LIVE UPDATES: United Nations General Assembly 2022

Niinistö: Difficult times call for more diplomacy, not less…. We have to be able to respond to emerging risks to peace and security. | via @jeegeronimo #UNGA

— Rappler (@rapplerdotcom) September 20, 2022

WASHINGTON, United States – US President Joe Biden and new British Prime Minister Liz Truss will discuss the countries’ economic relationship and the importance of preserving the agreement that ended conflict in Northern Ireland at the United Nations this week, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.

Biden “will encourage the UK and the European Union to work out a practical outcome that ensures there is no threat to the fundamental principles of the Good Friday agreement,” Sullivan said, speaking of the 1998 agreement that paved the way for peace in Northern Ireland.

PARIS – French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday, September 20, that referendums planned in Russian-occupied Ukrainian regions on joining Russia will not be recognised by the international community.

Speaking in New York, he said the referendum proposals for eastern Ukraine were an additional provocation following Russia’s invasion of its neighbor. “If the Donbas referendum idea wasn’t so tragic it would be funny,” he told reporters.

Russian-installed leaders in occupied areas of four Ukrainian regions set out plans for referendums on joining Russia, a move Kyiv dismissed as a stunt by Moscow to try to reclaim the initiative after resounding losses on the battlefield.

WASHINGTON, United States – The United States does not expect a breakthrough on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal at this week’s UN General Assembly but Washington remains open to both sides resuming compliance with the accord, a top U.S. White House said on Tuesday, September 20.

“I don’t expect a breakthrough in New York,” White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters, saying President Joe Biden would reiterate that “the United States has been prepared for a mutual compliance-for-compliance return … and if Iran is prepared to be serious about fulfilling its obligations and accepting that formula, we could have a deal.”

Colombian President Gustavo Petro called on Latin American countries to join forces to end the war on drugs during a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, September 20.

Petro, Colombia’s first leftist president, has long derided the global war on drugs as a failure, even using his inauguration speech in August to call for a new international strategy to fight drug trafficking.

“From my wounded Latin America, I demand you end the irrational war on drugs,” Petro said, while calling on the wider Latin American community to unite to defeat that “which torments our body.”

Drug trafficking and the war on drugs are major contributors to Colombia’s armed conflict, according to a report from the country’s truth commission, which was established as part of a 2016 peace deal with the now demobilized FARC guerrillas.

The South American country, considered the world’s top producer of cocaine, comes under frequent pressure from prime ally the United States to reduce cocaine output.

In July, the US White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) reported that Colombia’s potential cocaine output fell to 972 tonnes in 2021 from 994 tonnes the previous year.

Colombia’s area taken up by crops of coca, the chief ingredient in cocaine, also declined last year to 234,000 hectares (578,227 acres), down from 245,000 hectares in 2020, the ONDCP said.

Petro, who has also promised to ease Colombia away from its dependence on hydrocarbon exports, also criticized a global addiction to oil and coal, adding that efforts to stop global warming were not working.

“The fight against the climate crisis has failed,” he said.

Turkey believes a comprehensive peace is possible between Armenia and Azerbaijan, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday after the two countries resumed fighting again this month.

“We believe that it is possible to sign a comprehensive peace agreement between the two countries as soon as possible,” Erdogan said, speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a ceasefire last week, ending two days of violence linked to a decades-old dispute between the former Soviet states over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The fighting, which each side blamed on the other, left more than 170 soldiers dead and threatened to drag Turkey, Azerbaijan’s key backer, and Armenia ally Russia into a wider conflict at a time of already high geopolitical tensions.

The fighting, from September 12-14, was the deadliest since a six-week war in 2020 that left thousands dead and saw Azerbaijan make significant territorial gains in and around Nagorno-Karabakh.

In his speech, Erdogan also said reopening of transport links in the region will contribute to the welfare of all parties.

“Those who pursue a show of power in the region, despite their political and military level never equivalent to our country, are making a fool of themselves,” he added.

At the United Nations headquarters in New York, the General Assembly Hall is where world leaders gather to deliver addresses during the summit’s high-level debate. The Assembly Hall can hold 193 delegations, with each group given six seats, according to the UN’s official website.

Kyrgyzstan's President Sadyr Japarov now speaking at the UNGA. | via @jeegeronimo pic.twitter.com/35SdM1rra5

— Rappler (@rapplerdotcom) September 20, 2022