Secretary-General

Noon briefing of 23 November 2007

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING

Friday, November 23, 2007

[There was no noon briefing today, but the following are highlights of developments in the UN system. The noon briefing will resume on Monday, November 26, 2007.]

BAN KI-MOON URGES PARTIES TO MAINTAIN CALM IN LEBANON

  • The Secretary-General has taken note of the fifth postponement of the Lebanese Presidential election beyond the term of the current incumbent. He regrets this development and urges all parties to maintain calm as well as to further intensify efforts to reach a compromise as soon as possible.

  • The Secretary-General is deeply concerned at the fragility of the situation in Lebanon and is following events very carefully. Both he and his Special Coordinator for Lebanon are in close touch with key players in Lebanon, in the region and beyond.

  • The Secretary-General urges all parties to live up to their responsibilities and to act within the constitutional framework as well as in a peaceful and democratic manner.

SOMALIA: BAN KI-MOON WELCOMES NOMINATION OF PRIME MINISTER

  • Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is pleased to note the nomination of Colonel Nur Hassan Hussein as Prime Minister of the Transitional Federal Government and applauds the concerted efforts of members of the Transitional Federal Institutions that led to this decision.
  • The Secretary-General expresses the hope that the appointment of the new Prime Minister will increase the momentum among Somalis to unite their efforts and complete the implementation of the key tasks of the Transitional Federal Charter.
  • This will be an important step towards making reconciliation and reconstruction a reality.
  • The Secretary-General welcomes Mr. Nur Hussein's background and experience in humanitarian operations in Somalia and thus his unique understanding of the challenges confronting his country.
  • Meanwhile, UNICEF has expressed grave concern at the level of malnutrition among Somali children, especially those under the age of five. The agency says that it is distributing 3,000 litres of water daily to help 260,000 people in the Afgooye camp for the internally displaced. And next week, it will launch a vaccination campaign against polio, measles, tuberculosis and will give out vitamin A supplies for children and pregnant women.

IRAQ: UN REFUGEE AGENCY IS CAUTIOUS ABOUT RETURNS

  • The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says it welcomes improvements to the security conditions in Iraq and stand ready to assist people who have decided or will decide to return voluntarily.
  • However, UNHCR does not believe that the time has come to promote, organize or encourage returns. That would be possible only when proper return conditions are in place – including material and legal support and physical safety. Presently, there is no sign of any large-scale return to Iraq as the security situation in many parts of the country remains volatile and unpredictable.
  • On Sri Lanka, UNHCR expressed concern over the fate of some 250 displaced people, who returned to their villages of origin in the Trincomalee district a few weeks ago and had to flee again this week back to welfare centres after violent incidents in their villages. The Agency said that it has received reports of killings and abductions from those villages.
  • And UNHCR resumed voluntary repatriation for some 30,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo living in UN-run camps refugee camps in Zambia. The operation, begun in May 2007, was suspended in August after a violent attack on UN offices in Moba, which led to the evacuation of UN staff. Security has now improved in the region.

DAMAGE IN BANGLADESH WORSE THAN EXPECTED

  • The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund has authorized a second disbursement of almost $6 million, to support life-saving relief aid for cyclone survivors in Bangladesh. This comes after the first disbursement of almost $9 million.

  • UNICEF says a recent mission to the hardest-hit areas in Bangladesh showed that damage was worse than expected.

  • UNICEF’s efforts are currently directed towards providing food, clean water and sanitation. The agency is procuring 100,000 blankets, 60,000 articles of children’s clothes, 60,000 family kits, and 60,000 plastic sheets for use in cyclone-stricken areas. UNICEF has also moved two mobile water treatment plants to hard-hit districts.

  • UNICEF has started the process, together with non-governmental organizations, of identifying separated, unaccompanied and distressed children. Identified children are being registered with the local government authorities.

  • The World Food Programme (WFP) is continuing to distribute food, including high-energy biscuits, by helicopters, boats and trucks. A second distribution to 465,000 survivors has taken place, and WFP will now start distributing 750 tons of rice to more than 2 million people. But WFP says that reaching all cyclone survivors is not easy at the moment.

  • The World Health Organization, meanwhile, is helping to prepare a needs assessment of emergency drugs that would be required for the next six months.

  • The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has established an emergency coordination and rehabilitation unit in Bangladesh. FAO says the agriculture, livestock and fisheries sectors in the southern part of the country have suffered enormous losses and large-scale assistance is urgently needed to address the damage.

  • For its part, the World Meteorological Organization said forecasts were issued to the Bangladesh Meteorological Service, which allowed the Government of Bangladesh to evacuate 600,000 people to shelters before the cyclone.

