GENEVA - Meetings postponed and marble-clad hallways echoing empty: The coronavirus pandemic and a liquidity crunch have all but silenced the usual frenzied diplomatic wrangling at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva.
Usually bustling with delegates and UN staffers from across the world, the UN cafeteria has for weeks been eerily quiet, with a handful of masked people carrying trays of pre-portioned food past a former salad bar draped in plastic. The UN has since asked remote workers to come back, but on a rotational basis so as not to pass 60 per cent of the pre-pandemic occupancy.
"When it comes to disarmament, the annual meetings have been postponed," another European diplomatic source said, blaming some countries who had insisted people from their capitals needed to travel in to participate. Some diplomats meanwhile complain that the anti-virus measures at the UN are too strict, and suggest that certain countries are using them as an excuse to put uncomfortable discussions on ice."Multilateralism appears blocked," another diplomat said, blaming countries generally opposed to multilateral dealings, as well as a lack of clear UN decisions on how to move forward.
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