United Nations A /S-31/4
General Assembly Distr.: General
25 January 2021
Original: English
Thirty-first special session of the General Assembly in response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
Note by the President of the General Assembly
I have the honour to circulate, pursuant to decision 74/562 of 22 July 2020,
the present compilation document of the statements delivered by Heads of State or
other dignitaries by means of pre-recorded statements during the thirty-first session
of the General Assembly in response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and
submitted to the President no later than the day on which the pre-recorded statement
is played in the Assembly Hall.
The statements contained in the present document were delivered on
Thursday, 3 December 2020, at the 2nd meeting of the special session (see A/S-31/
PV.2). Addenda 1 and 2 to the present document contain the statements delivered at
the first and second resumptions of the 2nd meeting of the special session (see A/S-
31/PV.2 (Resumption 1) and A/S-31/PV.2 (Resumption 2)), respectively.
In accordance with decision 74/562, and without setting a precedent for mandated high-level
meetings planned for future high-level weeks, the official records of the General Assembly
will be supplemented by annexes containing pre-recorded statements submitted by Heads
of State or other dignitaries, submitted to the President no later than the day on which such
statements are delivered in the Assembly Hall. Submissions in this regard should be made to
.
21-00203 (E)
*2100203*
,A/S-31/4 25/01/2021
President of the General Assembly (see also A/S-31/PV.2, p. 1)
Statement by Mr. Volkan Bozkir, President of the General Assembly
Delivered in person on Thursday, 3 December 2020, at the 2nd meeting of the thirty-
first special session of the General Assembly
It is an honour to welcome representatives to the thirty-first session of the
General Assembly special session on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) — the
first-ever special session to address a pandemic. Today marks an overdue and much
needed moment of reckoning. None of us could have imagined this time last year
what was to come. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted life for everyone around
the world. It has challenged our world in ways unlike any other crisis in the 75-year
history of the United Nations.
COVID-19 is, first and foremost, a global health crisis. But it is at the same
time an economic crisis, a development crisis, a humanitarian crisis and a human
rights crisis. We face the deepest global recession since the Great Depression and the
broadest collapse in income since 1870. The world economy has shrunk by 4.4 per
cent. Global extreme poverty is expected to rise for the first time in over 20 years.
Up to 115 million people are at risk of being pushed into extreme poverty. Foreign
investments have been evaporating. Trade and travel restrictions, steep declines in
export earnings, tourism and remittances all put at risk the livelihoods of billions
all around the world. Our global development trajectory has been hijacked. Each
country feels the pressure. Yet, those that were already lagging behind took the
worst hit. Ongoing humanitarian crises have worsened as a famine of unprecedented
proportions threatens the poorest people in the world. We are faced with a grave
risk where half of the Decade of Action to implement the Sustainable Development
Goals will have been spent simply getting back to where we were at the beginning
of the year.
The pandemic has disproportionately affected the most vulnerable members of
our societies — women, children, the elderly, the disabled, refugees, migrants, those
living in slums and the homeless. It reveals the structural inequalities and obstacles
to the full enjoyment of human rights. Lockdown measures have led to increased
gender-based violence and domestic abuse of women. Many women will not be
returning to the workforce, as they disproportionately shoulder the burden of unpaid
care and home schooling. Young people feel frustrated as their education, community
engagement and employment opportunities are restrained.
Pandemic-related disruptions in health and nutrition services could result in
increased rates of child deaths from preventable causes. The digital divide between
developing and developed countries, as well as between urban and rural settings,
is exacerbates exclusion and inequality. In communities around the world where
Internet connectivity is scarce, millions of children have no access to remote learning.
Already far from their homes due to conflicts, disasters and persecution, refugees and
internally displaced persons are suffering further due to the pandemic and increases
in racist discourse, hatred, stigmatization, stereotyping and misinformation have
accompanied the pandemic.
The Assembly Hall is where nations come together; where they unite. The
General Assembly is the voice, will and conscience of humankind. The world is
looking up to the United Nations for leadership to step up and take demonstrable
2/228 21-00203
,25/01/2021 A/S-31/4
action to address the greatest challenge our world faces today. The crisis compels us
to shake up how things are done; to be bold and to restore confidence and trust in the
United Nations. No other institution is as far-reaching as mandated or as normatively
better placed. The United Nations must lead on the issue. This special session is a
historic moment for Member States, the United Nations, the scientific community
and other stakeholders, including civil society, to hear from each other and engage in
dialogue on the multifaceted consequences of the pandemic, as well as on the ways
to recover better and stronger.
