Precautions taken in Mali against Covid-19, March 2020. A UN-75 political declaration to reinforce global cooperation was approved recently by the General Assembly. But it had hit many sticking points, including the United States forcing language on climate change to be softened. OUSMANE TRAORE/WORLD BANK
Kelly Craft, the US envoy to the UN, arriving in the morning at the General Assembly Hall to cast her country’s secret ballot for various UN elections, June 17, 2020. By the afternoon, the new members of the Security Council were announced: India, Ireland, Mexico and Norway. The race between Djibouti and Kenya for the African seat goes to another round. ESKINDER DEBEBE/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 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.
A Filipino diplomat sent a letter to fellow diplomats on March 12 that a colleague at the country’s mission to the UN had tested positive for the coronavirus. The UN says it is following up but has not said it is closing the building. The scene above, March 11. MARK GARTEN/UN PHOTO
