The noon briefing
has been suspended, because of a US holiday, and will resume on Monday, 29 November; this web page will be updated as
needed until briefings resume.

 

SECRETARY-GENERAL MEETS WITH U.N. AMBASSADORS TO
PRESS FOR MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS FOR HAITI

• The Secretary-General
  met in New York this morning with a large number of Ambassadors
  to UN Missions from the Americas, Europe and Asia, to press them
  to send trained medical professionals to
  
  Haiti to help deal with the cholera outbreak there.
   

• The Ambassadors were
  also briefed by videoconference by the senior officials of the
  UN Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).
   

• The meeting comes one
  day after the Secretary-General spoke by telephone with
  President René Préval of Haiti, to discuss the response to the
  cholera epidemic.
   

• The Office for the
  Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
  reports that, according to the information received from the
  Haitian authorities, there have been 29,871 hospitalized cases
  and 1,603 cholera deaths so far. 
   

• Meanwhile, only $19.4
  million of the $164 million sought in the UN appeal for cholera
  assistance for Haiti has so far been received.

 

PAKISTAN: U.N. CHILDREN’S FUND SENDS MISSION TO
FLOOD-STRICKEN SINDH PROVINCE

• The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
  said that it sent a mission to flood-hit Shadatkot in Sindh,
  Pakistan, from 21-23 November. The mission found near-total
  devastation in rural areas, with returnees finding no homes,
  food, schools or livelihood.
   

• Although the majority of
  the internally displaced persons (IDPs) are returning to Sindh,
  stagnant flood waters are hindering more returns. Some 40,000
  IDPs are still housed in across 270 schools and another 54,000,
  including some 30,000 children, remain in camps in Balochistan,
  according to UNICEF.
   

• UNICEF said it has
  provided 2.8 million people in Pakistan with clean drinking
  water on a daily basis, along with vital sanitation and hygiene
  facilities.
   

• To
  date, UNICEF has received $169 million in funding against its
  $251 million appeal, including $41 million in pledges.

 

U.N.-REPUBLIC OF KOREA JOINT CONFERENCE ON
DISARMAMENT, NON-PROLIFERATION TO BE HELD IN EARLY DECEMBER

• The 9th United
  Nations-Republic of Korea Joint Conference on Disarmament and
  Non-proliferation Issues will take place in Jeju Island,
  Republic of Korea, from 2-3 December.
   

• The annual event,
  organized jointly by the Office for Disarmament Affairs (ODA)
  through its Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia
  and the Pacific (UNRCPD)
  and the Government of the Republic of Korea, will draw more than
  40 representatives from governments, international
  organizations, academic and research institutions, as well as
  civil society.
   

• This year’s conference,
  under the overall theme of “The Nuclear Renaissance and
  International Peace and Security”, will address global nuclear
  energy expansion and its challenges and opportunities,
  implications for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, as
  well as enhancing nuclear security and preventing nuclear
  terrorism.

 

U.N. AGENCY WELCOMES SERBIA-CROATIA AGREEMENT ON
REFUGEE, RETURN ISSUES

• The Office of the UN
  High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
  
  welcomes the agreement announced on Thursday by the
  Presidents of Croatia and Serbia to resolve the two countries’
  mutual refugee and return issues.
   

• UNHCR says that
  resolving these issues successfully would be an important step
  towards ending one of the most protracted refugee situations in
  Europe, a legacy of the wars that took place in the region in
  the 1990s.
   

• Some 65,000 Croatian
  refugees live in Serbia, mostly in private accommodations but
  some in collective centres where the conditions are poor. In
  Croatia, although there have been substantial refugee returns in
  recent years, some returnees have had difficulties in obtaining
  housing and taking advantage of socio-economic re-integration
  programmes.

 

THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS[1]
27 November-3 December 2010

Monday, 29 November

 

Today is the International
Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. A Special Meeting
will take place in Conference Room 2 (NLB) from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00
p.m.  The meeting will be followed by a performance by the East
Jerusalem-based Ashtar Theatre, entitled “The Gaza Monologues”.  At
3:00 p.m., the General Assembly will open its annual debate on the
agenda item “The question of Palestine”.  At 6:00 p.m., the opening
of an UNRWA exhibit “Summer Games in Gaza” will take place in the
North-East Gallery (Public Lobby). 

 

Today and until 10 December,
the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will hold the
sixteenth session of its Conference of the Parties (COP-16) in
Cancun, Mexico.

 

Today, the Security Council
is expected to adopt a resolution on DRC sanctions. It will also
hold consultations on its 1718 Committee and its 751/1907 Committee.

 

Tuesday, 30 November

 

The Secretary-General will be in Astana,
Kazakhstan, where he will
address, tomorrow, the opening of the Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Summit.

 

This morning, the Security Council will hold
consultations on Cyprus.

 

The guest at the Noon Briefing will be John Ging,
Director of Operations for the United Nations Relief and Works
Agency in Gaza.

 

The Global Consolidated Appeal laying out the
financial requirements of all humanitarian appeals in 2011 will be
launched in Geneva by Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian
Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos.

 

Wednesday, 1 December

 

Today, the United States will
assume the monthly rotating Presidency of the Security Council.

 

At 11:00 a.m., in the Dag
Hammarskjold Library Auditorium, there will be a press conference to
launch the World Economic Situation and Prospects Report.

 

The guest at the Noon
Briefing will be Mike Smith, Assistant Secretary-General and
Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate.
He will brief correspondents on the issue of "bringing terrorists to
justice", a requirement of Security Council Resolution 1373, and a
special event taking place around this theme at United Nations
Headquarters, from 1-3 December.

 

Today is World AIDS day.

 

Thursday, 2 December

 

At 11:00 a.m.,
in the Dag Hammarskjold
Library Auditorium, there will be a press
conference by the Human Security Report Project at Simon Fraser
University to launch their new report. The press conference is
sponsored by the Canadian Mission.

 

Friday, 3 December

 

At 1:15 p.m.,
in the Dag Hammarskjold Library Auditorium,
there will be a press conference by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)
about the global economic crisis.

 

Today is the International
Day of Persons with Disability.