PRESS BRIEFING BY REEM ABAZA, SPOKESPERSON FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT TIJJANI MUHAMMAD-BANDE
Mandela Prize
The President of the 74th Session of the General Assembly, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, has announced that Mrs. Marianna Vardinoyannis, of Greece and Dr. Morissana Kouyaté, of Guinea, are the laureates of the United Nations 2020 Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Prize.
Mrs. Vardino-yannis is a Greek philanthropist and world advocate for human rights and the protection of children’s health and welfare. For more than 30 years, she has been fighting against childhood cancer and for a world without borders in health, helping thousands of children to be cured.
Dr. Kouyaté of Guinea is a leading advocate on ending violence against women and girls in Africa and Executive Director of the Inter-African Committee on Harmful Traditional Practices (IAC). Dr. Kouyaté carried out exceptional efforts in the fight against these harmful practices, particularly the elimination of Female Genital Mutilation.
The Prize, which is presented every 5 years, was established in June 2014 by the General Assembly to recognize the achievements of those who dedicate their lives to the service of humanity by promoting the purposes and principles of the United Nations while honouring and paying homage to Nelson Mandela’s extraordinary life and legacy of reconciliation, political transition, and social transformation.
The laureates will be recognized at the annual commemoration by the General Assembly of Nelson Mandela International Day, which due to the COVID-19 global pandemic is being marked virtually on July 20th at 10:00 a.m. New York time. The in-person award ceremony will take place at a later date at United Nations Headquarters in New York.
On our website you will find more information including on the selection committee, chaired by the President of the General Assembly. The Department of Global Communications serves as the Secretariat for the committee.
Multi-stakeholder Hearing on Beijing+25
The President of the General Assembly, with the support of UN Women, is convening an multi-stakeholder hearing on 21 July on Beijing+25 to call for a stronger multilateral commitment to implement the Beijing Platform for Action to advance the rights of women and girls and intensify efforts to build back better from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The hearing will also set the stage for the High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on the margins of the High-Level Week of the 75th session of the Assembly, under the theme “Accelerating the realization of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls”.
The virtual gathering will provide an opportunity for all stakeholders to exchange experiences, lessons learned and good practices to advance the full, effective and accelerated implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
The event will be streamed live on webtv.un.org
Special Session
In his capacity as the President of the thirty-first special session, Mr. Muhammad-Bande placed under silence procedure, until Tuesday, 21 July at 4 p.m., draft decisions adopting the agenda of the special session, and on the vice presidents of the session and the chairpersons of the main committees. The General Assembly will have to decide on modalities for substantive discussion on the topic of the special session, including its date, and any other matters concerning the organization of the session.
Youth Skills Day
During a webinar event this week on World Youth Skills Day, the President of the General Assembly said that “young people are key agents in the fight against climate change, the recovery from the COVID-19 crisis and achieving the 2030 Agenda. At the same time, the youths are particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of the pandemic; and many young people are currently at risk of being left behind in education and employment during this crucial stage in their development.”
But, the President pointed out that young people are not passive victims of the COVID-19 crisis, rather they are also active responders and agents of change, reacting to these difficult times with activism, volunteerism and innovation.
He emphasized that these actions need to be invested in, recognized and amplified. The President said that it is our responsibility as decision makers, to work with the youth to ensure that they have access to the necessary opportunities to pursue their education, employment and aspirations for the future.
