Secretary-General

Noon briefing of 11 July 2008

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING

BY FARHAN HAQ
ASSOCIATE SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Friday, 11 July 2008

LEBANON: BAN KI-MOON WELCOMES FORMATION OF NATIONAL UNITY GOVERNMENT

  • The Secretary-General welcomes the announcement on the formation of a national unity Government in Lebanon. He believes that this important event reflects Lebanon's continuing emergence from the political crisis and the revitalisation of its constitutional institutions.

  • The Secretary-General urges the Lebanese to continue working for the full implementation of the Doha Accord. He will continue to ensure the United Nations' support for the consolidation of Lebanon's stability and sovereignty in accordance with the Taif Accord and the relevant Security Council resolutions.

SECURITY COUNCIL BRIEFED ON ATTACK ON PEACEKEEPERS IN DARFUR

  • The Security Council this morning received a briefing from Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean Marie Guéhenno on the attack that took place in North Darfur on Tuesday against peacekeepers of the UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). Seven UNAMID personnel were killed in that attack, while 22 were wounded.

  • UNAMID immediately launched an investigation, which is still ongoing, into the identity and motives of the attackers. As of yet, no organization has claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place in a Government-controlled area.

  • After consultations, Council members expect to hold a formal meeting on Afghanistan, to consider a Presidential Statement.

  • Then, at 3:30, the Security Council has scheduled consultations, with a view to a formal meeting, to consider a draft resolution on Zimbabwe.

  • Yesterday afternoon, the Security Council voted unanimously to terminate the sanctions measures it had imposed earlier on Rwanda. In addition, the Council President read out a press statement that condemned in the strongest terms the terrorist attack earlier this week on Turkish police protecting the United States Consulate General in Istanbul.

BAN KI-MOON INTENDS TO APPOINT FORMER AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER AS CYPRUS ADVISER

  • The Secretary-General has informed the Security Council of his intention to appoint Alexander Downer, the former Foreign Minister of Australia, as his Special Adviser on Cyprus.

  • In a letter that he sent to the Security Council yesterday evening, the Secretary-General noted that, in resolution 1818 earlier this year, the Security Council had welcomed his intention to appoint a Special Adviser on Cyprus at the appropriate time. The Security Council’s response to his letter is being awaited.

  • Also on Cyprus, it has been confirmed that the Secretary-General is planning to meet with His Excellency Mr. Dimitris Christofias in Paris on Sunday, and with His Excellency Mr. Mehmet Ali Talat in Berlin on Tuesday.

REFUGEE AGENCY CONCERNED BY “DISTURBING” ZIMBABWE DISPLACEMENT PATTERNS

  • The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says it has noticed some “disturbing developments” in the pattern of displacement from Zimbabwe. Previously, the great majority of Zimbabweans crossing the border into South Africa were single men or women seeking work. But now an increasing number of families are arriving as a result of political violence, with several people showing signs of beatings or torture.

  • UNHCR also notes that, in the last 40 days alone, some 17,000 Zimbabweans have been deported from South Africa, despite earlier calls from the agency to suspend all deportations. The refugee agency has reiterated its appeal to South Africa to ensure that Zimbabweans seeking asylum have access to the proper procedures.

HUMANITARIAN ACCESS TO PARTS OF NORTH KOREA RESUMES

  • UNICEF reports that, for the first time since 2006, access for international agencies to two northeastern provinces of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has resumed.

  • The UN Country Team had been negotiating to resume humanitarian access in those provinces since early 2007.

  • A UNICEF team is set to leave for an 11-day mission to these provinces on Saturday to visit hospitals, health facilities and institutions for children. UNICEF trucks loaded with nutritional supplies and medicines intended for children in these provinces have already set off from the capital Pyongyang.

LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES NOT ON TRACK TO HALVING POVERTY BY 2015

  • The UN Conference on Trade and Development today launched its Least Developed Countries Report 2008.

  • The report found that, although least developed countries as a group registered substantial economic growth over the past 30 years, the number of poor paradoxically continued to rise. Population growth has outpaced economic expansion, and some 277 million people in these countries live on less than a dollar a day.

  • The global food crisis has also worsened the situation. Given current development patterns and policies, these countries are not on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of reducing poverty by half by 2015, the report says.

SECRETARY-GENERAL LAUDS STAFF MEMBERS’ INNOVATION & EFFICIENCY

  • A ceremony to honor the winners of the UN 21 Awards was held this morning.

  • The awards were established twelve years ago to provide recognition to staff members for innovation, efficiency and excellence in the delivery of the UN’s programmes and services.

  • They were designed to motivate staff members to participate in the reform of the UN, and to help change the UN’s culture into a results-oriented one.

  • In remarks to the award recipients today, the Secretary-General said their endeavors have given the UN’s work more impact and made the Organization more productive.

NEW GROUP TO SEE HOW INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES CAN HELP TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE

  • The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has set up a new group to deal with the impact of information and communication technologies, or ICTs, on climate change. The new group will look at how to reduce ICT emissions and explore how ICTs can also be used to help cut emissions in other industry sectors.

  • Since the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, the number of ICT users has tripled worldwide. And it is estimated that the ICT sector produces between two and three per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

  • But ITU says that ICTs can be a part of the solution to the climate change challenge.

FAMILY PLANNING COULD REDUCE MATERNAL AND CHILD DEATHS

  • Today is World Population Day. This year’s theme is “Family Planning: It’s a Right; Let’s Make it Real”.

  • In a message to mark the Day, the Secretary-General notes that ensuring basic access to family planning could reduce maternal deaths by a third, and child deaths by as much as 20 per cent. He calls on Governments to honor their commitments to let all couples and individuals decide the number and spacing of their children, as well as have the information, education and means to do so.

