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New York, June 17-18 – Constrained by the severe impacts of coronavirus, the UN General Assembly elected its new president and five non-permanent members of the UN Security Council by holding a non-plenary meeting in which voters stepped forward to cast ballots wearing facial masks and maintaining strict social distancing.

The 193-member assembly elected Volkan Bozkir of Turkey as its president for the September 2020-September 2021 period, which marks the 75^th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations.

The assembly elected India, Ireland, Mexico, Norway and Kennya as non-permanent members for two-year terms of the 15-nation UN Security Council. The newly elected countries will replace the five non-permanent members that will exit the council as of December 31 this year. The council is the most important political body in the UN system as it holds decision making power over issues of peace and security in the world.

 The UN Security Council membership starting on January 1, 2021 are: permanent members: the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom. The 10 non-permanent members are: India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, Niger, Norway, St. Vincent and Grenadines, Estonia and Vietnam.

 Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, the current assembly president, said the procedure for the elections was applied for the first time in UN history in order to meet health-related requirements under the Covid-19 pandemic. In normal times before the pandemic the assembly met in a plenary session to carry out its programs.

The pandemic has compelled the UN to scale down or postpone scheduled meetings in 2020. For the upcoming annual UN General Assembly session in September, it has been decided that heads of states and governments are not required to show up and instead send only two representatives to meetings.  “Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have all had to work under extraordinary conditions to overcome the myriad of challenges facing us. Indeed, the elections represented our common commitment to ensuring the uninterrupted continuation of the important work of the United Nations, in accordance with the values and principles of the United Nations Charter,” Muhammad-Bande said.

Update

New York, June 10 – With the coronavirus pandemic inflicting daily infections and deaths in many countries, the United Nations for the first time ever has informed national leaders of 193 countries that are UN members to stay home and take part in the organization’s most important annual meetings in September only through video conferences.

The decision to hold only virtual meetings has disrupted the elaborate programming of a series of celebrations to mark the 75^th anniversary of the creation of the UN.

 Since March this year UN meetings were either cancelled or held through a digital platform in order to meet strict health regulations by the US government designed to blunt the spread of coronavirus.

Heads of state and government, or ministers representing them, are asked to send pre-recorded video statements that will be played up during the UN General Assembly session starting on September 22.

 Each country can send only two representatives to the assembly meetings and are reminded that they must be physically free of symptoms consistent with Covid-19, maintain physical distancing and wear a face covering while inside the UN premises.

 The assembly session each year has been attended by thousands of delegates from the 193 countries.

A commemoration to mark the 75^th anniversary of the signing of the Charter of the United Nations on June 26 was to be held via a virtual platform. 

 The United Kingdom on May 28 postponed a climate change conference known as COP26 until November 2021, a decision that surprised no one considering that the Covid-19 pandemic’s lockdown and social distancing around the world has already upended the meticulous setup of the program of UN-related meetings this year.

Cop26 was scheduled to take place in November 2020 in Glasgow so an extra 18-month delay would give London and its Italian partners plenty of time to prepare for the annual conference designed to take action on the Paris climate change agreement. Past COP meetings attracted thousands of participants and organizers fear such a vast attendance would cause health risks.

‘With the new dates for COP26 now agreed we are working with our international partners on an ambitious roadmap for global climate action between now and November 2021,” said Alok Sharma, who is CPO26 president. “The steps we take to rebuild our economies will have a profound impact on our societies’ future sustainability, resilience and wellbeing and COP26 can be a moment where the worldunites behind a clean resilient recovery.”

“Everyone will need to raise their ambitions to tackle climate change and the

expertise of the Friends of COP will be important in helping boost climate action

across the globe,” Sharma said.

France, Barbados, Chad, Australia, India and Peru, the Friends of COP, will advise the UK government and provide expertise on matters related to climate change.

By springtime 2020 when Coronavirus spreaded to many countries around the UN and its agencies started holding meetings through various digital ways. Previously planned meetings were either cancelled or postponed to the later part of 2020. In March it cancelled the Commission on the Status of Women which annually is attended by hundreds of women organizations from all countries.

 The Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, which was to take place this summer, was postponed until July-August 2021.

Other cancelled or delayed events included a conference in Beijing on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in May, the UN conference on the Oceans in June in Portugal and discussions in the UN General Assembly on desertification and drought, and on counter-terrorist programs.