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 Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
**Italy
On Friday morning, the Secretary-General delivered the keynote address at the World Forum of Local Economic Development. He said in that address that the global goals for sustainable development will only be achieved if there are the right local environment and solutions.
From Turin, the Secretary-General and his delegation travelled by train to the Milan World Expo. The Secretary-General spoke about World Food Day at the Milan Expo and he stressed the link between sustainable development and food. He encouraged everyone to redouble their effort and participate in the Zero Hunger challenge. The Secretary-General added: “Hunger is more than a lack of food — it is a terrible injustice.” While at the Expo, the Secretary-General met with President Mattarella of Italy, with whom he discussed Libya and the situation facing migrants and refugees in Europe.
In the afternoon, the Secretary-General delivered an address at a “finance for food” event organized by the International Fund for Agricultural Development. In his speech, the Secretary-General stressed that agriculture is essential to making progress across the new Sustainable Development Goals, from food security to climate change and women’s empowerment. We have all his remarks available in our office and online.
**Security Council
The Security Council is holding an open meeting on the Middle East right now, and Tay Brook Zerihoun, the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, briefed the Council this morning on the recent violence among Israelis and Palestinians, which he called “extremely concerning”. He noted that today, a large group of Palestinians set fire to the compound containing the holy site of Joseph’s Tomb in the West Bank city of Nablus. He said that the Secretary-General strongly condemns this reprehensible act and calls on those responsible to be swiftly brought to justice. Mr. Zerihoun called on all sides to respect the sanctity of all holy sites in the Old City of Jerusalem.
He detailed the recent attacks among Israelis and Palestinians, including stabbing attacks on Israeli civilians and the killings of Palestinians by security forces. As of yesterday, a total of seven Israelis and 32 Palestinians were killed, and some 124 Israelis and more than 1,118 Palestinians were reportedly injured since 1 October. Mr. Zerihoun noted that the impact of social media and irresponsible rhetoric has played a dramatic role in escalation. On this count, he said, both sides have much to be blamed for, but he welcomed efforts by leaders in the past days to tone down their statements. His remarks are available in our office.
**Mali
The UN Mission in Mali, MINUSMA, has welcomed the meetings that took place these last days in Anefis, between the groups known as the Coordination of the Movements of Azawad and the Plateforme. The Mission adds that this is a positive step in the inter-Malian peace process. It also commends the leaders of both parties for choosing dialogue. MINUSMA encourages them to continue with this path, in accordance with the Agreement on Peace and National Reconciliation in Mali and the relevant resolutions of the Security Council.
**Central African Republic
The UN Mission in the Central African Republic, MINUSCA, reports that yesterday, inter-communal clashes erupted in Bangui around the PK5 neighbourhood. The clashes reportedly left at least three people dead, several others wounded, and a number of houses burned. MINUSCA immediately deployed its troops to the scene and prevented a further deterioration of the security situation by blocking access to the area to protect the civilian population.
Also yesterday, in the 2nd district of Bangui, unidentified perpetrators fired upon a UN vehicle with three staff members inside. No injuries were reported. The situation in Bangui today is reported to be calm but tense and the Mission continues to be on high alert. Also on the Central African Republic, the Humanitarian Coordinator in the country and the humanitarian community there have strongly condemned the attack on a Doctors without Borders (MSF) team on the night of 14 October in Bangassou, in Mbomou province.
According to our humanitarian colleagues, the assailants attacked staff members, four of whom were kidnapped and released 30 minutes later. An international staff member was seriously injured during the attack, but his condition is now stable after emergency surgery. The humanitarian community is urging the Central African people to facilitate access and assistance provided by aid agencies who are working under the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, independence and impartiality.
**Syria
Staffan de Mistura, the Special Envoy for Syria, has in recent days travelled to Moscow, followed by Washington, D.C., where he held productive meetings at all levels. Mr. de Mistura and his team, in consultations with partners in the region and beyond, continue to actively pursue every possible avenue for de-escalation of violence and the acceleration of a political process.
