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 and for those watching on webcast. I want to welcome a group of students from the Maxwell School of Public Affairs who are here on a visit to the UN. Welcome!
**Noon Briefing Guest
And after I’m done here with this briefing we will be joined by Amina Mohammed, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Post-2015 Development, who will be here to brief you and will be delighted to your questions.
**General Assembly
The Secretary-General will address an informal meeting of the General Assembly at 3 this afternoon in an informal meeting and he will discuss his priorities for the coming year. He will tell the Member States that 2015 can and must be the time for global action.
He will say, among other things, that the signal moment of the year ahead will be the adoption of a new framework for development. At the same time, he will tell Member States that the success of the new development agenda is inseparable from efforts to address climate change.
Following his appearance in the General Assembly, the Secretary-General will hold a brief press encounter with you in the General Assembly stakeout area.
**Memorial
And earlier this morning, he spoke at a memorial service for fallen UN staff members. He said that direct attacks on UN personnel are becoming more frequent. He added that he is appalled by the number of humanitarian workers and peacekeepers who have been deliberately targeted in the past year, while trying to help people in crisis.
The Secretary-General also paid tribute to the 102 staff members who had died in the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti five years ago this month — as you know, 12 January marks the fifth anniversary of the earthquake.
Between October 2013 and November 2014, 100 UN personnel died in the course of their duties, including in Afghanistan, Somalia and Sierra Leone. The Secretary-General’s full remarks are available in my office.
**Security Council
The Security Council will meet this afternoon, first to consider a resolution on the work of the Sanctions Committee dealing with the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
And after that, the Council members will hear from Mohammed Ibn Chambas, the head of the UN Office for West Africa (UNOWA) and also who, as you know, has been handling the file in Nigeria. And Mr. Chambas will speak to reporters at the stakeout after he is done briefing Council members. We will try to coordinate so that it doesn’t conflict with the SG’s own press encounter.
**Darfur
On Darfur, our humanitarian colleagues say they have received reports of significant civilian displacement in Sudan’s North Darfur and South Darfur states due to an escalation of operations by Government forces against armed opposition groups in and around Jebel Marra.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has also received unverified reports of direct attacks on civilian villages in the area.
An inter-agency mission to Tawila in North Darfur is planned later this week to verify displacement figures and assess needs. Requests for access to affected areas in Central Darfur have so far been denied due to continuing hostilities.
The UN continues to call on all parties to conflict in Darfur to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law and to ensure safe and unhindered access for humanitarian organizations.
**South Sudan
And from South Sudan, the UN Peacekeeping Mission in the country (UNMISS) reports the sighting of suspected Antonov airplanes over Raga town in Western Bahr el-Ghazal State on Tuesday afternoon and, again, in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Earlier this month, the Mission received reports of an aerial bombardment of an area 20 kilometres west of Raga Town on 31 December 2014.
In Upper Nile State, our colleagues in UNMISS heard small-arms fire and indirect explosions exchanged between SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army) troops and armed youths on Wednesday in the vicinity of Nassir. Fighting briefly resumed in the early evening in the south of the town.
Overall, as a reminder, UNMISS is currently protecting more than 102,000 displaced persons in various UN sites across South Sudan.
**Middle East
And from the Middle East, winter conditions across the Middle East have impacted vulnerable families from Gaza to Lebanon. UN agencies and humanitarian partners are providing assistance.
In Syria, several camps for displaced persons in northern Idleb along the border with Turkey have been flooded after days of icy rain and snow. Humanitarian workers have increased the distribution of winter emergency assistance, including for families located near the crossing points into Turkey.
In Jordan, most roads in northern and central regions have either been fully or partially closed as the storms intensified in the past 24 hours, with snow and icy conditions. UN agencies and NGOs have begun an emergency cash programme to assist 41,000 vulnerable Syrian refugee children in Za’atari and Azraq camps. And we gave you details of that programme yesterday.
