{"id":126454,"date":"2017-10-16T15:35:21","date_gmt":"2017-10-16T19:35:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/?p=126454\/"},"modified":"2018-06-18T19:21:33","modified_gmt":"2018-06-18T23:21:33","slug":"highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-16-october-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2017\/10\/16\/highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-16-october-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Highlights of press briefing by spokesperson \u2013 16 October 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[et_pb_section bb_built=&#8221;1&#8243;][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=&#8221;2_3&#8243;][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.69&#8243; background_layout=&#8221;light&#8221; text_orientation=&#8221;left&#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\">16 October 2017<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.69&#8243; background_layout=&#8221;light&#8221; text_orientation=&#8221;left&#8221; border_style=&#8221;solid&#8221;]<\/p>\n<h3><strong>SOMALIA: PRESIDENT OUTRAGED BY TERRORIST ATTACK<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>On Somalia, the President tweeted that he was outraged and horrified by the still rising death toll following this weekend\u2019s terrorist attack in Mogadishu.<\/li>\n<li>He also expressed his condolences to and solidarity with the people and Government of Somalia at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2017\/10\/16\/africa-week-2017\/\">high-level inauguration of Africa Week 2017,<\/a> which took place this morning.<\/li>\n<li>At that event, the President also added: \u201cIn the past, Africa was expected to listen. It was expected to accept the ideas and conditions of others. That era is over\u2026 When it comes to its own development, Africa now has the most powerful voice of all. We need to listen to it, and learn from it.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>15 COÄ¢¹½ÊÓƵTRIES ELECTED TO HUMAN RIGHTS COÄ¢¹½ÊÓƵCIL<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The General Assembly met this morning to elect fifteen members of the Human Rights Council, which is a subsidiary body of the General Assembly.<\/li>\n<li>The following Member States were elected: Afghanistan, Angola, Australia, Chile, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Qatar, Senegal, Slovakia, Spain and Ukraine.<\/li>\n<li>This Human Rights Council election was the first one conducted with new ballot papers. In the past, ballot papers had been completely blank. Now, they contain the names of the candidate countries, along with additional space to inscribe other names. The idea was to make the process smoother.<\/li>\n<li>The Spokesperson was asked for the President\u2019s reaction to Member States distributing gifts in order to garner votes in the Human Rights Council elections, and whether there should be value caps on such gifts. The Spokesperson later said that the President believed that the elections should be a competition between candidates \u2013 not a competition over who could give the most expensive gifts.<\/li>\n<li>The Spokesperson also later noted that, by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.un.org\/en\/ga\/search\/view_doc.asp?symbol=A\/RES\/71\/323\">resolution A\/RES\/71\/323<\/a>, the General Assembly had decided that, during its seventy-second session, the Ad Hoc Working Group on the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly, which is open to all Member States, \u201cshall start to consider the potential concept and scope of a code of conduct to guide the conduct of election campaigns by Member States, with a view to improving the standards of transparency, accountability and equity\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>PRESIDENT HIGHLIGHTS LINKS BETWEEN FOOD SECURITY AND MIGRATION<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Today is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2017\/10\/16\/world-food-day-2017\/\">World Food Day<\/a>, and the President delivered remarks at a related event this afternoon.<\/li>\n<li>He spoke about the \u201creal nexus between food security, rural development and migration\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>CLIMATE CHANGE THE MOST POPULAR TOPIC AT GENERAL DEBATE<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The Department for General Assembly and Conference Management\u00a0(DGACM) has now finalized a thorough and comprehensive report on statistics from the General Debate.<\/li>\n<li>It found that climate change was the most frequently-mentioned issue, with 165 speakers (84% of the membership) focusing on the topic. Climate change made the strongest showing this year when compared to all the years in which it had been raised.<\/li>\n<li>Sustainable development and the Sustainable Development Goals were mentioned by 162 speakers (83%). This was a drop from last year (185 speakers).<\/li>\n<li>Terrorism was the third most mentioned issue this session, with 157 speakers (80%) referring to it.<\/li>\n<li>The threat of nuclear weapons was raised as a topic by 136 speakers (69%). That was an increase of 97% over the previous session, when only 69 speakers (36%) mentioned nuclear weapons.<\/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 16 October 2017<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"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-126454","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 16 October 2017 - 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\/2017\/10\/16\/highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-16-october-2017\/\" \/>\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 16 October 2017 - General Assembly of the United Nations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Highlights of press briefing by spokesperson Brenden Varma \u2013 16 October 2017\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2017\/10\/16\/highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-16-october-2017\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"General Assembly of the United Nations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-10-16T19:35:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-06-18T23:21:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Katharina Kandt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Katharina Kandt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.un.org\\\/pga\\\/72\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/16\\\/highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-16-october-2017\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.un.org\\\/pga\\\/72\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/16\\\/highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-16-october-2017\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Katharina Kandt\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.un.org\\\/pga\\\/72\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/06bf09e43d46846c087701ec99ac8412\"},\"headline\":\"Highlights