HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC, SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

FRIDAY, 10 JULY 2015

SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES GLOBAL COMMUNITY TO BE PART OF ‘HISTORIC’ PUSH TO END EBOLA EPIDEMIC

• This morning, the Secretary-General addressed the International Ebola Recovery Conference together with the Presidents of Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Chair of the African Union.
• Stressing the need to forge a partnership for a future free of Ebola, the Secretary-General called on the international community to be part of the historic push to end the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. He urged them to support the leaders and the people of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in returning to a path of sustainable development.
• The Secretary-General asked donors to continue to give generously to help impacted countries carry out their plans for recovery over the next two years.
• He also applauded the African Union and its plan to convene an International Conference on Africa’s Fight against Ebola later this month in Malabo, in Equatorial Guinea.
• The pledging segment of the conference is will take place in the afternoon.

YEMEN: PLANNED PAUSE IN FIGHTING TO PAVE WAY FOR MORE THAN 1.1 MILLION PEOPLE TO RECEIVED FOOD AID – U.N.

• The humanitarian community is preparing for a humanitarian pause in Yemen, which is expected to start at a minute before midnight, local time today. Planning for the humanitarian pause foresees the distribution of food to over 1.1 million people; the treatment of more than 126,000 malnourished children; support for 13,000 pregnant and lactating women; and the distribution of emergency shelter and essential household items to 55,000 people; the distribution of hygiene or dignity kits to more than 45,000 people; and the provision of Dengue fever surveillance and health promotion activities to over 650,000 people; and the reaching of previously inaccessible communities through 29 mobile health and nutrition units.
• There are over 21 million Yemenis, with four-fifths of the population in need of humanitarian aid.
• The World Food Programme (WFP) says it is ready to scale up its operations in Yemen, provided that the agreed humanitarian pause takes effect. WFP has already prepared supplies to ship to Aden. At the same time, WFP requires an additional $103 million for emergency food distributions until August of 2015. Sufficient funds need to be secured now to ensure the timely arrival of relief commodities in Yemen in the coming months.

SECRETARY-GENERAL TO EXPRESS CONDOLENCES ON PASSING OF LONG-SERVING SAUDI FOREIGN MINISTER

• The Secretary-General will be writing to King Salman of Saudi Arabia to say that it was with deep sadness that he learned of the passing of His Royal Highness Prince Saud bin Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, who was the Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the world’s longest serving Foreign Minister when he stepped down. 
• The Secretary-General will say that Prince Saud Al-Faisal was a friend of the United Nations, and the Secretary-General will remember with fond appreciation his meetings and interactions with the Prince.

U.N. LIBYA ENVOY SPEAKS OUT AGAINST TOLL OF STEPPED UP FIGHTING ON CIVILIANS IN BENGHAZI

• The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Libya, Bernardino León, has strongly condemned the escalating fighting in Benghazi and the heavy toll it is having on civilian lives. He called for an immediate ceasefire and deplored the shelling of residential areas in Benghazi.
• The Mission said that hospitals in the city report that there have been at least 10 civilian fatalities, including children, this week alone.
• The Special Representative reiterated that a political agreement through dialogue is the best hope for achieving peace across Libya.
• Next Wednesday, Mr. León is expected to brief the Security Council.

INDICTMENT OF FORMER GUINEA LEADER FOR ROLE IN 2009 KILLINGS IMPORTANT STEP IN FIGHT AGAINST IMPUNITY – U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICE

• The Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has welcomed the indictment issued earlier this week against the former President of the Republic of Guinea, Moussa Dadis Camara, in the context of ongoing investigations into the 2009 killings at a stadium in the capital Conakry.
• On 28 September 2009, tens of thousands of opposition protestors were attacked with live ammunition and tear gas by Guinean security forces. At least 156 people were killed, some 109 women were raped, and more than 1,000 people were injured.
• The human rights office says that this is an important step in the fight against impunity, and follows the indictment of at least 15 other individuals, including high ranking military officers, over the past few years.

ETHIOPIA: U.N. RIGHTS OFFICE WELCOMES RELEASE OF BLOGGERS, JOURNALISTS TRIED ON TERRORISM CHARGES

• The UN Human Rights Office today welcomed the release and dropping of charges against of two bloggers and three journalists in Ethiopia, who were being tried on terrorism charges and had been in detention for more than a year. It further welcomed the release of Reeyot Alemu, an award-winning journalist who had been arrested in 2011.
• The Office urged the Ethiopian authorities to take similar steps to release the other journalists and bloggers from the blogging collective Zone 9 who remain in detention and other activists who have been detained for exercising their rights to free expression and opinion in carrying out legitimate work.  

ONE IN NINE UKRAINIANS IN NEED OF AID, U.N. RELIEF WING REPORTS

• The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that the situation in Ukraine is deteriorating with 5 million people - nearly one in nine Ukrainians - in need of aid. Nearly 1.4 million people have been internally displaced, primarily in the east. 
• Civilians living close to the so-called contact line which separates Government and the non-government controlled areas are among the most vulnerable.
• Aid agencies have already provided assistance – such as food, emergency shelter, cash grants, and psychosocial support for children – to more than 450,000 people this year.
• To sustain and further scale up the humanitarian response, aid agencies need access to displaced communities, for example through crossing points into non-government areas.
• Funding continues to be a major concern, with only 35 per cent of the $316 million requested having been received, including pledges.

LEADERS OF CYPRIOT COMMUNITIES HOLDING INTENSE NEGOTIATION – U.N. ENVOY

• The Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide, said that the leaders of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities held their sixth meeting today. Mr. Eide said since their last meeting, they have had the most intense period of negotiations to date.
• At today’s meeting, he said that the leaders focused on issues including governance and power-sharing; property; and economic matters. Mr. Eide said that the leaders recognize the importance of having the principles and values upon which the European Union is founded upheld and embedded in the comprehensive settlement, while respecting its bizonal and bicommunal character. 
• He added that the leaders reaffirmed their unwavering commitment to a settlement and look forward to their next meeting scheduled for Monday, 27 July.

U.N. RIGHTS OFFICE GRAVELY CONCERNED BY THAILAND’S DEPORTATION OF MORE THAN 100 ETHNIC UIGHURS TO CHINA

• The Human Rights Office in Geneva said today that they are gravely concerned by the deportation by Thai authorities to China yesterday of 109 people understood to be ethnic Uighurs, including some 20 women.
• These people were part of a larger group of more than 350 who had been detained in very poor conditions at various immigration detention facilities across Thailand since March of last year, when they were apprehended after leaving China on their way to Turkey.
• Despite Turkey’s reported willingness to admit them, only 172 of the 350 were eventually allowed to go to Turkey in late June. Sixty remain in detention in Thailand.
• The Office strongly urges the Thai authorities to ensure the protection of the 60 people who are still detained.

GREATER INVESTEMENTS NEEDED FOR SUSTAINABLE ERADICATION OF HUNGER BY 2013, NEW U.N. REPORT FINDS

• A new report by the FAO, the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), and the World Food Programme (WFP) says that eradicating world hunger sustainably by 2030 will require greater investments in rural and urban areas as well as in social protection.
• The report, called “Achieving Zero Hunger: Combining social protection with pro-poor investments” which was launched in Rome today, adds that an additional $267 billion a year on average is needed to help poor people to have better access to food and improved livelihoods.