HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC
ASSOCIATE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
OF THE UNITED NATIONS
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Thursday, August 26, 2004
UN ENVOY REVIEWING STATUS OF SUDANESE GOVERNMENT’S COMMITMENTS FOR DARFUR
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Sudan, Jan Pronk, travelled to West Darfur today to review the status of commitments undertaken by the Government in the Darfur Plan of Action.
Pronk’s travel is part of a three-day mission to the region by the members of the Joint Implementation Mechanism, the last to be undertaken before he briefs the Security Council next week.
According to the President of the Security Council, Pronk’s briefing is scheduled for 2 September.
At the same time, the UN’s Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, Erick De Mul, is in North Darfur, while Pronk’s Deputy, Manuel Aranda da Silva, is traveling to South Darfur.
UN TEAM FINDS MAJOR GAPS IN COTE D’IVOIRE’S HEALTH AND EDUCATION SECTORS
A UN humanitarian team that travelled to northern and western Cote d’Ivoire last week says that there are major gaps there in health, education, water and sanitation.
The mission, led by the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in the country, Abdoulaye Mar Dieye, says that the slow redeployment of Government workers to rebel-held areas in the north and west has deprived the majority of people there of basic services.
Also, the poor maintenance of water works, including village pumps, has left many without access to clean water, increasing the chances that disease may spread.
Meanwhile, the World Food Programme reports that, in the western town of Guiglo, five unofficial roadblocks have been set up, hindering access to the most vulnerable.
The UN Mission in Cote d’Ivoire has nearly completed its deployment, with more than 5,880 military personnel on the ground.
REPORT: GLOBAL SANITATION TARGET TO BE MISSED BY 500 MILLION PEOPLE
More than 2.6 billion people - over 40% of the world's population – do not have access to basic sanitation, and more than one billion people still use unsafe sources of drinking water.
Those are the findings of a new report released today by the World Health Organization and UNICEF, the UN Children’s Fund.
The report is a mid-term assessment of progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goal which deals with halving the proportion of people who don’t have access to an improved water source and to adequate sanitation facilities by 2015.
The report makes two significant predictions on reaching the goals: first, the world is on track to meet the drinking water target.
Second, the global sanitation target will be missed by half a billion people – most of them in Africa and Asia – allowing disease to spread, killing millions of children and leaving millions more on the brink of survival.
SECURITY COUNCIL REVIEWED DEVELOPMENTS IN HAITI
The Security Council held closed consultations on Haiti this morning, to review developments in that county since the middle of June.
The Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Hédi Annabi, briefed the Council on the work of the UN Mission in Haiti. Council members will also receive a report from the Secretary-General on that subject next month.
ANNAN INFORMS SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT OF SOMALIA MONITORING GROUP APPOINTMENTS
The Secretary-General, in a letter to the President of the Security Council, said he has appointed four experts to do the work of the Monitoring Group for Somalia, for a six-month period.
That group monitors the implementation of Security Council sanctions on Somalia and ways that it can be improved.
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY RESPONDING TO AFRICAN LOCUST PROBLEM BUT MORE HELP NEEDED
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says the international community has responded positively to its appeal to help countries in north-west Africa fight locusts.
But it warns that the situation in the affected countries remains dramatic and more international support is urgently needed.
So far, a total of $32 million from the international community have been approved or are in the pipeline, and an additional $5 million has been provided from FAO's own resources.
FAO says that the locust situation could further deteriorate in the next few weeks with new swarms starting to form in September – these could seriously threaten crops that will be ready for harvest in the affected countries.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
UN AGENCY PROTESTS AGAINST ISRAELI VIOLATION OF IMMUNITIES: The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said that on the morning of 24 August, Israeli military forces broke into a school run by the agency in the town of Askar, in the West Bank. Israeli soldiers proceeded to use the school as a detention and interrogation center for hundreds of male residents of the camp between the ages of 16 and 40. UNRWA strongly protests this flagrant violation of the United Nations Privileges and Immunities.
ALMOST 85% OF DEMOBILIZED LIBERIAN CHILDREN HAVE RETURNED HOME: UNICEF, the UN Children’s Fund, reports that just four months after the launch of a massive disarmament campaign, almost 85% of about 5,800 demobilized Liberian children have gone home to their families. Over 115 children were reunified this week. Also, over the next 18 months, an accelerated learning programme that folds six years of primary school into three will be introduced into public schools – particularly in areas seeing large numbers of returning children.
NEW CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED ON LEGAL INSTRUMENT FOR BANNING WEAPONS IN OUTER SPACE: The UN Office in Geneva reports that China and the Russian Federation today presented new contributions to the Conference on Disarmament on their proposal concerning the elaboration of a legal instrument in the Conference to ban weapons in outer space, prompting immediate reaction from Canada, France, Sweden, Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom .
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