Every September for as long as anyone can remember, the United Nations General Assembly turns New York City into an epicenter of diplomacy, advocacy, deal-making, global partying and Midtown traffic jams. The 80th UNGA, as it’s known, opens its annual session on Sept. 9 and ends Sept. 30 as world leaders descend into Manhattan to either try to save the world from more chaos or to let the disorder spread.
This year’s annual session will once again offer opportunities for presidents and prime ministers and their entourages to meet or to at least bump into one another in Turtle Bay, near the East River. For the UN secretary-general, António Guterres, the September gathering will be critical for his reputation as the 193 member states are expected to decide whether to approve his major reform plans for the 80-year-old institution.
Dubbed UN80, Guterres’s initiative is meant to improve the UN’s efficiency and work as he faces the final year of his second term, in 2026. Ostensibly, the reform initiative is aiming to make the organization more useful in its main role of maintaining global peace and security, but while many member states publicly support UN80, it is contending with the brutal facts of dwindling foreign-aid budgets and other major financial factors.
Some countries criticize the reform initiative, saying it is a rushed, cost-cutting expedition that does not address the basic problems of the organization — such as systemwide bloat, overlapping agendas and duplication of work.
Staff members at the UN — who will be directly affected by UN80 — continue to ask to be included in the process and have even passed a motion of no-confidence at the Geneva base on Guterres and his initiative. Speaking for the European Union, Denmark said the process was hasty and “did not allow for the constructive engagement such an initiative requires.”
Key proposals, especially those affecting the UN Secretariat, are scheduled to be embedded in the organization’s 2026 general operating budget, which member states will review in September. The revised estimates for the budget will be voted on by the General Assembly during its high-level week. UN80 will either move forward or be crushed.
What Else to Watch During UNGA80
Expect the usual high-level political negotiations and dense lineup of side events — this year, focusing on climate change, artificial intelligence, food crises and conflicts across the planet, among other highlights. One important announcement to tune into is to see which countries will follow the lead of France to recognize Palestine as a state, as President Emmanuel Macron announced in July that he would do at the UNGA.
So far, Australia, Canada, Portugal and Malta, among others, have said they intend to follow suit. Britain is hedging, saying it will recognize Palestine only if a ceasefire in the Gaza war does not materialize by September. Pressure from the United States and Israel to stop such recognitions could dominate UNGA80.
The opening of the 80th session of the General Assembly may begin on Sept. 9, but the real action unfolds over several weeks, culminating with “high-level week,” Sept. 23 to 30, as presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers, business leaders, academics and activists come together for speeches, panels, backroom negotiations, handshaking, photo ops and maybe making hard-core commitments to worldwide peace.
Male heads of state or government still widely outnumber women, which is always clear at the annual Assembly sessions. According to the Women’s Power Index, produced by the Council on Foreign Relations, 26 UN member states have a female head of state or government, compared with a peak of 30 countries in 2023 (as of Jan. 1 this year). Women serve as both heads of state and government in Iceland, Barbados, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Trinidad and Tobago. Mexico’s first woman president, Claudia Sheinbaum, will make her UNGA debut, scheduled to speak on Sept. 23.
President Ahmed al-Sharaa of Syria is scheduled to speak as head of state on Sept. 24. Syrian diplomats at the UN told PassBlue that his attendance would be the first time a head of state of their country would participate in a UNGA.
As usual, journalists will be chasing the VIPs, but frustrations will be high as security barriers are likely to keep media at a further distance than ever from the very people reporters need to talk to inform their readers.
The provisional list of world speakers for the high-level portion, subject to revisions until the last minute, show President Donald Trump taking part as the United States is host country to the UN. He is speaking second on Sept. 23, after Brazil, as customary, which is to be represented by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Disputes over tariffs imposed by the US on Brazil and related political pressures could keep the two men distanced, too.
In his first-term speech at UNGA, in 2018, Trump’s bragging about his accomplishments as president triggered snickers across the packed Assembly Hall. This year, world leaders will probably be more cautious, eager not to offend him and to hear his remarks about the UN, given his strong stand against multilateralism, the heart of the organization.
It is unclear if Trump’s nominee for US envoy to the UN, Mike Waltz, will be confirmed by the US Senate in time for UNGA80. Trump has also just nominated Tammy Bruce, the State Department’s spokesperson and a Fox TV commentator, as his deputy representative to the UN. She will need Senate confirmation as well.
On Sept. 8, the latest UN Human Rights Council session opens in Geneva, running until Oct. 3. Its deliberations on global rights will ripple into UNGA80 conversations in New York City.
On Sept. 9, the new president of the General Assembly, Annalena Baerbock of Germany, will present her priorities for the year ahead. From Sept. 10–11, the 13th International Conference on Sustainable Development (ICSD) will bring together academics, policymakers and business leaders to examine the status of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which have only five years to meet their deadline.
In July, Guterres told journalists that investment in the SDGs has yielded noticeable results, but he added that “we are not where we need to be,” as only 35 percent of the goals are on track or making moderate progress and 18 percent have regressed. (The Trump administration has rejected participation in the SDGs.)
The World Health Organization said that the number of deaths from malnutrition spiked in July in Gaza, with more than 5,000 children under five years old having been admitted to outpatient treatment for the condition, and 18 percent of them with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), the most life-threatening form of hunger.
Globally, the 2025 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report notes a decrease in the number of people experiencing hunger but emphasizes that such progress is inconsistent, as evidenced by increases recorded in Africa and Western Asia, according to the WHO.
Sept. 22 marks the start of the high-level week, a moment that member states reflect on the UN’s past and future. The day is also packed with big-name side events like the Gates Foundation’s Goalkeepers and Her Power @ UNGA80, focusing on gender equality.
The general debate opens the next day, Tuesday, when world leaders deliver their annual speeches from the General Assembly Hall’s rostrum. Expect the war (or peace) in Ukraine as well as in Gaza and Sudan to grab a lot of airtime as well as climate disasters, a fixture in UNGA speeches for island countries, as well as increasing economic inequalities to figure prominently.
In addition, high-level week will feature:
Sept. 22: UN meeting on the 30th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women
Sept. 23: Biennial summit between the UN and international financial institutions
Sept. 24: UN climate summit
Sept. 26: UN meeting to commemorate and promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons
Sept. 26: UN meeting on global strategies for combating antimicrobial resistance
Sept. 30: UN conference on Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar
This article has been updated to reflect that the World Food Forum is not part of UNGA80 but will be held in Rome Oct. 10-17, and will address, among other issues, starvation in Gaza by the Israeli government. PassBlue regrets the error.
Information about the Syrian president’s attendance at UNGA80 has been added to the article.
Damilola Banjo is an award-winning staff reporter for PassBlue who has covered a wide range of topics, from Africa-centered stories to gender equality to UN peacekeeping and US-UN relations. She also oversees all video production for PassBlue. She was a Dag Hammarskjold fellow in 2023 and a Pulitzer Center postgraduate fellow in 2021. She was part of the BBC Africa team that produced the Emmy-nominated documentary, “Sex for Grades.” In addition, she worked for WFAE, an NPR affiliate in Charlotte, N.C. Banjo has a master’s of science degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and an undergraduate degree from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria.
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Good morning,
reading through the writeup gives a good insight to what’s gonna happen in UNGA80, but new Nations that are now full members of the United Nations are not included or maybe not mentioned for security reasons, Syria new Head (President) will be welcome on board, Palestine and D.R.Y. not mentioned.
Great job from your side.
”Some countries criticize the reform initiative, saying it is a rushed, cost-cutting expedition that does not address the basic problems of the organization —such as systemwide bloat, overlapping agendas and duplication of work”. THIS IS VERY TRUE and the UN-Secretary General has a few months remaining in office, please leave this process to your successor to refine it properly and closely working with member states!!