NEW YORK (AP) — With the backdrop of elections worldwide that highlight strains on democracy, former President Bill Clinton urged attendees of his foundation's annual meeting to meet their communities' needs through collective action.
Strong democratic institutions, Clinton argued, are necessary to achieve the social impact sought by the political, business, and philanthropic leaders convened this week by the Clinton Global Initiative in New York.
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Former U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, from left, speaks as American television producer and screenwriter, Shonda Rhimes, and President of the Ford Foundation, Darren Walker, listen during the Clinton Global Initiative, on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
NEW YORK (AP) — With the backdrop of elections worldwide that highlight strains on democracy, former President Bill Clinton urged attendees of his foundation's annual meeting to meet their communities' needs through collective action.
Britain's Prince Harry speaks during the Clinton Global Initiative, on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Russian political leader and the late Alexei Navalny's wife Yulia Navalnaya, right, and Belarusian politician, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, left, enter to the stage during the Clinton Global Initiative, on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Chef Jose Andres, top, kisses English primatologist and anthropologist, Jane Goodall, bottom, during the Clinton Global Initiative, on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Former U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, from left, speaks as American television producer and screenwriter, Shonda Rhimes, and President of the Ford Foundation, Darren Walker, listen during the Clinton Global Initiative, on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Bill Clinton, founder and board chair of the Clinton Foundation & 42nd President of the United States, left, gives President Joe Biden the "Global Citizen Award" as they clasp hands during the Clinton Global Initiative, on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Hillary Clinton, 67th Secretary of State of the United States, left, speaks with. Matt Damon, right, on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Former U.S. President, Bill Clinton, speaks during the Clinton Global Initiative, on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
“Being here and making commitments to action can actually deliver real results to real people,” he said Monday morning. “It’s the best way we can strengthen faith in those kinds of democratic institutions.”
It was a strong endorsement of philanthropy's ability to help address discontented voters' concerns at a time when surveys show higher levels of trust in the nonprofit sector than others. The Clinton Foundation underscored that outlook over the past two days through its theme of “What’s Working," unveiling 175 new commitments that seek to prove even the greatest challenges in these tumultuous times have solutions.
Throughout the conference, participants emphasized the need for collaborations when one sector alone cannot tackle a difficult problem.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture pledged more than $466 million to bolster food security in 16 other countries by providing school meals or implementing climate-conscious farming technology.
Partnerships are key, according to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, because much of the agency’s food aid gets funneled through non-governmental organizations that “are trusted in areas of the world where something coming from ‘the U.S. government’ may not be."
“The reality is if you have people who are well fed, you’re going to have less strife,” Vilsack told The Associated Press. “If you have less strife, it’s going to be a less unstable world.”
Other commitments included the nonprofit Center for Mind Body Medicine’s pledge to provide trauma healing services to 500,000 youth and adults throughout the Gaza Strip. Jill Biden unveiled a $500 million plan to advance women's health research. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the opening of a comprehensive women’s center in Iraq led by Nobel Peace Prize recipient Nadia Murad to support survivors of sexual violence.
In between panels, attendees from over 80 countries mingled in lounges focused on issue areas like climate and health.
Wayuu Taya Foundation founder Patricia Velãsquez credited past Clinton Global Initiative meetings for connecting her nonprofit with the partners necessary to scale up its provision food, water and medicine throughout indigenous parts of Venezuela.
Over 20 years of trust-building became all the more crucial in more turbulent recent years, she said. Runaway inflation, intensified repression and an exodus of millions have unfolded under Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Velasquez told AP that philanthropic organizations like hers are best positioned to provide aid under those “complicated” circumstances because “we don't take sides."
“We can’t put a color or political party on those who need," she said. “If the political parties want to put colors on us, that’s a whole other story. But our job is to help the people.”
The Clintons' deep network also allows the initiative to elevate new actors on the global stage.
Spotlighted was Welcome.US, a not-for-profit initiative connecting U.S. sponsors with refugees from countries including Ukraine, Afghanistan, Haiti and Cuba. After both parties clear background checks, U.S. citizens help refugees land on their feet through a lesser-utilized pathway to entry called humanitarian parole.
Since its founding in 2021, Welcome.US reports that the process has gone from welcoming roughly 11,000 refugees in one year to nearly 500,000.
“We can take some risks with things that government can’t," Welcome.US President Anya McMurray told AP. "Nonprofit philanthropy can make some big bets. There is more room to be innovative and creative because there is the ability to assume risk that, sometimes, government cannot do.”
To inspire their 2,000 attendees, organizers leaned on familiar faces like José Andrés. In less than 15 years, the celebrity chef has turned World Central Kitchen into a leading provider of food relief.
