PRESS BRIEFING BY BRENDEN VARMA, SPOKESPERSON FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT VOLKAN BOZKIR

United Nations Headquarters, New York

4 November 2020

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ASSEMBLY TO TAKE ACTION TOMORROW ON RESOLUTIONS RELATED TO COVID-19 SPECIAL SESSION & WORLD WAR TWO

  • Tomorrow the General Assembly plenary will meet to take action on two new draft resolutions.
  • The will establish the dates, format and scope for the General Assembly¡¯s special session on COVID-19. The President expects the special session to be a landmark event in our collective and coordinated fight against the pandemic.? ?
  • The has been submitted by the Russian Federation on behalf of a group of countries. It would request the President to hold a special solemn meeting of the Assembly on 1 December 2020 ¨C to commemorate all victims of the Second World War. Two amendments have been proposed to this draft.
  • The Assembly will also hold debates on the annual reports of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the Human Rights Council.
  • Asked about the proposed amendments, the Spokesperson noted that one had been submitted by Germany on behalf of a group of countries, and the other by the United States. They were currently posted on the General Assembly¡¯s web site on the ¡°Meetings schedule¡± page.
  • Asked whether action on the draft resolutions would take place in person, the Spokesperson said that was indeed the case. Asked about whether representatives of a Member State who were quarantining due to COVID-19 would then not be able to participate, the Spokesperson later noted that no Member State had approached the Office of the President about making alternative arrangements.
  • Asked why he could not confirm the Member State in question, the Spokesperson said that the President conveyed information to Member States on such matters when requested to do so by the membership. In this case, no such request had been made. Therefore, the Spokesperson was not in a position to speculate or confirm.

PANDEMIC RECOVERY EFFORTS MUST INCLUDE VOICES OF YOUTH

  • This morning, the President addressed a virtual meeting of the Group of Friends on Children and the Sustainable Development Goals.
  • He thanked the Group, which includes Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵICEF, for working to ensure that COVID-19 doesn¡¯t turn into a ¡®child rights crisis¡¯.
  • He stressed the need for pandemic recovery efforts to include the voices of youth, and added that he intends to convene a President¡¯s Townhall with children and youth for nature in 2021 as part of his continued work on biodiversity.

DISARMAMENT COMMITTEE VOTES ON DRAFT RESOLUTIONS

  • The First Committee, which covers disarmament, is planning to finish voting on all of its draft resolutions today. However, if that does not happen, voting will continue this Friday.
  • The Third Committee, which covers social, humanitarian and cultural issues, concluded its interactive dialogues yesterday. The dialogues were held over 29 informal, virtual meetings. They featured presentations by 64 Special?Procedures?mandate holders, including special?rapporteurs and independent experts; and 15 representatives of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ system. There were 977 interventions by delegations.
  • The Third Committee will meet again on 13 November to start voting on draft resolutions.