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.
**Mali
I will start off with a statement concerning the terrorist attack that we have just seen in Bamako: The Secretary-General condemns the horrific terrorist attack at the Radisson hotel in Bamako which killed an unknown number of civilians and injured many more. He expresses his sincere condolences to the Government of Mali and the bereaved families and wishes a speedy recovery to the wounded victims of this attack. The United Nations peacekeeping Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) has been assisting the Malian authorities in the handling of this crisis.
The Secretary-General notes with concern that these attacks are taking place at a time when the peace process is making good progress and the signatory groups to the Agreement on peace and reconciliation in Mali, in particular the Coordination des Mouvements de l’Azawad and the Plateforme, were in Bamako to attend the sixth meeting of the Comité de suivi de l’Accord (CSA) with the Malian Government and international partners.
The Secretary-General deplores any attempt to derail the implementation of the Agreement. He expresses his full support to the Malian authorities in their fight against terrorist and extremist groups. He welcomes the statements of the signatory parties to the Agreement that they remain committed to its implementation. He also reiterates the commitment of the United Nations, through the UN peacekeeping mission, to support the Malian Government and the parties to the Agreement at this crucial juncture in the peace process.
That statement is also available in French in my office and online.
**Migration
A short while ago, the Secretary-General spoke at the General Assembly, noting that 60 million people have been forced from their homes and that tragedies are multiplying – especially for the Syrian people. He stressed the need for a new approach to manage the challenges of global mobility, built on equitable responsibility sharing.
The Secretary-General spotlighted the need to address root causes; manage large flows of migrants and refugees, protect human rights, increase financing, and adopt a global approach.
He noted that next February, he will co-host a conference in London on the crisis in Syria, a key cause – root cause – of the migration that we are seeing in Europe.
He also said that in September, he proposes to convene a High-Level Summit on managing large-scale movements of migrants and refugees here in New York.
**Syria
Meanwhile, concerning Syria again, the Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syrian crisis, Kevin Kennedy, said tens of thousands of Syrian children have been killed or maimed in the conflict there. Children have lost their lives to air strikes, mortars, artillery, shooting, car bombs and improvised explosive devices. He said that the parties to the conflict in Syria should stop attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure including schools, education facilities and personnel. He noted that a quarter of schools in the country can no longer be used because they are destroyed, damaged, sheltering thousands of displaced families or being used for military purposes.
Mr. Kennedy warned that we are closer than ever to losing a whole generation of children to “despair, illiteracy and darkness”.
**Middle East
In a statement issued last night, the Secretary-General condemned yesterday’s terror attacks in Israel and the occupied West Bank. He expresses his condolences to the families of the five people killed -- three Israelis, a Palestinian and an American -- and hopes for a full and speedy recovery for those injured. It is imperative now to restore calm.
The Secretary-General calls on all political, religious and community leaders to speak out against such brutal acts and refrain from incendiary language. He reiterates that only a negotiated solution to the conflict can bring peace and security to the peoples of this troubled land.
**Medicines
Yesterday evening, the Secretary-General announced the establishment of a High-Level Panel on health technology innovation and access, made up of about 15 eminent, well-respected individuals with a deep knowledge and understanding of the broad range of trade, public health, human rights and legal issues associated with access to treatment. He has appointed Ruth Dreifuss, the former President of Switzerland, and Festus Mogae, the former President of Botswana, as co-chairs of the Panel.
In order to ensure healthy lives and promote the well-being of people of all ages, as set out in Sustainable Development Goal 3, new modalities are urgently needed to ensure that everyone can have access to quality treatment at affordable costs.
The Panel is expected to hold its first meeting in December 2015 and engage in extensive consultations with stakeholders. A set of recommendations will be presented to the Secretary-General in June [2016] and the Secretary-General will make the report available to the General Assembly and take any further action, as necessary.
**CAR
The UN Mission in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) says that 250 Senegalese peacekeepers from its Quick Reaction Force will be re-deployed to the UN Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) starting on 25 November – that’s next Wednesday.
As you know, this is a temporary deployment, for 6 to 8 weeks, under inter-mission cooperation arrangements, which was requested in light of the ongoing tense security situation in the Central African Republic.
**Peace Operations
Earlier today, the Secretary-General briefed the Security Council on peace operations, as the Council considers the recommendation of his High-Level Panel on Peace Operations and implementation report.
The Secretary-General highlighted three broad areas in which the Council can help - first, through political engagement; second, the design and implementation of UN peace operations; and third, reinvigorated partnerships.
