NOON BRIEFING HIGHLIGHTS

Spokesperson for General Assembly President Csaba Kőrösi
United Nations Headquarters, New York

Friday, 18 August 2023

 

HUMANITARIANISM

Today is the 20th anniversary of the bombing of the UN Headquarters in Baghdad.

The President of the General Assembly, Csaba Kőrösi, paid his respects today to 22 people killed – and Stephane read out the names, and the more than 100 wounded on 19 August 2003.

As part of the observance ceremony, President Kőrösi met briefly with some of the survivors.

It was a very somber event for the President, who remembers the day well, having been in the diplomatic service at the time. And had already been in the Middle East for many years.

President Kőrösi said the bombing in 2003 continues to have an impact on the UN’s work, and there are still many lessons to be learned from what happened, and what led to the attack.

Today’s event was centered around a wreath-laying by Under-Secretary-General Atul Khare followed by a moment of silence. The event was organized jointly by the Standing Committee on the Security and Independence of the International Civil Service and DMSPC.  Related tweet: https://twitter.com/UN_PGA/status/1692588746972053994

Today is also World Humanitarian Day.

And the President had put out a message earlier this week:

It includes the lines: “Humanitarianism has always been at the heart of the United Nations system. I salute all humanitarian workers around the globe, risking their lives for the sake of improving others.” Related tweet: https://twitter.com/UN_PGA/status/1691077560459743232

And noting your question, Edie, the President asked to take part in today’s event on behalf of the General Assembly. He personally felt it was very important that the General Assembly be represented at the observance.

 

WORLD WATER WEEK

Tomorrow, the President heads to Sweden for an official visit, where he will take part in World Water Week.

On Sunday, 20 August, he will visit the Stockholm Environment Institute, where he will have an interaction on strengthening the role of science in the General Assembly.

Then on Monday, 21 August, President Kőrösi, will participate in the opening ceremony for World Water Week He will then participate in discussions.

From a practical perspective, because this is a topic that the President knows so well, he will not have formal prepared remarks. As a result, I don’t know if we will be able to transcribe and share the remarks.

My colleague Iseult will be traveling with the President, and if able, you will likely get the emailed information from her.

Monday evening local time, the President will visit the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation and take part in a roundtable discussion on multilateralism.

I will update you in the briefings on the rest of the President’s activities.

 

UNGA PREPARATIONS

I was asked a number of questions yesterday related to UNGA preparations.

In case you missed my notes…

On restrictions to movement and access…there are always restrictions during UNGA. As of right now, there are no COVID-related restrictions. So no masks and no vaccinations are required.

On the Lists of Speakers, the revised will be put out the week of 28 August. Lists of speakers for any of the summits are not available.

 

QUESTIONS

The Spokesperson was asked about yesterday’s bilateral on the SDG Summit between the President and the co-facilitators, and the progress on the SDG Summit Political Declaration. The Spokesperson said that President Kőrösi has full confidence in Ambassador Al-Thani, the PR of Qatar, and Ambassador Mythen, PR of Ireland, to bring all the Member States together. The Spokesperson also reminded that all the official correspondence related to the Political Declaration drafts is on the OPGA website: https://www.un.org/pga/77/documents/letters/?et_blog