Following are the remarks by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, as prepared for delivery by Henrietta Fore, Executive Director of UNICEF, at the Education Above All Event in New York on 27 April:
The UN Mission in the Central African Republic reports that the situation in Bangui is tense and evolving, with violence and casualties reported in the capital’s Second and Third districts. The Mission immediately deployed patrols to protect civilians and secure key points, in close cooperation with authorities.
The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Joanna Wronecka (Poland):
The Department of Public Information was undergoing a process of “review and reform” of how it communicated United Nations values in a world where trust in major institutions was increasingly difficult to maintain, and “fake” stories competed with legitimate news for public attention, the Committee on Information heard today as it opened its fortieth session.
In Syria, our humanitarian colleagues are concerned for the safety and protection of tens of thousands of people as fighting continues to be reported in several areas of northern rural Homs Governorate. The United Nations calls on all parties, and those with influence over them, to ensure protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, and to allow for safe, sustained and unimpeded humanitarian access to all in need.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
The Independent Audit Advisory Committee of the United Nations held its forty‑second session from 25‑27 April at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The session was presided over by the Chair, Maria Gracia M. Pulido Tan. All the other members of the Committee, namely: Patricia X. Arriagada Villouta (Vice‑Chair), Natalia A. Bocharova, Richard Quartei Quartey and Janet St. Laurent, were in attendance.
On 29 April 2018, the following entry on the Committee’s List of individuals and entities subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and other measures relating to attempts to illicitly export petroleum, including crude oil and refined petroleum products, from Libya (the Libya Sanctions List) expired:
The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues concluded its seventeenth session today with the adoption of recommendations to protect and advance indigenous peoples’ rights worldwide, stressing that indigenous peoples’ collective rights to lands, territories and resources not only serve their own well-being, but also help address some of the most pressing global challenges, such as climate change and the loss of biological diversity.
Following a fortnight of meetings, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues concluded its seventeenth session this afternoon, adopting a raft of recommendations which reflected this year’s central theme — indigenous peoples’ collective rights to lands, territories and resources — and urged the Secretary‑General to convene regional consultations in the coming months on ways to enhance their participation in the work of the United Nations.
