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.
**China
Starting off with a statement on the accidents in China. The Secretary-General was deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and the injuries to scores of people as a result of deadly explosions in Tianjin, China.
The Secretary-General extends his condolences to the families of the victims, including the firefighters who made the ultimate sacrifice. He expresses his sympathies to the people and Government of China, and pays tribute to all involved in the emergency response.
**Secretary-General — Peacekeeping
The Secretary-General, as we had told you, this morning had a videoconference with the heads of peacekeeping operations, force commanders, police commissioners, and line departments were also represented at the meeting.
He gathered the senior leadership on an urgent basis to speak directly to them about the ongoing sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers and problems of misconduct. The Secretary-General said he would be sending the same message to others beyond peacekeeping. The zero-tolerance policy applies to the entire United Nations system, he told them.
He stressed that zero tolerance means zero complacency and zero impunity and that when allegations are substantiated, all personnel — whether military, police or civilians — must be held accountable.
The Secretary-General expressed his resolve to help the affected individuals [and] preserve the integrity of the UN flag.
He underlined the existing guidelines, as well as the obligations of the senior leadership, to address sexual exploitation and abuse. And he said that heads of mission were directly accountable for maintaining conduct and discipline within their mission, with the support of the senior mission leadership.
The Secretary-General also discussed the importance of prevention, training, risk assessment and risk mitigation, continuous education for and awareness-raising in local communities to stop this problem. He called on the senior leadership of missions to use every opportunity to reinforce the message that the United Nations will not abide any misconduct, including sexual exploitation and abuse.
Finally, he stressed that troop- and police-contributing countries are responsible for ensuring that their personnel are properly trained, on mandatory standards of conduct and discipline, and that if their soldiers, their peacekeepers are also found to have committed abuse, that they be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and that the United Nations would be kept updated on the status of those cases.
And as mentioned yesterday, the Secretary-General will discuss the matter further with the Security Council in meeting closed consultations this afternoon at 4 p.m.
**Deputy Secretary-General’s Travel
Also, I wanted to flag that the Deputy Secretary-General, Jan Eliasson, will travel to Addis Ababa on 14 August to represent the Secretary-General at the IGAD-PLUS Summit on the situation in South Sudan.
During his visit, the Deputy Secretary-General will hold a bilateral meeting with African Union representatives and heads of delegations attending the Summit. The Deputy Secretary-General should be back in New York on 18 August.
**Iraq
The Acting Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), Deputy Special Representative Gyorgy Busztin, condemned in the strongest possible terms the devastating truck bomb attack that took place today at Jameela market in Sadr City, in east Baghdad. The attack killed at least 45 people and has wounded scores more. Da’esh has reportedly claimed responsibility for this attack.
The Deputy Special Representative said the bombing was an indiscriminate act of terrorism aimed at weakening the resolve of the Iraqi people. He extends his profound sympathy and condolences to the victims and their families and has called for the perpetrators of the crime to be swiftly brought to justice.
**Yemen
And an update on Yemen — the Emergency Relief Coordinator, Stephen O’Brien, has wrapped up his visits to Yemen and Djibouti.
Speaking to reporters today in Djibouti, where he arrived by sea from Aden, he said that he had seen for himself the devastating impact of the conflict in Yemen and the dire needs of the Yemeni people.
What he has taken away with him, Mr. O’Brien said, was an overwhelming sense that it is civilians — as in all conflicts — who are bearing the brunt of this conflict.
He said that everywhere he went in Yemen, he saw homes, hospitals, markets, roads and bridges which had been damaged or destroyed by air strikes, shelling or ground fighting.
Mr. O’Brien said that he was appalled by the disregard for human life shown by all parties to the conflict. He called on the parties to abide by their responsibilities under international law to protect civilians and refrain from targeting civilian infrastructure.
In the last four months, the UN and its humanitarian partners have assisted nearly 7 million people with humanitarian assistance, in all governorates impacted by the fighting. Despite the tireless efforts, the Coordinator said that this is not enough, with more funding urgently needed and commercial imports needing to be resumed.
**United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in Near East
And an update on the efforts of the UN Relief and Works Agency to get enough funds to open up their schools on time.
UNRWA tells us that Saudi Arabia has approved an assistance package worth $35 million.
The Agency’s Commissioner-General, Pierre Krähenbühl, said that at this time of severe crisis, the donation is received as a strong message of solidarity towards Palestine refugees and UNRWA.
However, even with such generous donations, UNRWA has not been able to bridge the $101 million deficit in its general fund. If it is not achieved by the middle of this month, the Agency will have to make a painful decision about whether or not it will be forced to delay the start of the next school year.
Such a decision would impact 500,000 students and 22,000 teachers in 700 schools across the Middle East.
