Ladies and gentlemen of the media. Good morning. 

Allow me a few words on the nightmare unfolding in Afghanistan.

We are in a race against time to help the Afghan people.

Just two days ago, the United Nations launched our largest-ever humanitarian appeal for a single country. 

The scale of that appeal reflects the scale of the despair.

Babies being sold to feed their siblings. 

Freezing health facilities overflowing with malnourished children.

People burning their possessions to keep warm.

Livelihoods across the country have been lost.

More than half the population of Afghanistan now depends on life-saving assistance.

This situation, without a more concerted effort from the international community, will mean that virtually every man, woman and child in Afghanistan could face acute poverty.

And all of this is happening, of course, amid a global pandemic.

Our humanitarian and refugee response plans require more than US$5 billion this year.

This assistance is essential to ramp up life-saving food and agriculture support, health services, treatment for malnutrition, emergency shelter, water and sanitation, protection and emergency education.

These are all critical investments to help Afghans help themselves in rebuilding their lives and building a future for their children.

We know that, properly funded, the aid operation in Afghanistan has the capacity to achieve amazing results.

Last year, the UN and its humanitarian partners reached 18 million people across the country, over 60 per cent more than the year before.

National and international aid workers helped keep food aid moving, clinics functioning, and schools open.

These workers now have access to areas and communities that have been off-limits for years. 

But humanitarian operations desperately need more money and more flexibility.

Freezing temperatures and frozen assets are a lethal combination for the people of Afghanistan. 

Rules and conditions that prevent money from being used to save lives and the economy must be suspended in this emergency situation.

International funding should be allowed to pay the salaries of public-sector workers, and to help Afghan institutions deliver healthcare, education and other vital services.

These civil servants include surgeons at major state hospitals, sanitation workers that keep disease at bay, and electrical engineers who strive to keep the lights on across the country.

This kind of support for essential state functions will give Afghans hope for the future and reason to stay in their country. 

I welcome the Security Council's adoption of a humanitarian exception to the United Nations sanctions regime for Afghanistan.

This provides financial institutions and commercial actors with legal assurances to engage with humanitarian operators, without fear of breaching sanctions.

For our part, the United Nations is taking steps to inject cash into the economy through creative authorized arrangements.  But it is a drop in the bucket.

Jump-starting the banking system is essential to avoid economic collapse and to enable humanitarian operations.

The function of Afghanistan’s Central Bank must be preserved and assisted, and a path identified for conditional release of Afghan foreign currency reserves.

We must do even more to rapidly inject liquidity into the economy and avoid a meltdown that would lead to poverty, hunger and destitution for millions.

For example, the World Bank administers a reconstruction trust fund for Afghanistan.   Last month, the Bank transferred $280 million from that fund to UNICEF and World Food Programme operations in the country.

I hope the remaining resources – more than $1.2 billion -- will become available to help Afghanistan’s people survive the winter.

The United Nations in Afghanistan stands ready to work with Member States and others to put in place accountable systems that will enable funds to reach the Afghan people most in need, and to ensure that these funds are not diverted.

And as I appeal to the international community to step up support for the people of Afghanistan, I make an equally urgent plea to the Taliban leadership to recognize and protect the fundamental human rights and in particular the rights of women and girls.

Across Afghanistan, women and girls are missing from offices and classrooms. A generation of girls is seeing its hopes and dreams shattered. Women scientists, lawyers and teachers are locked out – wasting skills and talents that will benefit the entire country and, indeed, the world.

No country can thrive while denying the rights of half of its population. 

The women and girls of Afghanistan must have access to all education and employment opportunities, health care and other essential services.

The United Nations stands ready to cooperate and support the Afghan de facto authorities in making this possible with the greatest urgency.

Moving forward, it is also essential that every effort is made to build inclusive government institutions in which all Afghans feel represented – and that promote security and fight terrorism.

Ladies and gentlemen of the press,

Without creative, flexible and constructive engagement by the international community, Afghanistan’s economic situation will only worsen. 

Despair and extremism will grow.

We need to act now to prevent economic and social collapse and find ways to prevent further suffering for millions of Afghans.

Thank you.

Spokesman:  Thank you. James Bays, Al Jazeera.

Question:  Secretary‑General, your humanitarian chief and the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross tomorrow are meeting virtually with the US Secretary of State. What does the US need to do and what moral duty does it have to prevent the breakdown of the financial system in Afghanistan? And tell us, if you would, what such a breakdown would mean for the Afghan people.

Secretary-General:  Well, it is absolutely essential to avoid that breakdown, because with the present situation, you have Afghans on the verge of death. I'm talking of concrete death on the ground because of hunger, because of disease and because of lack of assistance. So, it's absolutely essential to avoid the collapse of the economy, and for that, we need to inject liquidity in the economy. Several important civil society organizations have said that, without liquidity, they will not be able to operate, and that means the public will be in a desperate situation.

Now, the reason why these meetings will take place is exactly to create mechanisms that allow... independently of the regimes that exist of sanctions, but to allow mechanisms that allow for an effective injection of funds into the Afghan economy and, at the same time, create the conditions for the financial system in Afghanistan to be able to operate in the local currency. This is absolutely essential.

And this needs a number of steps to be assumed by different countries with regime, sanction regimes. The UN has already done its bit - and also by the international multilateral development banks.

Question:  And specifically, the US and the moral duty of the US in this?

