Virtual Briefing by Spokesperson for Secretary-General

Briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

• Categories: Media / Press Conferences
• Video Length: 00:29:18
• Production Date: 13 April 2020
• Asset Language: English
• Personal Subject: FARHAN HAQ
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND - UNICEF; WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION - WHO
• Subject Topical: CEASEFIRES; CHILDREN; CIVILIAN PROTECTION; HUMANITARIAN CRISIS; SECRETARY-GENERAL; VIRUSES
• Geographic Subject: COMOROS; KAZAKHSTAN; LIBYA; MIDDLE EAST; SYRIA
• MAMS Id: 2542956
• Parent Id: 2542956

Description

During the weekend, as Christians celebrated Easter and Jews marked Passover, and with Ramadan about to begin soon, the Secretary-General made a special appeal to religious leaders of all faiths to join forces to work for peace around the world and focus on our common battle to defeat COVID-19.

The Secretary-General’s envoys for the Middle East, in a joint statement also issued over the weekend, recalled his appeal on 23 March for an immediate Global Ceasefire, and added that too many in the Middle East have endured conflict and deprivation for far too long.

UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore today said that hundreds of thousands of children currently detained in countries around the world are at grave risk of contracting COVID-19.

Our humanitarian colleagues are concerned about the impact of COVID-19 on people across Syria, including the millions of women, children and men in urgent need of life-saving assistance in the north-west, many of them recently displaced and particularly vulnerable.

Our colleagues in Libya report that hostilities in the western region of the country have continued to cause civilian casualties and triggered new displacement.

We have an update from our colleagues in Kazakhstan, where there are around 900 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and the UN team is working closely with authorities to address the immediate health needs.

In Comoros, although the country has no registered COVID-19 cases, the UN is working closely with the Government on its National Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan, contributing nearly $2.5 million to a national contingency initiative and providing surge personnel.

On financial contributions, we have great news today, as we acknowledge two more Member States that have paid their regular budget dues in full - Jamaica and Japan. That brings to 80 the total number of countries that have paid in full.

For further details please see SOURCE below.
Office of the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General