems to vanish, but to find the courage to confront them. Better together, means to act where action is hard, to choose dialogue and diplomacy when division is easier.”
6. Wide shot, Annalena Baerbock, President of the General Assembly for its 80th session speaking at the podium
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Annalena Baerbock, President of the 80th Session General Assembly:
“Hope - at this 80th anniversary - means that this session is remembered not only for its milestone year, but as the moment when we called on extraordinary resolve equal to the extraordinary challenges we face. We owe this to the people – to the men and women, boys and girls – who are not giving up, even in the darkest hours of war, who look to the streaming blue flag for hope. The flag of our United Nations. Not perfect. Not finished. But always better together.”
8. Wide shot, Annalena Baerbock, President of the General Assembly for its 80th session speaking at the podium
9. Wide shot, Secretary-General António Guterres speaking at the podium
10. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Peace is the most courageous, the most practical, the most necessary pursuit of all.”
11. Wide shot, Secretary-General António Guterres speaking at the podium
12. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“We must not only defend the United Nations, but strengthen it. That is the purpose of Agenda 2030, the Pact for the Future, and the UN80 initiative: to renew the foundations of international cooperation, and to ensure we can deliver for people everywhere.”
13. Wide shot, Secretary-General António Guterres speaking at the podium
14. SOUNDBITE (French) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Over the years, our Organization has lead the way to some of humanity’s greatest triumphs: The eradication of smallpox. Healing the ozone layer. And, above all, the prevention of a third world war. The tests of the next 80 years will be both familiar and new. The battle will continue against war and poverty. But also climate chaos, runaway technologies, the militarization of space, and crises we cannot yet imagine. To meet the challenges, let us remember what our founders knew: The only way forward is together. Let us rise to this moment with clarity, courage, and conviction. And let us realize the promise of peace.”
15. Various shots, General Assembly Hall
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Former President of Liberia:
“Peace is built not only in conference rooms but in classrooms where girls learn without fear; clinics where mothers deliver safely; markets where youth find dignified work; courts where law is fair; and in daily acts of neighborly coexistence. Eighty years on, the UN’s founding generation would ask if we’re still worthy of the hopes inherited. Our answer must be yes—not because the world is less dangerous, but because our determination is stronger.”
17. Various shots, General Assembly Hall
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Gro H. Brundtland, Former Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) and Prime Minister of Norway
“The UN has methodically worked to strengthen the position of women. Through education, through micro-finance, through work for sexual and reproductive health, and through intense and effective advocacy work. With resolve and determination, we will get there in the end.”
19. Various shots, General Assembly
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Maria A Ressa, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate:
“Information integrity is the mother of all battles. Win this, and we can win the rest. Lose this, and we lose everything. Please choose courage over comfort, facts over fiction, hope over fear. A lot has changed since the UN was created 80 years ago, but its values - peace, human rights, justice, rule of law - are more essential today than ever. It’s time to create again: to build better. And act. Now. Before it’s too late.”
21. Various shots, General Assembly Hall

Storyline

Commemorating the 80th anniversary of the United Nations, Secretary-General António Guterres outlined the Organization's achievements, reiterating that to meet the world challenges, “the only way forward is together,” with “clarity, courage, and conviction.”

Addressing the General Assembly today (22 Sep), the President of General Assembly Annalena Baerbock highlighted that this year’s theme “better together” is more than a motto – “it is a hard-won truth.”

“It’s our commitment for the next 80 years. Our commitment to not only hope for problems to vanish, but to find the courage to confront them,” Baerbock added.

She emphasized that better together, means to “act where action is hard, to choose dialogue and diplomacy when division is easier.”

The President of the General Assembly also said, “Hope - at this 80th anniversary - means that this session is remembered not only for its milestone year, but as the moment when we called on extraordinary resolve equal to the extraordinary challenges we face.”

“We owe this to the people – to the men and women, boys and girls – who are not giving up, even in the darkest hours of war, who look to the streaming blue flag for hope,” Baerbock said.

She concluded by saying, “The flag of our United Nations. Not perfect. Not finished. But always better together.”

For his part, Secretary-General António Guterres reiterated, “Peace is the most courageous, the most practical, the most necessary pursuit of all.”

Guterres highlighted that at this moment, the principles of the United Nations are under assault as never before, noting that civilians are targeted, and international law trampled in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and beyond; poverty and hunger are on the rise as progress on the Sustainable Development Goals falters; the planet burns, with fires, floods, and record heat raging through climate chaos.
At the same time, we are moving towards a multipolar world, he said.

To meet these challenges, the UN chief stressed, “we must not only defend the United Nations, we must strengthen it.”

“We must not only defend the United Nations, but strengthen it. That is the purpose of Agenda 2030, the Pact for the Future, and the UN80 initiative: to renew the foundations of international cooperation, and to ensure we can deliver for people everywhere,” he said.

Guterres said that over the years, the world body “has lead the way to some of humanity’s greatest triumphs: The eradication of smallpox. Healing the ozone layer. And, above all, the prevention of a third world war. The tests of the next 80 years will be both familiar and new. The battle will continue against war and poverty. But also climate chaos, runaway technologies, the militarization of space, and crises we cannot yet imagine.”

“To meet the challenges, let us remember what our founders knew: The only way forward is together. Let us rise to this moment with clarity, courage, and conviction. And let us realize the promise of peace,” the Secretary-General reiterated.

Former President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf also addressed the General Assembly.

She highlighted, “Peace is built not only in conference rooms but in classrooms where girls learn without fear; clinics where mothers deliver safely; markets where youth find dignified work; courts where law is fair; and in daily acts of neighborly coexistence.”

The former Liberian President continued, “Eighty years on, the UN’s founding generation would ask if we’re still worthy of the hopes inherited. Our answer must be yes—not because the world is less dangerous, but because our determination is stronger.”

Former Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Gro H. Brundtland commended the world body’s work on gender equality. She said, “Through education, through micro-finance, through work for sexual and reproductive health, and through intense and effective advocacy work. With resolve and determination, we will get there in the end.”

Maria A Ressa, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate brought attention that information integrity is “the mother of all battles.”

“Win this, and we can win the rest. Lose this, and we lose everything,” Ressa reiterated.

She called on the General Assembly to “choose courage over comfort, facts over fiction, hope over fear.”

“A lot has changed since the UN was created 80 years ago, but its values - peace, human rights, justice, rule of law - are more essential today than ever. It’s time to create again: to build better. And act. Now. Before it’s too late,” the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate concluded.

The 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly – under the theme Better together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights – comes at a pivotal moment to renew global commitment to multilateralism, solidarity and shared action for people and planet. This year’s high-level week highlights the urgency of delivering on the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals and reinvigorating global cooperation.