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, apologies for the delay and the confusion about the time. There are too many things going on at once here today.

**Palestine

I will start off with a statement for the Secretary-General on the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Central Council decision to suspend security coordination with Israel.

The Secretary-General expresses his concern regarding the 5 March decision by the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Central Council to suspend all forms of security coordination with Israel.

The Secretary-General notes that the PLO Executive Committee will report on implementation of this decision to the PLO Central Council in three months.  This still provides a window of opportunity for both sides to take necessary actions to honour their obligations.  In this regard, he urges both parties to exercise utmost restraint and reverse their unhelpful cycle of actions and counter-actions.  The Secretary-General repeats his call on Israel to resume the transfer of tax revenues legally due to the Palestinian Authority as per the Paris Protocol.

In the absence of effective international engagement, the situation may further unravel.  The Secretary General urgently calls on the international community, including the Security Council, to exercise leadership and help create conditions for a negotiated final peace agreement that will end the Israeli occupation and realize the creation of a viable Palestinian State, living in peace and security alongside Israel.

**Women

You have just heard from the Executive Director of UN-Women [United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women] about this year’s Women’s Day and the twentieth anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

I would just add that in his message for the day, the Secretary-General said that some progress has been made over the past 20 years, with more access to education for girls, more presence in business, Governments and global organizations, as well as progress in maternal health.

However, he called on the world to come together in response to the targeting of women and girls by violent extremists.  From Nigeria and Somalia to Syria and Iraq, the bodies of women have been transformed into battlegrounds for warriors carrying out specific and systematic strategies, often on the basis of ethnicity or religion, he denounced.  He said that the international community needs to translate its outrage into meaningful action, including humanitarian aid, psycho-social services, support for livelihoods and efforts to bring perpetrators to justice.

The Secretary-General also stressed that even in societies at peace, too many girls and women are still targets of abuse, and that discrimination remains a thick barrier that must be shattered.  His full statement is available online, as well as his remarks which he is currently delivering at the high-level debate of the General Assembly on advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls for a transformative post-2015 development agenda.

We also have a press release on a related issue from FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization], IFAD [International Fund for Agricultural Development] and WFP [World Food Programme].

**Iraq — UNESCO

From Iraq, the Director General of UNESCO [United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization], Irina Bokova, has condemned in the strongest possible terms the destruction of the archaeological site of Nimrud site in Iraq.  She said that this was yet another attack against the Iraqi people and added that nothing was safe from the cultural cleansing under way in the country.

Ms. Bokova said that the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage constitutes a war crime.  She called on all political and religious leaders in the region to stand up and remind everyone that there is absolutely no political or religious justification for the destruction of humanity’s cultural heritage.  She said that she had alerted the President of the Security Council as well as the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.  The international community must join in solidarity with the Government and people of Iraq to put an end to this catastrophe.

**Iraq — Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

Also on Iraq, our humanitarian colleagues say that small numbers of people continue to arrive in Samarra, according to aid organizations.  Displaced families are living in 127 collective shelters, including schools where many families are sharing classrooms.  Displaced people are also sheltering in unfinished and abandoned buildings and mosques in and around the city.  The Government has provided 1,000 tents which are now being erected in Samarra.  The UN refugee agency will provide another 1,500.

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme (WFP) has enough food prepositioned in its warehouse in Baghdad to feed 75,000 people for three days.  It will work with local partners on the ground in the coming weeks to distribute monthly food rations, security permitting.

**Lebanon

Valerie Amos, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, is wrapping up her visit to Lebanon, calling for continued international support to help maintain the country’s stability.  She said Lebanon has shown generosity in hosting some 1.2 million refugees from Syria and that no country can handle such a burden on its own.  She hoped that the upcoming Kuwait 3 pledging conference would support Lebanon.  There is more information in a press release from OCHA.

**Syria

The World Food Programme is also flagging a shortage of funding, which has forced it to reduce the number of Syrian refugees it can assist in Turkey.  In January, WFP assisted 220,000 refugees in 20 camps throughout the country.  But in February, that number fell to 154,000, after WFP had to withdraw from nine camps.  Since 2011, WFP has been providing food assistance to the most vulnerable Syrian refugees in Turkey through an innovative electronic e-food voucher system that makes it possible for refugees to buy their food in shops like anyone else.  WFP says it requires $9 million each month to assist Syrian refugees in Turkey.

**Security Council

The Security Council has an ongoing debate, open debate on Ukraine.  You will have seen Jeff Feltman address that meeting earlier today.  He said that since the Minsk package of measures was signed last month, the OSCE [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] Special Monitoring Mission has monitored some withdrawals of heavy weapons from the line of contact, but due to lack of access and freedom of movement of its monitors, the Mission remains unable to verify the true extent of the process.

