The Summit of the Future is behind us and the U.N.’s annual high-level General Assembly debate is underway. First up: U.S. President Joe Biden had a busy day yesterday.
Also in today’s edition: The U.K.’s prime minister makes an appearance — but fumbles his words.
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Swan song
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U.S. President Joe Biden delivered his final U.N. speech Tuesday, urging allies to stay the course in support of Ukraine’s fight against Russia, reiterating his call for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, and pressing governments to “stop arming the generals” in Sudan.
Biden used the speech to detail his administration’s achievements on the stage, but the escalating conflict in Lebanon cast a cloud over the event, exposing the limits of American power to contain a war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza from spreading across the region.
Biden also emphasized a message of hope, recalling how intractable conflicts and divisions of the past, from the Cold War to the Vietnam War, have ended in peace. “It’s a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the capacity for reconciliation,” he said. “Today, the United States and Vietnam are partners and friends as proof, even from the horrors of war, there’s a way forward. Things can get better. We should never forget that.”
Perhaps Biden’s most memorable line was his challenge to a crowd of world leaders to know when it is time to hand the baton to a new generation.
“Being president has been the honor of my life,” he told the gathering. “As much as I love the job, I love my country more. …. My fellow leaders, let us never forget, some things are more important than staying in power. It’s your people. It’s your people that matter the most.”
Looking forward, Biden also gave a speech yesterday to the Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Business Forum, calling on private companies to take advantage of lowered interest rates and have the “confidence to invest trillions that are on the sidelines in clean energy industries of the future.”
Read: Biden takes climate victory lap, calls on the private sector to step up
Doomsday at Turtle Bay
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres’ speeches have grown increasingly apocalyptic in recent years, and yesterday’s speech was no different.
“Our world is in a whirlwind,” he said at the opening of the U.N. General Assembly debate. “We are edging towards the unimaginable.”
If this is enough to send you into a quiet corner in your bedroom to roll up into a ball, don’t worry, Guterres assured the audience that he has a plan, or at least a first step — a series of reforms that emerged from the Summit of the Future, which seeks to revive the state of international cooperation to meet the challenges of the day.
On Sunday, Russia’s attempt to block the passage of a pair of landmark U.N. reform agreements, the Pact of the Future and the Global Digital Compact, failed miserably. But in an address on Monday, Russian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergey Vershinin made it clear the matter is not over. Russia wants to “disassociate ourselves from the consensus on the [future] pact and the global digital compact,” he said, opining that the pacts “do not impose any obligations on the Russian Federation,” and that they cannot be cited in future U.N. documents without another “painstaking” round of negotiations.
ICYMI:
• UN states call Russia's bluff, adopt Pact for the Future
• Russian-led autocratic coalition upends Future Summit
Code red
The U.N. humanitarian operation in Sudan took a hit last month following a report that the World Food Programme’s inspector general launched an investigation on two senior officials “over allegations of fraud and concealing information from donors about its ability to deliver food aid,” Reuters reported in late August. On Sept. 5, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote to Guterres to urge him to do more to pressure the war parties to permit access and get more aid in, according to two diplomatic sources.
Guterres responded — in a letter seen by Devex — on Sept. 19 that he fully concurs with Blinken’s assessment. “There is now a growing likelihood that the humanitarian catastrophe that has enveloped the Sudan since April of last year will become even worse over the coming period,” Guterres wrote. “It is critical that the Sudan remains at the top of the international agenda,” he added. “I will continue to press, through all available channels, for safe, unhindered and sustained humanitarian access.”
He’s not the only one: 50 U.S. lawmakers penned a letter to Blinken and USAID administrator Samantha Power at the end of August calling for “extraordinary measures” to support civilians in Sudan.
Read: US lawmakers push for more funding — and leadership — for Sudan (Pro)
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Keeping the peace?
Blinken continues to prod Guterres into backing a transition from a Kenya-led Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti to a proper U.N. peacekeeping mission.
The U.N. has a long sorry history in Haiti, where U.N. peacekeepers from Nepal, dispatched in the aftermath of the massive 2010 earthquake, reintroduced cholera into the population, killing thousands. Guterres is reluctant to send U.N. blue helmets back.
His public reticence has been cited by Chinese and Russian diplomats in closed-door negotiations over a draft U.S. resolution that aims to set the stage for such a transition, forcing the U.S. to offer concessions over the course of multiple, ever-more-timid (but still blocked) drafts of the proposal.
The U.S. is now looking to the Kenyans themselves and the Haitian prime minister to make the case directly to the U.N. chief and the U.N. Security Council that they would favor transforming the mission into a U.N. operation. Kenyan President William Ruto recently announced plans for the deployment of 600 more Kenyan police, bringing the total to 1,000. He also expressed support for transitioning to a full-fledged U.N. peacekeeping operation.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes
The family planning financing gap is expected to grow to $1.5 billion by 2030. While 377 million women of reproductive age in low- and middle-income countries today use a modern method of contraception, another 257 million lack access to it. And in many countries, laws related to sexual and reproductive health and rights are moving toward tighter restrictions, rather than greater access.
So what is it that stops countries from funding health services that triple their economic return on investment? Short answer: “Stupidity,” said British billionaire hedge fund manager and Children’s Investment Fund Foundation co-founder Chris Hohn.“There’s a stupid allocation of resources,” he told family planning advocates at an UNGA side event on Tuesday.
CIFF plans to spend more than it currently does on family planning, Hohn said. And with the world’s largest bilateral family planning donor — the U.S. — barreling toward an election that could put those funds in jeopardy, other donors are scrambling to shore up support.
Related: How donors spend on sexual and reproductive health and rights (Pro)
Brat(wurst) summer
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, speaking to the Labour Party conference on the eve of his debut address before the U.N. General Assembly, sought to underscore Britain’s desire to see an end to fighting in Gaza. But he made a serious blunder, referring to the Israeli hostages as sausages, before quickly recovering. “I call again for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, the return of the sausages — the hostages — and a recommitment to the two-state solution: recognized Palestinian state alongside a safe and secure Israel,” he said.
In other news
Thailand initiated the first phase of its $14 billion stimulus program, aiming to distribute 10,000 Thai baht to 45 million citizens via a digital wallet app to boost economic activity nationwide. [Reuters]
Myanmar's flood relief efforts have been hampered by political divisions, potentially affecting aid delivery to victims across different areas of control. [Nikkei Asia]
The IMF is planning to expedite financial aid to Bangladesh in order to back new government reforms. [Bloomberg]
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About the author
Colum Lynch
Colum Lynch is an award-winning reporter and Senior Global Reporter for Devex. He covers the intersection of development, diplomacy, and humanitarian relief at the United Nations and beyond. Prior to Devex, Colum reported on foreign policy and national security for Foreign Policy Magazine and the Washington Post. Colum was awarded the 2011 National Magazine Award for digital reporting for his blog Turtle Bay. He has also won an award for groundbreaking reporting on the U.N.’s failure to protect civilians in Darfur.
