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Daily Press Briefing by Spokesperson for Secretary-General
This morning, the Secretary-General spoke at the General Assembly’s observance ceremony in the commemoration of UN Day. He pointed out that 75 years ago, amid the rubble and ruin of the Second World War, world leaders did the audacious.
We issued a statement in which the Secretary-General said he is very encouraged by Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide’s announcement of Japan’s commitment to get to net zero emissions by 2050.
In a video message delivered to the World Health Summit in Berlin, the Secretary-General noted that the first hard lesson of the current COVID-19 pandemic is that we were not prepared for it.
On Saturday, our friends in Honduras deposited the 50th instrument of ratification or accession to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. As a result, the Treaty will enter into force on January 22nd, 2021.
We issued a number of other statements over the weekend: 1) We expressed horror and shock at an attack on a school in Cameroon’s South-West Region. The Secretary-General urged Cameroonians to conduct a thorough investigation to ensure those responsible are held accountable. 2) We took note of the announcement of the provisional results of the presidential election in Guinea and reiterated our call to all actors to resolve disputes through established legal mechanisms and prevent from violence. 3) We took note of the agreement to normalize relations between the Republic of the Sudan and Israel, and the Secretary-General added that he hopes the agreement will further cooperation, enhance economic and trade relations, and bring about new opportunities to advance peace and economic prosperity in the wider Horn of Africa and Middle East regions.
Nickolay Mladenov, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, briefed the Security Council this morning on the Middle East Peace Process. He said that, as the pandemic stretches on and its consequences accumulate, Palestinians and Israelis alike are feeling the effects.
Our good friend, Geir Pedersen, the Envoy for Syria, has just left Damascus. Mr. Pedersen had comprehensive discussions with Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign and Expatriates Minister Walid al Muallem.
The Libyan Political Dialogue Forum convened its first virtual meeting today. The direct, in-person meeting of the Forum will kick off on 9 November in Tunis.
In Chile, our country team has welcomed the culmination of the Constitutional Plebiscite, calling it a civic act of historical importance, in which citizens have expressed their opinion in favour of the “I approve” option which opens the process of formulating a new Constitution for the country.
In Mozambique, our humanitarian colleagues inform us that, since 16 October, at least 10,000 newly internally displaced people have arrived by boat in Pemba, Cabo Delgado’s provincial capital, in the north of the country. The displaced people, mostly women and children, are fleeing the ongoing conflict in the region.
An interesting report we saw from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) says that millions of used cars, vans and minibuses exported from Europe, the United States and Japan to the developing world are of poor quality, contributing significantly to air pollution and hindering efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
Increasing temperatures and sea levels, changing rain patterns and more extreme weather are threatening human health and safety, food and water security and socio-economic development in Africa, according to a new report coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) with inputs from more than a dozen UN agencies and our partners around the world.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today is bringing together ministers from more than 45 countries for the 31st Session of the Regional Conference for Africa.
For further details please see SOURCE below.
Office of the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General