Here's where things stand at 6PM ET
- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called yesterday’s bombing of an aid convoy in Syria “sickening” in his opening remarks to the General Assembly
- US president Barack Obama, in his last ever address to the assembly, said that America had been “a force for good” in the world
- In a special session on refugees, Obama pledged to take 110k refugees in 2017
- In her maiden speech to the assembly, new British prime minister Theresa May announced that the UK would begin the proces of ratifying the Paris climate accords
- She also said that “when the British people voted to leave the EU, they did not vote to turn inwards from our partners around the world.”
- However, many criticised her speech for a distinction she made between economic migrants and refugees fleeing war
- In a powerful address, Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein, King of Jordan, said that “False perceptions of Muslims will fuel a global struggle by polarising factions east and west, driven deeper into hatred and intolerance.”
Prime minister Theresa May’s inaugural speech at the UN General Assembly has not been met with universal acclaim.
Rob Williams, CEO of War Child UK, said:
We welcome the Prime Minister’s strong commitment to eradicate modern slavery. Children fleeing conflict are particularly vulnerable to exploitation, sexual violence and recruitment into armed gangs, the worst violations against children.
However a major driver of modern slavery within Europe is the relative absence of any safe and legal routes for displaced and refugee children to be reunited with their families in European countries. As a result, children end up at the mercy of criminal networks for merely trying to get to their loved ones.
If the Prime Minister is serious about protecting the most vulnerable victims of modern slavery – children, we would urge her to support the establishment of safe and legal routes for children to be reunited with their families, and invest in cross-border child protection systems that can keep children safe.
And Bill Frelick, writing in Newsweek in a column titled Theresa May’s Refugee Vision is Narrow and Divisive, took issue with May’s distinction between economic migrants and refugees, writing that:
May’s call for “properly applying” the Refugee Convention appears to suggest that it should be used as a tool of exclusion, particularly for people caught up in the large-scale movements of refugees and migrants that the summit was intended to address.
Africa and Latin America sought to fill the gap in the convention with regional declarations that included a wider refugee definition. The European Union’s individualized asylum system has also managed to include wider grounds for protection beyond the limitations of the Refugee Convention.
But advocates had hoped that the U.N. summit would close this protection gap globally. The opportunity was there for a universal declaration that there are many people in today’s world, such as famine victims fleeing drought in Somalia and Salvadoran children fleeing gang violence, who face threats to their lives if they return home, whose claims for protection are as valid as political exiles and religious dissidents.
You can read the full piece here.
Security is tight for the General Assembly, as this tweet from the NYPD shows:
#NYPD #Aviation, #Harbor & #SCUBA units are seen here patrolling & securing the waterways in the v/o @UN during @POTUS visit at #UNGA pic.twitter.com/y0eoGJjuaq
— NYPD Special Ops (@NYPDSpecialops) September 20, 2016
Some more detailed analysis of May’s speech earlier from Rowena Mason in New York.
More than £100m of the UK aid budget will be spent on returning Somalian refugees to the country they fled and encouraging Eritreans not to cross the Mediterranean under plans outlined by Theresa May in New York.
The prime minister used her maiden speech at the United Nations to expand on proposals aimed at stop “mass uncontrolled population movement”, which has seen refugees travelling long distances in search of better lives.
Her plans attracted criticism earlier in the summit over the suggestion that those fleeing warzones should stay and claim asylum in the first safe country they reach, rather than seeking sanctuary in European nations such as Britain.However, May pressed on with the argument on Tuesday in an address to the general assembly, as she focused on actions in North Africa to stop migrants crossing the Mediterranean.
In her speech, May said Britain would send more troops to Somalia to help train local troops to combat the al-Shabaab militant group, including up to 30 teams of between five and 30 personnel with no more than 70 in the country at any one time.
“The UK is now going to increase further our security support and we will be calling on others to do the same, hosting an international conference on Somalia in 2017 to maintain this vital momentum,” the prime minister said.
While acknowledging Somalia is facing serious security problems, the government is also contributing £20m from the aid budget to encourage refugees who fled the country to return home from the Dadaab camp in Kenya.“We will invest £16m in Somalia to help do things around food, education, shelter and sustainable livelihoods and then £4m to Kenya to help support the process of returning these people,” a UK official said.
The process has recently been criticised by the Human Rights Watch group, which said the return of the refugees from Somalia to Kenya cannot be considered voluntary as the Dadaab camp is at risk of being shut down. The UN has insisted there are no forced returns.
At a later summit on refugees, hosted by US president Barack Obama, May said another £80m from the aid budget will be aimed at helping migrants, largely Eritreans, stay in Ethiopia through the financial support for the construction of new industrial parks offering 100,000 new jobs, including 30,000 for refugees.
This is an expansion of the programme used in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon to try encourage refugees settle in the region rather than make journeys to European countries.
Of the 124,000 refugees who crossed the Mediterranean to Italy between Jan 2016 and 12 Sept, 12% were Eritrean - second only to Nigeria who made up 20% of the numbers crossing.
At the Obama summit, May also announced that more of the UK’s aid budget would be spent on humanitarian efforts.
A UK official said £1.5bn for the year would be going towards refugees and others in dire need which is an extra 10% uplift from the aid budget. About £2.5m will go to an international fund to help resettle refugees in other countries.
However, May unveiled no new commitments for the UK to take in more than the 20,000 vulnerable Syrians who David Cameron agreed to accept by 2020, despite calls from charities and Labour for Britain to do more.
Speaking ahead of the summit, May argued it was better to help a greater number of refugees at camps in countries bordering Syria than to resettle a smaller number in the UK.
Updated
More from Patrick Kingsley from the leaders’ summit on refugees:
The US also admitted that the pledges announced on Tuesday include any policy announced since the start of the year, and said that some of the pledges may not strictly fall within the previously stated goals of the summit. “We took a very broad interpretation,” Ann Richard, the US’s assistant secretary of state, said in an interview with the Guardian.
