General Assembly: 2nd plenary meeting, 81st session

Good morning. Good morning to all. The second plenary meeting of the General Assembly is called to order. The Assembly will consider the first report of the General Committee, as announced in the Journal of the United Nations. I invite the Assembly's attention to section 2 of the report of the Committee, entitled "Organization of the Session", which contains recommendations, including those concerning the Committee, rationalization of work, closing date of the session, the general debate and conduct of the meetings. In paragraph 11, the Committee brings to the attention of the Assembly that the general debate of the session will begin at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, and will continue on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 23 to 25 September, and on Monday, 28 September and recommends that the general debate also continue on Saturday 26 September in order to maximize the number of speakers during that week. May I take it that the Assembly takes note of the information contained in paragraph 11 and approves the recommendation that the general debate continue on Saturday 26 September 2026. I don't see an objection.

It is so decided.

In paragraph 17D, the Committee brings to the attention of the Assembly information on rights of reply to addresses made by heads of state. May I take it that the Assembly takes note of the information provided?

It is so decided.

I believe it would be beneficial to address all the remaining organizational matters concerning the Assembly as a whole, in accordance with past practice. May I take it that it is the wish of the Assembly to take note of all the information and to approve all the recommendations of the Committee contained in section 2 of the report.

It is so decided.

I now invite members' attention to section 3, dealing with the adoption of the agenda. The allocation of items will be dealt with subsequent section 4. In paragraph 27D, in connection with item 36 of the draft agenda entitled "Question of the Comorian Island of Mayotte", the Committee recommends its inclusion under heading B, on the understanding that there would be no consideration of this item by the Assembly. May I take it that the Assembly approves this recommendation?

It is so decided.

In paragraph 27E, in connection with item 58 of the draft agenda entitled "Question of the Malagasy Islands of Glorioso, Juan de Nova, Europa and Bassas da India", The Committee recommends that the consideration of this item be deferred to the 82nd session of the Assembly and that the item be included in the provisional agenda of that session. May I take it that the Assembly approves this recommendation? It is so decided. We now turn to the remaining items recommended by the Committee in paragraph 28. of its report for adoption by the Assembly, taking into account the decisions just adopted with respect to specific items. Bearing in mind that the agenda is organized under nine headings, we shall consider the inclusion of items under each heading as a whole. Items 1 and 2 have already been dealt with. We shall now turn to items 3 to 8. May I take it that These items are included in the agenda.

It is so decided.

We now turn to the inclusion of the items listed under heading A, promotion of sustained economic growth and sustainable development in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly and recent UN, United Nations conferences. May I take it that the items listed under heading A are included in the agenda?

It is so decided.

We now turn to heading B, maintenance of international peace and security. May I take it that the item listed under heading B are included in the agenda?

It is so decided.

I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of the Russian Federation.

Thank you, Mr. President. The Russian Federation disassociates itself from from consensus on the report of the General Committee regarding the recommendation, the inclusion in the agenda of the current session of the General Assembly per point 61, the so-called situation in the temporary occupied territories of Ukraine. Under this item, our position has not changed. The wording of this point itself runs counter to reality. There are no occupied territories in Ukraine, of course, if we are not talking about those territories which are de facto occupied by NATO. In reality, we are talking about territories, at least this is how it is proposed, that this be looked at, which is resided by those peoples who do not wish to embrace the unconstitutional, those who unconstitutionally seized power in Kyiv. nationalists who unleashed the wide-ranging nationalist campaign with a systemic discrimination and oppression of the large Russian language population and those who are believers of the Orthodox religion. They sought to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination on free democratic referenda, and they made a choice in favor of returning to reuniting with the Russian Federation. We would like to note separately that recently in this chamber there was a discussion held regarding an identical agenda item during the 80th session of the General Assembly. This discussion, of course, we can call this a discussion, yet again demonstrated why, in fact, this, what this is being used for in order to spread propagandistic fakes and labels which have nothing to do with reality. This is kind of a discussion on the basis of exceedingly politicized and vague language of the agenda item does not bring a peaceful conflict resolution any closer, and we call upon all delegations who genuinely wish to resolve this crisis to ignore this item and not to participate in these discussions. We also wish to note that the inclusion of this agenda item runs counter to para. 12 of the Charter of the United Nations, according to which at this point is under consideration of the Security Council, and so far as And when it comes to the conflict in Ukraine, a corresponding Security Council resolution was adopted. We also separately wish to note and to draw attention to the fact that the record of the General Committee meeting on this matter, Russia's objection was registered regarding the participation in the vote of the representative sitting at the nameplate Afghanistan, and this is a matter that requires a separate discussion. Thank you.

I thank the representative of the Russian Federation. The statement just made by the representative of the Russian Federation will be reflected in the official record of this meeting. I now give the floor to the representative of Ukraine.

