SECRETARY-GENERAL’S TRAVELS
On Thursday morning, the Secretary-General received the 2019 Charlemagne Prize in Aachen, Germany. In his remarks, he said that as a committed European and Secretary-General of the United Nations, this prize is especially meaningful for him and that, through him, tribute is being paid to the commitment, service and sacrifice of the women and men of the United Nations.
He referred to the European Union and the United Nations as two of the greatest projects of our times. He told the participants in the ceremony that he never felt so clearly the need for a strong and united Europe, adding that the failure of Europe would inevitably be the failure of multilateralism and the failure of a world in which the rule of law can prevail.
The Secretary-General also encouraged Europeans and their leaders to maintain the values enshrined in the UN Charter of fundamental human rights and in the European Convention on Human Rights. Europe, he said, cannot be premised on “us” versus “them,” adding that “scapegoating migrants and closing our doors to asylum seekers does not protect but shame this heritage.” The Secretary-General reminded the audience that the 1951 Refugee Convention was initially adopted to protect millions of displaced Europeans in the post-war period.
While thanking the authorities of Aachen for awarding him the prize, the Secretary-General said that he would do his best to defend passionately the values of pluralism, tolerance, dialogue and mutual respect to build a world of peace, justice and human dignity.
Prior to receiving the prize, the Secretary-General and the other dignitaries attended a pontifical mass in the Aachen Cathedral. Immediately following the prize ceremony, the Secretary-General attended an open-air festival, during which he thanked the people of Aachen and honoured the city’s role as the cradle of Europe.
The Secretary-General will be back in New York on Monday.
SEXUAL ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION
I have an update on the most recent reported allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse. This is for the first quarter of 2019, which concluded on 31 March. Please note that not all of the allegations reported have been fully verified, and many are in the preliminary assessment phase.
For the first quarter of this year, the United Nations received 37 allegations involving UN personnel, including civilian and uniformed personnel from peacekeeping as well as personnel of agency, funds and programmes.
Of the 37 allegations related to UN personnel, there are 49 victims: 28 women and 11 girls, 1 boy, 7 females of unknown age, 1 unknown adult and 1 unknown child.
Sixteen of these allegations are categorized as sexual abuse, 27 as sexual exploitation, 4 are of an unknown nature, and 2 have been categorized as “other”, of which 1 was closed.
Of these 37 allegations, 1 has been substantiated through an investigation and has been referred to the member state; 4 allegations were not substantiated; 26 allegations are at various stages of investigation; and 6 allegations are under preliminary assessment to determine if there is sufficient information to investigate.
We also received 33 allegations involving non-UN personnel working as implementing partners. These allegations involve 37 victims and 38 perpetrators.
Meanwhile, our efforts to implement the Secretary-General’s strategy to combat sexual exploitation and abuse have continued to be strengthened. In March, the 2018 Secretary- General’s Special measures for protection from sexual exploitation report was released, which contains updates to the information provided in the previous reports, including on prioritizing the rights and dignity of victims, ending impunity, engaging with Member States, civil society and external partners and improving strategic communication for education and transparency.
We are also continuing our efforts to engage with Member States and encourage their Heads of State and Government to join the Secretary-General’s Circle of Leadership, on prevention of and response to sexual exploitation and abuse in UN operations, which now stands at 74 members.
[This week the office of the Special Coordinator engaged with the Secretary-General’s Civil Society Advisory Board and a number of UN Entities to strengthen the United Nations system’s approach to implementing the Secretary-General’s strategy, while the office of the Victims’ Rights Advocate is hosting an Expert Workshop on Victims' Rights, which the Board will attend.]
The Secretary-General also continues to encourage Member States to become signatories to the Voluntary Compact with the Secretary-General of the United Nations on the Commitment to Eliminate Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, and 101 Member States have committed to this to date.
SENIOR APPOINTMENTS
You have a rare treat because I have no fewer than five personnel announcements to tell you about.
Today, the Secretary-General is appointing Tatiana Valovaya of the Russian Federation as Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva. She will succeed Michael Møller of Denmark, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his commitment and dedicated service to the Organization.
James Swan of the United States has been appointed Special Representative for Somalia and Head of the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM). He will succeed Nicholas Haysom of South Africa to whom the Secretary-General is deeply grateful for his dedicated service in UNSOM and Somalia at a challenging time.
Gilles Michaud of Canada will take over as Under-Secretary-General for Safety and Security. He will succeed Peter Drennan of Australia, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his commitment and dedicated service to the Organization.
Najat Maalla M’jid of Morocco will take over as Special Representative on Violence Against Children at the level of Assistant Secretary-General. She will succeed Marta Santos Pais of Portugal, to whom the Secretary-General is deeply grateful for her leadership and dedicated commitment during her tenure as the first Special Representative on Violence Against Children.
And last, but not least, Anita Bhatia of India will become the Assistant Secretary-General for Resource Management, Sustainability and Partnerships and Deputy Executive Director of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, or UN Women for short.
Full details are in their bios which are being emailed and posted as I speak, so your email boxes will be very full.
For the record, I would like to remind you that, yesterday afternoon, we announced the appointment of Major General Shivaram Kharel of Nepal as the acting Head of Mission and Force Commander of the UN Disengagement Observer Force, UNDOF.
This follows the sudden death of Major General Francis Vib-Sanziri of Ghana on 19 April. The Secretary-General remembers and honours the late Major General Vib-Sanziri for his dedicated leadership of UNDOF and service in the United Nations.
SUDAN
The Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan today strongly condemned yesterday’s attacks on humanitarian offices and the looting of aid supplies in the Kalma camp for internally displaced people in South Darfur.
Kalma is one of Darfur’s largest camps and is hosting some 128,000 people.
Gwi-Yeop Son, the Humanitarian Coordinator, called on authorities to swiftly investigate these attacks.
In the past month, there have been at least two similar attacks at IDP camps in Darfur.
Ms. Son stressed that attacks against aid workers violate international humanitarian law and jeopardize their ability to provide life-saving support to people in need.
LIBYA
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that, amid the clashes in Libya’s capital, Tripoli, 149 vulnerable refugees and asylum-seekers were safely evacuated today to Rome.
The evacuees – nearly half of whom are children – are from Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia, and many need medical treatment and are malnourished.
These people were moved from a UNHCR facility after surviving for months in dire conditions in detentions centres in Tripoli.
Today’s evacuation comes after 62 refugees from Syria, Sudan and Somalia were evacuated from Tripoli to UNHCR’s Emergency Transit Centre in Timisoara, Romania, before traveling onwards to Norway.
UNHCR is grateful to States which have come forward with evacuation places, but stresses that detainees are arriving at a faster pace than people are departing.
Also on Libya, our humanitarian colleagues tell us that six health workers have been killed and seven injured in the fighting in Tripoli, with two clearly-marked ambulances having been hit by shelling on Tuesday and Wednesday.
CONTRIBUTIONS
I am happy to announce that Haiti and Timor-Leste have paid their 2019 budget dues. This takes the total of fully-paid up Member States to 102.
