Things to Watch at the UN General Assembly Meeting This Week

THINGS to watch beyond the main speeches from leaders at this week’s high-level meeting of the U.N. General Assembly in New York:

— A MEETING at U.N. headquarters on Wednesday to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the U.N. conference on racism in Durban, South Africa will be closely watched. It is being boycotted by the United States, France, Israel, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia because of concerns about anti-Semitic statements at the 2001 meeting.

— THERE ARE also high-level meetings on energy and the nuclear test ban treaty, and a summit on the connected system of producing, processing, distributing and consuming food, which according to the U.N. contributes an estimated one-third of greenhouse gas emissions. The U.N. Security Council will hold a high-level meeting Wednesday on climate and security.

— USUALLY, HIGH-LEVEL WEEK has hundreds of side events but because of the COVID-19 pandemic only a limited number are