For the first time in 75 years, world leaders will not attend this year’s United Nations General Assembly in New York in person.
The heads of state from Member States, Observer States and the European Union have been invited to send in pre-recorded videos of their speeches which will be broadcast “as live”.
The General Assembly will commence on September 15, with the High-Level General Debate set to start on September 22.
UN spokesperson Reem Abaza, said the Assembly, traditionally the most high-profile UN event of the year, will be a slimmed-down affair due to the current Covid-19 pandemic.
She said the decision to introduce pre-recorded videos during the High-Level General Debate was made by the UN body last week using the novel ‘silence procedure’ method.
Under this method, she said draft resolutions are circulated by the President of the General Assembly giving the Member States a deadline of at least 72 hours, to raise objections.
“If there are no objections, the President circulates a letter, confirming that the resolution has been adopted,” she said.
The new virtual format is largely due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as many countries continue to grapple with the health, social and economic fallout from the crisis.
While the number of new cases of COVID-19 in New York has dramatically fallen, since the city was for a while the global epicentre of the pandemic in April, the US as a whole has almost four million reported cases, higher than any other country.
According to Abaza, the pre-recorded speeches will however be introduced by representatives of each state who will be physically present in the assembly hall before the speeches are played.
However, any head of state has the right to turn up in person to deliver his or her 15 minute keynote address.
“The same procedure will apply for a series of special high-level sessions scheduled to take place, including a commemoration of the landmark 75th anniversary of the United Nations, a summit on biodiversity and a meeting to commemorate, and promote, the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons,” she said.
In keeping with its tradition as well as its established commitment to rules based multilateral diplomacy, Kenya will actively participate in the 75th Session of UNGA.
President Uhuru Kenyatta is scheduled to deliver Kenya’s statement during the General Debate, as well as at other high-level events.
Kenya will be physically represented in the General Assembly by the Mission in New York.
A statement from the ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated that the theme of this year’s UNGA resonates with Kenya’s multilateralism record.
“It also further recognizes that the Coronavirus pandemic has exposed global vulnerability and that multilateralism is the most viable response vehicle. Other issues that Kenya will speak to during the 75th UNGA session are: peace and security; climate change; women and youth empowerment; debt burden for developing and less developed countries; and sustainable development among other issues,” read part of the statement.
On September 21, there will be a high-level meeting of the General Assembly to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations under the theme ‘The Future We Want, the UN We Need: Reaffirming our Collective Commitment to Multilateralism’.
The theme will guide all activities, meetings and conferences organised by the United Nations in 2020.
On September 22-29, the Assembly will have the General Debate of the UNGA75 Session where heads of State and government will deliver voluntary 15 minutes pre-recorded statement that will be webcast from the General Assembly in New York.
The General Debate will focus on multilateral actions in the context of COVID-19 within the context of the theme of the 75th Session of UNGA.
On September 30, there will be a Biodiversity Summit. The summit, at the level of Heads of State and Government will highlight the need for urgent action at the highest levels in support of a post-2020 global biodiversity framework under the theme: “Urgent action on biodiversity for sustainable development”.
Other High-Level events include the 25th Anniversary of the 4th World Conference on Women (1st October, 2002) and meeting to Commemorate and Promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons (2nd October, 2020).
There will also be other side events that will take place virtually, including the SDG Segment and the UN 75th Youth Plenary.