2020
in
the United Nations

Decades:
  • 2000s
  • 2010s
  • 2020s
See also:

The following lists events that happened with or in collaboration with the United Nations and its agencies in the year 2020.

Leadership

Secretary General of the United Nations

António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres ( Portugal)

Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations

Amina Jane Mohammed ( Nigeria)

President of the General Assembly

Volkan Bozkır ( Turkey)

President of the Economic and Social Council

Mona Juul (July 25, 2019 — July 22) ( Norway)

Munir Akram (July 23 — Present) ( Pakistan)

United Nations Agencies

Director-General of the Universal Postal Union (UPU)

Bishar Hussein ( Kenya)

Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO)

Tedros Adhanom ( Ethiopia)

Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

Natalia Kanem ( Tanzania)

Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP)

David Beasley ( United States of America)

Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)

Zurab Pololikashvili ( Georgia)

Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

Petteri Taalas ( Finland)

United Nations Department and Offices

High Commissioners for Human Rights for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

Michelle Bachelet ( Chile)

Under-Secretary-General for the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS)

Heidi Mendoza (Philippines Philippines)

International Observances

International Years

International Decades

Events

January

  • 1 January: The United Nations launches UN75 Dialogues intended to engage opinion polling in over 50 countries as the organization plans to celebrate its 75th Anniversary.[1]
  • 22 January: The World Health Organization (WHO) convenes an emergency expert committee on an outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan, China in order to determine whether it should be designated a public health emergency of international concern.[2]

February

March

  • 5 March: The fifth UN Secretary General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar has passed away at age 100. The first and only Latin American head of the UN so far, Cuéllar held the position for ten years.[5]
  • 23 March: UN Secretary-General Guterres issues the 'Appeal for Global Ceasefire', a call for a global ceasefire.[6][7]
  • 24 March: The UN Security Council convenes its first ever private video-teleconferencing meeting, covering the UN Organization Stabilization Mission (MONUSCO) in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It comes after a month-long debate on new Security Council working methods.[8]
  • 30 March: For the first time in history, UN Security Council members vote in writing, conveying their positions by email. They unanimously approved four resolutions: one on the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM); one relating to the Panel of Experts assisting the work of the 1718 Democratic People's Republic of Korea Sanctions Committee; another on the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur; and a new resolution on improving safety and security of peacekeepers.[8]

April

May

  • 10 May: Three Chadian peacekeepers with MINUSMA were killed, and four wounded, in a roadside bomb attack in Aguelhok, Mali. Members of the Security Council condemned the attack and called upon the government of Mali to swiftly investigate the attack and bring the perpetrators to justice.[11][12]
  • 14 May: The government of Burundi expels four members of the WHO from the country.[13]
  • 21 May: Secretary-General António Guterres launches a new initiative dubbed, Verified, to fight misinformation related to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Led by the UN Department of Global Communications, the initiative plans to partner with UN agencies, influences, business, media organizations and others to share accurate content.[14][15]
  • 25 May: For the first time ever, the UN Military Gender Advocate Award was given to two UN Peacekeepers, Brazilian Naval officer, Carla Monteiro de Castro Araujo, and Indian Army Major, Suman Gawani. Nominated by force commanders, the award recognizes the effort of individual peacekeepers to promote the role of women in peace operations.[16]
  • 28 May: Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, condemns the murder of George Floyd and urges "serious action" to stop the US police killings of African Americans. She also urged protestors to air the grievances peacefully and for police to restrain further use of excessive force.[17]

