New York – The pandemic has changed the ways international organizations are holding their meetings and carry out their activities. For the first time in 75 years, the hall of the United Nations General Assembly will be nearly empty when it opens on September 15 for the annual meetings to hear world leaders and government delegates speaking from their remote capitals. But their pre-recorded videos with speeches will be played during the session.
New Yorkers can also take a break from the annual hassles caused by UN meetings. The streets and areas surrounding the UN headquarters in mid-town Manhattan will be mostly silent of presidential motorcades and police sirens. There won’t be the expected traffic jams, closure of streets and protests like in previous falls. The UN headquarters have exercised utmost health restraints imposed by New York State under Covid-19, including social distancing, wearing of facial masks and keeping the staff at 20 per cent of capacity.
UNGA opens September 15
The UN celebrates its 75th anniversary this year with all its meetings cancelled or reduced to a bare minimum of attendance. The UNGA will open its 75th session with each of the 195 governments that are UN members sending just one or two diplomats to represent the country.
The annual meetings before 2020 were attended by thousands of people but only a handful of them would be present this year. All non-government organizations are barred from attending the meetings.
General Debate will take place September 22-29 during which 196 speakers have registered, most of them presidents and prime ministers, and their pre-recorded speeches will be aired to the empty hall.
The speakers on September 22 will the presidents of Brazil, the United States, Turkey, China, Russia, South Korea, Qatar, the Philippines, Morocco, Iran, France and South Africa.
Previsional List of Speakers for High Level Debate
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who will address the 75th session, said the General Debate is an extended “people’s debate” which “promises to be the largest and furthest-reaching global conversation ever on building the future we want.”
Despite the pandemic threats and difficulties to perform regularly its annual functions, the UN will hold virtually a number of special high-level meetings during the General Assembly session to discuss topics close to all countries, which include a review of progress to implement the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the unprecedented loss of biodiversity, gender equality and women’s rights and the deadly impacts of coronavirus across the world.
The Sustainable Development Goals Moment will be held virtually on September 18 to maximize participation from capitals around the world, bringing together representatives of governments, civil society, local authorities, international organizations and the private sector with a view to generating a renewed sense of urgency, ambition, accountability and transformative possibility as the world embarks on a Decade of Action to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals.
High-level meetings begin September 21 with the theme: “The future we want, the United Nations we need: reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism”.
A high-level meeting on financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the era of COVID-19 and beyond, co-convened by the Secretary-General and the Prime Ministers of Canada and Jamaica, will be held online on September 29.
The summit on biodiversity at the level of heads of state and government will be held on September 30 in the General Assembly with the theme of the summit will be “Urgent action on biodiversity for sustainable development”. The summit will highlight the need for urgent action at the highest levels in support of a post-2020 global biodiversity framework that contributes to implementation of the 2030 Agenda and places the global community on a path towards making a reality of the goal of the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity, “Living in harmony with nature”.
The high-level meeting on the 25th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women will take place on October 1 in the General Assembly.