Following is UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ message, delivered by Chef de Cabinet Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, marking the seventieth anniversary of General Assembly resolution 181 at the Queens Museum, in New York today:
Critical intra‑Palestinian talks were scheduled to open in Cairo, Egypt, on 21 November, the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told the Security Council today, emphasizing that a genuine change in Gaza, including full Palestinian Authority control over security, would help restore confidence in the feasibility of a comprehensive peace agreement.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that the number of Rohingya refugees having fled Myanmar for Bangladesh since 25 August has now reached 621,000. As of this morning, the Rohingya Refugee Crisis Response Plan has received nearly $140 million, or 32 per cent of requirements. Donors had pledged $360 million for the October response.
The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today approved eight draft resolutions, including one calling on Israel to cease exploitation of the occupied Palestinian territory and Syrian Golan.
An occupying Power must act in good faith and comply with the core principles of international humanitarian law, a top United Nations expert told the Palestinian Rights Committee today, as it approved four draft resolutions for consideration by the General Assembly.
A joint study on food security released by the Government of South Sudan and humanitarian partners such as the Food and Agriculture Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the World Food Programme, warns that the current harvest season will not end the hunger crisis in the country.
The Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, welcomed the full return of the Gaza crossings to the control of the Palestinian Authority. He said the return was a landmark development in the implementation of the intra-Palestinian agreement, signed in Cairo on 12 October.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned today that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached a level not seen in 800,000 years, rising at record speed in 2016. The WMO’s Greenhouse Gas Bulletin reported that globally averaged carbon dioxide concentrations reached 403.3 parts per million in 2016, up from 400 parts per million in 2015 due to human activities and a strong El Niño.
Despite the overall negative trajectory that had characterized the Israeli‑Palestinian conflict for far too long, there were reasons for cautious optimism, the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs told the Security Council today as the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question, was addressed in an all‑day debate that heard from more than forty speakers.
The Secretary-General, expressing his solidarity with the people of Somalia after the brutal attacks in Mogadishu, said he was disgusted by the unprecedented violence. He urged all Somalis to unite in the fight against terrorism and violent extremism and work together in building a functional and inclusive federal State.
