Biden will focus on food security and global health at the UN General Assembly

President Joe Biden will address the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, where he is expected to highlight US efforts to strengthen global food security and replenish the Global Fund to fight AIDS and other pandemics.

On Friday, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that while the leaders will not ignore Ukraine, the meeting will not be dominated by it. “We know that while this horrible war is raging in Ukraine, we cannot ignore the rest of the world. There are conflicts elsewhere,” she told reporters.

Greenfield outlined three US priorities for the General Assembly: addressing global food insecurity; promote global health and global health security; uphold the Charter of the United Nations and shape the future of the United Nations.

“We believe this is a time to stand up for the United Nations and show the world that it can still tackle the world’s most pressing global challenges,” he said.

Observers say Biden will seek to balance the interests of US and European allies in supporting Ukraine and isolating Russia, against the myriad of problems facing the rest of the world.

“The United States and its allies will try to convince non-Western countries that while there is a very strong focus on Russia’s war against Ukraine, the West is also concerned about the global food crisis and [que] become [una] global recession, and what that will do to the developing world,” he told the VOA Richard Gowan, UN director at the International Crisis Group.

Gowan said that during the initial phase of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Western diplomats demanded support for Ukraine from their African and Asian counterparts, but did not listen to their concerns about food security and economic crises linked to this war.

“Now the United States and the Europeans are really trying to send the message that they are sympathetic to the economic concerns of the developing world and that they will work to address those concerns,” he said.

Food and health safety

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the region’s food and fertilizer exports have ground to a halt, pushing up post-pandemic food prices further. Some 828 million people go to bed hungry each night, according to the World Food Program.

The world is not now on track to achieve the UN goal of zero hunger by 2030, said Rob Vos, an economist at the International Food Policy Research Institute.

“We need to invest much more in agriculture and food systems or, in particular, change things in food systems to be more inclusive, so that poor people can get more out of them, that food prices go up. keep them low to make them affordable, and that production becomes more resilient and sustainable,” Vos told the VOA.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will co-host a summit on food security on the sidelines of the General Assembly on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Biden will host a conference on the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The United States has donated 2,000 million of the 6,000 million dollars committed, to meet the 18,000 million that are needed worldwide.

“As COVID-19 reminded us, global health threats do not respect borders. We must tackle COVID-19, monkeypox and other outbreaks and we must do it together,” said Thomas-Greenfield.

Security Council reform

The United States will seek to advance efforts to reform the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), including “forging consensus around sensible and credible proposals to expand Security Council membership,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

The United Nations Security Council is made up of five permanent members with the right to veto: China, France, Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom, and 10 non-permanent members elected by the UNGA.

While United Nations Security Council reform is a recurring narrative for decades at the world body, the United States has recently said it wants to work on it, Gowan said.

“I don’t think the Biden administration has a very clear plan for what kind of reforms it would like to see in the UN Charter,” Gowan said. “But ever since Russia’s attacks on Ukraine in February, many diplomats in New York have been asking if this organization is fit for purpose. [su] purpose, and the US is responding to that general feeling that some reforms are needed at the UN in light of this conflict.”

Gowan added that by showing it is open to reform, the Biden administration may corner China and Russia by highlighting their reluctance to reform the council where they have the right to veto important decisions on global security.

Thomas-Greenfield noted that the US has refrained and will continue to refrain from exercising its veto power, except in “rare and extraordinary” circumstances. “Since 2009, Russia has issued 26 vetoes, 12 of which were joined by China, and the United States has only used our veto four times since 2009,” he said.

He said Biden will consult with other leaders during the high-level session of the assembly to reach a consensus on expanding the council.

Observers say the prospects for reform of the United Nations Security Council are bleak. A key point of contention is whether new permanent posts should be created and whether they should have veto power. Proposals are being discussed to create a new category of permanent members without veto rights.

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