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. I will start off with a statement on the Central African Republic.
**Central African Republic
The Secretary-General remains deeply concerned by the allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse of children by foreign military forces not under the command of the United Nations in the Central African Republic, and the United Nations system’s response to these allegations. The Secretary-General had previously announced his intention to set up a panel to conduct an External Independent Review into this matter.
He has, today, appointed the panel, which will be chaired by Ms. Marie Deschamps of Canada, a former Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. The other two members of the panel will be Mr. Hassan Jallow of the Gambia, the Prosecutor of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), and Ms. Yasmin Sooka of South Africa, the Executive Director of the Foundation for Human Rights in South Africa.
The panel will review the United Nations response to the allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse of children by foreign military forces not under UN command and assess the adequacy of the procedures in place. This will include any allegations of abuse of authority or retaliation by senior officials. The panel will also look at any shortcomings in existing procedures covering serious crimes by United Nations and related personnel, host State forces and non-State actors that it may become aware of during the review.
The panel will conduct its work independently and will receive unrestricted access to all UN records and full access to staff members and other UN personnel. The UN will make its best efforts to facilitate the access of the panel to non-UN personnel. In addition to those that the panel may reach out to, any person who wishes to provide information relevant to the External Independent Review is encouraged to contact the panel directly through an external email address that will be announced shortly.
The panel will begin its work in July and aim to submit its report within ten weeks. The panel is also mandated to make recommendations on how the UN should respond to similar allegations in the future and on any shortcomings in the existing procedures. The Secretary-General will make this report public, subject to due process and confidentiality considerations.
We will issue the full statement shortly. We will also put out the terms of reference as well as the biographies of the three panel members.
**Secretary-General Travels
The Secretary-General, meanwhile, arrived this morning in Luxembourg, where he had an audience with Grand Duke Henri. They reviewed the state of play of the negotiations on the Post-2015 Development Agenda and the Secretary-General expressed his appreciation for Luxembourg’s strong and continuous commitment to development aid.
The Secretary-General also thanked Luxembourg for its assistance to UN activities in Mali and to the Central African Republic. He then met with Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, with whom he discussed in-depth [the] priorities for Luxembourg’s upcoming Presidency of the European Union's Council.
The Secretary-General later participated in a working luncheon with the European Union (EU) Ministers of Foreign Affairs, hosted by Federica Mogherini, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. He raised the importance of a strong UN-EU partnership, the challenges of migration, the threat of violent extremism, as well as the crucial opportunity this year to lay plans for a more sustainable future.
After a joint meeting with Luxembourg's Foreign and European Affairs, Environment and Development, and Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs ministers, he left for Strasbourg, in France, where he will address the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. And we expect the Secretary-General to spend a full day in Strasbourg tomorrow and he is expected back in New York tomorrow night.
**Secretary-General Statements
As you will have seen over the weekend, we also issued a statement yesterday [in which] the Secretary-General has requested his Special Representative and Head of the UN Regional Office for Central Africa, Abdoulaye Bathily, to offer good offices in Burundi in support of regional efforts to reduce tensions and help Burundians peacefully settle their differences. Special Representative Bathily arrived in Bujumbura yesterday.
As elections draw near, the Secretary-General calls on all Burundian political leaders to address the current political crisis with the highest sense of responsibility. He urges them to resume political dialogue earnestly with a view to creating an environment conducive for peaceful, credible and inclusive elections.
Also over the weekend, we issued a statement in which the Secretary-General welcomed the signature of the Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in Mali by the coordination coalition of armed groups in Bamako on Saturday. The Secretary-General noted that signature by all parties paves the way for the full and timely implementation of the Peace Agreement. The ultimate responsibility for peace lies with Mali and the Malians, and the Secretary-General urges all parties to continue to work in good faith to advance progress and to fully implement the provisions of a ceasefire.
**Afghanistan
And I’ve a statement just handed to me on Afghanistan — the Secretary-General condemns in the strongest terms today's assault against the Parliament in Kabul as yet another unacceptable attack on civilians in Afghanistan. The assault follows the killing of 16 civilians on June 20th, who were travelling in a minibus which struck an improvised explosive device in Helmand Province. Together, these attacks have claimed at least the lives of 18 civilian and injured a further 40.
