Noon Briefing Guest Tomorrow, Secretary-General/African Union & other topics - Daily Press Briefing

Noon Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

- Noon Briefing Guest Tomorrow
- Secretary-General/African Union
- Security Council
- Ukraine
- Occupied Palestinian Territory
- Secretary-General/Gaza
- Lebanon
- Syria
- Syria/Humanitarian
- Peacekeeping
- Sudan
- Sudan/Humanitarian
- South Sudan
- Senior Personnel Appointment
- Tourism Resilience Day
- Financial contribution

NOON BRIEFING GUEST/TOMORROW
Tomorrow, noon briefing guest will be Muhannad Hadi, the UN Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator. He will join virtually from Jerusalem and will brief reporters on the situation in Gaza.

SECRETARY-GENERAL/AFRICAN UNION
The Secretary-General is back in New York after attending the African Union summit in Addis Ababa.
In a press conference as he departed on Saturday, the Secretary-General said that over three days in Addis Ababa, he had met many leaders from across the continent to discuss challenges across the spectrum. And he emphasizes that despite the many tests facing Africa, we start from a position of strength. 
At the same time, the Secretary-General drew attention to a United Nations Security Council where Africa still inexplicably lacks permanent representation and an international financial architecture where the power and place of Africa is not fairly at the table.

SECURITY COUNCIL
This morning, the Security Council held a briefing on threats to international peace and security. Briefing Council members, Miroslav Jenča, the Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia, and the Americas, noted that in one week, we will mark three tragic years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, launched in violation of the UN Charter and international law. In this context, Mr. Jenča said, today’s ten-year anniversary of Security Council resolution 2202 - that called for the full implementation of the now defunct Minsk agreements - is an opportunity to recall past diplomatic efforts towards de-escalation and a peaceful settlement of the conflict.
He noted that the Secretary-General has underlined, time and again, that any peaceful settlement must respect the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, in line with the UN Charter, international law and resolutions of the General Assembly. Mr. Jenča said that the UN encourages dialogue among all stakeholders and welcomes all genuine efforts and initiatives, with the full participation of Ukraine and the Russian Federation, that would alleviate the impact of the war on civilians and de-escalate the conflict.

Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=17%20February%202025