**Balkans
In a joint statement issued today, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) voiced concern over restrictions put in place by Governments against movements of refugees and migrants from Greece throughout the Western Balkans and further north.
These restrictions include profiling on the basis of nationality, which the agencies say is becoming increasingly untenable from every point of view – humanitarian, legal, and also safety related, not least in light of falling temperatures and the risks for children and others with specific needs.
The agencies noted that such measures are creating tensions at border crossings and a domino effect, leaving some refugees and migrants stranded at different border points in total limbo. Full statement is online.
**Vietnam/DPRK
Our colleagues from the Human Rights Office in Geneva expressed alarm today at reports that nine nationals from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), including an infant and a teenager, were arrested in Viet Nam last month and transferred to China.
The Office urged Chinese and Vietnamese authorities to publicly clarify the fate of the nine. More information online.
**UNICEF
Today is Universal Children’s Day. In his message, the Secretary-General emphasized the importance of ensuring that international commitments are extended to a group of children who are often forgotten or overlooked: those deprived of their liberty.
On this day, UNICEF also issued a new report entitled For every child, a fair chance: The promise of equity. The report presents a statistical picture of how the world’s most marginalized children have fared against basic human development indicators, showing that the world remains a deeply unfair place.
A team of UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors are raising their voices or activating their social media networks to help spur action as part of UNICEF’s "Fight Unfair" campaign.
These include actors Liam Neeson, Priyanka Chopra and Susan Sarandon, singers Shakira and Ricky Martin, and tennis champion Novak Djokovic.
More information on the UNICEF’s website.
**Thailand
Cara yesterday had asked about the deportation of two Chinese activists, both of whom are recognized as refugees by Thai authorities.
Our colleagues at the UN Office for Human Rights today said they are deeply concerned over their deportation, as well as the risks associated with their being sent back to China.
The Office has expressed its concerns to the Government of Thailand over the deportation, which comes a few months after it expressed its concern over the Government’s deportation of 100 ethnic Uighurs to China.
The High Commissioner’s Office noted that Thailand is a party to the Convention against Torture, which contains the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits the return of a refugee to a country where he or she is likely to face persecution or torture.
**Noon Briefing Guests Today
In a short while, I will be joined by Daniela Mercury, the singer and activist from Brazil, and more importantly, a UN Equality Champion, and also by Charles Radcliffe, Officer-in-Charge of the New York Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. They will be here to brief you on the protection of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in Latin America. We will have Portuguese/English interpretation when it is so required.
11:00 a.m. Monday, a press briefing here by the Permanent Mission of Korea, the Republic of Korea, on the official launch of the International Parliamentary Coalition for Victims of Sexual Slavery (IPCVSS).
And then at 12:30 p.m., there will be a briefing by UN Women to launch the fifth edition of the Global Media Monitoring Project.
**Questions and Answers
Matthew?
Question: Sure, a couple.
Spokesman: You weren’t paying attention, Masood. Sorry.
Question: A couple of questions but I wanted to start and ask you about Burundi, where you can...there are a couple things going on there. People are saying that the UN has told its staff to restrict their movements in light of planned demonstrations and the two, both the French and Belgian I guess embassies there have said the same. There is also this spat between the ruling party, the CNDD-FDD and the Belgians where the Belgians said the people should leave and the party said you are a bunch of colonialists and if you don’t leave we will hurt you. What has happened in terms of the UN’s involvement?
Spokesman: Obviously in any place where the security situation is tense, it’s the responsibility of the senior UN official on the ground to recommend whatever measures he or she deems necessary, so I’m not going to comment on that. We are obviously following the situation closely. As I mentioned to you earlier, Mr. Benomar is on his way to the region. We hope to have an update from him as soon as he starts his round of consultations. The situation on the ground remains of grave concern to us. I think we have seen an increase of violence and it’s clear that the Government has the responsibility to ensure the safety of people within, obviously, international human rights norms. Masood.
Question: Yes, Stéphane, thank you very much. Does the Secretary‑General believe his special representative in Syria, Mr. Staffan de Mistura, that the peace is about to breakout in Syria, is there a possibility for making the statements again and again?
