HIGHLIGHTS OF PRESS BRIEFING BY BRENDEN VARMA,?SPOKESPERSON FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT MIROSLAV LAJ??K

United Nations Headquarters, New York

12 December 2017

 

ASSEMBLY PROCLAIMS TODAY TO BE INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE DAY

  • The General Assembly plenary met this morning under the agenda item “Global health and foreign policy.”
  • It adopted two resolutions by consensus.
  • The first was new this year. It proclaimed today — 12 December – to be International Universal Health Coverage Day.
  • By the second , the General Assembly urged Member States to respect, protect and promote the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, with particular attention given to the health needs of the most vulnerable, and to consider health in a holistic manner, including in the formulation of foreign policy.
  • The resolution calls upon Member States to accelerate progress towards the goal of universal health coverage.
  • To that end, the Assembly decided to hold a high-level meeting on universal health coverage in 2019.

NO REQUEST RECEIVED FOR EMERGENCY SPECIAL SESSION ON JERUSALEM

  • Asked if the President’s office had received any letters from an Arab State, the Arab League or the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), asking for an emergency special session of the General Assembly on Jerusalem, the Spokesperson said no such letter had been received.
  • The Spokesperson added that emergency special sessions of the General Assembly had to be requested either by the Security Council or a majority of Member States.
  • Asked whether Member States would have to take a vote, in order to request an emergency special session, the Spokesperson referred to Rule 8 of the General Assembly’s . That rule states: “Emergency special sessions pursuant to General Assembly?resolution 377 A (V)shall be convened within twenty-four hours of the receipt by the Secretary-General of a request for such a session from the Security Council, on the vote of any nine members thereof, or of a request from a majority of the Members of the United Nations expressed by vote in the Interim Committee or otherwise, or of the concurrence of a majority of Members as provided in rule 9.”
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