HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY FARHAN HAQ,

DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

 

THURSDAY, 18 JUNE 2015

 

SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES PAPAL ENCYCLICAL, STRESSES MORAL DIMENSION OF CLIMATE CHANGE

  • In remarks at the stakeout this morning, the Secretary-General welcomed the papal encyclical released today by His Holiness Pope Francis.
  • The Secretary-General said that he and Pope Francis agree that climate change is a moral issue that requires collective urgent action. It is an issue of social justice, human rights and fundamental ethics.
  • The Secretary-General said that people everywhere share a responsibility to care for and protect our common home, our one and only planet Earth.  We must do far more to help the poorest and most vulnerable members of society, who are suffering most from climate impacts yet had least to do with causing the problem. We must also show solidarity with generations that will follow ours, and bequeath to them a sustainable world.
  • The Secretary-General said that Pope Francis’s moral voice is part of a growing chorus of people from all faiths and all sectors of society speaking out for climate action. He urged governments to place the global common good above national interests and to adopt an ambitious, universal climate agreement in Paris this year.

SECRETARY-GENERAL SPEAKS OUT AGAINST RACIALLY MOTIVATED KILLING IN UNITED STATES

  • In a statement, the Secretary-General strongly condemned the apparently racially motivated killing of nine people in a historic African-American church in the US city of Charleston on 17 June.  He extends his deep condolences to the loved ones of the victims and his solidarity to the survivors. He hopes the person or persons responsible for this hateful act of violence will be swiftly brought to justice.

NEW U.N. PUBLICATION SPOTLIGHTS IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON GLOGAL FOOD SECURITY

  • A new book was published today by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on what climate change implies for global food security and trade.
  • The book entitled "Climate Change and Food Systems" collects the findings of a group of scientists and economists who have taken stock of climate change impacts on food and agriculture at global and regional levels over the past two decades.

GRAVE VIOLATIONS AGAINST CHILDREN ARE AFFRONT TO COMMON HUMANITY, SECRETARY-GENERAL TELLS SECURITY COUNCIL

  • The Secretary-General and his Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui, spoke at the Security Council’s open debate this morning, and the Secretary-General told the Council that grave violations against children have been an affront to our common humanity in the Central African Republic, Iraq, Nigeria, South Sudan and the Syrian Arab Republic.  He added that he was also deeply alarmed at the suffering of so many children as a result of Israeli military operations in Gaza last year.
  • The Secretary-General noted that, in a worrying trend, abductions have increased rapidly. Groups such as the Lord’s Resistance Army have kidnapped children for many years. But the scale and nature of this grave violation is changing. Abduction is now being used as a tactic to terrorize or target particular ethnic groups or religious communities, and children have been a particular focus.
  • The Secretary-General said that he is committed to ensuring that the United Nations itself does more and better to prevent any abuse of children in the context of conflict.  He said that recent allegations concerning abuse in the Central African Republic make this all the more essential.
  • Leila Zerrougui also spoke to the Council, saying that an estimated 230 million children live in countries and areas affected by conflict. The rise in the number and the gravity of recent crises has tested both our resolve and our ability to respond.

SOUTH SUDAN: U.N.I.C.E.F. CHIEF DENOUNCES ‘NEW LEVEL’ OF BRUTALITY AGINST CHILDREN

  • The Executive Director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Anthony Lake, denounced in a statement unspeakable violence against children in South Sudan.
  • He says the violence against children in the country has reached a new level of brutality. 
    As many as 129 children from Unity State were killed in just three weeks in May and survivors report that boys have been castrated and left to bleed to death, while girls as young as 8 have been gang raped and murdered.
  • Mr. Lake said children have been tied together before their attackers slit their throats, and others have been thrown into burning buildings.
    Children are also being aggressively recruited into armed groups of both sides on an alarming scale. Mr. Lake said that in the name of humanity and common decency, this violence against the innocent must stop.
  • A public human rights report on the violations and abuses which have taken place in Unity State in particular is to be released shortly.
  • The UN Mission in South Sudan is working tirelessly to verify and report on the gross violations currently being perpetrated by both sides of the conflict in South Sudan.

