.HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON
BRIEFING
BY MICHELE
MONTAS
SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON
UN
HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Thursday, April 2, 2009
BAN KI-MOON WELCOMES G-20’S COMMITMENT
TO $1.1 TRILLION SUPPORT PACKAGE
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued the following
statement in London, where he just wrapped up his participation in the Group
of 20 Summit :
"I came to the London Summit with the clear message
that the economic crisis is turning into a crisis of human development and
security in many parts of the world – and that developing countries will
need at least $1 trillion of support.
I am
pleased that G20 leaders have committed themselves to a $1.1 trillion
package. But it will be critical that the share of this going to the poorer
countries is delivered.
The G20 leaders have reaffirmed previous commitments to
increase aid and help countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
This means that they are promising at least $300
billion in aid over the next two years. For the poorest countries this will
be crucial. The world will be watching.
In addition to committing significant new resources for
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, the G20 also asked the
UN to monitor the impacts of this and future crises on poor and vulnerable
people – in order to spur action.
I welcome the commitment from G20 leaders to resist
protectionism and to monitor compliance.
I was also encouraged that the G20 leaders recognized
the inextricable links between addressing the economic crisis and addressing
food security and climate change.
In that regard, G20 leaders promised to make resources
available for social protection and investments in long term food security,
and stated their commitment to address the threat of irreversible climate
change.
Importantly, they pledged to reach agreement at the UN
climate change conference in Copenhagen later this year."
In his
prepared remarks to the Summit, the Secretary-General emphasized that
the current downturn has exacerbated the food crisis that raised the number
of hungry to nearly one billion. He also said that global green growth must
be a major component of any global stimulus and that better regulations
governing the world financial system are sorely needed.
Earlier today, the Secretary-General held a bilateral
meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi; he is just about to
have another one with Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso. A little later today
he plans to meet with the President of the Republic of Korea, Lee Myung-Bak.
Tomorrow, the Secretary-General leaves for Paris, where
he’ll chair a gathering of the UN system’s Chief Executives Board for
Coordination (CEB).
Asked whether the
Secretary-General had met with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir while both
were in Doha, Qatar, earlier this week, the Spokeswoman said that there was
no meeting between them. They were in the same room for the meeting of the
League of Arab States. Montas added that the Secretary-General has no plans
to meet with President Bashir at present. He has appealed in public for the
Government of Sudan to reverse its decision to expel humanitarian workers,
she added.
TOP U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICIAL URGES
AFGHANISTAN TO RESCIND LAW THAT WOULD UNDERMINE WOMEN’S RIGHTS
UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights Navi Pillay today
urged the Afghan Government to rescind a new law, reportedly signed by
President Hamid Karzai earlier this month, that she said would seriously
undermine women’s rights in
Afghanistan and contravene the Afghanistan constitution as well as
universal human rights standards.
The new law, which has been
passed by the two houses of Afghanistan’s parliament, denies Afghan Shi’a
women the right to leave their homes except for so-called "legitimate"
purposes; forbids women from working or receiving education without their
husbands' express permission; and explicitly permits marital rape, among
other measures.
“For a new law in 2009 to
target women in this way is extraordinary, reprehensible and reminiscent of
the decrees made by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in the 1990s,” Ms.
Pillay said. She said it was another clear indication that the human rights
situation in Afghanistan is getting worse.
The High Commissioner cited a
number of other human rights set-backs in Afghanistan that have been
undermining efforts to build the rule of law in the country, including an
increasing assault on freedom of expression by media and civil society
activists, and a lack of progress in ensuring justice or accountability for
past war crimes and crimes against humanity.
SECRETARY-GENERAL
APPEALS FOR “NECESSARY MEANS” TO BEEF UP U.N. MISSION IN DRC
The Secretary-General’s latest
report on the Democratic Republic of the Congo is out today as a
document. In it, he calls once again on Security Council members and
troop-contributing countries to come forward with the necessary means,
including air and intelligence assets and military trainers, to beef up the
overstretched UN peacekeeping force (MONUC).
He also says that there has been a marked absence of
progress in reform of the security sector, due in large part by the crisis
in the northeast.
The Secretary-General also notes that efforts to end
the dangerous presence of the Rwandan rebel group FDLR (Democratic Forces
for the Liberation of Rwanda) and the recent integration of the Congolese
armed groups into the national army present a unique prospect for the
country. He advises that advancing the security sector reform agenda be made
an overriding priority.
GUINEA-BISSAU:
U.N. CONDEMNS ATTACK ON PRESIDENT OF AUDIT COURT
The Secretary-General’s Representative in
Guinea-Bissau, Joseph Mutaboba, has expressed consternation at, and
condemned, the attack by uniformed armed men on Francisco Fadul, the
President of the Audit Court.
The assault reportedly occurred in the early hours of
the morning yesterday at Fadul’s, residence in the capital Bissau. It
appears to be connected to critical statements he made on the radio a day
earlier.
The Secretary-General’s Representative also condemned
the illegal arrest a week ago of lawyer, Pedro Infanda, by the military. He
was apparently mistreated while in custody.
