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.
Good afternoon, everyone.
**Chief Executives Board
The Secretary-General remains in Geneva today, where he opened the spring session of the Chief Executives Board of the UN System. The two-day meeting is hosted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) on its 100th anniversary.
During today’s session, the heads of the UN entities agreed on ambitious and concrete steps to address climate change in advance of the September Climate Summit. In a statement, the heads of UN agencies said they are committed to strengthening their organization’s responsiveness to Member States’ needs to reduce the adverse impacts of climate change, including on the stability of regions, States and communities; build resilience; address loss and damage caused by climate-induced disasters; and enhance responsiveness of social protection systems to climate-related events. They also committed themselves to raising the UN’s own ambition to take concrete steps to combat climate change and to integrate more systematically sustainable development considerations concerning how the organizations work, both in terms of operations and programmes. The full statement will be out shortly.
In a short while, the Secretary-General will go the International Labour Organization to meet with staff as the organization marks its 100th anniversary. He said at a tree-planting event yesterday that, while he could not predict what the world would look like in a hundred years or how economies and societies will work, he remains absolutely sure that the trees planted today will be here and that the International Labour Organization will be here.
Tomorrow afternoon, the Secretary-General will address a special session of the World Trade Organization’s General Council, where he will stress the importance of preserving the multilateral rules-based order – including on trade – for a fair globalization and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
**Sustainable Development Goals
The Secretary-General is pleased to announce today a new class of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Advocates. These 17 influential public figures are committed to raising awareness, inspiring greater ambition, and pushing for faster action on the Sustainable Development Goals.
The group is co-chaired by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the President of Ghana, and Erna Solberg, the Prime Minister of Norway. Six members of the previous SDG Advocates class have been made SDG Advocate Alumni and six new Advocates have been appointed.
The six new advocates are: The Emir of Kano [of] Nigeria; Hindou Ibrahim of Chad; Dia Mirza of India; Edward Ndopu of South Africa; Nadia Murad of Iraq; and Marta Vieira da Silva of Brazil.
The Secretary-General looks forward to working with the group over the coming years to advance the SDGs. A full list of the SDG Advocates is online.
**Syria
The United Nations remains extremely concerned about the health and safety of over 30,000 people in Rukban, Syria, where the humanitarian situation is critical. The last humanitarian convoy to Rukban delivered supplies, which were estimated to last one month, almost three months ago.
The United Nations continues to call for a third humanitarian convoy to Rukban, bringing life-saving assistance, including food, hygiene kits, and nutrition supplies for children, as well as health items. The United Nations also reminds all parties of their obligations to provide safe, sustained and unimpeded humanitarian access to all people in need.
**Yemen
The World Food Programme (WFP) says that, during the month of March, it reached 10.6 million people with emergency food assistance across Yemen – more than in any other month.
About 10 million people in Yemen are estimated to be one step away from famine, and the United Nations and partners are doing everything to assist these people and roll back the risk of famine.
In the coming months, WFP aims to expand its operations to reach 12 million people per month.
The 2019 Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan aims to assist over 20 million Yemenis with food, water, health care and other kinds of aid. The plan requires $4.2 billion and is currently 14 per cent funded.
We welcome recent donor allocations, and we call on all donors to fully fund the 2019 plan as quickly as possible.
**Sudan
The Special Adviser of the Secretary-General for Sudan, Nicholas Haysom, arrived in Khartoum earlier this week. He has held a meeting with the Transitional Military Council and is engaging with the groups associated with the Declaration of Freedom and Change. His work is closely coordinated with and in full support of the African Union’s efforts to facilitate a consensual and civilian-led transition.
As highlighted in the communiqué of the AU-UN conference of 6 May, we continue to urge all stakeholders to engage in an inclusive dialogue to meet the aspirations of the Sudanese people for democracy, good governance and development. We call upon all concerned to resolve to work together to ensure peaceful transition and sustainable peace throughout Sudan.
**Libya
On Libya, our colleagues on the ground say fighting in southern Tripoli has intensified with a significant increase in air strikes. We continue to be extremely concerned about the heavy toll on civilians and health workers.
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Ghassan Salamé, continues outreach to international partners and will travel to several European capitals in the coming days to discuss ways to immediately stop the fighting and resume a political dialogue.
Earlier today, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Libya, Maria Ribeiro, and the World Health Organization (WHO) strongly condemned an attack on an ambulance in Tripoli yesterday that left three health workers injured, including the Director of the Ambulance and Emergency Medical Services.
WHO says that, since the conflict escalated in early April, 11 additional ambulances have been impacted or suffered collateral damage. In April, three health workers were killed in Tripoli. As the conflict continues into its second month, more than 400 people have died and over 2,000 have been wounded.
Dr. Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO’s Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said the attack was a flagrant breach of the basic rules of warfare that could jeopardize the operations of field hospitals and ambulance teams, and deter health staff from performing their duties. The Humanitarian Coordinator prevailed upon parties to the conflict to respect their clear obligation under International Humanitarian Law to protect medical teams.
**Ebola
You will have seen that, yesterday, we issued a statement in which the Secretary-General expressed his concern over the number of new Ebola cases in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He reiterated the support of the whole United Nations system for efforts to end the outbreak.
He noted that, despite these efforts, the outbreak is now in its tenth month and has claimed more than 1,000 lives.
He stressed that at this critical juncture, additional resources are needed, and called on Member States and partner organizations to ensure the responding agencies have the resources needed to succeed. The full statement is available online.
**Food Imports
The global food import bill is likely to decline in 2019, but the poorest and most vulnerable countries will not be the prime beneficiaries, according to a new report by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The Outlook projects worldwide food imports to drop 2.5 per cent in 2019 to $1.472 trillion. FAO says the lower costs would be enjoyed mostly by developed countries, while the import bill for sub-Saharan Africa is expected to rise. The full outlook is available on FAO’s website.
**Contributions
Our thanks today go to Chile and the Republic of Moldova for their full payments to the regular budget. That brings to 93 the number of Member States that have fully paid up.
**Press Briefings
And, as you know, Monica Grayley will be here to brief you after me.
And immediately after that, at around 12:30, there will be a briefing organized by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights with Paulo Pinheiro, Karen AbuZayd and Hanny Megally, Members of the Commission of Inquiry on Syria.
And then tomorrow at 2:15 p.m., there will be a briefing here by Ambassador Syed Hasrin Syed Hussin of Malaysia, Chair of the Third Preparatory Committee for the 2020 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference.
**Questions and Answers
And that’s it for me. Yes, please?
Question: Yes, Farhan. A question on Yemen. Myself and some other journalists understand that the UN is currently awaiting sign‑off on 47… or sorry, visas for 47 monitors for the Hodeidah Mission. Can you confirm that number? And, secondly, given that efforts are being made with various interlocutors to secure those visas, can you tell us how many monitors are actually present on the ground as it stands?
Deputy Spokesman: I’ll try to get the exact numbers for you. The basic point of the situation is, obviously, there are sometimes ‑‑ and not just in Yemen, mind you ‑‑ holdups in terms of getting visas processed. We are working with the authorities, in this case the sets of authorities on the ground, to make sure that we can get the full team up and running. General [Michael] Lollesgaard is working on the ground with some people, and… but I will try to get you some basic numbers.
Question: I’m sorry, yes, just following up on that, can you tell us why the briefing with General Lollesgaard was cancelled?
Deputy Spokesman: We’ll try to set it up. Some of the logistics of it are hard to do, but we’ll try to set up something possibly next week, if it works out. Yes?
Question: Just a follow‑up. Could you explain the visa process? Who is granting visas for these monitors? Is it the Yemeni Government, or is it the Houthi‑controlled authorities in Sana’a?
