Ãå±±½ûµØ

Good evening everyone.

As my visit with President Kim and President al-Madani is nearly over, I would like to underscore again our strong joint commitment to stability, security and peace in Lebanon.

We held important meetings on a range of subjects with Prime Minister Salam and Speaker Berri and the Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Samir Mokbel. I also met with His Beatitude Patriarch Rai.

President Kim and I saw for ourselves the work being done to help vulnerable Lebanese communities and the Palestinian and Syrian refugees they host.

During my visit, our visit to Tripoli and the Bekaa, I was very moved by my meetings with Palestine and Syrian refugees and my visit to a social development centre for Lebanese women and young people.

The United Nations, along with other international actors, is here to assist Lebanon in securing its stability and support its stabilization through humanitarian and development assistance to vulnerable Lebanese citizens, as well as Syrian and Palestinian refugees.

??The international community will support the Syrian refugees temporarily hosted in Lebanon, until the moment they feel they can return safely and securely to Syria. Lebanon can count on our full support for its vulnerable citizens as well as Syrian refugees.

Tonight, I have four messages for the people and leaders of Lebanon.

The first is to reaffirm our strong support for Lebanon as it continues to withstand the impact of the war in Syria.

The world owes the Lebanese people and authorities a great debt for their generosity in hosting over one million refugees from Syria, in addition to hundreds of thousands of Palestine  refugees. 

Lebanon hosts the largest number of refugees per capita in the world.  The international community recognizes this contribution and must support Lebanon in its efforts.      

Continued strong support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, remains vital for the wellbeing and protection of Palestine refugees. I stressed this at Nahr El-Bared Camp today. The Palestine refugees in Lebanon deserve our full support.

I welcome the record commitments made at the London Conference, and I call on donor countries to disburse their pledges as soon as possible. 

Lebanon needs us to bridge the gap between short-term humanitarian assistance and longer-term measures, including programmes for education and employment. 

The partnership between Lebanon, the United Nations, the World Bank and the Islamic Development Bank has made it possible to design an innovative concessional financial facility for Lebanon. 

Through this facility, the government will be able to invest in priority areas that will help people in need and stabilize the country. 

My second message is that Lebanon is, and must remain, a vital example to the region of coexistence and pluralism, at a time of dangerous new power dynamics and violent extremist forces.

I applaud the people of Lebanon for their resilience and I commend Prime Minister Tammam Salam for his leadership.

But the people of this country need their party leaders to work with the Prime Minister so that the Government can respond to their needs.

Most of all, they need the political parties to elect a President.

As long as the vacancy of presidency persists, national unity and Lebanon’s standing will remain fragile and incomplete.  

My third message is to reaffirm the United Nations strong support for the Lebanese Armed Forces.  

The death of a brave Lebanese soldier in a bomb attack near the Syrian border yesterday underlines the importance of these forces, not only for Lebanon’s security, but also for regional stability. I am very much encouraged that UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces are working closely together. 

I echo the Security Council in calling on Lebanon’s friends in the international community to continue to strengthen the capabilities of the Lebanese Armed Forces.

Finally, ten years after Security Council resolution 1701, southern Lebanon has seen the longest period of relative calm since 2006. This is a great credit to UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces.

But there is still a danger of miscalculation. The United Nations expects Lebanon to continue contributing to progress and to meet all its obligations.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Lebanon’s ability to thrive also depends on addressing longstanding regional conflicts.  

The United Nations will spare no effort in seeking to put an end to the conflict in Syria, and to reach a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East. 

This is a critical period for the region. It is time to stop the violence and end injustice; to give people the opportunities they deserve to build a better life.

That is why the United Nations will remain strong and unwavering in its partnership with Lebanon.

Thank you.

Question on what has changed in Lebanon since the Secretary-General’s last visit.

Secretary-General: My mandate as Secretary General - when I started in 2007 - just coincided with the reconstruction process of Lebanon from the war in 2006. Then my last visit took place just after the Syrian crisis began. At the time, there were around 5,000 Syrian refugees. That was manageable.

Since then, the number increased and more than 1 million people who have resettled in Lebanon. One out of five people is a Syrian refugee. If we include the Palestinian refugees, the statistics say that one out of three Lebanese is either a Palestinian or a Syrian. That has impacted heavily on an already difficult social and economic situation in Lebanon. That is one difference.

Secondly, I expected that there would have been some cohesion and unity among Lebanese leaders. It is the source of great concern that this country has not been able to elect a President, a Head of State of Lebanon. And I have been raising this issue to the Speaker and the Prime Minister, and all the leading figures of this society. There may be some political differences but these political differences should not be in front of the national interest and Lebanese prestige, visibility and role in the international community. As was very eloquently said by President Jim, that will affect the many aspects of Lebanese dealing with the international community.

The United Nations and the international community have been working very closely with the Lebanese people and Government while the Lebanese Government and people are undergoing very difficult situations. I am sure that with strong commitment and leadership, as well as strong support of the United Nations [through] UNIFIL and our political support, I am sure that Lebanon has great potential to change for the better for the future. Thank you.

