As world convulses in war and contentiousness, leaders convene at U.N.

UNITED NATIONS — World leaders began convening Monday at one of the most volatile moments in the United Nations’ 80-year history, and the challenges they face are as dire as ever if not more so: unyielding wars in Gaza and Ukraine, escalating changes in the U.S. approach to the world, hungry people everywhere and technologies that are advancing faster than the understanding of how to manage them.

The United Nations, which emerged from World War II’s rubble on the premise that nations would work together to tackle political, social and financial issues, is in crisis itself. As Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said last week: “International cooperation is straining under pressures unseen in our lifetimes.”

Yet the annual high-level gathering at the U.N. General Assembly will bring presidents, prime ministers and monarchs from about 150 of the 193 member nations to the organization’s headquarters. The secretary-general says it is an opportunity that can’t be missed — even in the most challenging of moments.

“We are gathering in turbulent — even uncharted — waters,” Guterres said. He pointed to, among other specters, “our planet overheating, new technologies racing ahead without guardrails, inequalities widening by the hour.”

At the opening commemoration of this year’s 80th anniversary of the United Nations, General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock said the world is at a crossroads as it was after World War II, and courage is needed “to show the world that we can be better together.”

“Today,” she said, “is not about celebrating.”

France on Monday became the latest country to recognize Palestinian statehood at the start of the high-profile meeting aimed at galvanizing support for a two-state solution to the Mideast conflict. The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Portugal recognized the state of Palestine on Sunday. More nations are expected to follow, in defiance of Israel and the United States.

They gather for a better world, but can they build it?

Guterres said he will use the more than 150 one-on-one meetings he has with leaders and ministers to urge that they speak to each other, bridge divides, reduce risks and find solutions — to conflicts, to keep the planet from increased warming, to put guardrails on fast-expanding artificial intelligence, and to find funding for lagging U.N. goals for 2030, including ending poverty in all countries and ensuring quality education for every child.

He said leaders must make progress, not merely engage in “posturing and promises.”

But U.N. watchers say that in a deeply polarized world, with no prospects of ceasefires in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, whether the meeting makes any progress remains a big question mark.

Richard Gowan, U.N. director for the International Crisis Group, said he is confident three topics will dominate — President Trump’s first appearance in his second term, the situation in Gaza, and what’s next for the United Nations as it grapples with major funding and staff cuts, mainly due to the cutoff in U.S. payments to its regular and peacekeeping budgets.

Gowan said he expects the nearly two-year war in Gaza to be the central issue, as Israel launches a major offensive in Gaza City, forcing thousands to flee. A report by independent experts commissioned by the U.N. Human Rights Council has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Israel rejected the allegation, calling the report “distorted and false.”

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, has stressed that “Palestine is going to be the huge elephant in this session of the General Assembly.”

It was front and center on Monday at a meeting co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia on implementing a two-state solution to the nearly eight-decade Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And the spotlight will be even brighter because the Trump administration refused to give a U.S. visa to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to speak at that meeting and the General Assembly.

On Friday, the General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution enabling Abbas to speak by video — as it did in 2022 for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky following Russia’s invasion. This year Zelensky will be attending in person, and the Security Council is expected to meet on Ukraine on Tuesday.

The assembly voted overwhelmingly earlier this month to support a two-state solution and urge Israel to commit to a Palestinian state. Hours before that vote, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “there will be no Palestinian state.”

French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement of Palestinian recognition in the U.N. General Assembly hall received loud applause from the more than 140 leaders in attendance. Mansour could be seen standing and applauding as the declaration was made. Abbas was seen applauding on a live-camera view.

“True to the historic commitment of my country to the Middle East, to peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, this is why I declare that today, France recognizes the state of Palestine,” Macron said.

More than 145 countries already recognize Palestine as a state, and Mansour said on Sunday that “it’s going to be 10 more” announcing their recognition at Monday afternoon’s meeting. Also expected is a Security Council meeting on Gaza, possibly Tuesday afternoon.

The meeting and expanded recognition of Palestinian statehood are expected to have little if any actual impact on the ground, where Israel is waging another major offensive in the Gaza Strip and expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Guterres said “statehood for the Palestinians is a right, not a reward.” That appeared to push back against the Israeli government, which says recognizing statehood rewards Hamas after its Oct. 7, 2023, attack that set off the latest war in Gaza.

Lots of thorny issues are on the docket

The meeting starts Tuesday morning in the vast General Assembly chamber. Trump will speak shortly after Guterres’ opening “state of the world” speech.

Gowan said there is “hope” that Trump will come in a positive mood, touting the international accomplishments that the president says merit the Nobel Peace Prize. Also on the docket: Trump’s financial approach to the larger world.

“Obviously, most leaders are going to be focusing on what he has to say about tariffs,” Gowan said, but also about Russia and China.

Other speakers to watch are interim Syrian President Ahmed Sharaa, who is making his debut on the international stage following the ouster of former strongman Bashar Assad in December, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

The Iranian leader will be in New York days after the Security Council decided not to permanently lift U.N. sanctions on his country over its escalating nuclear program, but it gave Tehran and key European powers France, Germany and the United Kingdom until midnight Saturday to agree to a delay. That’s when the sanctions will automatically “snap back” unless a deal is reached.

The high-level week will also see numerous meetings on tackling climate change; on the more than two-year war in Sudan started by rival military and paramilitary generals that has sparked the world’s worst displacement crisis; on Somalia, which is home to the extremist group Al Shabab; and on Haiti, where gangs control over 90% of the capital and have expanded into the countryside.

Immediately after Monday’s 80th-anniversary commemoration, the assembly marked the 30th anniversary of the Beijing women’s conference, which adopted a platform to achieve gender equality. The United Nations says that goal is growing more distant and Guterres has said it is 300 years away on the current track.

Sima Bahous, executive director of U.N. Women, warned that on the current path, 351 million women and girls will live in extreme poverty in 2030 — and “676 million women and girls live within reach of deadly conflict.” That’s the highest since the 1990s.

One of Guterres’ major aims this year: to generate support for his plans to reform the United Nations and make it more responsive to the world. Because of funding cuts by the U.S. and others, the U.N. announced last week that its regular operating budget for 2026 needs to be cut by 15% to $3.2 billion, along with a 19% cut in that budget’s staff positions — 2,681 posts.

Gowan said he doesn’t see the United States or other countries running away from the United Nations. But he stressed that it is going through “an extraordinarily difficult period.”

“The U.N.’s resonance on peace and security issues is unquestionably not what it was,” he said, “but I think that the organization will continue to muddle through.”

Lederer writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Joseph Krauss and Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.