NOON BRIEFING HIGHLIGHTS
Spokesperson for General Assembly President Csaba Kőrösi
United Nations Headquarters, New York
Monday, 3 July 2023
MIDDLE EAST
Starting with the situation in the Middle East…
President Csaba Kőrösi is monitoring the situation.
He is concerned by the escalation of tensions and the violence and calls for restraint.
The situation is very volatile and dangerous.
The Peace Process must be resumed in line with UN resolutions to finally find a lasting solution.
UNGA THEME
Turning to this year’s UNGA…
As you know, the President-elect of the General Assembly – after discussions with Member States, the current President and the Secretary-General – selects the theme of the UNGA debate and the upcoming session.
President-elect Dennis Francis advised this morning that the theme for the 78th session of the General Assembly, including the general debate, will be “Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity: Accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all”.
Related, President Csaba Kőrösi just met with President-elect Dennis Francis. This is part of the ongoing transition between the 77th and the 78th administrations.
WHO
This evening, President Kőrösi will be traveling to Hungary for an official visit.
He will speak Wednesday at the Seventh Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health.
As I told you on Friday, this is the conference where WHO Europe will define its future environment and health priorities and commitments, with a focus on addressing climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental pollution.
The President’s speech will include those topics.
He will also update on the health processes in the General Assembly – those include pandemic prevention. preparedness and response, universal health coverage, and Tuberculosis.
He is expected to stress the importance of the SDG Summit this September. Given that the Sustainable Development Goals are off track, this is the midway point.
The President will appeal for this to be a “non-conventional summit”.
You will hear him say that the key challenge is one of credibility… to prove that the second half of the 2030 agenda will be more transformative than the first.
I will share the remarks on Wednesday morning NY time, when delivered.
GENDER
Turning to the joint campaign with UN Women…
A total of 43 Member States have pledged to complete the UN online trainings on gender equality and the prevention of sexual harassment.
We thank the Permanent Missions of Andorra, Albania, Costa Rica, Liechtenstein and Mexico for their pledges.
PODCAST
And tomorrow is the Fourth of July, a holiday here in the US.
If you’re looking to keep cool with a podcast…
Consider the fourth episode of the OPGA Fellows Podcast.
This is our water podcast.
Fellow Mmoloki Tsheole speaks with the President’s Chief Scientific Advisor Johannes Cullmann and colleague Sneha Dubey.
They discuss the follow up from the UN 2023 Water Conference, known formally as the 2023 Conference for the Midterm Comprehensive Review of Implementation of the UN Decade for Action on Water and Sanitation.
And speak in very understandable terms about the importance of water for sustainability, for fighting climate change… and also offer some advice for young people who want to do something to help.
The podcast is available at https://soundcloud.com/pga-youth-fellows/episode-4-water
QUESTIONS
The Spokesperson was asked, in the context of the Middle East statement, whether the President felt that both parties were equal. The Spokesperson said yes, and quoted from a statement that President Kőrösi had delivered in mid-March: “ I reaffirm our commitment to Palestinians’ right to live in dignity, with the full enjoyment of their human rights. I further affirm the General Assembly’s full respect of Palestinians’ right to self-determination, to national sovereignty and to return. The UN has been built on the understanding that all people on earth should live free of violence and threats. “All people” includes Palestinians and Israelis alike.”
