The Secretary-General is in Washington, D.C., today where he will soon have a working lunch with United States Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, following a discussion with members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on many issues of mutual concern.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
The Special Representative on sexual violence in conflict, Zainab Hawa Bangura, addressed the Security Council during its debate on women, peace and security. She starts her visit tomorrow to Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey at a time when sexual violence is increasingly a tactic of terror used by extremist groups.
Zainab Bangura, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict is my guest today. She will brief you on the Secretary-General's latest report, which is scheduled to be discussed in the Security Council tomorrow.
The Secretary-General returned to New York from Qatar, where, in his address to the UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, he said that the roots of crime are everywhere threatening to choke the weak and vulnerable.
The Secretary-General is in Panama today where he will address the seventh Summit of the Americas. This Sunday, he will be in Qatar to deliver an opening address at the UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is calling for a pause in the hostilities around the Yarmouk camp in Damascus, Syria, along with humanitarian access to civilians who need assistance and the safe evacuation of civilians who want to leave.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warns that children continue to be killed, injured, displaced and put at increasing risk of disease as the conflict continues in Yemen. The Agency says the conflict is exacerbating an already precarious situation for children in a country prone to food insecurity.
Head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) updated the Secretary-General this morning on the situation of Palestinian refugees trapped in the Yarmouk camp in Damascus, Syria. In a statement this weekend, it demanded that civilians be able to evacuate safely.
Secretary-General says the UN inquiry report on 27 January’s violent demonstration in Mali has determined that members of a Formed Police Unit of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) used “unauthorized and excessive force on civilian protesters”.
Calling on all Nigerians to accept the outcome of the recent elections, the Secretary-General congratulated President-elect Muhammadu Buhari and commended President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for his leadership throughout the electoral process and statesmanship in upholding the democratic process.