Closing of the 76th session of the General Assembly…

The Secretary-General spoke this morning at the closing session of the 76th session of the General Assembly, saying that the session was marked by a series of deepening challenges, from rising prices, growing food insecurity and the gathering shadows of a global recession to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic to deadly heatwaves, storms, floods and other natural disasters.   

The Secretary-General has a pre-recorded video to the annual prayer service that takes place before the start of every General Assembly.

Over the weekend, the Secretary-General wrapped up his visit to Pakistan. He landed back in New York on Sunday.

Ukraine this weekend faced another wave of fighting, causing civilian casualties and disruptions of power and water supplies in six oblasts in the east and centre of Ukraine. 

Our colleagues in the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan today expressed their mounting concern about the de facto authorities’ actions against Afghan female employees of the United Nations. 

Our peacekeeping mission in Mali reports that one of their patrols hit an improvised explosive device close to their camp in Timbuktu. Unfortunately, eight peacekeepers were injured. 

Our friend Rosemary DiCarlo, the head of Peacebuilding and Political Affairs Department, will travel to Samarkand in Uzbekistan to take part in this week’s Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. 

Over the weekend we issued a statement on Ethiopia in which the Secretary-General welcomed the announcement by the Regional Government of Tigray of its readiness to abide by an immediate cessation of hostilities and to peacefully resolve the conflict in northern Ethiopia. 

An estimated 6.3 million people in Sri Lanka are facing moderate to severe acute food insecurity and their situation is expected to worsen unless life-saving assistance and support are provided, according to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme.

An update from the International Labour Organization says that fifty million people were living in modern slavery in 2021. Of these people, 28 million were in forced labour and 22 million were trapped in forced marriage.

Tomorrow there will be a briefing here at 9:30 a.m. We will be joined by Amir Abdulla, the United Nations Coordinator for Black Sea Grain Initiative, who will be briefing from Ankara, and he will be joined by the Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development, Rebeca Grynspan, who has been dealing with the Russian grain and fertilizer aspect of our joint efforts. She will be speaking to you from Geneva and they’re here to update you and give you more information on both those very important activities.

Tomorrow my guests will be Dr. Becky Telford, Chief of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) Education Section, and Adriana Elizabeth Figueredo Costero to discuss UNHCR’s education report.
On Wednesday, the Secretary-General will have a press conference at 11 a.m.. There will be no noon briefing

We thank our friends from the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Sierra Leone for their contributions. That takes us to 125 fully paid-up countries.