This Tuesday, Sept 21, the week-long General Debate at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) kicks off in NYC. Last year’s Debate was held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the world, but, this year, while it is expected that half of the heads of the 193 member states might skip the event, the show will go on. This contingency does not imply that the pandemic has been defeated, but, more pragmatically, that the Developed Countries and China, with their wealth and technical advantages, have been able to create and deploy vaccines to such a level as to have almost reached the “herd immunity” nirvana. The disparity in vaccine distribution across the world will definitely be one of the hot topics in the debate.
President Ali has chosen to attend the UNGA meeting in person, and took the opportunity to make a pit stop at the meeting of the “Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), of which Guyana and Caricom are members. That conclave started last Friday, and it is expected that the President would have presented Guyana’s case to the other members of CELAC on the Venezuela Border Controversy. This has become a live issue because of the outrageous “agreement” brokered by host Mexico between the Government and Opposition of Venezuela (which is also a member of CELAC), that Essequibo belongs to Venezuela. The controversy, of course, had been dealt with between the parties British Guiana and Venezuela, along with the colonial power Britain in the 1966 Geneva Agreement. And subsequent to the protocols of that agreement, the controversy is before the International Court of Justice (ICJ, or “World Court”) on the decision of the Secretary General of the UN.
Fresh from this meeting, President Ali will be ready to inform the entire world at the UNGA, when he addresses them on Thursday, September 23. Venezuela would have already spoken the day before, so President Ali will be able to rebut their well-worn specious arguments. Venezuela is fundamentally challenging the very raison d’etre of the UN – which is, to provide a forum for its sovereign members to settle their contentions peacefully, and not through force. On the Border Controversy, Venezuela has already breached that agreement by forcefully annexing our half of Ankoko Island back in 1966. It is expected that when the ICJ rules in Guyana’s favour next year, Ankoko will be returned to us.
Venezuela will also be pleading for the US to pull back some of the measures it has taken to get Venezuela to return to the democratic fold. But President Ali will be able to expose the hypocrisy of Venezuela invoking “justice” after it has abrogated democracy, destroyed its economy, and pushed 5 million of its citizens to become refugees in neighbouring countries – including Guyana – and now refusing to accept the jurisdiction of the World Court to decide on the merits or demerits of its rejection of a 122-year-old “full and final” arbitral award.
As implied above, while each country would articulate its particular concerns, there are also other “global” issues that would take centre stage – as articulated in this year’s theme: ‘Building resilience through hope – to recover from COVID-19, rebuild sustainably, respond to the needs of the planet, respect the rights of people, and revitalize the United Nations.’
The vaccine inequity in distribution would certainly loom large, and the Secretary-General’s ‘Our Common Agenda’ report would include specific recommendations on the global COVID-19 approach, which could be a benchmark for evaluating how much, or little, Heads of State or Government are proposing. Guyana has already forcefully advocated for justice in vaccine distribution. With the countries heading to Glasgow, Scotland for the UN Climate Change Conference (or COP 26) in November, President Ali might also telescope the positions Guyana is coordinating with Suriname on this critical issue.
All in all, we should expect the President to give a riveting presentation.