The attacks demonstrate a callous disregard for the lives of all Afghans, including women and children who had already been forced to flee their homes. They undermine efforts aimed at building a stronger, more prosperous Afghanistan. The Secretary-General extends his condolences to the families of those killed and injured, and reiterates his unwavering support to the people in Afghanistan.
**Security Council
And on that same subject — today the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Nick Haysom, briefed the Security Council on the latest report on the country.
Noting modest progress in Afghanistan’s economic and security and political areas, Mr. Haysom said that there is now no room for complacency and that any failure in any one of these areas would have consequences for the overall success of the Afghan transition. And Mr. Haysom is due to speak to you at the Security Council stakeout sometime after 1 p.m.
Also on Afghanistan, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has strongly condemned today’s attack in Kabul today.
**South Sudan
From our colleagues at the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) — they report that five internally displaced persons (IDPs) — four women and one man — were shot during an incident early Saturday evening at a market area adjacent to the protection-of-civilians site in Juba. Four of the wounded people were taken to a clinic inside the UN site for medical treatment and their conditions were listed as serious. Another two displaced people were injured as they fled the scene of the shooting. And UNMISS is investigating the incident.
Meanwhile, UN aircrafts have been denied permission to land at the Mission’s county support base in the Upper Nile State town of Nassir by armed opposition forces — this is for the sixth consecutive day. The amount of supplies for the UNMISS personnel stationed at the Nassir base is reaching critically low levels as a result of the inability to operate flights into Nassir.
**Gaza
As you will have seen, today the Independent Commission of Inquiry into the 2014 Gaza conflict issued its report today and said that it has gathered substantial information pointing to the possible commission of war crimes by both Israel and Palestinian armed groups.
The chair of the commission, Justice Mary McGowan Davis, told a press briefing in Geneva today that the extent of the devastation and human suffering in Gaza was unprecedented and will affect generations to come. She added that there is also ongoing fear in Israel among communities who live under regular threat. That report, as you would recall, was commissioned by the Human Rights Council.
**Lebanon
Meanwhile, Sigrid Kaag, the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, today called for increased donor assistance to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in order to meet the needs of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and those from Syria. Ms. Kaag was speaking during a visit to the Palestinian refugee camp of Burj El-Barajneh, which is in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
The Special Coordinator welcomed the calm that has been maintained in the camp, particularly since the beginning of the crisis in Syria. She encouraged further cooperation between the Palestinian and Lebanese authorities to ensure that this stability continues to prevail.
**Republic of Korea — Human Rights
And the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, will begin a three-day visit to the Republic of Korea, where he will open a new UN Human Rights office to work on the human rights situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
The independent international Commission of Inquiry in its 2014 report on DPRK had recommended that “a field-based structure to strengthen monitoring and documentation of the situation of human rights in the DPRK” be established.
During the visit to Seoul, Mr. Zeid is scheduled to meet President Park [Geun-hye] as well as a number of high-level Government and State officials as well as the Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission. He will also be speaking to the press in Seoul at 4 p.m. local time on Thursday, at the conclusion of his visit.
**Financing for Development
And the Third Drafting Session of the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development was held last week on 15-19 June.
Throughout the week and over the weekend, Member States negotiated the texts of the draft outcome document. In addition to assessing the progress made in the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus and Doha Declaration, the draft text also aims to strengthen the financing framework for the implementation of the Post-2015 development agenda to be agreed at the Summit in September.
The session extended into the weekend to allow focused discussions on specific issues such as trade, debt, international tax cooperation, and the follow-up framework.
This is the final phase of negotiations. Today Member States continue to work toward reaching a consensus. We expect the document to be adopted at the meeting in Addis Ababa — Financing for Development which will take place from the 13th to the 16th of July.
**Honour Roll
And today we thank the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, which has paid its regular budget dues in full. So thank you to our colleagues in Vientiane. 100 it is…
**Questions and Answers
Spokesman: Nizar.