BANGLADESHI POLICE ARRIVE IN DARFUR

  • The UN Mission in Sudan reports that 130 police unit from Bangladesh has arrived in Nyala in South Darfur. The police are part of the UN's Heavy Support Package for the African Union mission in Darfur known as AMIS, until the joint AU-UN Hybrid operation in Darfur (UNAMID) takes over from AMIS.

  • Meanwhile, the African Union and United Nations Chief Mediators for the Darfur peace process, Sam Ibok and Taye-Brook Zerihoun, have ended their two-day visit to North Darfur after holding a meeting with the Sudan Liberation Army-Unity leadership.

  • The Chief Mediators briefed the leadership about the Sirte peace process, their current role and the recent visit to Juba. They commended the SLA-Unity for their unification efforts and encouraged the Movement to engage in the peace process.

  • Zerihoun said the objective of the Sirte Talks is to stop the killings in Darfur, and to help allow the people organise their lives and live in peace. “To obtain peace, you have to negotiate,” he told them.

  • The Chief Mediators also said that they were encouraged by the efforts that the Movements are making to unite, because any form of unification will make the mediators’ tasks easier.

  • The U.N.’s Special Envoy for Darfur, Jan Eliasson, is scheduled to be in New York next week to brief the Security Council and for internal consultations.

GRAVE CHILD RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN MYANMAR
ARE REPORTED TO SECURITY COUNCIL

  • In his report to the Security Council on children and armed conflict in Myanmar released today, the Secretary-General said although there has been progress in terms of dialogue with the Government of Myanmar and two non-State actors (the Karen National Union and the Karenni National Progressive Party), all parties continue to be implicated in grave child rights violations.

  • The Secretary-General recommended for the Government of Myanmar to take into account its responsibilities to ensure that all armed groups with which it shares a ceasefire accord are made accessible to the monitoring and reporting mechanism.

  • He urged the Government to continue taking disciplinary action against those responsible for aiding and abetting the recruitment of children, and to systematize and institutionalize this disciplinary process.

  • The Government of Myanmar is encouraged to accede at the earliest opportunity to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (2000) and to adjust national legislation accordingly.

  • The Secretary-General also recommended that the Myanmar Government allow international and humanitarian organizations access for delivery of humanitarian services, and to accept the proposal of the U.N. refugee agency’s Assistant High Commissioner for Operations for an inter-agency humanitarian needs assessment.

BAN KI-MOON CALLS FOR A UNITED U.N. ENTITY
TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

  • In his message on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the Secretary-General described violence against women as one of the most heinous and prevalent human rights abuses in the world. He has announced the launching of a world-wide campaign through 2015 for the elimination of violence against women.

  • The Secretary-General has also called for a united U.N. entity to advance this cause, urging the world to take this issue seriously – not only on this International Day, but every day.

  • Also on this day, the U.N High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbor called for real equality and an end to impunity in order to stop violence against women. Arbor also demanded action to stop the killing and the abuse, urging the States to bring perpetrators to justice.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS

RIFT VALLEY FEVER EXPECTED TO SPREAD IN SUDAN: The spread of the Rift Valley Fever (RVF) in Sudan could escalate in the coming weeks as millions of animals are moved around the country and the region for the Eid Al Adha Muslim holiday, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned today. FAO described the epidemiological situation of the disease in livestock as very complex and has offered to send a team of animal health experts to the Sudan for in-depth field investigations. In response to recent RVF outbreaks, Egypt and Saudi Arabia have banned livestock imports from Sudan.

THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS

Saturday, November 24

The Security Council mission to Timor-Leste leaves today and will return on 1 December.

Sunday, November 25

Today is the International Day for the Elimination of violence against Women.

Monday, November 26

The Secretary-General is in Washington, D.C., for a meeting of the Middle East Quartet.

The Deputy Secretary-General will be in Santiago, Chile, today and tomorrow, for meetings with Chile’s President and other high-level Chilean officials, as well as to address the Regional Interagency Coordination Meeting for Latin America and the Caribbean.

This morning, UN Special Envoy for Darfur Jan Eliasson is scheduled to brief the Security Council during consultations on Sudan.

At 10:30 a.m. in Room S-226, Joanne Sandler, Acting Executive Director of the U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM); Ambassador Joseph Nsengimana of Rwanda; and Eliana Elias, Executive Director of Mingu Peru, launch an advocacy campaign on ending violence against women and announce the new grantees of the UN Trust Fund to end violence against women.

The guest at the noon press briefing is Marijke Velzeboer-Salcedo, Chief of the Latin American and Caribbean Section at UNIFEM, who will brief on a regional report on violence against women, entitled “Not one more! The right to live a life free from violence in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

At 3 p.m. in Room S-226, there will be a press conference, following the launch (at 1:15 p.m. in Conference Room 6) of the report “United Nations Arms Embargoes – Their Impact on Arms Flows and Target Behaviour”, with Peter Wallensteen, Special Program on the Implementation of Targeted Sanctions; Batees Gill, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute; and Anders Wallberg of the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The moderator is Carl Mangus Nesser, Permanent Mission of Sweden.

Today and tomorrow in Conference Room 7, the 6th Coordination Meeting on International Migration and Development discusses the outcomes and lessons learnt of the 1st meeting of the Global Forum on Migration and Development.

Through 4 December, Under-Secretary-General John Holmes travels to Ethiopia, Sudan and Kenya.

Today and tomorrow in Beijing, a high-level International Food Safety Forum brings together senior officials from Member States of the World Health Organization and representatives of the food industry and consumer organizations.

Today through 28 November in Ahmedabad, India, a conference, sponsored by UNESCO and the UN Environment Programme, examines “Environmental Education towards a Sustainable Future – Partners for the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development”.

The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, Rodolfo Stavenhagen, will visit Bolivia from 26 November to 7 December.

The Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Ambeyi Ligabo, will visit Honduras from 26-30 November.

Tuesday, November 27

The Secretary-General is in Annapolis, Maryland, to attend the conference on the Middle East.

This morning, the Security Council is scheduled to hold consultations on the Secretary-General’s Report on the implementation of resolution 1701.

At 11:15 a.m. in Room S-226, Esteban B. Conejos Jr., Under-Secretary for Migrant Worker Affairs of the Philippines; Ambassador Régine de Clercq of Belgium; and Hania Zlotnik, Director of the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs’ Population Division, will brief on the achievements of the first meeting of the Global Forum on Migration and Development in Belgium and the expectations for its next meeting in Philippines.

The guest at noon is Mr. Claes Johnasson, of the U.N. Development Programme’s (UNDP) Human Development Report Office, who will brief on UNDP’s Human Development Report 2007/2008 on "Fighting Climate Change: Human Solidarity in a Divided World”. The report is being launched today in Brasilia, Brazil, as well as in more than 100 countries.

At 3 pm, in Room 226, the Qatar Mission will hold a press conference on the Qatari draft resolution presented before the Third Committee of the General Assembly on World Autism Awareness Day under the agenda item “Promotion and Protection of the Rights of the Child. Ambassador Nasser Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Nasser, the Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar, will speak to the press on the process of the adoption of the resolution.

The Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Titinga Frédéric Pacéré, will conduct a visit to that country from 27 November to 6 December.

Wednesday, November 28

This morning, the Security Council is scheduled to hold consultations on Burundi.

At 11 a.m. in Room S-226, Under-Secretary-General Sha Zukang launches the 2007 “Report on the World Social Situation: The Employment Imperative”. Other speakers include: Mr. Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, and Mr. Johan Scholvinck, Director, Division for Social Policy and Development (DESA)

From today through 2 December in Hudet, Ethiopia, more than 550 participants from Somalia, northern Kenya, and Djibouti are expected to take part in the largest pastoralist gathering ever in the Horn of Africa.

Thursday, November 29

This morning, the Security Council is scheduled to hold a private meeting with Troop Contributing Countries to the U.N. Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as well as consultations on the DRC.

At 10 a.m. in Room S-226, Carsten Staur, Permanent Representative of Denmark to the United Nations; Richard E. Stearns, President, World Vision, United States; Sam McGuire, Senior Vice President, Ipsos Public Affairs; and Bunmi Makinwa, Director, Joint United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS in the U.S., New York Office will brief on the release of a report revealing the awareness and attitudes of populations in seven wealthy nations toward those who are affected by HIV and AIDS globally.

At 11:15 a.m. in Room S-226, senior UN System Influenza Coordinator Dr. David Nabarro briefs the media on the latest Avian Influenza progress report.

The guest at noon is Mr. Nicholas Burnett, Assistant-Director General for Education at UNESCO, who will brief on the 2008 Education for All Global Monitoring Report.

At 2pm, a press conference will be held in Room 226 – “From Arrest to Surrender: State and UN Cooperation with the International Criminal Court”, sponsored by the Coalition for the International Criminal Court. Speakers names will be available closer to the day.

Today is the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Several activities are taking place at Headquarters, including a special meeting of the Palestinian Rights Committee.

Friday, November 30

This morning, the Security Council is scheduled to hold a debate on the Middle East. Today is the last day of Indonesia’s Council presidency.

At 6:30 p.m. at St. Bartholomew’s Church, at 109 E. 50th Street, the Secretary-General is scheduled to address the World AIDS Day Evening of Remembrance.