**Yemen
UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) estimates that 537,000 children under the age of five are at risk of severe acute malnutrition in Yemen, which represents a threefold increase from 160,000 in March. This means that one in eight children under five is at risk of severe malnutrition. Almost 1.3 million children under five are moderately malnourished compared with 690,000 children prior to the crisis.
Yemen’s alarming malnutrition levels are aggravated by the limited availability of, and lack of access to food, due to blocked or damaged delivery routes and restrictions on food and fuel imports. At the same time, livelihoods have been disrupted, unemployment has risen, fuel and water prices have surged, and availability remains erratic.
To address increasing malnutrition levels, aid agencies have scaled up assistance and treated 97,000 children for severe acute malnutrition in the past six months, while 65,000 children have been treated for moderate acute malnutrition. About 3.8 million children have received food supplements, and 933,000 pregnant and lactating women benefited from supplementary feeding.
**Greece
The UN refugee agency, or UNHCR, said today that up to seven people — four of them children — have been killed in a collision between a smuggling boat and a Greek coast guard vessel off the coast of Lesvos. In a separate incident, UNHCR staff had to be evacuated from a crowded registration site after violence flared up yesterday as frustration among refugees and migrants boiled over.
These events took place amid the continuing arrival of thousands of refugees and migrants by sea from Turkey, which has increased pressure on the Government’s already overstretched reception and registration facilities on the island. UNHCR said that both incidents underscore once again the urgent need to rapidly establish proper reception facilities in Greece for receiving, assisting, registering and screening all new arrivals. You can read more about this online.
**Nepal
The Humanitarian Coordinator for Nepal today warned that aid agencies face a race against time to deliver food and shelter to communities in high altitude areas before winter conditions cut off access. The recent monsoon season limited air and road access to some areas, leaving 1,200 metric tons of shelter and household items still needing to be delivered to earthquake-affected communities. The humanitarian community is working to address acute fuel shortages and to increase its capacity to deliver the supplies. You can read more about this online.
**Somalia
I just wanted to flag that next Wednesday, 21 October, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the European Union will hold a pledging conference for Somalia in Brussels. They are expected to present a plan of action to prepare for the returns of Somali refugees from the region and to rebuild areas of return. This plan will require $500 million and will cover efforts until the end of 2017.
Today, more than 2 million Somalis remain displaced in the region, including an estimated 1 million in their own country. The majority are in Kenya. Nearly a quarter of a million of them are in Ethiopia and another 200,000 are in Yemen. So far, some 26,000 Somali refugees have returned home, fleeing the violence in Yemen.
**Honour Roll
Since Mr. [Yukio] Takasu’s briefing on the financial situation yesterday, two more Member States have paid their regular budget dues in full: they are Antigua and Barbuda, and Croatia. Our thanks go to both countries, which bring the total number of fully paid up Member States to 132.
**Noon Briefing Guest
The guest at the Noon Briefing on Monday will be the Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Cristina Gallach, who will brief you on planned activities for UN Day, which is observed on 24 October. That’s it from me. Are there any questions? Masood?
**Questions and Answers
Question: On this situation in Palestine and occupied Palestine and the continued violence over there and the threats of a third intifada, has the Secretary-General been able to talk to Israeli Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu? It seems he’s very reluctant to talk to the Secretary-General at this point.
Deputy Spokesman: Well, in terms of reluctance, not at all. In fact, they met just two weeks ago on the margins of the 70th General Assembly. The Secretary-General, as you know, is traveling, and I just detailed some of his travels in Italy, but yes, he does intend to speak with the Israeli Prime Minister when that can be worked out.
Question: But that is what appears, because in the sense that he is… at this point in time, Mr. Netanyahu is… with his strong-arm tactics is destroying the situation as it is, so has any UN official been able to talk to the Israelis to tone down, what do you call, action in…
Deputy Spokesman: Yes, we have been in contact with Israeli Government in various levels. As you will have seen, our Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Mr. Zerihoun, just briefing the Security Council in the past hour and that is a briefing to the Security Council in which during a meeting in which the Israeli ambassador, the Deputy Permanent Representative is also attending. Yes?
