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United Nations on Various Global Issues
Published 3 years, 3 months ago
Description
Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General
The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Good afternoon, everyone.
**Secretary-General’s Travels
I have travel to announce. Tomorrow morning, the Secretary-General will travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with members of the United States Senate. He accepted an invitation by Senator Patrick Leahy, President pro tempore of the Senate, to meet him and other members of the leadership of the Senate Committee on Appropriations.
While on Capitol Hill, the Secretary-General will also meet with the Chairman and the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Senators Robert Menendez and James Risch.
The Secretary-General will return to New York the same day.
**Gender Parity
And this morning, the Secretary-General provided an update on the fifth anniversary of the Gender Parity Strategy.
Speaking to the Group of Friends on the topic, he reiterated that gender parity is a key priority of his second term, adding that it is also a strategic goal for the Organization.
The Secretary-General pointed to notable advances achieved in the past five years: gender parity has been reached among the UN’s senior leadership two years ahead of the target date; along with parity among heads and deputy heads of peace operations; as well as parity among the 130 Resident Coordinators.
The number of UN entities with at least 50 per cent women staff has also risen from five to 26.
But, the Secretary-General added, gaps remain. In the field, he said, progress has been slow and in some cases we have gone backwards. Therefore, the next phase of implementing the Gender Parity Strategy will focus on advancing and sustaining progress in the field.
His full remarks have been shared with you.
**Deputy Secretary-General’s Travels
Following her trip to the Aspen Ministers Forum in Prague, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed is in Geneva today. Upon her arrival, she engaged with officials and staff from around the UN system. At an executive briefing with Member States, the Deputy Secretary-General reflected on the momentum needed to rescue the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and highlighted the unique partnership opportunities for the forthcoming SDG Summit in 2023.
During the high-level opening ceremony and dialogue of the 2022 Effective Development Cooperation Summit, she called for collective action for today’s challenges, financing and investments in long-term development goals. “Put simply”, she stated, “we need multilateralism that delivers for people and planet”.
The Deputy Secretary-General also met with the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, and with the Swedish State Secretary for Development, Diana Janse, as well as leaders from development organizations, the President and Chairs of the Governing Bodies of Geneva and other distinguished representatives.
While at the Summit, she took the opportunity to participate in the UN SDG Action Campaign, which aims to turn division into togetherness and apathy into action.
**Ukraine
Turning to Ukraine: As you know, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, arrived today in the country for a four-day visit. His first stop was Mykolaiv, in southern Ukraine, where he visited a bakery which is owned by a woman. That bakery has remained open throughout the nine months of the war but had to reduce the number of employees from almost 500 to just below 100. Our colleagues from the World Food Programme are supporting the bakery by distributing its loaves to people in Mykolaiv and the front-line city of Kherson.
Also today, Mr. Griffiths visited a centre
The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Good afternoon, everyone.
**Secretary-General’s Travels
I have travel to announce. Tomorrow morning, the Secretary-General will travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with members of the United States Senate. He accepted an invitation by Senator Patrick Leahy, President pro tempore of the Senate, to meet him and other members of the leadership of the Senate Committee on Appropriations.
While on Capitol Hill, the Secretary-General will also meet with the Chairman and the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Senators Robert Menendez and James Risch.
The Secretary-General will return to New York the same day.
**Gender Parity
And this morning, the Secretary-General provided an update on the fifth anniversary of the Gender Parity Strategy.
Speaking to the Group of Friends on the topic, he reiterated that gender parity is a key priority of his second term, adding that it is also a strategic goal for the Organization.
The Secretary-General pointed to notable advances achieved in the past five years: gender parity has been reached among the UN’s senior leadership two years ahead of the target date; along with parity among heads and deputy heads of peace operations; as well as parity among the 130 Resident Coordinators.
The number of UN entities with at least 50 per cent women staff has also risen from five to 26.
But, the Secretary-General added, gaps remain. In the field, he said, progress has been slow and in some cases we have gone backwards. Therefore, the next phase of implementing the Gender Parity Strategy will focus on advancing and sustaining progress in the field.
His full remarks have been shared with you.
**Deputy Secretary-General’s Travels
Following her trip to the Aspen Ministers Forum in Prague, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed is in Geneva today. Upon her arrival, she engaged with officials and staff from around the UN system. At an executive briefing with Member States, the Deputy Secretary-General reflected on the momentum needed to rescue the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and highlighted the unique partnership opportunities for the forthcoming SDG Summit in 2023.
During the high-level opening ceremony and dialogue of the 2022 Effective Development Cooperation Summit, she called for collective action for today’s challenges, financing and investments in long-term development goals. “Put simply”, she stated, “we need multilateralism that delivers for people and planet”.
The Deputy Secretary-General also met with the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, and with the Swedish State Secretary for Development, Diana Janse, as well as leaders from development organizations, the President and Chairs of the Governing Bodies of Geneva and other distinguished representatives.
While at the Summit, she took the opportunity to participate in the UN SDG Action Campaign, which aims to turn division into togetherness and apathy into action.
**Ukraine
Turning to Ukraine: As you know, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, arrived today in the country for a four-day visit. His first stop was Mykolaiv, in southern Ukraine, where he visited a bakery which is owned by a woman. That bakery has remained open throughout the nine months of the war but had to reduce the number of employees from almost 500 to just below 100. Our colleagues from the World Food Programme are supporting the bakery by distributing its loaves to people in Mykolaiv and the front-line city of Kherson.
Also today, Mr. Griffiths visited a centre