Remarks by H.E. Mr. Abdulla Shahid, President of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly

14 December 2021

 

Excellencies,

Thank you for joining today’s meeting of the General Committee.

I would like to start by thanking all the vice-presidents for your continuous support thus far and all Chairs of the Main Committees, and members of their bureaus, for the work accomplished during this main part of the session.

From the very start of this Presidency of Hope I have been committed to ensuring that the General Assembly delivers for the people we serve, on the issues that matter, and in accordance with the mandates given by the membership.

Thanks to the strong support of the Host Government, the New York city authorities and the dedicated members of the Secretariat staff, the General Debate witnessed the participation by more than 150 Heads of State and Heads of Government, 82 of them in-person. It was reassuring to see the Halls of the General Assembly come live with Member States.

From COVID-19 and vaccine equity, to climate change and protecting the planet, to human rights and gender equality, the same issues arose time and again.

Dear colleagues,

More steps have been initiated since the High-Level week to return to normalcy. My Office has closely coordinated with the Secretariat to ensure that more rooms are opened up for greater in-person meetings.

Efforts in this direction have borne fruit. The General Assembly was once again graced again with in-person presentations of reports, including from the heads of the Human Rights Council, the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, and International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals.

The Assembly also successfully held elections to the Human Rights Council, the International Court of Justice, and International Law Commission, with pre-COVID balloting arrangements.

We have also increased the format of in-person attendance and engagement of Observers in the meetings of the Assembly.

And something that makes me personally very proud, we once again welcomed civil society to the UN, with close to 200 representatives attending a Town Hall with me in November.

This was a commitment of mine from before my Presidency, while running for office, and it was personally and professionally gratifying to see them here at the General Assembly Hall.

I will continue my meetings and discussions with civil society groups, both through convening additional town halls and further representation at high-level events.

Dear colleagues,

We are approaching the end of the main part of the session, with some clear highlights:

In the three months since I took office, the General Assembly adopted more than 120 resolutions and the 50th formal plenary meeting was convened last week.

Among those resolutions, I welcome the consensus adoption of resolution 76/4 entitled “Review of the functioning of the reinvigorated resident coordinator system, including its funding arrangement”, and commend Member States for the consensus adoption of resolution 76/6 on the follow-up to the report of the Secretary-General “Our Common Agenda”.

We also organized several high-level meetings, including on the twentieth anniversary of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action.

The political declaration, ‘United Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and related Intolerance’, was the first resolution of this session, sending a clear message to the world on the importance of renewing our commitment to prevent, combat, and eradicate racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance.

Immediately after, the high-level plenary meeting to commemorate and promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons took place.

And at my own initiative, on 26 October, the High-Level Thematic Debate on Delivering Climate Action was convened to allow Member States a final push for momentum ahead of Glasgow. I was honored to carry forward messages from that discussion to the Opening of COP26.

On 22-23 November, I convened the High-Level Meeting on the appraisal of the United Nations Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons. The General Assembly also successfully marked the World AIDS Day, on 30 November, and commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations Volunteers Programme, on 2 December.

As mandated, a preparatory meeting for the High-Level Event on Road Safety was organized on 3 December.

Excellencies,

I am pleased to note that building on the legacies of my predecessor, I reconstituted and expanded the President of the General Assembly’s Advisory Board on Gender Equality, as well as the Board of Advisers on LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS.

I have also convened an Advisory Committee on Sustainable Urbanization, which will support the preparations for the High-Level Meeting on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda.

To strengthen relations across the principal organs of the UN, I have been having regular coordination meetings with the Secretary-General, the President of ECOSOC, and the Presidents of the Security Council.

We have recommitted to enhancing cooperation among the Main Organs based in New York, including on joint initiatives on topics relevant to the respective mandates.

As many of you are aware, I have also continued the process of hosting morning dialogues – our Holhuashi Dialogues – and we have held five thus far, with more to come next year.

I have appointed co-facilitators and co-chairs for eight intergovernmental processes, including five women PRs. A number of other appointments are expected in the near future to carry out additional mandates entrusted by the Assembly.

On a personal note, I am deeply proud to have launched the President of the General Assembly’s Fellowship on Harnessing Opportunities for Promoting Empowerment of Youth (the PGA Fellowship of HOPE).

It is my hope that this Fellowship takes root in the Presidency of the General Assembly and gives leagues of young, and aspiring diplomats from underrepresented countries an opportunity to learn and contribute to our work.

