“COVID-19 must not blind us. On the contrary, we must open our eyes to the weaknesses that this pandemic has laid bare to our societal models, for example,” she said in a pre-recorded statement.   

Due to the pandemic, the annual debate for Heads of State and Government in the UN General Assembly Hall is mainly being held virtually. 

Prime Minister Wilmès pointed to COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on people who already suffer heavily due to inequality, such as women, girls, children, the elderly and persons with a disability. 

Geopolitical tensions and conflicts 

“At a time when we continue to combat this pandemic with strength and steely determination, as well as its consequences, we cannot nevertheless turn our back to the other major challenges facing us in the 21st century,” she continued. 

“Geopolitical tensions are palpable, and conflicts rage or threaten to emerge across the globe. These tensions are simply exacerbated by the current health situation and they jeopardize the delicate balances reached in our world.” 

For Ms. Wilmès, the situation in the Gulf remains of great concern.  She called for the international community to “actively seek to preserve” the 2015 agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme. 

The deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Programme of Action (JCPOA) sets out rules for monitoring the programme. It also guarantees that the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will have regular access to sites in the country.  

“The JCPOA remains crucial to guarantee the exclusively peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear programme,” she said. 

The Prime Minister also underlined the need for peace in the Middle East. 

“There can be no solution to the conflict in the Middle East without a lasting and just solution the Palestinian question. There can be no peace in the Middle East without Israel enjoying the legitimate right to live in peace and security in internally-recognized borders. There can be no peace in the Middle East if we do not eradicate terrorism,” she stated. 

Violent extremism and the climate crisis 

Moving to the Sahel, Ms. Wilmès condemned the recent military coup in Mali, and extended her nation’s full support to regional and national efforts towards a civilian transition and the restoration of constitutional order. 

Many of the challenges Mali faces are common to the wider region, such as terrorism, conflict between farmers and herders, and inter-communal tensions, she added, in calling for “a holistic approach” to counter violent extremism. 

“Such an approach must emphasize good governance, the fight against impunity, the strengthening of democratic institutions, tackling the grievances of marginalized groups, as well as sustainable and inclusive development,” she advised. 

Meanwhile, more regions of the world are now weathering the consequences of climate change.  Ms. Wilmès said people are being driven from their homes due to drought and “abnormal meteorological conditions” in countries such as Somalia, Yemen and Afghanistan. 

“The climate emergency is a challenge for peace. There is no more time to waste,” she said. “And this is a cause behind which each and every one of us must rally.” 

Full statement (in French) available here 

By Stefan J. Bos  

Police, special security forces, and rescue workers rushed to a familiar location. A man armed with a meat cleaver wounded two people outside the former Paris offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. 

Here, 12 people were killed in 2015 after the magazine published cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad and Islam.

The man and a woman confirmed injured on Friday afternoon worked for a documentary film company. They were reportedly attacked during a smoke break outside. 

The main suspect was identified as an 18-year-old man of Pakistani origin. Police detained him near the scene. But officials said six others were also in custody now and being questioned. 

Act of terror

Friday’s attack is being treated as a terrorist incident, explained Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin. “Manifestly, it’s an act of Islamist terrorism. Obviously, there is little doubt. It’s a new bloody attack against our country, against journalists, against this society,” he told French television.

The interior minister also said the assailant arrived in France three years ago as an unaccompanied minor, apparently from Pakistan. 

Officials revealed that the suspected assailant had already been detained a month ago for carrying a screwdriver. But he was not on police radar for Islamic radicalization. 

Prosecutors say an investigation has been opened into an “attempted murder in relation to a terrorist enterprise.” 

After uncertainty, French Prime Minister Jean Castex said the lives of the two wounded workers’ lives were not in danger. He offered the government’s solidarity with their families and colleagues.

But in the neighborhood, people are stunned. They say they were reliving the nightmare of the newsroom massacre five years ago. Magazine Charlie Hebdo strongly condemned the stabbings, which came after it republished. 

Tragic episode 

It said on social media: “This tragic episode shows us once again that fanaticism, intolerance, the origins of which will be revealed by the investigation, are still present in French society. It added, “There is no question of ceding anything.” 

This month, Charlie Hebdo republished the same cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad and Islam that prompted the magazine’s deadly attack in 2015. 

Its publication coincided with the start of the long-awaited terrorism trial of people accused as accomplices in the attack. 

The court procedure comes in a deeply scarred nation by what many called a horrific act of brutality. 

“And yet the crisis has also been an extraordinary force for division”, Boris Johnson said in a pre-recorded video address to the Assembly’s annual debate, being held virtually this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Although the world is “up against the same enemy”, he pointed out that borders have been springing up “between friends and allies” and global supply chains disrupted with “cheque book wars on airport tarmacs” as nation vie for PPE.

“The very notion of the international community looks, frankly, pretty tattered”, Mr. Johnson observed.

“We simply can’t continue in this way”, he stressed, urging the delegates to “unite…against our common foe” lest everyone lose.

Amidst colossal economic suffering and nearly a million people dead the Prime Minister said “there is a moral imperative for humanity” to reach a joint understanding of how the pandemic began and how was able to spread to “collectively do our best to prevent a recurrence”.

Bolstering global recovery

The UK Prime Minister called the World Health Organization (WHO) “the one body that marshals humanity against the legions of disease” and announced a 30 per cent increase in funding over the next four years, amounting to £340 million.

As we strive for a vaccine, we must never cut corners — British Prime Minister

Calling himself a staunch supporter of science, Mr. Johnson said, “epidemiologists at Oxford University identified the first treatment for COVID-19” and shared with the world dexamethasone, a cheap medicine that reduces the risk of death by over a third for patients on ventilators, “so that as many as 1.4 million lives could be saved in the next six months”.

And as the biggest donor to Gavi, the global vaccine alliance, he explained that in June, the UK helped to raise almost $9 billion to immunize 300 million children against killer diseases and noted that there are 100 potential vaccines currently trying to clear the hurdles of safety and efficacy.

“But even as we strive for a vaccine, we must never cut corners, slim down the trials or sacrifice safety to speed”, Mr. Johnson asserted.

Protecting humanity

The Prime Minister vowed to use the UK’s presidency of the G20 richest nations to “create a new global approach to health security” based on a five-point plan to “protect humanity against another pandemic”. The first aim is to “stop a new disease before it starts”, he said, including by forging a global network of zoonotic research hubs, to spot animal pathogens that may cross the species barrier and infect humans.

Secondly is to develop the manufacturing capacity for treatments and vaccines on hand to stop organisms before they can attack or at least be able to quickly diagnose.

The next objectives are to design a global pandemic early-warning system, based on data collection and analyses, and then to have emergency response protocols should another crisis arise.

Finally, he urged every country to lift export controls wherever possible and cancel tariffs on gloves, protective equipment, thermometers and other critical products.

“Never again must we wage 193 different campaigns against the same enemy”, the British Prime Minister official upheld.

Full statement available here.