Correspondent: You mentioned, and I heard it myself, that Mr. Zerihoun had talked about lowering the irresponsible rhetoric on both sides. UN Watch has just submitted a report to the Secretary-General, specifically calling out some social media postings by self-described employees of UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees), one of which talks about… has a cartoon with the caption “stab the Zionist dogs”; another posting a video of a sermon exhorting Palestinians to go out and stab Jews in the name of Islam, and there are others in this report. First of all, I’d like to know whether that report has been received. And secondly, will there be an investigation of such claims that UNRWA personnel, UN personnel are themselves contributing to the very incendiary rhetoric that other UN officials condemn.
Deputy Spokesman: Well, it remains to be seen whether these were, in fact, personnel of the UN Relief and Works Agency. The UN Relief and Works Agency takes these claims very seriously whenever they resurface and any time there is any complaint about activities, including Twitter posts or retweets by its staff, it does look into that and it will look into any allegations to see whether they are accurate and to take the appropriate follow-up. Regarding the use of social media, yes, you’re right. Mr. Zerihoun had talked about the impact of social media and irresponsible rhetoric and in his remarks just now, he did call on community, religious and political leaders on all sides to calm the language that they use in this regard, to work together and to de-escalate this situation. Of course, we take it very seriously that all UN employees must be equally responsible in the things we say and do. Yes?
Question: Thank you, Farhan. I have two questions. First question: It’s been reported that a drone was hit by Turkish forces on the border with Syria and some experts think… some say it’s unidentified still, but some experts think it’s Russian. Do you have any confirmation on this? What’s UN’s takes on this? Also, isn’t this weird, since Turkey is supposed to be an ally against terrorism, doesn’t make any sense. That’s the first question. Second question is: It’s been officially reported that upon conclusion of European UN’s summit in Brussels, Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany adopted a $3 billion deal to give it to Turkey to tighten the borders against refugees who want to infiltrate to European countries. What is UN’s take on this? Does the UN think this is the best solution to the refugee problem that the world is facing today? Thank you.
Deputy Spokesman: Well, we would still need to see what the final agreement is and evaluate it before making a decision on that. Even prior to today’s developments, we made clear what our concerns are and the idea that ultimately any approach to dealing with the situation posed by refugees and migrants needs to take into account their rights and their need for dignity and cannot be focused simply on finding ways to contain or block their flow. Rather, the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr. [António] Guterres, have made it very clear that you need to be able to ensure that refugees and migrants can travel safely and that actual refugees’ claims, including the claims to asylum, can be processed. So that is where we put the focus.
Question: Is it human… is it humanitarian to tighten the borders against people? Just UN’s opinion?
Deputy Spokesman: We have weighed in against that. We’re aware of the concerns of member governments. We’re in dialogue with them to be respectful of the problems and the pressures that they face. At the same time, we made it very clear that ultimately the priority has to be on dealing fairly with refugees, on making sure that the burden or the challenge of dealing with so many refugees is shared fairly and evenly; and also, of course, ultimately, of dealing with the root causes that prompt so many people to flee. Those are the productive avenues, we feel, in terms of dealing with the problem in a lasting way that preserves and protects the dignity of all involved.
Yes. Sorry, and before I get to you, you had an earlier question. We don’t have a confirmation of this report concerning the drones, but we made clear our own concerns about the various types of military activity in and around Syria and the need for all actions to be taken in conformity with international human rights law and international humanitarian law.
Question: I have yet another question about the John Ashe case, but I wanted to ask first, I didn’t see any reaction from UNAMA (United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan) or the UN to the announcement by President [Barack] Obama of changing dramatically the US posture in Afghanistan going forward, given there’s a UN mission there. What does the UN think of the reversal of removal of troops and to maintain at least 5,500 troops through 2017?
Deputy Spokesman: Well, I would just refer you to the last briefing to the Security Council on the work of UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, where we made clear our concerns about any perception among the Afghan people that they were being left alone and were essentially not going to be protected at a time when, as you know, there continues to be a high degree of violence across the country. So, to that extent, we welcome any efforts by countries assisting Afghanistan and the Afghan Government to be in dialogue with Afghanistan about how to support the people of Afghanistan so they don’t feel that they lack the assistance that they need to deal with the challenges that they face.
