The General Assembly opens its seventy-sixth session in challenging times. President, H.E. Abdulla Shahid takes the leadership of the Assembly, committed to focus on “Building resilience through hope – to recover from COVID-19, rebuild sustainability, respond to the needs of the planet, respect the rights of people, and revitalize the United Nations”.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) was adopted by the General Assembly on 13 September 2007, with 144 countries voting in support, 4 voting against and 11 abstaining. 

Ongoing and emerging global trends, such as globalization, new technologies, the rise in global inequality, demographic shifts, climate change and threats generated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, will dramatically impact societies and individuals of all ages, and will determine the nature and future of work.

“They are tackling inequities in food security, biodiversity loss, threats to our environment and much more”, Secretary-General António Guterres spelled out in his message for the day.

The report of the Secretary-General to the seventy-sixth session of the General Assembly on the follow-up to the Second World Assembly on Ageing provides an analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on older persons. It serves to explore pathways to ensure that older persons are better incorporated into efforts to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic in various policy areas. The report also features selected work carried out by the United Nations system on ageing and older persons. It contains key recommendations for consideration by the Assembly.

Within the context of the Inter-Agency Group on Ageing, WHO, DESA, ITU, and UN Women launched an advocacy brief on social isolation and loneliness among older people on 29 July 2021.

This July 3^rd, the International Day of Cooperatives (#CoopsDay) will be celebrated as “Rebuild better together”. Cooperatives around the world will showcase how they are meeting the COVID-19 pandemic crisis with solidarity and resilience and offering communities a people-centred and environmentally just recovery.

Older Persons have been among the first and hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. In many respects the pandemic could be viewed as a test of how prepared/or not Member States are for the rapidly ageing society. Pandemics disrupt and have the potential to drive change. Only a whole-of-society, whole-ofgovernment approach can respond effectively to the dynamic challenges of this time. In his report, the Secretary-General presented new research on how longevity has the power to transform labour markets, economies and societies.

The COVID-19 pandemic has cast a national spotlight on social inequalities among older adults in the United States, but disparities in how long and how well people live have persisted long before the pandemic. In this talk, Dr. Deborah Carr reveals the vast and far-reaching socioeconomic and racial disparities in health, well-being, and quality of life among older adults in the United States, and the reasons behinds these disparities.

On 23 December 1994, the United Nations General Assembly decided, in its resolution 49/214, that the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People shall be observed on 9 August every year. The date marks the first meeting, in 1982, of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations.