Support for children necessary during pandemic

-Pres Ali tells UN General Assembly

His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali says his government has placed emphasis on educating children during the pandemic. President Ali, in addressing the 31st Special Session of the UN General Assembly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, pointed out that learning has been affected for months.

Dr. Ali noted that Guyana supports the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) six-point plan which aims at ensuring children are protected and catered for in the global recovery effort.

“Guyana hereby commits that our children are able to continue to learn by closing the national digital divide, enabling primary improved healthcare access to vaccine by children, eradicating child poverty, effecting where necessary mental health support interventions children and young people, enacting greater protection and support measures for vulnerable children and encouraging access to improved water, hygiene and sanitation,” His Excellency underscored.

President Ali applauded the UN’s humanitarian and soci0-economic response to the pandemic and its ongoing efforts for a post COVID-19 recovery plan. He said the Special Session comes at a time when the world eagerly awaits a COVID-19 vaccine.

“The United Nations must continue to be in the forefront as it has been over the past eight months in piloting the international rollout of mass immunisation of developing countries,” he stated.

Dr. Ali reiterated his support for the UN’s Secretary General António Guterres call for a new global deal with a new social contract. The idea of the initiative is to create equal opportunities for all.

“A new global deal will allow for the effective transfer of resources, financial, intellectual and technological to developing countries and to facilitate also a fairer sharing of the benefits of globalisation. A new social contract will guarantee more effective use of these resources for sustainable development.”

Dr. Ali told the General Assembly that the world looks forward to beating the pandemic and hastening international recovery.  He said this process will be made easier by ushering in a new era in global relations that will herald the “magnificence of multilateralism” spearheaded by the United Nations.