The General debate of the seventieth session of the United Nations General Assembly commenced on 28 September and ended on 3 October 2015. Leaders from a number of member states addressed the UNGA.
Organisation and subjects The order of speakers is given first to member states, then observer states and supranational bodies. Any other observers entities will have a chance to speak at the end of the debate, if they so choose. Speakers will be put on the list in the order of their request, with special consideration for ministers and other government officials of similar or higher rank. According to the rules in place for the General Debate, the statements should be in of the United Nations official languages of Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian or Spanish, and will be translated by the United Nations translators. Each speaker is requested to provide 20 advance copies of their statements to the conference officers to facilitate translation and to be presented at the podium. Though there is no time limit for speeches, a voluntary guideline of 15 minutes is requested. The chosen theme for the debate is "The United Nations at 70: the road ahead for peace, security and human rights."
Speaking schedule The rest of the speaking schedule in the General Assembly Chamber is as follows:
28 September Morning schedule – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon – 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly – President Mogens Lykketoft – President Dilma Rousseff – President Barack Obama – President Andrzej Duda – CCP General Secretary and President Xi Jinping – King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein – President Vladimir Putin – President Park Geun-hye – President Hassan Rouhani – President François Hollande (Scheduled) – Amir Sheikh Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani – President François Hollande – President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi – King Willem-Alexander – President Nursultan Nazarbayev – President Enrique Peña Nieto – President Aníbal António Cavaco Silva – Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen – Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn
Afternoon schedule – President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni – President Michelle Bachelet Jeria – First Secretary and President of the State Council Raúl Castro Ruz – President Jacob Zuma – President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi – President Simonetta Sommaruga – President Robert Mugabe – President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Evening schedule – President Alexander Lukashenko – President Muhammadu Buhari – President Ali Bongo Ondimba – President Horacio Manuel Cartes Jara – President Uhuru Kenyatta – President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov (Scheduled) – President Macky Sall – President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita – President Rafael Correa Delgado – President Evo Morales Ayma – Head of Government Anote Tong (Scheduled) – President Ollanta Humala Tasso (Scheduled) – Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah
29 September Morning schedule – President Paul Kagame – President David Arthur Granger – President Hage Geingob – President Emomali Rahmon – President Sauli Niinistö – President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj – President Klaus Werner Iohannis – Head of State King Mswati III – President Ernest Bai Koroma – President Petro Poroshenko – President Paul Biya (Scheduled) – President Juan Manuel Santos Calderón – President Petro Poroshenko (Scheduled) – Head of State King Mswati III (Scheduled) – President Nicos Anastasiades – President Ernest Bai Koroma (Scheduled) – President Arthur Peter Mutharika (Scheduled) – President Tabaré Vázquez – President Arthur Peter Mutharika – President of the European Council Donald Tusk – Prime Minister Shinzo Abe – Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al Mubarak Al Hamad Al Sabah – Prime Minister Matteo Renzi
Afternoon schedule – President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete (Scheduled) – President Serzh Sargsyan – President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete – President Nicolás Maduro Moros – President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf – President Edgar Chagwa Lungu – President Toomas Hendrik Ilves – President Danilo Medina Sánchez – President Dalia Grybauskait – President James Alix Michel – President Miloš Zeman – President Ould Abdel Aziz (Scheduled) – President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi Mansour – Vice President Aja Isatou Njie-Saidy – Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-Cha – Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves – Head of Government Habib Essid – Prime Minister Samuela 'Akilisi Pohiva – Secretary of State Philip Hammond (Scheduled) – Minister of Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop – Secretary of State Philip Hammond – President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete (Re-scheduled) – Minister of External Affairs Pierre Moukoko Mbonjo (Re-scheduled) – Minister of Foreign Affairs Hamadi Ould Meimou
30 September Morning schedule – President Rosen Plevneliev – President Juan Carlos Varela Rodriguez – President Maithripala Sirisena – President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović – President Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera – President John Dramani Mahama – President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé – President Boni Yayi (Scheduled) – Sultan and Yang Di Pertuan Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'Izzaddin Waddaulah – President Mahmoud Abbas – Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina – Prime Minister Stefan Löfven – Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif – Prime Minister Erna Solberg – Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama – Prime Minister Joseph Muscat – Prime Minister Charles Michel – President of the Council of Ministers Tammam Salam
Afternoon schedule – President Raimonds Vējonis – President Tomislav Nikolić – President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh – General Secretary and President Choummaly Sayasone – President Catherine Samba-Panza (Scheduled) – President Baron Divavesi Waqa – Head of State Aguila Saleh Issa Gwaider – President Christopher Loeak – President Ikililou Dhoinine – Vice-President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue – Prime Minister Miro Cerar – Prime Minister Meltek Sato Kilman Livtuvanu
Evening schedule – Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi – Prime Minister Haider al Abadi – Prime Minister Valeriu Streleț – Prime Minister Lionel Zinsou (Re-scheduled) – Crown Prince Prince Moulay Rachid – Prime Minister Lionel Zinsou – Minister of Foreign Affairs Gilles Tonelli – Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmar Mammadyarov – Minister of Foreign Affairs José Manuel Garcia Margallo – Minister of Foreign Affairs Bédializoun Moussa Nebie (Scheduled) – President Catherine Samba-Panza (Re-scheduled) – Minister of Foreign Affairs Samuel Rangba
Right of Reply Member states have the option to reply to comments on the day (or even to the days prior), but are limited to 10 minutes for the first response and five minutes for the second response. All speeches are made from the floor, as opposed to the podium for the General Debate.
