Sam K. Kutesa, Uganda’s minister for foreign affairs was unanimously elected by acclamation as President of the 69th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

As president, he will preside over the General Assembly for a one-year period, starting 16th September, 2014 for which he has chosen the theme: “Delivering on and Implementing a Transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda”.

Ambassador Samantha Power, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, on the Election of Sam Kutesa made the following statement which echoes our priorities and the sort of transformative agenda we wish to see for girls and women.  I quote “The UN Charter places respect for human rights and dignity at its core, and it is the job of the General Assembly — and its President — to uphold these principles. At a time when girls are attacked by radical extremists for asserting their right to an education; representatives of civil society are harassed and even imprisoned for their work; and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people are endangered for who they are, including by discriminatory laws, the work of the United Nations to advance equality, justice, and dignity for all could not be more urgent. In the face of these challenges, all of us working in and at the United Nations should recommit to vigorously defending these core principles.”  Full statement available here