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HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING

 

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

 


UN
HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

 

Wednesday,
December 10, 2008

 

U.N. MARKS 60TH
ANNIVERSARY OF UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

  • Article 1:  All human beings are born free and equal in
    dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should
    act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
     

  • Article 2:  Everyone is entitled to all the rights and
    freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind,
    such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion,
    national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
     

  • Article 3:  Everyone has the right to life, liberty and
    security of person.
     

  • Article 5:  No one shall be subjected to torture or to
    cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
     

  • Article 7:  All are equal before the law and are
    entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law.
     

  • Article 9:  No one shall be subjected to arbitrary
    arrest, detention or exile.
     

  • Article 16:  Men and women of full age, without any
    limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and
    to found a family.
     

  • These are articles from the Universal

    Declaration
    of Human Rights, whose 60th anniversary is being celebrating
    today. And today, of course, is also Human Rights Day.
     

  • In a

    message
    to mark the occasion, the Secretary-General says the Declaration
    reflects humanity’s aspirations for a future of prosperity, dignity and
    peaceful coexistence.  It is and always will be a core part of the UN’s
    identity. The international community has drawn enduring inspiration from
    the Declaration to build a great foundation of laws that now protect
    countless people around the world, he adds.
     

  • We have come a long way, the Secretary-General says.
    But the reality is that we have not lived up to the Declaration’s vision –
    at least not yet. In that regard, the Secretary-General says he has been
    very humbled and saddened at having seen so many people whose human rights
    are being abused and not properly protected.
     

  • The Secretary-General has also prepared a Human Rights
    Day video message that will be shown this afternoon to the General
    Assembly. 
     

  • In a separate

    statement
    today, High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay explains
    the significance of the Declaration. She says that, when it was signed, for
    the first time, all human rights were recognized as belonging inherently to
    all people, rather than being gifts bestowed upon them by ruling regimes.

     

  • Also today, nearly 250 chief executive officers from
    the UN Global Compact issued a

    statement
    renewing their commitment to respect and support human rights
    within their spheres of influence, and calling on Governments to meet their
    human rights obligations. The signed statement was published in the
    Financial Times today.
     

  • Meanwhile, the UN Information Centres around the world
    report that events are being organized to mark Human Rights Day.
     

  • In Paris, France, for example, a collection of short
    films on human rights is being screened at the Palais de Chaillot, where the
    Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted 60 years ago.
     

  • In India last Sunday, 2,500 students marked the
    anniversary by running on New Delhi’s most prominent avenue.
     

  • In South Africa, the UN Information Centre helped
    launch a ten-day banner campaign in major cities across the country.
     

  • At UN Headquarters, next Monday at 7 p.m. in the
    General Assembly Hall, there will be a Human Rights Day Concert featuring UN
    Messenger of Peace Maestro Daniel Barenboim and members of the West-Eastern
    Divan Orchestra. The event, which is being sponsored by the Spanish Mission,
    will include statements by the Secretary-General, the President of the
    General Assembly and the Vice President of the Government of Spain.
     

  • Asked about a petition from a group calling for the
    rights of the “unborn child”, the Spokeswoman said that the
    Secretary-General has not yet received that petition and had no reaction to
    it at this time.
     

  • Asked whether the Secretary-General has a position on a
    declaration on homosexuality that has been proposed for the General
    Assembly, Montas said that the declaration has not been submitted to the
    Assembly yet. The Secretary-General had yet to see the text, she said.
     

  • Asked whether Pillay has spoken enough on economic
    rights, the Spokeswoman noted that Pillay had mentioned the importance of
    economic rights at her press briefing on Tuesday. She said that economic
    rights are what the

    Millennium Development Goals
    are about and these are high on the agenda
    of the Secretary-General and his High Commissioner for Human Rights.

 


SECRETARY-GENERAL ARRIVES IN POLAND TO ATTEND CLIMATE CHANGE TALKS

  • The Secretary-General has arrived in Poznan, Poland, to
    attend the UN conference on climate change. He will address the conference
    tomorrow and will appeal to the gathered leaders to not allow the various
    crises confronting them to be used as an excuse to defer action on climate
    change.
     

  • Upon arrival in Poznan, he was briefed by Yvo de Boer,
    Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
    He then proceeded to a working luncheon with his Climate Change envoys --
    Ricardo Lagos, Festus Mogae, Gro Harlem Brundtland and Srgjan Kerim.
     

  • On the eve of the high-level segment of the conference,
    the Secretary-General is holding a series of bilateral meetings with
    officials attending the conference. He is scheduled to attend an official
    dinner tonight hosted by the Government of Poland.

 

WORLD BANK
ISSUES PESSIMISTIC ECONOMIC OUTLOOK FOR 2009

  • In its newly-released Global Economic Prospects

    report
    for 2009, the World Bank finds that a significant slowdown is
    taking place everywhere, including in previously resilient developing
    countries. 
     

  • Global GDP is predicted to fall from 2.5 percent this
    year to 0.9 per cent next year, with rich countries likely seeing negative
    growth.  The report also predicts that world trade will contract by more
    than two percent next year.  That’s the first such decline in more than a
    quarter century.
     