India responded to Pakistan saying that it was regrettable to once again choose to "misuse the UNGA to distort reality and portray a false sense of a picture in our region." According to them, Pakistan claims to be the primary victim of terrorism but "in truth it is the victim of its own policies of breeding and sponsoring terrorists" and that the Kashmir conflict issue carries no credibility with the world. They further agreed that Kashmir is under foreign occupation, but by Pakistan in Azad Kashmir. They also alleged that "in fact reservation of the Pakistan-China corridor goes through Indian territory illegally occupied by Pakistan" and that they deeply regret the Kashmir is unresolved and dialogue has not progressed due to Pakistan's apparent disregard for the 1972 Shimla Agreement, the 2004 declaration against terrorism and the 2015 prime ministerial meeting on the sidelines of the 7th BRICS summit in Ufa, Russia. They further claimed that India is open to engage Pakistan on outstanding issues but in an atmosphere "free of terrorism and violence." In reference to the firing incidents on the LC, "an international boundary, the world knows that the primary reason is to provide cover to terrorists crossing the border. It is not uncommon for states with serious challenges to shift blame to others as did Pakistan did with terrorism. An inability to recognise it as a homegrown problem that bites the hand that fed it. Terrorism has underlying causes the same way as the poverty of ignorance has underlying causes." In using "terror as a legitimate instrument of statecraft...the world watches as consequences spread beyond the neighbourhood." India was "willing to help if the monster wakes up to itself."
Armenia responded to Azerbaijan in saying that they were forced to take floor based on accusations by the minister of Azerbaijan. The delegate suggested that it felt like one "ever had a conversation that you realise you had before. Talked to someone and you know what's coming before you you've heard it. This moment is surreal cause you feel deja vu. The same accusations are constant. On the hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass the statement was from that fairy tale that everything was vice versa, confusing, upside down, the case of the best defense is good offense was a problem with short term memory. The Azeri minister is not too young to remember what happened 20 or 25 years ago." They went on to say that Azerbaijan initiated war against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh (NKO). Further there was no one to write this in the country as there is no free speech and that those who are willing to write the truth are immediately arrested. In regards to a Committee on Missing Persons, before coming to this New York meeting the ICRC arranged a meeting between the two countries' committees, which Armenia apparently repeatedly requested for 10 years. Yet the constant reply, despite the ICRC was that Azerbaijan refuses to meet and again showed that what they say was "again all upside down." They said that Azeri President Ilham Aliyev calling Armenia, including Yerevan, its own land is simply appalling. They suggested Azeri writers look at maps of ancient and Soviet times including the claim that Noah was of Azeri origin. Instead of threatening the possibility of war it is incumbent to note that Azerbaijan initiated and lost the Nagorno-Karabakh War. It would be more useful to think of negotiations on compromises. There were also mujahedeen fighting for Azerbaijan against Armenia that were killing innocent civilians; further, they may not be aware of Azeri fighters for ISIS who, every now and again, appear on the border with NKO. If Azerbaijan wanted peace, then they should allow international observers on the Line of Contact to see who is responsible for ceasefire violations. Since Armenia is willing for this to occur, it says a lot. "Nagorno-Karabakh will be part of Azerbaijan" regardless of how many times it is repeated. In regards to Turkey, Armenia is "determined to continue towards a peaceful resolution on the basis of territorial integrity." Armenia further asks what of right to self-determination and that no solution could be one-sided, biased or have a pre-judged approach.