There have been an increasing number of demonstrations in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, adding to a sense of instability in the region.
**Syria
And the World Food Programme’s Executive Director, Ertharin Cousin, concluded a visit to Jordan and Lebanon today by calling upon the international community to continue to support Syrian refugees displaced in neighbouring countries.
Major funding shortfalls have forced WFP to cut its food assistance by up to 50 per cent. During her four-day visit, Ms. Cousin met with Syrian refugees and government officials, bringing attention to the plight of millions facing extreme hardship as a result of these cuts.
**Security Council
And back here, the Security Council held a meeting on Ebola this morning. The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Ebola, David Nabarro, underlined the decisive leadership of the Ebola response, as well as the importance of community ownership in that response.
He underlined, however, that the outbreak was not over and that there was still a need for technical, operational and financial solidarity.
The Director-General of WHO, Margaret Chan, also addressed the Council, stressing the importance of regional arrangements, saying that innovative initiatives at the regional and subregional level have a critical role to play.
The texts of those remarks are available.
**Ukraine
And our colleagues at the World Food Programme (WFP) said that it has started cash distributions in government-controlled areas to 60,000 people in Ukraine, most of whom are internally displaced in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
WFP’s Representative in Ukraine said that it is using cash transfers in areas where there are functioning banks and markets to restore some sense of normalcy to otherwise shattered lives.
As the conflict continues, people are experiencing food shortages and the deterioration of their nutritional status. WFP has expanded its emergency operation to provide food assistance to more than 575,000 people until the end of the year.
**Senior Personnel Appointments
And a couple of senior personnel appointments.
The Secretary-General today has appointed Elia Armstrong of Canada as Director of the Ethics Office. She succeeds Joan Dubinsky of the US, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her dedicated service to the Organization.
Ms. Armstrong brings to the position over 20 years of extensive experience in the field of governance and public administration, as well as organizational ethics, having served in different capacities in the United Nations since 1999, the Government of Canada and NGOs.
And he is also appointing Jean Arnault of France as his Delegate to the Sub-Commission on End of Conflict Issues within the Colombian Peace Process. The appointment follows a 12 July request by the parties to the peace talks in Havana, the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, otherwise known as the FARC.
Most recently, Mr. Arnault was appointed by the Secretary-General as a member of the High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations. And we have a copy of that announcement in Spanish for those of you who need it.
**Earlier Questions
And I think I asked by perhaps you, Matthew, about Fijian peacekeepers in South Sudan.
I can tell you that UN Peacekeeping has no indication that Fiji plans to withdraw their personnel from the Mission in South Sudan. As of 31 July, 15 Fijian police and military peacekeepers are deployed in South Sudan. UN Peacekeeping is grateful for their efforts in implementing the Mission’s mandate, including the task of protecting civilians caught in the current conflict, alongside the approximately 60 troop-contributing and police-contributing countries. Yes?
**Questions and Answers
Question: I saw you go up and I guess it was for that call that you… you described. You’d said yesterday you’d provide a list of the people that were on the call. Can you… which SRSGs were not present?
Spokesman: All of the peacekeeping missions were present. DPKO was present. Obviously, DFS were present. I can give you — I can share with you the list. Obviously, the call was arranged on 48 hours’ notice. It’s a time of the year where people take leave. So if the SRSGs were not present, their acting heads were present.
Question: You’d also said yesterday that you’d be able to provide similar numbers to the… to MINUSCA of abuse complaints and sexual abuse complaints for the other missions. Have you—
Spokesman: I don’t have updated numbers. I would refer you back also to the Secretary‑General’s latest report, as well as the report that was put out by OIOS [Office of Internal Oversight Services] recently.
Question: And I wanted to ask you, on the same topic, you'd said, yesterday I went back over the transcript, you’d said that the senior levels of DPKO became aware of the rape allegation in CAR on 10 August, and then you also said the Secretary‑General had not spoken with Mr. Ladsous. So how do you know when he knew… he had not spoken directly with Mr. Ladsous. At least that’s what you said as of yesterday. You said he’s on leave and he’s not spoken directly to him. So I wanted to know, how did you then know Mr. Ladsous when…
Spokesman: I know the Chef de Cabinet has been in touch with Mr. Ladsous. And, second of all, this is what we know from senior managers. I think, you know, one shouldn’t obsess too much about who is at Headquarters and who is not. When people, when line department heads are on leave, there’s a deputy and that person represents the department. That’s the information. That’s the information I can share with you.
Question: I’m asking because I’d like you to respond. I’ve spoken… there are actually even African permanent representatives who said they view what happened to Mr. Gaye as kind of a scapegoat situation, where he may bear some blame, but it’s natural to say, what about the boss? Especially…
Spokesman: Listen, I think…
[inaudible]
Question: …So the question is where is the boss?
