HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY MICHELE
MONTAS
SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Wednesday, July
30, 2008
SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES REVITALIZATION OF TRADE TALKS, FOLLOWING BREAK IN
NEGOTIATIONS
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is
disappointed to hear that the tremendous efforts made by key players to
conclude the seven-year long Doha Round this year have not yielded the
desired outcome. Success was particularly important at this juncture when
the world faces major development challenges that include the food, fuel and
financial crises, climate change, weak progress towards the Millennium
Development Goals and the fight against poverty, and growing protectionist
sentiments amid concern over global recession.
The Secretary-General spoke today to Pascal Lamy,
Director-General of the
World Trade Organization on this issue. Looking forward, the two
leaders stressed the need to ensure that the break in negotiations would not
be long. They hoped that by regrouping forces, the Doha negotiations could
be revitalized before the end of the year.
The Secretary-General is convinced that a successful
conclusion to the talks was needed to energize international cooperation
toward ameliorating conditions for developing countries to derive gains from
trade and investment-led globalization. It would also advance efforts to
improve the livelihoods of their peoples, especially the most poor and
vulnerable as well as provide an important boost to the global economy by
removing existing distortions in markets and strengthen trade governance,
grounded on a development agenda.
Meanwhile, in the context of the global food crisis,
the Secretary-General has urged nations to reconsider their policies
restricting agricultural imports and exports as well as take concrete steps
to exempt food purchases for humanitarian purposes. Special efforts must be
made to improve production incentives for small farmers in developing
countries as set forth by the
United Nations Task Force on the Global Food Crisis.
SECRETARY-GENERAL’S GOOD OFFICES REMAIN AVAILABLE TO ETHIOPIA AND ERITREA
The Secretary-General notes that the Security Council
today unanimously adopted Resolution 1827, which terminates the mandate of
the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE)
as of 31 July. The Council has taken this decision after both parties
rejected options for a possible follow-on presence put before them by the
Secretary-General at the request of the Security Council.
The Secretary-General
regrets this decision by the parties but welcomes the decision of the
Council to continue to remain actively seized of the matter. He also
expresses hope that the parties would be able to break the current stalemate
and create conditions necessary for the normalization of their relations,
which is key to peace and stability in the region. The Secretary-General
reaffirms that his offer of good offices remains available to the parties to
help them implement the Algiers Agreements.
SECURITY
COUNCIL TERMINATES U.N. MISSION IN ETHIOPIA AND ERITREA
The Security Council this morning voted unanimously to
terminate the mandate of the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE),
effective as of the end of this month.
The Council demanded that Ethiopia and Eritrea comply
fully with their obligations under the Algiers Agreements, show maximum
restraint and refrain from any threat or use of force against each other,
while avoiding provocative military activities. It requests that the
Secretary-General further explore with Ethiopia and Eritrea the possibility
of a UN presence in those two countries, in the context of the maintenance
of international peace and security.
The Secretary-General, in a
letter to the Security Council President, has detailed the Secretariat’s
consultations with Ethiopia and Eritrea on the options for future UN
engagement in their countries. Both parties have rejected the options put
before them, he said. Yet the Secretary-General adds that he intends to
continue working closely with both parties through his good offices, which
remain available.
KARADŽIĆ TO
APPEAR BEFORE TRIBUNAL JUDGES AS SOON AS THURSDAY
Radovan Karadžić is now in the custody of the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He was
brought to the UN detention facility near The Hague early this morning.
There, he went through the standard check-in procedures and met with
representatives of the Tribunal’s registry who explained to him his rights
and detailed the legal advice to which he is entitled. He is now scheduled
to appear before the tribunal’s judges as early as Thursday.
In a statement, Prosecutor Serge Brammertz welcomed
this development, saying that the arrest of Karadžić is “immensely important
for the victims who had to wait far too long for this day.” Brammertz also
said that his team is reviewing the indictment, which was last updated in
2000, to ensure that it reflects facts established by the court and evidence
collected over the past eight years.
Karadžić, the former leader of Bosnian Serbs, was
indicted for the most serious crimes under international law: genocide,
crimes against humanity and war crimes.
CÔTE D'IVOIRE:
LAST MILITARY OUTPOST ALONG GREEN LINE DISMANTLED
The
UN Mission in Côte d'Ivoire has dismantled the last military post along
the so-called Green Line inside the former zone of confidence between the
government-controlled south and the north of the country, which remains
under some level of control by the former Force Nouvelles rebels.
A 20-kilometer wide and 600-kilometer long swath of
land in the center of the country, the creation and scheduled dismantling of
the zone of confidence and the internationally-manned military posts was one
of the key elements of the Ouagadougou peace agreement which ended the
Ivorian civil war.
DR CONGO: U.N.
