HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY MARIE OKABE
DEPUTY
SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON
U.N.
HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Thursday, June
7, 2007
BAN KI-MOON
WELCOMES G-8 AGREEMENT ON CLIMATE CHANGE
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wholeheartedly
welcomes that G-8
leaders have agreed on a strong and early action to combat climate change.
He is greatly encouraged by their commitment to a
multilateral process within the UN framework.
The Secretary-General has placed great diplomatic efforts
in getting the G-8 leaders to acknowledge the central role of the United
Nations and its Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
as the forum for climate change negotiations.
The acceptance by the leaders of their responsibility to
act on emission reductions and eventual cuts is to be commended, as is their
stated intention to conclude the negotiations on a post-2012 agreement by
2009.
SECRETARY-GENERAL, IN BERLIN, MEETS
LEADERS OF G-8 SUMMIT
The Secretary-General is in Berlin today, where he has
been meeting with a number of the leaders who will attend the outreach session
of the G-8 summit scheduled to take place tomorrow in Heiligendamm, Germany.
The Secretary-General met separately with Indian Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh, South African President Thabo Mbeki and Brazilian
President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, to discuss the issues being addressed at
the G8 summit and outreach session.
He also emphasized to all the leaders that we have the
technology and resources needed to deal with climate change, and now must find
the necessary political will.
The Secretary-General also spoke with the Indian Prime
Minister about the situations in Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Nepal; with the
South African President about Darfur and the joint UN-AU proposal sent to
President Bashir of Sudan, as well as about the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Somalia and Kosovo; and with the Brazilian President about Haiti.
He also met with the Chairperson of the Commission of the
African Union, Alpha Oumar Konaré, and they discussed
Darfur at length.
He also is scheduled to meet with the Nigerian and
Mexican Presidents, and to attend a dinner hosted by German Foreign Minister
Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
ICC PROSECUTOR CALLS FOR ARREST
OF TWO SUSPECTS IN DARFUR CRIMES
Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the Prosecutor of the International
Criminal Court (ICC), today
told the
Security Council in an open briefing that the Council and regional
organizations must take the lead in calling on Sudan to arrest two people
suspected of crimes in Darfur: Ahmed Harun and Ali Kushayb.
He said that the Court counts on every state to execute
the arrest warrants against the two men and hopes that the Security Council
can address the issue of Sudanese cooperation with the ICC during its mission
to Khartoum.
Moreno-Ocampo laid out the case against Harun and
Hushayb, saying that now, “the key is their arrest and surrender.”
That open briefing was followed by consultations on
Darfur, in which the Prosecutor continued his discussions with Council
members.
SPECIAL ENVOY FOR DARFUR TO BRIEF
SECURITY COUNCIL FRIDAY
Jan Eliasson, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for
Darfur, is scheduled to brief the Security Council tomorrow on his joint
efforts with the African Union to reinvigorate the peace process.
UNITED NATIONS AND AFRICAN UNION TO MEET
NEXT WEEK
WITH SUDANESE GOVERNMENT ON PROPOSED FORCE FOR DARFUR
The UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS)
reports that the situation in Darfur during the month of May can be
characterized by the forced movement of civilians due to increased insecurity,
swelling populations of displaced persons, rising tensions in camps, and
ever-increasing targeted violence against humanitarian operations.
Nearly 140,000 people have been identified as newly
displaced since the beginning of the year, with at least 10,000 on the move
during the month of May alone, according to the mission.
The mission also notes there also continues to be a very
high rate of attacks on NGO compounds and staff. It says the increasing use of
physical and mental violence used during hijackings is of serious concern.
The United Nations and the African Union are expected to
meet with the Government of Sudan on the proposed hybrid operation in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia, on 11 and 12 June.
A briefing to the Security Council on the outcome of that
meeting is expected to take place before the Security Council mission heads to
the region at the end of next week.
WFP TO ASSIST EMERGENCY AID OPERATION
IN LEBANON
The World Food Programme (WFP) today
announced that it will provide technical assistance to support an emergency
operation in Lebanon mounted by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
The operation will assist people displaced
by the ongoing clashes in two of the largest Palestinian refugee camps,
al-Hilwah and Nahr al-Bared.
Since fighting broke out in the Nahr
al-Bared camp near the northern city of Tripoli on 20 May, thousands of
civilians have fled the camp with only the belongings that they could carry.
ISRAEL-SYRIA
SECTOR REMAINS GENERALLY QUIET
The Secretary-General, in his latest
report to
the Security Council on the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF)
in the Golan Heights, says that the situation in the Israel-Syria sector
remains generally quiet.
