Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General
The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s briefing by Stéphanie Tremblay, Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
**Guest
Good afternoon, everyone. For those who do not know me, I’m Stéphanie Tremblay and I’ll be doing the noon briefing today. In a short while, I will be joined by our guest, Amy Pope, who is the Director General of the International Organization for Migration.
She will brief you virtually on her visit to Haiti earlier this week.
**Deputy Secretary-General
Moving on to the Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed is in Hanoi, Viet Nam, today to participate in the Partnership for Growth Summit and to chair the annual retreat of UN Resident Coordinators from Asia and the Pacific.
In her remarks at the opening session of the Summit, Ms. Mohammed underlined the need to strengthen partnerships and to scale up investments in climate solutions as a key entry point to advance countries’ Sustainable Development Goals transitions.
Ms. Mohammed also met with the Minister of Agriculture and Environment, Mr. Đỗ Đức Duy. They discussed Viet Nam’s transition to a low-carbon energy system and progress on its food system pathways.
On the margins of the Summit, she also met with Abiy Ahmed, Prime Minister of Ethiopia.
And at the Green One UN House in Hanoi, Ms. Mohammed met the UN Country Team to discuss how to further strengthen the UN’s impact in Viet Nam and to sustain momentum on the SDGs. She also met with youth.
**Security Council
This morning, the Security Council members met for a briefing on South Sudan. The Head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), Nicholas Haysom, told the Council members that the Revitalized Peace Agreement remains the only viable framework to break the cycle of violence in South Sudan.
He added that UNMISS is engaged in intensive diplomatic efforts to broker a peaceful solution to the current crisis alongside many stakeholders, including the African Union and the Security Council itself.
For her part, the Director of Operations and Advocacy at OCHA [Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs], Edem Wosornu, focused on the rapidly escalating violence and its impact on men, women and children. She added that this year, 9.3 million South Sudanese — that’s three quarters of the population — require some form of humanitarian assistance, adding that children make up half of this total.
For South Sudan, this year’s Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan requires $1.7 billion to support close to 5.4 million people. Their full remarks were shared with you.
The Security Council will reconvene at 3 p.m. this afternoon for a session on the Great Lakes region. The Special Envoy for the Great Lakes region, Huang Xia, as well as UNICEF’s Executive Director, Catherine Russell, are scheduled to brief. We will share their remarks as soon as we get them.
**Pandemic Agreement
And we wanted to welcome the consensus on a draft pandemic agreement reached in Geneva after more than three years of intensive negotiations. Member States of the World Health Organization took a major step forward in efforts to make the world safer from pandemics by forging the draft agreement for consideration at the upcoming World Health Assembly in May. The proposal aims to strengthen global collaboration on prevention, preparedness and response to future pandemic threats.
**Sudan
And now turning to Sudan, we remain gravely concerned by the escalating violence and deteriorating humanitarian situation in and around El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State.
Our partners on the ground have provided deeply disturbing reports of atrocities following the reported takeover of Zamzam displacement camp by armed groups. Civilians, including humanitarian workers, are reportedly being prevented from leaving, and survivors have spoken of killings, sexual violence and also of the burning of homes.
Access constraints, a critical fuel shortage and a volatile security environment are severely disrupting humanitarian operations in El Fasher. Health services and water treatment have been particularly impacted.
Meanwhile, in Khartoum State, drone attacks on 14 April on power infrastructure have left large parts of the districts of Um Badda, Karrari and Omdurman without electricity or clean water.
Once again, we call on all parties to the conflict to protect civilians and to facilitate humanitarian access. We also urge increased international support to ensure that the delivery of essential aid to the most vulnerable people in Sudan continues.
And we were asked yesterday, I believe by Edie, about the London Conference on Sudan. I can tell you that we welcome the convening of the Conference and all efforts to mobilize international engagement in support of peace, protection of civilians and humanitarian access in the country. We also welcome the significant amounts of funding announced during the Conference.
And as the Secretary-General has said many times, we must keep our focus on finding an end to this brutal conflict.
**Occupied Palestinian Territory
Turning to the situation in Gaza, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that hostilities across the Gaza Strip continue to take a devastating toll on civilians, causing further death, displacement and destruction of critical infrastructure.
Our humanitarian partners estimate that since 18 March, about half a million people have been newly displaced or uprooted once more. This is in addition to the hundreds of thousands of people repeatedly displaced prior to the ceasefire. Our humanitarian colleagues tell us that tents are no longer available for distribution across Gaza. In the town of Bani Suhaila in Khan Younis Governorate, for example, families who had recently been displaced received only modest quantities of blankets and tarpaulins. Last week, OCHA visited displacement sites in Khan Younis. Most of the people there are living in overcrowded shelters and spoke about the lack of shelter, food, water and medicine.
Meanwhile, our humanitarian partners report a rise in acute malnutrition in the Strip. In March, the number of children who received supplementary feeding decreased by more than two thirds, according to our partners. Additionally, access constraints hinder the ability to resupply the hospitals with medical stocks, putting more patients at risk.
