{"id":250176,"date":"2021-04-27T14:46:29","date_gmt":"2021-04-27T18:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=250176"},"modified":"2021-04-28T14:47:09","modified_gmt":"2021-04-28T18:47:09","slug":"release-of-human-rights-watch-report-us-restoration-of-unrwa-funding-27-april-2021-daily-press-briefing-excerpts","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/release-of-human-rights-watch-report-us-restoration-of-unrwa-funding-27-april-2021-daily-press-briefing-excerpts\/","title":{"rendered":"Release of Human Rights Watch Report, US Restoration of UNRWA Funding \u2013 27 April 2021 Daily Press Briefing \u2013 (Excerpts)"},"content":{"rendered":"
27 APRIL 2021<\/strong><\/h6>\n

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today\u2019s noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

Questions and Answers<\/u><\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Thank you very much, Farhan.\u00a0 I have a couple of questions.\u00a0 First, Human Rights Watch today is accusing Israel of committing crimes of apartheid and persecution against Arabs in the occupied territories and Israel itself.\u00a0 Does the Secretary-General have any comment?<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Well, regarding human rights concerns in Israel\u2026 or involving Israel and the occupied territories, we\u2019ve been raising our own concerns about this.\u00a0 And as you know, whenever we see any signs of policies that are discriminatory in nature, whether in the occupied Palestinian territories or anywhere else, we draw attention to those, and we try to make sure that those are addressed.<\/p>\n

Regarding the report\u2019s<\/a> characterization, of course, it\u2019s not for me to analyse or characterize the situation in any particular way.\u00a0 I leave the analysis of the report over to you.\u00a0 But certainly, from our standpoint, what we try to do is to work with authorities, including the authorities in Israel, to make sure that our human rights concerns are addressed.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

Another question, the Biden Administration has decided to restore funding to UNRWA.\u00a0 Any comment on this?<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Well, we\u2019ve\u2026 we made clear, including through our comments when the decision was first taken, that we appreciate the return of the United States to the funding of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).\u00a0 That is helpful at a time when funding is crucially needed so that the Agency can conduct its work for Palestine refugees.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not up to the US alone, however, and we\u2019ve made clear that we want other nations also to step up their own funding for UNRWA so that it can go back to the levels of funding that it had previously enjoyed.\u00a0 And so, that is what we are pushing for, but the moves made by the United States have been welcome.<\/p>\n

And then regarding your larger question, of course, the UN, as a general rule, tries to make sure that it will have a strong and healthy relationship with the United States given our common goals and interests.\u00a0 And we are continuing to do that with the current Administration of President Biden.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Thanks, Farhan.\u00a0 I would like to go to the issue that Edie had asked you about, about the Human Rights Watch report.\u00a0 So, you talked about the fact that the UN did also document\u2026 and also document abuses wherever they happen, including in Israel and Palestine.\u00a0 But the report goes beyond just documenting the regular abuses.\u00a0 They talk about\u2026 they came to the conclusion that these abuses are policies of\u2026 constitute the crimes of apartheid, persecutions, and crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n

And they have recommendations and some recommendations to the UN, and their recommendations to the UN include establishing a UN Commission of Inquiry to investigate systematic discrimination and reparation in Israel and Palestine and also a UN global envoy to apartheid worldwide.\u00a0 So, what\u2019s your comment on these specific recommendations?<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Well, we will need to study the report and see what needs to be done on our side to follow up on the report.\u00a0 As you know, it\u2019s just out.<\/p>\n

