Press Conferences
Virtual Press Briefing by Spokesperson for Secretary-General
Early this morning, the Secretary-General spoke by pre-recorded video message to the Japan Ministerial Meeting on Sustainable and Resilient Socio-Economic Systems in the Process of Recovery from COVID-19.
This morning, the Secretary-General hosted a meeting with young women economists to discuss the pandemic recovery and rethinking global economic models with a focus on jobs and climate action.
The Secretary-General spoke at the extraordinary meeting of the G20 foreign ministers. He told them that COVID-19 respects no borders – and that demands that we strengthen cooperation across our own.
Turning to Cameroon, the Secretary-General strongly condemns the attack on civilians in a village hosting internally displaced persons in the Far North Region of Cameroon that took place on Tuesday, this week. The suicide bomb attack led to the killing of at least seven civilians and wounded another 14.
The Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, is in Moscow today where he met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.
Today, the Security Council held a virtual meeting on the latest report by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan on its work, and that was a report by the Secretary-General. During the meeting, the Council members heard a briefing by Deborah Lyons, the Special Representative in Kabul for the UN.
In Yemen, in late July and August, for the third time in 2020, torrential rains and flooding hit governorates across Yemen, damaging infrastructure, destroying homes and shelters, causing deaths and injuries, ruining crops and killing livestock. This makes an already catastrophic humanitarian situation even worse.
In Lebanon, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that response activities a month after the explosion in Beirut are keeping pace with evolving needs.
In letters sent to both the departing President of the Economic Community of Central African States – otherwise known as ECCAS - and the new president of the ECCAS Commission, the Secretary-General congratulated the organization for ambitious institutional reforms initiated.
In Lebanon, peacekeepers from the UN Mission there provided medical supplies to the villages of Al Qulaylah and Zibqin, in the country’s southwest. The supplies included surgical materials, infrared thermometers and surgical masks.
In Kyrgyzstan, the UN team, led by Resident Coordinator Ozzonia Ojielo, is working with authorities to address the impacts of the pandemic, including on the most vulnerable.
A new report by the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, predicts that unless immediate and bold action is taken by the international community, millions of young refugees living in some of the world’s most vulnerable communities will have fewer opportunities to begin or to continue their education.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations today said that the global food prices rose for the third consecutive month in August. This was influenced by generally firmer demand and a weaker U.S. dollar.
In response to questions about an incident depicted in a video from two days ago which appears to show Israeli soldiers violently restraining an elderly man, Al-Haj Khairi, during a demonstration in Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank, the spokesman said the following: The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, said that such incidents risk heightening tensions and that they must be avoided. He also said that Security forces should show restraint in responding to grievances and added that Grievances must be heard and expressed peacefully.
Paraguay and Zambia have both paid their regular budget dues in full. This takes the number of fully paid-up Member States to 114.
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Office of the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General