HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY MICHELE MONTAS
SPOKESPERSON FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Wednesday,
September 16, 2009
BAN KI-MOON TO HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE AT 11 A.M. TOMORROW
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will hold his monthly press conference is at 11 a.m. Thursday so there will be no noon briefing.
WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME WARNS OF GROWING FOOD CRISIS
The World Food Programme (WFP)
is warning of a growing food crisis for the world’s hungry. In the week that
marks the first anniversary of the global financial crisis, there are more
hungry people in the world and less food aid than ever before, says
Executive Director Josette Sheeran in a
statement.
As the green shoots of economic recovery are appearing,
WFP makes a plea not to forget those who are most in need, and who have been
hit hardest by this crisis.
The Executive Director also says that of its $6.7
billion budget to feed 108 million people in 74 countries this year, WFP has
only received $2.6 billion as of today.
At our current funding levels, we will – in October – have to cut our services throughout the world, adds Sheeran, saying WFP urgently needs an additional 3 billion dollars to meet the needs of the world’s hungry.
SECRETARY-GENERAL'S ENVOY ARRIVES IN SRI LANKA
Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs B. Lynn
Pascoe has arrived in Sri Lanka.
You’ll recall that the Secretary-General and President
Mahinda Rajapaksa agreed on Monday that Pascoe would visit the country this
week. While he is there, Pascoe will discuss the resettlement of internally
displaced persons, political reconciliation and the establishment of a
mechanism of accountability for alleged human rights violations in the
context of the conflict.
Mr. Pascoe will go to the camps in the north for
internally displaced persons tomorrow. He is scheduled to meet with
President Rajapaksa on Friday.
While in Sri Lanka from 16-18 September, Pascoe expects
to hold discussions with President Rajapaksa and senior officials of his
government, diverse political and civil society leaders, and also obtain a
firsthand view of the situation of internally displaced persons in camps in
the northern part of the country. USG Pascoe will also hold consultations
with the United Nations Country Team in Sri Lanka, with a view to helping
ensure the UN can effectively provide assistance to Sri Lanka in support of
forward movement in all of the aforementioned areas.
HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL SET TO TAKE UP REPORT OF U.N. FACT-FINDING MISSION ON GAZA CONFLICT
Asked when the
report by the Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict would go to the
Security Council, the Spokeswoman pointed out that first, it would be up to
the Human Rights Council to review the report and decide how to respond.
Montas noted
that the report contains a recommendation that the Human Rights Council ask
the Secretary-General to bring the question of follow-up to the Security
Council under Article 99 of the UN Charter. She noted that the Human Rights
Council would take up the report later this month.
She declined to
comment on remarks by the Israeli Government responding to the report.
Asked about UN
efforts to open the crossing points into Gaza, the Spokeswoman said that the
Secretary-General has constantly asked for opening crossings and getting
humanitarian and reconstruction aid into Gaza. She noted that he has also
raised the issue of Palestinian prisoners.
Asked about the
lack of water in Gaza, Montas said that the situation has been raised with
authorities on the ground.
YEMEN: PLIGHT OF INTERNALLY DISPLACED HIGHLIGHTED
Rashid Khalikov, the Director of the Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, (OCHA),
ended his mission to Yemen today. He briefed members of the humanitarian
community in Sana’a, telling them that widespread deep poverty and fighting
have stretched people’s coping mechanisms to the limit in northern
Yemen.
He said that he had traveled to camps where he saw
people who have fled with nothing. The approximately 150,000 internally
displaced people urgently need all the essentials of life: food, water and
sanitation, shelter and health care.
Khalikov said that the lack of potable water is a
particular worry.
A flash appeal issued on 2 September to respond to the current crisis still has not received any funding.
LEADING U.N. BODY ON A.I.D.S. WELCOMES APPROVAL FOR NEW TOP AGENCY DEDICATED TO WOMEN
As you know, we issued a
statement yesterday, in which the Secretary-General welcomed the General
Assembly’s new resolution on system-wide coherence – and its agreement to
consolidate all women-specific entities into one stronger UN entity.
The UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) also
echoed the Secretary-General’s sentiments.
Today UNAIDS has added its voice to the chorus, noting that women are disproportionately affected by the AIDS epidemic. UNAIDS has pledged to work alongside the new women’s agency to advance the delivery of critical maternal and child health services to women and girls at the grassroots level.
BAN KI-MOON STRESSES BENEFITS OF ACTION ON GLOBAL CHALLENGES
Today is the International Day for the Preservation of
the Ozone Layer.
Noting that this Day comes some 80 days before the
Copenhagen climate conference, the Secretary-General says that this year’s
observance marks a milestone, with the deposit of the instruments of
accession to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and
its Montreal Protocol by the youngest democracy in the world, Timor-Leste.
Now, the Convention and Protocol have achieved
universal participation – a unique status among the hundreds of treaties
deposited with the Secretary-General, he adds.
In his message to mark this Day, the Secretary-General stresses that the example of the Montreal Protocol sends a powerful message that action on major global challenges is not only possible, but that the financial and human benefits invariably outweigh the costs.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
SECRETARY-GENERAL TO DISCUSS CYPRUS TALKS: Asked whether the Secretary-General will meet with the Cypriot leaders, the Spokeswoman said that the Secretary-General will meet tomorrow afternoon with his Special Envoy dealing with Cyprus, Alexander Downer, and they will work on their approach on that issue.
AFGHANISTAN: U.N. COMMITTED TO CREDIBLE ELECTION OUTCOME: Asked whether the Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, Peter Galbraith, has left the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), the Spokeswoman said that Galbraith remains an integral part of the mission leadership. With any hotly contested election there are bound to be differences in opinions; that is to be expected, she said. However, Montas added, the leadership of UNAMA remains committed to supporting a credible election outcome that is accepted by voters. She added that Galbraith is currently on mission and he will join the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Kai Eide, later this month in New York at the briefing of the UN Security Council, after which he is expected to return to Afghanistan.
*** The guests at the noon briefing today were UN legal Counsel Patricia O'Brien and Craig Mokhiber, Deputy Director of the New York Office for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. They briefed on the upcoming 2009 UN Treaty Event which will take place next week at the UN headquarters. Later in the afternoon, John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, briefed on the general humanitarian overview worldwide, focusing on the situations in Sri Lanka, Yemen, some Horn of Africa countries and Guatemala.
***
Office of
the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General
United Nations, S-378
New York, NY 10017
Tel. 212-963-7162
Fax. 212-963-7055
Back to the Spokesperson's Page