Spokesman: What we believe is that we are in a period of momentum that came out of the Vienna conferences. It’s important to keep that momentum. That is exactly what Mr. de Mistura is doing and that’s exactly what the Secretary‑General wants Mr. de Mistura to be doing. He was here as you know yesterday and I think he spoke at length to the press. We have - it’s clear that the UN has a role to play in bringing the parties together. We are working on the best approach to that. But it’s also clear that all the countries that were present in the room in Vienna have a critical role to play in exercising and putting pressure on those groups or on the Government in Syria to ensure that everybody does go around, get around the table to restart the political process.
Question: So how close, can you give us a sense as to how close all these parties are to coming to an understanding?
Spokesman: I mean, we’ve been - let me use an expression that may or may not exist in English. We have gone around this merry‑go‑round quite a few times and we are not going to predict when these things will happen. Whether we are talking about discussions in Yemen or whether we are talking about discussions in Syria, these things take time. I think as Mr. de Mistura mentioned, especially when we get close to having political talks, there will be a lot of statements from left, right and center, people expressing their opinions very publically for reasons that we may understand. Right now our focus is on getting the talks started. Obviously once they start we will announce it, but I will not be making any predictions. Abdelhamid.
Question: Thank you, Stéphane. I have a question about how, what is the procedure of announcing activities of an UN international day, let’s say the international day of women or the international day of human rights, what is the procedure, does the Spokesman announce the activities in advance or the same day?
Spokesman: We usually flag the messages. I mean, most of these activities are...there are a lot of things that happen, different issues, it’s all in the Journal for all to see. We usually flag the messages and the Secretary‑General’s activities on that day.
Question: Can I just…?
Spokesman: That was not an innocent question.
Question: No, because on Monday there is some activities going on regarding the international day of the solidarity with Palestinian people so I was expecting some kind of announcement.
Spokesman: Often when we do have information we put it on our “Week Ahead” and as I said I think the Journal is a public document, it’s all in there, and that is our usual practice. Yes.
Question: Thank you. Stéphane, yesterday Syrian regime forces backed by Russian air force started operations against Turkman villages, north-west side of Latakia and Turkey summoned the Russian ambassador to Ankara and warned him about the consequences of these attacks and refugee flows about it. And what does the Secretary‑General has to say about that?
Spokesman: I haven’t seen those particular reports but it’s clear that the ongoing violence, the ongoing military operations in Syria, are only adding to the suffering of people, to the displacement internally of people in Syria, and obviously to people who are forced to leave their home and leave their country. And our focus, the Secretary‑General’s focus, is on the political process and getting the parties to the table, on the ceasefire which Mr. de Mistura - on the halting of the violence, on the cessation of the violence and obviously on providing humanitarian aid for all those who need it. Anna.
Question: Thank you, Stéphane. A young 35 year-old poet in Saudi Arabia has been condemned to death only because he posted some videos online of religious police harassing a man. They are condemning him for disrespecting Islam allegedly. Does UN have an official comment about this and what the UN is going to do?
Spokesman: I have not seen this particular case. I’m happy to look into it obviously. I think the Secretary‑General has spoken out as has the High Commissioner for Human Rights in similar cases. Mr. Lee and then Masood.
Question: Some DRC [Democratic Republic of Congo] questions and something on the Global Sustainability Foundation. In the DRC, the UN’s own or affiliated Radio Okapi has reported that the FDLR has essentially held people - in Walikale which is well‑known for a previous mass rape and Lubero - hostage, they’re not allowing people to make phone calls and I could go on. But what I’m saying is, if the UN’s own Radio Okapi is aware of essentially taking hostage of people by the longstanding FDLR militia group, what are they doing about it?
Spokesman: I don’t have that information. I don’t have an update sitrep from MONUSCO today. You are free to call the Mission to see if they have anything to share with you but I don’t have information here.
Question: Yesterday there was a story saying that an unnamed UN peacekeeping official here in New York said that the DRC didn’t, wasn’t properly vetting its troops that were sent to Central African Republic. And I wanted to see, I guess, it seems like a big announcement, whether DPKO has something in writing on that. And I wanted to ask, it also seems strange there are also allegations of sexual abuse by a number of other contingents and including by the Sangaris force. Does DPKO or the UN believe that Sangaris appropriately vets its people? I mean… I’m trying to understand since the announcement was made anonymously…
Spokesman: I think first of all I don’t have any specific announcement. As you know, we have no authority over Sangaris troops. We are obviously all very well aware of the allegations against it and we are we look forward to the continuing French investigation to see that if crimes were committed by the Sangaris soldiers, those soldiers are brought to justice. And we have full confidence that the soldiers are being – that the right policies are in place but obviously we are very much focused on the judicial investigation. On the DRC what I can tell you is that the UN, DPKO is in discussions with the DRC authorities about the future of the Congolese contingent in the Central African Republic. And we will have more when we have a little bit more official to announce; but, obviously, it’s clear that the results of the assessment and the vetting of the unit was not satisfactory.
