HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY MICHELE
MONTAS
SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON
UN
HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Friday, October 24, 2008
BAN KI-MOON
CONVENES U.N. LEADERS' MEETING ON FINANCIAL CRISIS
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon this morning convened a
semi-annual gathering of the Chief Executives Board of the United Nations
System, which is focusing on the international economic situation, including
the special challenges facing developing countries in the context of the
worldwide financial crisis.
At 3:00 pm, the Secretary-General and the other leaders
throughout the UN system will hold a special session on the financial crisis
at UN Headquarters.
Meanwhile, a
statement was issued on the discussions the Secretary-General had
yesterday with a group of five eminent economists to share views and
brainstorm on the international economic situation.
During that discussion, the Secretary-General stressed
the need to keep the long term objectives – such as the
Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) and the fight against extreme poverty, as well as the need for action
against climate change – at the center of the global agenda. He underlined
his pledge to advance the voice of the poor, voiceless and excluded,
including by demonstrating the UN's responsibility for leading an “inclusive
multilateralism” that would need to be reflected in any discussion of the
reform of the international monetary and financial system.
It was generally agreed that the era of self-regulation
was over. Multilateral financial institutions cannot function as they are
doing currently. In designing a reform regime, however, a comprehensive
approach was needed.
If past history is a guide, a prolongation of an
economic slowdown can be averted only if states resisted pressures to adopt
trade protectionist measures while pursuing appropriate macro-economic
policies.
Asked whether the
Secretary-General agrees with the General Assembly President that a “Group
of 192” comprising all UN Member States needs to deal with the financial
crisis, the Spokeswoman said that the Secretary-General appreciates that the
crisis is affecting every country.
He believes, Montas said,
that the upcoming General Assembly meeting on the crisis is important, as is
the Group of 20 meeting in the Washington, D.C., area, which he will attend.
In those meetings, the Secretary-General believes the focus should be on how
to mitigate the impact of the crisis on the most vulnerable countries and
prevent the crisis from hurting the poorest of the poor.
UNITED NATIONS & WORLD BANK TO WORK
TOGETHER TO SOLVE CRISIS & POST-CRISIS SITUATIONS
This afternoon, here at Headquarters, the
Secretary-General and World Bank President Robert Zoellick will sign a
partnership framework that will affirm their commitment to work together
more effectively in countries hit by conflict and/or natural disasters.
Among other things, the UN-World Bank Partnership
Framework for Crisis and Post-Crisis Situations will provide common guiding
principles for working with national authorities and partners to support
crisis prevention, stabilization and recovery strategies -- while
acknowledging the humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality and
independence.
It will also call on the World Bank Group and UN system
organizations to improve inter-agency communications, strengthen joint
planning, increase collaboration on funding mechanisms, and foster a culture
of greater collaboration through joint training, evaluation and research.
BAN KI-MOON URGES COUNTRIES TO WORK
TOWARDS NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT
In his address this morning to the East-West
Institute’s session on “The United Nations and Security in a nuclear-weapon-
free world”, the Secretary-General
stressed that although Member States make the key decision in the field
of global peace and security, the United Nations has important roles to play
-- to provide, for example, a central forum where states can agree on norms
to serve their common interests.
Analyzing and advocating in the pursuit of agreed goals
towards peace and security in a nuclear-weapon- free world, the
Secretary-General laid out a five-point proposal, including
urging all Non-Proliferation Treaty parties, in
particular the nuclear-weapon-States, to fulfill their obligations under the
treaty to undertake negotiations on effective measures leading to nuclear
disarmament.
He also proposed that the Security Council’s permanent
members should commence discussions, perhaps within its Military Staff
Committee, on security issues in the nuclear disarmament process.
LEBANON:
SECRETARY-GENERAL STILL CONCERNED BY ASSASSINATIONS & EXPLOSIONS
The Secretary-General, in his latest
report to the Security Council on the implementation of resolution 1559,
concerning Lebanon, says that the country has experienced both sectarian
violence on the one hand, and hope and optimism on the other, over the past
six months. Lebanon, he says, was taken to the brink of a civil war and
back; but President Michel Suleiman’s election signaled the reactivation of
the country’s constitutional process.
The Secretary-General says that he remains concerned by
the political assassinations and explosions that continue to plague Lebanon.
And he notes the continuing issue of Hezbollah’s weapons and reiterates his
conviction that the disarming and disbanding of militias in the country
should be accomplished through an inclusive political dialogue that
addresses the political interests of all Lebanese.
The Secretary-General adds that he is encouraged by
positive developments in relations between Lebanon and Syria and the
initiation of a process of normalization between the two countries.
