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.
**Guests Today
Good afternoon. Very shortly, I will be joined here by our Special Adviser on Africa, Cristina Duarte; along with the Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Claver Gatete. They will be here to discuss the Ministerial Meeting on Africa Day at the High-Level Political Forum [on Sustainable Development] that is taking place today — the HLPF, which is ongoing today.
**Guests Tomorrow
Tomorrow, I will be joined by Alvaro Lario, the President of IFAD, which as you all know is the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and he’s also the Chair of UN-Water, and he will also be joined by Federico Properzi, the Chief and Technical Lead of UN Water. They will be here to launch the first-ever United Nations system-wide Strategy for Water and Sanitation and unveil the latest figures from the upcoming State of Food Security and Nutrition [in the World] 2024 report.
**Deputy Secretary-General
Our Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, will travel to West Africa, as part of a wider effort to engage at a country level to support the acceleration and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This follows the SDG Summit that took place in September. She leaves tonight. Her first stop will be in Dakar, Senegal. From there, she will travel to Guinea and Mali. From Mali, the Deputy Secretary-General will then head to Ethiopia to preside over the opening of the First session of the Preparatory Committee for the fourth International Conference on Financing for Development.
From Ethiopia, the Deputy Secretary-General will return to West Africa to continue the second leg of her mission. She will start in Burkina Faso and continue on to Niger before concluding her mission in Nigeria. During the visit, the Deputy Secretary-General, will hold meetings with senior government officials, UN entities on the ground and other stakeholders, to take stock of the challenges affecting the realization of the SDGs, review the UN’s presence and support to the SDGs in these varied environments and identify ways to strengthen the impact for people on the ground.
**Occupied Palestinian Territory
Turning to the situation in Gaza, I think you all heard a rather extensive briefing from our friend Scott Anderson, the Head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Gaza. I can further tell you that we and our humanitarian partners continue to assist families who are being displaced from northern Gaza to areas in the south. A team from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs carried out a mission today aimed at supporting the scaling up of services at points where families fleeing northern Gaza are arriving in the south. Furthermore, our humanitarian partners are registering displaced people so that support can be provided to them wherever they seek shelter south of Wadi Gaza. We are also planning missions to areas [east] of Salahaldeen Road to assess people’s needs in that area.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that with each new evacuation directive, families in Gaza are being forced to make impossible choices: stay, amid active hostilities, or flee to areas with little space or services — and of course, no guarantee of safety as we saw this weekend. The Office also says the horrors witnessed in recent days only underscore what we have said repeatedly over the past nine months: There is no safe place in Gaza. Not shelters, not hospitals — and not the so-called humanitarian zones.
We call yet again on all parties to this conflict to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law. They must take constant care to spare civilians and civilian objects. This includes ensuring safe passage for those who flee. And wherever they are in Gaza, civilians must receive the essentials they need to survive: food, shelter and health care. Making sure civilians in Gaza get the life-saving support they need means ensuring safe and unimpeded humanitarian operations.
**Hurricane Beryl
Turning to Hurricane Beryl, we have an update from our colleagues in Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Jamaica. Two weeks since the hurricane’s first impact, our teams in the three islands continue to work with authorities to complete needs assessments. In Jamaica, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination arm are assessing the damage to homes, that assessment is expected to wrap up shortly. In Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, humanitarian teams have identified restoring water supplies and the provision of sanitation services as the top priorities. We and our partners will continue to support these countries through the recently launched response plan which seeks $9 million in funding and aims to help 43,000 out of the 82,000 people potentially impacted by this storm.
**Ukraine
Turning to Ukraine, our humanitarian colleagues on the ground are telling that attacks today and over the weekend continue to impact civilians in front-line areas. Authorities said that on Saturday, an attack on a railway in the Kharkhiv region of eastern Ukraine caused nearly 30 civilian casualties, including children. A second attack reportedly killed two first responders who had rushed to help. Local authorities and humanitarian partners on the ground said the strikes also damaged scores of civilian buildings, as well as railway infrastructure. Heavy fighting also continued in the Donetsk region. In the town of Myrnohrad, multiple strikes killed and injured civilians, including a child, and caused damage to civilian infrastructure. Aid workers mobilized emergency assistance for people impacted by these attacks.
**Central African Republic
Turning to the Central African Republic, our peacekeeping colleagues there report that a joint delegation of UN and government officials, that includes our representative on the ground Valentine Rugwabiza, they visited Obo and Bambouti on Saturday. They were there to assess the efforts undertaken to help restore a semblancy of normal life in the Haut-Mbomou Prefecture, following an escalation of violence between armed groups that has been taking place there since February. The visit came two months after the deployment of UN peacekeepers to Bambouti, a town in the far east of the Central African Republic on the border with South Sudan, an isolated area where national defence and security forces are absent. The deployment of the UN force, carried out in parallel with the ongoing rehabilitation of the Bambouti-Obo-Bangassou Road — done by peacekeepers, is progressively opening up the area. The majority of localities in the Haut-Mbomou are now accessible, allowing for the free movement of goods and people.
During the visit, a road was inaugurated, work was launched to drill boreholes to help supply the area with drinking water, and the foundation stone for the town hall was laid to enable the mayor to resume her activities in the area after a two-year absence, marking the return of state authority. In total, the UN mission, with the participation of our country team, has launched 13 projects which have been identified to rapidly address the basic humanitarian needs of local families, to re-establish State authority and to reconnect to the rest of the country.
