HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC,

SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

FRIDAY, 16 JANUARY 2015

SECRETARY-GENERAL MARKS PEACE PACT ENDING CIVIL WAR IN EL SALVADOR

• The Secretary-General arrived today in San Salvador, El Salvador, to attend the 23^rd Anniversary of the Peace Agreements that put an end to the civil war in the country.
• Prior to this, the Secretary-General met with civil society representatives and with President Salvador Sánchez Cerén of El Salvador. In his meeting with the President, they discussed the inclusive dialogue structure put in place by the President and the work of the National Council on Citizen Security and Coexistence. They also addressed economic and human rights issues, particularly the need for greater women’s empowerment, as well as the Government’s recently launched five-year development plan.
• The Secretary-General congratulated the President on the election of El Salvador to the Human Rights Council. They also addressed key issues in the global agenda such as climate change, the post-2015 development agenda and mechanisms of financing for development.
• The Secretary-General also addressed the National Assembly of El Salvador and met with other senior officials.  He will return to New York on Saturday evening.

WINTER EXACERBATES HARDSHIPS FACED BY SYRIANS, SAYS U.N. OFFICIAL

• The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria, Yacoub El Hillo, says that winter has brought more hardship to Syrians already struggling to find safe shelter and ways to feed, clothe and protect their families from illness and exposure to risk. 
• In preparation for this cold season, the United Nations and partners launched a $206 million winterization plan back in October 2014, targeting 3.3 million people inside Syria. As part of this plan, UN agencies have in recent months distributed winterization assistance to hundreds of thousands of people across Syria. This has included blankets and warm clothing, fuel, winter kits and cash assistance. However, the winter plan remains underfunded by about $70 million.
• Yesterday, the first trucks in an inter-agency aid convoy reached the Al Waer district of Homs City, and delivered food, medicines, nutrition supplements, hygiene kits and other relief items for some 75,000 people. The UN had not been able to deliver aid to those communities since early November of 2014. Further supplies are expected to be delivered in the coming days.

CHILDREN IN NORTHEAST NIGERIA NEED PROTECTION FROM RELENTLESS VIOLENCE – U.N. ENVOY

• The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui, has wrapped up a week-long visit to Nigeria.
• She said that children growing up in Nigeria’s northeast are in desperate need of protection from relentless violence. 
• The Special Representative was in Nigeria to assess the conflict’s impact on children. She met with the country’s federal authorities, the authorities of Adamawa State, the United Nations, the diplomatic community, civil society as well as displaced people.
• Ms. Zerrougui said that throughout 2014 there has been a dramatic rise in violence, growing recruitment and use of children, sometimes very young, as well as countless abductions and attacks on schools. The Special Representative is also concerned by reports of sexual violence against girls, including forced marriages and rapes. 
• Also on Nigeria, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says it is extremely concerned about the return of hundreds of refugees to Nigeria from Niger on January 14^th in a joint operation organized by the Governor of Borno State in Nigeria and the authorities in Niger.
• Given the volatile security situation in Borno state and the recent attacks by insurgents, UNHCR is concerned about the nature of these returns and has asked the authorities to stop this operation until there are proper safeguards and a legal framework between Nigeria, Niger and UNHCR.
• The Agency also says that refugees from Nigeria continue to arrive in Niger and Chad. In all, some 13,000 Nigerian refugees have arrived in western Chad since the attacks on Baga earlier this month. And in 2015, the violence in the North-east of Nigeria has led to an exodus of 19,000 people from that country.

U.N.-BACKED LIBYA TALKS WRAP UP IN GENEVA

• Participants in the Libyan dialogue hosted by the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) concluded two days of intensive discussions in Geneva yesterday. They are expected to return to Geneva next week for another round of dialogue and we hope to provide more details early next week.   
• Also on Libya, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned that an upsurge in fighting since the start of the year across several towns and cities in the east, including Benghazi, have led to more displacement. An estimated 400,000 people remain displaced across the country. And Libya is also home to nearly 37,000 refugees and asylum-seekers whose humanitarian conditions are increasingly precarious.

U.N. ENVOY SPOTLIGHTS PROGRESS IN FIGHT AGAINST EBOLA

• David Nabarro, the Special Envoy for Ebola Response, noted progress in the fight to counter the spread of the disease in West Africa. Talking to UN News Centre and UN Radio, he noted that, while the number of cases in the region had risen to 150 per day in September, the numbers of new cases per day has now declined to about 50. He said that this is the first time that all three of the affected countries have showed signs that the outbreak is reducing in intensity.
• Dr. Nabarro added that, although the number of new cases is gradually reducing with each passing day and week, we are not at our target of zero infections and have to remain vigilant to avoid any kind of complacency.
• Meanwhile, one year after the first Ebola cases started to surface in Guinea, the World Health Organization (WHO) has published a series of 14 papers that take an in-depth look at West Africa’s first epidemic of Ebola virus disease. The papers explore reasons why the disease evaded detection for several months and the factors, many specific to West Africa that fuelled its subsequent spread.

U.N. OFFICIAL MARKS 20^TH ANNIVERSARY OF JAPAN EARTHQUAKE

• The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström, today congratulated the Japanese people and Government for their steadfast remembrance of the more than 6,000 people who died 20 years ago in the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake.
• On the eve of the earthquake’s anniversary, she said that it is important to remember distant events because a short memory is the enemy of disaster management.
• Ms. Wahlström noted that earthquakes kill more people than any other natural hazard.
• And looking ahead, seismic risk will feature prominently at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction which will take place in Sendai, Japan, in March.

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL TO SPEAK AT SYNAGOGUE ON U.N. HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY

• The Deputy Secretary-General will be speaking tomorrow morning at the annual UN Holocaust Remembrance Day Service at Park East Synagogue.
• He is expected to underline that the work to improve understanding between faith-based communities is more necessary than ever, at a time when perpetrators of horrible violence are invoking religious beliefs, from Syria and Iraq to Nigeria and France.
• He will also stress the need to face up to the past as the only way to learn its lessons and apply them in future.
• The Deputy Secretary-General will also talk about the importance of encouraging good governance, good education and strong institutions to prevent the demonization of outsiders and stop the corrosive politics of division and polarization.

NEW SENIOR U.N. CLIMATE CHANGE OFFICIAL APPOINTED

• The Secretary-General is announcing the appointment of Janos Pasztor of Hungary as Assistant Secretary-General on Climate Change.
• In this capacity, Mr. Pasztor will serve as the Senior Adviser of the Secretary-General on climate change until the 21st UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference to be held this December in Paris. Mr. Pasztor’s tenure will focus on supporting efforts towards a universal climate agreement in 2015 and mobilising global climate action on the ground, including through coherent United Nations System-wide action.
• Mr. Pasztor comes from his position as Acting Executive Director, Conservation, and Director of Policy and Science, at World Wildlife Fund (WWF) International. He has also worked at the United Nations previously.