  • In a separate message, UN Population Fund Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid calls family planning “essential to women’s empowerment and gender equality. When a woman can plan her family, she can plan the rest of her life,” she says, stressing that family planning also helps fight poverty by allowing parents to devote more of their resources to the education and health of each child.

SECRETARY-GENERAL CONTINUES TO PRESS FOR JUSTICE FOLLOWING SREBRENICA MASSACRE

  • Asked about the Secretary-General’s views on the 13th anniversary of the massacres in the Bosnian city of Srebrenica, the Spokesperson said that the Secretary-General continues to express his sympathies with the families of the victims of that massacre and to press for justice to be done.

  • He noted that two key suspects, Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, remain at large. The international community should not rest until they are apprehended and brought to trial, he said.

  • The Spokesperson noted the decision by a Dutch court earlier this week regarding the immunities of the United Nations but declined to comment further on that ruling.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

BAN KI-MOON DISCUSSES AFGHANISTAN WITH ENVOY: Asked about the meeting on Thursday between the Secretary-General and his Special Representative for Afghanistan, Kai Eide, the Spokesperson said that they discussed the work of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). He noted that Eide had briefed the Security Council in an open meeting on Wednesday on that matter.

SECURITY COUNCIL REFERRED DARFUR TO INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT: Asked whether Sudanese individuals can be brought before the International Criminal Court, given that Sudan is not a party to the Court’s Rome Statute, the Spokesperson said that the Statute also provides for the Security Council to refer situations to the Court. In this case, he said, the Council, in resolution 1593, had referred the Darfur situation to the Court, and all Member States were obliged to abide by that resolution.

BROAD UNDERSTANDING REACHED ON U.N. HELP FOR PAKISTANI EFFORTS, FOLLOWING BHUTTO ASSASSINATION: Asked whether someone would be appointed to head a Commission to identify those responsible for the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the Spokesperson said that the discussions on that issue were not at the stage of agreeing on establishing a Commission. Rather, he said, a broad understanding had been reached on some issues concerning UN help for Pakistan’s efforts, but further consultations are required on the modalities and structure of a Commission.

***The guest at the noon briefing was Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes, who briefed on the situation in the Horn of Africa.

THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS
12 July 2008 – 18 July 2008

Sunday, July 13

The Secretary-General is in Paris, France, where he is scheduled to participate in the Paris Summit for the Mediterranean.

Monday, July 14

In Paris, the Secretary-General is scheduled to attend the French National Day Military Parade which will for the first time include U.N. Peacekeepers from different parts of the world.

At 10 a.m. in Conference Room 5, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) holds a panel discussion on “Public Accountability: The Role of Public Accountability in Good Governance”.

At 11 a.m. in Room S-226, Ambassador Jürg Streuli of Switzerland, Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, launches the “Small Arms Survey 2008: Risk and Resilience”.

The guest at the noon briefing is Stephen Rapp, Prosecutor for the Special Court for Sierra Leone, who will brief on the Charles Taylor trial.

At 3 p.m. in Conference Room 1, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People holds its 310th meeting.

The Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for the talks between Greece and The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Matthew Nimetz, meets today in New York with a delegation from Athens for technical consultations. He met with a delegation from Skopje on 10 July.

All week in Conference Room 4, the third biennial meeting of states to consider the implementation of the Programme of Action on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons takes place.

From today through Friday, a joint mission by the U.N. and the Pacific Disability Forum visits the Federated States of Micronesia to reinforce the country’s national policy on disability.

From today through Wednesday in Edmonton, Canada, a World Meteorological Organization workshop with expert groups in forest fires looks at ways to improve weather systems for fire danger rating.

Tuesday, July 15

Today and tomorrow, the Secretary-General is in Germany, where he is scheduled to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, as well as address a conference organised by the Bertelsmann Foundation.

This afternoon, the Security Council is scheduled to hold consultations on the UN Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad.

From today through Thursday in the ECOSOC Chamber, ECOSOC’s Humanitarian Affairs Segment focuses on “Building capabilities and capacities at all levels for timely humanitarian assistance, including disaster risk reduction”.

From 1.15 to 2.45 p.m. in Conference Room 4, there will be a panel discussion on “Conflict of interests: Children and guns in zones of instability”

At 6 p.m. in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium, there will be a special screening of the award-winning film Johnny Mad Dog, followed by a panel discussion on the issue of child soldiers.

The World Trade Organization is scheduled to launch its World Trade Report 2008.

Wednesday, July 16

This morning, the Security Council is scheduled to hold a private meeting with Troop Contributing Countries to the African Union/United Nations Hybrid operation in Darfur (UNAMID), followed by consultations on UNAMID.

The guest at the noon briefing is Eric Laroche, Assistant Director-General of the World Health Organization, who will brief on “UN Health Action in Crises – Treating Climate Change, Food Crisis and Other Global Health Challenges”.

From 1.30 to 2.45 p.m. in the Trusteeship Council Chamber, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes launches the Mid-Year Review of the Humanitarian Appeal 2008. Mr. Holmes then briefs the press on the Mid-Year Review at 3 p.m. in Room S-226.

Thursday, July 17

This morning, the Security Council is scheduled to hold an open debate on children and armed conflict.

UNICEF and the World Health Organization launch their joint monitoring report on sanitation and water.

Friday, July 18

This morning, the Security Council is scheduled to hold a debate on the U.N. Mission in Nepal. In the afternoon, consultations on the U.N. Office for West Africa are scheduled.

The General Assembly holds a plenary meeting to discuss the global food and energy crisis. The Secretary-General is expected to address the session.

From today through 24 July, the ECOSOC holds its General Segment, which will undertake the follow-up and review of conferences, review and evaluate the annual reports of the UN Funds and Programmes and its subsidiary bodies, and take relevant action.