It is not a time to point fingers. We have convened here to forge a path forward
and end the suffering of the people we serve. Since the beginning, I have been
convinced that holding this special session was a test for multilateralism, defined by
our collective action on the most critical issue of our time. And it is in no way the
end of our joint response and recovery from the pandemic. We were not prepared for
COVID-19 but we have to be prepared for the next pandemic, climate catastrophe or
global recession because a crisis of this magnitude will require that we meet it when
it does.
We must be able to rise to the challenge and our response should not simply
target the return to the status quo ante. What we need to do is clear. First, we must
start with ensuring fair and equitable access to vaccines. Providing everyone with
access to COVID-19 vaccines is both the right thing to do and the smart thing to
do. From a moral standpoint, we have an obligation to leave no one behind and to
protect the most vulnerable. From a practical standpoint, the value of any vaccine is
entirely dependent on how many people can get it so we must strengthen political and
resource mobilization for multilateral initiatives that aim towards fair and equitable
distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Secondly, we must work together to protect the most vulnerable countries that
are lagging behind, most notably the least developed countries, landlocked developing
countries and small island developing States. We must ensure that adequate financial
resources are available to achieve an inclusive and resilient recovery. We need to join
forces to address the challenges of that vulnerability and diminished fiscal space. I
encourage international financial institutions and partner countries to do what they
can to ease debt burdens, facilitate investment and leverage development assistance
during this crucial period. If necessary, we must pool financial resources to create
investment funds.
The pandemic has also highlighted that we need more investment in social
and health services all around the world. We need to develop projects for the social
inclusion of the most vulnerable groups. We must ensure universal health coverage.
While tackling the immediate consequences of the pandemic, we must also work
towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), uphold our pledge to leave
no one behind and ensure that our recovery efforts spur on the SDGs. We do not need
to prioritize among those Goals. Indeed, the underlying urgency of ending extreme
poverty, halting climate change, protecting the oceans or building inclusive societies
is more pressing than ever. Investments towards the SDGs can serve as both a means
and an end towards a post-COVID-19 recovery.
The environmental root causes must also be addressed. COVID-19 is a zoonotic
infectious disease, originating from animal populations being placed under severe
environmental pressure. This is our last warning. We must get to the bottom of how it
happened to ensure it does not happen again. We simply have to protect biodiversity
and look towards a green recovery.
21-002033/228
, A/S-31/4 25/01/2021
Finally, we must ensure that the policies we implement to combat the pandemic
do not undermine the democratic institutions that underpin the long-term health
of our economies and societies. Our response to the crisis must be shaped by and
uphold respect for human rights. Our policies should be universal, open, transparent,
accountable and inclusive. Promoting good governance, respecting the rule of law
and allocating resources for the most vulnerable people will, in fact, support our
response to the pandemic by making our societies more equitable and resilient.
As a global community, we are at the beginning of the largest socioeconomic
recovery since the creation of the United Nations. If properly planned and coordinated,
our recovery has the potential to jump-start the SDGs, accelerate action on resilient
infrastructure, improve access to education and health care and better protect the
natural world around us. In 1945, sceptics thought that the idea of a multilateral
system, with an Organization of unparalleled legitimacy at its core, to be impossible.
But even at that time of unimaginable tragedy, the world came together for the sake
of humankind. I am sure we will be able to do that once again. Right now, we all
dream of the day the pandemic is over; the day we can take a deep breath of fresh air,
without fear; the day we can shake the hands of our colleagues, embrace our families
and laugh with our friends.
After months of adjusting to life during this pandemic, it will be easy to feel
frustrated but members should not be deterred. We are working for members. We
are working for refugees who are taking every precaution to protect their families
in camp settings. We are working for people with underlying conditions, while self-
isolating at home; for the girls and boys who wish, above all else, to return to school;
for people in line, waiting for COVID-19 testing, and for those who do not have
access to such diagnostics; for the healthcare workers who continue to work tirelessly
on the front line; for the people battling the effects of COVID-19 and for the families
around the world, who are grieving the loss of their loved ones. The United Nations
is working for them. We are united for them. I ask them to stay strong. There are
brighter days ahead.
