Leading women speak at the UN General Assembly – Outney.net

Eight women – three vice presidents and five prime ministers – will address the United Nations General Assembly on Friday.

“We can not save the planet if we leave out of the discussions the most affected – women, girls, minorities,” said Slovak President Zuzana Caputova earlier in the week in a speech to the assembly.

“COVID-19 is threatening to reverse the success we have achieved,” Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, the first woman to be elected to the post in her country, told the assembly on Thursday.

Also Thursday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned at a summit that he wants to improve global production and access to food, as nearly half the planet cannot afford healthy food.

“Food is life. “But in countries, communities and families around the world, this essential need – this human right – is not being met.”

Mr Guterres said 3 billion people could not afford healthy food.

“Every day, hundreds of millions of people go to bed hungry. “Children are starving,” he said.

While millions of people are hungry and hunger is an apparent reality in parts of Yemen and Ethiopia, almost a third of all food production is lost or thrown away.

The summit, which has been under preparation for more than a year, aims to look at every aspect of food production differently to make it more environmentally friendly, safe, nutritious and disposable. It is also part of pushing forward the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, of which “a world without hunger” is a top priority.

The pandemic adds to the challenge

“The COVID-19 pandemic has made this a much bigger challenge,” said Secretary Guterres. “It has deepened inequalities, destroyed economies and plunged millions into extreme poverty.”

The virus was also at the center of leaders’ speeches to the General Assembly on Thursday – especially African leaders, who made up a large part of the day’s speakers. Many participated with video messages due to the pandemic.

“82% of the vaccine doses in the world have been taken from rich countries, while less than 1% have gone to low-income countries,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a video speech.

The African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 4% of Africa’s population is fully vaccinated.

“The abundant reserves accumulated by rich countries and the unequal distribution of vaccines across the globe is unacceptable,” Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa said in a recorded message. Vaccine nationalism is self-destructive and contrary to the motto “no one is safe until everyone is safe”. “In the north or the south, rich or poor, old or young, everyone in the world deserves access to vaccines.”

In the speeches there were also concerns about the tendency towards coup in African countries. Last year, coups took place in Chad, Mali and Guinea. The Sudanese army said it had suppressed a coup attempt there just this week. In Tunisia, some argue that President Kais Saied essentially staged a coup, imposing a state of emergency and then firing the prime minister and suspending parliament to consolidate his authority.

Angolan President João Gonçalves Lourenço said there has not been enough feedback from other countries to discourage the trend.

“We consider it necessary for the international community to act decisively and not simply make condemnatory statements in order to force these actors to return power to legitimately established institutions,” he said.

In the Middle East, Iraqi President Barham Salih expressed concern about terrorism in his country and beyond.

“We can not underestimate the danger posed by terrorism. “If we become weak and distracted by regional conflicts, we will simply see the return of the dark forces that will threaten our people and our security,” he said. “Cooperation and solidarity are our only choice in our fight against international terrorism and the groups that support it.”

Other speakers Thursday included Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermúdez, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

Coordinate

Meanwhile, the opportunities created this week for intense diplomacy helped mitigate a rare rift in US-France relations.

French officials were angered by a security deal between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States earlier this month. Under the agreement, Australia will receive at least eight nuclear-powered submarines, to be built in Australia using US technology. The deal came after Australia withdrew from a previous deal for French submarines worth tens of billions of dollars.

A telephone conversation between Presidents Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday and a personal meeting Thursday between their top diplomats on the outskirts of the General Assembly in New York seem to have calmed down Paris and restored trust.FLY