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HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY MARIE OKABE
DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON
UN
HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Thursday,
December 18, 2008
U.N. TRIBUNAL
SENTENCES THREE SENIOR RWANDAN MILITARY OFFICERS FOR ROLE IN 1994 GENOCIDE
Three senior Rwandan military officers were today
sentenced to life in prison by the International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda for their roles in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The
Tribunal found Colonel Théoneste Bagosora, Colonel Anatole Nsengiyumva, and
Major Aloys Ntabakuze guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity and war
crimes.
Among other crimes, Bagosora, the highest official at
the defence ministry during the genocide, was found guilty of the April 1994
murder of ten Belgian peacekeepers. He was also proven to be responsible for
the April 1994 killings of the then prime minister, the head of the
Constitutional Court and three leaders of the opposition.
In the same ruling, the Tribunal acquitted General
Gratien Kabiligi of all charges against him and ordered his release.
Also today, the Tribunal convicted Protais
Zigiranyirazo of genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity and
sentenced him to 20 years in prison. He’ll receive credit for time served
since his arrest in July 2001. A brother-in-law of the late President
Habyarimana, the accused was proven to have been one of the main advocates
for the mass killing of Tutsis and moderate Hutus in the months leading the
genocide.
WE MUST ADVANCE
ANNAPOLIS PROCESS, U.N. MIDDLE EAST ENVOY SAYS
The Security Council is holding an open
debate today on the Middle East. Thirty-four speakers were expected to
make remarks.
Speaking this morning, the UN’s Special Coordinator for
the Middle East Peace Process, Robert Serry, noted the
passage of resolution 1850 two days ago. Serry said the
Secretary-General welcomed that timely and important resolution, which
embodied the principles on which Israeli-Palestinian peace must rest.
Serry added that we must protect, preserve, and where
possible advance, the three tracks of the Annapolis process -- negotiations,
institution-building, and implementation of phase one of the roadmap. We
must set the stage for a decisive push for peace in 2009, he said.
Serry noted that there were 30 rocket attacks in the
past two days on Israeli towns and at the crossings through which civilians,
UN workers and all goods entering the Gaza Strip must pass. He condemned
those attacks and called for their immediate cessation.
Serry also urged any new Israeli government to
decisively address the question of settlement expansion, which threatens the
two-State solution itself. And Israel must refrain from unilateral actions
in Jerusalem which alter the status quo or undermine trust, he added.
He also noted that, because of closures, half of Gaza
City’s population receives water only once a week for a few hours. Also, UN
projects in Gaza, worth over $150 million, remain suspended due to a lack of
materials. Mr. Serry will speak to you at the stakeout later this afternoon.
In other news, the UN Relief and Works Agency for
Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
reports that, due to irregular border access and a lack of wheat flour, it
has been forced to suspend its food distribution activities as of today
until further notice. A total of 750,000 refugees in Gaza depend on food aid
from UNRWA. And on average, the Agency distributes food to about 20,000
refugees per day.
U.N. ENVOY MEETS WITH LEBANESE PRESIDENT
Michael Williams, the UN Special Coordinator for
Lebanon, met today with Lebanese President Michel Sleiman and talked to
the press afterward. He said that he and the President had discussed a
number of issues, including the Lebanese national dialogue, which will
resume on 22 December.
Williams relayed the support of the United Nations to
this dialogue, which the President chairs, and stressed that it is very
important for the Lebanese to continue with this process irrespective of any
disagreements that may inevitably arise. The United Nations stands ready to
assist when required.
Yesterday, the Security Council adopted resolution
1852, extending the mandate of the International Independent Investigation
Commission dealing with Lebanon until 28 February 2009. After that, the
Secretary-General announced in a
statement his decision that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon will
commence functioning on 1 March 2009.
The Secretary-General underlined his firm commitment to
ending impunity and to the need to bring to justice those responsible for
the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and related
attacks.
