United Nations published this video item, entitled “Ukraine, Security Council & other topics – Daily Press Briefing (22 August 2022)” – below is their description.
Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
SECRETARY-GENERAL/TRAVELS
The Secretary-General is now back in New York. On Saturday, he was in Istanbul where he visited the Joint Operations Centre of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. He was also able to see the World Food Programme (WFP) ship Brave Commander and board the SSI Invincible II vessel which was on its way to Chornomorsk in Ukraine to load up almost 50,000 tonnes of grain – which would be the largest shipment to leave Ukraine since the start of the war.
The Secretary-General then toured the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) where he was joined by the Turkish Minister of Defence, Hulusi Akar. He also met with the Ukrainian and the Russian delegations to the JCC separately and then sat in on an official session of the Joint Coordination team where he thanked all the participants for their professionalism and humanity in ensuring that this initiative is a success for people around the world.
UKRAINE FACT-FINDING MISSION
On 3 August 2022, the Secretary-General announced his decision to launch a Fact-Finding Mission regarding the 29 July 2022 incident at Olenivka, Ukraine, following requests from the Governments of Ukraine and the Russian Federation. The Fact-Finding Mission will endeavour to ascertain the facts of the incident and report to the Secretary-General upon completion of its work.
Earlier last week, in Lviv, on Thursday, the Secretary stated he was going to appoint General Carlos dos Santos Cruz of Brazil to lead the mission. This has now been done. The other members of the team are Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir of Iceland and Issoufou Yacouba of Niger.
The Terms of Reference of the mission were shared with Ukraine and the Russian Federation, as well as the make-up of the team. The UN will now continue to work to obtain the necessary assurances to guarantee secure access to the site and any other relevant locations.
As the Secretary-General said very clearly in Lviv, to put it simply, a fact-finding mission must be free to find the facts. The team must be able to gather and analyze necessary information. Above all, that means safe, secure and unfettered access to people, places and evidence without any interference from any party.
Some background on the members of the team.
General dos Santos Cruz has over 45 years of national and international military and civilian experience. In 2017, he led a United Nations high-level review on addressing violence against UN peacekeepers. General dos Santos Cruz served as Force Commander in the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) from 2013 to 2015, as well as in Haiti from 2007 until 2009. He has held numerous leadership positions in Brazil.
Ms. Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir brings to the Fact-Finding Mission over 40 years of experience in international and national public service. Most recently, she served as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq from 2021 to 2022. Prior to that, Ms. Gísladóttir carried out various high-level assignments with the (OSCE) and UN WOMEN. She was Iceland’s Foreign Affairs Minister from 2007 to 2009. She also served as a member of Parliament for seven years and as Mayor of Reykjavík for nine years.
Mr. Issoufou Yacouba brings several decades of experience in national and international police service. Most recently, Mr. Yacouba was Police commissioner for the UN Peacekeeping force in Mali from 2016 to 2021. Prior to that he also served with the United Nations Operation in Burundi (ONUB) as Deputy Police Commissioner and served in his country’s police force, including as Inspector General. Mr. Yacouba also served as regional governor.
Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=22%20August%202022
United Nations YouTube Channel
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