Question: My question is regarding the aid to Yemen. The ship… the Iranian ship which was led to Djibouti and off-loaded, the Yemenis say they not so far receive anything… many Yemenis from that ship. Also, they complained that United Arab Emirates off-loaded cargo ship in Aden itself a month ago or more. And that was not under surveillance and it carried weapons as they claim. What does the United Nations say about that?
Spokesman: I have not received an update on Yemen from our colleague… humanitarian colleagues today. What is clear is that the UN and its partners are trying to distribute aid in what can only be described as a very difficult environment as the violence continues, the bombings continue, the attacks continue. So they're struggling doing their best. But as we've said, there's a shortage of fuel and also other shortages which make it difficult for us to distribute that aid.
I will look into the specific report from the ship in Djibouti, but I know the aid was meant to be off-loaded and then distributed through the UN. So let me get an update from my colleagues, and I'll get back to you.
Question: In Hajjah in particular, and Sa’ada, people there are… haven't received any aid for months, they say.
Spokesman: As I said, we're… We're struggling to get aid to the most impacted areas.
Joe, then Matthew, and then Abdel Hamid… we'll go around.
Question: Yes. On Friday, the Israeli mission had indicated that a letter had been sent to the Secretary‑General and the Security Council about the killing of a civilian, an Israeli civilian, by a Palestinian and asked for some response. A, did the Secretary-General in fact receive that letter? And is there any comment on that unprovoked attack on actually two Israeli civilians, one of which ended with a fatality?
Spokesman: If I'm not… I will check [if the] letter's been received. If it was meant to be… if it was meant to be circulated to the Security Council, it will be. And I think there was a statement to condemning the attack from the Special Coordinator that was issued either on Friday or over the weekend.
Abdelhamid, then Matthew…
Question: Thank you. The Permanent Representative of Member State of the UN sent this letter saying the following: he said, “United Nations has been taken hostage by terrorist organization and in this battle, the international community will lose.”
So he accusing the United Nations as a whole has been taken by terrorists. He's not accusing the Human Rights Council alone or the panel of inquiry but the whole UN system. Is there a response to this serious accusation?
Spokesman: Well, I… I haven't seen the letter. I don't really understand what it means for the UN to have been taken hostage by terrorist organizations. So I… why don't you share with me the letter and then we can see what we can respond to it.
Mr. Lee.
Question: Sure. I want… some other questions, but on your announcement about the Central African Republic and this panel, one, I just wanted to know, Mr. Jallow, is he still… he's the prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Is that still a current job? One, is the panel a full‑time work? And, two, is it really consistent with being independent given that he is working for the UN system?
Spokesman: Well, I think that — yes, it is completely independent. I think the judges and the prosecutors of the ICTR, as you know, are elected by Member States. The ICTR is winding down. It will be a full‑time… it will be full time for at least the ten weeks. And I think Mr. Jallow is a jurist of impeccable reputation. The prosecutor's office works completely independently from the Secretariat. And the panel will be completely… in its work will be completely independent.
Question: I also wanted to… I guess relatedly, you… I would assume that you've seen this statement written by the head of the Government Accountability Project, B. Edwards, where she said a UN Spokesman said in an e-mail regarding Mr. Kompass that he is a sleazeball without principles. And she is a person that studies the UN pretty closely, I doubt she's making the e-mail up. So I wanted to know what do you think of it, both who said it, and also, what do you think of if it's the case that the UN is saying publicly all these very judicious things and continues behind the scenes.
Spokesman: Listen, I have no… I have no way of knowing who sent that e-mail, if the e-mail is even real. You know, I… I don't doubt Ms. Edwards' intentions. I know her to be… to be a woman who strongly believes in what she's… what she's fighting for. Obviously, everyone working for the Secretariat needs to be treated with respect. We need to treat our colleagues with respect. I'm not going to start commenting on private emails, which may or may not be real.
Question: And finally on this, did the Deputy Secretary-General meet with Member States on Friday regarding the panel and the…
Spokesman: Yes, he did.
Question: So why… I guess I've seen meetings like this on public schedules like when you're meeting about Post‑2015 or whatever, why was this one not…
Spokesman: I don't know why it wasn’t on. The Deputy Secretary‑General briefed the interested Member States of where we were in the process. Basically gave them a bit of a preview of the panel without giving them names. And just updating them on where we were. I'll come back to you. Jonathan, and then Linda, and then Masood.
Question: Since we are on the topic of the peacekeepers and CAR. In your opening remarks here, you didn't say anything about whistleblower protection. And in the terms of reference, is there going to be scrutiny of that and also am I misunderstanding this or is this going to be solely focused on the incident at hand in which these foreign peacekeepers who had no direct relationship with UN peacekeepers did these act then the UN failed to… to…
Spokesman: I think… two things. The whistle… it will not look… let me rephrase. The panel will make the recommendations it wants to make as I said in the… in my opening statement. It will be focused on the allegations against these non‑UN soldiers and how the UN system handled them. The panel may also look to choose… to look how we handle allegations of… how we handle allegations of abuse by peacekeepers, UN peacekeepers and personnel as well as State… as State actors.
The… people who will come forward and testify or should we say speak to the panel will be afforded protection and… from retaliation. So I don't know if that… if that was what you were… what you were asking me.
Question: That is what I was asking, so that as in the case of Mr. Kompass, there might not, as Matthew alluded to, be this attempt to paint him in a… in an unpleasant light as you go into what's supposed to be an independent investigation. But why would the UN not also take this opportunity to review its own practises of its own peacekeepers? Because this has been an issue that we journalists have raised within this room over the years, and there have been terribly egregious things happened perpetrated by UN peacekeepers themselves.
Spokesman: Well, you know, there are procedures already… obviously procedures already in place on how to address this. And there's the Secretary‑General's report, the OIOS report. The panel, as I said, may also make recommendations regarding any shortcomings in existing procedures covering sexual abuse allegations, so we may get recommendations from the panel. They will, of course, take into account the work that's already been done by the Department of Peacekeeping Operation, Department of Field service in terms of protection of victims, in terms of sexual abuse, the conduct in discipline unit. There's a lot of work that has been done over the last ten years or more. Has it been enough? Clearly not. We're not at the numbers that we would like to be. The panel will look at how the UN system handled the allegations in the Central African Republic and will also be free to make… we also expect them to make recommendations.
Linda, then Masood.
Question: Thank you. Regarding the Security Council consultations, I gather it's on Wednesday regarding the recent Yemen talks… would you have any details about the Secretariat's role in that… in those consultations, who will be briefing…
Spokesman: The Special Envoy will be here.
Question: And we assume he'll brief the press?
Spokesman: We very much hope so. We'll go farther than just assume. Masood.
Question: This Human Rights Commission’s report on Gaza, it says that Israel… calls upon Israel to break lamentable track record on the situation in Gaza on the killings of the civilians over there. It blames the Israeli political leadership and military leadership for the… what's happening in Gaza. Now, is the Secretary‑General going to also comment on the report…
Spokesman: The report obviously has just come out. It's an independent report set up by the Human Rights Council. These independent commissions of inquiries are very important tools in the human rights mechanism. I think the Secretary‑General's own views on what happened in Gaza in 2014 are well documented and most lately in the children and armed conflict report and in his regular reporting to the Security Council.
Question: My question is, now that all these reports… I mean, [inaudible] blaming the whole crisis on these two parties, is Secretary‑General going to ask Israel, which calls itself a responsible Government, to hold those responsible for killing of the civilians?
Spokesman: I think the Secretary‑General has repeatedly said that anyone who commits violence against civilians on any side needs to be held accountable.
Yes.
Question: Thank you, Stéphane. Following up on the Gaza report, Israel… both Israel and Hamas have objected the findings with the Israeli Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu saying once again that the UN is biased. Hamas has flat out rejected it. What is the UN's response to their objections?
Spokesman: Well, I think as I just said to Masood, the Commission of Inquiry report and other Commission of Inquiry reports that we've seen are very important tools in the UN's human rights mechanism and we hope that anyone that is named in these report will work with the human rights machinery and address the issue of accountability.
Spokesman: Yes.
