UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said yesterday that he could not ask world leaders to prove they had been vaccinated against Covid-19, as New York City officials say Vaccination certificates must be required for anyone entering the UN General Assembly room.
Dozens of heads of state and government and foreign ministers – accompanied by countless diplomats – are expected to meet in New York next week for the Organization’s annual General Assembly. Due to the new coronavirus pandemic, some leaders will not travel to UN headquarters and will send videotaped speeches.
New York City officials told the United Nations that according to city rules, People “entering the UN premises to enter the General Assembly room will have to show proof of vaccination to access the room”.
But Guterres told Reuters in an interview: “We, as the General Secretariat, cannot tell a head of state that if he is not vaccinated he cannot enter the United Nations headquarters.».
The area and buildings of the UN headquarters in Manhattan are international territory and are not subject to US law. However, UN officials had previously pledged to abide by local and national pandemic guidelines.
“We have discussed with the municipality different ways to ensure that the maximum number will be vaccinated and the New York mayor’s office has provided vaccination options. “People who come here can be vaccinated,” Guterres said.
The UN chief said discussions about how many diplomats would travel to attend the General Assembly might be immunized. “How dramatic is the inequality regarding vaccinations today?” However, he stressed that the “vast majority” of delegations traveling to New York will be vaccinated.
Of the 5.7 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine given worldwide, only 2% have been given to humans in Africa, according to Reuters.
Guterres has warned that the more the virus circulates among billions of unvaccinated people, the greater the risk of developing more dangerous strains of the virus. He is pushing for a global plan to vaccinate 70% of the world’s population by the first half of next year.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said yesterday that the city would provide a test for Covid-19 and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine next week at a venue outside the UN headquarters.
De Blasio praised UN General Assembly President Abdullah Sahid, who wrote a letter to his UN colleagues saying he strongly supported the demonstration of vaccination and would work with the Secretary-General to implement this “possible” requirement.
However, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said yesterday that Moscow was opposed to requiring anyone to show proof of vaccination to enter the General Assembly, saying such a measure was discriminatory.
In a letter to his UN colleagues, Nebenzia called for the convening of the UN General Assembly on Thursday to discuss the issue. It was not immediately clear whether such a meeting would be scheduled.
New York City officials told the United Nations that the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant was a matter of great concern and that the number of new cases had risen sharply in the past two months.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield last month urged world leaders to send videotaped speeches instead of traveling to New York, saying it would help prevent the concentration from turning into a .
Last year, no country sent delegations to New York, and world leaders sent videotaped speeches instead.
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