“It didn’t have to be a formal UNHCR resettlement programme, it could be other legal pathways for admission – scholarships, work visas or humanitarian visas.”
The pledges also include decisions by Turkey and Jordan in January to nominally open their labour markets to Syrians even though many Syrians in both countries are in reality still excluded from legal work. According to US officials, other labour-related policies included those that simply allow refugees to live outside camps, or give them access to agricultural land.
Refugee specialists who had criticised the vague UN-led declaration on Monday were nevertheless cautiously optimistic about Tuesday’s US-led announcements.
David Miliband, head of the International Rescue Committee, a major refugee agency, said: “The political inertia has finally been broken and now it needs to be turned into genuine momentum through effective implementation of each pledge,” he added.
“Permit me to deviate from the written statement to address the Istraeli people,” Sisi says, suddenly bringing his frantic reading delivery to a halt, then speaking much more slowly.
We have a true opportunity, a real opportunity, to write a bright page in history; to move towards peace. The Egyptian experience is wonderful and unique and can be followed by establishing a Palestinian state, side by side with the Israeli state, that preserves safety and security for the Palestinians and safety and security for the Israelis, prosperity and peace for both.
Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, president of Egypt, is now speaking.
The world has become a global village as a result of the communications revolutions - however, we continue to see another facet of globalism, one that has produced a number of economic challenges. Globalism has been linked to a rise in poverty, the rise in the inequality gap ... perhaps these constitute the biggest reason for the international community to work diligently ... and meet the needs of their people.
“The Egyptian people have succeeded in enforcing their will ... safeguarding society from sliding into anarchy,” he says.
A coalition of more than 30 countries unveiled a series of concrete responses to the refugee crisis on Tuesday, giving refugees a glimmer of hope in a week in which world leaders gathered at the UN summit in New York have otherwise failed to offer direct action on refugee issues, reports Patrick Kingsley from the UN leaders’ summit on refugees.
Barack Obama announced that the US-led coalition had collectively agreed to roughly double resettlement places for refugees, increase humanitarian aid for refugees by $4.5 billion, provide education to one million more refugee children, and potentially improve access to legal work for another million adults.
Full details were not disclosed, but the move constituted the most concrete set of refugee measures at the annual UN summit. On Monday, refugee advocates were left disappointed by the announcement of a non-binding declaration that upheld world leaders’ pre-existing responsibilities for refugees, but offered little in terms of direct commitments.
But the mood changed on Tuesday, with 18 developed countries announcing plans to increase legal access to refugees, 17 developing countries pledging to increase refugees’ access to education, and 15 claiming that they would take various measures that could help to expand refugees’ access to work.
The western countries included those that are well-known for their generosity to refugees, including Germany and Sweden, as well as those, such as Australia, who are often criticised for their treatment of asylum seekers. Argentina and Portugal were among the countries who pledged to start resettlement programmes for the first time. Commenting on the relative success of his initiative, Obama said: “We’re going to have to be honest: it’s still not enough – not sufficient for a crisis of this magnitude.” But he added: “I hope this is a beginning.”
Leaders from the world’s major refugee-hosting nations hailed the pledges, but warned that they meant little if they were not carried out. Most pledges made at a similar summit in London in February have not been fulfilled.
“The refugee crisis requires not just [pledged] commitment but follow-through,” said King Abdullah of Jordan, a country that hosts more Syrian refugees than all the countries in the EU, which has a population that is 50 times bigger.
David Miliband is at the refugees’ summit:
Refugees are....Olympians. Nice to see President Obama deferring/listening to Yusra Mardini. pic.twitter.com/ClsZnzwtw8
— David Miliband (@DMiliband) September 20, 2016
Obama: "Refugees can make us stronger". pic.twitter.com/ySKSfb36ZQ
— David Miliband (@DMiliband) September 20, 2016
President Erdogan emphasizes importance of citizenship as ultimate destination for refugees pic.twitter.com/FY70UOLADJ
— David Miliband (@DMiliband) September 20, 2016
Over at the Leaders’ Summit on Refugees, president Obama is taking the lead, upping the US’s number of refugees it is pledged to take:
Obama just committed to take 110k refugees in 2017 (60% increase on 2015) despite toxicity of US politics.That is what leadership looks like
— Brendan Cox (@MrBrendanCox) September 20, 2016
More strikes against the Security Council, this time from South Africa’s Jacob Zuma, who calls for its reform “in order to ensure the representation of Africa”.
“One billion people cannot continue to be denied a voice in this manner,” Zuma says, to applause from the chamber.
The UN Leaders’ Summit on refugees is about to begin.
The Guardian’s Patrick Kingsley is on the scene and will bring you more detail from the event as it unfolds, but politicians have squandered a chance to radically rethink the treaties and organisations that govern the world’s handling of refugees, the director of Oxford University’s Refugee Studies Centre told Kingsley earlier.
Interviewed here in New York, Alexander Betts said that the refugee system needs to be rethought in the same way that the international monetary system was reworked in the 1970s.
“The refugee regime was created in the 1950s for Europe and the early Cold War era,” says Betts. “Yes it’s been adapted incrementally but we’ve never had a moment of systematic reflection.”
Betts adds:
“In other areas like the international monetary system, when there was a big crisis as we saw in 1971, reform took place. 2016 should be the refugee system’s 1971. It should involve reflection on our legal model, our organisational model, and our operational model – and that’s what the political capital that we’ve invested in these two days should have gone towards.
But as it is, I think there are achievements, but I’m not sure these achievements reach the level of ambition that the international community should have had in response to the refugee crisis.
Poland joins the UK in announcing that it has begun the process of ratifying the Paris climate agreements, Duda says, invoking the new beginning of the so-called “anthropocene” era.
The afternoon plenary session is underway. Now speaking is Andrzej Duda, the president of Poland.
Poland’s ambassador to the UK has expressed concern about xenophobic attacks on Polish nationals which have begun occurring in Britain following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union. It is not known whether Duda will address the issue in today’s speech.