And in Lebanon, the storms have blocked large parts of the northern Bekaa region and northern Lebanon where more than half of the Syrian refugee population resides. Before the storm, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and its partners provided winter assistance to about 80 per cent of refugee families living in high altitude areas in northern Lebanon.
**Cyprus
And from Cyprus, the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide, will visit Cyprus from 13 to 14 January. The visit is intended to hear the leaders’ views of the current impasse in the talks and prospects for its resolution.
The Special Adviser also plans to use the trip to prepare his briefing to the Security Council, which is scheduled on 26 January.
In the meantime, Mr. Eide continues to be in contact with all relevant parties, and in the lead-up to his visit, he urges the leaders to remain focused on resuming the talks.
**Food
And our friends at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) presented today their latest Food Price Index for the year 2014, showing the third consecutive year of falling prices in all commodities, except for meat.
Cereal, vegetable oil, dairy and sugar all dropped in 2014, due to continuing large supplies and record stocks, combined with a stronger US dollar and falling oil prices.
The FAO Meat Price Index also declined in December but on a full-year basis rose 8.1 per cent for 2014. There’s more available on the FAO website.
**Yemen
You would recall yesterday after the briefing, we issued a statement on Yemen, where the Secretary-General condemned in the strongest terms the attack against the police academy in Sana’a earlier that day. The Secretary-General reiterates his previous calls to all Yemenis to work together to fight terrorism and to bring stability and security to Yemen.
**Appointment
A personnel announcement for today: The Secretary-General, in consultation with the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development otherwise known as UNCTAD, has decided to appoint Joakim Reiter of Sweden as Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD at the Assistant Secretary-General level. Mr. Reiter will succeed Mr. Petko Draganov, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his dedicated service and commitment to UNCTAD.
Mr. Reiter brings to his position a wealth of international experience at the senior level including in the trade and development field. He is currently Deputy Director General, heading the Department for International Trade Policy at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Sweden. His bio is available upstairs [in my office].
**Questions and Answers
And I am done. Mr. Lee?
Question: Sure. Thanks a lot. I wanted to ask, in light of the memorial service, what was said about staff safety, I wanted to ask you two questions. One has to do for an update of the killed UN staff member, Louis Maxwell, in Afghanistan, I know I asked Mr. [Nicholas Fink] Haysom about it and he said DSS (Department of Safety and Security) is looking into it. Can you say what has been found out? And I’ll stop on that one.
Spokesman: No, I have no update on the killing of Mr.… of our colleague, Mr. Maxwell.
Question: What about the call in the memorial service by the staff union from Geneva representative that for… he called for a new post to be created and called for the UN to be more transparent to the families of killed staff members, of what’s found out.
Spokesman: You know, I was there. I heard the call. Obviously, it will be studied. It was heartfelt. The way we deal with the families of fallen staff members is something that’s very close to our heart and we make the greatest effort possible to deal with them in the best possible way, but obviously we’ll take a look at what that gentleman had to ask. Yes, Mr. Abbadi?
Question: Thank you, Stéphane. As you indicated, Secretary‑General will be addressing the General Assembly this afternoon on very important topic, his priorities for 2015, so why choose an informal meeting to deliver that important message? By holding a formal meeting, the world would have been following directly what the Secretary‑General had to say.
Spokesman: Well, I think that’s obviously a matter for the General Assembly to decide. But the meeting will be webcast. You’ll be able to watch it on the web if people… if broadcasters want to take it, they can take it. And the Secretary‑General will speak to you afterwards and reiterate his points and take some of your questions. So I think it is… it is fully transparent, and I think the content of the Secretary‑General’s speech will be widely distributed. Mr. Lee?
Question: This was the second staff safety question. Is… is… there have been all these IED (improvised explosive device) deaths and injuries in Mali of peacekeepers. And I tried to ask this to Mr. [Hervé] Ladsous the other day. It didn’t work. So I’m going to ask you. What steps has MINUSMA (United Nations Stabilization Mission in Mali) taken to acquire or seek to acquire mine‑resistant vehicles for the peacekeepers that it has in northern Mali?
