Anthony Lake, Executive Director of UNICEF, ending a two-day visit to Damascus, said the Syrian Government and UNICEF agreed on the need to reach hundreds of thousands of children with lifesaving vaccines, including those against polio. The World Health Organization said Wild Polio Virus I has been isolated in 10 cases in Syria.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, provided an update to the Security Council this morning on the humanitarian situation in Syria, saying that fighting continues to intensify across the country and its impact on civilians continues to grow.
To commemorate United Nations Day, the Secretary-General and staff members handed out promotional materials to passers-by in Times Square describing the global activities of the Organization. The NASDAQ billboard, as well, displayed information during the morning and would repeat that ticker in the late afternoon.
The Secretary-General and the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali condemned the deadly suicide attack that killed and injured several Chadian peacekeepers. Offering condolences to the families of the fallen peacekeepers, the Secretary-General stressed that such actions would not deter the United Nations from supporting peace being restored.
The Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, briefed the Security Council this morning on the situation in the Middle East, informing the Council about the discussions taking place in the region, including the Syria catastrophe and the Middle East peace process.
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Martin Kobler, and his Special Envoy for the Great Lakes region, Mary Robinson, both briefed the Security Council by videoconference, offering an overview of the Kampala Dialogue negotiations. Consensus had been reached on most points and both parties agreed to reconvene soon to overcome differences.
Speaking at today’s Security Council meeting on women, peace and security, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon emphasized that women must be involved at every stage of efforts to reaffirm the rule of law and noted that, for the first time in history, five United Nations peacekeeping operations were being led by women.
The General Assembly elected five new non-permanent members of the Security Council. Chad, Chile, Lithuania, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia will each serve a two-year term starting in January.
The Secretary-General has appointed Sigrid Kaag of the Netherlands as Special Coordinator of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-United Nations joint mission to eliminate the chemical weapons programme of the Syrian Arab Republic. The appointment was made in close consultation with OPCW Director-General Ahmet Üzümcü.
On Sunday, a UNAMID convoy was attacked in West Darfur, killing three peacekeepers and wounding another; on Friday, a UNAMID military observer was killed in an attack in North Darfur. The Secretary-General said that these attacks were unacceptable and called on the Government of Sudan to bring those responsible to justice.