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UN General Assembly kicks off in New York – rts.ch

A hundred leaders are expected this Monday afternoon in New York, despite fears linked to Covid-19, for the annual General Assembly of the United Nations. Its leader António Guterres wants to issue a “cry of alarm” in the face of the “very dangerous situation” in the world.

“We must restore confidence. The current geostrategic division in the world is an obstacle,” said United Nations Secretary General António Guterres. The world is “really in a very dangerous situation” and it “needs a cry of alarm to wake up the political leaders”.

American Joe Biden, Brazilian Jair Bolsonaro, Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdogan, German Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Briton Boris Johnson, Israeli Naftali Bennett and Venezuelan Nicolas Maduro are among the personalities who announced their arrival. But not French President Emmanuel Macron, his entourage explaining his renunciation by health restrictions.

Switzerland will be represented by its President Guy Parmelin and its Federal Councilor in charge of Foreign Affairs, Ignazio Cassis. With the two men in sight for the seat of Switzerland on the UN Security Council for the period 2023-2024 (read box).

Fears

Host country, the United States fears that the meeting will become a “super-spreader event” of the coronavirus, recognized their ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield. Washington has “discouraged the heads of state and government of other countries from coming for reasons related to the Covid”, specifies Antonio Guterres.

Last year, the diplomatic high mass was mainly virtual, the quarantine imposed by the United States having deterred travel. “We could not start again”, “we must demonstrate that the UN exists”, plead ambassadors.

Strict conditions have been established: mask and distancing, a maximum of seven people per delegation on the UN site, and bilaterals reduced to the maximum. New York City has warned that it will require proof of vaccination from delegates.

covid and weather

The fight against global warming and against the Covid-19 pandemic, the subject of two summits respectively on Monday and Wednesday, will be at the heart of the exchanges, like the Iranian and Libyan files.

“We are going in the wrong direction in all areas. It is absolutely unacceptable that there are countries where 80% of the population is vaccinated and countries where 2% of the population is vaccinated”, denounces Antonio Guterres.

The economic recovery is also “unfair, so inequitable”, and it “creates a division between North and South” which is already apparent in the climate fight”.

>> Lire: Climate can’t wait for pandemic to end, scientists say

Afghanistan

Having fallen back into the hands of the Taliban, Afghanistan will be at the center of many discussions, to defend women’s rights and prevent the country from sinking into economic and humanitarian crisis.

>> Lire: The Taliban replace the Ministry of Women with that of the Prevention of Vice et The UN denounces the violence of the Taliban regime against Afghan opponents

Speculation continues as to who will speak on behalf of Afghanistan, precisely, but also of Burma, led by a military junta not recognized by the international community, or of Guinea, the scene of a recent coup. These three countries are registered at the end of the debate, on September 27, but the option of the empty chair could prevail.

ats/sjaq

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