NOON BRIEFING HIGHLIGHTS BY PAULINA KUBIAK GREER,
SPOKESPERSON FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT ABDULLA SHAHID
United Nations Headquarters, New York

OUR COMMON AGENDA

This Thursday and Friday, will be the first of five informal thematic consultations on the Secretary-General’s Our Common Agenda report.

This week’s theme is “accelerating and scaling up the Sustainable Development Goals, leaving no-one behind.”

Ahead of the consultations, Secretary-General António Guterres met yesterday with the President of the General Assembly, Abdulla Shahid. They discussed the process that is being put in place to ensure the widest possible consultations on the Report.

The President also met with the Permanent Representatives of the so-called “Leaders Network” – which was launched in 2020 with the intention to support multilateralism in the framework of the UN@75 process…

And with Ambassador Munir Akram of Pakistan, in his capacity as Chair of the G77.

In terms of what will happen at this week’s Our Common Agenda consultations.. On Thursday, there will be opening remarks from President Shahid and from Secretary-General Guterres… followed by statements from Member States and observers.

On Friday, there will be two panels. The morning will feature a fireside chat with senior officials of the UN system, with opening Remarks by Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed.  The moderator will be UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner.

In the afternoon, the Under-Secretary-General for the UN Department of Global Communications, Melissa Fleming will moderate a fireside chat with relevant partners.

The closing remarks will be by Volker Turk, Under-Secretary-General for Policy in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General.

I will include the programme when I send out today’s briefing notes.

 

LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS

This morning, President Shahid met with the Board of Advisers on Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States.

The Board’s meeting this month focuses on financing a sustainable recovery.

 

INTERNATIONAL GENDER CHAMPIONS

Yesterday, after we met, the President participated in the annual meeting of the International Gender Champions. That is a network of some 300 active champions who aim to break down gender barriers and promote gender equality.

The President reaffirmed his commitment to champion the rights of women and girls, for panel parity and to advancing the elimination of all forms of gender-based violence.

He urged leaders and gender champions who have not yet joined the network to sign up.

In his statement, President Shahid said that as we strive for sustainable recovery from the COVID pandemic, we must continue to prioritize the elimination of all forms of gender-based violence, sexist behavior, and sexist attitudes.

He said that “women and girls have the right to freely pursue their potentials without fear” and that “we owe it to the women and girls out there, who constantly face fear and ridicule, to stand up and raise awareness for their rights as global citizens.”

The President’s full remarks are online.

The meeting was organized by the Permanent Mission of Switzerland.

 

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

In the General Assembly Hall today is the continuation of the informal meeting of the plenary on the intergovernmental negotiations on the question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council and other matters related to the Council.

There were 43 speakers yesterday, and about 40 are scheduled for today.

 

QUESTIONS

On the issue of the Security Council, the Spokesperson was asked whether President Shahid was acting to move for a change in the Security Council. The Spokesperson replied that the President seeks Member State action in such processes.

The Spokesperson was asked for the President’s comments on Islamophobia, in the context of the current events in India’s Karnataka state. The Spokesperson said she would revert on this issue.