Spokesman: Obviously, as you well know, our colleagues in Mali have taken a… have suffered a tremendous amount of losses over the past year. If you look at the list of where people have died, quite a number of them, peacekeepers have been killed, assassinated in Mali through terrorist attacks. I know the Mission is doing what it can. Obviously, as you know, putting together peacekeeping contingents from various places is challenging. Sometimes the countries that provide the troops are not able to provide the vehicles that have the necessary armour and necessary technology, and I know it is something that our colleagues at DPKO (Department of Peacekeeping Operations) and DFS (Department of Field Support) are trying to resolve. Mr. Avni?
Correspondent: Yes. Read on!
Spokesman: I will speak after I hear your question, Benny.
Question: So I’m sorry I couldn’t be at beginning so if you addressed this, please alert me and I’ll look it up. This spokeswoman for the State Department yesterday noted that, when you talk about the Palestinians joining the ICC (International Criminal Court), that you noted that it was a technical step on your side, and she basically — I’m paraphrasing here — said it doesn’t settle the question of whether Palestine is a State for that purpose and she said that the US obviously doesn’t think so. Can you expound on this a little bit, tell us what it’s all about?
Spokesman: I think the Office of Legal Affairs, under the authority of the Secretary‑General, followed the procedures in checking — sort of administrative checklist — found the submission was in order, and I would refer you to what I said yesterday, which obviously… any legal issues that States may have with what has happened is a decision for States themselves. So the Secretary‑General as depository has taken the necessary steps. If there are any other legal issues, that’s for Member States to take up amongst themselves or among the… or to deal with the State parties to the ICC.
Question: Just to be clear, when you say Member States, you mean Member States of the UN, Member States of the ICC…?
Spokesman: Obviously Member States of the ICC. I think, you know, whether it’s Member States, whether it’s permanent observers, I think all these entities will have to take the actions they feel like taking. The Secretary‑General has a very specific administrative responsibility, which has been fulfilled and has been communicated to all and sundry.
Question: I need be clear on this. Is there, like, a vote among signatories?
Spokesman: That is not… that’s a question you have to ask the signatories of the ICC.
Question: I want to ask… I have some, three press questions but I want to ask a follow‑up on this. I saw the note to correspondents said many reporters have asked and, therefore, this clarification… the note… so I, mine… I just… I guess I want to ask you directly. Was a request to issue this clarification received from either the United States or Israel?
Spokesman: It wasn’t a clarification. It was what I actually do for a living, which is to answer reporters’ questions.
Question: Have you received… I guess, has a similar note to correspondents been sent out to any other country that has joined the ICC?
Spokesman: We do it because it was, believe it or not, a high level of interest from journalists and we responded to that need. So we don’t do it for every… we don’t… This office does not do it proactively for every treaty this is deposited. The Secretary‑General is the depository for a large number of international multilateral agreements. Every time there is something, a new treaty is deposited, it goes up on the untreaty.org website. I think you can subscribe. They can send you out an e-mail. This was a service my office was providing to reporters, which is what we love do and what we get paid to do.
Question: Exactly. And the service I’m requesting is to know whether the United States or Israel contacted the UN Secretariat about this very question.
Spokesman: They didn’t contact me.
Question: Can you find… can you ask upstairs?
Spokesman: I can’t ask everybody whether or not they received a phone call. What I can tell you is that a lot of you, including you and including many people in this room, asked the question: what the status was. The question was asked and believe it or not, it was answered.
Question: I think it’s clear I didn’t ask.
Spokesman: Well, I think you did ask. Yes. Go ahead.
Question: Stéphane, I want to ask you a question what the Secretary‑General think about seeking justice, really, at ICC. How he assess the situation because, you know, United States or Israel criticized the Palestinian people, Palestinian Authority or state seeking justice with the ICC. So how Secretary‑General think about it?