4/228 21-00203
General Assembly Distr.: General
25 January 2021
Original: English
Thirty-first special session of the General Assembly in response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
Note by the President of the General Assembly
I have the honour to circulate, pursuant to decision 74/562 of 22 July 2020,
the present compilation document of the statements delivered by Heads of State or
other dignitaries by means of pre-recorded statements during the thirty-first session
of the General Assembly in response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and
submitted to the President no later than the day on which the pre-recorded statement
is played in the Assembly Hall.
The statements contained in the present document were delivered on
Thursday, 3 December 2020, at the 2nd meeting of the special session (see A/S-31/
PV.2). Addenda 1 and 2 to the present document contain the statements delivered at
the first and second resumptions of the 2nd meeting of the special session (see A/S-
31/PV.2 (Resumption 1) and A/S-31/PV.2 (Resumption 2)), respectively.
In accordance with decision 74/562, and without setting a precedent for mandated high-level
meetings planned for future high-level weeks, the official records of the General Assembly
will be supplemented by annexes containing pre-recorded statements submitted by Heads
of State or other dignitaries, submitted to the President no later than the day on which such
statements are delivered in the Assembly Hall. Submissions in this regard should be made to
.
21-00203 (E)
*2100203*
,A/S-31/4 25/01/2021
President of the General Assembly (see also A/S-31/PV.2, p. 1)
Statement by Mr. Volkan Bozkir, President of the General Assembly
Delivered in person on Thursday, 3 December 2020, at the 2nd meeting of the thirty-
first special session of the General Assembly
It is an honour to welcome representatives to the thirty-first session of the
General Assembly special session on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) — the
first-ever special session to address a pandemic. Today marks an overdue and much
needed moment of reckoning. None of us could have imagined this time last year
what was to come. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted life for everyone around
the world. It has challenged our world in ways unlike any other crisis in the 75-year
history of the United Nations.
COVID-19 is, first and foremost, a global health crisis. But it is at the same
time an economic crisis, a development crisis, a humanitarian crisis and a human
rights crisis. We face the deepest global recession since the Great Depression and the
broadest collapse in income since 1870. The world economy has shrunk by 4.4 per
cent. Global extreme poverty is expected to rise for the first time in over 20 years.
Up to 115 million people are at risk of being pushed into extreme poverty. Foreign
investments have been evaporating. Trade and travel restrictions, steep declines in
export earnings, tourism and remittances all put at risk the livelihoods of billions
all around the world. Our global development trajectory has been hijacked. Each
country feels the pressure. Yet, those that were already lagging behind took the
worst hit. Ongoing humanitarian crises have worsened as a famine of unprecedented
proportions threatens the poorest people in the world. We are faced with a grave
risk where half of the Decade of Action to implement the Sustainable Development
Goals will have been spent simply getting back to where we were at the beginning
of the year.
The pandemic has disproportionately affected the most vulnerable members of
our societies — women, children, the elderly, the disabled, refugees, migrants, those
living in slums and the homeless. It reveals the structural inequalities and obstacles
to the full enjoyment of human rights. Lockdown measures have led to increased
gender-based violence and domestic abuse of women. Many women will not be
returning to the workforce, as they disproportionately shoulder the burden of unpaid
care and home schooling. Young people feel frustrated as their education, community
engagement and employment opportunities are restrained.
Pandemic-related disruptions in health and nutrition services could result in
increased rates of child deaths from preventable causes. The digital divide between
developing and developed countries, as well as between urban and rural settings,
is exacerbates exclusion and inequality. In communities around the world where
Internet connectivity is scarce, millions of children have no access to remote learning.
Already far from their homes due to conflicts, disasters and persecution, refugees and
internally displaced persons are suffering further due to the pandemic and increases
in racist discourse, hatred, stigmatization, stereotyping and misinformation have
accompanied the pandemic.
The Assembly Hall is where nations come together; where they unite. The
General Assembly is the voice, will and conscience of humankind. The world is
looking up to the United Nations for leadership to step up and take demonstrable
2/228 21-00203
,25/01/2021 A/S-31/4
action to address the greatest challenge our world faces today. The crisis compels us
to shake up how things are done; to be bold and to restore confidence and trust in the
United Nations. No other institution is as far-reaching as mandated or as normatively
better placed. The United Nations must lead on the issue. This special session is a
historic moment for Member States, the United Nations, the scientific community
and other stakeholders, including civil society, to hear from each other and engage in
dialogue on the multifaceted consequences of the pandemic, as well as on the ways
to recover better and stronger.