Question: [off mic]
Spokesman: Your microphone needs to be…
Question: To what extent will this report be used in the ICC's own preliminary inquiry?
Spokesman: That's a question that's left up to the International Criminal Court. Yes.
Question: Yes. I have a question about Syria. Recently, Kurdish forces along with other opposition forces made major advances against ISIS in northern Syria and pushed them back in the province of Raqqah. And I have actually two questions about this. The first one is the… if the Secretary‑General has any comment about this advance against ISIS in Syria and the second one is 23,000 people were displaced because of these battles. And there were calls by Turkey and others for more help. Does… did the UN allocated more fund or aid to… to…
Spokesman: The UN is… the UN is working… our humanitarian colleagues are working with the most impacted countries, the border countries notably, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq to bring whatever help they can. But as we've said repeatedly here, our humanitarian appeals are woefully underfunded and we don't have the means to do everything we would want to do to assist those countries who are assisting the refugees and the displaced people. So it is important the international community respond positively to the repeated calls to fund these appeals. Go ahead.
Question: What about the…
Spokesman: Well, I'll… you know, the fighting…
Spokesman: …is continuing in Syria with little or no advancement on the political track. The Secretary‑General fully backs the work of his Special Envoy who is continuing his consultations through mid‑July. We hope to hear a report back from him at that time. And I think every day that we see more violence should serve as an example to those who hold political power in whatever corner to reach a political agreement.
Question: One follow‑up on that. In Iraq usually the advances against ISIS called liberation by the UN. But in Syria, the same advances against same group which is ISIS we don't see those word that's used…
Spokesman: I think it's not… I think what we need is to build a political consensus and find a political solution in which Syrian civilians who have suffered so much in the almost five years now live under the rule of law and the respect for the rule of law, and live in peace. And we're seeing cities being taken by one group or another and meanwhile civilians have paid the price. Round two. Nizar.
Question: I have two questions. One on Iraq — the Iraqi Government has appealed to the international community for help with regard to the water wars conducted by ISIS or Da’esh. [inaudible] is almost drying totally because they are blocking the water supplies. Does the United Nations add its voice to the Iraqi Government in this respect?
Spokesman: I think we…
Question: I have another question on Yemen.
Spokesman: We already have. Through the Special Representative, the humanitarian coordinator and the SG in different times have condemned the use of water as a tool of war, which we've seen many times, too many times in Iraq, whether it's deliberate flooding or the holding back of water.
Question: On Yemen, after [inaudible]…
Spokesman: Press the mic. There we go.
Question: …the Geneva consultations, is there any review to the performance of the Envoy, Mr. Ould Cheikh Ahmed, especially he has taken sides on the negotiations…
Spokesman: I think it's… we're used to being scapegoated. It's always easy to blame the mediator or envoy for failure. Mr. Ould Cheikh Ahmed has been at his job for just a few weeks now. I think he's pulled together… he was able to bring the parties in the same city in Geneva. The talks did not conclude in the way we would have liked to have conclude them. But I would say it would be premature to say the very least to blame the mediator for the lack of success. He will be here in New York to blame… to… let's try that again. He will be here in New York to brief the Security Council… sorry. That was not even a Freudian slip.
He'll be here to brief the Security Council. Then he will go back to the region. He will continue to work hard on bringing the parties together. But it is the parties that need to do the hard work and agree on a political agreement.
Question: The issue is hereby deciding the representation should be limited to seven from the Yemenis. Wasn't that the sticking point which…
Spokesman: I think that is your…
Spokesman: Nizar, that is your cherished opinion, which I respect. But, again, I would say the Special Envoy has really worked very hard in a short amount of time, and he will continue to work hard. Abdelhamid, then Matthew.
Question: Thank you. On Saturday, the German authorities have arrested a very prominent Al Jazeera reporter. There was a world outcry… he just been released about two or three hours ago. But there were a world outcry against his errors because he did not violate any German law. He was being wanted by the Egyptian authorities. I mean, in light of the recent resolution of the Security Council 2222 about the protection of journalists, was the Secretary‑General informed about this arrest? Did he do anything? Was he at least informed? Did he know about…
Spokesman: He was… the Secretary‑General follows these situations closely. Obviously, I think we have to give a little bit of time for the judicial authorities in Germany to do what they needed to do. He's been freed, and I just saw it as we came out.
Mr. Lee.
Question: Sure. I wanted to ask on… on Burundi, I saw the statement, I guess it was yesterday, but since then, there's been another… more grenade attacks, four dead. I'm wondering if there's a response to that. And two, if you can say more specifically Mr. Bathily, what is… is he talking with people about the parliamentary elections, the presidential elections? Is he waiting to follow the lead of the African Union and regional groups? Who is he meeting with?
Spokesman: He just started his consultations. He arrived yesterday. Today he's meeting with various parties. I don't have a readout of his meetings. I would refer you back to the statement in which Secretary‑General calls on all Burundian political leaders to address the current political crisis with the highest levels of responsibilities and urges them to resume political dialogue earnestly with a view to creating an environment conducive for peaceful, credible, and inclusive elections. So that will be his goal. Obviously, working closely with the African Union. As you know, they passed a resolution at the summit in Johannesburg. He just landed — let's give him a couple of days.
Question: And I wanted to ask, I guess over the weekend or late last week there was a release of a number of Saudi cables by the organisation WikiLeaks, and although they point all over the world, I wanted to ask you just to respond generally to a UN question which is that one of the cables involves the allocation of a sum of money to seek a Human Rights Council seat at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. So some people look at this and say this reflects pretty badly on the UN system. Some of it analogized it to FIFA or other things. What does the UN system say about such allocations and what are the rules regarding spending of money to seek such a seat?
Spokesman: Well, I'm not sure… you know, those elections are for Member States and run by Member States. I have no way of… I'm not going to comment on the particular cable which I've not… I've not looked at. I'm sure you can show it to me, Matthew. Obviously we would hope that these elections are conducted in the most open and transparent and fair way.
Question: Right. But is there any rule? That's what I'm trying to ask…
Spokesman: I'm not aware of any rules… but that would be up to the General Assembly and that's a question you should ask the General Assembly.
Masood… I'm sure you have a relevant question, but I'm going to go to Masood first.
Question: Yes, sir. Notwithstanding the great success of the yoga… international yoga day, the Indian security forces continue to kill Kashmiris in Kashmir. Is there anything the Secretary‑General has to say about…
Spokesman: I think… I would refer you to our past statements. I have nothing new to say on that.
Nizar.
Question: Yes, I have two questions, one on Bahrain, which I asked last week…
Spokesman: I don't have an update for you on Bahrain.
Question: Sheikh Ali Salman was convicted for four years. He's is the General Secretary of the Al Wefaq as you know him. What is the United Nations position on such a conviction?
Spokesman: I don't have one for you yet.
Question: Also, on the WikiLeaks cables, some of the cables spoke about the corrupting effect of the Saudi money on the media and neighbouring countries such as Lebanon. Many of the cables mentioned payments to the media influencing the opinion, of course in Saudi Arabia there is no freedom of press…
Spokesman: What is the question, Nizar? Nizar, what is the question?
Question: Countries corrupting other media by…
Spokesman: I… you know, I have… I have no particular comments on this effort by WikiLeaks to release cables.
Question: I have another question about the [inaudible] Syria and what happened there. Their accusations by Turkish governments of those forces of that advanced against ISIS that they had an ethnic cleansing, has the United Nations had any reports or any information on the ground about these allegations?
Spokesman: Not to my knowledge, but we can check. Mr. Lee.
Question: Sure. I wanted to… it's been announced that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was going to participate in these World University Games in Gwangju and has now decided not to based on a UN visit there. And I wanted to know, did the… based on the opening of the UN Human Rights Council monitoring office. So had the Security Council… had the Secretary‑General thought that its participation in these world games was positive step? And does he have any comment on the reversal and decision to boycott?
Spokesman: No, I haven't seen the decision to boycott. Obviously, I think the participation of any country in sports… international sports events is… can only be positive.
Question: Okay.
Spokesman: Jonathan. Don't ever say last one, because it's never the last one.
