A former president of the UN General Assembly has called on the body to set up the first high-level summit of global leaders since the coronavirus pandemic began before the end of the year.
As it marks its 75th anniversary, Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces said a huge task facing the UN was to defend the gains under its leadership in global health, particularly the situation of women, and equality. To do so, she said the impact of the pandemic has to be addressed and a November summit would be an optimum moment for leadership on the crisis, including ensuring universal access to a vaccine.
"The multilateral system is really not self-operating machinery. It depends on human decision-making and we are at the crossroads," she told The National. "We need to take the right decisions and this calls for our leaders of both the executive branch of the UN but also the political branch -- the UN General Assembly -- to play a very important role this year.
"Their convening power is key and there must be a high level meeting on Covid-19 in November. After all these months you hope a global summit on coronavirus would promote the inclusive multilateral system and build a narrative of hope."
After decades of progress in maternal and other measures of women's health, the pandemic has inflicted a sharp setback that the UN must put at the heart of its agenda.
"The 75th anniversary is to actually look specifically at that issue of the role of the UN in progressing health, and in particular progress in women's health because it isn't a landmark achievement of the overall body," said Ms Espinosa.
"The particular role of the UN now is obvious," she added. "It's got a lot of infrastructure around healthcare around the world but it's also got the power of issuing declarations, it has the language to directly address the issues facing women. Those words are important in themselves."
She said that countries led by female political leaders had performed better in the crisis, proven by fewer outbreaks and per capita deaths, and shorter lockdowns.
"You know these women leaders possess different qualities by and large -- empathy, better communication, transparency in information, listening to science and taking informed decisions," she said. "I think it has been a combination of all of the above, connecting directly to families and households, pushing people to change their daily life behaviour, to protect themselves and protect others.
"The critical issue has been making informed decisions, listening to science and scientists. So women bridge this connection between knowledge, science and decision-making and it is a formula for success. It is not a secret: we keep saying it but women in leadership positions can lead to improving solutions."
The former Ecuadorian minister for defence said the economic recovery must be structured in a way to reverse the disproportionate adverse consequences suffered by women during the downturn.
"We need, for example, to make sure that all these recovery packages that are put together place women at the centre," she said. "To ensure, for example, that investment in maintaining shelters for victims of domestic violence or access to sexual and reproductive health services are secured."
With many countries dramatically scaling up spending in healthcare, seeing it as a key measure of resilience in society, Ms Espinosa said there was a role for the UN in promoting universality of access to healthcare, ideally by a target date of 2030.
"Countries with stronger health systems have been more resilient to the pandemic," she said. "For this reason, we need to deliver on the universal health coverage by 2030.
"It is, I think, an essential prerequisite for global health security after so many lives have been lost to Covid-19. We have these unique opportunities of building back better, particularly if this policy is gender responsive.
"Longer-term there is a gender triple dividend. That is better health security. economic empowerment through access to better job creation and accelerating the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals."
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Three-day coronation
Royal purification
The entire coronation ceremony extends over three days from May 4-6, but Saturday is the one to watch. At the time of 10:09am the royal purification ceremony begins. Wearing a white robe, the king will enter a pavilion at the Grand Palace, where he will be doused in sacred water from five rivers and four ponds in Thailand. In the distant past water was collected from specific rivers in India, reflecting the influential blend of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology on the coronation. Hindu Brahmins and the country's most senior Buddhist monks will be present. Coronation practices can be traced back thousands of years to ancient India.
The crown
Not long after royal purification rites, the king proceeds to the Baisal Daksin Throne Hall where he receives sacred water from eight directions. Symbolically that means he has received legitimacy from all directions of the kingdom. He ascends the Bhadrapitha Throne, where in regal robes he sits under a Nine-Tiered Umbrella of State. Brahmins will hand the monarch the royal regalia, including a wooden sceptre inlaid with gold, a precious stone-encrusted sword believed to have been found in a lake in northern Cambodia, slippers, and a whisk made from yak's hair.
The Great Crown of Victory is the centrepiece. Tiered, gold and weighing 7.3 kilograms, it has a diamond from India at the top. Vajiralongkorn will personally place the crown on his own head and then issues his first royal command.
The audience
On Saturday afternoon, the newly-crowned king is set to grant a "grand audience" to members of the royal family, the privy council, the cabinet and senior officials. Two hours later the king will visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred space in Thailand, which on normal days is thronged with tourists. He then symbolically moves into the Royal Residence.
The procession
The main element of Sunday's ceremonies, streets across Bangkok's historic heart have been blocked off in preparation for this moment. The king will sit on a royal palanquin carried by soldiers dressed in colourful traditional garb. A 21-gun salute will start the procession. Some 200,000 people are expected to line the seven-kilometre route around the city.
Meet the people
On the last day of the ceremony Rama X will appear on the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall in the Grand Palace at 4:30pm "to receive the good wishes of the people". An hour later, diplomats will be given an audience at the Grand Palace. This is the only time during the ceremony that representatives of foreign governments will greet the king.
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Results
Stage Two:
1. Mark Cavendish (GBR) QuickStep-AlphaVinyl 04:20:45
2. Jasper Philipsen (BEL) Alpecin-Fenix
3. Pascal Ackermann (GER) UAE Team Emirates
4. Olav Kooij (NED) Jumbo-Visma
5. Arnaud Demare (FRA) Groupama-FDJ
General Classification:
1. Jasper Philipsen (BEL) Alpecin-Fenix 09:03:03
2. Dmitry Strakhov (RUS) Gazprom-Rusvelo 00:00:04
3. Mark Cavendish (GBR) QuickStep-AlphaVinyl 00:00:06
4. Sam Bennett (IRL) Bora-Hansgrohe 00:00:10
5. Pascal Ackermann (GER) UAE Team Emirates 00:00:12
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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China
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Brief scores:
Toss: Pakhtunkhwa Zalmi, chose to field
Environment Agency: 193-3 (20 ov)
Ikhlaq 76 not out, Khaliya 58, Ahsan 55
Pakhtunkhwa Zalmi: 194-2 (18.3 ov)
Afridi 95 not out, Sajid 55, Rizwan 36 not out
Result: Pakhtunkhwa won by 8 wickets