“We will refuse to give into pressure to give in to pressures for easy votes” Trudeau says.
There is a choice to be made. Strong, diverse countires like Canada didn’t happen by accident, and won’t continue without effort. Every single day, we need to choose hope over fear, and diversity over division. Fear has never created a single job. Our citizens, the nearly 7.5 billion people we collectively serve, are better than the cynics and pessimists think they are. People want their problems solved, not exploited.
“Canada is a modest country. We know we can’t solve these problems alone. We know it will be hard work. But we’re Canadian, and we’re here to help,” he concludes.
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau is giving the final address of the morning session, switching between English and French.
We need to create economic growth that is broadly shared, because a fair and successful world is a peaceful one. We need to focus on what brings us together, not on what divides us.
In Canada, we see diversity as a source of strength.
He says that in recent months Canadians “have opened their arms and hearts” to refugees fleeing the Syrian war, and “welcomed them as new Canadians”.
May says the UK will ratify Paris climate change agreement this year
May also used her speech to give her first major commitment that Britain will continue to tackle climate change after leaving the EU, as she promised to ratify the Paris agreement by the end of the year.
The UK remained determined to “play our part in the international effort against climate change … In a demonstration of our commitment to the agreement reached in Paris, the UK will start its domestic procedures to enable ratification of the Paris agreement and complete these before the end of the year,” she said.
The UK was party to negotiations as part of the EU and will be expected to take on emissions reductions based on an EU-wide “burden-sharing” agreement, which is yet to be worked out, reports Rowena Mason.
May’s decision to speed up ratification will relieve green campaigners and charities amid worries that the new prime minister could start retreating from Britain’s position as a leader on tackling climate change after leaving the EU. She has rarely spoken about the subject in the past and was accused of a regressive step when she abolished the Department for Energy and Climate Change after taking office.
However, pressure on the prime minister to agree to ratify the deal intensified after China and the US made a joint declaration that they would do so earlier in the month.
A UK official said the prime minister’s announcement was “absolutely a reflection of her commitment to delivering on that international agreement where the UK has been at the forefront of efforts”.
You can read the whole piece here.
Updated
“When the British people voted to leave the EU, they did not vote to turn inwards from our partners around the world,” May says. “They demanded action ... but that action must be more global, not less.”
Only we ... can act to ensure this great institution is as relevant to our future as to our past. So let us come together ... and work together to build a better, safer, and more prosperous world for generations to come.
“We should be clear that there is nothing wrong with going in search of a better life ... but countries must be able to exert control over their borders,” May says. She says there are three fundamental principles that need to be established for migration.
“First, we must make sure that refugees claim asylum in the first safe country they reach,” she says, adding that we should all do more to help those countries where refugees first arrive.
Second, she says, a distinction must be made between economic migrants and those fleeing violence.
And third, she reaffirms the declaration of human rights, saying that “nearly 70 years on we are presented with a new form of slavery” run by organised crime groups. “Trafficked and sold across borders, victims are forced into the kind of existence which is almost beyond imagination. Victims are held captive in squalid conditions and forced into sex and labour.”
May talks now about fighting extremism; she mentions the UK-led resolution on aviation security, on which the UN will vote later. “It is not enough merely to focus on violent extremism; we must focus on ... hate and fear in all their forms,” she continues.
“Across the world today there are 65m people displaced,” she says. “That is equivalent to the entire population of the United Kingdom.”
She calls for an end to the conflict in Syria.
“It is a great honour for me to address this assembly for the first time,” May starts.
She says that the UN began to “deliver security across the globe.” Some of the threats we face today are the same as those faced by the founders, she continues, but some are new - “global warming, international terrorism, and mass movement of unprecedented number of people.”
“As a new prime minister of the UK, my message is simple: the UK will be a strong, dependable partner internationally. ... we will continue to honour our commitment to spend 0.7 percent of our GDP on development.”
She says that the UK will continue to be “a steadfast member of the security council,” and condemns the bombing of the aid convoy in Syria yesterday.
She says, however, that those standing before the assembly must not forget that they serve their people at home, and that many have been left behind by globalization. “We need this, our United Nations, to forge a bold new multilateralism.”
Theresa May to speak now
It is the new prime minister’s second outing on the international stage after attending the G20 summit in China earlier this month, reports Rowena Mason.
She made a similar warning in Hangzhou about anti-globalisation sentiment, which has been linked to the rise of populist movements and leaders in many countries across the world, from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in the US to the leftwing party Syriza in Greece.
May’s priority at both summits has also been to reassure world leaders that the UK is not turning away from the world because of the vote to leave the EU.
She will meet the presidents of Turkey and Egypt on Tuesday morning before having her second meeting in a fortnight with the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe. Their discussion comes after Tokyo warned at the G20 that companies could withdraw from the UK without more clarity about access to the single market and other benefits of the EU after Brexit.
On Monday night, May hosted a business reception at the consul general’s residence in New York for US companies such as Goldman Sachs, Amazon, Black Rock, IBM and Morgan Stanley in a bid to convince them that Britain remains a good place to invest.
May has attracted criticism at the summit for her proposals about refugees, after she suggested it was better to help those fleeing war in the first safe country they reach than to resettle them further away. She argued that the UN needed to help stop “mass uncontrolled migration of people” because it is dangerous, and asserted the right of countries to control their own borders.
Speaking before the summit, the prime minister also challenged the arguments for taking in more refugees than the total to which the UK has already committed.
Updated
Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, the prime minister of Fiji, is talking about February’s Cyclone Winston, as a harbinger of the ecological disaster that faces his island nation as global warming increases.
“If this is what awaits us as global warming increases, then god help us,” he says. “We are facing a nightmare scenario.”
Our message from the Pacific is this: the two degree cap is not enough. We want the world to go one better and embrace the 1.5 degree cap. ... but as a first step, I appeal to you all to ratify the Paris agreement, and turn our backs on the coalition of the selfish which would rather see the Pacific nations submerged than change their lifestyles.
