The 75th UN General Assembly turned upside down by the Covid-19
The headquarters of the United Nations (UN) in New York.
This year, the majority of meetings will be virtual.
Daniel SLIM / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
This is the kick off this Monday, September 21 of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly.
But the Covid 19 upset the program.
While heads of state and government usually fly to New York to deliver their speeches and meet impromptu in the halls, this year the meetings will be mostly virtual and the speeches have been pre-recorded.
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With our correspondent in New York,
Carrie Nooten
The festivities will begin this Monday, September 21 with a modest ceremony to celebrate the 75 years of the UN with diplomats based in New York, and this while the anniversary with great pomp was canceled last June.
It will be an opportunity for politicians to demand a stronger United Nations and reinforced multilateralism.
On Tuesday, Secretary General Antonio Guterres will address the Assembly and is expected to call for
a Covid-19 vaccine
distributed equitably around the world, as well as a global ceasefire.
It will be followed by speeches by heads of state broadcast in turn.
“
The Covid-19 has revealed a lot of problems in different countries and between countries.
And I think most heads of state think the United Nations has never been more necessary than it is now, but it has to be a relevant UN capable of handling these global challenges, be it Covid-19. , climate change or other issues,
”said European Ambassador to the UN Olof Skoog.
All member countries will make a speech
The virtuality of the meeting created a secondary beneficial effect, as never before have so many speeches been made at a session.
All member countries, a total of 193, responded, and it will take five and a half days to listen to everything.
Three other major highlights should be noted: a summit on biodiversity, remote seminars on the sustainable development goals for 2030 - launched five years ago and which have been greatly delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic .
And finally, the Beijing + 25 summit, on gender equality and the status of women, 25 years after the benchmark conference on the subject, which was held in Beijing.
In addition, special meetings on Lebanon - co-chaired with France -, the Central African Republic and Libya - a follow-up to the Berlin conference - will be organized alongside the official program.
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