of press briefing by spokesperson \u2013 16 October 2017\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-16T19:35:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-06-18T23:21:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.un.org\\\/pga\\\/72\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/16\\\/highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-16-october-2017\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":652,\"articleSection\":[\"Spokesperson's Briefings\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.un.org\\\/pga\\\/72\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/16\\\/highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-16-october-2017\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.un.org\\\/pga\\\/72\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/16\\\/highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-16-october-2017\\\/\",\"name\":\"Highlights of press briefing by spokesperson \u2013 16 October 2017 - General Assembly of the United Nations\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.un.org\\\/pga\\\/72\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-16T19:35:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-06-18T23:21:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.un.org\\\/pga\\\/72\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/06bf09e43d46846c087701ec99ac8412\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.un.org\\\/pga\\\/72\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/16\\\/highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-16-october-2017\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.un.org\\\/pga\\\/72\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/16\\\/highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-16-october-2017\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.un.org\\\/pga\\\/72\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/16\\\/highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-16-october-2017\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.un.org\\\/pga\\\/72\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Highlights of press briefing by spokesperson \u2013 16 October 2017\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.un.org\\\/pga\\\/72\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.un.org\\\/pga\\\/72\\\/\",\"name\":\"General Assembly of the United Nations\",\"description\":\"President of the 72nd Session\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.un.org\\\/pga\\\/72\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.un.org\\\/pga\\\/72\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/06bf09e43d46846c087701ec99ac8412\",\"name\":\"Katharina Kandt\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5e28c19bf52d2ea02ca4d78c4548f4e118fe08e94744f59f7938769a04ae856e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5e28c19bf52d2ea02ca4d78c4548f4e118fe08e94744f59f7938769a04ae856e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5e28c19bf52d2ea02ca4d78c4548f4e118fe08e94744f59f7938769a04ae856e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Katharina Kandt\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.un.org\\\/pga\\\/72\\\/author\\\/kandtun-org\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Highlights of press briefing by spokesperson \u2013 16 October 2017 - General Assembly of the United Nations","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2017\/10\/16\/highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-16-october-2017\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Highlights of press briefing by spokesperson \u2013 16 October 2017 - General Assembly of the United Nations","og_description":"Highlights of press briefing by spokesperson Brenden Varma \u2013 16 October 2017","og_url":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2017\/10\/16\/highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-16-october-2017\/","og_site_name":"General Assembly of the United Nations","article_published_time":"2017-10-16T19:35:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-06-18T23:21:33+00:00","author":"Katharina Kandt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Katharina Kandt","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2017\/10\/16\/highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-16-october-2017\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2017\/10\/16\/highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-16-october-2017\/"},"author":{"name":"Katharina Kandt","@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/#\/schema\/person\/06bf09e43d46846c087701ec99ac8412"},"headline":"Highlights of press briefing by spokesperson \u2013 16 October 2017","datePublished":"2017-10-16T19:35:21+00:00","dateModified":"2018-06-18T23:21:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2017\/10\/16\/highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-16-october-2017\/"},"wordCount":652,"articleSection":["Spokesperson's Briefings"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2017\/10\/16\/highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-16-october-2017\/","url":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2017\/10\/16\/highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-16-october-2017\/","name":"Highlights of press briefing by spokesperson \u2013 16 October 2017 - General Assembly of the United Nations","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-10-16T19:35:21+00:00","dateModified":"2018-06-18T23:21:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/#\/schema\/person\/06bf09e43d46846c087701ec99ac8412"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2017\/10\/16\/highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-16-october-2017\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2017\/10\/16\/highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-16-october-2017\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2017\/10\/16\/highlights-of-press-briefing-by-spokesperson-16-october-2017\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Highlights of press briefing by spokesperson \u2013 16 October 2017"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/","name":"General Assembly of the United Nations","description":"President of the 72nd Session","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/#\/schema\/person\/06bf09e43d46846c087701ec99ac8412","name":"Katharina Kandt","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e28c19bf52d2ea02ca4d78c4548f4e118fe08e94744f59f7938769a04ae856e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e28c19bf52d2ea02ca4d78c4548f4e118fe08e94744f59f7938769a04ae856e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e28c19bf52d2ea02ca4d78c4548f4e118fe08e94744f59f7938769a04ae856e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Katharina Kandt"},"url":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/author\/kandtun-org\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126454\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}