Deputy Spokesman: Well, in this case, for some of these areas, such as Hodeidah, we would need to be able to get clearance both from the Government and from the de facto authorities on the ground.
Question: Clearance but… so clearance is, obviously, to pass sort of roadblocks, whatever, but in terms of the visa to arrive in the country, who is currently granting that?
Deputy Spokesman: Well, the Government of Yemen is the party that grants visas to enter Yemen. But, in this case, like I said, there are authorities on both sides that we need to deal with in order to make sure that we have the access we need. Yes, Evelyn?
Question: Thank you. On Yemen, where is WFP distributing the food? Is it in the Houthi areas and Aden or where? Do we have… and then, secondly, on Libya, AFP, Carole, had a story noting a UN report that the UAE [United Arab Emirates] is doing some air strikes.
Deputy Spokesman: Yes. I mean, we, as you know, have provided to the Security Council data from the teams on the ground about the activities there. I believe there’s a Security Council briefing on Libya coming up fairly shortly, and you’ll be able to get more information on that.
On Yemen, the World Food Programme aims to provide food throughout the country in areas under control of the various parties. As you know, there’s a large number of need… of people in need. There’s 10 million people who are close to famine conditions in a country that’s got about 25, 26 million people. So, it’s… really, all parts of the area need some form of help.
Question: But have they gotten into all parts? Do you have any details?
Deputy Spokesman: Well, we’ve been reporting to you our access problems. We do try to get access throughout Yemen. We’ve had difficulties from time to time. The World Food Programme has been able to get the access it needs to step up its operations. We’re hoping that we can continue to reach more and more people. Yes, please?
Question: Question on DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea]. Thank you. I wanted to ask, does the Secretary‑General have any comments on the firing of the missiles by North Korea?
Deputy Spokesman: Yes. Hold on. One second. Yeah, I mean, we are aware of the recent launches by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Such action serves only to increase tensions in the region. The Secretary‑General continues to follow developments. He encourages all parties to continue their dialogue to advance sustainable peace and complete and verifiable denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.
Incidentally, before we proceed, there is one thing I wanted to add, which is that the Secretary‑General would like to acknowledge, with much appreciation, the recently announced support of Qatar to Palestine, which will be key in helping address economic and humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people. The Secretary‑General furthermore welcomes the continued excellent cooperation between the State of Qatar and the UN in implementing critical humanitarian and economic programmes in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Yes, Linda?
Question: Thank you, Farhan. I have a passport‑related issue. [laughter] Visas, passports. So, in this case, the NGO UN Watch has said that there’s been a change in UN rules for entry to the offices in Geneva and issued this complaint asking the Secretary‑General to reverse this new ruling that apparently requires those entering the building even to speak to have a valid US passp-… uh, passport in general from a Member State rather than other valid I.D. The gist of this is they’re complaining that they had two political dissidents who were coming to speak but were denied access because they didn’t have passports, and there’s… the organization is basically saying that a lot of dissidents don’t have passports from Member States but have other valid I.D. And so, my question is, do you have any information on this, or could we get clarification?
Deputy Spokesman: I think, as Stéphane [Dujarric] has made clear here, that is also the policy here in… at the UN in New York. So, the policy in Geneva is being consistent with the policy here.
Question: But, apparently, UN Watch is saying that, until very recently, if you had speakers who also include… you know, who are political dissidents, they were able to enter the UN to speak versus being excluded.
Deputy Spokesman: As far as I’m aware, the policy for entry into the building is as we’ve described it the past, simply to have passports from valid Member States. Sylviane?
Question: Thank you, Farhan. There is a meeting, a Security Council meeting next week on… consultations, actually, on the latest report of 1559. Do you know who will be briefing this meeting?
Deputy Spokesman: I believe it’s meant to be for the Special Coordinator for Lebanon, but we can check with… The Security Council invites speakers, but normally, it’s the Special Coordinator, yes.
