The Secretary-General today shared his choices for the following three Under-Secretaries-General positions: Special Adviser on Africa, Maged Abdelaziz of Egypt; High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Angela Kane; and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Sven Alkalaj.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
The Secretary-General spoke at an event this morning marking International Women’s Day. He said that there is a long way to go before women and girls can be said to enjoy the fundamental freedoms, rights and dignity that are their birthright and nowhere was this more apparent than in the world’s rural areas.
This morning, the Secretary-General spoke at an event with the theme “Gender Equality for Sustainable Business”. He said that empowerment and sustainable development have been and will remain his top priorities for his second term, and that we cannot achieve sustainability — at a corporate or a global level — without empowering women.
Kofi Annan, the Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and the League of Arab States on the Syrian crisis, will visit the region from 7 March, with the aim of seeking an urgent end to all violence and human rights violations, and to initiate the effort to promote a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis.
The Secretary-General and Kofi Annan, the Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and League of Arab States for Syria, met yesterday evening and then they briefed reporters. They both emphasized the urgent need to end the violence in Syria and gain access for humanitarian assistance.
This evening, the Secretary-General will meet with the Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and the League of Arab States, Kofi Annan. And they will speak to reporters at the 2nd floor stakeout position in the North Lawn Building here at United Nations Headquarters at approximately 7:15 p.m.
High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said the International Commission of Inquiry report published on 22 February concluded that the Syrian Government “has manifestly failed in its responsibility to protect the population”. It further stated that anti-Government groups have committed abuses, but not “comparable in scale and organization to those carried out by the State”.
The Secretary-General is in Angola today, where he has meetings with President José Eduardo dos Santos, the Foreign Minister and civil society. Earlier, he launched Angola’s 2012 polio vaccination campaign in Viana near Luanda, and helped administer vaccine drops to some children.
Addressing the National Assembly in Lusaka today, the Secretary-General said democracy runs deep in Zambia, and work on a new constitution was an opportunity for it to lead again by enshrining the highest human rights standards. He also paid tribute to the 73 Zambians killed in the service of UN peacekeeping.
The Secretary-General attended the London Conference on Somalia today, telling participants that the meeting was taking place at a critical time. He called on the international community to take steps to improve security, advance the political process and step up assistance for recovery, reconstruction and development.