Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

**United States

In a statement he delivered this morning, the Secretary-General congratulated Donald Trump on his election as forty-fifth President of the United States of America.  In the aftermath of a hard-fought and often divisive campaign, it is worth recalling and reaffirming that the unity in diversity of the United States is one of the country’s greatest strengths.  The Secretary-General encouraged all Americans to stay true to that spirit.

He said that today's global challenges demand concerted global action and joint solutions.  And as a founding member of the United Nations and permanent member of the Security Council, the United States is an essential actor across the international agenda.  People everywhere look to the United States to use its remarkable power to lift humanity up and to work for the common good.  The United Nations will count on the new Administration to strengthen the bonds of international cooperation as we strive to uphold together shared ideals, combat climate change, advance human rights, promote mutual understanding and implement the Sustainable Development Goals to achieve lives of peace, prosperity and dignity for all.

Now more than ever, the Secretary-General said, we must mobilize around these principles and common values of the United Nations Charter.

He also expressed his deep appreciation to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for a lifetime commitment to peace, the advancement of women and the well-being of children.  She has been a powerful global symbol of women’s empowerment, and the Secretary-General has no doubt that she will continue to contribute to our work across the world.

**Iraq

And back in the Security Council, Jān Kubiš, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, briefed the Security Council on the steady progress by Iraq’s forces in their historic battle to liberate Mosul.  For the first time in Iraqi history, he noted, the Iraqi federal forces and the Peshmerga are fighting shoulder to shoulder.

Mr. Kubiš said that the Da'esh caliphate in Iraq is crumbling away before our eyes.  But just recapturing territory and power is not enough; he said that leaders and all components, communities and groups would have to address numerous grievances of the past periods and find the way to live together after Da'esh in justice and equality for all.

The Special Representative added that the protection of civilians, prevention of revenge attacks and dealing with accountability issues of captured Da'esh fighters or their suspected sympathizers in a fair manner with due respect to international human rights norms and duly constituted tribunals is of vital importance towards striking the right note on the post-Da'esh phase.  He urged the Iraqi authorities to continue the liberation operations in this spirit, ensuring full respect for the cardinal principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution and justice for the victims.

**Democratic Republic of the Congo

And on the DRC [Democratic Republic of the Congo], you saw that yesterday evening, we issued a statement in which the Secretary-General condemned the attack against peacekeepers in Goma.

An explosion resulted in the death of one Congolese girl and the injury of two Congolese civilians as well as 32 peacekeepers, including five who were seriously wounded.

The Secretary-General extended his sincere condolences to the family of the civilians killed and the Congolese people and wished a speedy and full recovery to the injured peacekeepers and civilians.  He also called for swift action to bring the perpetrators to justice.

And the Mission informs us that the Head of the UN peacekeeping mission (MONUSCO), Maman Sambo Sidikou, is in Goma today, as the injured continue to receive medical treatment at the Mission’s hospital.

The investigation into the attack is continuing.

**Libya

And on Libya, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Martin Kobler, was in Addis Ababa.  Yesterday, he met with the Presidents of Chad and Niger and the African Union High Level Representative to Libya.  Mr. Kobler said that all leaders share the view that only through a political solution and dialogue among all parties can Libyans overcome their differences.  They agreed that there is a sense of urgency and that concrete discussions are required now to implement the Libyan Political Agreement.

And the members of the Libyan Political Dialogue will kick off a two-day meeting tomorrow in Malta aimed at ending the impasse and agreeing on steps towards advancing the implementation of the Political Agreement.

**Myanmar

And, I just want to flag something on Myanmar in response to a question that was asked of me before the briefing.  I wanted to clarify that at a news briefing on 3 November, the UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar was asked whether specific village women had approached her to discuss their rape cases.

She pointed out that, given the nature and scope of the visit, the intent of the delegation was not to look into allegations nor draw full conclusions, and that no specific woman had approached her.  However, she said, the allegation of rape had been raised during the visit.

The Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator has expressed concern about worrying allegations of abuses and human rights violations in the north of Rakhine state and she has called for the Government to form an independent, credible and transparent investigation to look into both the attacks and the subsequent response and allegations.

**Press Briefings

And after we are done here [tomorrow] around 1 p.m., Sigrid Kaag, Special Coordinator for Lebanon, will be at the Security Council stakeout for those of you who would like to ask her a question.

**Questions and Answers

You may now ask me questions.  Excellent.  Mr. Lee, come on.

Question:  Sure.  I wanted to ask… I tried… obviously, you'd said the Secretary-General wouldn't take any questions at his… at… when he made his remarks about the election.  But this… this… among other things, it's… it's brought me back to one of the answers you gave in April.  In April there was a hearing by Senator Bob Corker in D.C. about the response of the UN to sexual abuse.  He said… and I'm looking at the quotes.  He said, "How can we accept a Secretary-General like this?"  He called it, “inept” was a word that he'd used.  And you said this was just one person's opinion.  I wanted to… guess I wanted… if I… I'm remembering this… he definitely called the Secretary-General inept.  So let's just focus on that.  Do you feel… now with this number of months that have gone by, can you point to any actual conviction of any of the people that have been charged with sexual abuse in the Central African Republic?  And do you feel the fact that there have been allegations since the firing of Babacar Gaye shows that maybe the wrong guy was fired?

Spokesman:  No.  I think the Secretary-General stands by the administrative decisions he took on the CAR [Central African Republic].  We will never be in the place that we want to be until there are absolutely no more cases of sexual abuse by peacekeepers or anyone serving in peacekeeping operations.  I think our response system has greatly improved since then, our transparency in terms of regularly sharing updates with you and with the larger community as to what is going on.  There's much better information within the communities on how people can report allegations of rape and sexual abuse.  We expect to have an update… almost a final update on the work of OIOS [Office of Internal Oversight Services] in Kémo prefecture available in the next few days, if not weeks.  We have seen troops repatriated.  I think we've seen a much stronger and forward-leaning response to cases and allegations.  The fact remains that the disciplining of uniformed personnel who commit horrendous crimes against civilians is the responsibility of Member States.  And the Secretary-General is a partner with the Member States in fighting these issues, and the UN will continue to do that.  But it is an issue that also needs to be taken up with Member States, and we've been very transparent with them, as we have been with you.

Question:  Just on transparency, one… one question I see as related.  Yesterday I tried to ask Mr. [Hervé] Ladsous about the reported killing by a UN peacekeeper from Mauritania of an unarmed IDP [internally displaced person] in Bambari in the Central African Republic on 29 October.  I've never seen the UN actually announce this, but it's been reported by the press there.  He declined to answer.  But I guess I'd like to ask you.  Does the UN routinely announce when they kill unarmed civilians?  [Cross talk]

Spokesman:  I'll try… [Cross talk]  We get regular updates from all our peacekeeping missions, and I'll see if this case actually happened and what we have on it.  Yes, ma'am?

Question:  I wanted to ask two questions, actually.  The one is on the situation in Cyprus.  Secretary-General himself said that the peace talks are at critical juncture at this moment.  And, as we know, the Turkish side went as far as to say that Turkish President would annex the northern side if there is no solution.  Is UN going to honour a Greek side request to better presence… larger presence of UN troops under auspices of Security Council?  And if not, what kind of other roadmaps does UN have about this?

Spokesman:  The Secretary-General said it:  We are at a critical juncture in the talks.  He went to Mont Pèlerin to open up the talks.  They are continuing.  There are intense discussions going on.  I'm not going to start to pick and unpick comments from various sides.  We will hear from the parties in Switzerland when they are ready to speak, but we are, as I… as we have been saying, at a critical juncture.

Question:  Does the UN have its own deadline or no?

Spokesman:  There is no hard deadline.  I think the Secretary-General had expressed a wish to see this done by… at least move forward significantly by the end of the year, and we continue in that direction.

Question:  And the second question is about the vaccination campaign that UN is launching in Haiti against cholera.  Is it mandatory?  Is it experimental?  What kind of campaign is it?  And…

Spokesman:  No, it's not mandatory.  We are… we are vaccinating tens of thousands of people through the WHO [World Health Organization] and the Pan [American Health] Organisation.  It's an assistance at a time after the hurricane when the risk of cholera is even greater.

Question:  And has there been any accountability after the recent cholera outbreak that was caused by peacekeepers, supposedly?

Spokesman:  I think… you may not have been here for a while, but I think the Secretary-General, as you know, went to Haiti, expressed his deep personal regret.  We've launched a two-track approach that was unveiled by the Deputy Secretary-General and Dr. [David] Nabarro, one at stopping this current outbreak of cholera, fixing the sanitation system, and then also obviously helping… financially helping those communities that have been impacted by cholera.  We expect the Secretary-General to announce officially all these measures and express himself further on the issue before the end of November, early December.  Ms. Fasulo?  Sorry, then Evelyn.

Question:  Thank you, Steph.  Also regarding the election, I was wondering if the Secretary-General… if there's any expectation that the Secretary-General will meet with President-elect Trump and if, indeed, even… was there or will there be a telephone call?

Spokesman:  It's early days.  If there is any sort of contact between ourselves and the Office of the President-elect, I will let you know.  Evelyn?

Question:  Yes, thank you, Steph.  The Paris Agreement on climate change, there's a very good chance that the US will withdraw its ratification even though it's the second largest polluter in the world.  Most of the Republican Party, not just Mr. Trump, but most of the Republican Party denies the science of climate change, believes the earth is flat, etc., etc.  So the chances… what impact would that have on the agreement?

