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HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPOKESPERSON’S NOON BRIEFING

BY FARHAN HAQ, ACTING DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

FRIDAY, 24 JUNE 2011

SECURITY COUNCIL WELCOMES SIGNING OF SOMALI PACT

 

• The Security Council adopted a Presidential Statement this morning, welcoming the signing of the Kampala Accord concerning Somalia on 9 June, and calling on the signatories of the Accord to honour their obligations.
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• After that, Yury Fedotov, the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, briefed Council members on transnational organized crime. He informed them that a UN System Task Force dealing with transnational organized crime and drug trafficking has started to work, and met on Thursday to try to foster more meaningful coordination within the UN system in dealing with those problems.
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• This afternoon, the Security Council will receive a briefing in closed consultations from Jamal Benomar, who recently visited Yemen in his capacity as a Special Adviser.

 

U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS TEAM TO VISIT YEMEN

 

• The UN human rights office is set to deploy a delegation on Monday to Yemen for a 10-day mission to assess the human rights situation there in light of recent events.
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• A team of three human rights experts from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) will visit Yemen from 27 June to 6 July. Among other things, the team intends to visit medical facilities and detention centres in a number of cities.
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• Upon conducting a preliminary assessment, the team will draft a report which will be made public and presented to the Human Rights Council at its next session in September.

 

TOP U.N. RIGHTS OFFICIAL CONCERNED OVER BAHRAIN TRIALS

 

• The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has expressed her serious concerns about the trials of 21 people in Bahrain, including that the due process rights of the defendants were not respected and the trials appeared to bear the marks of political persecution.
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• Her office said that up to 1,000 people reportedly remain in detention in Bahrain. And the Human Rights Office noted particularly that four individuals who were previously arrested reportedly died in detention due to injuries resulting from severe torture.  The Government must urgently conduct an independent investigation into these allegations, Pillay’s office said.
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• In a statement issued on Thursday, the Secretary-General urged the Bahraini authorities to allow all defendants to exercise their right to appeal and to act in strict accordance with their international human rights obligations, including the right to due process and a fair trial.

 

LIBYA: 650,000 PEOPLE HAVE FLED SINCE CONFLICT’S START, U.N. HUMANITARIAIN ARM REPORTS

 

• The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that more than 650,000 people have left Libya since the start of the conflict. The majority of people departing the country are non-Libyans who have returned to their countries of origin.
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• Meanwhile, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates there are a total of 243,000 internally displaced Libyans. This estimate is unverified.
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• So far, approximately 530,000 people have received food assistance inside Libya. We remain concerned about disruptions to the public food distribution system in Libya. Food stocks are running low and there is a shortage of fuel to transport humanitarian assistance.

 

U.N. AGENCY ALARMED BY SURGE IN NUMBER OF SOMALI REFUGEES ARRIVING IN KENYA

 

• The UN Refugee Agency, or UNHCR, is alarmed by the dramatic rise in the number of new refugees arriving from Somalia to Kenya.
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• In the past two weeks, the Dabaab refugee complex in northern Kenya has received more than 20,000 Somali refugees.
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• Last year, Dabaab received an average of 6,000 to 8,000 Somalis every month, but this year, the monthly average has increased to 10,000 refugees.
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• UNHCR is concerned about the physical condition of the refugees, with many families having walked for days to reach the site.
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• Overcrowding at Dabaab, the largest refugee settlement in the world, is an additional challenge, with the camp population surpassing the 360,000 mark this month.
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• The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that Somalia is sliding deeper into crisis due to drought, rising food prices and conflict.
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• It notes that one in three Somalis – some 2.5 million people – are in need of emergency humanitarian assistance.