Question: The reason I ask this, and you will remember this, I’ve asked you a couple times here about the vetting of the Burundian contingent CAR and I’ve actually seen a document where Mr. Ladsous gave them a waiver and said give them an extension until March 2016 to even bring the right equipment to the country, so you didn’t comment on that one but this one…
Spokesman: Listen, I have not seen the document you’re referring to. I think there is different, in general terms, different issues between equipment and obviously human rights vetting. The vetting of troops for human rights issues is, you know, there are three real components to it: there is the Government itself, there is the UN and different parts of the UN, and also key groups that we share information with. So that is it.
Question: What do you mean public with the vetting, that is what I’m asking about?
Spokesman: If there is an issue obviously with the DRC, with the DRC contingent, I do expect to have something a little more official to say later. Oleg? Let’s go to people who have not asked. They get to jump because you’ve already asked. But they had not raised their hand when you raised your hand.
Question: Thank you, Stéphane. I’m sorry I may have missed that but among those people in this hotel in Bamako were there any international UN staff or anybody?
Spokesman: I’m aware there were three UN staff members in the hotel in Bamako when the incident took place. And as of, you know, 11:30 [a.m.] our understanding - 11:30 New York time - we understand some operations were still taking place. The three UN staffers were safely evacuated. Olga?
Question: Thank you. Also on the same issue you said, I mean, in the statement that MINUSMA personnel is assisting the Malian authorities in handling the crisis. What exactly are they doing and helping to establish the security?
Spokesman: We sent, as soon as the incident started, we sent a quick reaction force from the UN police unit to help secure the perimeter and we are also assisting with medical facilities and forensic experts to support the Malian Government-led operation. Masood.
Question: Yes, Stéphane, this is becoming, fast becoming discrimination on international issue of, on the Muslims. Donald Trump’s decision to at least announce that he will create a database for Muslims in the United States, is this something that the Security Council...
Spokesman: I’m going to try very hard for the next year almost not to insert the Secretary‑General into the U.S. Presidential campaign. That being said, I think the Secretary‑General, Deputy Secretary‑General, High Commissioner for Human Rights, High Commissioner for Refugees, could not have been clearer in the language they used to say that refugees and migrants cannot be discriminated against on the basis of religion, on the basis of nationality, ethnicity - on anything. People who are fleeing war, who are fleeing violence, migrants, all need to be treated with dignity, with respect to their rights as they have them under international law. Evelyn.
Question: There was a report that there is another Ebola case in Liberia. Do you have anything?
Spokesman: I saw the press report and I have not gotten anything from the World Health Organization. Abdelhamid.
Question: Do you have any update on Libya? Is the new special representative in place now?
Spokesman: Yes. He is very much in place. He is in Tunis and meeting with various parties.
Question: And where is Bernardino Leon if I may ask?
Spokesman: He no longer works for these United Nations.
Question: Okay, thank you.
Spokesman: Mr. Lee?
Question: This is what I wanted… I know that the Secretary‑General had asked for an audit of the UN’s interaction with the Global Sustainability Foundation headed by Sheri Yan who has been indicted and whose finance official is now apparently plea bargaining with the Government. So what I wanted to ask you is this, I went to an event yesterday at 50 UN Plaza at which the Deputy Secretary‑General was present, so was the new PGA, and there were two board members/special advisors to Global Sustainability Foundation in attendance, one spoke and one was in attendance. This lead me to ask, has the Secretary‑General, I mean, what is the current state of play? Has he provided guidance to his most senior officials to suspend interactions with the Global Sustainability Foundation’s people or, or, or what is happening?
Spokesman: That is clear that, that is obviously clear, you know, whether or not we are able to, first of all, I don’t know - I can’t confirm the facts you have given - but, obviously, UN officials participate in public events; we do our best to vet those events but we don’t always clear the guest list.
Question: I guess what I’m asking is, is it fair to say that this would also reply to Sun Kian Ip Foundation, that those who were either board membered or aligned with the formation of those two entities that have now been shown to be bribing the UN that UN officials?
Spokesman: We would expect UN officials not to work with these two entities. Thank you. I will go get our guests.