June

  • 3 June: Nearly 50 medical experts and first responders from the World Health Organization, arrived in Mbandaka, Democratic Republic of the Congo with vaccines and tests to respond to the a new outbreak of Ebola.[18]
  • 17 June:
    • Turkish Diplomat Volkan Bozkir is elected to preside over the landmark 75th session of the UN General Assembly. He was the sole candidate.
    • The 2020 UN Security Council Elections fill four of the five non-permanent seats available for two-year mandates commencing on 1 January 2021. India, Mexico, Ireland, and Norway are elected in the first round of socially distanced voting.[19]
  • 18 June: In a second round of voting, Kenya is elected to fill the one remaining non-permanent seat on the Security Council, defeating Djibouti in the 2020 UN Security Council Elections.
  • 19 June: The UN Human Rights Council unanimously adopts a resolution asking the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights prepare "a report on systemic racism, violations of international human rights law against Africans and people of African descent by law enforcement agencies, especially those incidents that resulted in the death of George Floyd and other Africans and of people of African descent" as well as an examination of the "governments responses to anti-racism peaceful process peaceful protests, including the alleged use of excessive force against protesters, bystanders and journalists."[20]
  • 24 June: In an initiative led by Malaysia, 172 member states and observers endorse Secretary General Guterres' call for a global ceasefire during the COVID-19 pandemic. The statement is unbinding and has no legal binding on any country.[21][22]
  • 26 June:
    • In a virtual ceremony, the UN celebrates the 75th anniversary of the signing of the UN Charter. The Charter was signed in San Francisco, USA on 26 June 1945 at the end of the United Nations Conference on International Organization.
    • Nearly 50 independent UN Human Rights experts highlighted their concern on the human rights situation in China. They voiced concern for many actions including but not limited to allegations of forced labor; arbitrary interferences with the right to privacy; restrictive cybersecurity, anti-terrorism, and sedition laws; the retaliation against journalists, medical workers and others speaking out about COVID-19; the repression of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet; and the repression of protests and democracy advocacy in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR). They urged China to "withdraw the draft national security law for Hong Kong”.[23][24]
    • The UN Office of Internal Oversight Services launches investigation into a social media video that shows a woman straddling a man on the back seat engaging in a sex act in a UN marked vehicle. The equipment likely belongs to the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO).[25]

July

September

  • 7 September: The world commemorates the first International Day of Clean Air after a 2019 General Assembly resolution recognized the importance of clean air and the impact of air pollution on human health and ecosystems.[29]
  • 22 September: The 75th session of the UN General Assembly's first day of the high-level General Debate starts virtually, with member states submitting a pre-recorded video. The 75th session will see the introduction of the ‘silence procedure.’ Under this method, draft resolutions are circulated by the President of the General Assembly, which gives Member States a deadline of at least 72 hours, to raise objections. If there are no objections, the President circulates a letter, confirming that the resolution has been adopted.[30]

October

December

  • 2 December: The WHO's Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) voted to remove cannabis from Schedule IV, which includes drugs that are recognized as having little to no therapeutic purposes. 27 members voted in favor, 25 against, and one abstained. its use for non-medical and non-scientific purposes will remain illegal.[32]

Scheduled events

October

Postponed events

The 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP26) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was scheduled to take place on 9–19 November in Glasgow, UK[34] but in May 2020 was rescheduled for November 2021.[35]