Question: Sure. Thanks. In continuing to look at what has been alleged by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District and Mr. David Ng, who has been charged with a variety of things, is listed on the website of a group called WCPUN as the quote, main sponsor of the annual DPI/NGO conference. So, I wanted to know — it seems like — I know that this audit is looking at one of his foundations and another foundation, but this seems, if it’s true, and this is also… this is a group that sponsors, actually, one of the UNCA (United Nations Correspondents’ Association) awards that’s handed out by the Secretary-General. What… is the intent of your inquiry to find out ways in which David Ng, now charged with corruption, corrupting the UN, has dealt with the UN? And if so, how can you explain him being a main sponsor of a DPI/NGO conference, or is this incorrect?
Deputy Spokesman: First of all, we would need to be able to see whether this is in fact correct. Ultimately what we’re trying to do with this audit — not an inquiry, by the way, again it’s an audit — is to see what the effects of the money by these groups is, where it goes. As we’ve said in the past, this is an initial step, and we’ll see whether it needs to be followed up by others, but what we’re trying to do first and foremost is just to determine the scale and the nature of what we’re dealing with.
Question: But it just, and maybe I’m calling it wrong. This audit, if it’s only looking at two NGO’s, it wouldn’t… this Mr. David Ng in his own name could be a sponsor as he claims to be.
Deputy Spokesman: I don’t think there’s any point in prejudging what is done before it’s done. Let’s see what they come up with. Yes, Masood?
Question: I mean, Farhan, one of the things about… I want to talk to you about was this Mr. Staffan de Mistura mission. Has he made any headway for bringing the parties together for talks at all? Are they just talking for the sake of talking?
Deputy Spokesman: I don’t have any talks to announce. As you know, he has formed four working groups to deal with the issues involved in the Syrian peace process, but what we’re trying to do is see when we can get those working groups to start functioning. We hope that it won’t be too long before that can happen. But the update we provided today was simply that he had concluded several days of talks in both Moscow and Washington, D.C., and he had productive discussions with government officials of those two countries. Abdul Hamid? I’m glad the two of you are both sharing a microphone so productively. It’s a great example for us all.
Question: Thank you. About 10 days ago, Stéphane said in his briefing that the Secretary-General has called on Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, and asked him to calm down and ask for restraint and he said the Secretary is intending to call Prime Minister Netanyahu. First, why he didn’t call him all those days? And the second, Peter Hansen said one day, he was the former Commissioner General for UNRWA, you cannot ask people under occupation to love their occupier. Is there any more insight more than just being under occupation? If you heard the statement of Mr. Zerihoun, he said there is new hundred… hundred checkpoints have been established in the last few days. What does the Palestinian need more to be incited and shout out against occupation? The third — the last question is about Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus. It is in the Palestinian hands. It’s been all for thousands of years there. There is a Jewish community who live in Nablus, called Samaria, and they refuse to take the Israeli citizenship. They still live there. They are just like… they share the culture, the life in Nablus. They are treated as brothers and sisters. No one ever arrested. Why at this moment, this statement immediately comes from the Secretary-General about the discovery of Joseph’s tomb before even some facts come out? Thank you.
Deputy Spokesman: On the last question concerning Joseph’s tomb, I have nothing to add beyond what we’ve said, what Mr. Zerihoun said and the Security Council and what I just said. These are the facts as we have them, and like I said, the Secretary-General condemns the act, in which part of the tomb was burned. Regarding what you said about occupation. this is something that we appreciate, and I’d like to quote a little bit from Mr. Zerihoun’s remarks just now, where he said, and I quote, “The persistence of the occupation and the diminishing prospects of achieving Palestinian aspirations for statehood have transformed long simmering Palestinian anger into outright rage.” And consequently, one of the things he said is what is clear is that the current crisis cannot be resolved through security measures alone. We have always believed that ultimately what you need is real negotiations and an actual process by which you can achieve the vision of a two-state solution. In that way, by actually fulfilling the aspirations of the people, you can bring the sort of problems that they face to an end. Regarding your first question, sometimes it takes a while for the… to arrange for the logistics of a call. In the meantime, we’ve been in touch with a variety of Israeli and Palestinian officials at all levels. Yes?