Question on the impact of the failure of the United Nations to reach a political solution in Syria.

Secretary-General: Indeed unfortunately, this continuing Syrian conflict for six years has affected the various aspects of not only Syria, not only the region, but globally. First of all, the Syrian people and Syria Government, their country has been totally divided and destroyed. This is of their own making.

Four million people are now refugees, more than 12 million people inside [Syria] need urgent humanitarian assistance, more than 50 percent of the infrastructure has been destroyed and there are not many schools or sanitation and hospitals, or major institutions that are working properly. That has spread the cancerous disease for human beings, extremism and terrorism. The unspeakable brutality of Daesh, ISIL, has terrified the international community and is affecting all our life, all around the world, and has produced the very serious global movement of refugees again escaping to the European continent and other areas.

Unless we address this Syrian crisis immediately through inclusive political dialogue, it will continuously affect our life all around the world.

First and foremost we have to address and defeat terrorism and extremism. I applaud many countries who are participating in the international coalition.

At the same time, I am urging the whole world and particularly this region to have good governance, listen attentively and sincerely to the voices of their own people, for their aspirations and for their future.

Question on the withdrawn financial support by Saudi Arabia to the Lebanese Armed Forces.

Secretary-General: I really appreciated when the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia pledged to help the Lebanese Armed Forces in capacity building with $4 billion, which later seems to have been withdrawn. But I’m not in a position to make comments.

What I want to emphasize is that Lebanon’s peace and security and stability has great implications not only in Lebanon, but also the region. Therefore, as I said in my earlier remarks, I’m urging and appealing to the Member States of the world, particularly in this region, to help the Lebanese Armed Forces strengthen their capacity. It is important to provide resources for them.

Question on the UN’s strategy against terrorism.

Secretary-General: Terrorism and extremism require the whole of international community’s solidarity and unity of purpose. This terrorism, extremism should be defeated in the name of humanity. [….]

Now, while I believe that it is important to address terrorists and extremism through military means, it is important and effective, but sometimes, it is not the ultimate solution. The ultimate solution should be found in how we prevent [its] root causes - why these young people just join extremists and terrorists groups. That’s why I said good governance will be an answer.

That’s why in January this year, I have proposed to the General Assembly of the United Nations and the United Nations has adopted by unanimity on February 12 my proposal for a comprehensive plan of action to prevent violent extremism. We have to see why this extremism happens. I have presented about 70 recommendations. All these 70 recommendations may not necessarily apply to all those countries, but I’m asking and urging Member States when they have this kind of vulnerability and are exposed to extremism and terrorism: study and analyze carefully and try to implement all these recommendations.

Question on the accusation that the Ãå±±½ûµØis to blame for not being able to solve the Syrian crisis.

Secretary-General: I wish I could have some magic power to solve the Syrian crisis. Since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis, it is the United Nations which has been involved through diplomatic means, through dialogue. You may remember I have appointed three special envoys since the beginning of the crisis since 2012. The Geneva communique was adopted in June 2012. That has been the agreement among all the parties.

Now, the basic framework of this resolution depends on the will and commitment of the parties and of the international community. The Security Council has not been at the beginning able to show the unity of purpose that has been leading all the parties to fight continuously.

Since the creation of the International Syrian Support Group (ISSG), which was initiated in Vienna last month, I think the Member States are now much much more cooperative and showing unity of purpose. That is very important and the United States and Russia, two major, permanent members of the Security Council, have been working on this with the United Nations and Staffan de Mistura, the Special Envoy of the United Nations, has been working seriously. Now, while we have not yet been able to have commonalities between the two sides, it may take time, but we are working very hard.

In the meantime, we have seen intolerable number of casualties, a minimum of 255,000, some suggested more than 500,000 people have been killed, and a few million more than half the population have been affected. This is a serious and heart-breaking situation. I met many Syrian refugees, young people, even today, and I want to meet them in Jordan and I have been meeting them in Turkey and elsewhere.

So we have to stop this war as soon as possible. That requires the political will of the leaders and commitment of the Syrian people themselves. It’s not the United Nations’ future, that is their future, their people’s future. If the leaders of the Syrian community have a clear commitment for their future, I think that can be solved for sure. That is my answer this time, but remember that the United Nations will continue to exert all our efforts to resolve this issue as soon as possible.

Question on whether the Ãå±±½ûµØis trying to resettle Syrian refugees in Lebanon?

Secretary-General: I made it quite clear in my earlier statement that the United Nations and World Bank are not settling the refugees here. Please read my statement clearly. We are helping them settle temporarily here in Lebanon until they feel they can return safely to their home country Syria. That’s what I have been doing since 2012.

I have been hosting international donors conference on Syria, for Syria, in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 every year and mobilizing billions and billions of dollars and providing not only for the Syrian refugees and Syrian people. Of course we will have to continue, but our aim is not to have them permanently settled somewhere and I made that quite clear.

We sincerely hope that they return safely and happily to their home country as soon as possible.

Thank you.