It is not a time to point fingers. We have convened here to forge a path forward
and end the suffering of the people we serve. Since the beginning, I have been
convinced that holding this special session was a test for multilateralism, defined by
our collective action on the most critical issue of our time. And it is in no way the
end of our joint response and recovery from the pandemic. We were not prepared for
COVID-19 but we have to be prepared for the next pandemic, climate catastrophe or
global recession because a crisis of this magnitude will require that we meet it when
it does.
We must be able to rise to the challenge and our response should not simply
target the return to the status quo ante. What we need to do is clear. First, we must
start with ensuring fair and equitable access to vaccines. Providing everyone with
access to COVID-19 vaccines is both the right thing to do and the smart thing to
do. From a moral standpoint, we have an obligation to leave no one behind and to
protect the most vulnerable. From a practical standpoint, the value of any vaccine is
entirely dependent on how many people can get it so we must strengthen political and
resource mobilization for multilateral initiatives that aim towards fair and equitable
distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Secondly, we must work together to protect the most vulnerable countries that
are lagging behind, most notably the least developed countries, landlocked developing
countries and small island developing States. We must ensure that adequate financial
resources are available to achieve an inclusive and resilient recovery. We need to join
forces to address the challenges of that vulnerability and diminished fiscal space. I
encourage international financial institutions and partner countries to do what they
can to ease debt burdens, facilitate investment and leverage development assistance
during this crucial period. If necessary, we must pool financial resources to create
investment funds.
The pandemic has also highlighted that we need more investment in social
and health services all around the world. We need to develop projects for the social
inclusion of the most vulnerable groups. We must ensure universal health coverage.
While tackling the immediate consequences of the pandemic, we must also work
towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), uphold our pledge to leave
no one behind and ensure that our recovery efforts spur on the SDGs. We do not need
to prioritize among those Goals. Indeed, the underlying urgency of ending extreme
poverty, halting climate change, protecting the oceans or building inclusive societies
is more pressing than ever. Investments towards the SDGs can serve as both a means
and an end towards a post-COVID-19 recovery.
The environmental root causes must also be addressed. COVID-19 is a zoonotic
infectious disease, originating from animal populations being placed under severe
environmental pressure. This is our last warning. We must get to the bottom of how it
happened to ensure it does not happen again. We simply have to protect biodiversity
and look towards a green recovery.
21-002033/228
, A/S-31/4 25/01/2021
Finally, we must ensure that the policies we implement to combat the pandemic
do not undermine the democratic institutions that underpin the long-term health
of our economies and societies. Our response to the crisis must be shaped by and
uphold respect for human rights. Our policies should be universal, open, transparent,
accountable and inclusive. Promoting good governance, respecting the rule of law
and allocating resources for the most vulnerable people will, in fact, support our
response to the pandemic by making our societies more equitable and resilient.
As a global community, we are at the beginning of the largest socioeconomic
recovery since the creation of the United Nations. If properly planned and coordinated,
our recovery has the potential to jump-start the SDGs, accelerate action on resilient
infrastructure, improve access to education and health care and better protect the
natural world around us. In 1945, sceptics thought that the idea of a multilateral
system, with an Organization of unparalleled legitimacy at its core, to be impossible.
But even at that time of unimaginable tragedy, the world came together for the sake
of humankind. I am sure we will be able to do that once again. Right now, we all
dream of the day the pandemic is over; the day we can take a deep breath of fresh air,
without fear; the day we can shake the hands of our colleagues, embrace our families
and laugh with our friends.
After months of adjusting to life during this pandemic, it will be easy to feel
frustrated but members should not be deterred. We are working for members. We
are working for refugees who are taking every precaution to protect their families
in camp settings. We are working for people with underlying conditions, while self-
isolating at home; for the girls and boys who wish, above all else, to return to school;
for people in line, waiting for COVID-19 testing, and for those who do not have
access to such diagnostics; for the healthcare workers who continue to work tirelessly
on the front line; for the people battling the effects of COVID-19 and for the families
around the world, who are grieving the loss of their loved ones. The United Nations
is working for them. We are united for them. I ask them to stay strong. There are
brighter days ahead.
4/228 21-00203