U.N. AGENCIES WORK TO IMPROVE
COORDINATION IN CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
Acting on a request from the Security Council, a
15-member inter-agency mission arrived this morning in Bangui to study how
to improve UN system coherence and coordination in the Central African
Republic.
The UN Peacebuilding Support Office in the Central
African Republic (BONUCA)
says that the assessment team will be meeting with government and civil
society representatives, the UN country team and members of the
international community.
Upon completion of its week-long visit, the assessment
team is expected to begin drafting recommendations to the Security Council
on how to integrate all UN activities in that country.
CHAD: U.N.-TRAINED POLICE OFFICERS TO
PROTECT DISPLACED PEOPLE
A contingent of 100 UN-trained Chadian police officers
is now en route from N’Djamena to northeastern Chad, where they will be
taking up the task of helping to protect refugees and internally displaced
persons.
The Mission in Chad and the Central African Republic (MINURCAT)
says that this deployment is the first in an initiative that, when
completed, will have a total of 850 UN-trained protection officers working
full-time in and around camps for internally displaced persons and refugees
in eastern Chad.
EFFORTS TO FIGHT SEXUAL VIOLENCE MUST BE
INTENSIFIED
The Secretary-General’s latest
report on women and peace and security is available today. In it, he
notes progress in making the UN’s overall peace and security architecture
more sensitive to women’s needs. However, there remains a noticeable gap
between policies and their effective implementation.
The Secretary-General says that more needs to be done
at the country level to mainstream gender perspectives at every stage of
conflict prevention, resolution and management, as well as in peacebuilding.
He also recommends that efforts to prevent and halt
sexual and gender-based violence be intensified, including through more
systematic responses by UN peacekeeping missions and humanitarian assistance
programmes, the protection of women in situations of displacement, and more
comprehensive strategies to address impunity for perpetrators of sexual
abuse.
U.N. AGENCY AMBASSADOR ANGELINA JOLIE
VISITS AFGHANISTAN
Angelina Jolie, Goodwill Ambassador for the Office of
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), concluded her first
visit to Afghanistan, where she saw both the successes and difficulties
of refugee return and reintegration.
She appealed for long-term commitments to Afghanistan
and greater humanitarian support for the population as the harsh Afghan
winter approaches.
According to UNHCR, Jolie is no stranger to the
agency’s Afghan operation, one of its biggest worldwide. She had met with
Afghan refugees in neighbouring Pakistan twice in recent years and wished to
see for herself how returnees were coping on their return to Afghanistan.
Her visit, which ran from Tuesday to Thursday, was also
aimed at raising awareness of the refugee issue ahead of an international
conference on return and reintegration to be held in Kabul in November.
Despite the huge returns to Afghanistan – over 5 million people have gone
home over the past six years – approximately 3 million registered refugees
remain in neighbouring Iran and Pakistan.
REFUGEE AGENCY HELPS THOUSANDS OF
FLEEING IRAQI CHRISTIANS
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) is
helping thousands of
Iraqi Christians who have fled the northern city of Mosul over the past
fortnight, with most of them going to villages elsewhere in the province of
Ninewa, and some 400 of them crossing the border into Syria. It is still not
clear who is behind the intimidation that caused them to flee.
More than 2,200 families, or some 13,000 people, are
estimated to have left Mosul by mid-week, mostly to safe areas to the north
and east of the city. That is more than half of Mosul's Christian
population.
UNHCR and its partners have delivered aid to at least
1,725 of the displaced families in about 20 areas of northern Iraq.
Asked about Special
Representative Staffan de Mistura’s travels, the Spokeswoman said that de
Mistura was expected to brief the Security Council in New York during the
first week of November.
MORE FUNDS NEEDED TO FIGHT CHOLERA IN
GUINEA–BISSAU
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) reports that Guinea-Bissau is currently struggling with a cholera
epidemic. This year so far, there have been more than 12,000 cases recorded,
with more than 200 deaths. But OCHA expects these figures to rise.
UNICEF and the World Health Organization are working
with Guinea-Bissau’s Ministry of Health to fight and contain the outbreak
and train Government officials, teachers and hundreds of volunteers in
cholera prevention practices. UNICEF says it is worried that the country’s
electoral campaign, which is now starting, could result in a new increase in
cases.
According to OCHA, more than a million dollars has been
mobilized by the UN system this year to support Guinea-Bissau, but more
funds are needed.
RENOVATION PLANS FOR U.N. HEADQUARTERS
STILL ON TRACK
Available today is the Secretary-General’s latest
report to the General Assembly on the implementation of the Capital
Master Plan (CMP) to renovate the United Nations Headquarters Complex.