INVESTIGATORS EXAMINE EVIDENCE OF REPORTED VIOLATIONS IN TSHOPO DISTRICT
For most of last week, investigators from the Mission
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
conducted an evidence gathering trip to the Tshopo district of Orientale
Province. The aim of the mission, jointly executed with the Congolese
government, was to look into reports of massive rapes, looting and torture
committed in the area in July 2007 by a local militia.
Congolese doctors traveling with the mission examined
victims on the spot and assisted in the evidence gathering. Also present
were military lawyers who recorded statements and testimonies from victims
and witnesses. They also advised the victims of their rights.
WFP: HUNGER
INCREASING IN THE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA
According to a new UN
survey in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, millions of people
are experiencing hunger, at levels not seen since the late 1990s.
The three-week Rapid Food Security Assessment –
conducted by the World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture
Organization – found that nearly three quarters of households have reduced
their food intake. The majority of families have cut out protein from their
diet, many are scavenging for food, and more malnourished and ill children
are being admitted to hospitals.
The food gap is a combined result of flooding last
August, successive poor harvests and soaring food prices. With both food
production and food imports on the decline, rice now costs almost three
times what it did a year ago; maize has quadrupled in price.
WFP is urgently expanding food distribution to reach
more than six million people, up from a little over a million now. It is
also planning a new US$500 million operation to target the most vulnerable
women, children and elderly people.
FAO HELPS
ESTABLISH SEED ASSOCIATION FOR FARMERS IN CENTRAL ASIA
The Food and Agriculture Organization has helped to
establish a regional seed association for Central Asia and the Caucasus.
Based in Ankara, Turkey, the association will provide
millions of farmers with improved seeds that are suited to local conditions.
Since only half the cultivable land in the region is currently farmed, this
could help reduce the effects of soaring food prices.
CENTRAL
EMERGENCY RESPONSE FUND ALLOCATES US$30 MILLION FOR NEGLECTED CRISES IN SEVEN
COUNTRIES
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and
Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes today announced a US$30 million
allocation from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF)
for neglected crises in seven countries.
The largest grant, for seven million dollars, will
support agencies carrying out life-saving aid programmes in Chad, which is
facing worsening insecurity and an influx of new refugees from Darfur and
the Central African Republic. The other recipients are Syria, Iraq, Sri
Lanka, Afghanistan, Burundi, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
CERF commits one-third of all funds each year to
redress imbalances in the global aid distribution. This is the second round
of allocations from that segment, following an allocation of US$108 million
in February.
UNESCO
ANNOUNCES INTERNATIONAL LITERACY PRIZE RECIPIENTS
Literacy projects in Brazil, Ethiopia, South Africa and
Zambia have won the four U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO)
International Literacy Prizes this year. A programme in Morocco and another
from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) received Honourable
Mentions.
Prizes are awarded every year in recognition of
excellence and innovation in promoting literacy throughout the world.
The theme for this year was “Literacy and Health”, with
a strong emphasis on HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.
TOURS OF U.N.
HEADQUARTERS TO BE MODIFIED AHEAD OF RENOVATION
As the Organization’s Headquarters prepares for the
Capital Master Plan, guided tours of the complex will be
modified as of 1 August 2008 and limited to the General Assembly
building. The cost of the tours will be reduced and a fresh route
introduced that wraps around the General Assembly Hall and extends into
Conference Room 4, the proposed site of the Security Council while its
permanent chamber is being renovated.
The new 45-minute tour will inaugurate a special
section for younger audiences, called “Children’s Corner”, as well as a
multimedia virtual tour of the UN’s six main Organs, with pictorial
highlights of the Organization’s history, structure, composition and offices
around the world.
Showcased along the new tour route are updated exhibits
of 60 years of peacekeeping, the work of the United Nations in achieving the
Millennium Development Goals, a sampling of the gifts donated by United
Nations Member States, and individual exhibits on disarmament, landmines,
the Holocaust, human rights, indigenous peoples, decolonization and the
question of Palestine, to name a few. Tours will continue to visit the
gathering place of the world and, in many eyes, the United Nations’ “visual
identity”, the General Assembly Hall.
The cost of the tour, from 1 August, will be $12.50 for
adults; $8.00 for seniors and students, and $6.50 for children.
OTHER
ANNOUNCEMENTS
NO RECENT COMMUNICATION RECEIVED FROM FRENTE POLISARIO:
In response to a question, the Spokeswoman said that the United Nations had
not formally received any communication from the Frente Polisario asking for the
replacement of the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy on Western Sahara, Peter
van Walsum.
U.S. COURTS ADDRESSING HUMAN TRAFFICKING ALLEGATIONS
AGAINST DIPLOMATS: Asked about a recent report alleging that some diplomats
at the United Nations had been involved in human trafficking, the Spokeswoman
noted that the relevant cases are currently before the US court system, and she
expressed the hope that justice would take its course.
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