UNGA Special Session on COVID-19 pandemic begins today, world leaders to attend

A special session of the UN General Assembly in Response to the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic will be held from December 3-4, 2020 at UN headquarters in New York. 

The two-day event will witness participation from world leaders, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and COVID-19 vaccine developers. The special session aims to provide an opportunity for the international community to assess and hone its collective response to the pandemic.

The event will provide an opportunity to all world leaders and relevant stakeholders to engage in dialogue on the impacts of the pandemic on people, societies and economies.

Key Objectives

•The two-day special session will provide an opportunity to all the stakeholders to share their experiences in battling the pandemic.

•It will also enable them to reflect on the global response to date and forge a united, coordinated and people-centered path forward.

•The leaders will also discuss the multifaceted and coordinated response required to address the COVID-19 crisis. \

•The first day of the session will comprise an opening segment followed by a general debate, which will focus on the experiences of Member States.

•The session's second day will witness an interactive dialogue, which will entail a series of moderated panels covering key aspects of the impact and response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

•The dialogue will also cover the UN system’s health and humanitarian response to the pandemic and the road to a COVID-19 vaccine as well as the socio-economic impact of the crisis and recovery.

Significance

The United Nations, in a statement, said that the COVID-19 pandemic is not only the greatest global health crisis since the creation of the UN 75 years ago but it is also a socio-economic, humanitarian, security and human rights crisis.

The UN's response to COVID-19 is based on three pillars:

•A large-scale, coordinated, comprehensive health response

•A wide-ranging effort to safeguard lives and livelihoods

•A transformative recovery process

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed more than 1.3 million lives, infecting more than 54 million people across the world. The pandemic could result in the worst global recession since the Great Depression. It has hit the poorest and most vulnerable people particularly hard.