When the UN General Assembly begins in New York next Tuesday (15 September) it will mark the world body’s 75th anniversary with the world still battling a coronavirus pandemic.
“It will be unlike any other in the organisation’s three quarters of a century existence,” a spokesman said adding there will be no bumping into presidents or the occasional global celebrity in hectic and often crushed corridors at UN headquarters”.
“There will be no marvelling at seemingly endless presidential motorcades on First Avenue and no ‘standing-room only’ moments in the General Assembly Hall, as the organisation’s busiest time of the year is reimagined in the time of COVID-19.
“Most leaders will not appear in person and meetings are going virtual but that’s not to say the wheels of global diplomacy and sustainable development will not be turning at the usual speed.”
Five noteworthy events at what has been reduced to the acronym UNGA75, are speeches being “called in”, an extended people’s debate to mark the anniversary, putting the spotlight on sustainable development goals to transform the world, facing “unprecedented loss” of global biodiversity, and looking at progress on gender equality and women’s rights 35 years after the Beijing Platform for Action widely acknowledged as the most comprehensive and forward-looking plan for advancing the rights of women and girls.
