NEW YORK – A sort of “commitment of honor” instead of the “green pass”. To world leaders who intend to enter the UN General Assembly to participate in the United Nations General Assembly – which today comes alive with the intervention of the American president Joe Biden – no proof of vaccination will be required. Instead, we will rely on a so-called “honor system”. Therefore, presidents, prime ministers, kings and high dignitaries will implicitly certify that they are immunized – or at least be in possession of a negative swab – when they use their identification badge to access the Palace. A practice, on the other hand, already widespread among diplomats since last June. A choice that, however, already irritates the leaders of the city of New York, mayor Bill de Blasio in the head, which during the summer has established strict rules to enter almost anywhere.
The debate on compulsory vaccination, in short, also overwhelms the UN headquarters: it is international territory and the Secretary General Antonio Guterres he has already made it clear that he cannot impose anything on the heads of state. If not the “honor system”: a kind of accountability, unwritten commitment to accept local rules. But the system is likely to be wrecked in the next few hours: when the Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who has had Covid but is not vaccinated (nor does he intend to do so soon. “I have all the necessary antibodies”, he reiterates) will give the inauguration speech, traditionally entrusted to Brazil. While immediately after him it will be the turn of the very prudent American president Joe Biden take the floor. For the Washington Post it is the “first test of the UN”: the Latin leader – yesterday forced to eat pizza by the slice in the street because he cannot enter any restaurant – has in fact been defined by many as a “denier”. It is no coincidence that in his country only 37 percent of the population is vaccinated and is second only to the United States for the number of deaths from Covid (590 thousand). Bolsonaro, on the other hand, is not alone. Among the unvaccinated there is also the Vietnamese president Nguyen Xuan Phuc. Together with several African leaders.
United States, Biden’s foreign policy restarts from the “Quad”: the quadrilateral of the Indo-Pacific democracies
by Federico Rampini
In fact, many did not listen to the invitation of the United States: which had tried to dissuade as many participants as possible from presenting themselves in order “not to transform the annual meeting into a hotbed event”. Not at all. There will be more than one hundred delegations in attendance.
Certainly, the international political event highlights the disparities of the world in the field of vaccines. While the United States has an overabundant supply – but the fully vaccinated remain just 54.6 percent of eligible people – 57 percent of people in the world have not yet received any doses. And to complicate matters, there is also the fact that some leaders, together with their staff, have received immunization with serums not recognized by the American health authorities: starting with the one produced by the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, which is also widespread in Italy. . Together with the Russian Sputnik and the Chinese Sinovac and Sinopharm.
The United States reopens to vaccinated European tourists since November
by our correspondent Anna Lombardi
On the other hand, the vaccine issue is not the only oddity of this 76th General Assembly, where the return of the Taliban to Afghanistan and the military coup in Burma will be addressed, among other issues. Already. But who represents the two countries? The current ambassadors have been appointed by previous governments and for now the UN credentials commission has no plans to change the status quo. The Afghan Ghulam Isaczai, appointed by the former president’s government Ashraf Ghani, he continued to represent the country, asking the Security Council to put pressure on the Taliban to form a more democratic government. Even the Burmese Kyaw Moe Tun he held the post before the coup and has already said he does not recognize the new regime, reaffirming loyalty to Aung San Suu Kyi. The military would like the veteran in her place Aung Thurein: and in fact two requests were made to represent the country.
Less Europe, more Asia: the Biden doctrine put to the test by the UN
by Federico Rampini
.