Press Conference

Investing in the sound management of chemicals could lead to a savings of billions of dollars and significantly reduced human health risks, said a panel of experts at a Headquarters press conference today, as they gathered to launch a new United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on the matter.

Forging greater ties between the United Nations and the League of Arab States to address Middle East turmoil and working closely with their new Joint Special Representative on the crisis in Syria would be among the top priorities of the Security Council in September, the Permanent Representative of Germany, whose delegation holds the Council’s rotating presidency for this month, said today.

“Enough is enough,” said Dieudonné Mbaya Tshiakany, National Moderator of l’Eglise du Christ au Congo, referring to the conflicts that had killed 6 million Congolese, at a Headquarters press conference, entitled "Peace is still possible within the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda".

A “neutral international force” under the auspices of a strengthened United Nations peacekeeping mission was needed to police the border between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the latter’s Foreign Minister said at a Headquarters press conference today, as he accused the neighbouring State of providing assistance to a “terrorist” organization in his country.

Syrian officials should defect as quickly as possible in order to separate themselves from the Assad regime, Laurent Fabius, Foreign Minister of France, and William Hague, Foreign Minister of the United Kingdom, said today at a Headquarters press conference.

Authorized transfers of small arms and light weapons, their parts and accessories now totalled at least $8.5 billion, or more than double the previous estimate in 2006, with ammunition accounting for half that amount, correspondents heard at a Headquarters press conference today.

The end of the United Nations observer mission in Syria would not significantly impact humanitarian activities there, but more generous funding support was needed, the Organization’s top humanitarian affairs official said at a Headquarters new conference today.

With “military logic winning the day” in Syria’s 16-month-old conflict and the Security Council deadlocked over how to address it, the 15-member body would likely cancel the United Nations observer mission to that country and seek consensus on a new resolution focused on humanitarian aid for the 3 million Syrians in need of emergency relief, the representative of France, which hold’s the Council’s rotating presidency for this month, said this afternoon.

For humanitarian assistance to be effective, disaster prevention and preparedness needed to be incorporated into international responses to humanitarian needs, stated Lydia Poole, Programme Leader of Global Humanitarian Assistance, at the launch today of the 2012 Global Humanitarian Assistance Report at a Headquarters press conference.

Following is a transcript of UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson’s press conference held in New York, 19 July: