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.
**General Assembly
The Secretary-General just spoke at this morning’s meeting on the revitalization of the General Assembly, and he said that the Assembly must now draw larger lessons from the very serious allegations against the President of the sixty-eighth session, John Ashe, and act with resolve. The Secretary-General told the Assembly that he has taken a number of specific steps to address, head-on, the important issues that have been raised.
He recalled that he has requested an internal audit by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) of the interactions between the United Nations and the entities mentioned in the criminal complaint. He added that decisions on the functioning of the Office of the President of the General Assembly are the purview of the General Assembly itself, but it is incumbent on all of us to help get this right. That is why, he said, he has established an internal Task Force, led by his Chef de Cabinet, Susana Malcorra, to review the arrangements for the Office’s financing and staffing. The Task Force will recommend ways to promote enhanced transparency and accountability.
The Secretary-General has also requested the heads of UN entities mentioned in the criminal complaint that may have engaged with the entities involved in the complaint, to advise him about what they are doing to look into the matter. His full remarks are online.
**Middle East
I have the following statement in the name of the Secretary-General on the twentieth anniversary of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, which is to be marked tomorrow:
On the twentieth anniversary of the assassination of Israel’s Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, the Secretary-General offers his deepest sympathies to the citizens of the State of Israel as they commemorate the life of a heroic man of peace.
The Secretary-General says that Prime Minister Rabin dedicated his life to the security of his homeland. He died after courageously seizing on the need and the opportunity to embark on serious peace negotiations with the Palestinians, recognizing that, as he said, “You don’t make peace with your friends; you can only make peace with your enemies”. Rabin was vilified by many for that move, and then murdered by an opponent of the peace process just when it was at a moment of historic breakthrough.
In the years since, terrorism, expanding settlements and halting progress in implementing Israeli-Palestinian agreements have repeatedly shattered hopes. Today, the voices of the majority who support peace and oppose violence are being drowned out by inflammatory rhetoric and shocking actions by extremists on all sides.
The Secretary-General urges all parties to stand firmly against violence and incitement, and to be guided by Prime Minister Rabin’s realization that the path to true security and strength is through dialogue and compromise. That statement should be available online.
**Deputy Secretary-General’s Travels
The Deputy Secretary-General, Jan Eliasson, will travel to Washington tomorrow to meet with members of Congress and senior officials of the State Department. During that visit, he will also participate in an event on “Seventy Years of the United Nations”, organized by the Alliance for Peacebuilding and US Institute for Peace, and also give a lecture to the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
On 10 November, the Deputy Secretary-General will travel to Valletta, in Malta, to attend the EU Valletta Summit on Migration. The Deputy Secretary-General will return to New York after that.
**Central African Republic
On the Central African Republic (CAR), the UN Mission in the country, MINUSCA, says that a tripartite agreement between Cameroon, CAR and UN High Commissioner for Refugees was signed in Yaoundé yesterday to facilitate voting in the forthcoming elections by Central African refugees in Cameroon.
Over the past few days, the Mission launched an operation to retrieve all electoral kits from the provinces to Bangui.
So far, nearly 3,500 kits have been transported to the capital, largely using UN air assets and vehicles.
The National Elections Authority (ANE) and the Mission are currently drawing up plans for the pre-deployment of non-sensitive material, including polling booths and boxes, voting centre kits and indelible ink, from Bangui to the provinces.
**Yemen
Our colleagues at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs say that Cyclone Chapala made landfall in Yemen early this morning, near the city of Al Mukallah in Hadramaut Governorate. Wind speeds reached over 110 kilometres per hour; rainfall could reach 500 millimetres in 48 hours, which is more than five times the yearly average amount of rain.
The estimated population that may be impacted is 1.1 million or more, mainly in the two governorates of Hadramaut and Shabwah. Other governorates may also be affected depending on the storm’s final track, precipitation patterns and strength upon landfall. The most urgent needs are expected to be in the sectors of water hygiene and sanitation, health, emergency shelter, food and essential household items.
The UN and humanitarian partners have pre-positioned stocks of emergency assistance and personnel in the areas anticipated to be impacted by the storm. The World Food Programme (WFP) for itself has pre-positioned 29.9 metric tons of high-energy biscuits to Al Mukallah, which will provide food assistance to over 25,000 people for three days. UNHCR [Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees], meanwhile, has transported 1,000 kits of household goods to Al Mukallah and another 1,000 to Shabwa.
A UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination team is in the process of deploying to the affected area to assist with the coordination of the response.
**Syria
Also from our humanitarian colleagues, they tell us that at least 123,842 people have been displaced in Syria’s Aleppo, Hama and Idleb governorates between 5 and 30 October.
