Pandemic: an extraordinary summit will be held at the UN on December 3 and 4

The UN General Assembly decided on Thursday to organize an extraordinary summit on the Covid-19 pandemic on December 3 and 4 in New York to strengthen international coordination, which should be held a priori especially in a virtual manner.

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Discussed since June at the initiative of the Non-Aligned Movement, this summit is convened at the level of heads of state and government, says a resolution adopted by 150 of the 193 countries of the General Assembly.

No member voted against, three abstained: United States, Israel and Armenia.

Due to the 14 days of confinement imposed on foreign visitors by New York City, a physical presence of heads of state is unlikely and this semi-virtual, half-physical summit model had already been adopted in September by the UN for its Annual General Assembly at the level of the leaders of the planet.

During the speeches following the vote, the United States stressed that it was opposed to an important role for the World Health Organization during the summit, while Russia deplored the American denigration of this institution.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic at the beginning of the year, the 193 Member States of the United Nations have adopted four resolutions on the pandemic, on April 2, 2020 on global solidarity, on April 20 on cooperation in global access to medicines and vaccines and September 11 on comprehensive and coordinated action and a united response to global health threats.

For its part, the Security Council, subject to growing Sino-American rivalry, adopted only one resolution, on July 1, which calls for an end to the fighting in the countries at war in order to facilitate the fight against the pandemic.