Three Days After China Demits UNSC Presidency, UN Body Resolves To Hold Discussion On COVID-19

Within three days of China having demitted the Presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), 10 non-permanent members of the council have convinced the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to hold a closed-door informal consultation on Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic this week, reports Hindustan Times.

The latest push to hold the UNSC consultations and discussion on COVID-19 was led by Dominican Republic and buttressed by Vietnam, Indonesia, Germany, Belgium, Estonia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, South Africa, Niger and Tunisia. It should be noted that South Africa had previously opposed a similar attempt to hold discussions on the matter at the UNSC.

The development comes just days after a previous such attempt to hold a discussion on COVID-19 spread led by Estonia was thwarted in the UNSC as China, Russia and South Africa had blocked the move. These nations had then asserted that COVID-19 spread was not a peace and security issue and was thus beyond the mandate of the UNSC.

UN's Guterres will now be addressing the UNSC through a video conferencing post which he will announce a date to hold informal consultations this very week. In his address, he is also expected to brief the nations on the status of the pandemic and the measures taken to contain it.