THE 76TH SESSION OF THE UNGA
Traditionally the ‘general debate’ of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is the most high-profile UN event of the year.
Not unexpectedly, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa like a number of other world leaders chose to attend in person this year’s sessions that began on the 21st of this month.
The UN General Assembly is the world’s parliament, where all the UN’S 193 member states are represented. Each sovereign state gets one vote so it is not exactly representative of the world’s population, but then again, its votes are not binding on the membership, except in budgetary matters.
Last year, the ‘general debate’ of the General Assembly was a slimmed-down affair, with world leaders staying away from New York, and contributing set-piece speeches via video link.
The virtual format was due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic with many countries continuing to grapple with the health, social and the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The reality is that the General Assembly is not nearly as powerful as the Security Council, which can pass binding resolutions, and is dominated by the five permanent members -the US, China, the UK, France and Russia- who each have a veto.
Though the number of new cases of Covid19 in New York had fallen by September, the city had been for a while the global epicenter of the pandemic in April. Additionally the US as a whole, had almost four million reported cases -higher than any other country worldwide.
On that occasion each Member State, Observer State, and the European Union, was invited to submit a pre-recorded videos which were played at the General Assembly Hall.
The reality is that the General Assembly is not nearly as powerful as the Security Council, which can pass binding resolutions, and is dominated by the five permanent members -the US, China, the UK, France and Russia- who each have a veto.
However, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is one of the six principal arms of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. The UNGA is also the only UN organ where all member states have equal representation.
For most nations the UNGA is the source of much of their diplomatic influence and one of the main platforms for their foreign relations projections.
At this year’s session China’s President Xi Jinping told the Assembly China would stop funding coal projects overseas. He also reiterated that China aimed to provide two billion COVID19 vaccine doses to the world by the end of the year, and stressed China’s peaceful intentions in international relations, saying that China would never invade or bully others, or seek hegemony.
President Joe Biden said the US would double climate change aid for developing nations, would address the Israel-palestine problem, work towards easing its crisis with Iran, and ease tensions leading to a ‘new cold war’.
Turkey’s President Tayyep Erdogan told the UN body his country would ratify Paris Climate Agreement.
Iran’s President Raisi referred to US sanctions on Iran imposed after the US unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers in 2018. He described them as “organized crimes against humanity” that did not let up even during the Covid-19. The sanctions he said even impacted vaccine imports.
World leaders spoke of the policies they aimed to follow in the forthcoming year and Sri Lanka’s President too made a statement outlining the trajectory since he assumed office and proposed Sri Lanka as a Covid-19 knowledge exchange hub.
As it was evident from the tone and focus of speeches made by world leaders, overcoming the global pandemic would be the most crucial challenge in the coming year.