Secretary-General:  I think the US has a very important role to play because most of the financial system in the world operate in dollars and, obviously, there is a meaningful volume of funds that are frozen in the United States and in several other countries in the world. But the way to apply them in a way that is not diverted but really serves the interests of the Afghan people is something in which we are working hard to make sure that all the necessary guarantees are provided.

Spokesman:  Thank you. Grigory, TASS, TASS Russian News Agency.

Question:  Thank you very much. Secretary‑General, how can you estimate the results of talks between Russia and US and NATO on security issues? And do you have any concerns about the possibilities of confrontation? Thank you.

Secretary-General:  Obviously, I think everybody's concerned with the present escalation of tension, and it is absolutely essential that the dialogue that is taking place find a way allowing for de‑escalation of tension and allowing for the... to avoid any kind of confrontation that will be a disaster for Europe and for the world.

Spokesman:  Thank you. Valeria, ANSA.

Question:  Thank you. Mr. Secretary‑General, my question is on Libya. Do you think it is realistic to have the election after Ramadan, so not before the end of May? And if so, do you think there are consequences for such a long delay? Thank you so much.

Secretary-General:  Our adviser... my adviser in Libya is working hard with the parties to create conditions for things to move as quickly as possible. There is a positive element for the first time in many years. The House of Representatives could meet with quorum, 127 members from all over Libya, and they created a committee to prepare a road map.

Now, we will be naturally working with them in order to make sure that that road map allows for elections to be taking place as soon as possible, because I believe it's important to create legitimate institutions in the country.

Spokesman:  Yes.

Question:  Hi, Secretary‑General. This is Xu Dezhi from China Central Television. So, two questions. First one, we know you accepted the invitation from the IOC to participate in Beijing Winter Olympic Games. What do you have... what expectation do you have for the games, and what message do you want to convey during your visit there?

Second question is on climate change, because we saw the spike of fossil fuel price recently. Some people argue it's because some countries, they adopted some aggressive environment policy, yet it's not prepared totally. That caused the spike of the traditional fossil fuel energy price. That might slow down the speed from the recovery of the pandemic. What's your view on this? Thank you.

Secretary-General:  Well, first of all, the Olympic Games is an extremely important event, and it's an event that symbolizes the role of sports in bringing people together and in promoting peace, and it is in this strict context and without any political dimension that I intend to be present in the opening - with this message that Olympic Games must be an instrument for peace in the world.

In relation to climate change, if something is clear about the present energy mix in the world is that that energy mix is broken. So, the fastest we are able to have an energy transition into renewables, the less we are dependent on fossil fuels and the permanent variation of prices of those fossil fuels for different reasons, sometimes for reasons that have nothing to do with the economy in itself because they depend on political events, on conflicts and things of the sort. So, I think what is happening is a demonstration that, instead of slowing down, we must accelerate climate action.

Spokesman:  Thank you. One last question, and then we'll...

Question:  Thank you. Celia from VOA. Secretary‑General, today, the Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov of Russia, he was leading the talks on Russia...

Secretary-General:  I'm sorry. If you can...

Question:  I will. So, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, he was leading the talks in Geneva as well as in Belgium with the NATO members. He mentioned that if the talks don't go well and if negotiations fail, Russia will be able to start sending more military assets to Venezuela and Cuba. Is there any concern by your office and yourself in particular that this type of language to try to create an... a threat to the United States if things don't go their way?
 
Secretary-General:  My concern is a general one. I mean, we have seen rhetoric escalation in the recent past. What we need is to make sure that we create conditions for peace and stability in Europe.

Spokesman:  Thank you. And a reminder the Secretary‑General will have a press conference... 

Correspondent:  [Off mic, inaudible]

Secretary-General:  In français?

Question:  Que pensez-vous de la situation au Mali? Etes-vous inquiet? Pensez-vous que les sanctions qui viennent d’être votées vont contribuer à apaiser les tensions? Et n’avez-vous pas peur que toute la région ne s’embrase?

Secretary-General:  C’est une question qui me préoccupe énormément. Hier, j’ai eu l’occasion de parler avec les Présidents du Ghana, qui préside la CEDEAO, du Sénégal, du Nigéria, avec Moussa Faki, le Président de la Commission de l’Union africaine, et aussi avec le Ministre des Affaires étrangères de l’Algérie et, en même temps, j’espère pouvoir entrer en contact [sous peu] avec le gouvernement malien. 

Je crois que c’est absolument essentiel que le gouvernement malien présente un calendrier acceptable du point de vue des élections et que ça puisse permettre, en tenant compte de la déclaration du Président du Mali qu’il est ouvert à la coopération avec la CEDEAO, que ça puisse permettre que la décision de la CEDEAO, qui établit que si le gouvernement malien présente un calendrier acceptable et prend les mesures dans cette direction, il y aura une levée progressive des sanctions. 

Naturellement, je travaille avec la CEDEAO et avec l’Union africaine pour créer les conditions qui puissent permettre que le gouvernement du Mali adopte une position raisonnable et acceptable pour accélérer une transition qui dure déjà [depuis] longtemps et que ça puisse permettre un rétablissement de la normalité dans les relations entre cet état et la communauté internationale, et la CEDEAO en particulier.  

Spokesman:  Merci. Thank you. And a reminder there's a press conference next week on Friday with a few more questions.

[Stakeout concludes at 11:18 a.m.]