UNGA focuses on peace amid global conflicts: Official

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A myriad of global challenges are present and need to be addressed in this year’s United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), with peace being the most prominent, a former UNGA official said on Tuesday.

“If you ask me, we have to start with peace. There is no enough peace in the world, we have conflicts. And also the opening speeches clearly mentioned the Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan [conflicts],” former UNGA President Miroslav Lajcak told Rudaw’s Sinan Tuncdemir on the sidelines of UNGA in New York.

Lajcak said that there are pressing issues in the world which the international community has failed to address.

“There are issues of inequality, issues of global warming, issues that we are failing on delivering sustainable development goals, we are failing on delivering Paris climate [agreement] goals,” Lajcak said.

The theme for this year’s week-long UNGA is "Leaving no one behind: acting together for the advancement of peace, sustainable development, and human dignity for present and future generations." 

This year’s UNGA comes as conflicts rage in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, and other countries, and amid intensifying hostilities and clashes between Israel and Lebanon - sparking fears of an all-out war.