Spokesman:  Well, I think we're obviously speculating.  I think we've all heard what's been said during the campaign.  We know what's being said in different quarters in this country, if you want to talk about the United States.  We are at a critical juncture.  We're about to go to Marrakesh, where the COP [Conference of the Parties] meeting is already open.  The treaty is coming to force.  We saw with all the signatures that took place in the last months, the ratification, recognition, I think, by all the world's countries of the very real threat that climate change poses in the present and the future prosperity of the planet.  There's also, we believe, an understanding by world leaders of the very grave, real, and expensive consequences of climate change if it's not… if the issue is not tackled.  The agreement in Paris came through years and months of painstaking multi-lateral negotiations down to the wire.  We were there in Paris.  It was… things were unsure until the very last minute.  I think it would be a very terrible mistake to reverse course and undo this historic agreement.

Question:  Do you know the technicalities… if the US did withdraw, would the whole agreement fall apart because of the number of countries with a certain level of pollution?  

Spokesman:  I'm not going to start speculating on these dark scenarios.  Yes, ma'am?

Question:  Thank you, Stéphane.  I realize that the report 1701, which has been published three or two days… four days ago, is not on the official website of the United Nation.  Is there any reason?

Spokesman:  That's not good.  I will check.

Correspondent:  Please.  No, usually, it's…

Spokesman:  No, I can only promise you to check and I will… [Cross talk]  I will check.  Maybe sometimes it takes a little bit of time before the… between the time the advance copy is given to the Security Council and the time it's published as an official document.

Correspondent:  But Sigrid Kaag is here to speak about it.

Spokesman:  No, no, I don't deny those facts, and I promise you to check.

Correspondent:  Thank you.

Spokesman:  Okay.  Mr. Lee?

Question:  Sure.  I wanted to ask you again about this case of the Pan-African Parliament… Parliamentarian who was blocked from attending COP22.  Were you able… I'm looking at a… at a… what looks to be an acknowledgment of participant’s nomination to acknowledge but… from a… from a national focal point or designated contact point that the name was submitted with bar codes, etc.

Spokesman:  My understanding from our colleagues at UNFCCC [United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change] is this person did have accreditation and they are looking into it on the ground.

Question:  Okay.  And I wanted to ask, this… on this question of Burundi, I understand yesterday there was some back-and-forth about how the email came out, but have you been able to check whether UN OCHA [Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs] has the position that the prefectures that I named are, in fact, suffering a famine?

Spokesman:  I've not been able to.

Question:  And there's also a ma… there's a Burundian major, a Minani Pascal, who people are saying is demonstrably related to the 12 December 2015 elements who's now being sent to AMISOM [African Union Mission in Somalia].  So you're always saying check the African Union, but I wanted to know, is there no human rights component of the… of the financial support that the UN provides to… to AMISOM?

Spokesman:  We don't provide financial support.  The financial support for AMISOM is provided by the European Union.  We provide logistical support to them.

Question:  Doesn't that cost money?

Spokesman:  Igor… yes.  Go ahead.  Oleg.  Sorry.  "Igor."

Question:  It's okay.  Thanks, Stéphane.  I'm sure you have heard that the judge… the head of the inter… this residual mechanism for the International Tribunals announced that the judge… one of the judges… the Turkish judge was arrested, I think, in September.  So what's the status and how is the UN trying to get him free?

Spokesman:  We are aware of the issue.  I will give you an update a bit later on this afternoon, but we're very much aware of this issue.  Yes, Matthew?

Question:  Sure.  Thank… this is for… the statement on Myanmar.  I just wanted to ask again, you'd… I'd asked about the brother of the Secretary-General, and two articles, both of which remain online… they have not been taken down, one of which says that he's involved in magnesium mining in Myanmar, and the other one links him by name to a UN delegation which toured Myanmar.  So you said you can't verify it.  And I wanted to know, is that can't or won't?  Because it seems like if there's an article describing a UN delegation touring for financial reasons a controversial conflict zone, it should be able to be… are you willing to at least look into what the delegation may have been and whether…

Spokesman:  You know, send me the article.  I haven't seen the article.  And, again, please try not to get the… my double chin with your periscope.  It's very annoying.

Correspondent:  Okay.  Maybe we can lower the…

Spokesman:  Oleg.

Question:  Can I return to the issue of the Turkish judge?

Spokesman:  Sorry?

Question:  Yeah, can I return to the issue…

Spokesman:  Yeah.

Question:  Is it the first time that something like this happened when the viol… there's a violation of the immunity of a UN judge?  Can you clarify that as well…?

Spokesman:  At that level?  Very much so.  Okay.  Thank you.