NEARING END OF FIRST YEAR, U.N. DARFUR
MISSION STILL FACES ENORMOUS CHALLENGES
Almost one year after the transfer of authority from
the African Union force to the AU-UN operation, UNAMID, the joint operation,
continues to face enormous challenges, the Secretary-General says in his
latest
report to the Security Council on the mission’s deployment.
He says violence and displacement continue,
humanitarian operations are at risk, clashes between the parties occur with
regrettable regularity and the parties have not yet reached a negotiated
peace agreement.
He also reiterates his appeal to those that are in a
position to provide mission-critical capabilities to do so without delay,
and he noted that pledges for a multi-role logistics unit, a medium
transport unit, a heavy transport unit, an aerial reconnaissance unit, light
tactical helicopters, and 18 medium-utility helicopters are all still
outstanding.
The fighting in Darfur continues, innocent civilians
still suffer, UNAMID and humanitarian personnel are under threat, and the
parties have failed to seriously pursue a political solution.
The Secretary-General says he cannot overemphasize the
need for the parties to demonstrate their commitment to a peaceful
settlement of the Darfur conflict by undertaking concrete actions to reduce
violence and ease human suffering. Ultimately, peace cannot be imposed. Both
the Government of Sudan and the armed rebel movements must come to the
realization that violence will not achieve the objectives they seek and that
the crisis in Darfur can be resolved only through political negotiations and
a comprehensive and inclusive peace agreement.
The Security Council is scheduled to discuss this
report tomorrow.
Meanwhile, UNAMID today
reports that it received the third batch of Ethiopian Infantry Battalion
troops, consisting of 105 personnel, to join the 313 who arrived earlier
this week.
It also reports that two Nigerian formed police units
consisting of 140 members each are expected to arrive in Darfur at the end
of this month. They were previously scheduled to arrive in January 2009. The
Nigerian units will be the fourth and fifth Formed Police Units to be
deployed after the Bangladeshis, Nepalese and Indonesians. The units will be
deployed in West Darfur.
ZIMBABWE CHOLERA EPIDEMIC SPREADS TO NEW
AREAS
The serious cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe continues to
spread to new areas of Harare, as well as other towns and cities, according
to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The fatality rate is now 5.4%, but rates of 10% or higher have been reported
in parts of Harare. Since September, more than 1,100 people have died from
the crisis.
The UN is planning for a worst-case scenario of 60,000
cases before the end of the rainy season. That’s based on an estimate that
half of the country’s population is potentially at risk of contracting
cholera.
Where aid agencies are on the ground, cholera cases and
fatalities have decreased substantially, OCHA notes.
The World Health Organization (WHO)
has already flown in medical supplies to treat 50,000 people.
UNICEF is intensifying its support to cholera treatment centers across
the country, and WHO is working with OCHA to coordinate the response through
a donor-funded Cholera Command and Control Center.
ZIMBABWE: BAN KI-MOON FULLY SUPPORTIVE
OF ELDERS’ HUMANITARIAN INITIATIVE
At the noon briefing today, the Deputy Spokesperson
corrected a media report in Zimbabwe that suggested that the
Secretary-General blocked The Elders’s report on Zimbabwe from being
discussed in the Security Council. This is not the case, she said.
The Secretary-General has been fully supportive of the
humanitarian initiative on Zimbabwe offered by The Elders. He has consulted
with former Secretary-General Kofi Annan frequently regarding the mission of
The Elders to the region last month and offered the support of the United
Nations.
The Secretary-General regretted the decision of the
Government of Zimbabwe not to cooperate with their timely, well-intended
effort to assist the people of Zimbabwe. The Secretary-General hopes that
another mission can take place in the near future, given the grave and
deteriorating situation in the country.
On 5 December, Mr. Annan sent the report of The Elders
to the Secretary-General. The report contained recommendations to Zimbabwe's
political leaders, Zimbabwe's authorities, leaders of the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) and donors.
