ARCHIVES

 

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING

 

BY MARTIN NESIRKY, SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

 

FRIDAY, 30 SEPTEMBER 2011

 

SECURITY COUNCIL AUTHORIZES EXTENSION OF DEPLOYMENT MANDATE OF AFRICAN UNION’S SOMALIA MISSION

 

• On Friday morning, the Security Council authorized the deployment mandate of the African Union’s Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) to be extended until October 31, 2012. It requested the African Union to urgently increase its force strength to its mandated level of 12,000 uniformed personnel.

 

• This was followed by consultations by the Committee on the Admission of new Members. On Friday, September 23, the Secretary-General transmitted the Palestinian application given to him by President Mahmoud Abbas to the President of the Security Council.

 

BAHRAIN: U.N. RIGHTS OFFICE CONCERNED ABOUT HARSH SENTENCES

 

• The UN Human Rights Office is concerned about the harsh sentences handed down this week by a court in Bahrain to 20 medical staff, two leaders of a teachers’ association and dozens of others.

 

• The sentences range from three years in prison to the death penalty. Handing down such harsh sentences to civilians in a military court with serious due process irregularities raises severe concerns, the Office says.

 

• It also calls on the Government of Bahrain to ensure that every detained person is charged with a recognizable criminal offence and has enough time to prepare a defence case.

 

U.N. AGENCY STEPS UP EFFORTS TO HELP FLOOD-STRICKEN IN PAKISTAN

 

• The World Food Programme (WFP) is redoubling its efforts to provide life-saving assistance to 500,000 people affected by flooding in Pakistan by the end of this month.

 

• Damage to roads, bridges and infrastructure in affected areas continues to pose a challenge for the delivery of humanitarian aid.

 

• The pace of the Programme’s distributions has picked up, and it now reaches nearly 50,000 new people every day.

 

• Next month, it plans to increase delivery deliveries to cover more than 2.5 million people.

 

U.N. RELIEF CHIEF WRAPS UP HAITI VISIT

 

• The Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, has wrapped up her visit to Haiti.

 

• On Thursday, she visited the Accra camp, which hosts 25,500 people in the commune of Delmas. There, she spoke to residents and met with representatives of the camp’s women’s committee. She also visited the first sewage treatment center in Haiti which was supported by a grant from the Central Emergency Relief Fund (CERF).

 

• Amos said that although the number of people in camps has decreased by over 60 per cent during the last year, there are still few alternatives for the 600,000 remaining in nearly 900 camps.

 

• According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), funding gaps have resulted in reductions in the number of humanitarian agencies working in key sectors such as water and sanitation and camp management.

 

• Amos urged donors to provide additional funding for the 2011 revised humanitarian appeal. That appeal is only 52 per cent funded.

 

LEADERS OF GREEK CYPROT, TURKISH CYPRIOT COMMUNITIES MEET

 

• The leaders of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities discussed the internal aspects of security today in Nicosia. Their next meeting will be held on 4 October.

 

U.N. RIGHTS OFFICE URGES EFFECTIVE, INDEPENDENT WITNESS PROTECTION SYSTEM IN KOSOVO

 

• The UN Human Rights Office is calling for an effective and independent witness and victim protection system inside Kosovo to be put into place.

 

• This week, a key witness in a war crimes case in Kosovo was found dead in a German park.

 

• While the exact reasons behind his apparent suicide are difficult to ascertain, the case adds to the Office’s longstanding concerns about witness protection in Kosovo.

 

• Only an effective and well-resourced witness and victim protection system in Kosovo will help render justice to victims and end impunity regarding past violations.

 

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS: Asked about the situation in Abyei, the Spokesperson noted that on 8 September in Addis Ababa, the Governments of Sudan and South Sudan held the first meeting of the Abyei Joint Oversight Committee where the two parties agreed on a timeline for the redeployment of SPLA and SAF forces from Abyei, beginning on 11 September and concluding by 30 September. He went on to urge the parties to implement the agreement reached in Addis Ababa and withdraw their forces from the Abyei area so as to facilitate the return of the displaced population and ensure the smooth beginning of the migration season.

 

Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General

United Nations, SA-1B15

New York, NY 10017

Tel. 212-963-7162

Fax. 212-963-7055

 

 

THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS

1 – 7 OCTOBER 2011

 

(This document is for planning purposes and is subject to change.)

 

 

Saturday, 1 October

 

Today is the International Day of Older Persons.

 

Today, Nigeria will take over the rotating monthly Presidency of the Security Council.

 

 

Sunday, 2 October

 

Today is the International Day of Non-Violence.

 

 

Monday, 3 October

 

Today is World Habitat Day.

 

At 9:30 a.m., on the occasion of World Habitat Day, a High-Level structured discussion on “Cities and climate change,” organized by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), will take place in Conference Room 6 of the North Lawn Building (NLB).

 

At 11:00 a.m., in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium, there will be a press conference on “Millennium Villages, on Track to Reach 2015 Goals, Announce Major New Donor Commitments,” with George Soros, Founder and Chairman, Open Society Foundation, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute, Columbia University.

 

Tuesday, 4 October

 

Today, the Office for Outer Space Affairs begins its celebration of World Space Week, which ends on 10 October.

 

At 10:00 a.m., the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) will conduct a workshop on the structure, drafting and adoption of United Nations resolutions

in Conference Room 7 (NLB).

 

At 12:00 p.m., in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium, Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, will be the guest at the Noon Briefing.

 

At 12:30 p.m., in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium, U. Joy Ogwu, Permanent Representative of Nigeria and President of the Security Council for the month of October, will brief press on the Council’s Programme of Work.

 

At 3:00 p.m., a dialogue between the President of the sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly and civil society will take place in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium.

 

 

Wednesday, 5 October

 

Today is World Teachers’ Day (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).

 

 

Thursday, 6 October

 

At 11:00 a.m., in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium, there will be a press conference on the “Launch of the San Jose Articles.” This event is sponsored by The Holy See Mission.

 

At 12:30 p.m., in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium, there will be a press conference by Michael Williams, the Secretary-General’s Special Coordinator for Lebanon.

 

At 3:00 p.m., the Economic and Social Council will hold its resumed substantive session in the Economic and Social Council Chamber (NLB).

 

 

Friday, 7 October

 

At 10:00 a.m., on the occasion of the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), a High-Level panel discussion on “NEPAD and the MDGs: Progress, challenges and the way forward,” will take place in the Economic and Social Council Chamber (NLB).

 

At 12:30 p.m., in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium, there will be a press conference to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). Participants will include: Cheikh Sidi Diarra, Special Advisor to the Secretary-General for Africa; Ibrahim A. Mayaki, Chief Executive Officer of NEPAD; Olesegun Obasanjo, former President of Nigeria; and Abdoulie Janneh, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).