UNGA: An 80-year-old experiment worth protecting

By Rafael Peralta, UNEP Director for the New York Office and North America 

Most New Yorkers have a love-hate relationship with the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) High-level Week. Usually, they don’t really mind the headquarters in the Turtle Bay neighborhood or the diplomats and their occasional motorcades. But every year, during this one week in late September as summer turns to autumn, the traffic stops moving for blocks on end, and the entire island of Manhattan quietly prays for peace again.  

And I don’t blame them. My own first General Assembly, back in 2005, involved getting up before dawn each day so the street closures would not lock me out of my own office. I was focused on the main file I was working on at the then Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) — Haiti — and had very little understanding of what else was happening around me. It took me a long time to figure out what all that gridlock was actually for. 

This year will be my twenty-first High-level Week, which runs from 18 to 28 September. By now, I’m well acquainted with its rhythms and quirks – and not just the early mornings.  

The Vienna Café in the headquarters’ lower levels transforms into the cantina scene from Star Wars, with everyone there. You’re likely to bump into someone you worked with in a different professional galaxy, along with making dozens of other new connections you would never have encountered through formal channels. In less cinematic moments, you spend the week checking whether your badges will get you into rooms they mostly will not, chasing people down the corridor and exchanging business cards. And, occasionally, you run into a head of state.  

The heads of state tribe  

For the heads of state (and government) themselves, there is another layer to this gathering. Heads of state are a tribe, in the same way as climbers, surgeons, pilots or firefighters. They meet in other formats throughout the year, but nowhere else has the same breadth of agenda and attendance as UNGA’s High-level Week.  

Even though heads of state are never alone, their job comes with a specific kind of solitude. They carry responsibilities that few others can fully grasp. Perhaps that is why this week matters to them in a way that is easy to miss from the outside: for a few days, they are surrounded by the only people who can genuinely understand what it means to do their job. 

I also believe their presence is one of UNGA’s most compelling features. Bringing together all the world’s leaders in one place has not been possible for the majority of human history. For most of it, leaders did not assemble; they met in twos, maybe threes, if at all. Earlier attempts at anything wider were short-lived.  

What exists today only truly began after the second World War and has now existed for 80 years, which is a mere blip in human history. High-level Week is often treated as permanent scenery, yet it is nothing of the sort. It really is a historical anomaly; and a very young one. 

Still here, still working 

Currently, there is a great deal of cynicism about the UN and multilateralism, but I would offer a stance against it: the UN is very much alive and kicking. Of course, we can always – and we always do – strive to be better, but just like any global organization, we have our challenges and are working hard to solve them.  

What truly matters for me as a UN staff member is that the UN still makes a real difference in the lives of people around the world. And, in a world of increasing tensions, it truly is a powerful thing that once a year, some of the most powerful people alive come to the same building and sit down together. Ultimately, I believe that’s worth the gridlock that fellow New Yorkers may have to endure.  

But why is this important, when this High-level Week is not even designated a formal decision-making point? It can seem just like a week full of speeches when the formal declarations (decisions made among Member States) have already been negotiated and agreed. Yet these speeches are often where governments signal new policy directions and commit to partnerships that can shape action long after the week has ended. And here comes the magic: once such news is announced, more often than not, the entire machinery starts moving. Ministries take instructions and work begins. The UN leans in and supports. The world reacts. So, in many ways, the week is about more than just formal decisions; it is the political signals that often emerge as the real trigger for change. 

Ensuring the environment gets a front-row seat 

The week is a cacophony of global challenges. Conflicts, development, humanitarian emergencies and human rights all compete for the same finite, scarce attention, which means the environmental flag does not automatically fly at the highest level. Since the pandemic, though, the environment has been consistently among the most significant conversations in the room.  

Twenty years ago, environmental issues barely featured. But this year, for example, a high-level meeting on sea-level rise will take place, as well as events on climate change and pandemic preparedness, of which the environmental dimension will feature more prominently than ever before. Meanwhile, across Manhattan, Climate Week NYC attracts a whole other crowd to the city – from youth activists to CEOs – and occurs simultaneously so new partnerships, conversations and commitments can come together to drive more ambitious environmental action. 

So, what does the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) do during all of this? We arrive with a set of priorities to help bridge the gaps from commitments to action (this year: new data on climate overshoot, sea-level rise, reducing methane emissions, clean air and financing), and we deploy our Executive Director and colleagues across the General Assembly and Climate Week to put our science in front of the people setting the agenda. We are not there to just be present and mingle at the Vienna Café. We are there to make sure that what is decided is informed by science. 

The unsung heroes 

All of this aside, if there is one thing to take from this piece, let it be that the unsung heroes of the week are the UN security officers. They handle crowds that often seem unmanageable, they work with the security teams of visiting heads of state (because once a leader sets foot on UN premises, their protection becomes the UN’s responsibility), and they keep the whole UNGA safe and functional for everyone involved. It is an impossible job, done under demanding conditions. Thank them when you see them.  

Eventually, the week comes to an end. The motorcades disappear, the barricades come down, the leaves start to fall as autumn slowly takes over and New York gets its city back. But, with hope, the world will be on a slightly better trajectory. That is always the goal. 

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