THE United Nations (UN) 71st Annual General Assembly is presently being held in New York, United States (U.S). This year’s assembly is being held in a global landscape that is becoming more complex and some may argue – dangerous.Monday the Assembly opened amidst three attacks in three states in the U.S over the weekend – New York, New Jersey and Minnesota. The Islamic States (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the stabbing attack in the Minnesota mall. In the New Jersey and New York bombings, alleged attacker 28-year Ahmad Khan Raham, a naturalised U.S citizen, born in Afghanistan, was held by U.S authorities on Monday.

Manhattan, New York city, where the bombing happened is the borough where the UN is headquartered and General Assembly is being held, and the city is presently under heightened security.
The potential political fodder this could create and the whipping of xenophobia in a U.S presidential election campaign where Republican candidate Donald Trump has appealed to ethnic fear is anyone’s guess. It is however undeniably understood that such frenzy plays into the hands of extremists. The Islamic State (ISIS) has not identified with Raham, though by now such acts are known to also be influenced by individuals acting by themselves, on conviction of and in the name of an ideology that sees the Western world as an enemy of Islam and the reward in the afterlife for attacking this perceived enemy.

On the UN’s plate, most likely high on its agenda will be the issue of the refugee crisis of the Middle East. According to the Associated Press this is the largest such concentration since World War II. Syria’s six-year conflict, which has significantly impacted on the refugee crisis, will also be of concern. In the meantime the U.S and Russia two weekends ago agreed to a ceasefire in Syria with conditionalities to take effect from Monday 12th September. And just when the world thought the deal will actually be implemented, according to the Syrian government the U.S led an airstrike on Saturday that hit its forces. On Monday, 19th September, the Syria army pulled out of the truce deal. This strike saw the pointing of fighters by Russia questioning the U.S intent in signing and simultaneous trading of accusation as to which country should or isn’t presenting the U.N a copy of the deal.

In the global landscape there is no doubt Russia is angling itself as a force and power in its own right, evident with Crimea, Georgia and Syria more importantly given that the U.S saw it as important to arrive at a deal with that country. In the Russian politics early results show President Vladimir Putin party winning parliamentary elections. Further afield Chancellor Andrea Merkel of Germany, who has a compassionate Refugee and Migrant Policy – though much opposed at home – her party lost support in that country’s elections to the centre-left Social Democrats.

The UN officials, heads of government and attendees will be very busy over the coming days dealing with pressing issues and engaging in sidebar diplomacy. To these are added issues such as climate change, hunger, human rights, their transgressions by governments and groups, and the need for enforcement by its 193 Member States.

To our immediate national interest, President David Granger and Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge are attending the assembly and will be putting forward Guyana’s case on the Venezuela border controversy, seeking resolution soonest. Where it is becoming clearer every day that the country is soon to embark in the oil business, this controversy is deserving of resolution as a matter of urgency. And with Venezuela having its own political volatility and President Nicolás Maduro using the controversy as a stabilising political strategy in claiming two-thirds of our land and part of our Exclusive Economic Zone the soonest it is unequivocally made clear all of these belong to us the better it is for our national interest.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s term of office ends in December. His was a leadership in spite of setbacks that saw strides in improving human relations, advancing rights around the world, and forcing discussions and resolution on climate change, among other pressing humanitarian, developmental and environmental issues. His successor is bound to have his or her hands full. The world is becoming increasingly complex, with competing interests and causalities in the pursuit of. The UN remains a very, if not the most important organisation to forge camaraderie among member-states on common issues, grounded in mutual respect, fundamental rights and freedoms, prosperity for all, and a clean environment.