Outlook gloomy as world leaders gather in New York for U.N. General Assembly

A New York City Police Department patrol car parks across the street from the United Nations Headquarters on Saturday. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued the challenge a year ago after sounding a global alarm about the survival of humanity and the planet: Come to a “Summit of the Future” and make a new commitment to multilateralism — the foundation of the United Nations and many other global bodies — and start fixing the aging global architecture to meet the rapidly changing world. The General Assembly approved the summit’s main outcome document — a 42-page “Pact of the Future” — on Sunday morning with a bang of the gavel signifying consensus by Assembly President Philémon Yang, after the body voted 143-7 with 15 abstentions against considering Russian-proposed amendments to significantly water it down. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters this week: “The most vulnerable around the world are counting on us to make progress, to make change, to bring about a sense of hope for them.” To meet the many global challenges, she said, the U.S. focus at the U.N. meetings will be on ending “the scourge of war.” Roughly 2 billion people live in conflict-affected areas, she said. They’re trying to counter ‘a world of grim statistics’ Slovenia, which holds the council’s rotating presidency this month, chose the topic “Leadership for Peace” for its high-level meeting Wednesday, challenging its 15 member nations to address why the U.N. body charged with maintaining international peace and security is failing — and how it can do better.