PRESS BRIEFING
BY MONICA GRAYLEY,
SPOKESPERSON FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY
PRESIDENT DENNIS FRANCIS
United Nations Headquarters, New York
25 October 2023
Video: https://tinyurl.com/4z3kc7tp
Good afternoon, everyone.
GA HOLDS EMERGENCY SPECIAL SESSION ON 26 OCTOBER
The President of the General Assembly will convene an Emergency Special Session, on 26 October, Thursday, at 10 AM, on the situation in the Middle East.
The meeting taking place tomorrow will be the resumption of the 10th Emergency Special Session (ESS), which was adjourned in 2018, by the General Assembly, in accordance with resolution ES-10/20 of 13 June 2018, entitled “Protection of the Palestinian civilian population”.
As of last night, there were 88 speakers inscribed. A draft resolution was uploaded by the Permanent Mission of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on the e-delegate platform and is open for co-sponsorship.
The ESS will start tomorrow morning and run until 1 pm. It will continue Friday from 10am to 1pm and from 3pm to 6pm.
On 24 October, the PGA circulated a letter to Member States which he received from the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the United Nations, in its capacity as the Chair of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement (CoB-NAM).
This letter was the fourth correspondence received by the Office of the PGA requesting the ESS.
On 23 October, the Office had received another letter requesting that the PGA facilitate the convening of the ESS by the General Assembly “as soon as possible”.
This correspondence was signed by the Representatives of: Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Maldives, Timor-Leste and Viet Nam.
The first two letters from Member States requesting the resumption of the 10th Emergency Special Session were sent last week, respectively by:
the Russian Federation, Nicaragua and the Syrian Arab Republic) and by
Jordan, on behalf of the Arab Group; and Mauritania, on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
We will send you updates as we receive them.
PGA FELLOWSHIP OPENS FOR APPPLICATIONS ON 1 NOVEMBER
The President of the General Assembly’s Fellowship Programme will start receiving applications on 1 November. The initiative grants an opportunity to young diplomats to spend several months working in the Office of the President of the GA on global challenges and solutions to move towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all.
Candidates will come to New York from developing countries, particularly Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), for training, mentorship, and immersion in the work of the United Nations.
The PGA Fellowship Programme is fully in line with the growing recognition of the potential of youth to contribute to multilateralism.
Mr. Francis has asked Member States to support the PGA Fellowship Programme by contributing to the OPGA Trust Fund. There is an indicative timeline:
Successful candidates to be notified in late-November 2023. The acceptance is to be conveyed on 5 December 2023. Fellows are expected to start in New York mid-January 2024.
There will not be a video briefing tomorrow here. We will send you all updates via e-mail. Do you have any questions?
END
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