The busiest week of the year continued on Wednesday at UN Headquarters and we used our social media platforms to report on the events.  Armed with mobile phones and cameras, our social media team and UN Photographers attended events on Wednesday to capture some behind-the-scenes photos.  Read on for more highlights.

Motorcade outside UN Headquarters. Credit: Social Media Team.  Full photo gallery.

The General Assembly’s annual General Debate continued on Wednesday with political leaders and senior Government officials holding discussions on shaping the world’s next development agenda, which will aim to protect the planet and promote equity, justice and prosperity for all people.

At a special event organized by President of the General Assembly John Ashe, world leaders agreed to take bolder action against extreme poverty, hunger and disease, and called for a summit to take place in 2015 to adopt the next set of anti-poverty goals, which will heavily focus on achieving sustainable development.

Malala Yousafzai, UNESCO chief Irina Bokova and Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the “Delivering on the Global Education Promise” event. Credit: UN Photo

Dignitaries, activists and education leaders, including Malala Yousoufzai, celebrated the one-year anniversary of the Global Education First Initiative at a special event to stress the need for stronger leadership and financing to deliver on the pledge made a year ago to provide all children with quality education.

Twenty years after countries agreed to boost efforts to protect and promote human rights an international framework is now in place and progress has been made, but implementation in many countries is still lacking, UN officials said on Wednesday at a special event to mark the anniversary of the World Conference on Human Rights, held in the Austrian capital in 1993.

US Secretary of State John F. Kerry signed the Arms Trade Treaty. Credit: OLA

At the annual Treaty Event, 40 treaty actions were taken by 26 States. Six States participated at the level of Head of State, 3 at the level of Head of Government, 15 at the ministerial level, and 2 at the level of Permanent Representative.

There were a total of 4 accessions, 3 consents to be bound, 3 provisional applications, 9 ratifications, and 21 signatures.

With 18 countries signing onto the Arms Trade Treaty, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, “It is of particular significance that the largest arms exporting country in the world, the United States, is now also among those countries who have committed themselves to a global regulation of the arms trade.”

Find out what Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon discussed in his bilateral meetings with world leaders in this listing of readouts posted by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
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