UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- The 59th U.N. General Assembly session Tuesday opened with a call for urgent and effective action amid threats of violence and the consequences of poverty.
"Confronting such a situation, the peoples of the world more than ever have their eyes turned towards the United Nations, the sole institution with a universal vocation where the concerns and aspirations of all humankind are expressed in all their diversity," said Foreign Minister Jean Ping of Gabon, the new president of the assembly. He succeeds Julian Hunte of St. Lucia.
"Conflict and humanitarian crises, the proliferation of weapons, the recurrence of terrorist acts, the increase in poverty and other afflictions such as the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the degradation of the environment, the resurgence of transnational crime, illicit drug trafficking, the violations of human rights as well as assaults on the rule of law and democracy are, each and every one, concerns for which we must urgently find answers," Ping said.
The general debate begins next Tuesday, with 91 heads of state and government, two vice presidents, and one crown prince, among others, expected to speak.
