COVID-19 again loomed large over the 76th United Nations General Assembly high-level debate, which launched Tuesday amid confusion and disagreements among world leaders about how best to move forward amid the pandemic.
While last year’s event was completely virtual, this year’s debate was a hybrid of in-person and prerecorded remarks. Here are some of the highlights.
‘The edge of an abyss’
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres set the tone, which was one of alarm over a world “on the edge of an abyss — and moving in the wrong direction.”
All you need to know from UNGA 2021
To get on-the-ground coverage, in-depth analysis, and behind-the-scenes reporting from the 76th U.N. General Assembly, sign up for our special edition newsletters.
Some of Guterres’ most forceful opening remarks Tuesday took on the “obscenity” of global vaccine inequality. He applauded the “victory of science and human ingenuity” represented by effective vaccines but decried the “tragedy of a lack of political will, selfishness, and mistrust” that has allowed 67% of people in high-income countries to receive at least one dose of the vaccine, while only 2.2% of people in low-income countries have.
“We passed the science test. But we are getting an F in ethics,” Guterres said.
Multilateralism ‘in need of repair’
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta used his remarks on Wednesday as an opportunity to push for more equitable vaccine distribution.
“The asymmetry of the supply of vaccines reflects a multilateral system that is, unfortunately, in urgent need of repair,” he said. “At the heart of the global effort to building back better, we must make concerted, structural changes that will enable a quantum increase in investment and technology transfers.”
He said that instead of viewing it as “charity,” wealthier nations should view vaccine assistance to African nations as driven by “enlightened self-interest and solidarity.”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa similarly used his speech to argue that vaccines are “the greatest defense that humanity has against the ravages of this pandemic.” But he expressed dismay that the international community was failing on the “principles of solidarity and cooperation” in ensuring equitable access to vaccines for everyone.
Additionally, Ramaphosa said he wanted the COVID-19 summit United States President Joe Biden hosted on the sidelines of UNGA to be used to push for temporary waivers of intellectual property on the vaccines, arguing this would help boost production.
Biden’s big moment
Biden himself seemed to take to heart the issue of vaccine inequality, using his COVID-19 summit to announce a new pledge of donating 500 million more doses of the Pfizer vaccine by this time next year to lower-income countries, putting Washington’s promise north of 1 billion doses. However, so far only about 160 million doses have gotten out the door.
Biden called the vaccines “a little dose of hope,” in his speech, his first to the global body as president. He used the event to tout his desire for strong U.S. engagement in multilateralism, noting that Washington rejoined the Paris Climate Accords and would again seek a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The ping-pong on the council has seen former U.S. President George W. Bush shun the body, his successor Barack Obama joined with much fanfare, only for Donald Trump to again withdraw.
All eyes on climate … and China
On Tuesday, Biden pledged to invest in climate financing, saying he would work with Congress to double the U.S. funding to $11.4 billion per year by 2024, in what he said was a push to get the world’s advanced economies to meet a $100 billion climate financing commitment.
UNFCCC chief: $100B climate finance target must 'go up'
U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa says the $100 billion a year in climate finance is only a jumping-off point.
While Biden did not mention China by name in his speech, Beijing had its own climate announcement ready — which drew big headlines. Chinese President Xi Jinping committed to ending Chinese financing for coal-fired power plants abroad, vowing to increase “support for other developing countries in developing green and low-carbon energy.”
While he did not put a fixed date on the pledge, it was still welcomed by the likes of John Kerry, the U.S. climate envoy.
It’s (not) easy being green
The climate issue is being closely watched with COP 26 just around the corner. In a sprawling speech that jumped from the muppets to Sophocles in the space of a heartbeat, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made public his hitherto unknown feud with Kermit the Frog and insisted “it is easy being green.”
On a more serious note, Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih expressed the urgency of the situation for low-lying nations, according to a Reuters report.
"The difference between 1.5 degrees and 2 degrees [Celsius] is a death sentence for the Maldives," he told world leaders on Tuesday.
Forever wars
More on UNGA:
► UN in talks with Taliban for more security assurances for aid workers
► What's changed in global philanthropy, and what more is needed?
What might be more complicated is ending the war in Yemen, with Saudi Arabia saying, on the one hand, it remained committed to peace, but on another hand indicating it would keep up the war against the Houthis in the Arab world’s most impoverished nation.
There also was some discussion about providing humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan. For example, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said the country would be willing to provide humanitarian visas to certain Afghan refugees, specifically “Christians, women, children, and judges.”
UNGA influencers
And while diplomacy and policy talks were the main course at UNGA, it is without a doubt that the buzziest moment of this year’s event came courtesy of K-pop megastars BTS. The band spoke at the event and gave a performance that was watched by more than 1 million people online.
And in another appeal to a younger audience, the U.N. also promoted UNGA with a TikTok dance routine.
Michael Igoe contributed to this report.
About the authors
Stephanie Beasley@Steph_Beasley
Stephanie Beasley is a Senior Reporter at Devex, where she covers global philanthropy with a focus on regulations and policy. She is an alumna of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and Oberlin College and has a background in Latin American studies. She previously covered transportation security at POLITICO.
Shabtai Gold
Shabtai Gold is a Senior Reporter based in Washington. He covers multilateral development banks, with a focus on the World Bank, along with trends in development finance. Prior to Devex, he worked for the German Press Agency, dpa, for more than a decade, with stints in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, before relocating to Washington to cover politics and business.