Question: Since there were a couple of questions about Saudi money influence and you mentioned it's best to talk to the General Assembly about voting rules and how money might influence decisions and countries, what about the Counter‑Terrorism Committee and some of the work that's done to counter terrorism and Saudi money that's gone into that too? Surely, there's got to be some sort of accountability on when a Government… obviously, if you give it for humanitarian purposes, money goes to there and you guys are always asking for money to help out in major crises, but in these types of scenarios which were raised by WikiLeaks, on counter‑terrorism for instance, who oversees that? What are the rules on where to take money and why?
Spokesman: Well, the UN has all sorts of extra budgetary projects whether it's on counter‑terrorism, on development, on humanitarian aid. As you know, the vast majority of our activities at large are not covered by assessed contributions. We often get contributions from Member States for projects, for institutions. All those contributions are covered under the UN financial rules. It's reported back to the Fifth Committee and other relevant institutions. I think the counter‑terrorism centre can give you more information about where the money has been sent… spent and the projects have been… that have been spent on. There's a board… if I'm not mistaken, there's a board of governors, for lack of a better word, or board of directors, that works on the counter-terrorism centre, and I can give you more information if you'd like.
Masood, then Matthew, then Nizar for the last one.
Question: On this Saudi money, there's a… at the outset of Yemen… when the Yemen conflict began, it was announced that Saudi Arabia is going to contribute about 100 million or 200 million.
Spokesman: Yes. Our colleagues in the different humanitarian agencies are working with the Saudi Government to ensure the payment of that money.
Question: But so far there's no record of any money coming in.
Spokesman: As I said, we're working on it to… to ensure the payment of that money.
Question: As a consequence what has happened… nobody else is contributing anything to the United Nations, 1.6 billion…
Spokesman: Okay. I think I've… you had a question. I think I've answered it.
Mr. Lee.
Question: Sure, and not directly on the cables, but something that's raised by the cables. One of the cables or several of the cables involve this secondment by the Saudi Arabia of officials to work in various UN positions. And so I just wondered, given what you've said about transparency and openness, is there some way to get… is there some place to know who's actually being paid by a country work for the UN? And particularly over a certain level maybe, maybe over a P5 or a D1. I just… I'm… I… since it obviously people…
Spokesman: Staff are paid… staff who work for the United Nations are paid by the United Nations.
Question: Sure. So what does it mean for these cables saying Mr. Al-Sadoun was being seconded by Saudi Arabia to work on counter‑terrorism? Was he being paid by Saudi Arabia?
Spokesman: I don't know about this particular case, but I can tell you that staff who work for the United Nations are paid by the United Nations.
Question: So what does it mean seconded, what does it mean?
Spokesman: It means they come and work for the United Nations but they're paid by the United Nations.
Question: Okay.
Spokesman: Jonathan, then we'll…
Question: Matthew asked a very pertinent question here. I mean, if he's still being paid by the Saudis, then we…
Spokesman: I…
Question: We understand what the word secondment means but by the Saudis putting that person to work in the counter‑terrorism department, they still have to pay to have a position filled or something like that. I mean, there are financial questions…
Spokesman: They're paid for by the United Nations. People who are seconded are paid for by the United Nations with United Nations salaries.
Nizar.
Question: There was a recent report in Israel telling that 1,640 terrorists were hospitalized in Israel, many of them, according to the report, fought alongside Da’esh, al‑Nusra and Al‑Qaida. Doesn't that mean helping terrorists like these in… against all the resolutions passed by the Security Council?
Spokesman: I have not seen those reports, but I’ll look into it. Yes.
Question: Yes, about the reports about Gaza from the human rights… independent panel, I want to know like… beside… it's obviously condemned those violations in the report. How is that… those findings will be used in future by the UN to deal with the parties that was proven that they committed violations against human rights or even at the level of war crimes?
Spokesman: You know, obviously, we hope that a report like this does pave the way for justice for all victims of the fighting last year. Any allegations of serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law must be investigated and where required those responsible should be brought to justice. Again, about the issue of accountability, which I talked about before, and victims, it must be provided with effective… access to effective remedies.
Thank you. It's… it's been an absolute pleasure.