According to the report, the CMP is on schedule and all
leases for swing space have been concluded. Work is progressing well on the
North Lawn Conference Building.
The relocation plan for the moves of approximately
6,000 staff has been finalized.
The updated design will achieve a reduction in energy
consumption at UN headquarters of 44%.
Applying value engineering, the estimated cost overrun
of the CMP was reduced by over $100 million; estimated overrun is now $97.5
million. Value engineering efforts will continue.
LACK OF RESPECT FOR MIGRANTS’ HUMAN
RIGHTS
REDUCES THEIR ABILITY TO CONTRIBUTE TO DEVELOPMENT
The UN Population Fund is a member of a group that
yesterday released a new
report entitled “International Migration and Human Rights: Challenges
and Opportunities on the Threshold of the 60th Anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights,” which examines the legal framework
underpinning the human rights of migrants and highlights the importance of
human rights in the migration and development discourse.
The report, to be presented at next week’s Global Forum
on Migration and Development to take place in Manila, which the
Secretary-General will be attending, shows that a lack of respect for the
human rights of migrants reduces their ability to contribute to development.
Produced by the 14 member agencies of the
Global Migration Group, the report stresses that nations, while
exercising their sovereign right to determine who enters and remains in
their territory, have an obligation to protect the human rights of migrants.
It also highlights the different categories of
migrants, with particular attention to groups with special needs, including
migrant children, female labour migrants in the informal sector, trafficking
victims, irregular migrants, as well as refugees and asylum seekers.
LEADERSHIP AND PARTNERSHIPS ARE MORE
IMPORTANT THAN EVER
Today is the 63rd
United Nations Day. In a message to mark the occasion, the
Secretary-General says that this year has been crucial for the United
Nations. The midpoint in the struggle to reach the Millennium Development
Goals has now passed and we can see more clearly that the threats of the
21st century spare no one.
He adds that he is deeply concerned about the impact of
the global financial crisis. Leadership and partnerships have never been
more important than today.
The Secretary-General will be delivering related
remarks at a UN day concert tonight in the General Assembly hall.
Meanwhile, to mark UN Day 2008, the UN has launched a
newly redesigned website that provides information about the UN in 130
languages. It can be visited at:
unic.un.org.
UN Day is being celebrated around the world today. In
Russia, this year’s UN Day also marks the 60th anniversary of the UN
presence in that country. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attended a
ceremony, to which the Secretary-General has sent a message.
In Addis Ababa the celebration at the Economic
Commission for Africa will mark not only UN Day, but also the 50th
anniversary of the Commission.
Meanwhile, Bangkok kicked off the festivities a day
early with the opening of a “One UN” multimedia exhibit by 17 UN entities in
the city’s largest shopping complex.
And in Windhoek, Namibia, UN staff participated in a
blood drive, organized in part by the World Heath Organization.
And in New York City, some 3,500 high school students
in all five boroughs commemorated UN Day with UN staff members as the
Department of Public Information launched a new project called UN4U.
As part of the project, school assemblies were
addressed by UN officials, including Under-Secretary-General for
Communications and Public Information Kiyo Akasaka; the Secretary-General’s
Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika
Coomaraswamy; Executive Director of the Capital Master Plan Michael
Adlerstein; and the Special Advisor on Gender Issues and Advancement of
Women, Rachel Mayanja.
The speakers gave students an overview of the
Organization, presented a video showcasing the UN’s work around the world,
shared their own experiences as UN staff members, and interacted with the
students in a question and answer segment.
U.N. OFFICIALS
CONCERNED BY SUFFERING IN HURRICANE-HIT HAITI
There will be no celebration of UN Day in Haiti this
year as the occasion comes at a very difficult time for the island, said
Hedi Annabi, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for that
country.
Annabi noted that Haiti has suffered a crushing loss of
lives and property during this year’s hurricane season, with the overall
material damage estimated at over $1 billion dollars by the World Bank.
All efforts are now geared toward finding urgent
humanitarian assistance for the millions of Haitians whose lives were left
in tatters by four successive storms. Annabi has urged UN staff in the
country to take part in conferences, TV and radio programmes and other
public fora to advocate for greater humanitarian assistance to Haiti,
especially that, so far, the world’s response to Haiti’s plight has been
tepid at best.
In the face of this, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator
John Holmes, who is presently in Haiti, expressed his willingness to make an
additional allocation from the Central Emergency Response Fund to fund the
urgent humanitarian needs of people affected by the recent hurricanes in
Haiti.
Asked about the cancellation
of UN Day celebrations in Haiti, the Spokeswoman said that it showed how
difficult the situation in Haiti is.
