The Chinese presidency canceled a meeting of the United Nations Security Council yesterday, at the United Nations headquarters to adopt resolutions, and are heading to conduct "written votes" against the threat of the new epidemic of the Corona virus, according to diplomatic sources.
So far, voting operations in the Security Council have been held by show of hands in public meetings, in the Great Hall of the headquarters of the international organization in New York, allowing consultations to take place until the last minute.
Yesterday's session was the last meeting in the official program for this week, after canceling several other meetings since March 12. It was supposed to allow the adoption of three decisions related to the renewal of tasks ending soon, related to North Korea, Somalia and the Darfur region of Sudan.
New York State, where the United Nations is headquartered, has become the center of the health crisis in the United States, which authorities have attempted to circumvent with fairly respected isolation measures.
But the headquarters of the international organization, which is almost completely empty, remains symbolically open by a decision of its Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, while most members of the Security Council reserve reservations on him, and they demand a "virtual" vote, via the Internet. But Russia categorically opposes this, and rejects any video interview for official meetings or for adopting decisions that have the force of law in the world.
"The Russians are still opposed to any public and official meeting via video," said a diplomat, who declined to be identified.
Guterres said at the first video conference, since the epidemic began, last week: “I am very proud that even in these very difficult circumstances, the doors of the United Nations remain open to work with Member States that need our support and help the most vulnerable people.”
Surrounded by a few of his advisers, the Secretary-General stressed in his spacious office on the 38th floor of the headquarters of the international organization in New York - that he was holding "virtual" meetings, and making phone calls, especially to call for "solidarity", and to avoid losing "millions" of lives .
Several diplomatic missions stated that a "mixed procedure" was being prepared that would include videos to review situations and emails to vote, and the result would be officially announced after receiving the responses of the 15 members of the Security Council. To give some time for this unprecedented measure, the voting on decisions that were supposed to be adopted yesterday will be delayed for some time.
Contrary to its stance on text-adoption sessions, Russia agrees to hold video sessions, provided that the meetings are informal.