General Assembly Plenary

The General Assembly Plenary considers issues that are best addressed in a comprehensive manner or that require coordinating work between many bodies of the United Nations. The Plenary has the widest latitude of the deliberative bodies to discuss and pass resolutions on a wide variety of topics. For example, the 60th General Assembly established a Peacebuilding Commission that oversees the United Nations peacebuilding processes and coordinates the work of the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Secretary-General and Member States emerging from conflict situations. Note: if the Security Council, which is given the primary task of ensuring peace and security by the Charter, is discussing a particular issue, the General Assembly Plenary will cease its own deliberations and defer to the Security Council. Additionally, only the Fifth Committee is able to set or discuss the United Nations budget. No other body, including the Plenary, is able to do so.

Topic A: Tackling illicit trafficking in wildlife

Illicit wildlife trafficking consists of the illegal trade, poaching and smuggling of endangered animals and wildlife products. This trade threatens species with extinction, damages ecosystems and reduces biodiversity. Illicit wildlife trafficking amplifies biodiversity loss which affects sustainable development, economic stability, tourism and environmental health.

Wildlife trafficking also impacts local communities that depend on natural resources for survival. Beyond environmental harm, wildlife trafficking is also a multi-billion-dollar criminal enterprise—between 2015 and 2021, over 13 million items were confiscated by law enforcement agencies. This fuels government corruption and finances organized crime networks. The crisis intensified during the late 2000s and early 2010s, especially during the elephant and rhino crisis, when industrial-scale poaching caused major declines in wildlife populations. As a result, the United Nations began recognizing wildlife trafficking not only as a conservation issue, but also as an international threat. Wildlife trafficking would not exist without a consumer. The use of wildlife products ranges from luxury to perceived necessity. Luxury uses consist of jewelry, decorations and exotic pets, while other products are used in traditional medicines and for food.

In 1900, European imperial powers signed the Convention Designed to Ensure the Conservation of Various Species of Wild Animals in Africa, Which Are Useful to Man or Inoffensive. This document is one of the first international responses to over-hunting and wildlife trafficking, though it went largely unenforced. As a result, the international community convened again in 1936 to adopt the Convention Relative to the Preservation of Fauna and Flora in their Natural State. United Nations efforts began with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1973, which regulates trade in endangered species.The adoption of CITES created the groundwork for enforcement and regulations for wildlife trafficking. In 2010, the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) was established by organizations including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) and the World Bank to strengthen global enforcement and cooperation against trafficking networks.

Current United Nations efforts focus on improving international law enforcement cooperation, reducing demand for illegal wildlife products, and strengthening biodiversity protection. Wildlife trafficking is now one of the world’s largest illegal trades, alongside drug trafficking and human trafficking. Programs supported by the United Nations promote cross-border intelligence sharing, anti-poaching operations, and conservation initiatives. Regional partnerships of the various Wildlife Enforcement Networks (WENs) demonstrate growing international cooperation on the issue.

Modern efforts to combat illicit wildlife trafficking are grounded in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, specifically Goal 15.7 which calls for ending poaching and trafficking of protected species. Supporting this, the General Assembly has adopted several resolutions since 2015 encouraging Member States to classify wildlife trafficking as a serious crime, strengthen legal systems and improve international investigations and prosecutions, including A/RES/73/343 and A/RES/75/311. These resolutions expanded efforts to reduce consumer demand, support local communities, and address links between wildlife trade and zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19. While current resolutions A/RES/77/325 and A/RES/79/31 focus more on a holistic approach of connecting trafficking prevention to broader ecosystem management, they also recognize the role of local communities and indigenous peoples in combating illegal wildlife trades. International legal tools such as the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) enable the prosecution of traffickers.

Efforts to address these factors have benefits and challenges. Stronger law enforcement through programs such as the Global United Action to Reduce and Dismantle Wildlife Crime (GUARD) could weaken trafficking networks but requires major financial investments and international cooperation. Demand-reduction campaigns, like those led by organizations such as the United Nations Environment Programme and WildAid, may help reduce illegal trade over time, though changing consumer behavior can take years. Community-based conservation programs can support local economies while protecting wildlife, but they require long-term funding and development assistance. Environmental organizations such as World Wildlife Fund and TRAFFIC direct funding and expertise to support protections and enforcement, while some Member States continue to support regulated trade as a source of conservation funding. Without a coordinated effort between these non-governmental organizations and Member States, these efforts can become inefficient and ineffective.

Without the financial or technical buy-in of host Member States, non-governmental organizations do not have the support to enforce these regulations. These debates continue to shape the international response to illicit wildlife trafficking; and addressing wildlife trafficking effectively is essential, not only to protect endangered species from extinction, but also to preserve ecosystems, support sustainable development and maintain global security for future generations.

