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

United Nations Headquarters, New York

1 December 2020

 

RIGHTS OF PALESTINIAN PEOPLE NOT UP FOR NEGOTIATION, PRESIDENT SAYS

  • Peace in the Middle East is still far away. And it is Palestinian civilians who suffer the most from decades of occupation, use of excessive and disproportionate force, arbitrary arrests, demolitions, illegal settlement activities and other injustices.
  • That is what the President said this morning at an event to mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. That event was organized by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, which is a subsidiary organ of the General Assembly.
  • The President added that generations have been born into this desperate situation – and generations have lived in a permanent state of emergency.
  • The rights of the Palestinian people are not up for negotiation, he said. 
  • He also noted that the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) needs predictable and sustained funding – and we must do our utmost to support them.

PRESIDENT STRESSES IMPORTANCE OF RE-COMMITTING TO ENDING A.I.D.S. BY 2030

  • Today is World AIDS Day. In a video message, the President said it is crucial that we ensure global solidarity and shared responsibility in our human-rights centred responses to both HIV/AIDS and COVID-19.
  • He asked the public to join him in re-committing to ending AIDS by 2030.

GLOBAL GOALS CAN BE A BLUEPRINT FOR PANDEMIC RECOVERY

  • The President today addressed the Joint informal high-level meeting of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the World Summit for Social Development.
  • In his remarks, he said the Sustainable Development Goals, which were set back by the events of this past year, can also serve as the blueprint for our recovery.
  • He added that we cannot let COVID-19 become the excuse we use a decade from now, when asked why we failed to meet expectations. We must utilize this opportune moment, however tragic the circumstances, to charge forward.

PLENARY ADOPTS RESOLUTIONS ON SEAFARERS & SPORT

  • The General Assembly plenary adopted two resolutions by consensus this morning. The first resolution was new and submitted by Indonesia. It focused on international cooperation to address challenges faced by seafarers as a result of COVID-19 – to support global supply chains.
  • The second resolution reaffirms that sport is an important enabler of sustainable development.

ASSEMBLY TO HONOR WORLD WAR TWO VICTIMS

  • This afternoon, the General Assembly will hold a special solemn meeting in commemoration of all victims of the Second World War.
  • The President is expected to note that, while many World War II survivors are no longer with us, their fortitude should inspire us to come together and strengthen our multilateral system – so we can find solutions to today’s greatest challenges.

LANDMARK SPECIAL SESSION ON COVID-19 STARTS THIS THURSDAY

  • The General Assembly’s special session on COVID-19 starts this Thursday, 3 December.
  • The first day will feature statements by the President of the General Assembly, followed by the Secretary-General, the Presidents of the Economic and Social Council and Security Council, and the Chair of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries. It will then hear from world leaders.
  • According to the latest speakers list, there are 141 speakers inscribed, including 53 Heads of State, 39 Heads of Government, 4 Deputy Prime Ministers and 38 Ministers.
  • The second day, 4 December, we will hear from the President of the General Assembly, the Deputy Secretary-General and the head of WHO.
  • There will then be three panel discussions.
  • The first is entitled “The UN System Response to COVID-19”. Panelists will include the heads of WHO, OCHA, OHCHR, UNDP, UNHCR and WFP.
  • The second panel, which will be moderated by the BBC’s Lyse Doucet, will focus on COVID-19 vaccines. Panelists will include Prof. Uğur Şahin and Dr. Özlem Türeci of BioNTech; Prof. Sarah Gilbert of Oxford University/AstraZeneca; Dr. Seth Berkley of GAVI; and Dr. Richard Hatchett of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations; as well as the head of UNICEF and Sir Andrew Witty, who is a WHO Special Envoy for the ACT-Accelerator.
  • There will also be a pre-recorded video by Adar Poonawalla of the Serum Institute of India.
  • The third panel is entitled: “Resilience and Recovering Better from COVID-19”. Panelists will include the heads of WHO, UNFPA, UN Women, ILO and World Wildlife Federation International.
  • Asked what the point of the special session was, and whether it was “far too late” to even be holding it, the Spokesperson said the President agreed that it was too late and had already stressed that it should have been held last summer. The Spokesperson added that Member States had decided to hold the special session, and the point was to recommit to multilateralism. He said we were currently seeing many responses to COVID-19, but the goal now was to bring countries together, along with such groups as UN actors, the private sector and vaccine developers, to take stock and see where we stood, to identify gaps and challenges and then to move forward together – so that we had a unified response that made sense and could actually combat this pandemic.
  • Asked how it would be possible to fit in all the expected Member State speakers, the Spokesperson said the special session would consist of two days, both lasting from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. If not all Member States were able to be heard on the first day, the President’s office would see if the remaining statements could be heard on the second day, after the panel discussions. Asked about the possibility of a separate spillover day, the Spokesperson said the President’s office would first need to see how the first day progressed – but as of now, the special session was only expected to last for the announced two days.

NO OFFICIAL REQUESTS MADE ON O.I.C. ISLAMOPHOBIA RESOLUTION

  • The Spokesperson was asked about the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) adopting a resolution on Islamophobia, which authorized the OIC Permanent Missions in New York to jointly table a motion in the General Assembly. He was asked if the President was aware of this and about any related developments in the Assembly.
  • The Spokesperson later said that, as of now, there had been no official request from any Member State or observer in relation to this OIC resolution. The President was aware of the media reports.

PRESIDENT’S PRESS CONFERENCE POSTPONED

  • Asked why the President’s press conference had not taken place today, as previously announced, the Spokesperson said the President had unfortunately needed to postpone it.
  • As soon as the Spokesperson had a new date, he would announce that.