Also speaking was the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Ivan Šimonović, who said that although the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine has held up in general, the human rights situation remains alarming.  He said that after more than 6,000 killed, 1 million displaced, hundreds of thousands of refugees and continuing violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, the conflict had still not reached the point of no return.

And John Ging also briefed on behalf of the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, pointing out that 5 million people across the country are now in need of humanitarian assistance — 2 million in Government-held areas and 3 million in non-Government-controlled areas.  He stressed that it is imperative that humanitarian actors are able to reach those in need with life-saving assistance, and called on all involved in the conflict to allow that to happen.

All those remarks are available online or in my office, and Mr. Feltman is expected to go to the Security Council’s stakeout, we are keeping an eye out on that for you.

**Indonesia

From Geneva, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights today urged the Indonesian Government to refrain from executing individuals convicted of drug offences by exercising its constitutional authority to grant clemency.  The Office said that, regrettably, six people found guilty of drug offences were executed in January and others are due to face the firing squad imminently.

It added that Indonesia's relentless efforts to fight the scourge of drug trafficking are understandable, but this is not the way to do it. By taking this course, Indonesia sadly will weaken its own position when advocating for its own nationals who sometimes face the death penalty abroad.

**Nepal

Also a note from the High Commissioner for Human Rights welcoming last week’s decision by the Supreme Court of Nepal to strike down a clause giving the Commission on Truth and Reconciliation and the Commission on Investigation of Disappeared Persons the power to recommend amnesties for serious human rights violations committed during the 10-year conflict.  We have that press release online.

**Climate Change and Human Rights

Just to flag, the Human Rights Council in Geneva held a discussion on the potentially devastating impact of climate change on human rights.  The panellists included the President of Kiribati and the Prime Minister of Tuvalu, two Pacific Island States which are on the frontline of the global battle against climate change.  More information on the High Commissioner’s website.

**Statelessness

And another note in advance of Women’s Day from UNHCR [Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees], which stressed that today women in 27 countries are still not allowed to pass their nationality on to their children on an equal basis with men, creating a cruel cycle of statelessness.  Reform of nationality laws is a key element in UNHCR’s #IBelong Campaign to End Statelessness.  There is more information on that campaign online.

**Senior Appointment

Senior appointment to announce today.  The Secretary-General is announcing the appointment of Yannick Glemarec of France as Deputy Executive Director for Policy and Programme for the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) at the Assistant Secretary-General level.  He succeeds John Hendra of Canada to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his continued commitment and dedicated service to the Organization.  Bio is available in my office.

**Press Conferences

I will be succeeded here at this briefing by Michaëlle Jean, Secretary General of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie who will brief on High-Level Thematic Debate on Gender. The moderator will be Jean-Victor Nkolo, from the PGA’s Office.

12:45 on Monday, the Vice-President of Guatemala will address the press at the first floor stakeout.

And at 12:30 p.m., there will be a press conference by Chandra Ray Henriksen, Chief of the Secretariat on the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

**Honour Roll

And I had a honour roll today, I’ll find it, but let’s go to questions.  You go ahead and ask your question.  Go ahead, Masood.

[The Spokesman later announced that on 5 March, Cuba became the fifty-fourth Member State to pay its dues in full.]

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Yeah.  Since it is going to be international conference over here, there is a debate going on in India, which has become in a frenzy, that the issue of rape of the village should not be internationalized, but it should remain internal and they should have internal debate.  Until the world community knows what's happening, they cannot move forward.  So is the Secretary-General debating on this as to why this issue should be internationalized or not?

Spokesman:  I think it's not a matter of internationalizing or not internationalizing the issue.  The issue of violence against women is a global issue, which the Secretary-General has addressed everywhere he goes and will continue to speak out on.  I think, as you will hear… as you heard in the message the Secretary-General delivered on this day, it is an issue that women have to face in the four corners of the world, in societies that are at war and in societies that are at peace.  So the debate really should be all over how do we stop violence against women?

Question:  The other report from Pakistan that some human rights activists coming to this conference have been stopped by the Pakistani Government.

Spokesman:  I have not heard.  I will look into it.  One more thing, I do have an honour roll that yesterday Cuba became the fifty-fourth Member State to pay its dues in full, which leaves us with how many who haven't paid?

Correspondent: [inaudible]

Spokesman: Have not paid.

Correspondent: 134.

Spokesman:  139.  Close.  You don't get the next question.  Roger.

Question:  Thanks.  Two things.  Firstly, you mentioned Mr. Feltman.  Can we expect him imminently?  Is this a thing that will be held today or…?

