Source: United Nations (Video News)
Noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Highlights:
– Nobel Peace Prize
– Noon Briefing Guest
– Secretary-General
– Lebanon
– Security Council
– Lebanon/Humanitarian
– Occupied Palestinian Territory
– Ukraine
– South Sudan
– West and Central Africa Floods
– UNHCR
– International Days
Nobel Peace Prize
The Secretary-General warmly congratulated the grassroots Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo on being awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize.
The atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, also known as the hibakusha, are selfless, soul-bearing witnesses of the horrific human cost of nuclear weapons. While their numbers grow smaller each year, the relentless work and resilience of the hibakusha are the backbone of the global nuclear disarmament movement.
In a statement, the Secretary-General said that he will never forget his many meetings with them over the years. Their haunting living testimony reminds the world that the nuclear threat is not confined to history books. Nuclear weapons remain a clear and present danger to humanity, once again appearing in the daily rhetoric of international relations.
It is time for world leaders to be as clear-eyed as the hibakusha and see nuclear weapons for what they are: devices of death that offer no safety, protection, or security. The only way to eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons is to eliminate them altogether.
The United Nations proudly stands with the hibakusha. They are an inspiration to our shared efforts to build a world free of nuclear weapons.
Noon Briefing Guest
Izumi Nakamitsu, the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs briefed reporters on the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to Nihon Hidankyo for its work advocating for a world free of nuclear weapons.
Secretary-General
The Secretary-General this morning addressed the ASEAN-UN Summit in Vientiane. He underscored the importance of the relationship between the two organizations which, he said, is a strategic partnership. In a world with growing geopolitical divides, with dramatic impacts on peace and security and sustainable development, the Association of South-East Asian Nations [ASEAN] is a bridge-builder and a messenger for peace, he said.
He also underscored how much the United Nations is grateful for ASEAN’s important contribution to UN peacekeeping operations. The Secretary-General took the opportunity to express his solidarity with Indonesia, as two of its peacekeepers serving with UNIFIL were wounded yesterday by Israeli fire in south Lebanon.
The Secretary-General outlined the key areas of the recently adopted Pact for the Future, which offers a strong vision for the time ahead.
In a press conference, the Secretary-General was asked about the wounding of the two peacekeepers in Lebanon, and he condemned the shooting against the UN premises in which the two peacekeepers were wounded, adding that it was a violation of international humanitarian law. Peacekeepers must be protected by all parties of the conflict, he said.
Prior to the meeting, the Secretary-General also held bilateral meetings with the President of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Thongloun Sisoulith, and with the Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, Pham Minh Chinh. We have issued readouts of those meetings.
Office of the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General Website
https://www.un.org/sg/en/spokesperson/
Full Highlights
https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight