Belgium, Middle East & other topics - Daily Press Briefing (21 March 2025) | United Nations

Noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General. Highlights: Secretary-General Middle East Occupied Palestinian Territory Democratic Republic of the Congo Sudan South Sudan Ukraine Haiti International Days Guest SECRETARY-GENERAL The Secretary-General is about to leave Brussels. Earlier today, he was in Leuven, where he accepted an honorary doctorate given to the United Nations by the universities KU Leuven and UC Louvain. In his remarks, Mr. Guterres said that by bestowing this honour, the universities are sending a message of support for the mission of the United Nations —a message of solidarity to all those working to make it real – and a message of inspiration for us to keep up the fight. He said the universities’ 600th anniversary coincides with a moment of reflection for the United Nations, which marks its own 80th anniversary as an organization at the epicentre of multilateralism. Standing here in Europe, the Secretary-General added, we know this same commitment to multilateralism is the beating heart of the European Union - a powerful reminder of our shared responsibility to the world’s most vulnerable people, and proof that isolationism is an illusion, never a solution.   Turning to the situation in Gaza, the Secretary-General renewed his appeal for the ceasefire to be restored, for unimpeded humanitarian assistance to be reestablished and for the remaining hostages to be released immediately and unconditionally. His full remarks have been shared with you. This afternoon, the Secretary-General also had a meeting with the Prime Minister of Belgium, Bart De Wever. I believe the readout of this meeting had just been made available. MIDDLE EAST Sigrid Kaag, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process ad interim, briefed the Security Council this morning on Israel and Palestine, and she said that hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally. She strongly condemned the reported ill-treatment of hostages. as well as the fact that there are reasonable grounds to believe that hostages may be subjected to sexual violence and abuse. Ms. Kaag unequivocally condemned the widespread killing and injury of civilians and the destruction of civilian infrastructure in Gaza. Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people, she said. She mourned the UN staff killed in Gaza and strongly condemned the killing of all humanitarian personnel and called for the full investigation of all such incidents. The Special Coordinator reiterated her call for a sustained ceasefire and urged the parties to redouble efforts to end human suffering. She rejected the forced displacement of the Palestinian population from any part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which would constitute a grave violation of international human rights and humanitarian law. Ms. Kaag added that the escalation of violence in the occupied West Bank is deeply troubling. Alongside the rising death toll, Palestine refugee camps in the northern West Bank are being emptied and are sustaining massive infrastructure damage during Israeli operations. Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon...