Saturday, October 11, 2025
Brock's Only Independent Student Newspaper
One of the only worker-managed newspapers in Canada
News

Here is what to expect from the United Nations’ 78th General Assembly

Updated
|
|
1 min.
489
Photo by Charlie Martin
Valentina Guerra
By Valentina Guerra

From Sept. 5th to Sept. 26th, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA78) will reconvene for its 78th session. Serving as the primary policy-making organ of the United Nations, the General Assembly will host all 193 UN Member States to discuss matters relevant to global sustainability.

The 78th Session will encompass the General Debate spanning from Sept. 19th to Sept. 26th, where Heads of State reunite to deliver speeches relevant to the priorities of their respective state in accordance with the theme of the debate. 

As stated by the president-elect of the General Assembly, Dennis Francis, the overarching theme of UNGA78 will be “Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity: Accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all.” 

Simultaneously, various side events and High-level forums will take place as part of the 78th session. These include the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summit, and High-level dialogues in areas of finance, climate action and others. 

From Sept. 18th to 19th, the SDG Summit will convene to review the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted in September 2015 to combat global issues such as climate change, poverty and inequality. Currently at the halftime mark to accomplish the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, the SDG Summit will strive to review global progress towards the goals while enticing states to recommit to the agenda. 

On Sept. 20th, the UNGA78 will host High-level dialogues on Financing for Development, Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response, and a Climate Ambition Summit. These political forums will be followed on Sept. 21st by a Preparatory Ministerial Meeting for the Summit of the Future, as well as the High-level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage. 

Last, a High-level Meeting on the fight against tuberculosis will occur on Sept. 22nd, making it the second High-level UN meeting discussing tuberculosis. 

All upcoming UNGA meetings will go live on the UN Web TV Website. To hear the upcoming UNGA78 General Debate speeches live, click here. 

More by this author

RELATED ARTICLES

Mapping MAMM #4: What the f*** is Canadian Literature anyway? 

Cameron Sauder -
Mapping MAMM is an ongoing series which gets into the research questions surrounding the Mapping Ann-Marie MacDonald Research Project. My previous articles have introduced the project as well as examined its cross-disciplinarity and ethics of care. In this fourth installment, I’ll get into the “fraught construct” that is CanLit. 

Late Night comedy in the face of censorship  

Owen Theriault -
Jimmy Kimmel is a late-night comedy staple. Having been on the air since 2003, the comedian is perhaps best known for his viral videos, including “Mean Tweets” — where celebrities read hateful posts on X and his long running YouTube series “I Told My Kids I Ate All Their Halloween Candy.” Kimmel has always been a relatively tame figure in late night media. Though not as politically neutral as Jimmy Fallon, he is certainly not as outspoken as fellow late-night hosts Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert, John Stewart or John Oliver. 

USA: Not fascist, just anti-anti-fascism 

Anjelina Pathak -
The United States is not a fascist state. Elections still occur, courts still sometimes check executive power and journalists and comedians still speak out against the government. Within the remains of a democratic framework, on Sept. 22, President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order designating “Antifa” — a composition of autonomous groups affiliated with political movements against fascism and other far-right extremist ideologies — as a domestic terrorist organization. Despite the lack of legal framework for this designation, the executive order purports that dissent against the Trump administration is a threat to national security rather than a legitimate democratic right

The war within: Pete Hegseth and the weaponization of U.S. military identity 

Anjelina Pathak -
When Pete Hegseth — formally the U.S. Secretary of Defense, but ceremonially the Secretary of War — took the stage at Marine Corps Base Quantico on Sept. 30, his first words carried the weight of an era. “Welcome to the War Department,” he said to a packed auditorium of generals, admirals and senior officers. “The era of the Department of Defense is over.”

Five activities to add to your fall bucket list 

Hannah Barton -
If you’re looking for something fun to add to your bucket list this fall, this list of autumn activities is perfect for you. 

Brock’s Wellness Fair spotlights countless student services and opportunities  

Owen Theriault -
The 2025 Brock Wellness Fair gave students the chance to explore a wide range of services, supports and community spaces available both on and off campus. From volunteer initiatives and interfaith opportunities to a variety of mental health supports and athletics, the fair displayed a growing list of opportunities for students to take care of themselves, connect with others and make Brock feel like home. 

10 years after TRC’s Calls to Action and Canada’s promises of reconciliation are still pending 

Anjelina Pathak -
Ten years have passed since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) released their landmark Final Report in June 2015. The Commission, established under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, spent seven years gathering testimony from over 6,000 Survivors to document the devastating legacy of residential schools. This led them to issuing 94 Calls to Action — a roadmap for governments, institutions and Canadians to repair harm and build a more just future. These Calls were never meant as symbolic gestures; they were concrete, actionable steps. A decade later, one question remains: has Canada lived up to them?

Buyback or backfire? Ottawa’s gun compensation program faces mounting pushback  

Owen Theriault -
In late September, Ottawa announced an official gun buyback pilot program in Nova Scotia — the first step toward removing more than 2,500 models of legally purchased, now-prohibited firearms from licensed Canadian gun owners.

SECTIONS

CONNECT WITH US

Christian Roethling, Editor-in-Chief

croethling@brockpress.com

Harsha Manjunatha, Business Manager

hmanjunatha@brockpress.com

www.brockpress.com

1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1

© Newspaper WordPress Theme by TagDiv