HIGHLIGHTS OF PRESS BRIEFING BY BRENDEN VARMA, SPOKESPERSON FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT MIROSLAV LAJČÁK

UNRWA DESERVES UNWAVERING SUPPORT

• The President today noted that it was the General Assembly that created the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) back in 1949. He said UNRWA helps and protects some 5 million vulnerable Palestine refugees – and it deserves the international community’s unwavering support.
• The Spokesperson was asked whether the President knew how UNRWA’s original mandate had changed and whether he felt that UNRWA should be reformed. The Spokesperson noted that UNRWA’s web site made it clear that UNRWA’s mandate had evolved over time. He added that, since the President headed the body that had created UNRWA, he wished to see support for the Agency at a time when it did not have all the resources that it needed to perform its important work.
• The Spokesperson said it was not for him to offer analyses on how UNRWA’s mandate had evolved or should continue to evolve. Replying to an additional question, the Spokesperson said the President was not planning to look into whether or how to change UNRWA’s mandate.
• Asked whether the President would consult with Member States or donors on how to address UNRWA’s funding shortfall, the Spokesperson said it was up to each Member State to decide on the voluntary funding it provided to UNRWA. The President would encourage discussions related to such funding to continue. If there were a role for him to play, or if the Member States requested his assistance, he would engage, because he appreciated the voluntary contributions that Member States were already making to UNRWA and would want to see such support continue.
• Asked if the issue of funding to UNRWA had come up in the President’s bilateral meetings in the Gulf region, the Spokesperson said that this specific topic had not been raised. However, in Kuwait, the President had discussed that country’s generous commitment to humanitarian efforts. The President had also met with Kuwait-based United Nations agencies about the needs they had while working on the ground in the Middle East. His other bilateral meetings mainly concerned regional dynamics in the Gulf.

U.N. NEEDS NEW APPROACH TO PEACE, PRESIDENT SAYS IN QATAR

• The President is currently in Doha, Qatar. This morning he spoke at a Regional Dialogue on Sustaining Peace.
• He said a new approach to peace is needed – and that support and action are needed at all stages of a conflict cycle.
• Those stages include when political tensions are on the rise; when warring parties show willingness to talk; and after a peace deal has been signed.
• The President also highlighted the importance of financing. He said United Nations resources for peace are currently concentrated on military peacekeeping missions. But there is a chronic shortfall of funding to build or preserve peace.
• He called for partnerships between the United Nations and other actors, including the private sector. And he said he hoped that today’s discussions would feed into his high-level meeting on peacebuilding and sustaining peace, which will be held on 24 and 25 April, at United Nations Headquarters in New York.
• Also in Doha today, the President met with H.E. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar. They discussed the importance of dialogue and multilateralism, as well as the need for a modern United Nations.

NO INVOLVEMENT BY PRESIDENT WITH HOST COUNTRY COMMITTEE

• Asked about the “jurisdiction” of the Committee on Relations with the Host Country, the Spokesperson said that, although it was a subsidiary organ of the General Assembly, he did not speak for it. The Committee had its own Chair, Cyprus, which could answer questions about the body’s work.
• Asked if the President had ever gotten personally involved with the Committee’s work, the Spokesperson said that he had not.