PRESS BRIEFING BY BRENDEN VARMA, SPOKESPERSON FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT VOLKAN BOZKIR

United Nations Headquarters, New York

15 October 2020

 

PRESIDENT ATTACHES IMPORTANCE TO COORDINATION MEETINGS WITH U.N. ORGAN HEADS

  • Right now, the President is meeting with the Secretary-General and the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation, who currently holds the Security Council presidency. This is part of the President’s initiative to hold periodic meetings to coordinate the work of the UN’s different organs. This is the second such meeting in two weeks that he is convening.
  • Regarding the other organs, the President has also recently met with — and will be meeting again with –the heads of the Economic and Social Council and International Court of Justice.
  • The President considers coordination to be a very important element of the UN’s work, which is why he also met with the Chairs of all of the General Assembly’s six committees this morning.
  • Asked what would be discussed at the meeting, the Spokesperson noted that the meeting had not yet ended. Afterwards, information would be posted on Twitter.
  • Asked whether the holding of ‘in person’ meetings would be discussed, since the Russian ambassador reportedly wanted the Security Council to move in that direction, the Spokesperson said that was possible. The President had already made it clear that he wanted to see the General Assembly return to its normal functioning, and that included ‘in person’ meetings. Such meetings were already being held, in fact.

 

RURAL WOMEN MUST BE BROUGHT INTO DECISION-MAKING BODIES

  • Today is the International Day of Rural Women, which the General Assembly declared as an international day back in 2007 – during its 62nd session.
  • In a video message, the President said we must take action to build the resilience of rural women in the wake of COVID-19.
  • He said women in rural areas face persistent inequalities, discrimination and barriers including: poverty; lack of access to healthcare and critical infratructure; and economic and political exclusion.
  • The President called on all Member States to bring rural women into decision-making fora so that the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action could be fully implemented for every woman, everywhere.

 

ASSEMBLY’S THIRD COMMITTEE HEARS BRIEFINGS ON TORTURE & COUNTER-TERRORISM

  • The General Assembly’s Third Committee, which handles social, humanitarian and cultural Issues, heard from a number of briefers this morning, including the the Special Rapporteur on torture, the Chair of the Committee against Torture and the Chair of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture.
  • At 3:00 p.m. today, the Third Committee will hear from the Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, and the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers.
  • These are all their annual reports to the Third Committee.
  • Asked whether any action or decisions would be taken in the Third Committee today, related to the topic of torture, the Spokesperson said that Member States were simply hearing from the Special Rapporteurs today, as part of the Special Rapporteurs’ normal briefings. No decisions or action were expected today.