UNITED NATIONS (APP): The UN General Assembly Tuesday opened its seventy-sixth session, with its newly elected President Abdulla Shahid, calling for embracing hope and initiating a new narrative after a challenging year of climate disasters, conflict, and the coronavirus pandemic.
“It has been a tragic and challenging year, but this is a new session,” Shahid, who is the foreign minister of Maldives, said.
“We can fall back on the comfort and predictability of systems and procedures, of the United Nations machinery that fills our days, or we can choose to push forward and turn the page”, he said. “We can choose to write a new chapter. Let us choose the latter; let us dare to dream and let us dare to hope, to embrace the presidency of hope.”
Shahid replaced veteran Turkish diplomat Volkan Bozkir, who presided over the 193-member Assembly’s 75th session. The new president and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres paid rich tributes to Bozkir for his outstanding leadership amid difficult challenges as Covid-19 played havoc across the world.
The UN chief credited Bozkir, the outgoing president, for prioritizing a sustainable recovery, rooted in the 2030 agenda, and supporting countries and communities as they rebuild systems shattered by the pandemic.
Guterres said that under Bozkir’s leadership, the Assembly had sought to “strengthen health systems, deliver COVID-19 testing, treatment, and equipment, and contribute to the most ambitious vaccination campaign in history”.
Moreover, he drove the General Assembly’s vital work in the areas of peace and security, disarmament, human rights, gender equality, and sustainable development while also overseeing the adoption of major resolutions on key issues – from peace-building to counterterrorism and preventing crimes against humanity – addressing climate change and ending human trafficking.
“In short, under President Bozkir’s stewardship, this Assembly has proven, time and again, the value of multilateralism and a rules-based international system”, the Secretary-General said.
In an emotional speech before closing the 75th Assembly’s final meeting, outgoing President Bozkir noted that his tenure took place amidst a “tumultuous, historic, transformative, unequal, challenging and ground-breaking year”.
“From the earliest moments of my Presidency, we knew that COVID-19 would dominate our agenda. However, I can now say that it has reinforced our belief in a more effective and more responsive UN”, he said.
Before stepping down, Bozkir made a series of recommendations that ranged from strengthening the Assembly to realigning “a serious mismatch in the way this Organization treats its employees and the world’s highest political office”.
He also suggested a shift from focusing on procedures “at the cost of substance” to a “more streamlined, priority-driven agenda” and to prioritize the UN as a single entity of respect, integrity, and progress.
Before bringing down the gavel for the last time, he called for a moment of silent prayer or meditation.
Newly sworn-in President Abdulla Shahid, then opened the new 76th session, noting that his country’s flag is “flying at the highest peak today”.
In his remarks, Shahid also said that five rays of hope will shape the agenda of the 76th session, with vaccinating the world is the top priority. In this vein, he plans to convene a high-level thematic debate on vaccine equity, noting that the host country has offered vaccines to United Nations staff and delegates, and the City of New York is offering vaccinations to those attending the high-level week later this month.
The second ray is post-pandemic rebuilding that is bluer and greener, he said, adding that he will work with the Economic and Social Council in this regard.
Shahid then announced plans to convene a climate conference and a related high-level thematic debate. Gender equality is another priority, he added, noting that he will only participate in gender-balanced panels and will lead efforts to bolster youth participation.
Concluding, he said the fifth ray of hope aims at ensuring that the United Nations remains a forum for all, including the robust participation of civil society and youth, and pointing out that his office is gender-balanced, with representatives from 30 countries from all regions.
Following the opening statements, the Assembly turned to its agenda, first taking note of the Secretary-General’s 13 September letter informing the Assembly that Comoros, Sao Tome, and Principe, and Somalia are behind in paying their financial contributions to the United Nations within the terms of Article 19 of the Organization’s Charter.
(Under Article 19, a United Nations member in arrears in the payment of its financial contributions to the Organization shall have no vote in the General Assembly if the amount equals or exceeds the amount of the contributions due from it for the preceding two full years. The Assembly may, nevertheless, permit such a Member to vote if it is satisfied that the failure to pay is due to conditions beyond the control of the Member.)
The Assembly then appointed Bahamas, Bhutan, Chile, China, Namibia, Russian Federation, Sierra Leone, Sweden, and United States to its Credentials Committee.
Afghanistan’s Ambassador to the UN, Ghulam Isaczai, was appointed by former President Ashraf Ghani, but the interim Taliban government has not yet made any submission to challenge his credentials.
As regards Myanmar, following the coup, its military rulers have said the country’s Ambassador at UN Kyaw Moe Tun has been dismissed and they want Aung Thurein to replace him.
The issue will come up before the Credentials Committee.
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