Updated
In a dramatic display of Latin America’s political divisions, the delegations of Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua walked out during Brazilian President Michel Temer’s speech at the U.N. General Assembly, according to the Associated Press.
Venezuela’s U.N. Ambassador Rafael Ramirez told the AP today that Temer is “an illegitimate president, the product of a coup d’etat. We do not recognize him.”
Ecuadorean diplomat Carola Iniguez says her country’s delegation walked out “to protest the political situation in Brazil.”
Temer became Brazil’s president following the ouster of Dilma Rousseff by the Senate over accusations of fiscal mismanagement.
In his speech, Temer defended the impeachment process, insisting it was an example of democracy at work. He said: “impeaching a president is certainly not a trivial matter in a democratic regime. But there is no democracy without rule of law without rules applicable to all, including the most powerful. This is what Brazil is showing the world.”
Now Erdoğan is calling for reform of the Security Council. “What about the other countries around the world? We ignore them,” he says. “The representative nature of the security council should be effective so that the security council could be more just and fair.”
Erdoğan says that Turkey is now home to 2.7m refugees, and he hits out at countries who turn refugees away.
“The rest of the world may not but we will keep on admitting them, because they are human being. We will keep our doors open, and we will keep our doors open in the future.”
The international community has failed its humanitarian values.
It is notable that Erdoğan is mentioning Kurdish separatist groups such as the PKK in the same lists as groups like Isis.
This is a fraught topic; Turkey is an ally of the coalition against Isis, but so is Kurdistan, the autonomous northern region in Iraq that is home to the de facto Kurdish state - but Turkey is also home to a large number of Kurds, and the Turkish military has often engaged in fierce fighting with Kurdish separatists within south-eastern Turkey.
“Within the first quarter of the 21st century, mankind has reached the peak in science, economy, development and health,” Erdoğan begins. “However, this achievement conceals a dark face. In Syria, Iraq, and counties in the grip of terrorism around the world, hundreds of thousands of children, young, and elderly, are killed. Refugees running from oppression face derading treatment in many european cities.”
“It’s nigh time to show leadership with a sense of responsibility in addressing these problems in a determined fashion.”
Now he turns to the coup, which he describes as being orchestrated by a “terrorist organisation”.
This coup attempt was successfully repelled by our nation, protected heroically her democracy, govt, freedoms, future and const order. That’s why I take pride in my nation as my nation defeated this heinous coup attempt by risking their lives, and for a period of 29 days they never abandoned the squares around Turkey.
They threw their bodies in front of the tanks. They showed a very noble stance. If I stand here today before you it is thanks to our nation’s brave stance.
Turkey’s controversial president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is due to speak next.
His appearance comes just over a month after a failed coup attempt by a group of army officers against Erdoğan’s administration, which was brutally put down. One fraught issue that might come up is that of influential US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.
The Turkish president told Reuters in an interview on Monday that the United States should “not harbor a terrorist” like Gulen and that his activities should be banned worldwide:
Erdogan said Washington had “no excuse” for keeping Gulen, a former Erdogan ally who Turkish officials say has built up a network of followers over decades inside the armed forces and civil service to take over Turkey.
“If the U.S. is our strategic ally and our NATO partner ... then they should not let a terrorist like Gulen run his organization,” Erdogan said, in an interview on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations.
Erdogan said an initial three months state of emergency, declared in the wake of the coup, could be extended if necessary.
Critics say extending the state of emergency will give Erdogan a freer hand to limit or suspend freedoms, to bypass the parliament as well as taking swift measures against his opponents.
Updated
“Our generation is the first not to live through a world war,” says Johann Schneider - Ammann, president of Switzerland.
He contrasts technological achievements in solar power and combating climate change with the thousands of migrants dying in the Mediterranean as the best and the worst of this new world.
“We have equipped ourselves with tools for building a better world,” he says. “It is time for us to take up those tools.”
Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein, King of Jordan, is giving a very powerful speech about the battle against extremism.
“I find myself stating the obvious again and again,” he says.
False perceptions of Muslims will fuel a global struggle by polarising factions east and west, driven deeper into hatred and intolerance.
Muslims, a quarter of the world’s population, citizens of every country, have a central role in the future of our planet. Muslim men and women brign a rich heritage of civic responsibility, justice, gen, family life, and a faith in god.
When others exclude Muslims from fulfilling their role by prejudice or ignorance of what Islam is, or on the other hand when the outlaws of Islam ... attempt to mislead some Muslims by deforming our religion through false teachings, our society’s future is put at risk.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is a battle that we must fight together,” he adds. “Let me state clearly that these radical groups do not exist on the fringes of Islam. They are altogether outside of it. They declare the civilized world as the enemy.”
He calls for an end to violence in Syria, led by a global coalition.
Theresa May is set to be the penultimate speaker in the morning session of the General Assembly, and all eyes will be on the new prime minister as she faces the United Nations for the first time since the UK voted to leave the European Union in June.
She will use her maiden speech at the United Nations to warn that it must work hard to remain relevant as too many people feel left behind by globalisation, reports Rowena Mason in New York.
Speaking at the general assembly on Tuesday, she will draw attention to the British people’s decision to vote to leave the EU, arguing that they want a “politics that is more in touch with their concerns, and bold action to address them”.
The prime minister will argue that there is still a crucial role for international bodies such as the UN, even as people are wary of globalisation, but she will warn that it must modernise to meet the challenges of mass migration, modern slavery and terrorism. “We must recognise that for too many of those men and women, the increasing pace of globalisation has left them feeling left behind,” she will say.
“The challenge for those of us in this room is to ensure our governments and our global institutions, such as this United Nations, remain responsive to the people that we serve. That we are capable of adapting our institutions to the demands of the 21st century.”
You can read the whole piece here.
Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau is set to close out the morning session of the General Assembly, speaking immediately after Theresa May, according to the schedule.