Questions to consider from your country’s perspective:

What opportunities exist for improved international cooperation for the prosecution of illicit wildlife trafficking?
Under what circumstances does regulated trade in controlled products produce stronger conservation outcomes than a complete trade ban?
How can Member States and international organizations reduce global demand for illegal wildlife products?

Bibliography

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. How CITES works.
International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime. Home Page.
International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime. Wildlife Enforcement Networks (WENs).
International Criminal Police Organization (6 November 2023). Illegal wildlife trade has become one of the ‘world’s largest criminal activities’.
Rosen, Tanya (6 October2020). The Evolving War on Illegal Wildlife Trade. International Institute for Sustainable Development.
TRAFFIC. About Us.
United Nations Environment Programme (17 February 2020). Three ways the United Nations Environment Programme works to address illegal trade in wildlife.
UN News (13 May 2024). ‘Untold harm to nature’ from wildlife trafficking, warns UN crime agency.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. GUARD Wildlife: Global United Action to Reduce and Dismantle Wildlife Crime.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. World Wildlife Crime Report.
Université Laval (1900) Convention Designed To Ensure The Conservation Of Various Species Of Wild Animals In Africa, Which Are Useful To Man Or Inoffensive.
Wildlife Justice Commission (23 December 2025). Fighting corruption – and wildlife trafficking – at UNCAC CoSP11.
Wildlife Justice Commission (28 October 2024). Advancing global action against crimes that affect the environment at UNTOC COP12.
WildAid. About Us.
World Wildlife Fund. Wildlife crime: poaching, trafficking, and demand explained.

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United Nations Documents

United Nations, General Assembly (2 July 2025). Tackling illicit trafficking in wildlife. A/RES/79/313.
United Nations, General Assembly (1 September 2023). Tackling illicit trafficking in wildlife. A/RES/77/325.
United Nations, General Assembly (26 July 2021). Tackling illicit trafficking in wildlife. A/RES/75/311.
United Nations, General Assembly (28 September 2017). Tackling illicit trafficking in wildlife. A/RES/71/326.
United Nations, General Assembly (21 October 2015). Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. A/RES/70/1.

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Topic B: Global health and foreign policy: rethinking health promotion as a transformative path towards improved and more sustainable well-being for all

Healthy populations are instrumental for well-being and sustainable development. Beyond the direct suffering caused by illness and poor health, these misfortunes also increase stress, burden healthcare systems and restrain economic productivity. As more developed Member States generally have better healthcare outcomes than others—seeing differences in life expectancy of up to 33 years—global health has long been subject to cross-border cooperation. The periodic occurrence of pandemics, most recently the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic, also known as COVID-19 pandemic, underscores the value of improving global health as a means for ensuring greater well-being for all. Promoting healthy living and keeping up with one’s health is a large aspect of global health outside of pandemic management. The United Nations General Assembly recognizes that economic, environmental, social and collateral factors strongly impact health outcomes. As health policy has increasingly become a matter of global concern, international organizations have increased their focus on addressing need and inequity in the global healthcare system. At the same time, the scale of unmet need is stark. In 2023, approximately 4.6 billion people lacked access to essential health services, and 2.1 billion faced financial hardship due to healthcare costs. The 2024 Sustainable Development Goals Report found that only 17 percent of international targets are on track, indicating the need for global focus on commitments made by the international community.

United Nations attention to global health issues dates back to its founding, with article 25 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights specifying a right to a standard of health for the individual and their family. The same year the Universal Declaration was adopted, the United Nations established the World Health Organization (WHO) to provide technical leadership, set international health standards, and coordinate responses to disease outbreaks and public health emergencies. Throughout subsequent years, the international perspective on global health evolved to align with other international priorities, demonstrated by the purviews of other United Nations bodies. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) founded in 1965 links health outcomes to poverty reduction and sustainable development. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) focuses on maternal and child health. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), founded in 1972, addresses the environmental determinants of health, while the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), founded in 1994, coordinates the global response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Integration of global health into the international agenda took form in the 2015 adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which established key provisions of present policy goals like Sustainable Development Goal 3, ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all ages. Subsequent United Nations resolutions advanced specific dimensions of this commitment: Resolution 74/2 (2019) on universal health coverage, Resolution 74/274 (2020) on equitable access to medicines and vaccines, and Resolution 78/280 (2024) reinforcing multilateral collaboration on health.

In 2000, the United Nations adopted the Millennium Declaration, also known as the Millennium Development Goals, which set expectations for global health along with other expectations to be met by 2015. The 2007 Oslo Ministerial Declaration, which identified global health as a shared diplomatic policy concern and called on governments to evaluate foreign policy through a health policy lens. The United Nations formally recognized the goals of the Oslo Declaration in 2008 by adopting Resolution 63/33, establishing global health and foreign policy as a recurring agenda item and signaling that the international community viewed health as inseparable from many of the UN’s core objectives of national development, security, and human rights.

