Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.

**Noon Briefing Guest

After we are done here, we will be joined by Hilde Johnson, who is the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for South Sudan and Head of the UN Mission in that country.  And this will be her last press briefing in New York before she leaves her post.

**Middle East — Iraq

From Iraq, in a statement we issued yesterday, the Secretary-General expressed his grave concern at the deepening crisis and the rising number of civilian casualties in Iraq.

The Secretary-General called on all parties to the conflict to stop the persecution of civilians based on their religion or ethnic background and reminded them of their legal obligation and moral responsibility to avoid and prevent any violence against civilians.

The Secretary-General remains deeply troubled by the persistent reports of violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, including summary executions and indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas.  He urged the Iraqi Government to hold all perpetrators accountable.

As you are aware, Iraq’s newly elected Council of Representatives is expected to convene tomorrow.  The UN [Assistance] Mission in Iraq (UNAMI)says it has encouraged all representatives to attend the session to undertake their constitutional duties.  The Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Nickolay Mladenov, has called on the new Parliament to immediately engage in addressing the concerns of all communities in Iraq.

He stressed the importance of electing a Speaker, following which the Parliament should be promptly elected… excuse me, which the Parliament should promptly elect a President and approve a new government, as stipulated by the Constitution.  He warned that any delay in the process will be detrimental to the country’s future.

And also in his statement, the Secretary-General commended the UN [Assistance] Mission in Iraq for its work on humanitarian issues and following human rights violations.  And our colleagues in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs report that displacement numbers continue to increase rapidly.  The ongoing crisis has displaced an estimated 650,000 people so far, bringing the total displacement, including from Anbar, to over 1.2 million people in Iraq.

Concerns for the displaced are mounting, in particular for those unable to reach areas under Kurdish control, where humanitarian organizations are more easily able to access them.  Lack of security in areas with large scale displacements, such as Mosul, Tal Afar, Tikrit and on the road south to Baghdad, continues to hinder assessments and delivery of aid.

Over the weekend, UNICEF [United Nations Children’s Fund] reported that it has received a million doses of polio vaccine to expand immunization efforts in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.  The supplies will help UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as local authorities, to launch a joint campaign targeting some 800,000 children under the age of 5 early next week.  And we have more information available on all these items online.

** Israel

Yesterday, the Secretary-General was the guest at a working brunch hosted by Israeli President Shimon Peres.  Speaking briefly to reporters before the meeting, the Secretary-General expressed strong solidarity with the people of Israel and again condemned the recent kidnapping of the young Israeli students in the strongest possible terms.  The Secretary-General said the UN takes this very seriously, adding the UN will do whatever it can to address the situation, in close coordination with international partners.

** Syria

And from Syria, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs received reports over the weekend that some areas of Aleppo city in Syria had no electrical power at all, while others have less than one hour of power per day.  The water supply has also been cut off for more than 10 days in most of Aleppo, in some areas supplied with water only every five days for an average of six hours.  The Syrian Arab Red Crescent continues to negotiate to reach rural Aleppo in order to repair water, sewage and electrical lines damaged in an explosion on 2 June, which has left an estimated 1 million people in Aleppo city without a regular water supply.

UN agencies and other partners are providing aid so that 16.5 million people continue to have access to clean water through water purification supplies in 14 of Syria’s governorates.  In addition, humanitarian workers recently sent medical supplies for more than 138,000 people in Aleppo, including water testing supplies and diarrhoeal disease kits.

The Humanitarian Coordinator is leading a summer response strategy that targets prevention, detection and outbreak preparedness activities to ensure adequate safe water and sanitation facilities in at-risk locations, such as places where vulnerable internally displaced people are living in crowded collective shelters.

** Africa

The Secretary-General is back here at UN Headquarters today, following a week in which he had visited Namibia, Equatorial Guinea and Kenya.

On Saturday, he returned to New York from Kenya, after first meeting with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta in Nairobi.  In that meeting, the Secretary-General expressed his solidarity with the people of Kenya in light of recent terrorist incidents.  The two leaders also discussed issues of regional peace and security, including the situations in Somalia and in South Sudan.  The full readout of that meeting is online.

