The briefing for the new delegates of the 74th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly (GA) began on September 10 and was organized by UNITAR in partnership with the Permanent Mission of Singapore to the UN. It commenced with a welcome speech and introduction of delegates as well as panelists by UNITAR Head of New York Office, Mr. Marco Suazo. Following this, the Permanent Representative of Singapore H.E. Mr. Burhan Gafoor thanked UNITAR for helping run the training for delegates. Next, President-Elect of the 74th Session of the General Assembly stressed to the audience that no one person or nation within the UN is small nor large as every state needs the support of fellow members in order to pass anything through the UN.

Following a speech from Ms. Ruth De Miranda, Director of General Assembly and ECOSOC Affairs Division (GAEAD), who provided an overview of what the GAEAD does, including technical and secretariat support for the committees of the General Assembly, the Qatar Diplomats received their first training of day administered Mr. Kenji Nakano. Mr. Nakano gave an overview of the 74thSession of the GA, the dates of the session, and passing a resolution. Ms. Tomoko Iwata, Secretary of the Credentials Committee and Legal Officer at the Secretariat, United Nations. who spoke to the delegates about the rules and procedures of the General Assembly. Afterwards, Ms. Deidre Durrance and Ms. Tong-Maywald Xin covered conference services, meeting management and documentation with the help of Mr. Rodrigo Larranga Romero, Ms. Bell Chi Yuan Yeh, and Mr. Rukshan Perera. Next, the Qatar delegates were intimated on the relationship between the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly by Ms. Marion Barthelemy, Director, Office of Intergovernmental Support and Coordination for Sustainable Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and Emer Herity, Chief of ECOSOC Affairs Branch, Secretary of ECOSOC and the Second Committee, department for the GA and Conference Management, UN Branch. The Third Committee was covered by H.E. Mr. Christian Braun, Incoming Chair of the Third Committee and Permanent Representative of Luxembourg to the UN, and Mr. Ziad Mahmassani, the Secretary of the Third Committee. Mr. Mahmassani also discussed the tools of the committee website, the eDeleGATE portal, and the web-app.

On the 12 September training, UNITAR Head of office for New York, Mr. Marco Suazo began with opening remarks and introduction of the morning session course facilitator, Ms. Jelena Pia-Comello, Former Deputy Executive Director, WFM-IGP, International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect and Former DPR, Andorra. Ms. Pia-Comello began with an overview of Responsibility to Protect (R2P), which included its history and the three pillars of the coalition. She spoke about mainstreaming R2P within the UN system; expanding upon the role R2P played within the UN and how it could be more effectively utilized. Presentations on the role of R2P in the UN system transitioned smoothly into an explanation on the implementation of R2P on the international, regional and national levels. Ms. Pia-Comello explored the early-warning mechanisms that may forecast a breach in human rights and discussed preemptive actions from the international community which could forestall these occurrences. She closed out her presentation by examining the relationship between R2P and the UN Security Council (UNSC), as well as the Security Council’s ability to use peacekeeping operations to protect civilians whose government is unable to offer protection.