GLOBAL DISPLACEMENT DUE TO WARS REACHES RECORD HIGH – U.N. REFUGEE AGENCY

  • Worldwide displacement from wars, conflict, and persecution is at the highest levels ever recorded, and it is accelerating fast, according to the new annual Global Trends report of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), which shows a sharp escalation in the number of people forced to flee their homes, with 59.5 million people forcibly displaced at the end of 2014 compared to 51.2 million a year earlier and 37.5 million a decade ago.
  • Worldwide, one in every 122 humans is now either a refugee, internally displaced, or seeking asylum, half of them being children. Were this the population of a country, it would be the world's 24th biggest.
  • Syria is the world's biggest producer of both internally displaced people and refugees, followed by Afghanistan and Somalia.
  • Even amid such sharp growth in numbers, the global distribution of refugees remains heavily skewed away from wealthier nations.
  • Almost nine out of every 10 refugees are in regions and countries considered economically less developed, and a full quarter of all refugees are in countries ranking among the UN's list of Least Developed Countries.

SECRETARY-GENERAL TO DEPART FOR LUXEMBOURG, FRANCE

  • The Secretary-General will leave New York on Sunday 21 June for Luxembourg, to participate in a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Ministers of the European Union, and to Strasbourg, France, to address the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on three interlinked, defining challenges: restrictions on civil society, the rise of violent extremism, and the urgent need to build a sustainable future.
  • While in Luxembourg, the Secretary-General will also have an audience with His Royal Highness Grand Duke Henri and meet with Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, as well as with other Government officials.
  • In Strasbourg, he will meet with the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council, Ms. Anne Brasseur and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina and President of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Mr. Igor Crnadak.
  • The Secretary-General will return to New York on the evening of 23 June.

MOST OF YEMEN’S GOVERNORATES FACE FOOD CRISIS, U.N.-BACKED STUDY FINDS

  • Food security in Yemen continues to worsen, with 19 out of 22 governorates now classified as being in ‘crisis’ or ‘emergency’, according to the latest analysis released by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Government of Yemen. The number of food-insecure people in Yemen has increased by 17 per cent since the escalation of the conflict at the end of March.
  • There are now more than 12.9 million people without adequate access to food: that is 2.3 million more than in March. This includes six million people who are severely food insecure – one million more than in March.
  • Levels of acute malnutrition are also rising, with many people resorting to eating fewer meals a day, or consuming cheaper, less nutritious food.
  • Conflict, insecurity and reductions in fuel imports are all driving up prices and pushing already struggling families to the brink.
  • Yemen desperately needs a pause in fighting, increased access and funding for humanitarian assistance, and an immediate resumption of commercial imports.

NUMBER OF INTERNALLY DISPLACED IN UKRAINE TOPS 1.3 MILLION – U.N. RELIEF WING

  • The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that the number of people fleeing their homes in Ukraine continues to rise. More than 1.3 million people are now internally displaced, making it the ninth largest internally displaced population in the world.
  • Some 890,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries.

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS NEW SENIOR OFFICIAL IN SOMALIA

  • The Secretary-General is announcing the appointment of Peter de Clercq of the Netherlands as his Deputy Special Representative for the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM). He will also serve as UN Resident Coordinator, Humanitarian Coordinator and UN Development Programme Resident Representative.
  • Mr. de Clercq will succeed Philippe Lazzarini of Switzerland, who will shortly leave his post to join the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL). The Secretary-General is grateful to Mr. Lazzarini for his dedication and service in Somalia.
  • Mr. de Clercq’s recent assignment was that of Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General for the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).

GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO DECLARE 19 JUNE AS International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict

  • Tomorrow, there will be a special event in the General Assembly Hall related to sexual violence in conflict. All UN staff and journalists are invited to attend.
  • The event will follow the morning General Assembly plenary session, which is expected to approve a new resolution making 19 June the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict.
  • The Day will focus on raising awareness, standing in solidarity with the survivors, and paying tribute to those working to end sexual violence in conflict.

***The guests at the Noon Briefing were Jo Scheuer, the Director of Climate Change & Disaster Risk Reduction, and Cassie Flynn, Policy Specialist, from the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support of the UN Development Programme (UNDP). They provided an update on the current status of negotiations, what will happen between now and Conference of Parties 21and what countries need to be doing as they prepare for the Paris conference and beyond.

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