Spokesman: The Secretary‑General took a very difficult decision yesterday, a decision that clearly sends a message on accountability throughout the UN system. This is not a decision that he wanted to make, but this is one he felt he had to make. As always, when difficult decisions are taken, people will complain or say there wasn’t enough or it was too much. It was the Secretary‑General’s decision. He stands… he stands… and he stands by it. He was very clear in the message that he delivered to the SRSGs today and that he is… I think he’s very much convinced that the message he sent was heard. Yes, and then…
Question: [inaudible] There was another attack by settlers in the West Bank. This time suspected settlers set fire to a Bedouin tent in a village north-east of Ramallah. No one was hurt, but the family did lose everything. And, while the Israeli Government did condemn the attack from two weeks ago that killed a toddler, I’m wondering if the UN is planning on stepping in to stop what seems to be an ongoing trend of…
Spokesman: Well, I think the UN, whether it’s from here or through the Special Coordinator and his office, have repeatedly called for a halt to violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory from whichever quarter and, again, reiterate the need for a return to the peace process. Sir.
Question: Thank you. CAR again. I know that the Secretary‑General has been calling for accountability, but is there a mechanism within the UN system to hold people, the abusers accountable or…
Spokesman: Well, I think, clearly…
Question: …to what…
Spokesman: There are two, there are a number — there’s institutional accountability, and I think that’s what we saw this week with the resignation of General Gaye. There is, obviously, we need to have criminal accountability for people who commit acts. It is in the case of troop -- you have troops, it is clearly in the remit of the Member State to ensure that once troops are repatriated, there are, they face justice and they face justice to the fullest possible terms. And in cases of civilians, the cases are then transferred to national authorities, either local authorities or to the authorities of the state to which these people belong, and we expect them to be prosecuted.
Question: What kind of assurances do you have from the countries that are involve… their soldiers or their people are involved…
Spokesman: This is a message that the Secretary‑General has consistently delivered and will deliver again to the Security Council. Our communications with Member States on this issue has improved over the last years in terms of when we report cases to Member States, and we’ve seen an uptick in Member States reporting back to us and updating us on what has happened to individual cases.
Question: Do you have any knowledge about any arrest in this regard? Thank you.
Spokesman: On the CAR? No, on the CAR, the investigation — there are a number — the investigation by the Mission is ongoing. It is also up to the… in the cases of the soldiers, the contingents are expected to investigate. Obviously, the Mission is investigating. OIOS is sending about eight investigators to Bangui in the coming day or so to supplement and to do their own investigation in the case of police, in the case of the police officers who may be involved who fall under a different jurisdiction. So that investigation is ongoing. And I think the Mission itself had spoken from Bangui and said it had hoped to release some information early next week. Oleg.
Question: Thank you, Stéphane. On the MH17 situation, the Dutch authorities recently denied a request by numerous media outlets to uncover the details of the investigation going on. The media that were trying to do so, they asked to do this because there is some sort of national legislation, something like the US Freedom of Information Act, but the Dutch authorities denied the request. In this situation, how can you ensure accountability for the tragedy if there is no, basically, there is no transparency of the process that’s going on?
Spokesman: I haven’t seen the particular report. My understanding is that there is an investigative report that is supposed to come out later this year. I think what is critical is that the families of the victims find some closure and find some explanations to what has happened to their loved ones.
Question: Yes, but the resolution adopted, the Security Council resolution adopted right after the incident, one of the requirements for the investigation was the transparency and multilateralism, which is clearly not in place right now.
Spokesman: As I said, you raised this issue about the Dutch. I haven’t seen it. I can check into it. Yes, sir.
Question: I want to ask two questions about torture. One is, there’s reports from Burundi that Richard Hagabimana, a military official, I guess, viewed as being anti‑Nkurunziza, is not only in detention but is being tortured. Given that he was a UN peacekeeper, I’m wondering whether the UN there in… in… in Bujumbura or otherwise is aware of that and also of threats against a second human rights defender, Mr. [inaudible], who has gone to…
Spokesman: I haven’t seen those particular reports. We can look into them. Obviously, we’ve spoken out pretty strongly on these issues in the past.
Question: Where does it stand on an envoy which was called imminent two days ago?
Spokesman: When there is an update, I will share it with you.
Question: And also on torture, there’s a report by a group called Freedom From Torture about Sri Lanka, and although some of the witness statements they get are from a previous couple of years ago, they’re actually documenting cases in 2015 even since the election of Mr. Sirisena of the unauthorized detention and torture of people perceived as having been a part of the LTTE in the past. And I wonder, given the UN’s engagement, what you read out here about the million dollars, about rehabilitation, one of the testimonies is from someone who was, quote, rehabilitated, then released, picked up in a white van, tortured…
Spokesman: I haven’t seen those reports. Obviously, we stand clearly against the use of torture. Evelyn.
