Briefing by Spokesperson for Secretary-General

Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

• Categories: Media / Press Conferences
• Video Length: 00:22:08
• Production Date: 31 October 2016
• Asset Language: English
• Corporate Name: INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT - ICC
• Subject Topical: AIR POLLUTION; ARMED CONFLICTS; ARMED GROUPS; CHILDREN; ELECTIONS; GULF STATES; INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURTS; PEACE PROCESS
• Geographic Subject: CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC; LEBANON; SYRIA; YEMEN
• MAMS Id: 1761427
• Parent Id: 1760664

Description

The Secretary-General welcomes the election today of the President of the Republic of Lebanon. He congratulates Michel Aoun on assuming the presidency and wishes him success in his position as Head of State.

The Secretary-General hopes that Lebanese parties will now continue to work in a spirit of unity and in the national interest.

The Secretary-General further thanks Prime Minister Tamam Salam for his leadership throughout this challenging period.

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the Special Envoy for Yemen, briefed the Security Council today and said that what Yemen is witnessing today contravenes the commitments made by the parties to the United Nations to peace. He said that the security situation is dire, and the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate despite the efforts of the humanitarian agencies. The conduct of the parties on the ground, he warned, is contrary to the commitments they made previously to engage fully and constructively in the UN-mediated peace process.

The Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said yesterday that he was appalled and shocked by the high number of rockets indiscriminately launched by armed opposition groups on civilian suburbs of western Aleppo in recent days. Credible reports quoting sources on the ground indicate that scores of civilians in west Aleppo have been killed, including several children, and hundreds wounded due to relentless and indiscriminate attacks from armed opposition groups.

Mr. de Mistura recalled that the use of indiscriminate weapons, including heavy ones, on civilian areas could amount to war crimes. He reiterated the Secretary-General’s condemnation of recent attacks on schools on both sides, as well as the use of heavy airpower on civilian areas that has characterized the fighting in Aleppo.

Tomorrow, the Deputy Secretary-General, Jan Eliasson, will depart Kigali, Rwanda, for Bangui, Central African Republic.

During the visit, he will meet with the leadership, staff and troops of the UN Mission in the country (MINUSCA), as well as with senior Government officials, members of the diplomatic community, religious leaders and civil society representatives. The Deputy Secretary-General will also address the National Assembly.

The Deputy Secretary-General will return to New York on Friday.

MINUSCA continues to monitor the situation in Bambari, after six local gendarmes were ambushed and killed by suspected members of the Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC) this past Friday. The Mission also reports that yesterday, suspected members of the anti-Balaka militia fired on a commercial convoy escorted by UN peacekeepers in Sibut (Kémo) wounding a peacekeeper and six other civilians.

The Special Adviser to the Secretary-General Jamal Benomar wrapped up a visit to Burundi where he met with various government and opposition representatives.

He is now in Tanzania where he is meeting with the dialogue facilitator, former president Benjamin Mkapa, and the Tanzanian foreign minister.

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Stephen O’Brien, today spoke at the opening of the seventh Conference for Effective Partnerships and Information Sharing for Better Humanitarian Action, taking place in Bahrain.

Mr. O’Brien highlighted that the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has enhanced its own presence in the region and has established a presence in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Jordan to support operations for Yemen, Syria and Iraq in addition to offices in Cairo and Abu Dhabi. Mr. O’Brien’s 10-day mission in the Gulf will also take him to Kuwait, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.

The Secretary-General spoke by phone yesterday with South African President Jacob Zuma and expressed his regret over South Africa’s decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court. The Secretary-General recalled the key role that the Government of South Africa had played in the negotiations that led to the adoption of the Rome Statute and as one of its first signatories.

Noting that he appreciates the continued and unwavering commitment of the South African Government to justice and accountability, the Secretary-General expressed the hope that it would reconsider its decision before the withdrawal takes effect in twelve months’ time.

Almost one in seven of the world’s children, 300 million, live in areas with the most toxic levels of outdoor air pollution.

That is according to a new UNICEF report, Clear the Air for Children, which uses satellite imagery to show for the first time how many children are exposed to outdoor pollution that exceeds global guidelines set by the World Health Organization (WHO), and where they live across the globe.

The Secretary-General thanks Karen AbuZayd, whose assignment ends today, for her outstanding work as Special Adviser on the Summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants.

The Summit was a major step forward in addressing one of the leading challenges of our time, and Ms. AbuZayd played a key role in promoting shared responsibility for refugees and migrants and advancing efforts to counter the hatred they often face, including through the newly-announced global “Together” campaign against xenophobia.

The Secretary-General commends Ms. AbuZayd for her life-long commitment, and looks forward to further contributions to the United Nations as she resumes her work as a member of the Human Rights Council’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on human rights violations during the Syrian Civil War.