Yes, he said during a conversation with journalist Katie Couric and renowned conservationist Jane Goodall, the war in Gaza sometimes looks like “a war against humanity itself.” But he added that “the best of humanity shows up” in the worst moments, citing the example of Israeli and Gazan chefs who he said have expressed interest in feeding the hungry on both sides of the border.
“These are the voices of humanity,” he said to much applause. “That’s why we all need to be asking, always, for peace.”
The final panel featured Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the exiled Belarusian political activist whose husband has been imprisoned for over a year after he challenged his country's authoritarian president, and Yulia Navalnaya, who has similarly taken up the mantle left behind by her late husband Alexei Navalny after the Russian opposition leader died earlier this year in a state prison.
Dictators, Tsikhanouskaya said, try to make you believe they hold “simple solutions to difficult situations.” The prevalence of dictatorship in any one country is a threat to democracy all over, she added.
“Every person has to understand this moral obligation of each of you to contribute somehow in strengthening democracy," she tasked the audience.
Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
Former CEO of Microsoft, Bill Gates, speaks during the Clinton Global Initiative, on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Britain's Prince Harry speaks during the Clinton Global Initiative, on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Russian political leader and the late Alexei Navalny's wife Yulia Navalnaya, right, and Belarusian politician, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, left, enter to the stage during the Clinton Global Initiative, on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Chef Jose Andres, top, kisses English primatologist and anthropologist, Jane Goodall, bottom, during the Clinton Global Initiative, on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Former U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, from left, speaks as American television producer and screenwriter, Shonda Rhimes, and President of the Ford Foundation, Darren Walker, listen during the Clinton Global Initiative, on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Bill Clinton, founder and board chair of the Clinton Foundation & 42nd President of the United States, left, gives President Joe Biden the "Global Citizen Award" as they clasp hands during the Clinton Global Initiative, on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Hillary Clinton, 67th Secretary of State of the United States, left, speaks with. Matt Damon, right, on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Former U.S. President, Bill Clinton, speaks during the Clinton Global Initiative, on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The world's leaders gathered in New York for the beginning of their annual meeting at the U.N. General Assembly. Let’s just say the vibe was pretty grim.
Leader after leader spoke of the wars in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan, climate problems, exclusion from U.N. decision making, poor nations struggling to feed their populations. “I cannot recall a time of greater peril than this,” said KING ABDULLAH II of Jordan.
A few speakers, including U.S. President JOE BIDEN, tried to push a message of hope for the future. "We are stronger than we think. We are stronger together than alone," Biden said. "And what the people call impossible is just an illusion.”
But the U.S. was the target of much veiled criticism for acting unilaterally on the response to the Gaza war: “Impunity” was the word of the day.
Here’s your daily guide to what’s going on at the United Nations this week, day by day:
WAR IN GAZA: Many delegates focused their speeches on the war in Gaza. Jordan’s Abdullah said Israel’s campaigns are undermining a key part of the international system protecting human rights. He listed as examples: the bombing of U.N. shelters and schools; inability for U.N. workers to assist; and humanitarian workers being subsumed by the conflict. As for the idea of Palestinians finding new homes in Jordan, he said, forced displacement is a war crime and “that will never happen.”
Turkish President RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN called the U.N. a “dysfunctional, unwieldy and inert structure,” and told delegates that “international peace and security are too important to be left to the arbitrariness of the privileged five” permanent members of the Security Council. He called for the Security Council to impose sanctions on Israel and said the general assembly should recommend the use of force to achieve an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, the exchange of prisoners, and the unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid.
Brazilian President LUIZ INÁCIO LULA DASILVA said: “The right to self defense became a right for vengeance, which prevents a deal for the release of hostages and delays a ceasefire.”
Biden repeated his calls for a cease-fire and the return of hostages: “Full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest."
IRAN: In his first speech at the U.N. General Assembly’s annual gathering of world leaders, President MASOUD PEZESHKIAN struck a somewhat more measured tone than his predecessors often have in recent years. “I aim to lay a strong foundation for my country’s entry into a new era, positioning it to play an effective and constructive role in the evolving global order,” said Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon who ran as a reformer. He took office in July.
LGBTQ+ RIGHTS: Erdogan criticized the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics in July, which featured drag queens and was widely misinterpreted as a representation of Christ’s last supper with his disciplines. He called it a “disgrace” that “revealed the dimensions of the threat we face as humanity.” Erdogan, whose government has clamped down on LGBTQ+ events in recent years, added: “Anyone who raises a voice against this destruction project and shows the slightest reaction is silenced and becomes the target of lynching campaigns," he said. “Turkey is determined to break this siege and resist this climate of fear at all cost.”
