HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING

BY MICHELE
MONTAS
SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

UN HEADQUARTERS, 
NEW YORK

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

 SECURITY
COUNCIL HOLDS OPEN DEBATE ON CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICT

• The Security Council is holding an
  open debate
  today on children and armed conflict.
   
• Briefing Council members this morning, the
  Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict,
  Radhika Coomaraswamy, said systematic and deliberate attacks on schoolchildren
  are escalating in certain conflicts.
   
• In Afghanistan, for example, such attacks target
  girls’ schools. She also noted that, in regional conflicts, such as in
  Africa’s Great Lakes region and the Horn of Africa, cross-border recruitment
  of children from refugee camps is surging.
   
• Coomaraswamy added that the detention of
  children for alleged association with armed groups, in violation of
  international standards, is increasingly worrisome.
   
• Also briefing the Council this morning was
  UNICEF’s Executive Director, Ann Veneman, who said that it was possible to
  reintegrate former child soldiers back into society. Nevertheless,
  reintegration is a difficult and long process requiring patience and long-term
  commitment, she added.

INVESTIGATIONS INTO ATTACKS ON
TIMORESE PRESIDENT
 AND PRIME MINTER ARE WELL UNDERWAY

• The Secretary-General’s Special Representative
  for Timor-Leste, Atul Khare, upon return to Dili today said that although he
  is deeply concerned on the latest violence, assurance has been given that
  investigations to reveal the facts on yesterday’s shooting incidents are well
  underway.
   
• The Special Representative commended the people
  and government of Timor-Leste for reacting in a calm manner to these events,
  and for taking appropriate measures to deal with the tragedy and coordinate
  the various security institutions of the country.
   
• He also said both the Parliament and the
  opposition have played exemplary and constructive roles during this critical
  period, offering their support to the government.
   
• Meanwhile the Security Council yesterday adopted
  a
  statement condemning in the strongest terms the latest violence, stressing
  that it represents an attack on the legitimate institutions of Timor-Leste. 
  The 15-member body also called on the government to “bring to justice those
  responsible for this heinous act” and urged "all Timorese parties to cooperate
  actively with the authorities."
   
• Asked about the reasons behind the recent violence in Timor-Leste, the
  Spokesperson said that was a matter for the Timorese to assess. For its part,
  the Government of Timor-Leste was investigating the matter.

 EASTERN
CHAD: NEW SUDANESE REFUGEES IN PRECARIOUS SITUATION

• The UN refugee agency
  says that some
  10,000-12,000 refugees from West Darfur who fled across the border into
  eastern Chad to escape militia attacks and bombing are in a very precarious
  situation along the volatile border. And they are anxiously waiting to start
  being moved to a UNHCR camp. The new arrivals will place a severe strain on
  existing camp facilities.
   
• The agency says the refugees are destitute,
  having fled by night, walking across the border and bringing no possessions.
  Many of the refugees – mainly women and children – had already been internally
  displaced within Darfur living in camps in Sirba. There were also people from
  the villages attacked amongst the refugees. The humanitarian situation is
  dramatic. Local Chadians, as usual, have responded in a very generous manner,
  providing the new arrivals with what food they could spare and water,
  according to UNHCR.
   
• Meanwhile, in Cameroon, a second Ilyushin-76
  cargo plane chartered by UNHCR landed in the northern town of Garoua for
  thousands of Chadian refugees. Today (Tuesday), relief items are scheduled to
  reach northern Cameroon, where an estimated 30,000 Chadians have found refuge
  following heavy fighting in N'Djamena.
   
• The refugees remain in and around Cameroon’s
  north-eastern town of Kousséri, hosted in schools, churches, and local homes,
  as well as two temporary sites.  The local population has been very
  hospitable, and the United Nations thanks them and Cameroonian authorities for
  the help provided.
   
• And in south Chad, some 6,000 to 7,000 refugees
  from the Central African Republic (CAR) have crossed the border since late
  January with more reportedly on their way. The refugees started crossing to
  neighbouring Chad in late January fleeing attacks from bandits in northern
  CAR.
   
• Victor Angelo, the Secretary-General’s Special
  Representative in Chad and the Central African Republic, said today that he
  would work to help persuade armed groups in the region to lay down their
  weapons and join a political process. Angelo also stressed the need to respond
  to the humanitarian crisis in both countries.
   
• Asked about the situation of refugees in Chad and about reports that Chad
  might not continue accepting them, the Spokesperson stressed that UN agencies
  were currently doing everything possible to help the people who were crossing
  the border.

SECURITY SITUATION IMPROVES
ACROSS KENYA
AMID MASSIVE POPULATION MOVEMENTS

• The UN Country Team reports that the general
  security situation is calm though tense and volatile in the towns of Eldoret
  and Kericho.
   
• The Country Team says large numbers of
  internally displaced persons are on the move toward what Kenyan authorities
  describe as their “ancestral homes.”  This IDP exodus is especially massive
  from the central to the western parts of the country. In the Western Province
  and the Nyanza Province, the new arrivals are placing a serious strain on
  school and health systems, which are now operating way beyond capacity.
   
• Amid concerns about food security, the Office
  for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
  reports that the first round of food
  distributions has been completed in South Rift Valley. OCHA says that some 47
  tonnes of food were handed out at 19 camps for the internally displaced in the
  Kipelion and Nakuru districts.
   
• Meanwhile, the World Food Programme and its
  local partners are continuing an assessment in all districts of the Central
  Province. And while some 500 WFP containers remain at the Mombasa seaport,
  some 2,500 tonnes of food were successfully dispatched from Mombasa to various
  locations inside and outside of Kenya in recent days.

  HIGH
COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES
HIGHLIGHTS PLIGHT OF UPROOTED IRAQIS

• The High Commissioner for Refugees António
  Guterres, is in Jordan today, for a weeklong mission to the region aimed at
  highlighting the plight of millions of uprooted Iraqis and the efforts by host
  countries to help them. He would next travel to Damascus.
   
• Meanwhile, the international aid community today
  appealed for a
  comprehensive international response to help vulnerable people in Iraq over
  the next 12 months.
   
• UN agencies and NGOs said $265 million is needed
  to deliver urgent relief to Iraqis suffering under the humanitarian crisis
  inside the country.
   
• Under the appeal, WFP says it planned to assist
  up to 750,000 displaced persons in Iraq. 

MORE THAN $850 MILLION NEEDED TO
HELP WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN EMERGENCIES

• UNICEF today
  launched its
  Humanitarian Action Report for 2008, calling on donors to provide $856 million
  to help children and women in emergencies in 39 different countries around the
  world.
   
• The report contains information on countries
  experiencing severe political crises, such as Chad and Kenya, as well as
  countries struck by severe natural disasters, such as Mozambique.
   
• The report also highlights the worrying trend of
  women and children increasingly falling victim to systematic rape, which is
  often used as a weapon of war by different groups.

OTHER
ANNOUNCEMENTS

FIRST GLOBAL FORUM ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING TO BEGIN
FRIDAY: The first-ever global
forum to fight
human trafficking will take place in Vienna starting tomorrow and lasting
through Friday. The forum, which is a joint endeavor by the UN Office on Drugs
and Crime and the UN Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking, will bring
together twelve hundred experts, legislators, business leaders, representatives
of law enforcement teams and non-governmental organizations, and trafficking
victims from 116 countries. Participants will include Egyptian First Lady
Suzanne Mubarak, actress Emma Thompson, and pop star Ricky Martin.

U.N. DISASTER TEAM SURVEYS
EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE IN D.R. CONGO: UN
Disaster Assessment and Coordination team arrived yesterday in the South Kivu
province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to conduct disaster survey work
following a series of earthquakes that hit the area and western Rwanda on
February 3rd. The team will work with local UN and Congolese authorities on
assessment of damage to infrastructure and will also study the environmental
impact of the quakes in Bukavu and surrounding areas.

CORRECTION: U.N. OPERATIONS IN
SOMALIA HAVE NOT BEEN SUSPENDED: UN
operations in Somalia have not been suspended, contrary to what we reported
yesterday. The United Nations has temporarily suspended official travel to
certain limited areas of Somalia for UN staff, pending a reassessment of the
security environment due to the many security incidents in the past two weeks.
Operations are ongoing with international and national UN staff and with
implementing partners."

UNRWA NOT APPROACHED ABOUT SEIZED JORDANIAN AID: Asked about reports in
Gaza that Hamas had intercepted Jordanian aid to the Palestinian Red Crescent
Society and had offered it to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the Spokesperson said UNRWA had not been
approached about this.

ENVIRONMENT BODY ACTIVE ON CLIMATE CHANGE: Asked whether the
Secretary-General, given his interest in climate change, wanted to restructure
the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), as he had done with the Department of
Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), the Spokesperson clarified that, whereas DPKO
was a part of the Secretariat, UNEP was a separate agency. She added that UNEP
had already been active throughout the world on a number of fronts as it dealt
with climate change issues.

BHUTTO INQUIRY A SECURITY COUNCIL MATTER: Asked about renewed calls for
an international inquiry into the death of former Pakistani Prime Minister
Benazir Bhutto, the Spokesperson said that would be an issue for the Security
Council to decide upon. Asked what the Secretary-General could do to bring this
matter to the attention of Council members, Montas said he had already discussed
the situation in Pakistan through his conversations with various delegates.

STAFF SECURITY PANEL BEING WORKED ON: Asked for an update on the UN panel
for staff security, the Spokesperson said it was being worked on actively by
Lakhdar Brahimi. Brahimi was not currently in New York, but would hopefully come
to brief the press by the end of the week, she added.

 Office of the Spokesperson for the
Secretary-General
United Nations, S-378
New York, NY 10017
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Fax. 212-963-7055

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