  • Meanwhile, the World Bank has just

    announced
    the creation of a US$2 billion fast-track facility.  It’s
    designed to speed up grants and long-term, interest-free loans to help the
    world’s poorest countries cope with the global financial crisis. 
     

  • In other news, the Economic Commission for Latin
    America and the Caribbean, in its latest

    report
    , finds that the percentage of the region’s people living in
    poverty dropped slightly last year, to just less than one-third of the
    population.  Extreme poverty, however, rose slightly – to just shy of 13 per
    cent.  There continue to be significant inequalities in income distribution.
     

  • The report notes that the region’s prospects for next
    year are bleak.  Employment is expected to stagnate, and the most seriously
    affected countries will be those that depend on migrant remittances or have
    direct links with the United States market. 

 

SECURITY
COUNCIL TAKES UP GOLAN HEIGHTS, U.N. REGIONAL PREVENTIVE DIPLOMACY CENTRE AND
OTHER MATTERS

  • The

    Security Council
    held consultations this morning on the UN Disengagement
    Observer Force (UNDOF)
    in the Golan Heights, following a meeting with the countries contributing
    troops for that Force. Its current mandate expires at the end of this month.
     

  • After that, the Council discussed the UN Regional
    Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia, which is based in
    Turkmenistan. Then it intends to hold a formal meeting on non-proliferation.
     

  • This afternoon, at 3:00, the Security Council has
    scheduled consultations on missing Kuwaiti persons and property in Iraq, and
    on the sanctions committee for Sudan.
     

  • The Council wrapped up its debate on terrorism
    yesterday with a

    Presidential Statement
    calling on all Member States to redouble efforts
    to tackle global terrorism.

AGENCY FOR
PALESTINE REFUGEES “NOW RUNNING ON EMPTY”

  • The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees
    in the Near East (UNRWA)
    reports that it managed to get 13 trucks into Gaza today – containing
    medicine and cooking oil – but the Agency still maintains that this is not
    enough.
     

  • Meanwhile, Filippo Grandi, UNRWA’s Deputy Commissioner
    General, today warned that, unless the Agency’s financial outlook improves
    significantly in the coming months, UNRWA faces the very real prospect of
    having to make cuts in basic education and health services.
     

  • UNRWA’s cash reserves have plummeted from just over
    US$60 million at the beginning of 2006 to just US$1 million this month.
    “Effectively we are now running on empty”, Grandi warned. He was addressing
    the annual pledging conference for UNRWA here at Headquarters.

 

FACILITATORS OF
D.R. CONGO TALKS SATISFIED WITH PROGRESS

 

  • The facilitators of the Nairobi dialogue between the
    Congolese Government and the Congrés national pour la défense du peuple (CNDP)
    of Laurent Nkunda have expressed satisfaction at the progress achieved after
    two days of talks.
     

  • Both Olusegun Obasanjo, the Secretary-General’s special
    envoy for the Great Lakes region, and Benjamin Mkapa, his African Union
    counterpart, said they are optimistic that the substantive discussions
    between the parties will begin before the end of the month. "We are building
    the foundation that should take us to substantive talks. We are satisfied
    that we are making progress," Obasanjo said.

 U.N. DARFUR MISSION HELPS SUDANESE
POLICE DEPLOY NEAR NYALA

  • The African Union-UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID)
    has handed over basic utensils and equipment to Sudanese police, to support
    their deployment at two new posts near UNAMID’s Headquarters in Nyala, South
    Darfur.  The decision to install those posts came in the aftermath of an
    increase in carjacking of UN and international non-governmental organization
    vehicles.
     

  • The new posts will deal with the deteriorating security
    situation and serve as permanent checkpoints to support the night patrols
    carried out by Sudanese personnel around the UNAMID compound.
     

  • Meanwhile, the UNAMID Joint Special Representative,
    Rodolphe Adada, met with the Joint Chief Mediator, Djibril Bassolé, in
    Khartoum today, to discuss the recent consultations that took place in Doha
    with different stakeholders.
     

  • They also talked about ways to reach a comprehensive
    ceasefire and to create an environment conducive to the revival of the peace
    process.
     

  • Asked about the status of UNAMID Deputy Force Commander
    Karenzi Karake, the Spokeswoman said that he continued to have a contract in
    that position.

 

U.N. SOMALIA
ENVOY WELCOMES LEADER’S RETURN TO MOGADISHU

  • The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for

    Somalia
    , Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, has welcomed the return to Mogadishu of
    Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, the chairman of the Alliance of the Re-liberation
    of Somalia. Sheik Sharif, who was involved in the Alliance’s reconciliation
    talks with the transitional government, is back home after 2 years abroad.
    Ould-Abdallah said that Sheik Sharif’s return to Mogadishu marks a welcome
    development for that process.

