Press Conference

The main thematic focus for the Republic of Korea’s month-long Presidency of the Security Council would be civilian protection, Ambassador Kim Sook said today, briefing reporters at Headquarters on the 15-nation body’s February work programme, which also featured meetings on United Nations peacekeeping operations in South Sudan and Kosovo.

The Security Council had undertaken a significant amount of work over the past month, including several well-attended debates, Mohammad Masood Khan (Pakistan), that body’s outgoing President, said today at a Headquarters press conference.

Outgoing United Nations Police Adviser Ann-Marie Orler called today for a change in the Organization’s policing mindset so as to develop a greater focus on quality over quantity.

As the humanitarian situation in Syria continued to worsen, greater efforts would be needed to overcome such challenges as impediments to humanitarian access and the massive funding shortfall, a top United Nations humanitarian official said at a Headquarters press conference today.

With the help of troops deployed from around the region and the world, the Central African Republic was working to implement a three-pronged peace agreement recently signed with a coalition of rebel groups, the top United Nations official in that country said at a Headquarters press conference today.

Following is a transcript of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s press conference, held in New York today, 22 January:

The Security Council would focus in January on comprehensive strategies to stamp out global terrorism and bolster the effectiveness of United Nations peacekeeping operations, the Permanent Representative of Pakistan, which holds the Council’s rotating presidency for the month, said today.

During its two-year tenure as a non-permanent member of the Security Council, South Africa had helped to bolster international peace and security — on the African continent in particular — while advocating for a stronger, more coordinated relationship between the Council and the African Union, the country’s Permanent Representative said at a Headquarters press conference today.

Zainab Hawa Bangura, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, warned at Headquarters today that a situation worse than that in Somalia could develop in the Central African Republic unless the international community and all stakeholders addressed the serious challenges confronting that country.

A groundbreaking resolution just adopted by the General Assembly on female genital mutilation would equip all States to combat those harmful practices, the representative of Burkina Faso, Der Kogda, announced at a Headquarters press conference today.