"REFORMS"

UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen announced that an agreement has been reached for the next round of the Constitutional Committee and said, “With military frontlines largely frozen for eighteen months, and concerns from parties regarding the status quo, the time to push for a political process is now.” UNIFEED

Speaking on the Independent Commission's report about allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse during an Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, WHO’s chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that what happened to the victims and survivors “should never happen to anyone. It’s inexcusable. It is my top priority to ensure that the perpetrators are not excused, but are held to account." WHO

Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia Demeke Mekonnen underscored his government’s “unreserved commitment” for the provision of humanitarian assistance and facilitate the operation of its humanitarian partners that adhere to the principles of neutrality, independence and humanity and the laws of the country, adding that “apart from this, no excuse will justify any attempt to intervene in our internal affairs.” UNIFEED

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the General Assembly’s General Debate that “the West wants to exclude those of a different point of view from global decision -making processes.” UNIFEED

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his country is working on becoming “the world’s largest green hydrogen hub” and told world leaders, “We are answerable to our future generations when they ask, when it was time to take decisions, what were those people doing, those people whose responsibility it was to give direction to the world?” UNIFEED

Lebanese President Michel Aoun said his country " has known its hardest times” over the past two years “whereas successive crises – some inherited and ramified and some urgent - exploded simultaneously, affecting all sectors.” UNIFEED

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan said that the level of COVID-19 vaccine inequity is “appalling,” adding that “it is truly disheartening to see that whilst most of our countries have inoculated less than 2 per cent of our populace and thus, seek for more vaccines for our people, other countries are about to roll out the third dose, calling it ‘booster vaccine’.” UNIFEED

Iraqi President Barham Salih said the early elections set to take place in his country next month will be “decisive and will have an impact on Iraq and perhaps the entire region.” UNIFEED

"We need the full support of the Arab League" in efforts to find "a political solution in both Syria and Yemen," as well as in dealing with other crisis in Middle East, the Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told reporters before chairing an informal interactive dialogue between the UN Security Council and the League of Arab States. UNIFEED

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the 20th anniversary of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action “offers an important opportunity to reflect on where we stand and where we need to go,” adding that “structural racism and systematic injustice still deny people their fundamental human rights.” UNIFEED