Israel’s envoy to the U.N. says his country doesn’t want to send troops into Lebanon but will do “whatever necessary” to halt the Hezbollah rocket fire that has driven tens of thousands of Israelis from their country’s north. “We prefer a diplomatic solution. But if it’s not working, we are using other methods to show the other side that we mean business,” said Ambassador DANNY DANON.
White House Principal Deputy National Security Adviser JON FINER said that Biden administration officials were in talks with allies to help find an off-ramp to the escalating tensions between Israel and Hezbollah. “We’re working on that it real time right here in New York and in capitals around the world,” Finer said in an appearance at an event hosted by the news site Axios. He sidestepped questions about whether the fighting has already become the all-out war that the U.S. had been pressing Israel to avoid with Lebanon as it continues its nearly year-long conflict in Gaza. But he underscored that a “big war, a wider war” is neither in Israel or Lebanon’s interest.
In the buildup to introducing Biden for a climate speech in New York, actress and activist JANE FONDA changed some words, some accidentally, some not so to call attention to climate change. In talking about Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, Fonda slipped and started to called it the “Inflammation” Reduction Act and then corrected it, saying inflammation actually works too, given global temperatures. Then in discussing fossil fuels that cause climate change, Fonda was blunt and profane: “Forget natural gas, but the f—-ing fossil gas. There’s nothing natural about it, and it’s terrible for people and the environment.”
Several leaders from Africa complained again this year about the lack of permanent representation on the U.N. Security Council. “Africa and its 1.4 billion people remain excluded from its key decision-making structures,” said CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, the president of South Africa. “The U.N. Security Council must be reformed as a matter of urgency. It must become more inclusive so that the voices of all nations are heard and considered.”
El Salvador President NAYIB BUKELE boasted of his country’s security turnaround, moving the tiny Central American nation from one of the world’s most dangerous countries to one of its safest. Bukele was reelected by a landslide to an unprecedented second term in February largely on his security record of crippling the country’s once-powerful street gangs. The media-savvy millennial leader has locked up more than 81,000 people under a state of emergency now in place for more than 2 ½ years that suspends some fundamental rights. “Some say that we have jailed thousands, but the reality is that we have freed millions,” Bukele said. “Now it’s the good (people) who live free, without fear, with their freedoms and human rights totally respected.”
"Security is not only about having strong armies and weapons of mass destruction. True security will only be achieved with trust, equality and prosperity for all peoples."
— SADYR ZHAPAROV, president of Kyrgyzstan
Of all the United Nations' 193 countries, Brazil had the first word at the General Assembly’s big annual debate Tuesday — as it has since the early days of the U.N. Why? Because back then, Brazil volunteered to speak first when no other nation would. A tradition was born. The United States typically goes second because it hosts the U.N. headquarters in New York. Everyone else’s speaking slot is determined by multiple variables, including how high-level the speaker is (a head of state versus a cabinet member, for instance), countries’ own preferences and geographic balance.
Number of times U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the word “impunity” in his opening speech Tuesday: 5
“My fellow leaders, let us never forget some things are more important than staying in power. It’s your people that matter the most. Never forget, we are here to serve the people, not the other way around.”
— Biden, who won applause when he used his decision not to run for re-election as fuel for calling all leaders -- particularly autocrats in the room -- to focus on democracy ahead of personal power
“Not only children are dying in Gaza; the United Nations system is also dying, the truth is dying, the values that the West claims to defend are dying, the hopes of humanity to live in a fairer world are dying one by one."
—Erdogan, speaking about the nations he says blindly support Israel, at the cost of tens of thousands of Palestinian lives.
Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, the leader of a nation at war, will address the General Assembly on Wednesday. Also Wednesday, the Security Council will hold a meeting about the situation in Lebanon.
AP writers Seth Borenstein, Michael Weissenstein, Marcos Alemán, Matthew Weis and Matthew Lee contributed. See more of AP’s coverage of the U.N. General Assembly at https://apnews.com/hub/united-nations
President of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov speaks to the United Nations General Assembly during the Summit for the Future, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024 at U.N. headquarters. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Denmark's Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, left, and U.N. Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres shake hands at the United Nations Headquarters, Tuesday Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
President of El Salvador Nayib Armando Bukele addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
United States President Joe Biden addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, at UN headquarters. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein of Jordan addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations headquarters, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Jordan's King Abdullah II addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Demonstrators protest against the Iranian regime outside United Nations headquarters, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
Demonstrators protest, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in New York, outside United Nations headquarters against the Iranian regime amidst portraits of women executed by the Iranian government. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
Switzerland President Viola Amherd addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon speaks at a news conference during the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, at the UN headquarters. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon speaks at a press conference during the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, at the UN headquarters. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Joe Biden addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, at the UN headquarters. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
The United Nations flag is flown before the start of the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, at the UN headquarters. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
