Lakhdar Brahimi, the Joint Special Representative for Syria, briefed the Security Council in consultations this morning on the diplomatic efforts involving the Syrian parties. Tomorrow morning, the Secretary-General and Mr. Brahimi will speak to Member States in an informal plenary of the General Assembly.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
In a statement we issued this morning, with the conflict in Syria now entering its fourth year, the Secretary-General appealed to all to reflect upon the long and growing list of horrors taking place in Syria every day. Syria is now the biggest humanitarian and peace and security crisis facing the world, with violence reaching unthinkable levels. Syria’s neighbours are bearing the increasingly unbearable humanitarian, security, political and socioeconomic effects of this conflict.
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Somalia, Nicholas Kay, briefed the Security Council this morning. He said Somalis desperately need improved security. He also stressed the need to conclude the constitutional process and said that legislation needs to be set in motion for the constitutional and electoral processes.
Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Šimonović is continuing his visit in Ukraine. The Secretary-General had asked him to travel to Ukraine urgently to mark the continued high-level engagement of the United Nations with Ukraine, to assess the human rights situation, and to develop recommendations for further action.
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos, spoke to the press in Geneva today and said that the situation in the Central African Republic is extremely grave and that urgent action is required by everyone to prevent further bloodshed. She said that the violence has led to a total breakdown of the State.
The Security Council will hold consultations this afternoon to receive an update on the situation in Ukraine by the Deputy Secretary-General, Jan Eliasson, who will talk to the Council by video teleconference from Kyiv. The Deputy Secretary-General has been rejoined by Robert Serry and the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Ivan Šimonović, is arriving there today.
The Secretary-General is in Freetown, Sierra Leone, where he is about to take part in the ceremony marking the closing of the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in the country. Earlier today, the Secretary-General had meetings with the staff from the UN office in the country, and as the UN presence in the country will now focus on development.
Before leaving Geneva for Sierra Leone, the Secretary-General met today with Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the foreign minister of Germany, to discuss the latest developments in Ukraine. The Secretary-General stressed the need to urgently de-escalate the tension and facilitate dialogue for a peaceful resolution, and he pledged the United Nations’ support in this regard.
The Secretary-General met in Geneva today with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and discussed the crisis in Ukraine and the importance of de-escalating the situation by engaging in constructive and meaningful dialogue. Earlier, the Secretary-General said at a press conference that he had dispatched the Deputy-Secretary-General to Ukraine.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that aid supplies have been delivered to a number of areas in Syria over the past few days, including a UN refugee agency airlift yesterday of 31 metric ton of relief supplies from Damascus to Qamishly, containing medicines, vaccines for 250,000 people, medical equipment and winterized relief items.