HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY MARIE OKABE
DEPUTY
SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BANK KI-MOON
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Friday, October 3, 2008
SECURITY
COUNCIL BRIEFED ON NORTH KOREA SANCTIONS & D.R. CONGO
The
Security Council held its first consultations of the month, and they
agreed this morning to adopt a programme of work for October, under the
leadership of the new Council President, Ambassador Zhang Yesui of China.
The Council heard a briefing by the Chair of the
Sanctions Committee dealing with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,
Italian Ambassador Giulio Terzi de Sant-Agata.
Council members also heard a briefing on the UN Mission
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC)
from the head of that Mission, Alan Doss. He talked to them about the
disengagement process in the Kivus in the eastern Democratic Republic of the
Congo.
SOMALIA: U.N. AGENCIES HELP FAMILIES
DISPLACED BY FIGHTING
Heavy fighting in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, last
week
forced an estimated 15,000 people to flee to safer districts within the
city, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Despite the challenging security situation, a World
Food Programme-supported food kitchen project served 14 million meals in
Mogadishu this week. UNICEF and its partners have distributed basic supplies
to 8,000 newly displaced families. In addition, UNICEF continues to support
immunization and other programmes for children and pregnant women, as well
as supplementary feeding and therapeutic centres.
Some 3.2 million people, or 43 percent of Somalia’s
population, are in dire need of humanitarian assistance.
Relief agencies are short of $231 million of the $646
million required to cover the needs of those affected.
DARFUR: ARRIVAL OF POLICE ADVISORS
BOLSTERS AFRICAN UNION-UNITED NATIONS OPERATION
A total of 189 individual Police Advisors
from 12 countries, including 17 female officers, have
arrived in Darfur to join the African Union-United Nations Hybrid
Operation (UNAMID).
UNAMID reports that these latest arrivals of police
advisors from Malaysia, Malawi, Jordan, Yemen, Pakistan, Uganda, Nepal,
Bangladesh, Turkey, Senegal, El Salvador and South Africa, bring the total
number of UNAMID Police Advisors to 1,877. The mandated strength is 3,772.
UNAMID Police Advisors are involved in training
Community Policing Volunteers in camps for internally displaced persons
(IDPs); capacity building for the Government of Sudan Police and other
parties to the Darfur conflict, to enable them to operate according to
internationally accepted standards of policing; monitoring investigations
into gender-based violence cases; confidence-building patrols in IDP camps
and support to the delivery of humanitarian assistance to IDPs in Darfur.
Asked whether Rwandan Gen.
Karenzi Karake would be extended as Deputy Force Commander for UNAMID, the
Spokeswoman said that the matter is still being discussed, and she noted
that his post is a joint appointment made by the United Nations and the
African Union. His current term, she said, expires later this month.
Okabe said, in response to a
further question, that the Secretary-General had discussed General Karenzi’s
appointment with Rwandan President Paul Kagame when the two met on the
margins of the General Assembly session last week.
Asked about efforts to obtain
helicopters for UNAMID, the Spokeswoman said that efforts continue to secure
them as soon as possible, but she added that she had no new offers to
announce.
U.N. HUMANITARIAN CONVOY REACHES
DISPLACED SRI LANKANS
In Sri Lanka, the World Food Programme (WFP)
reports that the first convoy of food and other essential supplies
dispatched by the United Nations has reached the 200,000 displaced people in
the area controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
A convoy, delivering enough food to feed the population
for one week, will be dispatched each week traveling from Vavunya through
the Omantai crossing point to the conflict-affected areas.
The population has been cut off from humanitarian
assistance for more than two weeks after fighting escalated in the region.
The WFP truck convoys are also ferrying humanitarian
supplies on behalf of other relief agencies, as the UN and other
international humanitarian aid offices withdrew from the Vanni Region on 16
September following a government-issued directive requiring staff to be
relocated outside the LTTE-controlled area.
U.N. TO EXPLORE MODALITIES OF POSSIBLE
PAKISTAN COMMISSION
Asked about the
Pakistani Government's request for a commission of inquiry into the
circumstances of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the Spokeswoman said
that the subject had come up when the Secretary -General met with the
President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, on the margins of the General
Assembly session.
Okabe said that
the Secretary-General offered his condolences not only on the President's
personal loss but also the loss of so many Pakistanis in the recent
terrorist bombing in Islamabad. The Secretary-General also encouraged
Pakistan to persist in its dialogue both with India and Afghanistan.
She added that it was agreed
that the United Nations would see what it could do to support the request
for an independent fact-finding commission and would explore further the
precise modalities and brief of such a Commission.
KOSOVO: U.N. MISSION REOPENS NORTHERN
COURTHOUSE
The UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK)
today
reopened a courthouse in north Mitrovica that was the scene of violence
earlier this year. The building had been forcibly occupied by Kosovo Serb
demonstrators on 14 March.
Starting today, the courthouse will be staffed by UNMIK
international staff, including two judges, two prosecutors, legal officers
and administrative assistants. In this initial phase of the reopening, the
prosecutors and international judges will only handle urgent criminal cases.
They will apply UNMIK law and procedure.
