HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC,
SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
THURSDAY, 16 MAY 2019

 
SECRETARY-GENERAL’S TRAVELS
The Secretary-General is continuing his trip to the Pacific. He is in Fiji today, where he met with the country’s President and met with the Prime Minister. He later spoke to the press jointly with the Prime Minister and said he had no doubt that climate change is the battle of his life.  He stressed we must recognise that this battle has not been won yet and we need a much stronger political will to be able to be able to rescue our planet. He thanked the people and the governments of the Pacific for the extraordinary example they are providing to all of us.
The Secretary-General also addressed the Parliament of Fiji today. He told members of the Parliament that he saluted their strong traditions of community and social responsibility and that their symbiotic relationship with their surroundings make them natural global leaders on climate and the environment.
The Secretary-General also stressed that governments have a responsibility to lead by example, to condemn hatred and intolerance, and to invest in inclusivity and diversity, and he also emphasized the need to tackle the root causes of discrimination and violations of human rights, including poverty, inequality and injustice.
He also thanked Fiji for its contributions to peacekeeping, and for being the first parliament in the world to undertake the Sustainable Development Goals self-assessment.
Later in the day, he laid a wreath for the Pacific Region Fallen Peacekeepers at the National War Memorial in Fiji. In the afternoon, he went for an excursion on a boat powered by solar energy.
Afterwards, he visited the University of the South Pacific, where met with young people and women’s groups who are taking climate action. The Secretary-General heard about their work and told them, “The world needs your generation to keep my generation accountable.”  He assured them that the UN is committed to keep listening to their voices and to opening pathways for meaningful participation in decisions that affect them.
Tomorrow, the Secretary-General will be spending the day in Tuvalu to meet community leaders and to see again for himself the impact of climate change.
 
SAHEL
This morning, the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Bintou Keita, briefed the Security Council on the G5 Sahel Joint Force. She said the UN continues to provide operational and logistical support to the Joint Force and reiterated the Secretary-General’s call to lift the geographical restrictions on the support provided to the Force by the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, known as MINUSMA, provided there is no additional cost to the Mission and transport of water and fuel is ensured by third parties.
The Assistant Secretary-General thanked donors for their support for the Force and stressed that we have a shared responsibility for the Sahel and we must each deliver our part of a promise to help provide much-needed relief and empowerment to the populations across the Sahel who need it most.
 
DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL’S TRAVELS
This evening, the Deputy Secretary-General will travel to Washington, D.C., to deliver the commencement address at George Mason University’s 2019 Graduation Ceremony. That will take place tomorrow in Fairfax in northern Virginia.
 
LIBYA
I want to flag that, from Libya, our humanitarian colleagues report that the use of explosive weapons in populated areas of the Libyan capital continues to cause civilian casualties. At least six civilians were killed and five others were injured in an apparent airstrike in Qasr Bin Ghashir on Tuesday. Reports of further civilian casualties resulting from shelling yesterday evening are still being verified.
Humanitarians continue to remind parties of their obligations under international humanitarian law to take all feasible measures to avoid civilian harm. They call on all parties to refrain from using explosive weapons – including by aerial bombing or shelling – in populated areas, given their likely indiscriminate effect.
 
LOW BIRTHWEIGHT
Researchers from UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) have contributed to a new report which found that nearly 1 in 7 babies are born with a low birthweight, or under 5.5 pounds.
Nearly three quarters of these babies were born in Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, but the problem remains substantial in developed countries.
More than 80 per cent of the world’s 2.5 million newborns who die every year are low birthweight because they are either born preterm and or are small for their gestational age. Low birthrate babies who survive have a greater risk of stunting, as well as developmental and physical ill health later in life.