Behind the most high-profile UN cases there is a global stage of disputes that often remain out of the spotlight

The largest stage in the world is a sprawling complex in midtown Manhattan where leaders meet annually to discuss the future of humanity.

The United Nations’ most powerful body, the Security Council, is paralyzed by disputes, which is why a variety of speeches have been delivered to the 193-member General Assembly this year.

Like the 15-nation Security Council, which had five vetoes, the UN General Assembly devoted a lot of time to the Middle East, Russia, Ukraine and Sudan. But this more democratic institution has also drawn global attention to topics little known outside individual countries and regions.

Take a look at some of the issues that countries have brought to the world stage – or ignored – during their time on the world stage:

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo spoke on Tuesday and assured that his country was moving beyond its dark past of US-backed dictatorship, civil war and human rights abuses, saying that “corruption sinks its roots into a past of authoritarianism, repression and political violence… we are freeing ourselves.” He turned to Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan, UN reform and migration, before focusing on a decidedly local issue: the long-running border dispute between Guatemala and Belize.

Guatemala was a Spanish colony and Belize belonged to Great Britain until Guatemala’s independence in 1821. Guatemala claims to have inherited Spain’s claim to approximately 4,200 square miles (11,000 square kilometers) administered by Belize. The area, which covers essentially the southern part of the country, includes nature reserves, farming villages, fishing towns and several Caribbean beaches. Belize rejects Guatemala’s claims to the land. Diplomatic relations and even air travel have suffered, and five Guatemalans have been killed in shootings blamed on Belize.

Before the General Assembly, however, Arévalo cited the relative lack of bloodshed as an example to the world. “We have shown that the path of peace and respect for multilateral institutions is the most effective way to resolve international disputes,” he said.

What’s behind the name? Archetypal local dispute. It focuses on the ancient region divided by the modern national borders of Greece, Bulgaria and the country of North Macedonia.

This surname was adopted when the nation of approximately 2.1 million people declared independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991. Greece and what the UN awkwardly called the “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” had been fighting each other for almost three decades. Greece stated that the use of the word “Macedonia” implied territorial claims to its own northern province of the same name and its ancient Greek heritage, especially as the birthplace of the ancient warrior king Alexander the Great.

The name fight has become “infamous as a difficult and insoluble problem,” said Zoran Zaev, former prime minister of North Macedonia. Repeated rounds of UN-backed negotiations proved fruitless until June 2018, when the government agreed to change the country’s name to North Macedonia. The change took effect, but the dispute slowed down North Macedonia’s integration with the EU.

Bulgaria now has a main objection that is a more important obstacle than the name dispute. President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova told the General Assembly on Thursday that “in conditions of conflict on European soil, the stagnation of European integration not only demotivates Macedonian citizens and slows down reforms, but also destabilizes the region of Southeastern Europe, leaving room for the penetration of malign imperial influences and great powers “.

For decades, one of Cuba’s top foreign policy priorities has been lifting the U.S. trade embargo on the island, and the country has successfully devoted much of its diplomacy to garnering global criticism of the embargo.

According to Cuba’s mission to the United Nations, more than 25 countries addressed the embargo at this year’s U.N. General Assembly, and at least 11 leaders criticized the U.S.’s inclusion of Cuba on its list of countries sponsoring terrorism, another sanction restricting international trade. Many of the countries that spoke out took advantage of Cuba’s other trademark program, sending well-trained and highly educated doctors to developing countries around the world.

Immediately after mentioning Ukraine and the Gaza Strip, Chad’s Prime Minister Allah Maye Halina told the world that “we cannot ignore the embargo imposed on Cuba, which harms its citizens and hinders its development.” On Saturday, Mexico, Russia and China joined the chorus, with China’s foreign minister saying that “we once again call on the United States to completely lift the blockade, sanctions and designation of Cuba as terrorism.”