Question: So, he would be coming to New York?
Deputy Spokesman: I don’t know whether he’ll be coming, whether it will be by VTC [video teleconference]. As you know, sometimes people exercise that option, which is slightly cheaper than making the flight over.
Question: Could you please confirm?
Deputy Spokesman: I’ll check for you.
Correspondent: Thank you very much.
[The Deputy Spokesman later said that Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo would brief the Security Council.]
Deputy Spokesman: Yes?
Question: I have a follow‑up and then a couple of other questions. On the passport issue, would it be possible to make the policy available for us so we can read it? Because it doesn’t seem consistent. For example ‑‑ I’ll give you one example ‑‑ regularly, high‑level officials from Kosovo come here to brief. Are there exceptions made with Security Council meetings? If we could find out the full detail of the policy, that would be useful.
Deputy Spokesman: I’ll try to get what I can, but as I’ve described it and Stéphane has described it in the past… [inaudible]
Question: Kosovo’s not a Member State. [inaudible] How do Kosovo officials come here when they brief the Security Council? Is there a special exemption made? Could you give us some… you know, because, obviously, they are not Member State members. So… Kosovo is not a Member State at the UN, as you know.
Anyway, the other questions were, it’s reported that the UN Special Rep… sorry, the US Special Representative in charge of the Middle East peace process, Jason Greenblatt, will be at an Arria meeting this afternoon. Given the Secretary‑General is not in town, do you know if he will be having a meeting with any senior officials, USG DiCarlo, for example?
Deputy Spokesman: The USGs are also away at the Chief Executives Board as far as I’m aware, or many of them are… [inaudible]
Question: Will anyone from the Secretariat be meeting Mr. Greenblatt, do you believe?
Deputy Spokesman: I’m sure that someone will be in attendance. Because of the nature of the Chief Executives Board, it will likely have to be someone lower level. Most of the senior officials are not here today.
Question: And another final question about a senior official, the role of Under‑Secretary‑General for Global Communications has been advertised to Member States. That, I assume, means that Alison Smale is leaving the post. Can you confirm whether she completed her contract? And are there any other members… as we reach the halfway mark of the Secretary‑General’s first term, are there any other senior officials who are leaving the Secretariat?
Deputy Spokesman: On that, I can say that Alison Smale will be leaving her role as Under‑Secretary‑General and Head of the Department of Global Communications as planned at the end of the summer. The Secretary‑General is very grateful for Ms. Smale’s work and leadership over the past two years. He especially appreciates her efforts at reforming and modernizing the operations of the Department as it communicates the work and ideas of the UN creatively and effectively. Masood?
Question: Are there any other top team members leaving?
Deputy Spokesman: I assume we can bring those up as they arise. Yes?
Question: On Gaza, Farhan, do you have any update on Gaza as… following clashes between the Palestinians and the Israeli forces? And also… and the… and the crossings being closed every now and then. So, what is the plight of Palestinians now living in Gaza?
Deputy Spokesman: The Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territories, Jamie McGoldrick, spoke to the press in Geneva about this just yesterday, and he provided a thorough update. So, I would refer you to that. You can see the briefing on the Geneva website.
Question: Has… has the Secretary‑General been able to talk to the Israeli Prime Minister whom he’s been… been able to talk as yet?
Deputy Spokesman: I don’t believe he’s had any talks with him this week. Yes?
Question: Thank you, Farhan. You were asked about Cyprus yesterday, and the southern Cyprus is going on with the drilling activities in Mediterranean. And is the Secretary‑General concerned by the fact that natural resources around Cyprus are going to be benefited by only one community but not by the Turkish Cypriots because there is no solution, and yet repeated many times that both communities have rights, the same rights, to the natural resources? Is there any comment on it, please?
Deputy Spokesman: I would just refer you to what Stéphane said about the matter a few days ago. I don’t have anything further to add to that.
Have a good afternoon, everyone.