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for
Kosovo, Lamberto Zannier, called today’s reopening “a first step to ensure
that rule of law is provided to everyone in Kosovo.”
NUCLEAR WATCHDOG TO HELP PROTECT NUCLEAR
INSTALLATIONS FROM EARTHQUAKES
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today
officially
inaugurated an international centre to coordinate efforts to protect
nuclear installations against the effects of earthquakes.
The International Seismic Safety Centre (ISSC), which
has been established within the IAEA's Department of Nuclear Safety and
Security and will be based in Vienna, will serve as a focal point on seismic
safety for nuclear installations worldwide. It will assist countries on the
assessment of seismic hazards of nuclear facilities to mitigate the
consequences of strong earthquakes.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
FUNDING FOR CONTRACEPTION STAGNATES DESPITE
RISING DEMAND: The UN Population Fund
says donor funding for contraceptives and condoms for HIV prevention is
stagnating, despite rising global demand. According to its latest analysis,
contributions for these supplies totaled $223 million in 2007, or slightly less
than in 2001. During that time, the world’s population has continued to grow,
and more couples are using modern methods of contraception.
Without concerted efforts, millions will not be able to
exercise their reproductive health choices, the analysis warns.
FUNDING INCREASES FOR ENERGY PROJECTS: The World
Bank has
announced a funding increase for renewable energy and energy efficiency
projects in developing countries. Funding for these projects rose 87 per cent
from the 2007 to 2008 fiscal year. Commitments for the 2008 fiscal year reached
nearly $2.7 billion, with 95 projects in 51 countries.
THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS
Saturday, October 4
Today through 10 October is World Space Week.
Sunday, October 5
Today is World Teachers Day.
Monday, October 6
Today is the first day of substantive work for all of
the General Assembly’s main committees, except for the Fifth Committee, which
began its substantive session on 3 October.
At 11.15 a.m. in Room S-226, Mark Richmond, UNESCO’s
Director of the Division for the Coordination of U.N. Priorities in Education,
introduces the main findings of the Mid-Decade Review Report on the U.N.
Literacy Decade and UNESCO’s new report on the Global Literacy Challenge.
Today is World Habitat Day. From 1.15 to 2.30 p.m. in
Conference Room D, there will be a briefing on “Renewable energy in urban
settings”. From 2.30 to 6 p.m. in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library, there will be a
special event on “Harmonious cities”.
The International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of
Governors meets today in Vienna.
All this week in Geneva, the U.N. High Commissioner
for Refugees’ Executive Committee holds its annual meeting. Today, there will
be a ceremony to present the annual Nansen Refugee Award to Christopher Clark
and the U.N. Mine Action Coordination Centre of South Lebanon.
From today through 17 October in Geneva, the
Preparatory Committee for the Durban Review Conference holds its second
substantive session.
All this week, the International Maritime
Organization’s Marine Environment Protection Committee meets in London.
From today through Thursday, the “Second Symposium on
the Ocean in a High CO2 World”, convened in part by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental
Oceanographic Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency, takes place
in Monaco.
Tuesday, October 7
At 11 a.m. in Room S-226, the Secretary-General holds
the first of his regularly-scheduled monthly press conferences. There will no
noon briefing by the Spokesperson today.
This morning, the Security Council is scheduled to
hold a debate on the U.N. Peacebuilding Support Office in Guinea-Bissau.
At 2 p.m. in Room S-226, Under-Secretary-General for
Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes briefs ahead
of the International Day for Disaster Reduction (8 October).
Today and tomorrow, the Secretary-General’s Personal
Envoy for the talks between Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia, Matthew Nimetz, meets with both sides in New York.
In Rome, the Food and Agriculture Organization
releases its State of Food and Agriculture report, which examines the
prospects, risks and opportunities of biofuels.
In Brussels, the U.N., the European Commission, and
the European Parliament convene a high-level inter-institutional conference on
“60 Years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: The Defenders Take the
Floor”.
Wednesday, October 8
This morning, the Security Council is scheduled to
hold a private meeting with Troop Contributing Countries to the U.N.
Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), followed by an open briefing and
consultations on MINUSTAH.
From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Economic and Social
Council Chamber, the Peacebuilding Commission’s Central African Republic
configuration holds its second meeting.
Today is the International Day for Disaster Reduction.
Thursday, October 9
Today and tomorrow, the General Assembly plenary holds
informal consultations on the draft Doha outcome document on reviewing the
Implementation of the Monterrey Consensus.
This morning, the Security Council is scheduled to
hold a private meeting with Troop Contributing Countries to the U.N. Observer
Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG), followed by consultations on UNOMIG and on the
Council’s Somalia sanctions committee.
The guest at the noon briefing is
Under-Secretary-General for Management Angela Kane, who will brief on management
reform.
Today and tomorrow, the first ever UN Book Days take
place in the General Assembly Visitor’s Lobby.
Today is World Post Day.
Friday, October 10
At 11 a.m., the Security Council is scheduled to hold
a Coordinator’s Meeting.
The guest at the Spokesperson's noon briefing is Yvo
de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change,
who will discuss the latest developments in negotiations on a new climate change
agreement that needs to be finalized by December 2009 in Copenhagen.
Today is World Mental Health Day.
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