In the meantime, the Canadian government, with the United Nations and billionaire George Soros, is launching an initiative to help other countries implement a program that has allowed private citizens to bring hundreds of thousands of refugees to Canada in the past 35 years, reports Ashifa Kassam from Toronto.
The country’s private sponsorship program, as it is known, enables groups of Canadians to settle refugees in exchange for a commitment to cover their expenses and provide help to the newcomers as they adjust to their new home.
Some 13 countries – including the United Kingdom -- have expressed interest in implementing their own version of the program, John McCallum, Canada’s minister for immigration, refugees and citizenship said on Tuesday. “Every country’s circumstances are different but we believe this is a good model which is exportable to other countries,” he told reporters in New York City. “You are miles ahead if you can bring refugees in supported by our own citizens. Then they have a base from which to go. They have a welcome, rather than having refugees come in uninvited or illegally or alone.”
Australia launched a pilot of the program in 2013 and a similar initiative is being planned in the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Germany and Switzerland have both experimented with the idea while Spain and Japan are among the countries who have expressed interest in the program.
Canada will now work with the UN High Commission for Refugees and Soros’ Open Society Foundations to create training modules based on an analysis of the Canadian model as well as provide technical assistance to countries interested in adopting the program, said McCallum.
Private sponsorship was launched in Canada after the Vietnam war and has since brought in more than 275,000 refugees, including nearly 9,000 Syrian refugees, in addition to those brought in by government programs. Studies suggest the support of private citizens facilitates the settlement process, with privately-sponsored refugees reporting more success and integration than their government-sponsored counterparts.
An interesting spot on Twitter by the New York Times’ UN correspondent Somini Sengupta: the Russian foreign ministry tweeted that, held up by US president Obama’s motorcade, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov got out and walked the rest of the way to the General Assembly.
Manhattan traffic was blocked because of @BarackObama motorcade. #Lavrov decided not to wait in traffic jam & headed to @UN by walking pic.twitter.com/L4XVBsvU1d
— MFA Russia (@mfa_russia) September 20, 2016
Hollande continues:
No county can say that it is immune to the threat of Islamic terrorism, which has claimed lost individuals within our countries and radicalised them.
No wall can stop ... this scourge. Terrorism prospers from open conflicts that have for too long not been solved. Its brought a wave of refugees. It’s shaken the established order. ... the collective security that was the very principles of the UN. In the face of these dangers, France once again turns to the United Nations.
If we want to eradicate terrorism, if we want to act, then we need to take decisons. We can’t just talk about solidarity, we can’t just show passion. We need to take action.
He says that
French president François Hollande is speaking now.
He is calling for a “2020 agenda for Africa” to bring electricity to all Africans to encourage sustainable growth and development, and reducing migration which, he says, produces instability in the countries to which the migrants go.
Then he moves on to Syria.
The Syrian tragedy will be seen as a disgrace to the international community if we do no tend it soon. Aleppo is a martyrd city. Thousands have died in bombing. Humanitarian convoys have been attacked. Chemical weapons have been used. I have one thing to say here: this is enough.”
The international community must compel the regime to peace, he says, or they will be complicit in the tragedy.
France has four requests, he says. First, impose the ceasefire. Then ensure the immediate sending of aid to Aleppo. Then ensure that political negotiations resume; and finally punish the use of chemical weapons. “That is an issue of justice,” Hollande says.
Nicky Woolf here, taking over from my colleague Haroon Siddique.
Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to speak later today. Currently, Argentinian president Mauricio Macri is addressing the chamber.
He calls the refugee crisis a “major challenge”.
“Though a year ago we made a commitment to not leave anybody behind, today the images we see pain us,” Macri says. “Reality calls for us to do more.”
He pledges that Argentina will ramp up the number of Syrian refugees it will take.
Updated
After that speech, in which he urged wealthy nations to do more to help refugees, Obama will be hosting a summit in New York dedicated to that very subject, where he hopes other countries will pledge more help.
He stressed throughout his speech that it was only through co-operation that the world’s greatest challenges could be addressed, whether climate change, ending conflict or addressing the refugee crisis. In tandem he warned of the dangers of nationalism, intolerance and isolationism.
Obama also made it a robust defence of his record in office and that of the US generally, describing it as a rare superpower that has been prepared to work not only in its own interests.
Not everyone will agree with that analysis but his references to the dangers of building walls may well have been intended as a warning of how he things might change if he is succeeded in the Oval Office by Donald Trump.
Updated
Obama says the US has been a “force for good”, a rare superpower in human history that has been able to think beyond narrow self interests.
He refers to more threats, nuclear proliferation, the Zika virus.
Obama says it is worth giving up some freedom of action to bind countries to international rules.
He says a peaceful resolution to the disputes in the South China Sea is far greater than “arguing over rocks and reefs”.Russia’s nationalism and interference in the affairs of its neighbours will “diminish its stature and make its borders less secure”.
We have to open our hearts and do more to help refugees who are desperate for a home ...We have to do more, even when the politics are hard.
Obama says there is “a much darker and more cynical version of history we can adopt”.
Each of us has leaders, as nations, can choose to reject those who appeal to our worst impulses and choose those who appeal to our best impulses. We have shown that we can choose a better history.
He says his own family is made up of cultures, flesh and faith from different parts of the world just as America is built from immigration from different shores.
I believe I can best serve my own people, I can best look after my daughters, by actively seeking what is best for all people ...All of us can be co-workers with God.
And that is the end of Obama’s last address to the UN general assembly as president.
Photograph: Carlo Allegri/Reuters
Updated
Obama says:
We must reject any forms of fundamentalism, or racism or a belief in ethnic superiority that makes our differences irreconcilable with modernity.
He talks about protests against cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, then he takes direct aim at Vladimir Putin.
We see Russia trying to capture lost glory through force
The world is too small for us to be able to resort to “old ways of thinking”, says Obama. We have seen this in the Middle East where leaders persecuted political opposition or minorities/sects. He says they have helped fuel the growth of Isis.
