Meeting with Africa’s candidate for the presidency of the 79th UNGA and the UN coordinator for multilingualism

The Group of French-speaking Ambassadors from New York met on May 7, 2024 with Mr. Philémon Yang, African candidate for the presidency of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, then, on May 9, 2024, with Mr. Movses Abelian, Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly Affairs and United Nations Conference Management, UN Multilingualism Coordinator.
These two meetings are part of the mobilization in favor of multilingualism and full respect for cultural and linguistic diversity in UN forums.
The candidate for the post of President of the 79th session of the General Assembly presented to the French-speaking Ambassadors his strategic vision and priorities for the next session of the General Assembly, a vision placed under the theme “unity in diversity, for the advancement of peace, sustainable development and human dignity everywhere and for all.” Philémon Yang stressed that the international environment, particularly difficult and unstable, requires strong multilateralism, based on the ideals of the Charter and particularly placed emphasis on the promotion of multilingualism and multiculturalism, announcing that he would designate within his team a focal point responsible for multilingualism. While the Ambassadors greeted a senior official who shares the common language of the OIF member countries, he expressed the wish for sincere collaboration with all during his mandate. On June 4, 2024, UN member states will formally elect the president of the 79th session of the General Assembly.

As part of its monthly meeting, the Group of French-speaking Ambassadors then received, on May 9, 2024, Movses Abelian, in his capacity as Coordinator for UN multilingualism. This invitation followed the publication, on March 28, 2024, of the “United Nations Strategic Framework on Multilingualism”, the first of its kind at the level of the Secretariat and the United Nations system. Beyond the changes that this Framework is called upon to make in the full integration of multilingualism at the UN, the Coordinator focused on a set of challenges, first and foremost the financial crisis at the UN which has a strong impact multilingualism, and the difficulty of recruiting French-speaking interpreters and translators. 
The discussion raised many questions about the stages of implementation of the Strategic Framework, its operationalization and the means that will be necessary to advance multilingualism.

Continuing from this discussion, the President of the GAF emphasized the ongoing work of La Francophonie in liaison with Member States in the context of the intergovernmental negotiation process of the “Global Digital Compact”, and the importance of enhancing the the ambition of this Pact in terms of linguistic and cultural diversity. He returned to the proposals shared by the OIF in support of this advocacy in order to anchor in the relevant sections of the Pact principles, commitments and concrete actions which should not only make it possible to shape a digital future where multilingualism and diversity fully flourish, but also reduce the risks that digital innovations pose to languages ​​and cultures. The Group of French-speaking Ambassadors then heard a presentation from Ambassador Pedro Comissário Afonso, Permanent Representative of Mozambique to the United Nations and President of the Security Council for the month of May 2024, then looked at the French-speaking candidates in the context of numerous elections scheduled for June 2024 at the United Nations.