{"id":130958,"date":"2017-11-21T18:03:16","date_gmt":"2017-11-21T23:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/?p=130958"},"modified":"2018-06-18T19:14:16","modified_gmt":"2018-06-18T23:14:16","slug":"highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-21-november-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2017\/11\/21\/highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-21-november-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Highlights of press briefing by spokesperson \u2013 21 November 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[et_pb_section bb_built=&#8221;1&#8243;][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=&#8221;2_3&#8243;][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.87&#8243; background_layout=&#8221;light&#8221; border_style=&#8221;solid&#8221;]<\/p>\n<h1><strong>HIGHLIGHTS OF PRESS BRIEFING BY BRENDEN VARMA,\u00a0<\/strong><strong>SPOKESPERSON FOR <\/strong><strong>GENERAL ASSEMBLY <\/strong><strong>PRESIDENT <\/strong><strong>MIROSLAV LAJ\u010c\u00c1K <\/strong><\/h1>\n<div class=\"post-meta vcard\">\n<p><strong>United Nations Headquarters, New York<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><span class=\"updated\">21 November 2017<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.87&#8243; background_layout=&#8221;light&#8221; border_style=&#8221;solid&#8221;]<\/p>\n<h3><strong>PRESIDENT CONDEMNS TERROR ATTACK IN NIGERIA<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>On Twitter this morning, the President strongly <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/±¬ÁÏÍø_PGA\/status\/932968554974064640\">condemned<\/a> today&#8217;s terror attack in eastern Nigeria.<\/li>\n<li>He said it is unacceptable that civilians were targeted in a place of worship.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>ZIMBABWE: PRESIDENT URGES CALM, RESTRAINT, RESPECT FOR CONSTITUTIONAL ORDER<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Asked for the President\u2019s reaction to reports that Mr. Robert Mugabe had resigned as the President of Zimbabwe, the Spokesperson said that the President noted Mr. Mugabe\u2019s announcement and called for calm, restraint and respect for constitutional order during this time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>CLIMATE CHANGE NOT A THEORETICAL QUESTION FOR CARIBBEAN PEOPLE<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Also this morning, the President <a href=\"http:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2017\/11\/21\/un-caricom-high-level-pledging-conference\/\">addressed<\/a> a ±¬ÁÏÍø-CARICOM high-level pledging conference entitled \u201cBuilding a More Climate-Resilient Community.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>In his remarks, he said climate change is not a theoretical question for the people of the Caribbean. They live this reality daily.<\/li>\n<li>He added, \u201cAs a global family, we have a moral obligation to stand with the people affected.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The President highlighted three key steps: committing support to the rebuilding effort; emphasizing resilience; and recognizing that Small Island Developing States are particularly vulnerable to climate change, natural disasters and external shocks.<\/li>\n<li>He added, \u201cWe should not let the people be punished once by nature and twice by outdated economic policies.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><strong>ASSEMBLY PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR AFGHANISTAN<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The General Assembly plenary held a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.un.org\/press\/en\/2017\/ga11979.doc.htm\">meeting<\/a> on Afghanistan and adopted a resolution on that country by consensus this morning.<\/li>\n<li>Among other things, the Assembly pledged its continued support to the Government and people of Afghanistan &#8212; as they rebuild a stable, secure and economically self-sufficient State, free of terrorism and narcotics, and strengthen the foundations of a constitutional democracy as a responsible member of the international community.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3><strong>INDIAN JUDGE ELECTED TO INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Yesterday afternoon, the General Assembly, together with the Security Council, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.un.org\/press\/en\/2017\/ga11978.doc.htm\">elected<\/a> Dalveer Bhandari\u00a0of India to the International Court of Justice.<\/li>\n<li>He was elected by a vote of 183\u00a0in\u00a0favour to zero\u00a0against, with 10\u00a0abstentions.<\/li>\n<li>The opposing candidate, Christopher Greenwood\u00a0of the United Kingdom, withdrew from the race prior to the vote.<\/li>\n<li>In a letter addressed to the President yesterday, the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom said the deadlock between the two candidates was unlikely to be broken by further rounds of voting.<\/li>\n<li>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/±¬ÁÏÍø_PGA\/status\/932717161432387584\">tweet<\/a> yesterday, the President said he was happy that the elections had successfully wrapped up. He noted the constructive spirit that had prevailed and congratulated all 5 new judges.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>SPOKESPERSON DOESN\u2019T SPEAK FOR PAST PRESIDENTS, CURRENT PRESIDENT OBSERVES HIGHEST LEVELS OF ETHICS &amp; TRANSPARENCY<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The Spokesperson was asked what steps the current President would take to respond to an alleged bribery case involving a former General Assembly President and a non-governmental organization (NGO), which was accredited to the Economic and Social Council and working with a Department in the United Nations Secretariat.<\/li>\n<li>The Spokesperson noted that he only spoke for the current President of the General Assembly \u2013 not former ones \u2013 and referred questions about this matter to the Economic and Social Council and the Department in question. He stressed that this case had nothing to do with the current President.<\/li>\n<li>For his part, the current President of the General Assembly continues to hold himself and his office to the highest levels of transparency and ethics. Financial details pertaining to the use of his Office\u2019s Trust Fund are regularly posted on the Office\u2019s web site, and the President is preparing to become the first United Nations General Assembly President in history to make his personal financial disclosure summary public.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=&#8221;1_3&#8243;][et_pb_code admin_label=&#8221;BrightCove Video ShortCode&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;3.6&#8243;]\n<!-- iframe plugin v.6.0 wordpress.org\/plugins\/iframe\/ -->\n<iframe width=\"&quot;100%&quot;\" height=\"&quot;180&quot;\" src scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\n[\/et_pb_code][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Highlights of press briefing by spokesperson Brenden Varma \u2013 21 November 2017<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[232],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-130958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spokespersons-briefings","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - 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