Humanitarians are finding it increasingly difficult to operate as no aid has entered Gaza for now. We are now in the seventh week of this and as military operations expand.
Meanwhile, OCHA tells us that Israeli authorities continue to deny planned coordinated missions. Today, only two out of six planned humanitarian movements that were coordinated with the Israeli authorities, were facilitated. The remaining four were denied, including one mission to retrieve fuel from Rafah, which, as you can imagine, is urgently needed.
Despite access restrictions and insecurity, aid organizations continue to try to assist the most vulnerable. Every day, community kitchens prepare more than 1 million meals for vulnerable people across Gaza. But these quantities are hardly sufficient, as most of the 2.1 million people there rely on humanitarian aid to access food.
And just a reminder that under international humanitarian law, civilians, including aid workers and medical staff, as well as their facilities, must be respected and protected, and the essential needs of civilians must be met.
**Democratic Republic of the Congo
Turning to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, our humanitarian colleagues report that violence in the country’s east continues to harm civilians.
In North Kivu province, civil society sources report that armed groups killed at least nine civilians in attacks on a number of villages in Beni territory, and that took place between 10 and 14 April.
Despite the insecurity, relief efforts continue. On Monday, local health authorities provided medical supplies to the Kibua General Hospital, and that is in Walikale territory. The hospital had been looted in early April by armed groups, disrupting access to healthcare for nearly 130,000 people.
And in the province of Ituri, our partners report that 6,000 people fled their homes in Mahagi territory following attacks by armed groups 12 April. These people urgently need food, shelter and medical care.
Now, in Tanganyika province, health officials have warned of a surge in measles cases and deaths among children. So far this year, health authorities have reported 900 cases and 21 deaths, and officials believe the true toll could be higher. We and our partners have helped local authorities to deploy a rapid response team to affected areas, as well as supported outreach and awareness-raising efforts.
**Iraq
And in Iraq we have some positive news. Yazidi landownership has been officially recognized. In a ceremony that took place in Sinjar this week, title deeds were distributed to Yazidi residents.
Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq Mohamed Al Hassan said that by officially recognizing their land rights and waiving all associated burden costs, we are reaffirming the joint commitment of the UN and Iraq to the Yazidi people and their rightful place in Iraq’s future.
Just to flag that our colleagues at UN-Habitat have been working in advancing housing, land and property rights for vulnerable communities there. And there’s more online about this.
**Global Economy
I want to flag a report by our colleagues at UN Trade and Development in Geneva. The report says that global growth is projected to slow to 2.3 per cent this year, placing the world economy on a recessionary path. The report cites mounting threats including trade policy shocks, financial volatility and a surge in uncertainty that risk derailing the global outlook.
The slowdown will affect all nations, but UNCTAD remains concerned about developing countries and especially the most vulnerable economies. Many low-income countries face a “perfect storm” of worsening external financial conditions, unsustainable debt and weakening domestic growth, the report says.
UNCTAD is urging dialogue and negotiation, alongside stronger regional and global policy coordination, building on existing trade and economic ties.
The full report is online.
**Briefings tomorrow
Tomorrow, at 12:30 p.m., Ambassador Tareq Albanai, the Permanent Representative of Kuwait to the UN and Chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiations on the question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council and other matters related to the Council, will be here to speak to you about the status of the negotiations taking place in the UN General Assembly.
Then, immediately after this briefing, there will be a briefing by Guilherme Canela de Souza Godoi, Director of UNESCO’s Division for Digital Inclusion and Policies and Digital Transformation. He will brief you virtually on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register.
This is all tomorrow and as you can imagine our own noon briefing will aim to start at 12 p.m. sharp.
**Financial Contribution
And finally, I have a quiz. I’m very happy to have a quiz for you. This country is the fourth largest tea producer in the world. Sri Lanka. Yes. I thought I would have to use the other hints.
We say thank you to our friends in Colombo for their full payment to the Regular Budget. Sri Lanka’s payment brings the number of fully paid-up Member States to 93. She gets the first question. Do you have a question?
**Questions and Answers
Associate Spokesperson: All right, Dezhi. Go ahead.
Question: Thank you. My first question would be who will brief us from the Spokesperson’s Office tomorrow?
Associate Spokesperson: It will be the other Steph [Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General].
Question: Oh, so 12 sharp? Okay, anyway, my question first, the Human Rights Council just decided to extend the mandate of the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, Ms. Francesca Albanese, which draws condemnation from United States. In that condemnation, it says that it shows that UN, wait a moment, let me just find the exact words, yes. It made clear that United Nations tolerates antisemitic hatred bias against Israel and the legitimization of terrorism. Your response?
Associate Spokesperson: As you know, the Secretary-General for whom I am speaking on behalf of has no decision-making power in these appointments. It all belongs to the Human Rights Council. So as such, it’s a decision of the Human Rights Council.
Question: But does the UN tolerate antisemitism?
Associate Spokesperson: I think you know the answer to that question. No.