Question: Let me ask to see if you have any response. Sudan or Sudanese diplomat Amira Gornass has been made the chair of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Committee on Food Security. This has been denounced by at least one western diplomat on condition of anonymity as inconsistent with what was said from this podium about Sudan blocking food to the peacekeepers. One, what do you say about the seemingly inconsistency? And two, is there any update… what did Mr. [Hervé] Ladsous actually say to the Council on the issue of blocking the food?
Deputy Spokesman: Regarding the issue of the blockage of the food, what Mr. Ladsous shared with the Council is the same sort of information that Stéphane provided to you a couple of days ago. And that’s where we stand, where we believe that about 190 containers of food had been blocked. Regarding the decision concerning Sudan, ultimately that’s a decision to deal with the Food and Agriculture Organization and its Member States, respectively.
Question: I also wanted to ask. There’s a document that came out, an information circular, by the Secretariat about practice of the Secretary-General and disciplinary matters between 2014 and ‘15. And in particular something kind of jumped out at me, which is that it describes a variety of, you know, offenses, but one in particular it says, quote, “A staff member sent through the organization’s email system pornographic material, including pornographic material involving a minor. Disposition: Dismissal.” So, in looking at it, it makes me wonder given that like trafficking images of a minor is a crime, what is the UN do — is dismissal enough or dismissal without some kind of a notation like don’t work in a day-care centre, what’s happened?
Deputy Spokesman: Dismissal is what the organization itself can do. That is without prejudice to what else happens with local authorities. And in cases where people have been found with child pornography, I know that their immunities have been waived and they have faced, whenever relevant but oftentimes it’s not even relevant to the case, because ultimately then they face prosecution by the local authorities.
Question: How does the local authorities if only the UN was aware of the use of UN’s email system to traffic these images and the UN’s responses to terminate this person? Does the UN have any practice of telling local authorities that somebody…?
Deputy Spokesman: Yes, it does. There have been cases in the past about this where if the UN does find out about this, it does inform the local authorities and then they pursue the further action. Just because it’s not in the report doesn’t mean the local authorities didn’t react.
Correspondent: I guess I’m asking you, since this doesn’t name the individual… I don’t want an answer with the name of the individual, but I would like an answer that yes, paragraph 49 individual was referred, rather than just assume.
Deputy Spokesman: I can confirm that our practice as the UN, if we find staff members to be committing crimes, is then to report the crimes to whatever the local authority involved would be. So yes, that’s the case. Regarding this, of course, in this report, no individuals are named, so I wouldn’t follow up on that.
Question: In this situation, I mean, this intifada and these things are going on, but what about the stranglehold of Israeli authority against the… In Gaza, nothing is coming in, nothing can go out. And that also… I mean, the Egyptians are also doing the same thing, so has the Secretary-General been able to talk to anybody to, what you call, ease these restrictions?
Deputy Spokesman: We have talked about the restrictions on Gaza repeatedly with the relevant authorities in Israel and Egypt and the Secretary-General has continued to pursue the matter. We have tried to get corridors opened up for regular commercial traffic and have had a small amount of success in getting materials in, including construction materials, but it continues to be a challenge and we continue to pursue that.
Question: And also on this same topic, now that Egypt has been elected member of Security Council, now, is… is the Secretary-General going to ask them to be… what about the hundred, thousand prisoners which are now facing… I mean, innumerable long sentences, what about those prisoners?
Deputy Spokesman: You will have seen the concerns that have been expressed by the Secretary-General and by the High Commissioner for Human Rights concerning the situation of all the various detainees in Egypt, and those concerns still apply and we’ll continue to follow up on those cases. Yes?
Question: Thank you. I want to know if the Secretary-General is aware of a new Israeli law, which was passed by the Knesset, which called for imposing up to 15 years in jail on any person who throws stones at the Israeli Security or Army. And the vote was… vast majority voted for it. The exception was with only the Unified List, the representative of Meretz and two from the Labour and the rest of the committee voted for this. So anyone, any child who throws a stone at the Israeli Security or Army, he could face up to 15 years in jail. Is he aware of that?
Deputy Spokesman: We’re aware of the legislation that’s been proceeding, and of course, you’re aware of our views concerning proportionality. Yes?
Correspondent: Yes, this is just a follow-up from yesterday. I was wondering if you were able to make any progress in seeing whether you could get a press briefing by the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) controller and where that stands. I mean that should be a question to them yes or no, and if not, we’d like to know why.
Deputy Spokesman: Well, again, we’re in touch with our colleagues, but ultimately it will be a decision for UNDP to make on that. Yes?
Question: Thank you, Farhan, I have one question on climate change. A big summit has been going on, on UN’s initiative, in Paris, and has allowed companies to discuss important issues about climate change. And they showed their commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and cooperate closely with the UN to continue protecting the environment or at least not harming it. But the most important question, the price that should be put on carbon dioxide, wasn’t done. So, this commitment wasn’t honoured and after that, many experts think that all their conversations and talks are just hot air. What does UN think about this and are there any steps that UN have to come up with that will impose this important issue on big companies for the sake of the environment?
Deputy Spokesman: Well, regarding what steps can be taken in order to regulate companies, that’s something ultimately that will need to be dealt with when the Conference of Parties takes place in a few months in Paris. What we’re hoping for is there will be a strong climate change agreement, and then it will be up to the respective governments to see what policies they can put in place, but ultimately, they’ll need to find mechanisms, such as carbon pricing or other such mechanisms, to deal with the sort of issues you have described.
Question: I mean, the Secretary-General himself was most enthusiastic about this issue, one of his best taken care of issues. Is he planning any drastic steps to have it come through or is it just going to continue like this?
Deputy Spokesman: He’s certainly pushing all states and you will have seen the results he was able to achieve, for example, in his dealings with people in Lima just about a week ago. He’s continuing to take forward his basic initiatives and the hope is that we can get member governments now to agree to a strong programme of action. Yes?
Correspondent: I want to ask a question about Burundi. Just one thing to follow up on Joe’s. I want to say when this first came up I submitted questions to the UNDP South-South Office. Although, the Deputy Spokesman there is a nice individual, I haven’t received any written answers. It seems like… I guess I’d encourage if one of the responses of the Secretariat is that it’s really over there, some attempt to either get them to answer written questions or written answers would strongly be appreciated.
Deputy Spokesman: They gave us written answers which Stéphane read at the noon briefing a few days ago.
Correspondent: I have to… [overlapping talk]… I also sent three additional written questions in addition to asking for a brief interview and didn’t receive anything.
Deputy Spokesman: We are in touch with that office. They are aware of all the questions and they continue to try and provide us with fresh answers. When we have them, we either email it to you, or as is the case with the noon briefings, Stephane has been reading them.
Question: Is this new director so busy that he can’t find 20 minutes to do a press conference in the two weeks since the scandal broke? It’s a scandal that goes directly to the heart of his office.
Deputy Spokesman: You’re kidding, right? Of course, he’s busy. You realize that last week was his first week. That was a busy week, right? I mean, I think we all can see that that was a lot of the work.
Question: The credibility of his entire agency is in question, so you would think this would be kind of job one.
Deputy Spokesman: And they are proceeding. They’ve been giving us… I have no problem with them. They’ve been giving us a wealth of information. It’s not like they’ve held back on that. Have a nice weekend.
Correspondent: On Burundi, I just saw a statement by the Secretary-General, you know, about the recent deaths, so inevitably people there have wondered, one, how does the Secretary-General have confidence that the very Government that sort of accused of many of these killings can do the investigation and do you have any progress report either on an envoy being named or on an individual that I asked Stéphane about being deployed to MINUSMA in Mali.
Deputy Spokesman: On the individual that you’ve asked about, that individual, we checked the name and that person is not named for the mission in Mali. So, there’s no record of such a person. Regarding an envoy, no, there’s nothing to say. Have a good weekend, everyone.