In 2022, the UN and the world were partially recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic: the Security Council and General Assembly met in person, and senior officials travelled. The UN’s photographers were with them to capture the scene.

In February Jean-Pierre Lacroix, head of UN Peace Operations, visited the internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Roe, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Between 65,000 and 70,000 IDPs live here, under the protection of the UN Mission (MONUSCO).

In April Secretary-General António Guterres travelled to Ukraine, to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and visited destroyed residential neighborhoods in Irpin, in Ukraine's Kyiv Oblast. “This horrific scenario demonstrates something that is unfortunately, always true: civilians always pay the highest price. Innocent civilians were living in these buildings,” said Mr. Guterres.

June also saw the United Nations 2022 Ocean Conference taking place in Lisbon, Portugal, with actor and Ocean advocate Jason Momoa, and many others attending.

Floods hit Pakistan hard in the late Summer and the Secretary-General visited in early September to witness the impact in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan. Over 1,300 lives were lost, and tens of millions of people lost their homes, while one-third of the country submerged.

In September, the General Debate was held in person at the General Assembly building, at UN Headquarters in New York, Malala attended, Angelique Kidjo sang, journalists crowded the building, the Global Citizen Festival was held in Central Park, and Little Amal visited UN Headquarters.

The Secretary-General took part in the celebration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of India’s independence, and the forty-fifth anniversary of Viet Nam’s membership to the United Nations.

In November the UN celebrated 70 years of guided tours at our New York Headquarters, with a fashion show of the different uniforms and traditional outfits used during the seven decades. The Organization also received the 2022 Environmental Sustainability Award of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA).

In December, delegates at the COP15 UN Biodiversity Conference in Montreal agreed on a new Global Biodiversity Framework. Secretary-General António Guterres met with Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, at the Biosphere in Montreal, marking the end of a year which demonstrated the necessity for international cooperation on the world’s most important, and intractable, issues.