Spokesman: Those are sovereign decisions that are made. The Secretary‑General’s focus continues to be on pushing the parties to resume direct negotiations towards a peaceful settlement. Now, in the vein of answering questions that have been asked, I failed to answer a question that has been asked… Was asked by a number of you over the last 24 hours regarding an exhibit downstairs sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Syria. And I know there was a letter sent to the Department of Management from the Syrian opposition group criticizing the exhibit. I wanted to just specify a few facts. Slots for exhibits in the Secretariat’s non-public areas are managed by the Department of Management and are given to Member States on a first-come, first-served basis. Representatives of permanent missions are asked to use the utmost discretion to ensure that exhibits are of a non-commercial nature and consistent with the principles and aims of the United Nations. That being said, the United Nations does not exercise any editorial control over the content of the exhibit sponsored by Member States. Missions alone are responsible for the content of any exhibit they sponsor.
Matthew, you have a question? Go ahead.
Question: I have two “freedom of the press” questions. One has a… is about Myanmar so it’s about the country… the country team there, as well. I saw that the… Deputy Secretary‑General’s meeting with the resident… UN resident coordinator from Myanmar today. So it came… in light of the “Je Suis Charlie” and all this, I wanted to ask you the following: Myanmar is listed as one of the top 10 jailers of journalists. At least 10 journalists are in jail for having criticized the Government. And I wanted to know, is it possible to know now or perhaps to hear from this resident coordinator, is this among the issues that the UN raises to Myanmar and what does the UN think of Myanmar’s record for locking up journalists for what they write?
Spokesman: I think the meeting is an internal meeting, as there are many between the Secretary‑General… between the Deputy Secretary‑General and the resident coordinator. It’s a routine meeting. As a principle and as I’ve said here repeatedly over the last few days, the Secretary‑General has always reiterated his call for full freedom of the press. He has spoken out when journalists have been jailed and that’s a consistent position of the United Nations.
Question: How about flogged?
Spokesman: Mr. Avni. Oh, go ahead.
Question: Thanks, Benny. No, this is… this is… it seems like the timing is just right, if he’s ready to speak out. There’s a blogger in Saudi Arabia called Raif Badawi, who now… He’s been sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for what… his blogs. And according to Amnesty International, he’s going to be receiving 50 flogs a week for the next 20 weeks and it begins Friday. So I wanted to know… this seems pretty extreme.
Spokesman: Listen, I have… I have not seen that report. I will take look at it. Mr. Avni?
Question: Since the Charlie Hebdo thing was about defamation of religion, they proudly defamed religion, does the Secretary‑General… let’s bring this up again. Does the Secretary‑General have any opinion on the legislation that the GA (General Assembly) of defamation of religion, against defamation of religion?
Spokesman: I think the Member States will decide what they want. The Secretary‑General’s position on freedom of expression is clear and has been reiterated many times.
Question: I did not ask about freedom of religion. I asked about defamation of religion.
Spokesman: You asked a question. I answered it. Linda?
Question: Stéphane, do you have any further information about Staffan de Mistura’s visit to New York and whether or not you think he’ll be briefing the press?
Spokesman: Yes, he will be briefing… he’s coming to brief the Council at some point this month and knowing Staffan, he would not miss an opportunity to speak to all of you, whether in this room or whether at the stakeout. Matthew, and then we’ll go to our guests.
Question: I wanted to… I don’t know if you’ll comment on this but there’s reports that the number two of the Lord’s Resistance Army has either surrendered or been turned over by Central African forces to the US. And there’s some discussions about whether he should be turned over to the International Criminal Court, where he’s been indicted, or Uganda. Particularly because there’s a peacekeeping mission in CAR and because of the Secretary‑General’s views on accountability, what does he think of this reported capture and what does he think should happen to him?
Spokesman: Obviously, it’s a very important development. Our colleagues are looking into it and we’ll have something for you later. All right? We’ll get Amina.