Our international community must seek to work with those who seek to build, rather than destroy.
On Syria, Obama says we must provide aid to those in need and engage in “hard diplomacy”. There is no ultimate military victory to be won.
A look at the #Syria delegation in #UNGA audience as @POTUS speaks about the tragic five-year civil war in that country. pic.twitter.com/eBisO5aurR
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) September 20, 2016
He calls for progress on Israel-Palestine, saying Palestinians must reject incitement and Israel must realise it cannot criminally occupy Palestinian land.
Updated
For the small fraction of what we spent on war in Iraq we could invest money in fragile states to ensure they don’t collapse in the first places, says Obama. That’s why we must act on climate change and help the poorest countries “leap-frog” damaging sources of energy.
We need new models of the global marketplace, models that are inclusive and sustainable.
There is a growing conflict between libertarianism and authoritarianism, says Obama. He stresses he is not saying that the US model is the only right model but says that he will always come down on the side of libertarianism against authoritarianism.
I believe the road of true democracy remains the better path.
In Europe the progress of the eastern-bloc countries who embraced democracy have progressed much faster than those who didn’t, says Obama.
He rejects the idea that what happened in Ukraine was the result of a foreign plot but says it happened because of what Ukrainian citizens saw happening around them.
Those of us who believe in democracy need to speak out forcefully because the facts and history are on our side.
The answer is not a rejection of global integration but working together so that the benefits of integration are broadly shared, says Obama. The cultural impacts of integration must be squarely addressed.
It starts by making the global economy work better and not just for those at the top.
Often those who have benefited the most from globalisation have often used their powers to undermine workers, says Obama. He refers to $8tn stashed away in tax havens.
A world in which 1% own as much as wealth as the other 99% will never be stable.
The US president says trade wars, market subsidies, an over-reliance on natural resources rather than innovation will make us poor.
We do not have to submit to “a soulless capitalism that benefits only the few”. The rights of workers must be respected, people should be invested in and there should be a strengthening of the safety net. Obama says he has pursued these policies in the US with “clear results”.
Last year, poverty in this country fell at the fastest rate in nearly 50 years.
It is not about punishing wealth but curbing the excesses of capitalism, says Obama.
Photograph: Mike Segar/Reuters
Updated
By many measures the world is safer and more prosperous than ever before says Obama, and yet there is much strife.
We must recognise that the same forces of globalisation that have pulled us together have also exposed deep fault lines.
We must go forward and not backward.
As imperfect as they are the principles of open markets, human rights, democracy are vital. The integration of our global economy as made things better for billions of people.
It means children have enough to eat, mothers don’t die in childbirth.
A person born today is more like to be healthy, live longer and have access to opportunity than at any time in history, says Obama
Despite the areas where “freedom remains in retreat” the number of democracies has increased. Social media has given people more ways to express themselves and hold leaders to account, the US president continues.
He condemns nationalism, also crude populism - sometimes from the far left but mostly from the right - and tribalism.
Here is Barack Obama, to applause.
He begins by recounting progress over the past eight years:
- a response to the global economic crisis
- taking away terrorist safe havens
- resolving the Iran nuclear issue
He also refers to progress in Colombia and Myanmar.
Obama highlights the framework to protect the world from climate change.
This is important work that has made a real difference to the lives of our people. It could not have happened without us working together.
And yet, he goes on, there is the global refugee crisis, a break down of “basic order” in the middle east, too many governments muzzling critics.
This is the paradox that defines our world today.
Another important segment from Ban Ki-Moon’s final address to the UN general assembly was the regret he expressed over sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers in Central African Republic and an outbreak of cholera in Haiti.
He said that these two matters had “tarnished the reputation of the United Nations and, far worse, traumatised many people we serve.”
The United Nations has promised to crack down on abuses after dozens of accusations of sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers in Central African Republic, where UN troops assumed authority from African Union troops in September 2014.
Ban said:
The despicable acts of sexual exploitation and abuse committed by a number of U.N. peacekeepers and other personnel have compounded the suffering of people already caught up in armed conflict, and undermined the work done by so many others around the world. Protectors must never become predators.
In Haiti, Ban is working on a new response to an outbreak of cholera. The country was free of cholera until 2010, when UN peacekeepers dumped infected sewage into a river.
Ban said:
I feel tremendous regret and sorrow at the profound suffering of Haitians affected by cholera. Let us work together to meet our obligations to the Haitian people.
He called it the “moral responsibility” of the UN to do so. A 2011 study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said U.N. peacekeepers from Nepal, where cholera is endemic, were the likely cause of the outbreak.
Since then, more than 9,000 people have died of the disease that causes uncontrollable diarrhea and 800,000 people have fallen ill, mostly in the first two years of the outbreak.
And here he is:
Better late than...#UNGA pic.twitter.com/3TFGktvt3S
— Margaret Besheer (@mbesheer) September 20, 2016
Here is the fashionably late president:
POTUS arriving now at #UNGA pic.twitter.com/KM5QgZhrOY
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) September 20, 2016
The United Nations and Arab League envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has echoed John Kerry in saying the ceasefire is not dead but warned that it is “in danger”.
UN envoy de Mistura on #Syriaceasefire 1/ The ceasefire is not dead. That I can tell you. It was confirmed by everyone around the table....
— Julian Borger (@julianborger) September 20, 2016
De Mistura: 2 The ceasefire is in danger. The ceasefire has been seriously affected but the only ones who can announce the ceasefire is dead
— Julian Borger (@julianborger) September 20, 2016
De Mistura 3/ are the two co-chairs and they have today not done so. They want to give it another chance.
— Julian Borger (@julianborger) September 20, 2016
And here are Julian’s thoughts:
#Syriaceasefire now continues a zombie existence in the hotel lobbies of New York, having died violently in Syria.
