Spokesperson's Noon Briefing


Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York


DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICES OF THE SPOKESPERSON FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

AND THE SPOKESPERSON FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Michèle Montas, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, and Enrique Yeves, Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly.

Briefing by the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General

Good afternoon all.

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**Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµRWA

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµRWA) reports that more than 490,000 children stood up against poverty yesterday as Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµRWA schools marked the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

The activities organized at Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµRWA schools across the agency’s five fields of operation — Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza -– were designed to give children the chance to discuss and protest against their own poverty.

In Gaza, where thousands of students stood up and shouted “No to poverty”, John Ging, Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµRWA’s director of operations in Gaza, said, "Our message is clear. We must simply lift the blockade to ensure a respectful life for Gaza's people in order for them to exercise basic human rights."

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For information media • not an official record