Question: Thanks, Steph. What struck me during the… this… the Security Council debate on Ebola is that the — I didn’t read everything, but from what I heard — the WHO [World Health Organization] missed calling an emergency because of its regional setup and listening to the local government, and I don’t know if this is something that Mr. Nabarro or anyone else is still going to look at.
Spokesman: Well, I think the structure of the World Health Organization having regional outposts with their own smaller governing bodies is a structural issue for the World Health Assembly to decide upon. I mean, that’s not, that’s not within Dr. Nabarro’s remit nor within the Secretary‑General’s remit. And there was a very, I think, incisive report commissioned by Dr. Chan herself to look at where things went wrong, and I think she’s very much accepted a number of the many conclusions in the report. And when we announced a few weeks ago the wrapping up of the UN’s Emergency Ebola Response Mission, the authority over that regional response for the three countries and Ebola was transferred to the WHO but under the direct authority of Dr. Chan in Geneva, not under the regional structure as it exists now.
Question: But it’s still rather confusing.
Spokesman: I think it is — each… they all have… I mean, the World Health Organization has its own structure. The Member States created its own structure whether — you know, you have the Pan American Health Organization based in Washington. You have all sorts of — it’s a different structure. Someone decided to build, you know, followed that architecture. It does create its challenges, and I think, as that was laid out in the report, in the ability for WHO to respond quickly, one of the issues obviously the report gave was also the underfunding of WHO’s emergency response abilities.
Question: Sure. I wanted to ask you about Legionnaire’s disease, which is obviously becoming, at least in New York City treating it quite seriously, and they’ve required all buildings with cooling towers to register and to be tested. Now, I got your response yesterday, but I wrote back to you to ask, is — one, is the UN registering with the city pursuant to this order? Two, have the towers… you said something about bio something. How…
Spokesman: Let me…
Question: Please.
Spokesman: Let me tell you and, I think, those, after all, we’re all residents of New York City, so I think everybody has an interest in this. The cooling towers that the UN has have biocide chemical supplies, which is a chemical substance which can deter, render harmless, or exert a controlling effect on any harmful organism by chemical or biological means. We circulate the water twice a week to keep it moving and let the water draw more biocides as necessary from the system. We have technicians on staff. We’re certified for these systems and with these chemicals. So that’s one way we keep the cooling towers safe. I am aware that there are regulations, I think, in front of the New York City Council requiring registration and inspection. As you all know, we do not fall under the jurisdiction of the New York City Department of Buildings or the municipal jurisdiction, and we’re not required to register our cooling towers. However, we do have an arrangement in place with both the Department of Buildings and the FDNY, and we invite them… we invite them into the building, as well as other inspectors, as appropriate. They give us opinions and make recommendations, but we’re not subject to their jurisdiction. I think the important thing is that we do reach out to them. We make every effort to abide by the high standards to keep the staff safe, the delegates safe, even the press safe, and all the visitors that come through the building.
Question: Right. But I guess… I understand that. This commissioner’s order, whether you view yourself as subject to it or not, it requires… it requires all buildings in New York to be, to be consistent with industry standards and it lists the American Society of—
Spokesman: What I’m—
[inaudible]
Spokesman: What I’m saying to you is that the technicians we have on staff are certified to the highest standards. Obviously, we want to keep everybody safe, and we will invite the Department of Buildings and the FDNY as the FDNY sometimes come into our building at our invitation to make sure everybody is safe.
Question: But are they going to comply with the standards…
Spokesman: I think — I’ve used a lot of words. We are… We will go to the highest possible standards, and we will work at our invitation with the Department of Buildings and the FDNY. And I will continue to take deep breath and breathe the air in this building. Oleg.
Question: And on Ukraine again, the OSCE [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] observers say that both sides in the conflict are still using heavy weaponry, which was supposed to be withdrawn from the contact line, and also they have reported that the drones that they use to, for surveillance are systematically… they have some sort of electronic interference which are attacks. I mean, any reaction to what’s happening…
Spokesman: What I can say in reaction to some of these points you’ve raised and some of the increased violence that we’ve seen recently, as well as some of the harassment of OSCE monitors which we’ve talked about here is that the Secretary‑General is obviously very concerned at the situation and calls on all sides to continue with dialogue and fully abide by the spirit and letter of the Minsk Agreement. He underscores that the continued ceasefire violations and the loss of lives are unacceptable. The United Nations reiterates its support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. One last — yes, go ahead.
Question: Thank you.
Spokesman: Ken.
Question: This is for planning purpose. Can we expect the readout of the Secretary‑General’s statement to this Security Council?
Spokesman: Yes, we will try to issue something.
Question: Okay. Thank you.