The Secretary-General also spoke to the press in Nairobi, and he mentioned that, in Kenya and all over the world, wildlife is under threat from habitat destruction, conflict between humans and wildlife and from illegal wildlife trafficking.  As a token of his concern, and his support for the Wildlife Service, the Secretary-General adopted a lion cub on Saturday:  Tumaini, which means “hope” in Kiswahili.  And we have a transcript of that available online.

** Burundi

I was also asked on Friday if the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Ivan Šimonović, had met with a detained human rights activist while in Bujumbura.  Mr. Šimonović’s office told us that, during his visit at the Mpimba prison, he, indeed, met with, among others, Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, a leading human rights defender detained there.  In addition, Mr. Šimonović raised the case… his case, as well as other cases in his discussions with Burundian officials.  He encouraged Burundi's officials to guarantee freedom of speech and to protect the rights of all human rights defenders.

**Press Conferences

And tomorrow, my guest here will be Leila Zerrougui, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict.  She will discuss the launch of the Secretary-General’s latest report on that topic.

And then, at 2:45 p.m., we will have colleagues from the Department of Economic and Social Affairs’ Division on Sustainable Development to launch the latest Global Development Report.  That’s it.  [Ms.] Zerrougui is at noon here in this briefing.  Mr. Klein?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Yes, today, there is a potential for at least a technical default by Argentina with its sovereign debt.  And, as you know, I think it was last week, the issue was discussed here at the United Nations by the Finance Minister and the Foreign Secretary of Argentina.  I’m wondering whether the Secretary-General, in light of the, you know, potential crisis this could cause, has any comment particularly from a human rights dimension?  Because some people in human rights organizations have said that this would be… if the [United States] District Court decision were enforced and Argentina will be required to either pay the holdouts or go into default, this would potentially be a human rights catastrophe.

Spokesman:  Excuse me, it’s not your question that’s making me emotional, I ate something just before coming here.  [laughter]  It’s a very interesting question.  Let me look into it and see if we can get something for you.  Yes, Edie?

Question:  Stéphane, does the Secretary-General have any comment on the declaration of an Islamic caliphate by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant?  Particularly since this state that they have declared involves two Member States of the United Nations and their sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Spokesman:  Obviously, we’re watching the situation in Iraq extremely closely, including the latest developments.  And I think we’re… the Secretary-General expressed and will continue to express his grave concern at the impact on civilian populations as related to the latest development, notably the push of these groups and the creation, you know, the calling on the creation of this state.  Our hopes remain very much that the meetings tomorrow, the political meetings in Iraq tomorrow, will create a positive atmosphere to create a government in which all Iraqis feels they have a voice.  Yes, sir?

Question:  Regarding the same subject, how about these intentions by the Kurds to declare their own State, independent from Iraq?  What does the UNAMI say about it and the Secretary-General?

Spokesman:  I think there’s no particular comment on it.  I think we continue to work with the Iraqi Government and the Iraqi State as it currently is.

Question:  Sorry, follow-up on that:  I mean how… what do you think about the calls by Israel to create Kurdistan?

Spokesman:  I’m not going to comment on these various calls.  The Secretary-General’s position is clear.  Yes?  Then we’ll go to Oleg.

Question:  North Korea has fired two Scud… two short-range ballistic missiles on Sunday.  Does the Secretary-General… do you have comment on this?  And, secondly, can we have a timeline when the Secretary-General is announcing the successor of Hilde Johnson?

Spokesman:  When there’s an announcement to be made, we will make it.  Obviously, these things are… these discussions are ongoing.  On DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea], we will have something to share with you shortly.  Oleg, then Matthew and then we’ll go to the back. [He later informed the correspondent that, as he has made clear, the Secretary-General believes that there can only be a peaceful solution through the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and he call upon the parties concerned to take the necessary steps to facilitate the resumption of negotiations.]

