31st Special Session of the General Assembly in response to the Covid-19 pandemic (3-4 December 2020, 14 December 2020)

Report and comments, by Marge Berer, 16 December 2020 

This Special Session of the General Assembly (GA) was originally scheduled as a two-day event on 3-4 December 2020. On both days, it began at 9:30am New York time and ended late at night. The intention was to give every member of the United Nations the opportunity to make a statement to the General Assembly about what is happening in their countries due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Commonwealth Medical Trust statement at UN General Assembly Special Session in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

The Commonwealth Medical Trust (Commat) was one of only three NGOs[*] to speak in the general debate of the UN General Assembly Special Session in response to the COVID-19 pandemic (resumed session on 

In her statement, Marianne Haslegrave, Commat’s Director, highlighted not only the work of healthcare workers worldwide and those involved in the development of vaccines against COVID-19, but also the role of civil society organizations in post-pandemic recovery efforts. 

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Special Session on COVID-19: Plenary debate to resume on Monday 14 December at 15.00 hours

In his letter dated 7 December  the President of the General Assembly announced that the Special Session will resume at 15.00 hours (New York time) on Monday 14 December to continue to hear speakers in the general debate.

These will include 5 videos from Member States; 2 videos from the Holy See and Palestine; 16 statements from Member States, which were meant to be delivered by Permanent Representatives from the floor; and video interventions from civil society.

Special Session on COVID-19: briefing by Presidents Spokesperson

The Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly gave the following information on the Special Session in his briefing yesterday: 

• Over the two days of the general debate, there was a total of 129 speakers, including 34 Heads of State, 1 Vice-President, 38 Heads of Government, 6 Deputy Prime Ministers, 49 Ministers and the President of the European Council of...

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Special Session on COVID-19: some initial thoughts on the general debate

While I am sure that some of you watched, or listened to, the whole of the opening session and general debate of the UN General Assembly Special Session on the COVID-19 pandemic yesterday, I do have to confess that I only followed the first 8½ hours. A number of common themes emerged in the statements that were made, which showed a great deal of solidarity among Member States in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and thanks were expressed to the Non-Aligned Movement under the leadership of Azerbaijan in calling for the Special Session. 

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Special Session on COVID 19: Statements

Statements submitted to the Special session of the General Assembly in response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic can be found here:

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Special session of the General Assembly in response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on 3 and 4 December 2020 - Live Streaming

Dear NGO Representatives,

We are sharing with you the link that has now been provided to observe the “Special session of the General Assembly in response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic” on 3 and 4 December 2020:

http://webtv.un.org/live-now/watch/31st-special-session-of-the-general-assembly-in-response-to-the-coronavirus-disease-covid-19-pandemic-3-4-december-2020-1-opening-segment.-2-general-debate/5970440811001

Special Session on COVID 19: Two new letters from the President of the UN General Assembly

The President of the UN General Assembly has circulated two letters dated 2 December related to the Special Session.

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Special Session on COVID 19: latest information as of 2 December

The UN Special Session will begin on Thursday 3 December at 09.00 New York time. As of today (2 December) it is in the UN Journal under forthcoming meetings and will probably move to meetings of the day. 

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[Update] Submission of questions to the Interactive Panels at the UNGASS on Covid-19

From: NGO Branch <ngobranch@un.org>

Dear NGO representatives,

As announced in our earlier message, the Office of the President of the General Assembly is inviting non-governmental organizations in consultative status with ECOSOC that have already successfully registered to participate in the UN General Assembly Special Session on 3-4 December 2020, to submit one question per organization for consideration to be posed by the moderators of the interactive panels to the panelists on Friday, 4 December 2020.

The deadline for submission of questions has been extended to Wednesday, 2 December 2020 at 12 PM. 

Please clink on this link to submit your question