 

MOZAMBIQUE MUST HALT DEPORTATION OF ASYLUM-SEEKERS, U.N. REFUGEE AGENCY SAYS

 

• The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is calling on authorities in Mozambique to stop deporting asylum-seekers.
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• Nearly 100 asylum-seekers – Somalis and Ethiopians – were sent to Tanzania after arriving recently by boat in northern Mozambique. Many were suffering medically as a result of their journey, with at least four people said to have drowned.
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• The Agency helped organize their transport, believing they were being taken to a site for newly-arrived asylum-seekers. Instead, police took them away and later deported them.
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• International organizations, Tanzanian authorities and UNHCR have confirmed reports that other asylum-seekers have had their shoes confiscated by Mozambican authorities to prevent them from walking back into the country from a refugee camp.

 

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL TO TRAVEL TO EQUATORIAL GUINEA, GENEVA

 

• On 28 June, the Deputy Secretary-General will depart New York for Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, to represent the Secretary-General at the forthcoming African Union Summit.
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• Following that meeting, she will then proceed to Geneva to open the high-level segment of the substantive session of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on 4 July.
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• The Deputy Secretary-General will return to New York on Tuesday, 5 July. 

 

FORMER RWANDAN MINISTER SENTENCED ON GENOCIDE CHARGES BY U.N. TRIBUNAL

 

• Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, the former Minister of Family and Women’s Development in Rwanda, was convicted today in what is called the “Butare case,” along with five other accused persons, by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
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• She was sentenced to life in prison for conspiracy to commit genocide, genocide and crimes against humanity. Ms. Nyiramasuhuko was arrested in Kenya in 1997.
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• The other five persons convicted were also sentenced, for crimes including genocide and direct and public incitement to commit genocide.

 

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

NO ANNOUNCEMENT YET ON COTE D’IVOIRE REPRESENTATIVE: Asked whether Choi Young-jin was being replaced as the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Côte d’Ivoire, the Spokesperson said that the Secretary-General has not made a decision on a new appointment, and there is nothing to announce at present.

 

RIGHTS ISSUES DISCUSSED WITH JOURNALIST GROUPS: Asked about the Secretary-General’s Thursday meeting with officials of Reporters without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Spokesperson said no readout would be provided, but he confirmed that they discussed a number of specific rights issues, including on the Middle East.

 

THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS

25 JUNE-1 JULY 2011

 

Saturday, 25 June

 

Today is the International Day of the Seafarer.

 

 

Sunday, 26 June

 

Today is the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

 

Today is the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

 

 

Monday, 27 June

 

This morning, the Security Council will be briefed and hold consultations on Libya.

 

Today, the 2011 annual session of the Executive Board of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) will begin in Conference Room 2 of the North Lawn Building (NLB). It will end on 30 June.

 

 

Tuesday, 28 June

 

This morning, the Security Council will adopt resolutions on the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) and the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). It will also be briefed and hold consultations on the United Nations Integrated Peace-Building Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNIOGBIS).

 

At 10:00 a.m., in Conference Room 4 of the NLB, the Secretary-General and the President of the General Assembly will speak at the Thematic Debate on Global Governance.

 

At 3:00 p.m., in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium, there will be a press conference by the Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Speakers will include Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the IPCC, and Dr. Ottmar Edenhofer, IPCC Co-Chair of Working Group III.

 

Today, the Deputy Secretary-General departs New York for Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, to attend the African Union Summit.

 

Today, the United Nations Meeting in Support of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process will begin in Brussels.  The theme of the meeting is “The role of Europe in advancing Palestinian statehood and achieving peace between Israelis and Palestinians,” and it will end of 29 June.

 

 

Wednesday, 29 June

 

At 11 a.m., in Conference Room 1 of the NLB, the Women’s International Forum will hold a meeting on “Combating sexual violence: Prevention, protection and services for survivors,” sponsored by the Executive Office of the Secretary-General.

 

Today, in Geneva, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism will offer his assessment of two recently-adopted Security Council resolutions on the Al-Qaida and Taliban sanctions regime.

 

 

Thursday, 30 June

 

Today, the Deputy Secretary-General will deliver a statement on behalf of the Secretary-General at the African Union Summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

 

Today, in Geneva, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) will hold a press conference on the humanitarian situation in Libya.

 

 

Friday, 1 July

 

There are no major events scheduled for today.

 

 

 

 

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