Spokesman:  We expected him to come to the stakeout imminently, but Security Council members are exercising one of their basic rights and that is the right to speak, and I'm seeing the open debate is ongoing.  And I'm watching it here.  So as soon as he comes out, we will flag it for you, and I apologize, but I don't control the Security Council or its members.  Yes?  And you had a real question?

Question:  A real question.  On WFP.

Spokesman:  Pardon?

Question:  The World Food Programme.  Are we to assume that the money raised from the campaign that you mentioned from the podium a few months ago, has that all been spent now?

Spokesman: That would be my assumption, but we can check with them.  Yes?

Question:  This morning, the Libyan Ambassador was quoted as calling for a deadline for the establishment of a national unity Government, after which the UN would lift its embargo on arms to the country.  Earlier this week, he also made a similar call.  Can you offer comment on that and more broadly any comment on the situation in Libya this week?

Spokesman:  I think the situation in Libya was the subject of a fairly extensive debate yesterday in the Security Council.  There are talks ongoing right now in Morocco led by the Special Representative, or facilitated rather by the Special Representative.  These are Libyan-led talks.  They're going on in Morocco.  They're continuing today.  Our efforts aim at creating an inclusive political solution for Libya, in which a State can be re-established that all Libyans can recognize and have faith in and establish basic security.  The issue of lifting or not lifting the arms embargo will be left up to the Security Council.  Linda and then Abdel Hamid and then…

Question:  Thanks, Steph.  Regarding Ukraine, you mentioned that there are about 5 million people in need of humanitarian aid.  I was wondering if… what the status of contributions is both by the Government and international community in helping those in need of assistance.

Spokesman:  It's a very valid question, and I think I have the answer here for you.  If I'm not mistaken, the appeal for Ukraine, which was launched on 24 February for $316 million to reach 3.2 million people in the most dire humanitarian need is only 13 per cent funded.  So only $42.2 million has so far been received or pledged.  Abdel Hamid?

Question:  Thank you, Stéphane.  I would like to ask you a question.  It has to do with memory.  I mean, did the Secretary‑General issue a statement the day Israel decided to hold back all the tax money which is… it's about, I think, in March… when the Palestinian Authority submitted their application for ICC, Israel that day decided to hold the tax money, which has been now over $230 million.  Was there a statement issued by the Secretary-General at that time?

Spokesman:  I will have to check.  It is something we have spoken out often about and in fact, just today in the statement, the Secretary-General repeated his call on the Israelis to release that money.  Matthew?  We'll go to the second round later.  And then Iftikhar.  Go ahead.

Question:  Sure.  I'm sorry if I missed it because I’ve been trying to cover these rights of reply.  Do you have any statement on South Sudan, the deadline passing and the talks being called off and the leaders flying away?

Spokesman:  Obviously, we're obviously disappointed at the unsuccessful conclusion of the peace talks.  We hope they will resume as soon as possible.  We're obviously following closely in supporting the process and I think the Secretary-General has often reminded that the parties in fact and the two leaders have a responsibility to the people of South Sudan who are continuing to pay the heavy… high price of war.  And, again, that there is no military solution to this conflict.  But I do hope to have a more formal statement for you later today.

Question:  Can I ask you on… because it's international Women's day and the press conference that was held earlier, I wanted to ask two things, which is one, has there been any either success or efforts to get back to Thabit in Darfur to investigate the rapes that took place in November?

Spokesman: No, no success and I know we're continuing to try.

Question:  And now that Angela Kane has confirmed that she's leaving the disarmament post publicly, I wanted to ask… I'd asked whether Mr. Kim is in fact a candidate.  Are there women candidates in that and what's the process?

Spokesman:  As you know, the process will be open, and when the selection process is made, it will be announced.

Question:  Is it a policy to have a woman candidate in the final three in each of these?

Spokesman:  When the candidate is announced, we will announce it.  Iftikhar?

Question: [inaudible]

Spokesman:  Your microphone, please, sir.

Question:  Thank you, Stéphane.  After Mosul, this attack on Nimrud is the second one on Iraqi heritage.  Whatever happened to the appeal made by the UNESCO chief for the Security Council action to deal with this problem?

Spokesman:  Say again.  Sorry.

Question: This attack on Iraqi heritage following which the UNESCO chief had made an appeal, made a call on the Security Council to take action.  Whatever happened to that?

Spokesman:  You know, obviously, the issue of the destruction of cultural heritage sites was taken up by the Council.  A resolution was passed, which among other things calls for a ban on the trade of illicit trade of these… this is an extremely serious issue.  I think what we've seen in Nimrud just yesterday just underscores the brutality of what we're seeing currently in Iraq.  Errol?

