The General Assembly,
“Recalling its resolutions 74/270 of 2 April 2020 and 74/2 of 10 October 2019,”
The resolution 74/270 affirms the requirement of global solidarity in the wake of the corona-virus pandemic, 74/2 stresses on the requirement of universal healthcare (a prospect only easily conceived in developed countries).
“Noting with concern the threat to human health, safety and well-being caused by the corona-virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which has spread around the globe, as well as the unprecedented and multifaceted effects of the pandemic, including the severe disruption to societies, economies, global trade and travel and the devastating impact on the livelihoods of people,”
This is a very notable clause, why, because in a general sense of term such brevity and gravity is generally seen majorly in critical Security Council resolutions dealing with very crucial situations like, S/RES/2513(Dealing with Afghanistan), S/RES/2510 (Dealing with Libya) and S/RES/2516 (Dealing with Somalia). It is also prudent to note the description of the pandemic as multifaceted, this is due to the simple fact of the matter that the pandemic(while not highly lethal) does severely affect, as the preambulatory clause states, affects every single aspect of every individual, country and organisation’s life.
“Reaffirming the right of every human being, without distinction of any kind, to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health,”
This is easily the most surprisingly misunderstood and/or misinterpreted preamble, ‘the highest attainable standard’ is very subjective, for example, in the United States this would entail more affordable healthcare, in countries like India, more modernised equipment while the Democratic Republic of the Congo will require a complete overhaul of medical infrastructure, essentially the requisite standard changes country wise, nonetheless the hope of the high standard to be achieved.
This resolution, to be blunt, is not a complete resolution. At the onset it seems conclusive, but it is a key note that it only initialises the framework of operations, quite effectively, but it’s the ‘A’, not till the ‘Z’ though. This resolution initialises proceedings among UN agencies, encourages member states to take necessary steps to prevent hoarding of resources, preventing dragging of supply chains even rallying the private sector to show solidarity in the face of a pandemic. However it is quick to reaffirm the “United Nations system” that is, negotiation, deliberation, amicability, mutual assistance and so on. This is possibly an indirect response to the United States’ hijacking of masks, along with the People’s Republic of China’s profiteering, while not a direct curb, it is a salient warning.
Key to also note that the General Assembly requests entities to do their actions or requisite interactions within legal framework, this is to preserve a bit of normalcy and to prevent lawlessness and breach of law, moreover this is also because the UNGA has to respect domestic law, hence this clause also alludes to the organ’s respect of members states and laws of international non-state actors.
There is key emphasis on upscaling production of required material and deriving greater manpower. As it stands at the time of writing, the global medical community is still short staffed while the magnitude of this pandemic keeps logarithmically upscaling hence creating a greater vacuum of resources by the hour.
There is also a request to the Secretary-General to use the premises of his office in order to collaborate with the honoured chambers of the World Health Organisation so as to increase the accessibility to medication, vaccination, medical equipment to face COVID-19 while also attempting to establish a task force using pre existing resources. There is also emphasis on making sure the GA is aware of the proceedings, possibly to ensure the brisk response from the largest and most deliberative organ of the United Nations.
Here are a few things to note in Resolution A/RES/74/27, firstly there is heavy en-passe of duties and/or requests to the Office of the Secretary-General, this is to both expedite certain unnecessarily bureaucratic UN procedures and to also have a high magnitude of neutrality. This just goes to show the brevity of the pandemic and the requisite urgency of response. Moreover, multiple actors(as in state and non-state) and even financial entities are given highlight(not by name), with special emphasis on the World Health Organisation, this is due to the fact that this pandemic has not just left a scar on pharmaceutical sectors and opened up healthcare debates, it has also severely affected world economic, geopolitics, outlook, and the way of life entirely, hence it will take many UN agencies, and other prominent actors such as the International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organisation and even OIC in order to help the world revert back after the pandemic.
The original UN Resolution can be found at (https://undocs.org/en/A/RES/74/274)
This is however only one of the many UN Resolutions to come in the near future considering the implications of the COVID Pandemic, which will take time to develop a cure, rapid updates are provided on the official WHO site and social media pages.
Stay Home. Stay Safe.
~ Neeraj Vishwanath
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