Ambassador Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser of Qatar presided over a dynamic year in the United Nations General Assembly. This volume offers a comprehensive account of his engagement, reflecting discussions a range of global challenges.

The September 2011 high-level season was one of the busiest ever, special meetings on nuclear safety and security, global health threats, counterterrorism and sustainable development, and talks on Libya and the Horn of Africa.

Following those discussions, President Al-Nasser and I traveled to Libya, Somalia, and Kenya to show solidarity with the people. In Libya, met senior officials and leaders of civil society groups. We paid our...

Ambassador Al-Nasser brought to the presidency of the 66th UN General Assembly the rich store of diplomatic experience that he had accrued a representative of his country in different state capitals, notably in Middle East and Asia. As he took on the complex and demanding responsibilities of the UNGA presidency, and the multifaceted tasks of United Nations, he will have reflected on the usefulness of his experience in the Qatari representation in New York from 1986 to 1993 and his return to the United Nations as ambassador and permanent representative in 1998.

Ambassador Al-Nasser’s intimate knowledge and long experience of...

In 1945, the leaders of the world came together in San Francisco and signed the United Nations Charter. They did so in the belief that every nation can advance its own interests by building common ground with the interests of others and that the whole of our power is greater than the sum of its parts. The United Nations is an organization that illustrates that the yearning for peace is a universal search and that universal peace requires universal solutions.

The desire of humankind for universal values can be traced back to the oldest times of humanity, whether through religion...

We live in uncertain times. Unprecedented shifts are taking place across the world. As nations are transforming into new democracies, the moment for mediation is now. Mediation can prevent conflict and stave off bloodshed. Mediation can support peaceful transitions and nurture reconciliation. Mediation is inclusive and can help build representative, democratic societies that realize the legitimate aspirations of their peoples.

In the past, the United Nations has initiated, undertaken, or been involved in several important mediation efforts, either through the good offices of the secretary-general or special representatives and envoys. Examples of successful United Nations mediation include the 1988 cease-fire...

From the beginning of my presidency, I identified United Nations reform and revitalization among the four pillars that would guide my work during the 66th session. UN reform is a comprehensive process, and Security Council reform lies at its core.

Reforming the Security Council is critical to reforming and revitalizing the United Nations. Consensus among the international community is undeniable on the need to align the Security Council with contemporar world realities—realities that differ significantly from those of May 1945.¹

For almost two decades, there has been serious discussion within the United Nations’ halls on how to achieve this...

In recent years, many countries — Haiti, Pakistan, Japan, Turkey, and the United States, among others — have been struck by major natural disasters. It is clear that Mother Nature does not discriminate between rich and poor nations. In many of the affected countries, the loss of human life has been staggering, and sources of livelihood have been almost totally wiped out. The relationship between disasters and the rise in poverty is perfectly clear, and what is more, scientists are predicting an increase in natural disasters in the years to come.

Meanwhile, the financial, social, and political costs of such disasters are...

The fourth and final of the key areas I focused on as president of the General Assembly was sustainable development and global prosperity. Dramatic changes are occurring across the globe. The volatility of food and energy prices threatens millions of poor people with still deeper poverty. Extreme weather and other impacts of climate change continue to jeopardize development gains. Taken in combination, these factors affect our well-being and feed anxiety about the future—our own and that of our children.¹

During the 66th session, we marked a historic milestone in human development: seven billion people living on this planet. Seven...

While the four pillars elaborated in the previous chapters were the focus of my work as president of the General Assembly, we also sought during the 66th session to address other important challenges such as protection of human rights, disease prevention and control, combating organized crime, and nuclear safety. These concerns for human security are not new. They impact the well-being, livelihood, and dignity of peoples around the world.

People’s aspirations are routinely frustrated and left unrealized when they are faced with sudden economic and financial crises, natural disasters, and violent conflicts, as well as with adversities such as human...

During my term as president of the General Assembly, we marked the thirteenth anniversary of a momentous action by consensus, taken on September 13, 1999, to adopt the United Nations Declaration and Programme of Action on the Culture of Peace. With this landmark adoption, the General Assembly laid down a charter for the new millennium. This historic, norm-setting document is rightly considered one of the most significant and enduring legacies of the United Nations.¹

The culture of peace is a set of values, attitudes, and ways of life based on the principles of freedom, justice, democracy, tolerance, solidarity, and respect...