NOON BRIEFING HIGHLIGHTS BY PAULINA KUBIAK GREER,
SPOKESPERSON FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT ABDULLA SHAHID
https://media.un.org/en/asset/k13/k1330dani9
HOPE FELLOWSHIP
Starting with some very good news –
The President of the General Assembly’s Fellowship for HOPE is officially underway. Today is the first day of program for the eight Fellows.
All are physically in New York. They arrived in recent days from Antigua and Barbuda, Bhutan, Grenada, Guinea, Laos, Nauru, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
All national and building COVID protocols have been followed.
You will recall that this is the Fellowship for Harnessing Opportunities for Promoting Empowerment of Youth or HOPE. It is aimed at young diplomats from underrepresented Member States.
Over the coming nine months, the Fellows will work on a rotational basis with the teams in the Office of the President of the General Assembly on Peace and Security; Human Rights; Humanitarian; Sustainable Development; Reform, Legal and Budget; and Communications.
I personally look forward to welcoming the Fellows in the noon briefings, and hope they will sit-in as their schedules allow.
They will have a very busy calendar while in New York, despite COVID. In addition to the PGA’s office, they will also be spending two days a week with their Missions, and one day with the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).
They will also have mentors within the PGA’s office, who will help guide them in their professional development.
All costs for this program are covered by Member States… and President Abdulla Shahid has laid the foundation for this program to continue in the coming years.
WORLD YOUTH FORUM
Still on the theme of young people, President Shahid today took part by video message in the World Youth Forum in Egypt. He said the Forum provides an excellent platform for youth representatives to discuss ideas and accelerate solutions to the pressing issues of our time, including recovering better from COVID-19.
He told young people “you deserve a seat at the table, to have your voices heard.”
PRIORITIES
President Shahid will have his first public engagement of the year next week, on 19 January. He will brief the General Assembly on his priorities for the resumed part of the 76th session.
OPGA/100 DAYS
The Office of the President of the General Assembly is this week promoting, on social media, some of the main achievements of the first 100 days in office. You will see posts related to those 100 days starting today.
HISTORY
And fun facts, on this day in 1946, the United Nations General Assembly convened for the first time in London. As my much smarter friends told me – the most important event on that day was the election of the President of General Assembly by a secret ballot. Belgium’s Paul-Henri Spaak got the position by five votes, over Trygve Lie. He had to settle for the Secretary-General’s position.
QUESTIONS
The Spokesperson was asked why the General Assembly meetings had been pushed back. The Spokesperson answered that the Omicron surge has affected the UN in New York. Out of an abundance of caution, the decision was made to move the meetings back a few days.
The Spokesperson was also asked to clarify what will happen on 19 January. The Spokesperson noted that President Shahid would brief the General Assembly in-person on his priorities for the rest of the 76th session.
The date for the next press briefing with President Shahid has not yet been set.
