PRESS BRIEFING BY REEM ABAZA, SPOKESPERSON FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT TIJJANI MUHAMMAD-BANDE
In-person Plenary meetings
The President of the United Nations General Assembly Tijjani Muhammad-Bande is convening in-person plenary meeting of the General Assembly this afternoon at 3 p.m.
During the meeting the final version of the draft omnibus resolution on the COVID-19 pandemic will be presented for adoption by the Assembly.
The President expresses his sincere appreciation to Mrs. Adela Raz, Permanent Representative of Afghanistan, and Mr. Ivan Simonovic, Permanent Representative of Croatia to the United Nations, the co-coordinators for the General Assembly on COVID-19-related initiatives, for their leadership and tireless efforts in facilitating the intergovernmental negotiations on this omnibus resolution.
Right after that meeting, the President will be convening a plenary meeting of the 31st special session of the General Assembly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, who is also the President of the special session, circulated a letter on Wednesday from the Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan Mr. Yashar Aliyev and the Deputy Permanent Representative of Canada Ms. Louise Blais.
The letter conveys the revised version of the resolution on the modalities of the special session including its scope, format, date and outcome.
The co-facilitators invited the Membership to a third informal consultations on the revised text on Thursday.
I’d like to add that the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) team concluded that the meeting is at low risk if precautionary measures aimed at mitigating the spread of COVID-19 are put in place.
The list of measures are on our website.
UN Human Rights Treaty Body System
During a virtual meeting this morning on the UN Human Rights Treaty Body System, the President of the General Assembly said that: “The widely implemented social distancing measures to control the COVID‐19 pandemic have shifted consultations on the review process of this Treaty Body System, from mostly offline to mostly online.”
He added that Member States have swiftly adapted to hybrid working methods and submitted 90 written contributions assessing the functioning of the treaty body system and the implementation of UN General Assembly resolution 68/268.
Throughout the process, civil society, academia, and the private sector have played an important role, sharing best practices and suggesting further improvement.
The President said that this is a major achievement for everyone involved in this process. “We must continue to give priority to transparency and inclusion.”
Culture of Peace
The President convened, on Thursday, a High-level Forum on the occasion of the 21st anniversary of the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace. It was guided by the theme “The Culture of Peace: Change our World for the Better in the Age of COVID-19”.
Mr. Muhammad-Bande spoke about the disruption in education and its significant impacts on poverty eradication, food insecurity, economic instability and sustainable development.
He pointed out that growing data suggests a rise in domestic violence, violence against women and children, and frontline workers.
He added that hate speech and disinformation, leading to stigma, discrimination and xenophobia continue to increase due to COVID-19.
The president said: “the pandemic is far from over, and its long-term consequences are yet to be seen. If we can deal with this crisis, we must appreciate that it will also offer an opportunity to change our world, but only if we succeed in building back better in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.”
He added that “A culture of peace is more than just the absence of conflict as it embraces the inter-relationships between peace and development.”
South-South Day
Also, yesterday at an event to mark South-South Day, the President of the General Assembly said that COVID-19 has exacerbated pre-existing inequalities, with people who were previously in precarious situations being plunged even deeper into poverty and hunger. He pointed out that an estimated of 71 million people will fall into extreme poverty by the end of this year. Furthermore, it is expected that up to 120 million people will become undernourished in this year alone.
The President added that “it is essential, at the outset of the Decade of Action and Delivery to implement the Sustainable Development Goals, to utilize the South-South Cooperation framework…. this approach has the potential to contribute to achieving our targets on poverty eradication, zero hunger, climate change and inclusion. Moreover, South-South cooperation is critical as countries contend with social and economic consequences of COVID-19.”
End of session
On a personal note and as the session comes to its end on Tuesday.
I’d like to thank you very much for your work and our interactions throughout the year. It was an honor to serve in this capacity during the 74th session of the Assembly and a huge privilege to work closely with you.
I’d like to thank Stephane and all colleagues in the SG spokesperson’s office, BCSS and UN TV for their support.
I wish my dear colleague Brenden Varma, the Spokesperson of the President of the 75th session of the General Assembly, who is not new to this job and who has a long experience in the field of communications and media, my sincerest best wishes for a successful year.