Question:  Thank you, Stéphane.  Over the weekend, there have been at least two reports coming from Ukraine on the use of probable chemicals while shelling the populated area in the east.  Will the UN monitors take into attention these allegations?  Will they investigate them somehow?

Spokesman:  Obviously, the work of the monitors continues.  I think we have to wait for their, again, for their report to see what they will look at, but obviously, they are present throughout the east.  We’re also very much calling on all the concerned parties in Ukraine to continue to work on the continuation of the ceasefire, which we’ve seen.  Matthew?

Question:  Sure, I guess, actually, just on that, I wanted to ask you — there, a fifth reporter, in this case, from Russia was killed in eastern Ukraine on a bus that was marked, you know, full of journalists was hit.  And I’m wondering is… any comment on that?  Any view of that?

Spokesman:  Well, I think we’ve condemned the killings of journalists.  And we’ve also called for the parties to ensure that journalists are able to do their work in a safe manner.

Question:  And what do you… I asked you on Friday a pretty straightforward question, which is whether MONUSCO [United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo] used its helicopters to, prior to the denial by the Security Council’s 1533 Sanctions Committee, to transfer this… the FDLR’s [Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda] leader within the [Democratic Republic of the Congo]?  And I’m wondering if you have an answer on that?

Spokesman:  I don’t have anything to add.

Question:  Does that mean…?

Spokesman:  If I had something to add, I would tell you.  Yes, in the back?  And then we’ll go to you, Anne.

Question:  Regarding, the Secretary-General’s meeting with President Kenyatta in Kenya, I read the readout, and I heard your comments just now.  Did he not… did the Secretary-General not raise the ICC [International Criminal Court] indictments of Mr. Kenyatta?  And if he didn’t, is there a reason why he wouldn’t?

Spokesman:  Well, I think Kenya is continuing to cooperate with the ICC, and we hope that that continues.  Yes, Anne?

Question:  Yes, Stéphane, on 27 June, upon signing the Agreement — Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine, Georgia and the Republic of Moldova — Ukrainian President [Petro] Poroshenko said it was the most important day for his country after Independence Day.  What was the Secretary-General’s reaction to the signing of the [European Union]-Ukrainian Association Agreement, which was originally supposed to be signed on 29 November 2013 in Vilnius during Lithuania’s presidency of the Council of Europe?

Spokesman:  No particular comment, except to note that it’s an act by a sovereign State to sign an agreement with a regional organization.  And we… the Secretary-General continues to hope that all those who are involved in the current crisis in Ukraine can continue to work together to find a peaceful settlement.  Sorry, and then we’ll go to you, Pam.

Question:  Thanks, Steph.  Over the weekend, a former Government official in Indonesia in charge of collecting data about forests released some new figures showing that Government statistics about deforestation were inaccurate by a pretty large margin.  The [Secretary-General] has said he wants the 2015 Climate Summit to be both ambitious and achievable.  How does he feel that is possible, if official statistics coming from some of the world’s biggest emitters are found in this case to be inaccurate or at worst manipulated to some extent?

Spokesman:  You know, it’s… I just saw the e-mail you sent me before the briefing.  We’ll look into that report and what the validity of it is, but obviously, statistics and the reliability of statistics is critical to the work of the UN, not only in climate change but in development and other areas.  Pam?  And then we’ll…

Question:  Thank you, Stéphane.  The Secretary-General’s Sunday, I think it was, or weekend report on Iraq said he was deeply troubled by the humanitarian violations and also said that UNAMI is working with international partners, trying to get humanitarian assistance.  Can you elaborate on what UNAMI is doing?  Specifically, where they are?  And we got a briefing about a month ago, but things have gotten quite a bit worse.

Spokesman:  Well, I mean, I think I kind of laid out a lot of the humanitarian efforts of what the UN agency is doing under the leadership of UNAMI in Iraq in terms of providing aid to almost 17 million people, especially on issues of having access to water… sorry, 1.2 million people, I’m sorry, and dealing with the 650,000 people that have been displaced.  So, the focus of UNAMI’s humanitarian work continues to tend to the needs of those who have sought refuge in the Kurdish areas and where we are able to work more freely and obviously trying to reach those who have not made it to those areas.

