Security Council on COVID-19, Climate, Ebola & other topics – Daily Briefing (17 February 2021)

United Nations published this video item, entitled “Security Council on COVID-19, Climate, Ebola & other topics – Daily Briefing (17 February 2021)” – below is their description.

Noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Highlights:

– Security Council/COVID-19

– Secretary-General/Climate

– Senior Personnel Appointment

– Ebola/Africa

– Somalia

– International Criminal Court

– Financial Contributions

SECURITY COUNCIL/COVID-19

This morning the Secretary-General spoke at the Security Council’s open meeting on COVID-19 vaccination.

He said that vaccine equity is the biggest moral test before the global community.

Progress on vaccinations has been wildly uneven and unfair, with just ten countries having administered 75 per cent of all COVID-19 vaccines. Meanwhile, more than 130 countries have not received a single dose.

Mr. Guterres warned that if the virus is allowed to spread like wildfire in the Global South, it will mutate again and again. New variants could become more transmissible, more deadly and potentially threaten the effectiveness of current vaccines and diagnostics.

This can prolong the pandemic significantly, enabling the virus to come back to plague the Global North and delaying the world economic recovery.

The Secretary-General called on the G20 to set up a task force to create a Global Vaccination Plan to bring together all those with the required power, scientific expertise and production and financial capacities.

He said that the G7 meeting later this week can help create the momentum to mobilize the necessary financial resources.

Also speaking at today’s meeting was the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director, Henrietta Fore. She asked Council members for their support in three areas:

Firstly, to urge all Member States to ensure that everyone is included in national vaccination plans, regardless of their legal status or if they live in areas controlled by non-state entities.

Second: on a global ceasefire and, at a minimum, for a humanitarian pause for the duration of vaccine delivery.

Lastly, to help UNICEF re-start stalled immunization campaigns for other diseases.

SECRETARY-GENERAL/CLIMATE

Tomorrow, at 11:00 a.m., the Secretary-General and the Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Inger Andersen, will brief journalists on the triple emergencies of climate, biodiversity, and pollution, which are the focus of the latest report by UNEP.

On Friday, at 3:00 p.m., the Secretary-General will take part live in a virtual conversation with the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, and that is to mark the United States’ reentry into the Paris Agreement. The chat will be part of the opening session of UNA-USA’s virtual 2021 Global Engagement Summit and it will be live on the UN WebTV.

SENIOR PERSONNEL APPOINTMENT

The Secretary-General is appointing Usha Rao-Monari of India as Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

The Secretary-General expresses his gratitude and appreciation to Mourad Wahba of Egypt for his commitment as Associate Administrator ad interim and his 30 years of service in the United Nations. He also wishes to extend his appreciation to Tegegnework Gettu of Ethiopia for his significant contributions to the development agenda as UNDP’s Associate Administrator.

As Senior Adviser to Blackstone’s Infrastructure Group, Ms. Rao-Monari is an investment professional with almost 30 years of investment experience, particularly in the infrastructure area.

Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=17%20February%202021

United Nations YouTube Channel

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