Other global health issues have also become of increasing concern in recent years. Noncommunicable diseases like cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes now account for nearly 43 million annual deaths, approximately 75 percent of all global mortality. These conditions are driven in substantial part by social, environmental and economic factors. Climate change compounds these challenges, threatening access to clean air, water and food, disproportionately impacting vulnerable populations and creating negative health outcomes closely tied to global policy challenges. Most recently, work on global health is embodied in Resolution 79/287 (2025), which reinforces health promotion as a transformative strategy for achieving sustainable well-being. This resolution reflects an increasing recognition that prevention-oriented approaches to global health issues are more cost effective and equitable than reactive treatment-oriented healthcare. This resolution reinforces the need to address the finance structure to support the promotional framework and enhance health equity while working with local communities to highlight the largest need. This resolution also calls on the international community to strengthen the capacity of health systems for monitoring and minimizing the public health impacts of climate change. The Sars-CoV-2 pandemic, also known as COVID-19, exposed critical weaknesses in global health preparedness and international coordination. Building out a stronger health promotion structure would help with faster and more effective responses to illness outbreaks.

With the 2030 deadline approaching and Sustainable Development Goals progress not meeting expectations, pressure is mounting for the international community to move beyond declaratory resolutions toward robust international cooperation to produce results. The promotion of health policy will be at the forefront of that conversation. Advocates, including Médecins Sans Frontières and Oxfam, have called for reform of intellectual property frameworks that restrict access to affordable medicines, as well as for binding commitments on health financing rather than voluntary pledges. This is particularly the case for healthcare in developing countries. Due to the ICJ opinion on obligations of states in respect of climate change, the General Assembly is expected to formalize stronger linkages between health policy and the global climate agenda, given the mounting evidence of climate-driven health burdens. These issues bear similar difficulties in implementation namely, who will contribute resources. Resources consist of funds, expertise and attention given to the overall health promotion in other Member States. Taken together, these actions reflect a sustained and broadening recognition that achieving health equity requires coordinated action across development, climate, finance and governance systems.

Questions to consider from your country’s perspective:

How can Member States integrate health promotion into foreign policy frameworks in a manner that respects national sovereignty while meeting international commitments under the 2030 Agenda?
What mechanisms should the international community adopt to ensure equitable access to essential medicines, vaccines and health technologies?
How should the United Nations system coordinate action across health, climate and development bodies to address the social and environmental determinants of health in a coherent and resource-efficient way?

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Bibliography

Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development. SDGs at a Crossroads: What’s Next?
Gahr, Jonas et al. (21 April 2007). Oslo Ministerial Declaration — global health: a pressing foreign policy issue of our time. The Lancet. Støre
International Court of Justice (23 July 2025). Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. Homepage
Médecins Sans Frontières. Médecins Sans Frontières.
Oxfam International. Health Justice.
United Nations (6 May 2025). More than 30-year difference in life expectancy highlights health inequities.
United Nations (28 June 2024). The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2024.
United Nations. Taking action for the health of people and the planet.
United Nations (1948). Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
United Nations Children’s Fund. Homepage.
United Nations Development Programme. Homepage.
United Nations Environment Programme. Homepage.
World Health Organization (22 December 2025). Reform of the global health architecture and the UN80 Initiative.
World Health Organization (5 December 2025). Universal Health Coverage Fact Sheet.
World Health Organization (25 September 2025). Noncommunicable Diseases Fact Sheet.
World Health Organization (12 October 2023). Climate Change and Health.
World Health Organization (19 February 2018). Millennium Development Goals.
World Health Organization. Homepage.
World Health Organization. Pandemic Agreement.
World Health Organization. Social Determinants of Health.

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United Nations Documents

United Nations, General Assembly (2 May 2025). Global health and foreign policy: rethinking health promotion as a transformative path towards improved and more sustainable well-being for all. A/RES/79/287.
United Nations, General Assembly (7 May 2024). Global health and foreign policy. A/RES/78/280.
United Nations, General Assembly (1 August 2022). The human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. A/RES/76/300.
United Nations, General Assembly (21 April 2020). Equitable access to medicines, vaccines and other health products for developing countries. A/RES/74/274.
United Nations, General Assembly (18 October 2019). Political declaration of the high-level meeting on universal health coverage. A/RES/74/2.
United Nations, General Assembly (21 October 2015). Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. A/RES/70/1.
United Nations, General Assembly (27 January 2009). Global health and foreign policy. A/RES/63/33.

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