— Julian Borger (@julianborger) September 20, 2016
Apparently, Barack Obama is still on his way so the speaker who was due to be after the US president is going to swap places with him and is at the podium now. It’s the president of Chad, Idriss Déby.
Julian has more from the Syria meeting, this time from the UK foreign secretary:
.@BorisJohnson on #Syria meeting Very difficult indeed, but the mood of meeting was that nobody wants to give this thing up../1
— Julian Borger (@julianborger) September 20, 2016
.@BorisJohnson on #Syriaceasefire: "The Kerry-Lavrov process is the only show in town and we have to get that show back on the road."
— Julian Borger (@julianborger) September 20, 2016
Reuters reports that the French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, said that today’s meeting was dramatic and that he’s not about to say the ceasefire will be saved. He proposed a wider mechanism to monitor the ceasefire, saying it could not just be a US-Russian effort.
Syria ceasefire 'not dead'
More news on Syria from the support group meeting. Despite recent events, members are not yet prepared to say the ceasefire has failed:
Kerry: the #Syriaceasefire is not dead. We are going to meet on Friday to decide on some specific steps.
— Julian Borger (@julianborger) September 20, 2016
Updated
Meanwhile, as the International Syria Support Group, whose members include the US and Russia meet, Russia claims that there was no attack on a UN aid convoy yesterday but that it “caught fire”. From Reuters:
The Russian Defence Ministry on Tuesday rejected assertions that an aid convoy near Aleppo had been shelled or struck from the air, saying it believed it had caught fire instead, the Interfax news agency cited spokesman Igor Konashenkov as saying.
It quoted Konashenkov, commenting on the incident which occurred on Monday, as saying that only the White Helmets civil defence rescue group could answer who was responsible and why.
Konashenkov was cited as saying that the White Helmets were close to the militant group formerly known as the Nusra Front.
The Syrian government has also denied responsibility.
About 20 people were killed according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The US has said Russia must bear responsibility for the attack on the convoy, regardless of whether Russian planes were involved.
I did say Bocelli would be a hard act to follow.
No standing ovation for Ban Ki moon. Andrea Bocelli still the only person to get one
— columlynch (@columlynch) September 20, 2016
Ban suggests that the UN president and his successor should look into ways to improve decision making.
He refers to countries exercising vetoes and “holding the world to hostage on so many important issues”.
There have been a number of vetoes on Syria, by Russia and China.
Ban says that when he came to office a smartphone was not available but now it is a “lifeline” for many people.
Despite being misused by extremists smartphones they can be of great value in making the world a better place, he says.
Our phones and social media have connected the world.
Ban concludes.
My colleague Julian Borger questions Ban’s claim about appointing more women than ever before to senior problems:
At #UNGA, Ban Ki-moon claims to have appointed more women to senior positions than ever before. Fact-check: https://t.co/dNIWEQsdce
— Julian Borger (@julianborger) September 20, 2016
Ban says he has appointed more women to senior positions than ever before. To applause he says:
I’m proud to call myself a feminist. Women hold up half the sky.
More must be done to tackle chronic violence against women and improve their participation in decision-making.
He is talking about a range of achievements, including in-roads against the death penalty, the international criminal court.
Ban urges those present to say “No” to cracking down against freedom of assembly and expression. One would imagine Turkey is on the list of countries he is thinking of.
Here is the quote that could be seen as criticism of Donald Trump, as well as other right wing politicians:
"All too often, refugees and migrants face hatred."
— United Nations (@UN) September 20, 2016
Ban Ki-moon to world leaders at #UNGA https://t.co/D17Ok7Vo6h pic.twitter.com/48g0opywDp
Ban calls on all with influence to end the fighting.
The future of Syria should not rest on the fate of a single man.
He says the prospects of a two-state solution in Israel/Palestine diminish by the day.
Ban also cites problems in North Korea, Ukraine, South Sudan, and urges leaders to serve their people and not pilfer resources.
In comments that seem aimed at Donald Trump, he refers to the demonisation of Muslims that he says has haunting echoes of the past, urging politicians to be wary of hateful rhetoric.
Ban also cites places where he says prospects are more positive, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Colombia and Cyprus.
Updated
Ban calls attack on aid convoy 'sickening'
Ban says he stands before the assembly with “deep concern” despite many achievements since he entered office eight years ago.
He refers to “gulfs” between leaders and their citizens and the danger posed by extremists and climate change.
Nevertheless he remains optimistic that the gap between rich and poor can be bridged. He urges leaders to bring the Paris agreement on climate change into effect before the end of the year.
There are “great security threats”, he says, citing radicalisation. The consequences are on display from Yemen to Syria. On Syria, he says “powerful patrons” of both sides in the conflict “have blood on their hands”.
Present in this hall today are representatives of governments that have ignored, facilitated, funded, participated in or even planned and carried out atrocities inflicted by all sides of the Syria conflict against Syrian civilians.
Many groups have killed innocent civilians, none more so than the government of Syria.”
He calls yesterday’s attack on a UN aid convoy sickening.
Updated
The general debate is about to begin. Before that, opera singer Andrea Bocelli serenaded heads of state with a rousing version of Nessun Dorma. It’s a hard act for Ban Ki-moon to follow.
Now it's Andrea Bocelli singing Nessun Dorma at the UN pic.twitter.com/YVohrmj4cY
— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) September 20, 2016
My colleague Julian Borger is at the hotel where the meeting of the International Syria Support Group is taking place. There is a lot for its members to discuss.
Kerry and Lavrov went past deep in conversation on way to #syria meeting
— Julian Borger (@julianborger) September 20, 2016
Lavrov and Kerry on way to Syria meeting in NYC. Lavrov spokeswoman came by but said nothing on convoy bombing pic.twitter.com/79K6vpck2S
— Julian Borger (@julianborger) September 20, 2016
Reuters quotes the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, as saying they must see if there is a way back to a truce in Syria or if “this has already become hopeless”.