Meanwhile, the Secretary-General’s latest
report on the UN peacebuilding work in Guinea-Bissau is out as a
document today. In it, he appeals to the country’s friends and to the
international community to keep their technical and financial assistance at
this critical moment.
WFP
LAUNCHES FIRST OF ITS KIND FOOD VOUCHER OPERATION IN WEST BANK
The World Food Programme (WFP)
launched yesterday a food voucher operation to assist some 30,000 people in
the West Bank – where the price of basic food commodities increased by
almost 70 percent in 2008. The 12-month voucher operation is the first of
its kind in the Middle East.
According to WFP, Palestinian
families are now spending about 60 percent of their income on food. The
project will improve people’s access to food while at the same time
providing a financial stimulus to the local economy. Families will receive
eight vouchers per month, with a monthly value of $50.
WFP is also planning to start
a food voucher operation in Gaza for about 15,000 people.
CRITICALLY
NEEDED FOOD ASSISTANCE DISPATCHED TO NORTHEASTERN SRI LANKA
On Sri Lanka, the World Food
Programme (WFP)
said today that 1,000 metric tons of critically needed humanitarian food
assistance has been dispatched to a designated ‘safe zone’ in northeastern
Sri Lanka, where an estimated more than 100,000 people have been displaced
by fighting.
The WFP food assistance was
sent aboard a ship chartered by the Government of Sri Lanka, sailing under
the flag of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and was due to be
unloaded this afternoon. WFP says the food aid would be sufficient to feed
approximately 100,000 people for 20 days.
Since road convoys to the
Vanni region were discontinued in late January because of security concerns,
WFP has dispatched a total of 2,219 metric tons using the sea route.
Overall, WFP is providing food to 1.2 million people through emergency
feeding and recovery programmes in Sri Lanka.
IAEA
WELCOMES U.S.-RUSSIAN COMMITMENT ON NON-PROLIFERATION
Mohamed ElBaradei, the Director General of the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),
welcomed the Joint Statement by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and U.S.
President Barack Obama, in which they committed themselves through concrete
steps to fulfill their obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty to
achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world.
ElBaradei believes that the commitment made by the two
Presidents demonstrates leadership and finally moves us beyond the Cold War
mentality. He believes that these measures would also contribute to the
strengthening of the non-proliferation regime.
The Director General shares the views of the two
Presidents on the urgent need for a verifiable denuclearization of the
Korean peninsula.
FAO SAYS AGRICULTURE MUST BE INCLUDED IN
CLIMATE CHANGE DEAL
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is
urging policy makers to include agriculture in negotiations for a new
climate change treaty. FAO made this appeal as the first of a series of
major UN negotiating sessions is being held this week in Bonn, Germany.
FAO stresses that agriculture accounts for about 14 percent of
greenhouse gas emissions, and land use changes such as deforestation for
another 17 percent. But it adds that farmers could also become agents of
change by helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through increasing soil
cover, improving grassland management, planting tress or using fertilizer
more efficiently for example.
NEGOTIATIONS UNDERWAY FOR NEW REGIME ON
ACCESS AND SHARING OF GENETIC RESOURCES
The first of three meetings aimed at negotiating an
international regime on access and benefit-sharing of the use of genetic
resources started today in Paris, France.
According to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity
(CBD),
this regime would
ensure that all countries obtain a fair and equitable share of benefits
arising out of the use of genetic resources – the wide variety of plants,
animals and microorganisms --originating from their territory. It adds that
sharing benefits of genetic resources can contribute to poverty reduction
and sustainable development in biodiversity rich developing countries.
SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS FOR PROMOTING
POSITIVE PERCEPTIONS ABOUT AUTISM
Today is World Autism Awareness Day. In a
message, the Secretary-General welcomed the growing international chorus
of voices calling for action to enable children and persons with autism to
lead full and meaningful lives. This is not a far-off dream, he added –
calling for the promotion of positive perceptions about autism as well as
greater social understanding.
He called for intensified global efforts to ensure that
children and people with autism everywhere can reach their full potential
and contribute to society.
And on this occasion, the World Health Organization
(WHO) has
reaffirmed its commitment to assist member states in delivering
integrated health services to people with autism – especially in developing
countries.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
SECURITY COUNCIL ADOPTS ITS PROGRAMME OF WORK FOR APRIL:
The
Security Council this morning adopted its programme of work for April in its
first consultations under Mexico’s Council Presidency.
HEALTH MINISTERS AGREE ON ACTIONS TO HALT
DRUG-RESISTANT TUBERCULOSIS: Health ministers from countries with the
greatest burdens of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) have
agreed to a series of actions to accelerate efforts to halt and reverse the
global epidemic of the disease.
SECRETARY-GENERAL HAS COMMENTED ON POSSIBLE ROCKET
LAUNCH: Asked about the Secretary-General’s reaction to a possible rocket
launch by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Spokeswoman noted that
he had commented on that subject at his last
press conference.
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