Asked whether the situation
in nearby Cuba was also a crisis, the Spokeswoman noted that the efficient
prevention system in Cuba, with the evacuation of up to three million
people, had lessened the number of victims. She later added that UN efforts
to raise $30 million for the relief efforts in Cuba are ongoing, in addition
to $8.7 million contributed by different UN agencies through their emergency
funds and by the Central Emergency Response Fund, on the aftermath of the
four devastating storms that hit the island, after striking Haiti.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
AGREEMENT TO PROTECT MIGRATORY BIRDS OF PREY:
Twenty-eight countries yesterday
signed an agreement to protect migratory birds of prey in Africa and
Eurasia. The agreement, reached under the UN Environment Programme’s Convention
on Migratory Species, covers more than 70 species. Among them are ospreys,
eagles, and owls; all have lost habitat to industry and agriculture or are
threatened by hunting and poisoning. The agreement enters into force on 1
November.
BAN KI-MOON SUPPORTS WOMEN’S
RIGHTS IN SAUDI ARABIA: In response to a
question on a speech given by a Saudi journalist, and Dag Hammarskjold fellow on
Thursday, the Spokeswoman said that the Secretary-General endorses the call for
women’s rights everywhere including in Saudi Arabia.
NO COMMENT ON GEORGIA INVESTMENT DECISION:
Asked about Georgia’s decision to ban investment in South Ossetia and Abkhazia,
the Spokeswoman declined to comment on a decision taken by a sovereign country.
THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS
25 October – 31 October 2008
Saturday, October 25
From today through 31 October,
the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child
pornography, Ms. Najat M’jid Maalla, visits Latvia.
Monday, October 27
This morning, the Security
Council is scheduled to receive a briefing on the U.N. Mission in Côte d’Ivoire
(UNOCI), followed by consultations on UNOCI and Côte d’Ivoire sanctions review.
At 11 a.m. in Room, S-226, Anna Tibaijuka, Executive
Director of UN-HABITAT, and Eduardo Lopez Moreno, Director of UN-HABITAT’s City
Monitoring Branch, brief on UN-HABITAT’s new State of the World’s Cities
Report 2008/9: Harmonious Cities.
At 3 p.m. in Room S-226, Olivier de Schutter, Special
Rapporteur on the right to food, briefs the press.
From today through Wednesday
in Amman, Jordan, the first-ever Regional Seminar on Upholding Human Rights
While Countering Terrorism takes place.
Tuesday, October 28
This morning, the Security
Council is scheduled to receive a briefing on the International Court of
Justice. In the afternoon, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations
Alain Le Roy is scheduled to brief on the AU/UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur
(UNAMID), which will be followed by consultations on UNAMID.
At 1:30 p.m. in the DHL
Auditorium, Jeffrey D. Sachs signs copies of his latest book "Common Wealth:
Economics for a Crowded Planet".
From today through Thursday,
more than 20 Pacific Rim countries participate in a tsunami drill, designed to
test the UNESCO-initiated Pacific Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System.
Wednesday, October 29
The Secretary-General is in
Manila, where he will address the opening of the 2nd Global Forum on
Migration and Development, receive an honorary degree from the University of the
Philippines and meet with President Gloria Arroyo.
This morning, the Security
Council is scheduled to hold an open debate on women and peace and security.
At 11 a.m. in Room S-226, Luc Gnacadja, Executive Secretary
of the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), briefs on how the
UNCCD constitutes a systemic and worldwide response to global environmental
challenges.
At UNESCO Headquarters in
Paris, a symposium on “Freedom of Expression: Development, Democracy and
Dialogue” will be held as part of celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Thursday, October 30
The Secretary-General is in
Delhi, India, where he is scheduled to meet with Government officials and the UN
country team.
Beginning at 9 a.m. in the
Trusteeship Council Chamber, the General Assembly holds an interactive panel on
the global financial crisis.
This morning, the Security
Council is scheduled to adopt a resolution on Côte d’Ivoire sanctions, followed
by a briefing and consultations on its 1559 report.
Friday, October 31
Today and tomorrow, the
Secretary-General is in Kathmandu, Nepal, where he will meet with the Prime
Minister, President, Foreign Minister, and members of the Constituent Assembly.
The Secretary-General is also scheduled to visit Lumbini, birthplace of Lord
Buddha.
At 10 a.m. in Conference Room
4, the first Conference of the States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities will include a panel discussion on the Convention as a
human rights instrument and a tool for achieving the Millennium Development
Goals.
Karen AbuZayd,
Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), is the guest at the Spokesperson’s noon
briefing.
Today is the last day of
China’s Security Council Presidency (Costa Rica assumes the presidency for the
month of November).
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