NOON BRIEFING HIGHLIGHTS
Spokesperson for General Assembly President Csaba Kőrösi
United Nations Headquarters, New York
Friday, 21 October 2022
MORNING CONSULTATION
This morning, the President Csaba Kőrösi held the first of the PGA Morning Dialogues with Member States.
The theme was the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment: from declaration to implementation.
David Boyd, the Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, delivered opening remarks.
About a dozen Member States participated.
These meetings are held under Chatham House Rules, but a summary of the discussion will be circulated.
STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION
This Monday, 24 October, President Kőrösi will hold a series of stakeholder consultations related to water and sustainability issues.
The consultations will allow civil society, representatives of the private sector and scientific community to share so-called “game changers’ to help countries become more resilient to water, climate, food and energy crisis.
More than 1,100 participants have registered in person or virtually.
The event will be held in Conference Room 2, and can be followed on UN WebTV. Journalists are invited.
You have a media advisory in your inboxes and online at https://www.un.org/pga/77/2022/10/21/media-advisory-game-changer-consultations-begin-ahead-of-un-2023-water-conference/
PREPARATORY MEETING
The main ideas from the discussion on Monday will feed into Tuesday’s preparatory meeting ahead of the 2023 UN Water Conference. There will be a press conference on Tuesday. The head of UN DESA and representatives of the two co-hosts, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, will be the guests in the noon briefing.
CO-FACILITATORS
A number of appointments to announce.
By June of 2023, the United Nations decided to review the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. President Kőrösi has appointed Ambassador Robert Rae, the Permanent Representative of Canada, and Ambassador Tarek Laeb, Permanent Representative of Tunisia as co-facilitators of this review.
The second appointment. During the next UNGA, in September 2024, there will be a high-level meeting on universal health coverage. President Kőrösi has appointed Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Permanent Representative of Guyana, and Ambassador Suriya Chindawongse, Permanent Representative of Thailand to conduct informal consultations with Member States and lead the effort on a political declaration to be adopted at the high-level meeting.
Third. The General Assembly recently adopted a resolution calling for a high-level meeting on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response. That resolution requests the appointment of co-facilitators to present options and modalities for a high-level meeting, as well as the political declaration. President Kőrösi has appointed Ambassador Gilad Erdan, Permanent Representative of Israel and Ambassador Omar Hilale, Permanent Representative of Morocco to lead those efforts.
Fourth. The General Assembly will hold a high-level meeting on Tuberculosis in 2023. President Kőrösi has appointed Ambassador Krzysztof Szczerski, the Permanent Representative of Poland, and Ambassador Bakhtiyor Ibragimov, the Permanent Representative of Uzbekistan as the co-facilitators.
And, in an effort to advocate for the improvement of accessibility in the United Nations Headquarters premises for persons with disabilities, President Kőrösi has appointed Ambassador Walton Alfonso Websen, Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda, and Ambassador Linda Thosas-Greenfield, the Permanent Representative of the United States.
BILATERALS
Turning to his bilaterals…
President Kőrösi met today with the Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, Mr. Fernand de Varennes. Related tweet: https://twitter.com/UN_PGA/status/1583500015527657472
The President is also today meeting with Ambassador Vanessa Frazier, the Permanent representative of Malta and Ambasasdor François Jackman, Permanent Representative of Barbados. The aim is to discuss health issues at the UN General Assembly.
He will also meet with Ambassador Riyad Mansour, Minister and Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine. They will discuss the situation in the region.
THIRD COMMITTEE
In the Third Committee today, I wanted to mention that Special Rapporteur Boyd, after doing the morning consultation, then briefed the Committee.
He was followed by the Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, Mr. Marcos A. Orellana.
The Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change, Mr. Ian Fry then spoke – he will brief you right in this room after I’m done.
The Third Committee also heard today from the Chair of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Ms. Rosemary Kayess.
The Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, Mr. Gerard Quinn.
And the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, Mr. Fabian Salvioli.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY WEEK AHEAD
Looking to next week in the General Assembly…
On Thursday, 27 October, the General Assembly will debate the report of the International Court of Justice, covering the period from 1 August 2021 to 31 July 2022.
QUESTIONS
The Spokesperson was asked why fewer men than women seem to have been appointed as co-facilitators. The Spokesperson said that gender and geographical balance have been among the important considerations in the nomination process. However, it is difficult to achieve gender parity without having more women than now among the Permanent Representatives.