Updated
Interested in the types of seats the heads of state will be sitting on? The UN thinks you are:
Shortly these chairs will be moved into the #UNGA hall for use by heads of states. Watch: https://t.co/YDghrBCyDr pic.twitter.com/IpSzNyFW0o
— UN Spokesperson (@UN_Spokesperson) September 20, 2016
And if that’s not exciting enough for you:
The UN is live streaming "VIP Arrivals" at #UNGA today like it's the Oscars or something https://t.co/4pHKwsSATQ …. Mesmerizing
— Lucy Westcott (@lvzwestcott) September 20, 2016
Theresa May’s plan to keep refugees to the first country they reach after fleeing their homes is unrealistic, the head of the UN’s migration agency has told the Guardian.
Comparing the UK prime minister’s idea to the EU’s failed Dublin scheme, which is nominally meant to keep refugees inside the first European countries they reach, William Lacy Swing, head of the International Organisation for Migration, said it was impractical to expect a similar plan to work better across a far wider area.
During an interview on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York, he said:
I’ve felt for a long time that Dublin is not being honoured or respected. I think that migrants and refugees should be able to go to where they need to go to get work and protection. I don’t think it’s something that is likely to be extendable [beyond the borders of Europe].
Countries like Germany and Sweden have largely failed to send people back to the countries in which they entered Europe partly because of the logistical impracticalities of moving so many people and also due to the failing infrastructures of countries like Greece.
The International Syria Support Group, encompassing the foreign secretaries of international powers with interests in Syria, is taking place now.
The meeting comes amid a collapse of the short-lived ceasefire and tensions between the US and Russia over who is to blame for the ending of the truce, as well as the attack on the aid convoy outside Aleppo on Monday.
At the New York Palace Hotel waiting for #Syria formins meeting Lavrov is in the building but had no comment as he walked by
— Julian Borger (@julianborger) September 20, 2016
Updated
This is the scene in New York:
The @UN General Assembly hall starts filling up for the official opening #UNGA 71. @eucopresident to speak pic.twitter.com/W81yq94bF9
— ValedeAlmeidaEU (@ValedeAlmeidaEU) September 20, 2016
Today’s the second and final day of the refugee-focussed parts of the summit. After the disappointment of yesterday’s UN-led meeting, in which leaders agreed to a generic and non-binding statement on refugees that delayed collective action until 2018, around 45 countries are expected to make more concrete pledges on an individual basis at a US-led gathering today.
Negotiations are going down to the wire, and yesterday US officials wouldn’t tell me exactly what is expected from who but they did feel hopeful that they will more or less meet their target of a) increasing humanitarian aid by 30%, b) doubling resettlement places, and c) letting one million more refugees into the labour market, and another million refugee children into education.
“’We’re confident that we’re going to accomplish all this in terms of pledges,” Assistant Secretary of State Ann Richard said.
But Richard also admitted that they have included within this calculation anything that has already been pledged since the start of the year, and said that some of the pledges may not strictly fall within the goals of the summit. She said:
We took a very broad interpretation. It didn’t have to be a formal UNHCR resettlement programme, it could be other legal pathways for admission – scholarships, work visas or humanitarian visas.
Implementation is also a concern, said Richard.
For me the much harder piece is follow-up. The countries that make commitments – do they mean it, and will they follow through? Usually an administration would spend the next year making sure these countries follow up – but the Obama administration is going to leave office at the end of January.
Separately, various business leaders are expected to announce initiatives to help refugees. George Soros has already announced a $500 million fund for refugee-focussed enterprises.
Russian and Syrian air forces were not involved in air strikes on a humanitarian aid convoy near Aleppo in Syria on Monday, Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday.
In comments read on Russian state-run Rossiya 24 television channel, spokesman Igor Konashenkov said:
All information on the whereabouts of the convoy was available only to the militants controlling these areas.
The US has said Russia must bear responsibility for the air strike, whether or not Russian planes were involved because it was responsible under the ceasefire agreement for reining in Bashar al-Assad’s government forces. The convoy was hit while unloading food at a warehouse in opposition-controlled Urem al-Kubra.
The International Committee of the Red Cross says around 20 civilians were killed, including a member of the Syrian Red Crescent.
Opening summary
The 71st session of the UN general assembly has the theme of “The Sustainable Development Goals: a universal push to transform our world” but the general debate takes place today amid familiar rancour between the US and Russia:
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A meeting of the Syria support group is due to take place (at 8.30am US eastern time) amid a collapse of the ceasefire and after an airstrike struck an aid convoy. There could be a tense meeting between John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, if the latter shows up. The US has pinned blame for the collapse of the ceasefire on Russia and also said it must bear responsibility for the attack on the convoy, regardless of whether Russian planes were involved.
- Barack Obama’s final address to the assembled international leaders is the most anticipated event of the general assembly. Aides have said he plans to summarise his diplomatic accomplishments and champion the value of international institutions such as the U.N. in helping address global crises, pointing to agreements on climate change and on sanctions against Iran and North Korea. He is also determined to press for more action to address the global refugee crisis. Proceedings are scheduled to start at 9am ET with an address by secretary general Ban Ki-moon. Obama is on third after Ban and Brazilian president Michel Temer, who is making his first address as president after Dilma Rousseff was removed from office amid a bribery scandal.
- Obama is also hosting a summit on how to respond to the global refugee crisis in New York today. For leaders to speak at the summit, they will have to make substantial new pledges to either take in more refugees, do more to help those who have already arrived or give much greater assistance to host countries in the developing world, where 86% of the world’s refugees live.
- The UK prime minister, Theresa May, will use her maiden speech at the UN to warn that it must work hard to remain relevant as too many people feel left behind by globalisation. She will draw attention to the British people’s decision to vote to leave the EU, while stressing that it does not mean it is turning away from the world.
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The French president, François Hollande is also addressing the assembly this morning and is expected to address the future of Europe as well as foreign policy concerns. The country has suffered three major terrorist attacks in 18 months. Hollande will speak amid polls showing he is the least popular French president on record, largely because of the economy.
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