COVID-19: UNGA 2021 Adopts Honours System to Admit World Leaders to UN Headquarters

Pat Stevens/

As world leaders return to the United Nations for the first time in two years, today, a key issue ahead of the meetings has been COVID-19 entry requirements for leaders to the United States — and to the United Nations headquarters itself.

While the U.S. requires a vaccination or a recent COVID-19 test, and the U.N. has announced it will operate on an honour system whereby anyone entering the venue attests that they do not have symptoms of COVID-19 and have not tested positive in the last 10 days.

Last year, no leaders came to the U.N. because the coronavirus was ravaging the entire world, so all their addresses were pre-recorded. This year, more than 100 heads of state and government decided to appear in person in the General Assembly hall. The remaining will participate online.

By tradition, the first country to speak is Brazil, whose president, Jair Bolsonaro, isn’t vaccinated. He reiterated last Thursday that he doesn’t plan to get the shot any time soon, justifying his refusal by saying he had COVID-19 and therefore has a high level of antibodies.

The three most closely watched speakers on Tuesday morning are expected to be U.S. President Joe Biden, appearing at the U.N. for the first time since his defeat of Donald Trump in the November election, China’s President Xi Jinping, who in a surprise move will deliver a video address, and Iran’s recently elected hardline President Ebrahim Raisi.

Ahead of the opening of the General Assembly’s annual General Debate, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres issued a dire warning that the world could be plunged into a new and probably more dangerous Cold War unless the United States and China repair their “totally dysfunctional” relationship.

On the latest speakers list released earlier this month, China’s speech was supposed to be delivered on Friday by a deputy prime minister. But the U.N. confirmed yesterday that Xi will give the country’s video address instead.

His speech and any comments about the U.S. rivalry are certain to be closely watched and analysed.

Other leaders scheduled to speak in person during the meeting, which ends Sept. 27, include King Abdullah II of Jordan, the president of Venezuela, and the prime ministers of Japan, India and the United Kingdom along with Israel’s new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Leaders delivering prerecorded statements this year include the presidents of Egypt, Indonesia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. French President Emmanuel Macron was supposed to deliver a pre-recorded statement on Tuesday, but the government said Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will now deliver the country’s address virtually on the final day.

France and China have reacted angrily to the surprise announcement by Biden, alongside the leaders of Australia and Britain, of a deal to provide Australia with at least eight nuclear-powered submarines. Australia had signed a contract worth at least $66 billion for a dozen French conventional diesel-electric submarines and their construction was already under way.

Apart from COVID-19 pandemic and rising U.S.-China tensions, other pressing issues that will dominate discussions include, global warming, Afghanistan’s unsettled future under its new Taliban rulers and ongoing conflicts in Yemen, Syria and Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region.

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