The Secretary-General began the day in Washington, D.C., at the World Bank with a meeting with its President, Robert Zoellick. He then attended a meeting on Rio+20 with the world's leading finance ministers and later delivered the keynote address at an event entitled “Delivering Sustainable Energy for All: Opportunities at Rio+20”.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
The Secretary-General began the day in Washington, D.C., at the World Bank with a meeting with its President, Robert Zoellick. He then attended a meeting on Rio+20 with the world's leading finance ministers and later delivered the keynote address at an event entitled “Delivering Sustainable Energy for All: Opportunities at Rio+20”.
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) today launched a new initiative to support cities around the world to manage risk, following the worst year on record for economic losses from disasters of $380 billion. The new online tool, which has been tested in over 20 cities around the world, is part of its global “Making Cities Resilient” campaign.
17 April 2012
| |||
| Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York |
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 Eduardo del Buey, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the noon briefing.
The first group of United Nations monitors arrived in Damascus and has begun working. Early tasks include liaising with Syrian authorities and security forces, as well as the opposition. The Secretary-General again urged the Government to end the violence, voicing his expectation that political dialogue will continue.
We issued a statement on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in which the Secretary-General said that despite its failure, the launch of a so-called “application satellite” by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was deplorable as it defied the firm and unanimous stance of the international community. He said that today’s launch was in direct violation of Security Council resolution 1874 (2009) and threatened regional stability.
At a press conference with Geneva-based international media today, the Secretary-General said the Syrian situation was looking calmer and that today was a critical moment for ending the violence. But, he added, the world was watching with sceptical eyes since many previous promises have not been kept.
This morning, the President of the Security Council issued a presidential statement noting the steady progress made in Sierra Leone on national reconciliation and gender equality. She called on all parties to foster an environment conducive to the holding of free and fair elections.
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, Martin Kobler, told the Security Council today that violence in Syria could potentially affect the fragile balance of power in Iraq and increase communal tensions there. Iraqi leaders were encouraged to find common ground to break the political impasse.
The Secretary-General is alarmed by reports of continued violence and human rights violations in Syria, resulting in increased refugee flows. Informed by Turkey last Thursday of the arrival of thousands of new Syrian refugees, the United Nations swiftly mobilized emergency assistance to help the newly arrived.