I am pleased that through my travels to UAE, Maldives, Serbia, UK, and China I had the opportunity to engage and hear from youth, as well as CSOs, women and other constituents. I consider these moments important for listening and learning. To ensure that the work that we do here reflects the concerns of the people on the ground.

This is particularly true when it comes to gender equality. Since the earliest days of my Presidency, I have been advocating on behalf of women and girls – meeting with women PRs, heads of state and government, scientists, school children, and CSO representatives. Trust that, as an ally, I will continue to listen and advocate throughout the remainder of the session.

Excellencies,

The recess date for the Main Session is on 23 December. I am working with the Chair of the Fifth Committee and all relevant stakeholders to ensure we adopt the budget and conclude the main part of the session on time.

I urge each of you to give your full attention to this issue. We must be able to adopt, on time, the budget of the organization, to allow the UN to continue to carry out the essential roles assigned by the Charter and by this Assembly.

Excellencies,

As we look ahead to the remainder of the session, we do so with optimism for better days, for a strong recovery from the pandemic.

On that note, my very first priority in the New Year will be to convene a High-Level Meeting on Universal Vaccination, to emphasize the sheer necessity of achieving vaccine equity.

COVID-19 will continue to dominate our news, our agendas, and our lives until we sort out the issue of vaccine inequity. We are unnecessarily prolonging the pandemic and jeopardizing all the gains we have made by risking further and ever-stronger variants.

In addition to vaccines equity, I am also planning to focus the Assembly on sustainable recovery from the COVID-19. My efforts will include a High-level Thematic Debate on Tourism in April 2022.

Likewise, I have also initiated the process of convening a High-level Thematic Debate on Debt Sustainability for Better Recovery, proposed to be jointly convened with ECOSOC. This is tentatively scheduled for May. 

And, as previously discussed with many of you, I look forward to hosting a special ‘Moment for Nature’ event in July to take stock of all the environmental sessions and COP-level summits taking place this year.

Other initiatives to be spearheaded by my Office include the constitution of a Board of Advisors on Mental Health, and the Launch of the ‘Women’s Network’ of Leaders.

On the “Our Common Agenda” front, you are aware that I am holding informal consultations on seeking views of Member States on the way forward. I am also holding regular consultations with the Secretary General. I will be issuing a letter in the coming days to give Member States an idea as to how the entire UN membership can own and contribute to “Our Common Agenda”.

My team is also pursuing efforts in support of the UN’s Greening the Blue initiative. We are working with Member States and the Secretariat to identify ways in which the UN Headquarters can be made more environment friendly.

Excellencies, I will also have the pleasure of hosting a number of mandated events during the remainder of the session. The list of these events, covering everything from peacebuilding to indigenous languages to the New Urban Agenda, has been shared with you prior to this discussion, and will be uploaded to my website and updated accordingly.

I invite delegations to regularly visit the website of the General Assembly to have an updated schedule of the formal meetings being convened in the resumed part of the session, and to address the pending items in the program of work for this session.

Beyond the many events, we must continue our efforts on Intergovernmental Negotiations on Security Council reform, and the Ad Hoc Working Group on revitalization of the work of the Assembly.

Likewise, efforts must be made to finalize political declarations for the International Migration Review Forum, the Second UN Ocean Conference, and the High-Level Meeting on Global Road Safety. I urge Member States to reach consensus on these, as well as to support cofacilitators in their endeavours.

 

Excellencies,

The resumed part of the session will commence on the 11th of January with a briefing on my Priorities to the full membership. This will be followed by the Secretary-General’s briefing on his priorities, and consideration of the organization annual report, on 12th January, and the joint briefing with ECOSOC on the 14th.

I look forward to your full support and engagement at each of these events and initiatives.

Colleagues, I thank you for your commitment and dedication throughout the first months of my Presidency of Hope.

If there is one ask as we close out the main session, it is that we continue to push for action above words, that we maintain the emphasis on delivering for people, for planet, and for prosperity.

I would also like to put on record, the excellent cooperation I am getting from my team at OPGA, and to thank Member States who have seconded staff to OPGA.

We have a total of 42 staff, 35 nationalities, and I am happy to say that my office is 52% women. I put a special word of thanks to my Chef du Cabinet and his team, for ensuring that the Presidency of Hope delivers.

I thank you.