Secretary-General Statements

Ladies and gentlemen of the media, thank you very much for your presence.    I want, first of all, to pay tribute to the extraordinary statesmanship, to the courage and to the determination of Mr. [Nicos] Anastasiades and Mr. [Mustafa] Akıncı, who for 20 months have been conducting in a very determined way a dialogue aiming at creating the conditions to allow for Cyprus to be able to be again a country united, living in normal conditions for its people.  

The Secretary-General, in consultation with members of the Executive Committee, has asked Ms. Jane Holl Lute, the Special Coordinator for improving the Organisation's response to sexual exploitation and abuse, to convene a high-level task force to develop as a matter of urgency, a clear, game-changing strategy to achieve visible and measurable further improvement in the Organisation’s approach to preventing and responding to sexual exploitation and abuse.

The Secretary-General welcomes the signing today in Kinshasa, by the opposition and the Majorité présidentielle, of a political agreement on the holding of elections in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and transitional arrangements leading up to the polls. This long-awaited development builds on an initial agreement signed on 18 October between part of the opposition and the Majorité présidentielle. It represents a significant step towards a peacefully managed transition consistent with the democratic principles enshrined in the country''s Constitution.

[Trilingual version, as delivered] [scroll down for English] Merci d’être venus aujourd’hui par solidarité avec le peuple haïtien, pour lui manifester votre respect et votre soutien. Je voudrais avant tout féliciter le peuple haïtien pour le déroulement pacifique des élections qui se sont tenues récemment, dont les résultats préliminaires ont été annoncés en début de semaine.