Question:  And just as a quick follow-up:  international partners meaning International Red Cross…?

Spokesman:  International NGOs [non-governmental organizations] and obviously…

Question:  Any sovereign States that are involved?

Spokesman:  Not to my knowledge.  And obviously, the critical part of it is the funding of these humanitarian efforts on which we rely on sovereign States.  Yes, sir?

Question:  Stéphane, during his meeting with the Israeli President Shimon Peres, the Secretary-General, did he get any new information that really made him sure that there are three kidnapped Israelis, as he stated in the statements?

Spokesman:  I think our position on that is unchanged.

Question:  It is not clear to me.  One day it is “missing”, the other day “kidnapped”, the third day is “abducted”.  What’s the real situation?

Spokesman:  I think the fact is that these three young men are… their whereabouts are not… You know what? I’m not going be dragged into it.  I think the [Secretary-General’s] statements on this have been clear.

Correspondent:   But, there are three lines…

Spokesman:  I understand.  Oleg?

Question:  There was apparently an incident in Somalia today, or yesterday, with the UN helicopter.  Do you have any details?

Spokesman:  No, but I will look into it.  Matthew?

Question:  Sure, I want to ask about troop reimbursement and also this Sunday press encounter.  On… the Secretary-General had a Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping Operations, which suggest… which proposed that peacekeepers get $1,700 a month.  There was a survey done.  And now, it seems like it’s come down to a deadline, in which rather than $1,700, the donor countries are offering $1,250.  And I wanted to know, since it was the Secretary-General’s own Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping, did he think that Group is credible?  Did he think the $1,700 number is a reasonable one?  And does he think that $1,250 is sufficient for peacekeepers?

Spokesman:  I think, you know, those numbers… the work of the Senior Advisory Group came up with what it came up with.  These discussions now are deep in the heart of the Fifth Committee, being discussed amongst Member States, and I think that’s where I will leave it for the time being.

Question:  And can I ask you on this, I just wanted to… I guess I understood… so I saw this from the readout of the press encounter, but I didn’t see any pre-announcement of it.  Can you give a little, like, once it was sent out, was it known that he would speak?  Who did he speak to?  Other than UN News…?

Spokesman:  This was an invitation by President Peres to attend a working brunch, and the Israeli Mission made the arrangements.  Thank you.

Question:  UN News Centre was there, so how did they get there?

Question:  Another question regarding water in Aleppo, which areas in Aleppo are more affected by lack of water?  And if you have any new information regarding Euphrates?  Is it still running or not?

Spokesman:  I don’t have any new information on the Euphrates.  I think, in terms of Aleppo, it’s parts of Aleppo City and also parts of rural Aleppo, so it’s the whole area that is being impacted.  But, I can get you the full report from [the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs].

Question:  You have not been able to identify who is responsible for cutting it off?

Spokesman:  We know who is suffering, that’s clear, and we’re trying to alleviate that suffering.

Question:  Is it the Government-controlled area?

Spokesman:  As I said, that’s what I have for you.  All right, I will get Ms. Johnson.  Mr. Klein and then we’ll close it.

Question:  Yes, this is on the abductions.  Several Hamas leaders and spokespersons have come out and praised the abduction.  They’ve used the term “kidnapping”.  In fact, there’s a tactic to bargain for the release of Palestinian prisoners.  In light of that, does the Secretary-General have any second thoughts about his support for the — stated support for the Unity Government that includes Hamas?

Spokesman:  I think the UN support for the Unity Government based on prior commitments, including recognition of State of Israel, non-violence and prior and other commitments, continues.  And I would, on the other part of your question, I would refer you to what Jeffrey Feltman said in his extensive briefing on the Middle East.  Thank you.  I will be right back.

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For information media • not an official record