President of the UN Assembly: ‘Inclusion is key’ for the vaccine against the virus

Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, president of the United Nations General Assembly, speaks during an interview, Thursday, September 3, 2020, at the UN headquarters. (AP Photo / Mark Lennihan)

UNITED NATIONS – The president of the UN General Assembly warns that a vaccine against COVID-19 must be available to all who need it because if only one country is left out, the world will still face a crisis from the coronavirus.

As the world searches for a vaccine and a post-COVID-19 world, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande also says that “inclusion is key, because without inclusion the suffering of those who are already left behind will continue, and we cannot guarantee peace. in that kind of context. “

He said in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press that statements from vaccine developers have said they intend to make them widely available, emphasizing that it is important.

“I think there will be protocols and agreements to ensure affordability and accessibility of the product when it is available,” he said.

Muhammad-Bande said that the pandemic, perhaps ironically, has challenged initial predictions that developing countries would be hit the hardest because many of their health systems are poorer. What has happened, he said, is that death and infection rates are much lower in percentage terms in developing countries, including Africa, than in the world’s major developed countries.

“The point that is absolutely fundamental, in both rich and poor countries, developed and developing countries, (is that) it matters how you respond to disease, whether you are rich or poor,” Muhammad-Bande said.

In dealing with the virus, he said, richer countries have better health care and financial support, while developing countries that depend on tourism and oil, for example, are suffering severe economic difficulties.

“Go to each country, see how the pandemic differentially affected the rich and the poor,” he said. “This is the big problem and it needs to be addressed.”
When asked what needs to be done more urgently to restore a sense of normalcy to the world, he said: “I believe that solidarity, partnership and empathy for one another are essential to move forward.”

Muhammad-Bande was interviewed on the day that ambassadors from the 193 UN member countries attended their first plenary meeting in person in the General Assembly hall since the pandemic forced the world’s body’s diplomats to work remotely. .

The presidency of the General Assembly rotates annually by region and Muhammad-Bande, who is Nigeria’s ambassador to the UN, was elected by the African group to the position. When he took office in September, he dealt with human rights and development issues, with a particular focus on education and poverty eradication.

The new coronavirus, which “just arrived,” created a single presidency, he said.

“The United Nations was created to solve problems and problems keep coming, and this is a unique one,” he said.

“It certainly complicated the way we had worked. It was not easy working from home. It was not easy to make agreements or negotiate, but it was understood that we had to do something, we had to work ”.

Members had to agree on difficult issues, including what constituted an official meeting and consensus, how to change the rules of procedure, and how to hold remote meetings with simultaneous translation in the six official UN languages: English, French, Spanish , Russian, Chinese and Arabic, he said.

Diplomats credit Muhammad-Bande’s calm manners and diplomatic skills for his last year’s accomplishments, firstly getting all countries to agree to a declaration commemorating the 75th anniversary of the UN that is scheduled to be adopted. by world leaders on September 21.

“We were able to come up with a consensus statement on the meaning of our 75-year history which, I think, for me, was remarkable because there were profound differences between countries and regions,” Muhammad-Bande said. “This is no small feat for the organization, there is no question about that.”

The declaration recalls the successes and failures of the UN and promises to build a post-pandemic world that is more equal, works together, and protects the planet. He calls the COVID-19 pandemic “the greatest global challenge in the history of the United Nations.”

When Muhammad-Bande took office, he said that the 75th anniversary of the United Nations “presents a unique opportunity for us to reduce the trust deficit between nations.” And he said that if the UN wants to achieve the vision of its founders, “we must ensure that indifference and cynicism do not creep into our organization.”

Despite agreeing with the statement, he said: “I’m not really sure that we have pushed the needle any further than it was for this year, aside from staying on course, insisting that because of the pandemic … the Multilateral cooperation is absolutely important to our peace and security. “

Muhammad-Bande pointed to the difficulties in “great power relations”, an issue also raised by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, especially the growing tensions between the United States and China.

The president of the assembly also said that there are difficulties among members on many other issues that prevented “much progress”, including the expansion of the 15-member UN Security Council to reflect the 21st century, not the post-Second world. World War.

Looking ahead, Muhammad-Bande said he hopes the General Assembly will adopt “an omnibus resolution” on COVID-19 before handing over the presidency to Turkish diplomat and politician Volkan Bozkir on September 15.

He said discussions among UN members are also underway on a proposal from the Non-Aligned Movement, which represents some 125 primarily developing countries, for a special session of the General Assembly on the pandemic.

Muhammad-Bande, who will revert to Nigeria’s full-time ambassador to the UN on September 16, said he has read, seen and heard people comment that the UN “doesn’t matter.”

“It matters absolutely crucially for the world,” he said, pointing to the UN’s role in setting “norms” for all countries and providing a space to discuss issues and exchange ideas.

Of course, the UN has its limitations because it is a combination of governments, each with its own sovereignty, he added.

But “if we don’t have the United Nations, the world must create something that looks to interests beyond official borders and borders,” Muhammad-Bande said. “And for me there is absolutely no reason for cynicism about the importance of the United Nations.”

gsg

Read next

EDITOR’S SELECTION

MOST READ

Don’t miss the latest news and information.