UN general debate in New York: top meeting in the shadow of the crises

The climate, Corona and Afghanistan will dominate the agenda of the annual UN family meeting. Germany wants to leave a big footprint in the process. US President Biden’s speech is eagerly awaited.

UN chief Antonio Guterres has brought together the world’s top politicians to shake them up behind closed doors before the big climate summit in November. “It is a wake-up call to draw attention to the urgency of the climate process ahead of the UN climate change conference COP26,” he said.

Before the General Assembly, it will not be Chancellor Angela Merkel who will speak for Germany, but Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. With his speech on Friday he wants to underline the importance that Germany attaches to the United Nations and multilateral cooperation. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas will also do this in numerous rounds of talks.

The constant topic is the situation in Afghanistan, says UN observer Richard Gowan from the think tank Crisis Group: “Many politicians, especially Europeans, will talk a lot about Afghanistan. They will emphasize that the Taliban must respect women’s and human rights. But I doubt the Taliban will listen to them. “

High expectations from Biden

At the United Nations, Afghanistan is still represented by the overthrown government’s ambassador in Kabul. After the unfortunate withdrawal of the troops from there, the international community will also try on the sidelines of this General Assembly to clean up the pieces.

The aim is to sound out what a group might look like that will negotiate the future of the country with the new rulers in Kabul. What is certain is that the US would like to play a role in this. The first speech by US President Joe Biden at the General Assembly is not only eagerly awaited today, says UN expert Gowan.

“President Biden will use his speech to get the other heads of state and government to do more about the climate crisis and the fight against Covid,” he said. But the US president will also send a message. “The US is back. And it is a more reliable power than China,” Gowan suspects.

Clear announcement to Bolsonaro

Beijing and Moscow, for their part, have already sent a signal: Neither China’s head of state Xi Jinping nor Russia’s President Vladimir Putin are among the hundred or so heads of state and government who are personally present at the debate. To protect against corona, the world’s largest top diplomatic meeting is taking place on a reduced scale: the size of the delegation for each country on the UN site is limited to seven, and only four representatives per country are allowed to sit in the plenary hall.

However, the city of New York was unable to enforce an obligation to vaccinate. The general debate will be opened by someone who brags about not getting vaccinated: Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro. “If you come here, you have to get vaccinated. And if you don’t want that, then stay away,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio sent a message to him.

Bolsonaro is already in New York. But de Blasio remains a satisfaction: The populist from Brazil may come into the hall of the UN General Assembly unvaccinated. He doesn’t come in New York restaurants. Bolsonaro has already been spotted eating pizza on the Manhattan sidewalk.