NOON BRIEFING HIGHLIGHTS
Spokesperson for General Assembly President Csaba Kőrösi
United Nations Headquarters, New York
Monday, 27 March 2023
SLAVERY REMEMBRANCE
The President of the General Assembly, Csaba Kőrösi today participated in the commemoration of the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
He spoke about his personal experience visiting Cape Coast in Ghana.
He said he was shocked and felt horror to enter the prison cells and tunnels where human beings were imprisoned, turned into slaves, then exported to the slave markets of the New World.
While the transatlantic slave trade is over, the foundations on which it stood have not been fully dismantled, the President said.
Global economic inequalities can regularly lead to modern slavery.
Racism, including anti-black racism, discrimination, and colorism are still present in our societies.
In his remarks, the President called for reshaping our education systems and curricula.
So that people can learn stories of Olaudah Equiano, for example. You might recall that the Office of the President last March co-organized a showing of Equiano.Stories, which reimagines the life of Equiano, starting from when he was 11 in the year 1756, and is shown through Instagram posts.
Today, the President also called for paying homage to the great abolitionists, from Fredric Douglass Harriet Beecher Stowe and Harriet Tubman.
The President’s remarks were delivered in English, Arabic, French and Russian.
They are in your inboxes and online: https://www.un.org/pga/77/2023/03/27/pga-remarks-to-the-intl-day-of-remembrance-of-the-victims-of-slavery-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade/
BILATERALS
Turning to bilaterals, President Kőrösi today met with Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia , the Permanent Representative of Russia, in his capacity as the President of the Security Council for April. They discussed the upcoming Programme of Work for the month.
Earlier this morning, the President met with Janos Pasztor, the Executive Director of the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative (C2G). The focus was on the UN Water Conference.
TOMORROW
Looking to tomorrow, Tuesday, 28 March at 10AM ET, the General Assembly will hold a debate on the role of diamonds in fueling conflict.
Tuesday at 3PM, in the GA Hall, there will be an informal briefing in the form of an interactive dialogue on missing persons in the Syrian Arab Republic.
QUESTIONS
The Spokesperson was asked for more information on the bilateral with Ambassador Nebenzia. The Spokesperson said that this was the traditional monthly meeting where the incoming Security Council President briefs the President of the General Assembly.