Question: Okay. So, on Gaza Israeli Defence Minister, Mr. Katz said that Israel will not allow any humanitarian aid entering Gaza. He said that there’s no preparations are being made to bring supplies into the Strip, and the blockade was a way of putting pressure on Hamas. Is that a recognition, is that admission that Israel is now saying that we’re weaponizing our humanitarian aid as a weapon?
Associate Spokesperson: I think as we’ve said several times, you know, we keep reiterating that humanitarian aid delivery arrangements must respect fully the humanitarian principles, and this is how we operate in Gaza and elsewhere around the world. And these principles are humanity, impartiality, independence, neutrality. So, we really stick to these principles. And, you know, I can use this opportunity to just reiterate, that we call once again for the immediate restoration of the ceasefire. I think the notes that we read every day that talk about, you know, even the note that I read just now that stated how food is running low, how medicine is running low, how tents are, how every supplies essentially that help support human life and dignity in Gaza are running low. It’s essential for us to keep pushing for the restoration of the ceasefire, for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. And we call, of course, once again, for unimpeded humanitarian access throughout the Gaza Strip.
Question: May I have a follow-up?
Associate Spokesperson: You can have a follow-up.
Question: Okay. So, I’m just wondering when I heard all those, what’s the latest contact from the UN officials to at least ministerial level officials of Israel. Is there any communication on that level now?
Associate Spokesperson: As you know, we have colleagues who are on the ground who have contacts.
Question: No. No. I mean, for these with ministers, like, for example, the Minister of Defence or Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel.
Associate Spokesperson: So, our colleagues who are on the ground, they do have contacts at various levels on a daily basis.
Question: And you convey the message to them?
Associate Spokesperson: I think these messages are conveyed pretty clearly. Yes. Yes.
NPR.
Question: Oh, thank you. I have a question in regard to UNRWA. We know last year that the Biden Administration even with, you know, has stopped paying, making the voluntary contributions. I was wondering what is the status of UNRWA’s budget these days and who has stepped in to pick up the slack?
Associate Spokesperson: You know, I don’t have an update on the exact numbers with me right now, but I think, you know, contributions continue to come in from various sources. I believe that all their funding is available online, but I can get more granularity for you on this.
Yes, and then Stefano.
Question: Hi. My name is Ray. So, I’m with 21st Century Business Herald, Guangdong, China. Hi, Stéphanie. It’s my first day here.
Associate Spokesperson: Welcome.
Question: So, you just mentioned that the economic growth rate would drop down to 2.3 per cent, which would put the world into probably a borderline recession. At the same time, US President Donald Trump has framed tariffs as a battle over access to American consumers. So does the UN view this approach as damaging to global economic cooperation, especially efforts to create a more balanced conception and production patterns between developed and developing countries?
Associate Spokesperson: Let me just reiterate what the Secretary-General has said on this topic many times. He said that nobody wins in trade wars. And, you know, one other thing that was important in the note and in the report by UNCTAD is that they really highlight how the developing world is always paying a higher price for this.
Yes. Stefano?
Question: Thank you very much. Two questions. First, yesterday, it was asked to Stéphane about the document that was leaked of the [United States] State Department where there are up to 90 per cent cuts from the US to the United Nations. Now, my question regarding to this is, we know that this Administration is cutting everywhere. Okay? But university, other departments trying, whoever is subjected to cuts, trying to deal with the Administration to prevent at least part of those cuts. So, what the UN is doing, now that the documents are out there, what is actually the Secretary-General doing? He doesn’t talk to the President Trump. So, what the UN is doing to try to prevent those cuts?
Associate Spokesperson: So once again, I think Stéphane answered that question yesterday in unequivocal terms that, you know, that we, and I’m sure you will understand, we will not comment on what appears to be a leaked memo, that discusses internal deliberations of the US. On the humanitarian side, the UN continues, and you hear us every day talking about the appeals for humanitarian assistance and all of that work continues.
Question: At least, just a quick follow-up. There is an attempt by the Secretary-General to reach directly the President Trump to on this issue. Has there been an attempt?
Associate Spokesperson: There is, as Stéphane has said, when there’s something to report on this, we will let you know. I don’t have any more comments on this.
Question: Then it’s a completely another subject. Few weeks ago, I asked Stéphane about the case of Doctor Oleg Maltsev. He’s a researcher in Odesa in Ukraine that was arrested months ago. He told me basically later, he answered me, say that the UN doesn’t have information about it. Now just yesterday, this lawyer, the named is Olga Panchenko. He’s a civil rights lawyer. She has been arrested while she has actually taken care of it in Odesa. So, the situation looks like that in Ukraine at the moment, against the Constitution, they even arrest lawyers. They’re trying to defend people. They are not yet on trial, put it there in prison for months. So, I understand maybe you don’t know the case. You cannot know all the cases. But in general terms, are, is the UN aware that, even lawyers in this moment in Ukraine, in the city of Odesa, are picked up by the police while they’re trying to defend their, you know, the client?
Associate Spokesperson: I, unfortunately, do not have specific information about this and if there is no further question we have Amy Pope waiting for us online. So, if you agree, let’s, try to bring her on the screen.