The road from Hama to Aleppo has been cut since 23 October, putting at risk an estimated 700,000 people living in Government-controlled areas of the city. Aerial attacks on medical facilities and staff continued as two hospitals in Idleb were reportedly hit last week.
Humanitarian partners have scaled up to meet assessed needs but gaps remain, particularly in provision of household goods and shelter kits, and provision of health, water and sanitation and education services in camps for displaced people, due to insufficient funding and access challenges.
**Ukraine
As I have been telling you, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Stephen O’Brien, is in Ukraine. Today, he travelled to eastern parts of Ukraine impacted by conflict.
He met representatives of the de facto Luhansk authorities and discussed ways of improving humanitarian access to non-Government-controlled areas.
Mr. O’Brien visited a school in an area of Luhansk which saw heavy fighting earlier this year. The school had been badly damaged and was recently refurbished with international assistance.
He also met with elderly residents, who are particularly vulnerable as the winter approaches, since they lack adequate shelter or heating.
Mr. O’Brien noted that all parties to the conflict must do their utmost to facilitate immediate and unhindered access to people needing essential aid, wherever they are.
**Stateless Children
A couple of last items: a new report by the UN Refugee Agency spotlights the urgent need to end child statelessness.
Every 10 minutes, a child is born stateless somewhere in the world. Unable to study, train for a career or even open a bank account, they face a lifetime of discrimination as their status profoundly affects their ability to learn, grow, and fulfil their dreams and ambitions.
UNHCR is urging all states to take steps, including allowing children to gain the nationality of the country in which they are born — if they would otherwise be stateless — and reforming laws that prevent mothers from passing their nationality to their children on an equal basis as fathers.
The release of the new report marks one year since the launch of UNHCR’s #IBelong Campaign to End Statelessness by 2024.
**Press Conferences
As soon as we are done here, in a few minutes, the President of the Security Council for the month of November, Ambassador Matthew Rycroft of the United Kingdom, will be here to brief you on the Council’s programme of work for the month.
Tomorrow I will be joined by the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Ivan Šimonović, who will brief you on the issue of the death penalty.
**Questions and Answers
Carole, you’re obviously eager. That’s okay. That’s okay.
Question: [inaudible]
Spokesman: I do tend to go on and on. But thank you. Yes.
Question: I just wanted to ask about the Secretary‑General’s statement. He mentioned he was asking UN entities to report on what they are doing. Do you know, which entities are those? And how many there are that are supposed to report on…
Spokesman: Well, obviously, you know, UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), through the office which houses and is responsible for the Office of South‑South Cooperation, is one. And, obviously, we’re asking UN entities to look if they’ve had any dealings with the NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and foundations mentioned in the complaint.
Question: You don’t know how many?
Spokesman: No, not yet, obviously, no. Erol and then Matthew?
Question: Thank you. Just in that light, actually, the Secretary‑General mentioned that somehow the examination going on only on the sixty-eighth General Assembly. Will this task force that he formed and chaired by his Chef de Cabinet will review only the 60… only the future possible case of corruption or…
Spokesman: No, no, the… let’s not get our task forces and audits confused here.
Question: Okay.
Spokesman: What he has tasked the Chef de Cabinet to do along with other senior… relevant senior UN officials is to look at ways to strengthen… make proposals to strengthen the Office of the President of the General Assembly (PGA) in terms of budgetary support and any other… and the way that… and staffing, all these issues that would strengthen the capacity of the General Assembly, much in the line of what, I think, the President of the General Assembly himself said to you at the stakeout. So these will be recommendations that will go to the General Assembly. And, as the Secretary‑General said, the running of the Office of the President of the General Assembly lies, obviously, with the Member States themselves. So they will make recommendations going forward to strengthen the Office of the PGA. I think, as we’ve seen over the past years, there have been differences in level of staffing, of resources brought by each PGA. And I think the PGA himself mentioned a few minutes ago the issue of what happens when countries with less resources are elected to the PGA. The audit itself, as we have said, would look at the relationship between some of the entities mentioned in the criminal complaint and the United Nations Secretariat and others.
Question: Excuse me. Just a small follow‑up. Does that mean somehow UN will be ready to pour more money to those, for example, when we… just, number one, pour more money and help with the staffing? And, number two, again, whether this is only for the… based on six… the finding of the President of sixty-eighth General Assembly?
Spokesman: I think it’s clear that what we have seen recently has exposed weaknesses in the way the office…
Question: In general?
Spokesman: In general, right. So this is about strengthening the office. The issue of budgetary support is obviously with the Member States, with the Fifth Committee, and whether or not the Member States want to give the Office of the President of the General Assembly a strong, stable budget that covers all its real expenses. That’s up to the Member States themselves.
