United Nations General Assembly 2014: What To Expect at 69th UNGA Session on Immigration, Climate Change, and Islamic State
The United Nations General Assembly is less than 24 hours away from hosting its annual General Debate where delegations from all 193 countries, or Member States, will deliver their stance on several issues. With developments occurring this year, the 69th General Debate at the General Assembly will include discussion of immigration, climate change and the potential threat of the Islamic State (IS) militant group.
The immigration issue is not exclusive to the U.S., Mexico and Central America. In the Middle East, IS led to hundreds of thousands of people to seeking refuge in neighboring countries such as Jordan and Turkey. But back in the U.S., Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto is in New York City for the General Assembly and commented on the immigration issue. According to the Mexican president, he hopes the U.S. Congress will pass immigration reform as it could reduce tension from American and Mexican officials.
With El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras scheduled to speak this week at the U.N., immigration may be a focus of their respective speeches. As of late August, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection revealed 66,127 unaccompanied immigrant minors aged 17 and younger, were apprehended along the southwest U.S. border since Oct. 2013. Tens of thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children have come from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.
For Obama, his main message for the U.N. is the fight against IS. Obama is scheduled to speak to the General Assembly on Wednesday, over a day after the U.S. and a coalition of Arab countries launched airstrikes in Syria to counter the IS militant group. By Wednesday afternoon, Obama will also chair a session of the Security Council. The Security Council session will focus on terrorism. While the U.N. has not finalized on its own definition of terrorism, Obama 's mission is to pass a resolution to combat terrorists include individuals who cross borders to engage in terror activities. According to the White House, they have estimated 15,000 foreign fighters have helped IS.
According to U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice, the U.N. resolution "will increase the obligations on states to try to prevent and deter the flow of foreign fighters. ... It will move the ball down the field in terms of the international legal architecture and obligations on states to try to combat this challenge."
With IS becoming a major issue for Obama, immigration is unlikely to be a strong topic in his speech compared to other countries.
Obama has previously chaired a Security Council session. On Sept. 24, 2009, Obama presided the unanimous adoption of the committee's Resolution 1887 (SC/RES/1887), which called for UN members to comply the commitments of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and sign and ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
President Obama Chairs U.N. Security Council in 2009:
Ahead of Wednesday's speech, Obama will meet with officials to address climate change. According to a White House official, Obama will issue an executive order at the U.N. directed to U.S. federal agencies to consider climate change in all international development programs. The climate change executive action would coincide with the U.N.'s Climate Summit on Tuesday and two days after the People's Climate Change March.
"We need a clear vision, anchored in domestic and multinational actions, for keeping global temperature rise below two degrees Celsius," said U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon ahead of the climate summit. "The world needs to see what opportunities there are to cut greenhouse gas emissions and provide sustainable energy sources. By seeing what is possible, others can find inspiration and follow suit."
Live Feed of U.N. General Assembly's General Debate: