Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine left Majuro Saturday night headed for New York City and this week’s annual opening of the United Nations General Assembly session.
She was scheduled to speak to the General Assembly Wednesday evening between 6-7pm (New York date), late morning, 10-11am Thursday this week Majuro date.
In the lead up to her speech, President Heine engaged in multiple events, including meeting with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
During a meeting with the UN Secretary General earlier this week at UN headquarters, President Hilda Heine:
- Commended the recent establishment of the United Nations Multi-Country Office for the North Pacific, noting it as an important example of how UN reforms can strengthen local engagement and ensure that development cooperation frameworks can be more closely aligned with national priorities.
- Discussed climate change and security, with President Heine emphasizing the importance of building on progress made through the UN Peacebuilding Fund. President Heine urged continued investment in resilience initiatives that protect vulnerable nations like the Marshall Islands from the growing threats posed by climate impacts.
- Raised the consequences of the US nuclear weapons testing during the UN Trusteeship era, calling for sustained international attention and support to address health, environmental, and social impacts.
Guterres expressed full support and commitment for solidarity with the Marshall Islands on nuclear and climate justice including ocean management for the peoples of the Pacific Islands as full owners and stewards of their marine resources, according to a release from the President’s Office.
Among many events she participated in, the President joined a special event — the Fourth World Conference on Women — at the United Nations Monday this week to mark the 30th anniversary of the milestone global women’s meeting in Beijing that produced the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action for gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Speaking at the event, President Heine emphasized that gender is now a core pillar of national planning, yet challenges remain, particularly with high rates of gender-based violence and the region’s low representation of women in elected office.
President Heine called for stronger efforts to address these issues, noting that Marshallese society can draw on its traditional matrilineal heritage to empower women as peace builders, human rights defenders, and leaders. She highlighted recent legal reforms, expanded services for survivors, and the ratification of the Palermo Protocol on trafficking as important steps in protecting women and girls.
She drew attention to the long-lasting impacts of the nuclear legacy on women’s reproductive health and caregiving burdens.
President Heine reaffirmed that gender must be at the center of policy responses to climate change, which Pacific island nations have long identified as the region’s greatest security threat.
She also said it is overdue for the United Nations to have its first female Secretary General.