Question: [inaudible]
Spokesman: That’s exactly what I mean. Matthew?
Question: Same topic. I’ll try to ask this as quickly as I can. As the UNDP, as you know, there’s been some difficulty on getting basic information from them. But now I wanted to ask you, I’ve come across a document in which the South‑South office of UNDP asks corporations for $100,000 in order to sit next to Heads of State or UN officials. I wanted to know if you think that’s appropriate. Relatedly, I wanted to ask you, I’ve seen a more recent invitation to pay $6,000 for a half table to sit next to the Secretary‑General in December at Cipriani, Wall Street. I wanted to ask you if you think that’s an appropriate use of sort of access. And, thirdly, at the stakeout, Mr. [Mogens] Lykketoft said that he has no documents whatsoever from… from Mr. [Sam] Kutesa or [John] Ashe. So I wanted to know, where are the documents from these two previous PGAs? Do they just cart them back to their home country, or is there some place in the UN where these documents are?
Spokesman: You know, obviously, official documents, Secretariat documents are kept. The Office of the President of the General Assembly is run by the President of the General Assembly. So it is up… you know, I think the points raised by the PGA are clearly very valid. It is normal that this is a line of questioning. But I think that’s a line of questioning you need to address to previous PGAs about what they do with the personal documents they have in their offices.
Question: Does the Secretariat have any of Mr. Kutesa or Ashe’s documents?
Spokesman: I’m not aware that we do, because those are the documents held by the presidents themselves. I’m not aware… I haven’t seen the UNDP letter that you…
Question: I’ll send it to you.
Spokesman: I’m sure you will. You know, the Secretary‑General attends a lot of functions, gala functions, and I think, as long as everything is done as transparently, I think that’s fine. Abdel Hamid?
Question: Thank you, Stéphane. I have two questions. Thank you, Stéphane. I have two questions. Is it working? Hello?
Spokesman: I can always hear you, Abdel Hamid. Microphone or no microphone… I can hear you. I can hear you. Go ahead.
Question: Okay. My question… my first question is, is there a precedent that the Secretary‑General issues a statement on the occasion, twentieth or fifteenth or thirtieth occasion, of an assassinated leader? For example, when… was there a statement issued on the twentieth or thirtieth assassination occasion of President [Anwar el] Sadat, Rafik Hariri, [indiscernible name] Mohammed, Olof Palme? I just want… if there is a precedent, if you can answer that question.
Spokesman: Go ahead.
Question: Okay. My second question: The situation in the occupied territory is business as usual. I mean, do you know that, in the last three days, the hospital of Al Makassed was raided by Israeli soldiers, and they went to the Office of the President. They confiscated a file of a 16‑year‑old child. And also, yesterday, a 16‑year‑old boy was summarily executed in the front of the checkpoint of al-Jalama north of Jenin. Is this situation just going fine and doesn’t…
Spokesman: I don’t think… Abdel Hamid, I don’t think anyone would say this situation is going fine. I don’t think it is business as usual. I think if you look at what… the words the Secretary‑General used during his recent visit to Israel and to Palestine, I think, clearly underscore his frustration at the situation, his frustration at the toll this current situation is taking on civilians. As to the statement on Prime Minister… the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin, I think, you know, sometimes we do things that don’t have a precedent. I’m sure we have issued… we may very well have issued statements on the anniversary… of other anniversaries of assassination. I think by issuing this statement, I think the Secretary‑General recalls the hope that existed prior to the assassination of the Prime Minister, in his efforts to forge a peace with Yasser Arafat and the light that went out and the hopes that disappeared after that assassination. So that’s the message we’re hearing. Masood?
Question: Thank you.
Spokesman: And then Joe. Sorry.
Question: Thank you, Stéphane. I just want to… one, as a follow‑up on Abdel Hamid’s question, there’s a Human Rights Watch report this morning that about 100 Palestinians children [are] in Israeli jails. Now, has the Secretary‑General asked the Israeli Prime Minister to release them? What is the situation as far as those children are concerned?
Spokesman: This is an issue that the Secretary‑General has raised, that his Special Envoys have raised repeatedly.
And I want to thank my brain, Farhan, who reminded me that we have issued statements on the death of Rafik Hariri and, obviously, clearly marked the death of Dag Hammarskjöld, among others.
Question: Yeah. Let me… okay.
Spokesman: I thought I’d answer.
Question: The other one that I wanted to ask you was that, in Nepal, there is an Indian, what do you call, blockade of economic, what do you call it, aid coming into Nepal from India. They have blockaded the border. And that is causing suffering to the Nepalis more than anything else. And has the… has that been noticed that that is taking place?
