Secretary-General

Noon briefing of 6 July 2005


HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPOKESMAN'S NOON BRIEFING

BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC
SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Wednesday, 6 July 2005

ANNAN CHALLENGES G8 ON GLOBAL POVERTY

  • The Secretary-General is in London today, where he is delivering an address this afternoon at St. Paul’s Cathedral, at an event organized as a challenge to the Group of Eight on global poverty and the Millennium Development Goals. The Secretary-General will draw attention to the make-or-break moment we now face on achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

  • The Secretary-General is to say that the Goals are people-centered, time-bound and measurable, and that they are achievable and have unprecedented political support. Considering how far we have come to achieve them, he will argue, a failure by some countries not to meet many, or any, of the Goals by 2015 would be a tragic missed opportunity.

  • He will call on Governments to take courageous decisions at the Group of Eight meeting at Gleneagles, and the World Summit in New York in September -- expected to be the largest gathering of world leaders in history.

  • The Secretary-General is in the United Kingdom to attend the Group of Eight summit meeting tomorrow in Scotland.

  • In advance of that meeting, he met with a group of London schoolchildren today who presented him a message, asking their leaders to keep their promises on the Millennium Development Goals and asking, “Please make the world a better place for all of us by 2015.”

UN AGENCY HEADS SEND MESSAGES TO G8 LEADERS

  • On the eve of the G8 Summit, the World Food Programme (WFP) is today urging them to remember a simple fact: hunger and malnutrition are still the world’s biggest killers, taking the lives of more people every year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. WFP adds that the world is no longer on course to meet the U.N. Millennium Development Goal of halving the proportion of hungry people by 2015.

  • Investment in forests, rivers and wetlands will pay dividends, Klaus Toepfer said today. The Executive Director of the U.N.’s Environment Programme (UNEP) urges G8 leaders to back investments in nature in order to defeat poverty and deliver economic development. "Targeted investments in the planet’s ecosystems and the services they provide will give a high rate of return in terms of fighting poverty, hunger and disease and delivering long-lasting economic improvements", he says in a message.

SUDAN DECLARATION WELCOMED BY SECRETARY-GENERAL

  • The Secretary-General welcomes the signing -- by the Government of Sudan, the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Movement -- in Abuja on 5 July, of a Declaration of Principles for the Resolution of the Conflict in Darfur. The Declaration signals the parties' intention to bring to an end the conflict in Darfur.

  • The Secretary-General congratulates African Union mediator Salim Ahmed Salim and the United Nations team which participated in the negotiations on the successful conclusion of this stage. He encourages the parties to move forward decisively and promptly when they restart talks on 24 August and to conclude a lasting political settlement to bring an end to the enormous suffering of the people of Darfur.

  • Asked about UN involvement in bringing about the agreement, the Spokesman said that the United Nations played a role in supporting the efforts led by the African Union mediator, Salim Ahmed Salim.

ANNAN HEADS TO SUDAN FOR NATIONAL UNITY DAY

  • The Secretary-General will travel to the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, over the weekend, following his participation at the Group of Eight Summit in Gleneagles.

  • He will be in Khartoum to attend the inauguration of the Government of National Unity. He is expected to deliver remarks.

  • The Secretary-General’s visit comes at a time of a funding shortfall for humanitarian programs in the Sudan. As of the end of June, of the required $1.3 billion, only $643 million had been received. This means that critically important programs cannot be carried out in full or, in some cases, at all.

  • The vast majority of pledges have yet to be converted into cash, and the Secretary-General has urged donors not to wait too long to provide the Sudanese people with the support they deserve.

  • The UN Mission in Sudan reports that a high level of non-political violence, mostly revolving around banditry and theft, is continuing to take place in the three states of Darfur. Inter-tribal fighting over livestock is also a major cause of insecurity and death in Darfur.

  • Also, the second phase of the relocation of internally displaced persons from the Abou Shouk camp in North Darfur to Al-Salam began on Monday. A total of some 23,000 people are to be moved in two phases by 18 July.

  • On the road to eradicate poliovirus from Sudan, the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and their partners are joining efforts with the Sudanese Ministry of Health to conduct an additional immunization campaign.

  • The Humanitarian Coordinator and Deputy of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan, Manuel da Silva, is appealing to the Government of Sudan, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) and to other armed groups to secure the safety of the vaccination teams during this period.

ANNAN WELCOMES RELEASE OF MYANMAR PRISONERS

  • The Secretary-General welcomes the release of 249 prisoners today, reportedly including two prominent journalists and a close aide of the still-detained National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

  • The Secretary-General reiterates his call for the lifting of remaining constraints on all political leaders and the re-opening of NLD offices. He further calls on the Myanmar authorities to resume their political dialogue with all parties concerned.

