{"id":151889,"date":"2018-05-03T17:59:31","date_gmt":"2018-05-03T21:59:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/?p=151889"},"modified":"2018-06-18T18:37:15","modified_gmt":"2018-06-18T22:37:15","slug":"highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-3-may-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2018\/05\/03\/highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-3-may-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"HIGHLIGHTS OF PRESS BRIEFING BY SPOKESPERSON \u2013 3 MAY 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[et_pb_section bb_built=&#8221;1&#8243;][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#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\">3 May 2018<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][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<h3><strong>PRESIDENT MARKS WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY BY CALLING FOR PROTECTION OF JOURNALISTS<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The President <a href=\"\/pga\/72?p=151837\">spoke at an event<\/a> this morning to mark World Press Freedom Day.<\/li>\n<li>He said, \u201cPeople need journalists. For information. For education. For inspiration. For solidarity. And, for hope \u2013 when the rest of the world seems to be looking away.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>He added, \u201cWhen journalists are silenced, people suffer\u2026 So, on this day and all days, let us reassure journalists that they can count on us. Let us recommit: to protect them, to include them, and to respect the role that they play.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The Spokesperson was asked whether the General Assembly had created the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, which, according to the reporter, had cancelled a World Press Freedom Day event because of objections from certain Member States. The reporter noted that the Alliance\u2019s web site referred to General Assembly resolutions.<\/li>\n<li>The Spokesperson responded that those resolutions simply expressed support for the Alliance, which was an initiative by the Secretary-General and supported by a voluntary trust fund with no financial implications for the regular budget of the United Nations. The Spokesperson noted that the Alliance was neither connected to the President nor a subsidiary organ of the General Assembly.<\/li>\n<li>Asked for the President\u2019s reaction to the Alliance\u2019s alleged decision to cancel its event, the Spokesperson said the event had not been affiliated in any way with the President or his office. As such, no official information about the event had been communicated to him. The Spokesperson stressed that the President stood firmly for press freedom, as he had said in his remarks this morning.<\/li>\n<li>Asked what kinds of repercussions the Alliance should face, if it were determined that it had tried to \u201ccrush press freedom\u201d, the Spokesperson said he could not answer any hypothetical questions. He reiterated the President\u2019s strong support for press freedom in general.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>DIALOGUES WITH CANDIDATES FOR NEXT GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT TO BE HELD TOMORROW<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Regarding the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/pga-election\">election of the next President of the General Assembly<\/a>, informal interactive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/51\/2018\/04\/Interactive-dialogues-for-candidates-for-position-of-PGA.pdf\">dialogues<\/a> will be held with the candidates tomorrow in the Trusteeship Council Chamber. This will be the first time such dialogues have been held. The General Assembly decided to hold them for the sake of transparency and inclusivity.<\/li>\n<li>Each of the two dialogues will last up to two hours and be presided over by President Laj\u010d\u00e1k. Each candidate will start with an introduction and then take questions and hear comments from Member States.<\/li>\n<li>Time permitting, candidates might also respond to questions from civil society or other stakeholders. Those questions have to be submitted in advance through the President\u2019s web site by 5:00 p.m. today. All of the proceedings will be webcast and open to the press.<\/li>\n<li>The first dialogue tomorrow will take place from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. with H.E. Ms. Mary Elizabeth Flores Flake, who currently serves as the Permanent Representative of Honduras to the United Nations.<\/li>\n<li>The second will take place from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. with H.E. Ms. Mar\u00eda Fernanda Espinosa Garc\u00e9s, the current Foreign Minister of Ecuador.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><strong>GENERAL ASSEMBLY DISCUSSES ALIGNING ITS WORK WITH 2030 AGENDA<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Today the General Assembly held informal consultations on aligning its work with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This was the 72nd session\u2019s first meeting on this topic that involved the entire General Assembly membership.<\/li>\n<li>In his remarks, the President said, \u201cWhen we think of implementation [of the 2030 Agenda], we think of financing, capacity building and projects\u2026 But we also have to think about how we organize ourselves internally to maximize results. We have both gaps and overlaps. And we need to address them.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>PRESIDENT CHAIRS SELECTION COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS PRIZE<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The President held a videoconference today with the committee that will select the winners of the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights. This honorary award was established by the General Assembly in 1966.<\/li>\n<li>The Selection Committee consists of the President of the General Assembly, who chairs the group; the President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the President of the Human Rights Council, the Chair of the Commission on the Status of Women, and the Chair of the Advisory Committee of the Human Rights Council.<\/li>\n<li>This was the committee\u2019s first meeting.<\/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 3 May 2018<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"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-151889","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 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>HIGHLIGHTS OF PRESS BRIEFING BY SPOKESPERSON \u2013 3 MAY 2018 - General Assembly of the United Nations<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2018\/05\/03\/highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-3-may-2018\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"HIGHLIGHTS OF PRESS BRIEFING BY SPOKESPERSON \u2013 3 MAY 2018 - General Assembly of the United Nations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Highlights of press briefing by spokesperson Brenden Varma \u2013 3 May 2018\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2018\/05\/03\/highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-3-may-2018\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"General Assembly of the United Nations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-03T21:59:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-06-18T22:37:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sharifa Yousef A. 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