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Briefing by the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General
The Secretary-General is in Santiago de Chile today where he attended a high-level event organized by the Government of Chile in cooperation with UN-Women called “Women in Power and Decision-Making: Making a World of Difference” .
The Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Yemen, Jamal Benomar, met yesterday with President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi. Mr. Benomar expressed the hope that the President’s return to Aden will help to extract Yemen from the current crisis.
Also on Yemen, the Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said today in Geneva that it was closely monitoring, with great concern, the critical situation in the country where the political dialogue is faltering.
This morning in Paris, Irina Bokova, the head of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, otherwise known as UNESCO, spoke to reporters in Paris to express her dismay at the images of the attacks on the Mosul Museum and archaeological sites in Iraq’s Nineveh region.
From the Central African Republic, the UN [Integrated Stabilization] Mission in that country, MINUSCA, said today that it launched a wide operation in Bangui, in cooperation with the national security forces.
From South Sudan, a seven-member UN Board of Inquiry, which was constituted by the Department of Field Support to consider the circumstances of the crash of a UN-contracted helicopter in Bentiu, Unity [State], in August of last year, submitted its final report.
From Mali, our humanitarian colleagues tell us that aid organizations launched an appeal yesterday seeking $377 million to cover the needs of over 1.5 million people in that country for the current year.
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia, Nicholas Kay, today welcomed the recent release of 4 remaining crewmen from a Thai fishing vessel. The crew, all Thai nationals, were taken hostage at sea by Somali pirates in April of 2010.
The Security Council here this morning had a meeting on Ukraine. It was briefed by the Special Representative of the OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe] Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine, as well as the head of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission.
Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos will be on a mission to Jordan and Lebanon from the 2 to 6 March. In Amman, she will address the regional World Humanitarian Summit consultations. In both countries, she is expected to meet with senior officials, key humanitarian partners and donors to discuss the impact of the Syrian crisis.
The UN Broadband Commission for Digital Development said today that mobile technology is the key to bringing educational opportunities to the world’s poorest communities.
This Sunday, 1 March, will mark Zero Discrimination Day to celebrate diversity and reject discrimination in all its forms. In a press release from UNAIDS, the Secretary-General called discrimination a violation of human rights that must not go unchallenged.
Lastly, a statement was just handed to me on Nigeria. The Secretary-General reiterates his strong condemnation of the continuing indiscriminate and horrific attacks by Boko Haram against civilian populations in Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria. The abduction and use of children, including as “suicide bombers”, is particularly abhorrent.