COTE D’IVOIRE: SECURITY COUNCIL READY TO IMPLEMENT SANCTIONS

  • The Security Council this morning adopted a Presidential Statement on Cote d’Ivoire, in which it demanded that all the signatories to last week’s Pretoria Agreement implement fully and without delay all the commitments taken before the African Union mediation.

  • The Council affirms that it stands ready, in close consultation with the African Union mediation, to implement individual sanctions against those who do not comply with these commitments or constitute an obstacle to their full implementation.

  • After that, the Council began an open meeting on Bougainville, which Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Danilo Turk said marked a successful cooperative effort at the international, regional, national and local levels. He said that Bougainville’s war had been little noticed, but brutal, and Turk said the United Nations became part of a process of “breaking spears and mending hearts.”

ZIMBABWE: U.N. ENVOY VISITS SECOND-LARGEST CITY

  • The UN Special Envoy for Human Settlement Issues in Zimbabwe continued her mission today.

  • Anna Tibaijuka, who is also the Executive Director of the U.N. Human Settlements Programme, held a town meeting in Bulawayo, the second largest city in the country. She talked with representatives of NGOs, faith-based groups and women affected by the evictions.

  • She continues to meet with officials and evictees.

  • Asked about Tibaijuka’s work, the Spokesman said that she was on an information-gathering tour in which she was listening to all those affected by the Government’s settlements policy, as well as to non-governmental organizations. She will report back to the Secretary-General on her findings.

$150 MILLION NEEDED TO FIGHT BIRD FLU

  • Following a three-day conference on bird flu in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a senior official from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has said that without international support, poor countries will not be able to battle the virus.

  • In that regard, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said that $150 million is needed to fight the spread of bird flu in humans. And FAO and the World Organization for Animal Health have announced that they need around $100 million to control the virus in animals in Asia.

  • Among the conference’s additional outcomes are recommendations to educate farmers, to ensure the segregation of different species, to eliminate intermingling between farm animals and humans, and to vaccinate poultry flocks.

FALL OF SREBRENICA TO BE COMMEMORATED

  • On 11 July, the 10th anniversary of the fall of Srebrenica will be commemorated. Mark Malloch Brown, the Secretary-General’s Chief of Staff, will travel there, and will deliver a message on behalf of the Secretary-General.

  • And in advance, a discussion will be hosted here tomorrow by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. Panelists will include, amongst others, Ambassador Diego Arria, former Venezuelan Ambassador to the U.N., H.R.H. Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein of Jordan, and Professor Samantha Power of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy of Harvard University. It will take place from 12:30 to 2pm in the Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium, and media are invited to attend.

SECRETARY-GENERAL CONGRATULATES LONDON ON OLYMPIC WIN

  • The Secretary-General had two words to say about London’s 2012 Olympics bid today: “Congratulations, London.”

  • In a statement, the Secretary-General said that he had heard the news of London’s Olympic win while driving through Trafalgar Square, and was delighted by the city’s success. He has no doubt that this will be a magnificent international sporting event. Good for the world, good for the United Kingdom.

  • He added that, obviously, others are disappointed today, as this was a hotly contested decision, and he was sorry for the other cities that did not make it this time around. But the intensity and drama surrounding the choice is a good omen for friendly international competition on and off the sports field.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

U.N. CONFERENCE STUDIES VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN: A three-day regional conference on violence against children is underway in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Participating are representatives of United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Health Organization and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, among others.This consultation is one of nine that will feed into a study by the Secretary-General due out in 2006.

MEETING ON SOUTHERN AFRICAN FOOD SECURITY STARTS TOMORROW: A two-day meeting on the food security situation in the South African region, co-hosted by the United Nations and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), will be held from 7 to 8 July in Johannesburg, South Africa. The objectives of the meeting are to share information on the regional food security situation; review existing capacities and identify gaps in mitigating food insecurity; and achieve consensus on the way forward to address food insecurity.

GROWTH OF WORLD TOURISM CONTINUES IN FIRST FOUR MONTHS OF 2005: Worldwide tourism has grown by 8 percent in the first 4 months of 2005, according to the recently released June edition of the World Tourism Organization’s (WTO) World Tourism Barometer. Thus, international tourist results maintain the upward trend of last year, with positive growth rates estimated for all regions during this period. The figures show that international tourism has meanwhile recovered from the difficulties experienced during the years 2001-2003, and that a further upswing can be expected for the rest of the year.

**The guest at today’s briefing was Joe Sills, Spokesman for the UN Compensation Commission.