Noon briefing of 5 February 2010

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Friday, February 5, 2010

GENERAL ASSEMBLY RECEIVES BAN KI-MOON'S REPORT ON FOLLOW-UP TO INQUIRY INTO GAZA CONFLICT

• Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has now issued his report following up on General Assembly resolution 64/10 .
  

• His report contains inputs received from the Israeli and Palestinian sides on the efforts which they have undertaken so far to investigate allegations of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law during the Gaza Conflict. It also contains a summary of the consultations conducted by the Government of Switzerland regarding the reconvening of a Conference of the High Contracting Parties.
  

• In all cases, it is clear that the processes which have been initiated are still ongoing. As such, no determination can be made on the implementation of the resolution.
  

• As he states in the report, the Secretary-General believes that international humanitarian law needs to be fully respected and civilians must be protected in all situations and circumstances. It is his hope that resolution 64/10 has served to encourage investigations by the Government of Israel and the Palestinian side that are independent, credible and in conformity with international standards.
  

• The Spokesperson noted that in the document submitted by the Secretary-General to the General Assembly on the Goldstone report, only the first three pages are written by the Secretary-General and the Secretariat.
  

• The remainder of the document consists of annexes containing information provided, respectively, by the Government of Israel, the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine and the Permanent Mission of Switzerland.
  

• Asked to evaluate the Israeli and Palestinian responses, the Spokesperson said that it is clear that in all cases, the processes initiated by the Israeli and the Palestinian sides remain ongoing.
  

• Asked why the report did not analyze the replies, Nesirky said that the Secretary-General conformed to the request of the General Assembly. The Secretary-General, he noted, had not been requested to express his views on the responses received.
  

• The Secretary-General asked the parties on 3 December 2009 for their responses. The Secretary-General duly reported to the General Assembly what he has received from the Israelis and from the Palestinian side. The instruction received by the Secretary-General was to report on the implementation of resolution 64/10.
  

• Asked about future action on the report, Nesirky said that, in accordance with operative paragraph 6 of that resolution, the Secretary-General was requested to report to the General Assembly “with a view to considering further action, if necessary, by the relevant United Nations organs and bodies.” Therefore, decisions on further action, if any, remain with the General Assembly.
  

• In response to criticism about the nature of the UN response, the Spokesperson asserted that the Secretary-General remains personally moved by plight of all civilians harmed during the Gaza Conflict. He was at the forefront, Nesirky said, of the efforts to stop the fighting in Gaza. He was the first international leader to visit after the fighting and express his solidarity with victims on both sides of the conflict. He has consistently called for credible domestic investigations, and did so again in this report.
  

• Looking forward, he added, the Secretary-General is firmly leading the advocacy and planning for the rebuilding of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure.
  

• The Spokesperson noted that the report said that the Secretary-General remains deeply affected by the widespread death, destruction and suffering in the Gaza Strip, as well as moved by the plight of civilians in southern Israel who have been subject to indiscriminate rocket and mortar fire.
  

• In the report, the Secretary-General said, “I believe that, as a matter of principle, international humanitarian law needs to be fully respected and civilians must be protected in all situations and circumstances. Accordingly, on several occasions, I have called upon all of the parties to carry out credible domestic investigations into the conduct of the Gaza conflict. I hope that such steps will be taken wherever there are credible allegations of human rights abuses.”
  

• He added, “It is my sincere hope that General Assembly resolution 64/10 has served to encourage investigations by the Government of Israel and the Palestinian side that are independent, credible and in conformity with international standards.”
  

• The Secretary-General noted from the materials received that the processes initiated by the Government of Israel and the Government of Switzerland are ongoing, and that the Palestinian side initiated its process on 25 January 2010. As such, he concluded, “no determination can be made on the implementation of the resolution by the parties concerned.”

HAITI: SPECIAL ENVOY BILL CLINTON VISITS PORT-AU-PRINCE

• President Clinton, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Haiti, landed in Haiti a few hours ago and just met with UN staff, and was briefed about the current situation on the ground. He will also meet with Haitian leaders and visit the Gheiskio Clinic and a camp for displaced persons.
  

• The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that shelter remains an urgent need. The focus is on providing emergency shelter assistance closer to home or in smaller camp settings to reduce displacements and dislocation.
  

• Sanitation is also a significant concern, especially at temporary shelter sites. Some 7,000 latrines and 25,000 portable toilets are needed.
  

• As of last night, 1.6 million people have received food assistance since the earthquake in and around Port-au-Prince, according to the World Food Programme (WFP). In the past five days, through the fixed distribution points system, a total of 620,000 people have received food assistance.
  

• Concerning children, UNICEF says some 23 large-sized tents have been installed in Port-au-Prince to give children a place to seek refuge and play. As for education, families are wary of sending children to school, because they fear that another earthquake could strike. UNICEF is working with the Government to distribute messages to Haitians encouraging them to send their children back to schools.
  

• Anne Veneman, the head of UNICEF was in Haiti. She said there was an alarming number of children separated from their families and called for investing in education. Only about 50 per cent of Haiti’s children are enrolled in school and around 90 per cent of the schools in and around Port-au-Prince have been damaged or destroyed.)
  

• Meanwhile, the UN Development Fund and Benfica Club (Portugal) announced that proceeds from the “Match Against Poverty” which totaled 767,000 dollars will be transferred to the cash-for-work programme in Haiti. The charity match played January 25th in Lisbon featured more than 60 international football players hailing from teams across the world, including the Benfica team and UNDP Goodwill Ambassador Zinedine Zidane.
  

• In Haiti, nearly 32,000 men and women are working in the cash-for-work initiative, which is helping Haitians restart life in their own communities. As of today $9,700,000 have been pledged for the programme. More than $5,000,000 have been received and another $10,7000,000 are yet to be received.
  

• Next week, on 12 February, the World Food Programme will host a high level meeting at its Headquarters in Rome, on agricultural development, food security and nutrition in Haiti. That meeting will kick off of the agriculture component of the Haiti redevelopment plan.

U.N. MISSION URGES CALM AS VIOLENCE MARS COTE D’IVOIRE ELECTORAL PROCESS

• The Mission in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) has issued a statement in which it deplored recent violent incidents in two towns in the western part of the country.
  

• The Mission says that the incidents in Katiola and Divo appear to be connected to tensions around the registration of voters for the much-delayed presidential election. It has appealed to all parties and voters to exercise restraint.
  

• This is vital, the Mission says, if we are to preserve and consolidate the achievements made so far in the electoral process.

YEMEN: “DRAMATIC” FUNDING SHORTAGE THREATENS RELIEF WORK

• The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says that it is facing a dramatic funding situation in Yemen and may be forced to scale down its operations there if it does not receive fresh contributions very soon.
  

• UNHCR's part of the 2010 UN consolidated appeal for Yemen amounts to $35.6 million, but so far, it has received less than three per cent of the needed funds. The dire funding situation is seriously diminishing its capacity to register and document refugees and internally displaced people, to monitor their situation and to address their needs.
  

• The lack of funding will very soon have a direct impact on the Agency’s work to protect and assist some 250,000 displaced people and more than 170,000 refugees in Yemen.

FACTS/ FIGURES ON SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND ABUSE BY PEACEKEEPERS TO BE PUBLISHED QUARTERLY

• The Departments of Peacekeeping Operations, (DPKO), and Field Support, (DFS), will, from now, be issuing quarterly press releases to make public updated statistics regarding SEA cases.
  

• This is part of efforts by the United Nations to improve transparency on the issue of sexual exploitation and abuse involving peacekeeping personnel.
  

• The statistics will be updated simultaneously on the Conduct and Discipline website (http://cdu.unlb.org/).

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

SECRETARY-GENERAL DEPLORES LATEST VIOLENCE IN IRAQ AND PAKISTAN: Asked about recent violent attacks in Pakistan, the Spokesperson said that the Secretary-General deplores them, as well as those that have taken place in Iraq. In both cases, he said, the Secretary-General was deeply concerned by the casualties and the indiscriminate nature of the attacks.

TOMORROW IS INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION/ CUTTING: Tomorrow is International Day Against Female Genital Mutilation and Cutting. The UN Population Fund says that while there’s been progress in reducing the incidence of such mutilation in several countries, there are still three million girls who continue to be at risk each year. The Fund says success in reducing the incidence has come as a result of culturally sensitive engagement with local communities but the practice persists because it’s sustained by social perceptions – and those perceptions can, and must, change.

We have more on this in a release in my office and on the Population Fund’s website.

NEW U.N-TRAINED CHADIAN TROOPS WILL HELP PROTECT REFUGEES ALONG SUDAN BORDER: The UN Mission in Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT) has completed the training of an additional 127 Chadian officers from the Détachement Intégré de Sécurité (DIS), which is tasked with protecting refugees along the Sudanese border. Organized in partnership with the Chadian Coordination of Support for the deployment of international force in eastern Chad (CONAF), the recently completed training for Chadian security forces is the fifth of its kind by the UN. The training lasted eight weeks and focused on policing concepts including advanced weapons, shooting and driving. The Mission says that the DIS also received 84 new vehicles to improve its mobility.

SRI LANKA SHOULD PROBE ALLEGED RIGHTS ABUSES: Asked about investigations into potential human rights violations in Sri Lanka, the Spokesperson recalled that the Secretary-General had called on the Government there to investigate and was also considering the possibility of setting up a Commission of Experts on the matter.

THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS

Saturday, 6 February

Today is the International Day Against Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting.

Sunday, 7 February

There are no major events scheduled for today.

Monday, 8 February

At 12:00 p.m., in Dag Hammarskj!7;ld Library Auditorium, the representatives from the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) will join the noon briefing by video teleconference.

Starting today and until 18 February, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Vernor Muñoz, will visit Mexico.

Tuesday, 9 February

At 12:00 p.m., there will be a joint press conference on Sexual Violence in Conflict. Panelists include the Deputy Secretary-General, Mr. Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, and Margot Wallström, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Violence against Women.

Wednesday, 10 February

The Security Council will hold consultations on United Nations peacekeeping operations.

At 9:30 a.m., the Secretary-General will sign his senior managers’ compacts for the year 2010 at a signing ceremony in Conference Room B in the Temporary North Lawn Building. Senior managers at Headquarters will be physically present, while those away from Headquarters will participate via videoconference.

At 12:30 p.m., in Dag Hammarskj!7;ld Library Auditorium, Veerle Vandweerd, Director of the Environment and Energy Group of the United Nations Development Programme, will provide a briefing to journalists, accompanied by Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity and Tran Triet, Director, Phu My Lepironia Project, International Crane Foundation.

From 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., UNESCO will hold a special event on “Education Under Attack: A Call to Action” with a keynote address by Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.

At 1:15 p.m., the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will hold a press conference about the launch of their new publication, “Education Under Attack” in Dag Hammarskj!7;ld Library Auditorium.

At 6 p.m., the Secretary-General will launch the International Year of Biodiversity for North America, at the American Museum of Natural History.

Thursday, 11 February

This morning, the Security Council will hear a briefing and hold consultations on UNAMID. It will also hold consultation on its 1718 Committee.

At 12:00 p.m., representatives from the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) will join the noon briefing by video teleconference.

Friday, 12 February

At 9:30 a.m., the Security Council will hold an open debate on UN peacekeeping operations: transition and exit strategies.