**Senior Personnel Appointment
A couple of personnel announcements. I just want to read into the record what we announced earlier today, which that we have a new Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq. Mohamed al Hassan of the Sultanate of Oman was appointed as the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI). He succeeds Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert of the Netherlands, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her services. As you know, she is now Special Coordinator in Lebanon. Mr. Al Hassan brings to the position a broad range of diplomatic experience with a career spanning over thirty years working on preventive diplomacy, peacebuilding and development. And you all know him from his most recent post as the Permanent Representative of Oman to the United Nations.
**New Resident Coordinator
We also have a new Resident Coordinator in Guinea-Bissau. The Secretary-General has appointed Geneviève Boutin of Canada as the Resident Coordinator in Guinea-Bissau. She starts work today, following the approval from the Government. She brings more than 20 years of experience in development and humanitarian work, peacebuilding and child rights work. She previously served as Deputy Director in UNICEF’s Programme Group and in other senior leadership positions with UNICEF. She has worked in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and other places and we congratulate her.
**Youth Skills Day
Today is World Youth Skills Day. In a message, the Secretary-General said this Day shines a spotlight on skills for peace and sustainable development, adding that young people around the world can make a bigger difference for our shared future, such as green and digital economies, education and so much more. Okay, that’s it. Thank you, sir. Okay. That's it. Your turn, Edie.
**Questions and Answers
Question: Thank you, Steph. First, does the Secretary-General have any comment on the latest Israeli airstrikes in Gaza?
Spokesman: I feel we're repeating ourselves, at our call to halt the conflict, and our condemnations of civilians being hit. We would like to see the ongoing discussions on the ceasefire bear fruit as quickly as possible.
Question: And does the Secretary-General have any comment on the Houthis apparent latest attack on a ship?
Spokesman: Again, I think we've clearly condemned these attacks on civilian targets in the Red Sea and in the broader area, which has an impact not only, of course, on those ships being targeted, but on the global economy as a whole.
Question: And lastly, you made an announcement of a new SRSG for Iraq. Are we going to get an announcement soon about a replacement for Martin Griffiths?
Spokesman: It depends if you use the UN definition of soon or the Oxford English Dictionary meaning of soon. Ibtisam.
Question: Thank you. Just a quick follow-up on Edith's question. I mean, do you condemn the killing of Palestinian civilians by Israel in Gaza?
Spokesman: Yes. We have said so since the beginning.
Question: But, why is it that your statement doesn't, say that clearly compared to your statement a week ago or something, when it came to Ukraine?
Spokesman: You can argue that we have not been clear. I feel for our point, we have been clear as possible when speaking about the situation there.
Question: I have another question. I just would like to clarify something because, I was confused after the briefing today in the morning. So, the UN stopped it’s… or paused its operation regarding the American pier after 8 June Israeli… rescue operation for four hostages that killed also 270 Palestinians. And if I am correct, remember, you have also some investigation going on there regarding that issue. Can you clarify that?
Spokesman: Yeah. My understanding is that there is an investigation going on. I'll try to get you a bit more detail. Dezhi, happy Monday.
Question: Happy Monday. First, I have a personal thing to ask. I received this letter from UNRWA USA, said your donations to Gaza are under attack. Basically, it tells the lawsuits we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, and they are asking for a… the donation for the USA's legal fund. So, I'm just curious. Can you clarify whether, UNRWA would allocate some of the donations to this, what they called legal fund to fight the legal case?
Spokesman: I think that question should be asked of UNRWA USA, which is independent from the Secretariat. So, I can't speak to what they're sending you.
Question: Okay. So, but, basically, they ask for donation for this legal fund, which means the money we donated before, that would go to UNRWA?
Spokesman: As I said, I think you need to ask them that question.
Question: Okay. Second, I know, you know, this question will go to this briefing, about the Trump assassination attempt. I'm not going to ask that because we know that Secretary-General has already put out the statement. For the past few years, we saw Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister Robert Fico, and now former President Donald Trump. How does the Secretary-General see this kind of political violence on the rising for the past few years?
Spokesman: I think what it shows is that very few countries are immune to political violence. And I think what we have seen in recent years, is not only the more visible attacks that you've mentioned, whether the one on former President Trump, or the others that we have seen. But, I think all of you are pretty plugged in to what is being said on social media. We've seen a rise in rhetorical violence, verbal violence and in many countries, you see legislators and local, elected officials also reporting a level of personal threat and personal violence, which is extremely worrying for any democracy or frankly for any country.
Question: And, one last question also concerning this, the news. The New York Post, in the beginning of their coverage, they posted, said the shooter identified as a Chinese man. Actually, which is wrong. They posted that online for a couple of hours. It might be an error, but how do you think this could also like, before the clearer version of this report came out, how would this impact, you know, different people?
Spokesman: I was a journalist many years ago. Thankfully, not in the day and age of Twitter and social media and I think journalists have a responsibility on breaking news to ensure that the reporting is fact based. And we also saw, I think over the last 48 hours, a huge amount also of disinformation, in which social media companies, as in any case of disinformation, have a responsibility. Okay, any questions online? I will go get our guests then. Thank you very much. Stay put, don't move.