He adds that he considers UNDOF’s continued presence in
the area to be crucial, and he recommends that the Council extend the
mission’s mandate by six months.
BAN KI-MOON
URGES PROGRESS ON CYPRUS ISSUE
In the Secretary-General’s latest
report on
Cyprus he says that the situation along the ceasefire line has remained
generally calm, but he noted safety concerns regarding civilians seeking to
exercise their property rights in the buffer zone.
He said that the UN
Mission in its
current form should not be taken for granted, as the international community
is increasingly questioning the lack of significant political progress on the
Cyprus issue. He called for implementation of the 8 July agreement and for
Cypriots themselves to take the lead in finding a solution.
DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL APPEALS TO
ACCELERATE COMMITMENTS TO HELP WORLD'S POOREST
Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro
delivered a message on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
last night to the 20th meeting of the Academic Council on the
United Nations System at the Ralph Bunche Institute in New York.
In her message, the Deputy Secretary-General noted that
this year marks the midpoint between the adoption of the Goals and the target
date of 2015 and appealed to world leaders to accelerate implementation of the
existing commitments as time is running out.
She also said that, with climate change now a major
challenge, the role of research and academia is critical to addressing its
adverse effects and their impact on development.
Later
today, the Deputy Secretary-General will take part in a
ceremony for this
year’s recipients of the United Nations Population Award.
U.N. ENVOYS
ATTEND INTERNATIONAL CONTACT GROUP ON SOMALIA
The International Contact Group on Somalia met in London
yesterday to discuss mechanisms for advancing the political process and
stabilising the security situation in Somalia. Under-Secretary-General for
Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe and Francois Lonseny Fall, the
Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia, attended that meeting.
In a communiqué issued afterward, the Contact Group noted
the recent improvement in the security situation but expressed its serious
concern at the continued sporadic violence in Mogadishu and the deaths and
injuries caused by it.
The Contact Group added that it believes that the
National Reconciliation Congress is the primary vehicle to demonstrate an
inclusive approach to governance, help deliver security for the Transitional
Government and the people of Somalia, and advance political reconciliation.
U.N. HUMANITARIAN AGENCY CALLS FOR
PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS IN DR CONGO
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
is calling on all parties in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to respect
humanitarian principles and protect civilian populations caught in the
conflict.
Speaking at a conference of religious leaders in South
Kivu, the Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative for the DRC, Ross
Mountain, said that
access to vulnerable populations has been impeded in recent months by armed
groups and ongoing military operations.
CLARIFICATIONS FROM BANGLADESH SOUGHT ON CHARGES
AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS RAPPORTEUR
NEW APPROACH TO COMBATTING SEVERE
MALNUTRITION ANNOUNCED
According to the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme and
UNICEF, twenty million children under the age of five worldwide stand to
benefit from a new
approach to combating severe malnutrition.
The
three agencies have put forward new evidence that about three-quarters of
children suffering from acute malnutrition can be treated at home through
highly fortified, ready-to-use therapeutic foods. These are soft and crushable
nutrient and energy-rich foods that can be eaten without adding water.
The
three partnering UN agencies say the approach could prevent the deaths of
hundreds of thousands of children each year.
CAPITAL
MASTER PLAN HAS BEEN HEAVILY SCRUTINIZED
Asked about an article that
called for outside oversight of the Capital Master Plan (CMP), the Spokeswoman
said that the Plan was one of the most heavily audited and scrutinized
programmes in the UN system.
She later said the
budget of the Capital Master Plan of $1,876.7 million was passed unanimously
by the 192 Member States in the GA in December 2006 after six years of
discussions by the Member States in the Advisory Committee on Administrative
and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), the
Administrative and Budgetary Committee of the General Assembly, internal
auditing by the UN Office on Internal Oversight (OIOS),
the UN Board of Auditors on the CMP, and externally by the U.S. Government
Accounting Office.
All the
respective documents on the CMP have been published and are accessible, for
example, through the website of the CMP. Data on procurement contracts, since
the beginning of the CMP are open to the public and have been posted on the
website of the UN Procurement
Service. The data is
also accessible with a link from the CMP
website.
MORE THAN 600 MILLION PEOPLE WORK
EXCESSIVELY LONG HOURS
An estimated one in five workers around the world are
working excessively long hours.
That’s according to a new International Labour
Organization
study. It found that more than 600 million people are working at least 48
hours a week, often merely to make ends meet.
Office of the Spokesman for the
Secretary-General
United Nations, S-378
New York, NY 10017
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