Kelly Craft, US envoy to the UN, saying farewell to Karen Pierce, her British counterpart and now the UK ambassador to the US, March 12, 2020. It was the last day the Security Council met physically as the UN shut down days later. LOEY FELIPE/UN PHOTO
As part of standard procedures in UN General Assembly elections, officials hold up empty ballot boxes for inspection by teller delegates, before collecting member states’ ballots. The pandemic has forced new methods on Assembly voting as the UN stays physically shut until the end of June for now. UN PHOTO
The UNTV studio in New York, as Martin Griffiths, UN envoy for Yemen, left, briefs the Security Council by videoconference, April 16, 2020. The UN’s 75th birthday this year is a crucial chance, the authors argue, for the Council to recommit to the vision of the Charter. ESKINDER DEBEBE/UN PHOTO
The United Nations is turning 75 this year.
Several top UN officials and other leaders have called for easing of certain sanctions imposed on such countries as Iran, North Korea and Venezuela. In the US, some Democrats have rallied behind the call to specifically help Iran during the pandemic as well. But the Trump administration has refused to go along with those recommendations. CREATIVE COMMONS
President Trump and US ambassador to the UN, Kelly Craft, speaking at an event on religious freedom, Sept. 23, 2019, UN headquarters. A few weeks ago in an interview with Fox News, Craft refused to blame China for the pandemic. She has since reversed course. TIA DUFOUR/WHITE HOUSE
What a difference a few weeks can make.
At the end of March, Kelly Craft, President Trump’s top ambassador at the United Nations, insisted that midbattle against a dread disease sweeping the globe was no time for an international blame game.
Jerry Matjila, the ambassador of South Africa to the UN, was rotating president of the Security Council in October, above. During its term, the country has been striving to unify the positions of the elected African members on the Council. The pandemic has made the goal harder. KIM HAUGHTON/UN PHOTO
A view of Vienna from the author’s terrace. She writes that during the Covid-19 crisis, the authorities have moved quickly to contain the virus and offer free hotline services, including delivering groceries to people who need it. Now, Austria is planning a phased plan to lift some restrictions. MONA ALI KHALIL
Ambassador Zhang Jun of China, presiding over the UN Security Council, March 12, 2020, days before the Council began meeting strictly online because of the coronavirus pandemic. Diplomats have expressed concern and frustration over the sudden lack of transparency by the Council in migrating its meetings to virtual formats. MANUEL ELIAS/UN PHOTO
Kelly Craft, speaking to reporters outside the UN Security Council, Jan. 6, 2020. The US ambassador to the UN appeared on Fox News on March 29 but refused to take the bait from a network correspondent and blame China for the pandemic. USUN
President Trump and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo love to label Covid-19 as the “Chinese virus” or “Wuhan virus.”
The UN Security Council’s 15 members held a meeting on March 26, 2020, by videoconference, to discuss the UN political mission in Libya, as the UN headquarters in New York City remains physically off-limits amid the Covid-19 outbreak. But the meetings have not been live-streamed, so other UN member states are raising questions about the growing lack of transparency of the Council.
