Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoPress Conferences
Briefing by Spokesperson for Secretary-General
The Secretary-General today congratulated María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés del Ecuador, who won the election in the General Assembly this morning to serve as the President of the forthcoming 73rd session of the General Assembly.
The Secretary-General noted that the President-elect of the next General Assembly session will be the first woman to hold that post in more than a decade. He said that the Assembly can and must do better than a record of four women in 73 years, and two in the past half century. The Secretary-General asserted, “May today’s choice pave the way for accelerating the progress towards gender equality, within and beyond the United Nations.”
The Secretary-General added that the current session has been a productive one, underscored with last week’s milestone resolution on the reform and repositioning of the United Nations development system. He said he looks forward to working with the President-elect when she takes up her duties in September.
Today in Brussels, the Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed spoke at the annual European Development Days event, which is focusing this year on women and girls in the Sustainable Development Goals.
Ms. Mohammed said that without equality and empowerment, “we will perpetuate today’s paradigm: trying to address all the world’s challenges with only half the world’s assets.”
She highlighted the Spotlight initiative, a partnership between the UN and the European Union, as an effort to change old attitudes and mindsets which result in the discrimination against women. The initiative is supporting governments all over the world to prevent violence against women, provide services for survivors and reform the criminal justice system where needed.
“We have a long way to go. But we have a plan and we have the will,” she said.
Martin Griffiths, the Special Envoy for Yemen, left Sana’a today and said on his departure that he had very productive meetings with senior leaders of Ansarallah and the General People’s Congress on his vision for the peace process, which he will discuss with the Security Council later this month. He said he was encouraged by the reactions he received during this trip and during his meetings with the Government of Yemen and regional players over the last few weeks.
Mr. Griffiths said that he has heard from many experts of their grave anxiety about an attack on Hodaidah and the significant and avoidable humanitarian consequences that would ensue. He is also concerned about the impact of such an attack on the political process.
He urged the Yemeni parties to create a conducive environment to restart the political process and de-escalate violence.
The Government of Guatemala has requested a mission to assess the immediate humanitarian needs after the eruption of volcano Fuego two days ago, which impacted more than 1.7 million people.
A humanitarian coordination team—with 60 experts from several UN agencies, NGOs and the National Disaster Risk Coordination Agency—is traveling today to visit 12 shelters and emergency operation centres and meet local authorities in areas close to the most impacted locations.
Due to the massive volcanic activity, access to some zones is still impossible, with ashes reaching 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit), which also impedes helicopter flights for rescue and damage assessment.
Over 3,400 people have been evacuated and 69 have lost their lives.
The UN Refugee Agency and the UN Migration Agency today said they were saddened and concerned by the sinking of a migrant boat off the coast of Tunisia. Fifty-two people died and at least 60 are missing. Sixty-eight survivors were rescued by the Tunisian Navy.
The boat was heading in the direction of the Italian coast when two hours into the journey it broke down and began to sink. According to reports, two smugglers were arrested in connection with the incident.
UNHCR is counselling the survivors and assessing their protection needs, while the IOM is providing emergency assistance in collaboration with the Tunisian authorities and the Tunisian Red Crescent.
Today is World Environment Day. The theme this year is “Beat Plastic Pollution,” and it invites us all to consider how we can make changes in our lives to reduce the heavy burden of plastic on our planet. Every year, more than 8 million tonnes of plastic end up in the oceans.
In his message for the Day, the Secretary-General said we all have a role to play in protecting our only home, but it can be difficult to know what to do or where to start. That’s why World Environment Day has just one request: reject single-use plastic. Refuse what you can’t re-use.
Today we also mark for the first time the International Day for the Fight against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing. This type of fishing is estimated to affect one in every five fish caught, with an annual cost of up to $23 billion.
Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing also has negative impacts on livelihoods, fish stocks and the environment and may be connected to other illicit activities such as trafficking of narcotics and weapons and labour abuses.
The UN Mission in the Central African Republic reports that peacekeepers yesterday exchanged fire with around 50 anti-Balaka combatants in a village south-west of Bangassou. No casualties were reported. The Mission launched a patrol towards south of Bangassou in order to clear the axis and protect civilians. The previous day, also in Bangassou, peacekeepers thwarted an attempt by armed elements to loot the storage site of a non-governmental organization in the town.
Meanwhile, four peacekeepers who were wounded in the attack in Mambere-Kadei prefecture on Sunday were evacuated today to the UN Hospital in Entebbe, Uganda, for further medical care. You will have seen that yesterday the Secretary-General strongly condemned the attack on 3 June by armed elements on a patrol of the UN Mission in the Central African Republic in the west of the country. The attack resulted in the killing of a peacekeeper from Tanzania and the wounding of seven others.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that following a spate of recent armed robberies and carjackings against humanitarian workers, all humanitarian activities on the axis around Kaga Bandoro town, in Nana Gribizi province, have been temporarily suspended, as well as 60 per cent of humanitarian activities in the town itself. There are currently 25,000 internally displaced people in Kaga Bandoro. Their main needs are food, shelter, protection, and water and sanitation hygiene support.
You will have seen that yesterday we issued a statement in which the Secretary-General condemned the suicide attack in Kabul that targeted religious scholars, who had gathered from across Afghanistan to promote peace. The Secretary-General reiterated that no cause can justify such violence, and that targeting civilians in this way is a clear violation of international law, including international human rights law.
The UN Human Rights Office said it was deeply concerned that the zero-tolerance policy recently put in place along the US southern border has led to people caught entering the country irregularly being subjected to criminal prosecution and having their children – including extremely young children -taken away from them as a result.
The practice of separating families amounts to arbitrary and unlawful interference in family life, and is a serious violation of the rights of the child. The use of immigration detention and family separation as a deterrent runs counter to human rights standards and principles.
The majority of people arriving at the US southern border have fled Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
The Human Rights Office calls on the US authorities to adopt non-custodial alternatives that allow children to remain with their families and fulfil the best interests of the child, their right to liberty and their right to family life.
The Rights Office also said today it was very encouraged by the lifting of the State of Emergency Decree in Ethiopia, three months ahead of its planned expiration date.
They also welcomed the recent release of a number of political detainees, bloggers and other individuals who had been detained following their participation in protests.
These latest developments are positive indications, and the Regional Human Rights Office for East Africa remains ready to help continue to advance the promotion and protection of human rights in Ethiopia.