Spokesman: I’m sure it’s been noticed. I don’t have any language on that. I will get back to you. Joe?
Question: Thank you. I’m going to go back to the issues of the audit and the… of related investigations and task forces. First of all, the Secretary‑General, in responding, I believe, to Matthew’s question, described the audit as… he used the word “investigation”, I believe. So I want to get clarification of, you know, since that’s defined…
Spokesman: It’s an audit.
Question: All right. Secondly, in all these various examinations, audits, so forth that you mentioned, the Secretary‑General mentioned, is there going to be, within the scope, a systematic look at how the private sources of funding, not only to the Office of the Presidency of the General Assembly, but also to agencies like the UNDP, are vetted? Risk assessment tools that there are, you know, published guidelines for applying risk assessment tools for private sector collaborations with the UN. Is there going to be any examination of whether they were properly applied?
Spokesman: Yes, I think on… I think we can and should be doing a better job on this issue, and I do hope recommendations do come through. I think it’s also important to recognize the critical role of civil society and the private sector in the implementation of the 2030 agenda of the work the UN has to do in the decades ahead. So I think that should propel us to do a better job in terms of the issues you raised. Mr. Abbadi, Somini, then Mr. Wachtel, and then we have to close it because I see a large British delegation entering, and I think I have to give up the podium. Mr. Abbadi?
Question: Thank you, Stéphane. The Secretary‑General this morning, as you mentioned, raised a few issues regarding the revitalization of the General Assembly. One is to strengthen the Office of the President of the GA. Second, the question of appointing members of the Council and… and President of the General Assembly a few months ahead than usual. And, third, the issue of corruption. Does he really believe that these measures are going to truly revitalize the work of the General Assembly?
Spokesman: I think, you know, every measure is a step forward. So I think… and obviously, the true revitalization of the General Assembly will be in the hands of the general… of the membership itself. Somini?
Question: To follow up on this issue of the documents of the PGA of the sixty-eighth session, is it customary for each PGA to take his or her documents, especially of financial transactions? Who should have these papers? And without these papers, how does one do an audit?
Spokesman: The issue of… as I think the comptroller said here, the issue of transactions involving official UN accounts, Trust Funds and anything that is a UN account, is strictly audited and documented, and there’s no issue of those kinds of documents disappearing. Whatever private documents a President of the General Assembly may hold on to, that is a question you need to raise with past PGAs or future PGAs, but it’s not one that I can answer. But official… you know, especially… official… anything having to do with financial transactions involving official UN accounts… we’ve seen accusations that there are other accounts out there, but obviously, that’s outside of our purview. Go ahead.
Question: But just to clarify, there are allegations that money was deposited to the PGA’s account. Are those documents of financial transactions in‑house?
Spokesman: I think… I don’t want to… I’m going to do something I don’t want to do, but I think looking at the document issued by the President… by the Office of the Attorney for the Southern District, it talks about accounts that were created to look like UN accounts, but these were not UN accounts. Jonathan, and then I have to go.
Question: Stéphane, I don’t understand why the task force wouldn’t be given the task to look into past PGAs and what they’ve done… GA presidents and what they’ve done…
Spokesman: I think the…
Question: Let just me… let just me just… why not do that? Why not open it up and really get to the bottom of what has happened in the past, which, of course, will have a reflection on what dangers might lie ahead in the future? And then, secondly, could you please bring us up to speed on where things are in terms of the UN’s cooperation with prosecutors, how… how… you know, where… where is that?
Spokesman: I have nothing to… I have nothing new to add on that last point. On the other questions, the task force is there to make policy recommendations on how to strengthen it, how to strengthen the Office of the President of the General Assembly. It’s a policy‑focused task force. The audit that will be done by OIOS will look at the relationship between the entities named in the complaint and the Secretariat and UN officials. And I think, as the Secretary‑General said, if there is… if, through that process, more comes out, there will be further work to be done.
Question: Stéphane, I just don’t understand how you can do a thorough job if you don’t know what has happened in the past…
Spokesman: I think what you are… There are clearly… [inaudible]
Question: How can you actually have a task force that’s functional? [inaudible]
Spokesman: There are clearly systemic issues having to do with how the PGA’s Office is funded or not funded through the regular budget and the staffing, so these are recommendations that we will make.
Question: Steph, there are UN staffers… there are UN staffers at the… at the PGA Office. Are their… are their documents available?
Spokesman: The official documents of the President of the General Assembly, you know, is… are kept. The person… you know, the… whatever documents that the President of the General Assembly himself may keep or not keep, that’s a question to raise to them. Thank you.