References

  1. "Note to correspondents: The United Nations launches 75th anniversary dialogues [scroll down for French version]". United Nations Secretary-General. 2020-01-02. Retrieved 2020-01-03.
  2. Branswell, Helen. "WHO Calls for Emergency Meeting as Chinese Virus Spreads to Health Care Workers". Scientific American. Retrieved 2020-01-22.
  3. "UNSMIL Statement on the first round of Talks of Libyan 5+5 Joint Military Commission in Geneva". UNSMIL. 2020-02-08. Retrieved 2020-02-11.
  4. "Lasting Libya ceasefire: Some consensus, but further talks needed - UN Mission". UN News. 2020-02-08. Retrieved 2020-02-11.
  5. "Javier Pérez de Cuéllar praised as 'accomplished statesman' who had 'profound impact' on the world". UN News. 2020-03-05. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  6. "Transcript of the Secretary-General's virtual press encounter on the appeal for global ceasefire". United Nations Secretary-General. 2020-03-23. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  7. "COVID-19: UN chief calls for global ceasefire to focus on 'the true fight of our lives'". UN News. 2020-03-23. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  8. 1 2 "COVID-19 thrusts technology, diplomacy into spotlight at UN Security Council". Mainichi Daily News. 2020-04-07. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
  9. Betsy Klein; Jennifer Hansler. "Trump halts World Health Organization funding over handling of coronavirus outbreak". CNN. Retrieved 2020-05-23.
  10. "International Delegate's Day". United Nations. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  11. "UN peacekeepers killed in Mali after patrol hits IED". France 24. 2020-05-10. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  12. "UN peacekeepers killed in improvised explosive attack in Mali". UN News. 2020-05-11. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  13. "WHO seeking further details on staff expulsion from Burundi". UN News. 2020-05-14. Retrieved 2020-11-23.
  14. "UN launches new initiative to fight COVID-19 misinformation through 'digital first responders'". UN News. 2020-05-21. Retrieved 2020-05-23.
  15. "Share Verified". shareverified.com. Retrieved 2020-05-23.
  16. "Women peacekeepers from Brazil and India share UN military gender award". UN News. 2020-05-25. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
  17. "OHCHR | UN Human Rights Chief urges "serious action" to halt US police killings of unarmed African Americans". www.ohchr.org. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
  18. "WHO chief updates journalists on Ebola outbreak, COVID-19 treatment study". UN News. 2020-06-03. Retrieved 2020-06-06.
  19. "Turkish diplomat elected President of historic 75th UN General Assembly". UN News. 2020-06-17. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
  20. "Human Rights Council calls on top UN rights official to take action on racist violence". UN News. 2020-06-19. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  21. "MALAYSIA-LED INITIATIVE AT THE UNITED NATIONS "STATEMENT OF SUPPORT TO THE UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL'S APPEAL FOR A GLOBAL CEASEFIRE AMID THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC"". Permanent Mission of Malaysia to the United Nations, New York. June 30, 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-06-30.
  22. "170 signatories endorse UN ceasefire appeal during COVID crisis". UN News. 2020-06-24. Retrieved 2020-06-30.
  23. "OHCHR | UN experts call for decisive measures to protect fundamental freedoms in China". ohchr.org. Retrieved 2020-07-01.
  24. "Independent UN rights experts call for decisive measures to protect 'fundamental freedoms' in China". UN News. 2020-06-26. Retrieved 2020-07-01.
  25. "UN probes 'abhorrent' video showing 'likely' field staffers engaging in alleged sexual misconduct". UN News. 2020-06-26. Retrieved 2020-07-01.
  26. "S/RES/2532(2020) - E - S/RES/2532(2020)". undocs.org. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  27. "Stalled Security Council resolution adopted, backing UN's global humanitarian ceasefire call". UN News. 2020-07-01. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  28. "UN top court rules in favour of Qatar in international airspace dispute". UN News. 2020-07-14. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  29. "Build a better future with blue skies for all, UN urges, marking first International Day of Clean Air". UN News. 2020-09-07. Retrieved 2020-11-23.
  30. "COVID-19: World leaders to stay at home, in first 'virtual' UN General Assembly". UN News. 2020-07-23. Retrieved 2020-11-23.
  31. "UN World Food Programme wins 2020 Nobel Peace Prize, as hunger mounts". UN News. 2020-10-09. Retrieved 2020-11-23.
  32. "UN commission reclassifies cannabis, yet still considered harmful". UN News. 2020-12-02. Retrieved 2021-04-20.
  33. "Biodiversity moves into the sustainability spotlight, Biodiversity moves into the sustainability spotlight". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2020-01-04.
  34. "PM launches UN Climate Summit in the UK". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2020-02-05.
  35. "New dates agreed for COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference". gov.uk. 28 May 2020.
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