Mr. President, the General Assembly has before it a clear and unequivocal recommendation of the General Committee to retain the item, the situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, on the agenda of its 81st session. The Russian Federation has once again violated the rules of procedures, invoking arguments that are void of any justification. These objections that we have just heard are no more convincing than they were in the General Committee two days ago. The presence of this item on our agenda reflects a repeatedly reaffirmed decision of the General Assembly itself. In its resolution 77/229, the Assembly decided that this item should remain on its agenda until the violations resulted from foreign occupation and control of parts of Ukrainian territory are duly addressed and Ukraine's territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders is fully restored. That decision was reaffirmed in a number of subsequent J resolutions. So now let us put Russian arguments under the microscope and you will see that they are entirely unfounded and cannot withstand any scrutiny. Russia is referring to Article 12, paragraph 1 of the UN Charter and misleadingly claims that this provision shall be an obstacle for the General Assembly, for us, to remain seized of this matter and retain the issue of Ukraine on its agenda. This is an utterly far-fetched argument. No matter This matter currently before the Security Council concerns the maintenance of peace and security in Ukraine. That question has a different connotation than the situation of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. While the Security Council seeks pathways towards a comprehensive and just and lasting peace Our consideration aims at addressing the grave violations of human rights and the dire humanitarian situation in the occupied territories of Ukraine. So the need of this agenda item has not disappeared. On the contrary, Russia's temporary occupation continues, as do grave and systematic violations and abuses by the occupying power. So to argue that the Security Council's consideration should now be used to prevent the General Assembly from even addressing the situation in Ukraine's occupied territories would produce an absurd result. Deadlock and inaction in one principal organ would be invoked as the justification for enforced silence in another. Article 12 does not turn the Security Council's consideration of a situation into an exclusive prerogative. As the International Court of Justice has made clear, the General Assembly and the Security Council may deal with the same situation in parallel, consistently with the UN Charter. Moreover, there is also another profound irony in Russia invoking today this argument. For more than a year and a half, Ukraine and other members of the Security Council have sought meaningful Council's action in support of an immediate, an unconditional ceasefire. Yet it is Russia that has been blocking any decision of the Council. Therefore, we call upon the Member States to reject these arguments of the Russian Federation, adopt the report of the General Committee, and retain this agenda item for the 81st session. I thank you.

I thank the representative of Ukraine. We will now turn to heading C, Development of Africa. May I take it that the item listed under this heading is included in the agenda?

It is so decided.

We now come to heading D, entitled Promotion of Human Rights. May I take it that the items listed under heading D are included in the agenda?

It is so decided.

Heading E is entitled Effective Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance Efforts. May I take it that the item listed under this heading is included in the agenda?

It is so decided.

Next we turn to heading F, promotion of justice and international law. May I take it that the items listed under heading F are included in the agenda?

It is so decided.

Now we turn to heading G, Disarmament. May I take it that the items listed under this heading are included in the agenda? It is so decided. Heading H is entitled Drug Control, Crime Prevention and combating international terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. May I take it that the items listed under this heading are included in the agenda?

It is so decided.

Lastly, we turn to heading I, organizational, administrative and other matters. May I take it that the items listed under heading I are included in the agenda?

It is so decided.

I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of the Russian Federation.

Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. President. We wish to disassociate ourselves from consensus on the report of the General Committee regarding the recommendation inclusion in the agenda for 130 on the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals. the good faith interpretation of Security Council resolution 1966 dating 2010 and the statement of the secretary the sprst 215 stress slash 21 in light of the fact that that another review of the mechanism did not result in the adoption by the Council of resolution consequently did not uh take place so it means that the structure as of 1 July 2026 ceased to exist and there are no justifications for discussions of something which no longer exists against the backdrop of the liquidity crisis a UN 80 initiative as well as its financial and staffing reductions we call upon all states to closely study this matter and to prevent the disbursement of budget costs for soul self-proclaimed officials with unclear status which by the way does not prevent them from destroying the lives of people which was blatantly seen in the death of the gravely ill Ratko Mladic, Serb general, in a UN prison in The Hague. He repeatedly was refused -- was denied release on humanitarian considerations, and his death requires an independent, separate investigation. Thank you.

I thank the representative of the Russian Federation. We now turn to Section 4. of the report of the Committee on Allocation of Items. We shall first turn to the recommendations contained in paragraph 31 and its subparagraphs. May I take it that it is the wish of the Assembly to take note of the information that the Committee took note of and approve the recommendations contained in paragraph 31 and its subparagraphs?

It is so decided.

We now turn to paragraph 32 to consider the remaining items. May I take it that the Assembly approves the allocation of the remaining items as outlined in paragraph 28 of the report of the Committee, taking into account decisions taken under sections 3 and 4 of the report? It is so decided. The Assembly has thus concluded its consideration of the first report of the Committee. The Assembly will now turn to a letter dated 8 September 2026 from the Chair of the Committee on Conferences, addressed to the President of the General Assembly, contained in the document listed in the journal. Members are aware that, pursuant to section 1, paragraph 7 of resolution 40/243 of 18 December 1985, no subsidiary organ of the Assembly should be permitted to meet at the United Nations Headquarters during the main part of a regular session of the Assembly unless explicitly authorized by the Assembly. In this connection, Authorization is sought for the following entities: the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People; the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations; the Committee on Relations with the Host Country; the Executive Board of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women; the Committee on Conferences; and the Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Protection of Persons in the Event of Disasters. May I take it that it is the wish of the Assembly to authorize these organs to meet during the main part of its 81st session, on the strict understanding that all such meetings would be allocated conference services in such a manner as to ensure that the work of the Assembly and its main committees is not impeded.

It is so decided.

The Assembly has thus concluded this stage of its consideration of agenda item 7. The meeting is adjourned.

Thank you, Mr. President.