But regarding some of these issues, such as the issue of crimes against humanity, those sorts of allegations are ones that need to be addressed by mandated judicial bodies.\u00a0 And, of course, it\u2019s not up to us to create.\u00a0 We\u2026 as you\u2019re aware, it\u2019s Member States or groups of Member States that can create those sorts of mandates.\u00a0 So, that question is really one in terms of what the Member State bodies of the UN would want to do, and we\u2019ll have to see how they themselves wish to follow up on this.<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 So, I have a follow-up on that, especially that you\u2019re saying you will be studying this report and their recommendations to the UN, etc.\u00a0 Does this mean that the SG office is going to request a briefing from Human Rights Watch on the reports to hear how the team came fully\u2026 to fully understand the picture and how the team came to the conclusions they came to?<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Well, no, what happens with all these reports, whenever we receive them, the respective departments, including those dealing with political affairs and those dealing with other issues, those dealing with human rights, for example, can look over and see what steps are needed on our side.\u00a0 So, we\u2019ll leave those evaluations to be taken by the respective departments.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t predict what form that follow-up would take.<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Yeah, but leaving this\u2026 what do you mean?\u00a0 Do you mean, like, different departments at the UN or\u2026 it\u2019s like\u2026 it seems to be that you are leaving this out there without taking any action, which will lead somehow also unaware.<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Well, no, any time there is a significant report to look at, what happens is we let the key people in our various offices, whether it\u2019s Political Affairs, Humanitarian Affairs or others, look at that and see what to do with the recommendations.\u00a0 And so, that is, ultimately, what we\u2019ll do with this report, as well.\u00a0 And so, that process of studying and evaluating the report has just begun.<\/p>\n

Okay\u2026<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 I have just a small follow-up.\u00a0 Would it be, then, possible to get a follow-up for us as journalists about your standing on the report or we will have to ask you again?<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 We\u2019ll have to see as this proceeds.\u00a0 I mean, it\u2019s not\u2026 it\u2019s simply not the case that we take an immediate reaction to something that needs to be studied, and so that study process takes a bit of time, and we\u2019ll allow them to do that.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Thank you, Farhan.\u00a0 I have couple of questions.\u00a0 First, I have a follow-up to Ibtisam question.\u00a0 Do you recall that the\u2026 it was the UN first to declare that Israel has an apartheid system vis-\u00e0-vis the Palestinians when they put\u2026 when ESCWA (Economic and Social Commission for West Asia) put a report in 2017, yet the Secretary-General ordered Rima Khalaf, the Executive Secretary at the time, to take that report down?\u00a0 Is it time for the UN to revisit its own report on the system Israel is applying to the Palestinians?<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Well, again, without characterizing it one way or another, we have been getting the various facts out about the situation on the ground, including in the report, by the way, that you mentioned, which, I believe, the facts of the report were released, and we\u2019ll continue to do that.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, it\u2019s important to have a solid base of information about what\u2019s happening, and that\u2019s what we try to provide.<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 My second question, on 21\u00a0April, the Israeli occupation authorities arrested journalist Alaa \u2014 A-l-a-a \u2014 al-Rimawi from his home in Ramallah.\u00a0 He is number now 26, Palestinian journalists arrested by Israel.\u00a0 Committee to Protect Journalists issued a statement calling for his release.\u00a0 He went onto a hunger strike now.\u00a0 The UN is silent about his arrest and the other journalists.\u00a0 Do you have anything to say about that?<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 What I have to say is that it is our principle that all journalists in every country, including here, need to be protected so that they can go about their work without harassment and without the sort of pressure that we\u2019ve seen.\u00a0 And so, it\u2019s important that all journalists, including those Palestinian journalists working in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, be accorded their basic rights.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

For information media. Not an official record.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

27 APRIL 2021 The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today\u2019s noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General. \/… Questions and Answers \/… Question:\u00a0 Thank you very much, Farhan.\u00a0 I have a couple of questions.\u00a0 First, Human Rights Watch today is accusing Israel of committing crimes of apartheid and persecution against Arabs […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"template-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[897,2553],"document-category":[2573],"document-source":[2269,2749,5352,6169],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1945,1741,1745],"entity":[2077,1729],"document-language":[],"class_list":["post-250176","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","country-israel","country-united-states-of-america","document-category-highlights-of-the-noon-briefing","document-source-economic-and-social-commission-for-western-asia-escwa","document-source-human-rights-watch","document-source-secretary-general","document-source-united-nations-department-of-global-communications","document-subject-assistance","document-subject-human-rights-and-international-humanitarian-law","document-subject-refugees-and-displaced-persons","entity-non-governmental-organization","entity-united-nations-system"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/250176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/250176\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=250176"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=250176"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=250176"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=250176"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=250176"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=250176"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=250176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}