The Elders did not request the Secretary-General to
share the report with the Security Council. The Secretary-General often
receives these types of reports and it is not customary for him to share the
reports with the Security Council, unless the authors specifically request
him to do so.
DR CONGO:
TALKS RESUME IN NAIROBI
The Nairobi Dialogue on the crisis in the northeastern
provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has resumed in the Kenyan
capital.
The dialogue between the DRC government and Laurent
Nkunda’s rebel CNDP are being facilitated by the Secretary-General’s special
envoy for the Great Lakes, former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, and
his African Union counterpart, former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa.
This round of talks is expected to last until December
20th.
And today, participants took up outstanding issues
related to procedure and other preparatory work for the upcoming substantive
talks.
INTERNATIONAL
TALKS ON GEORGIA TAKE PLACE IN “POSITIVE SPIRIT”
Johan Verbeke, the Secretary-General’s Special
Representative for
Georgia, spoke to journalists at the UN Office in Geneva today -- after
the conclusion of the latest round of international discussions on Georgia.
He was joined by his co-chairs from the European Union and the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
According to a statement by the co-chairs, the
discussions took place in a positive spirit. One of the working groups
focused on security and stability. Participants discussed proposals for
joint incident prevention and such points as the free movement of people
through crossing points and joint visits to sensitive areas.
A second working group discussed concrete steps to
improve the living conditions of displaced persons. The parties agreed to
quickly find ways to resume gas delivery to all affected populations.
Long-term activities, related to registration, documentation and return of
refugees, were also debated.
Participants agreed to hold the next round of
international discussions on 17 and 18 February 2009.
MIGRANTS ESPECIALLY VULNERABLE IN
CURRENT FINANCIAL DOWNTURN
Today is
International Migrants Day. In a message to mark the occasion, the
Secretary-General says that the world’s more than 200 million migrants are
especially vulnerable in the current financial downturn. They face greater
risk of destitution, stigmatization, discrimination and abuse.
Migration policies are growing more restrictive, and
there is a growing tendency to subject migrants to mandatory or prolonged
detention. Migrants must be acknowledged as human beings whose rights
deserve to be protected, the Secretary-General says, adding that “Regardless
of an individual’s immigration status, fundamental rights are
non-negotiable”.
In her
message, Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay noted that, in almost all
societies, migrants are usually subject to working conditions and pay far
below the standards enjoyed by citizens. They are also consistently denied
entitlements to social security or housing, and excluded from employment and
other opportunities.
Both she and the Secretary-General urged member states
to become parties to the International Convention on the Protection of the
Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. So far, only
40 states have ratified the Convention.
IRAQ: U.N. MISSION CONCERNED BY PLIGHT
OF STRANDED FOREIGN WORKERS
The UN Assistance Mission in Iraq today
expressed its concern over the situation of over 1,000 foreign workers
in the country, who were brought by international contractors to Iraq and
kept without job guarantees in warehouses near Baghdad’s international
airports, without a minimum of respect for international labor standards.
Special Representative Staffan de Mistura, marking the
International Day for Migrants, said today that he is deeply troubled about
the plight of those stranded in difficult conditions - some of whom are
living in cardboard boxes in freezing night-time temperatures - and whose
expectations, as they have been promised, for decent jobs have so far been
shattered. He encouraged additional concrete measures to swiftly alleviate
the adverse situation faced by the foreign workers.
EUROPE
COMMISSION GETS NEW CHIEF
The Secretary-General has appointed Mr. Ján Kubiš of
Slovakia as the new Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for
Europe (UNECE).
Mr. Kubiš will replace Mr. Marek Belka of Poland, and assume his functions
in the middle of January 2009.
Mr. Kubiš has served as his country’s Foreign Minister
since 2006 and held the Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the
Council of Europe. Prior to that, he was Secretary-General of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
COUNTRIES URGED TO GET RID OF TRAVEL
RESTRICTIONS ON THOSE WITH H.I.V.
The Programme Coordinating Board, which is the
governing body of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS),
wrapped up a three-day meeting in Geneva yesterday, which was Dr. Peter
Piot’s last board meeting as UNAIDS Executive Director.
The Board paid tribute to Dr Piot’s leadership and
acknowledged his many accomplishments, including placing and maintaining
AIDS on the global political agenda and mobilizing significant resources to
fight the spread of AIDS.
In his remarks to the Board, Dr. Piot
said that, over the years, the fight against AIDS has placed human
rights, gay rights, women’s rights, workplace health and gender-based
violence on the agenda.
The Board also welcomed the appointment of Michel
Sidibé as the incoming UNAIDS Executive Director. The Board strongly
encouraged all countries to eliminate HIV-specific restrictions on entry,
stay and residence and ensure that people living with HIV are no longer
excluded, detained or deported on the basis of their HIV status.
NO ONE SHOULD BE DENIED HUMAN RIGHTS
BECAUSE OF THEIR SEXUAL ORIENTATION
This afternoon, High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi
Pillay addressed by video message a high-level panel discussion on “Human
rights, sexual orientation and gender identity”.
In her remarks, she said that no human being should be
denied their human rights – or be subject to discrimination, violence,
criminal sanctions or abuse – simply because of their perceived sexual
orientation or gender identity.
Pillay noted that some ten countries still have laws
making homosexual activity punishable by death. She stressed that those who
are lesbian, gay or bisexual, and those who are transgender, transsexual or
intersex, are full and equal members of the human family, and are entitled
to be treated as such.
GLOBAL CEREAL PRODUCTION SET A RECORD IN
2008
In its latest estimates, the Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO)
confirms that global cereal production set a record in 2008. Most of
the increase in production came in developed countries.
While cereal prices have continued to fall in recent
months, rice still costs over 50 per cent more than it did a year ago. And
food prices remain high in many developing countries, including Afghanistan,
Eritrea, and Ethiopia.
FAO estimates that 33 countries need external
assistance as a result of crop failures, conflict or insecurity, and high
domestic food prices.
NIGER: BAN KI-MOON REMAINS CONCERNED
OVER MISSING U.N. ENVOY
Asked about the
Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Niger, Robert Fowler, who has been
reported missing in that country, the Deputy Spokesperson noted that the
Niger authorities are in the lead in investigating that disappearance and
that the United Nations appreciates their efforts.
Asked whether Fowler was on official business,
Okabe confirmed that he was in the country on an official mission in his
role as Special Envoy.
Asked about the Secretary-General’s contacts
following the disappearance, she noted that the Secretary-General had
expressed his grave concern and has been in touch with whoever can help. He
hopes for a positive outcome of the situation.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
CAMPAIGN TO END FISTULA RECEIVES AWARD: The U.N.
Population Fund’s (UNFPA)
Campaign to End Fistula has received an award from the U.N. Development
Programme. The Campaign was recognized as a model for championing collaboration
between countries in the Global South. With the help of UNFPA, health providers
and civil society organizations have travelled from Nigeria to Sudan, from
Ethiopia to Niger, from Mali to Cameroon, and more, to exchange experiences and
innovative models. Health ministries from different countries have worked
towards common solutions, and fistula survivors have become influential
advocates, raising awareness of the debilitating condition.
MEETING ENDS WITH CALL TO SCALE UP FUNDING FOR
EDUCATION: A high-level meeting on education, organized in part by UNESCO,
has wrapped up in Oslo, with an urgent
call on national governments to allocate a larger percentage of GNP and
public spending to education. In the Oslo declaration, adopted at the close of
the meeting, they urged national governments to allocate at least four to six
percent of GNP and 15 to 20 per cent of public expenditure to education. They
also urged development partners to increase official development assistance and
give priority to investment in basic education.
**The guest at noon was John Holmes, Under
Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, who launched a new global advocacy
campaign on internal displacement.
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