 

WORLD HEALTH
ORGANIZATION TO ESTABLISH CHOLERA CONTROL AND COMMAND CENTRE IN ZIMBABWE

  • In response to the widespread cholera outbreak in
    Zimbabwe, the World Health Organization (WHO)
    is working with partners to establish a cholera control and command centre
    -- to coordinate efforts to fight the sickness. In that regard, the agency
    is seeking donor support for a US$6 million cholera response plan proposal.
     

  • WHO warns that there are serious regional implications
    behind the outbreak, with cholera cases crossing into South Africa and
    Botswana.
     

  • WHO has already sent enough medical supplies to treat
    50,000 people for common conditions for three months, as well as to treat
    3,200 moderate cases of cholera. WHO has also sent epidemiologists, a water
    and sanitation expert and a logistician to Harare to strengthen response
    efforts on the ground.

 

HIGH-LEVEL U.N.
DELEGATION VISITS CAMBODIA

  • Visiting Cambodia this week, a high-level Secretariat
    delegation, led by Assistant-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, Mr. Peter
    Taksoe-Jensen, met yesterday with Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the
    Royal Government Task Force on the Khmer Rouge Trials, H.E. Sok An.
     

  • In the meeting, the parties held constructive
    discussions on various issues of mutual concern with regard to the
    Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).
     

  • There, both sides welcomed the significant achievements
    made by the Extraordinary Chambers, including progress towards the imminent
    start of the first trial.
     

  • They also recognized the ECCC’s potential to address
    impunity for the crimes of the former Khmer Rouge regime and expressed the
    hope that the ECCC will become a model for future judicial systems. 
     

  • The parties also agreed on the need to act
    expeditiously, and expect the results of the joint sessions to be reported
    to the Government Task Force and the Steering Committee by the end of
    January 2009.

 

U.N. ORGANIZES
INTERNATIONAL DONOR MEETING FOR POST-NARGIS RELIEF EFFORTS IN MYANMAR

  • Seven months after the devastating Cyclone Nargis in
    Myanmar, the United Nations in Yangon

    organized
    an international donor meeting yesterday.
     

  • The participants at that meeting, including
    representatives of governments and non-governmental organizations, stressed
    that health support in the cyclone-affected areas is on top of the agenda.
     

  • The UN’s Revised Appeal of US$451 million is currently
    two-thirds funded. Agriculture and early recovery continue to be the least
    funded sectors, followed by health.

 

SRI LANKA:
WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME CONTINUES TO PROVIDE FOOD ASSISTANCE TO THOSE IN NEED

  • The World Food Programme (WFP)
    is continuing its weekly dispatch of food convoys to the Vanni area in Sri
    Lanka for the third month, and it reiterates that its mandate is to provide
    food assistance to those in need.
     

  • WFP, in cooperation with the Government of Sri Lanka
    and other stakeholders, has dispatched a total of 4,120 tons of mixed food
    commodities to meet the needs of an estimated 200,000 internally displaced
    persons in the Vanni region.
     

  • WFP provides food assistance to 1.1 million people
    composed of internally displaced persons, the economically affected, school
    children and other most vulnerable people in Sri Lanka.

 

U.N. DEMINERS
RESTART OPERATIONS IN NEPAL, FOLLOWING END OF MONSOON SEASON

  • The Nepalese Army, assisted by the United Nations Mine
    Action Team, has

    recommenced
    demining after a five-month break due to the monsoon season.
     

  • Nepalese Army engineers have been redeployed in three
    districts in the eastern region of Nepal at the beginning of December.
     

  • The UN Mine Action Team Programme Manager in Nepal,
    Stephen Robinson, said the Nepalese Army had the opportunity to make Nepal a
    mine impact free country within the next three years.
     

  • Five minefields have been cleared in Nepal during this
    year; however, there are 48 military pattern minefields remaining, as well
    as a number of protective fields consisting of improvised explosive devices.

 

U.N. OFFICIAL
CALLS FOR SOLUTIONS TO PROTRACTED REFUGEE SITUATIONS

  • UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres
    today

    opened
    a two-day international dialogue on protracted refugee
    situations.  The discussions are aimed at finding solutions for the nearly
    six million people who have spent years, sometimes decades, in exile with no
    end in sight. 
     

  • Opening the conference, Mr. Guterres noted that the
    burden of hosting these refugees falls almost exclusively on developing
    countries.  Once the media spotlight turns away, displacements can go on
    unnoticed for years, he added.  Guterres urged the international community
    as a whole to do more to share the burden and come up with comprehensive
    solutions to the problem.

 

THOUSANDS OF
CHILDREN DIE AND TENS OF MILLIONS INJURED EACH YEAR IN PREVENTABLE ACCIDENTS

  • According to a new report by the

    World Health Organization
    and

    UNICEF
    , more than two thousand children die every day from accidental
    injuries.  And tens of millions of children are hospitalized each year with
    injuries that often cause lifelong disabilities.  95% of these injuries
    occur in developing countries. The top five causes are road crashes,
    drowning, burns, falls and poisoning.
     

  • The report offers several recommendations, including
    child-appropriate seat-belt and helmet laws; child-resistant closures on
    medicine bottles, lighters, and household products; and redesigning nursery
    furniture, toys and playground equipment.

 

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