Question:  Yes.  A few explanations actually.  I watch here the appointments of Secretary-General even without my glasses, and I see that he met already Her Excellency Ms.  Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, President of Croatia, and before that Ms. Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO.  There are two half-an-hour meetings actually.  Can we assume that they really went for half-an-hour and can we have some readouts of those meetings, number one?  And number two, did the Secretary-General talk with or address the issue of destroying of cultural heritage in Iraq with Ms. Irina Bokova?

Spokesman:  He's seeing her this afternoon.  The schedule was changed.  There's a revision, but that's okay.  But I have no doubt it will come up in the meeting.

Question:  Okay.  Did he really talk to them or will talk to them about half-an-hour or less than that?

Spokesman:  If it's on the schedule, it’s scheduled for half-an-hour.

Correspondent: Okay.

Spokesman: Masood and then Abdel Hamid.

Question:  Yes.  This [inaudible] by French Government and the Syrian peace efforts to relaunch and so forth, what is the United Nations… I know Staffan de Mistura and so forth.  Are they making any… I mean serious efforts towards holding these talks except for making appeals and so forth?

Spokesman:  Well, Mr. de Mistura has been just doing that.  He's been continuing to talk to various parties.  His team has been continuing to talk to various parties, and that's what the centre of his work is.

Question:  The United Nations supported the talks in Moscow, before that Geneva.  Nothing seems… there is no breakthrough at all.

Spokesman:  I think we can all observe that, but it doesn't mean we're not continuing to work hard at it.  Abdel Hamid?

Question:  Today the news carried out a story.  It was carried live…

Spokesman:  Sorry?  No, go ahead.  It's me, it's not…

Question: There was a story carried live today on TV and social media about an Iraqi militia's executing an 11-year-old boy when his hands were cuffed.  It was carried live and it received condemnation from all over the world.  He was 11 years old.  And this militia which is called al-hashad al-sha'abi, the popular mobilization, which has a sectarian aspect of it, and he was a Sunni boy.  He was taken and executed right in front of the camera.  So…

Spokesman: I haven't seen that particular report, but obviously, if it proves to be true, it is one that can only be condemned in the strongest possible words.  I mean, I think as I've often said here, the crimes that we're seeing in Iraq and Syria, at some point, we run out of words to describe their cruelty and their inhumanity.  Matthew?

Question: Sure.  I want to ask something about Côte d’Ivoire, but I was checking and maybe I missed it.  Did your office put a readout of the Secretary-General's meeting with the Prime Minister of Turkey?

Spokesman:  No, I did a readout during the briefing.

Question:  Okay.  What I wanted to ask about, this is this case of the selling… the OIOS-confirmed reported on selling of posts… UN police posts in UN peacekeeping, and I wanted to ask you the following: The Deputy Permanent Representative who's named in the OIOS report, whose bank account is listed… I wanted to ask you to confirm that a letter has gone to the Secretariat saying that he's now the chargé d'affaires, and that Ambassador Bamba is leaving.  If that is confirmed and if in fact, he's sort of getting a promotion, what is the UN… I guess what I'm saying, it makes the UN… if these findings have been made, what's the next step in the sense of a person that actually solicited money for UN posts for a promotion?

Spokesman:  Listen, I don't have any information on a specific… on that letter.  And as a comment on the general issue, not on the specific case, Member States are free to send… to represent them whoever they choose.  It is not up to the Secretary‑General to decide if the… you know, the credentials, if they are to be questioned or questioned by the credentials committee.  It is up to Member States to decide who is most appropriate to represent them.

Question:  But this… I guess what I'm distinguishing here between something that somebody did in their own country and…

Spokesman: I understand.

Question:  …but this is actually about the UN itself.

Spokesman:  I understand.  And I think the report, as you know, actions were taken against people serving in peacekeeping missions, but, again, Member States do what they do.

Question:  But by that same logic, couldn't they send the same peacekeepers — this is what I don't understand.  You can send the peacekeepers home, but the person who solicited the bribes can park in your garage.

Spokesman:  I hear your observation.  I will take one more question.  Then our guest is waiting and I don't want to keep her waiting.  Yes?

Question:  Okay.  I just want an update on this Rafah crossing in Egypt.  Is there an update on that?  Israel and Egypt have…

Spokesman:  No, no update that I'm aware of.  As we've often said, I think the crossings whether from Israel or from Egypt need to be open so people can ‑‑ humanitarian aid can be delivered and people who need services can help.

I will add one thing, Matthew.  You'd asked about the article in the New Republic the other day and I just want to bring a further clarification that the UN Legal Counsel has never asserted or qualified that American airstrikes in Syria are illegal or against the Charter.  Accordingly, he has never suggested statements should be made to that effect.  And that's it.  Thank you.