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

TUESDAY, 3 NOVEMBER 2015

SECRETARY-GENERAL URGUES GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO ACT WITH RESOLVE AT MEETING ON REVITALIZATION

• The Secretary-General spoke today at a meeting on the revitalization of the General Assembly, and he said that the Assembly must now draw larger lessons from the very serious allegations against the President of the 68th session, John Ashe, and act with resolve.
• The Secretary-General told the Assembly that he has taken a number of specific steps to address, head-on, the important issues that have been raised.
• He recalled that he has requested an internal audit by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) of the interactions between the UN and the entities mentioned in the criminal complaint.
• He added that decisions on the functioning of the Office of the President of the General Assembly are the purview of the General Assembly, but it is incumbent on all of us to help get this right.
• The Secretary-General added that that is why he has established an internal Task Force, chaired by the Chef de Cabinet, Susana Malcorra, to review the arrangements for the Office’s financing and staffing. The Task Force will recommend ways to promote enhanced transparency and accountability.
• The Secretary-General has also requested the heads of UN entities mentioned in the criminal complaint that may have engaged with the entities involved in the criminal complaint, to advise him about what they are doing to look into the matter.

ISRAEL: SECRETARY-GENERAL REMEMBERS LEGACY OF FORMER PRIME MINISTER RABIN ON 20^TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS DEATH

• In a statement issued today on the 20th anniversary of the assassination of Israel’s former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the Secretary-General offered his deepest sympathies to the citizens of the State of Israel as they commemorate the life of a heroic man of peace.
• The Secretary-General said that Prime Minister Rabin dedicated his life to the security of his homeland.
• He died after courageously seizing on the need and the opportunity to embark on serious peace negotiations with the Palestinians, recognizing that, as he said, “You don’t make peace with friends; you can only make peace with your enemies.” 
• Mr. Rabin was vilified by many for that move, and then murdered by an opponent of the peace process just when it was at a moment of historic breakthrough.
• In the years since, terrorism, expanding settlements and halting progress in implementing Israeli-Palestinian agreements have repeatedly shattered hopes.
• Today, the voices of the majority who support peace and oppose violence are being drowned out by inflammatory rhetoric and shocking actions by extremists on all sides.  
• The Secretary-General urged all parties to stand firmly against violence and incitement, and to be guided by Prime Minister Rabin’s realization that the path to true security and strength is through dialogue and compromise.  

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL TO TRAVEL TO WASHINGTON D.C. AND MALTA

• The Deputy Secretary-General, Jan Eliasson, will travel to Washington tomorrow to meet with members of the United States Congress and senior officials of the State Department. 
• During that visit, he will also participate in an event on “Seventy Years of the United Nations,” organized by the Alliance for Peacebuilding and US Institute for Peace, and give a lecture to the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. 
• On 10 November, the Deputy Secretary-General will travel to Valletta, Malta, to attend the European Union Valletta Summit on Migration. The Deputy Secretary-General will return to New York after that summit.

OVER 1 MILLION PEOPLE IN YEMEN COULD BE AFFECTED BY CYCLONE CHAPALA

• The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that Cyclone Chapala made landfall in Yemen early today, near the city of Al Mukallah in Hadramaut Governorate.
• Wind speeds reached over 110 kilometres per hour; rainfall could reach 500 millimetres in 48 hours, which is more than five times the yearly average amount of rain. 
• The estimated population that may be affected is 1.1 million or more, mainly in the two governorates of Hadramaut and Shabwah. Other governorates may also be affected depending on the storm's final track, precipitation patterns and strength upon landfall.
• The most urgent needs are expected in the sectors of water hygiene and sanitation, health, emergency shelter, food and essential household items.
• The UN and humanitarian partners have prepositioned stocks of emergency assistance and personnel in the areas anticipated to be affected by the storm. 
• The World Food Programme (WFP) has pre-positioned 29.9 metric tons of high energy biscuits to Al Mukallah, which will provide food assistance for 25,000 people for 3 days.
• The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has transported 1,000 kits of household goods to Al Mukallah and another 1,000 to Shabwah. A UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination team is in the process of deploying to the affected area to assist with coordination of the response.

SYRIA: OVER 120,000 PEOPLE DISPLACED IN ALEPPO, HAMA AND IDLEB IN OCTOBER ALONE

• The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that at least 123,842 people have been displaced in Syria’s Aleppo, Hama and Idleb governorates between 5 and 30 October.
• The road from Hama to Aleppo has been cut since 23 October, putting at risk an estimated 700,000 people living in Government-controlled areas of the city. Aerial attacks on medical facilities and staff continued as two hospitals in Idleb were reportedly hit last week.
• Humanitarian partners have scaled up to meet assessed needs but gaps remain, particularly in provision of household goods and shelter kits, and provision of health, water and sanitation and education services in camps for displaced people, due to insufficient funding and access challenges.

A CHILD IS BORN STATEMESS EVERY TEN MINUTES, WARNS NEW U.N. REPORTS

• A new report by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) spotlights the urgent need to end child statelessness.
• Every ten minutes, a child is born stateless somewhere in the world. Unable to study, train for a career or even open a bank account, they face a lifetime of discrimination as their status profoundly affects their ability to learn, grow, and fulfil their dreams and ambitions.
• The High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, said that in the short time that children get to be children, statelessness can set in stone grave problems that will haunt them throughout their childhoods and sentence them to a life of discrimination, frustration and despair.
• UNHCR is urging all states to take steps, including allowing children to gain the nationality of the country in which they are born – if they would otherwise be stateless – and reforming laws that prevent mothers from passing their nationality to their children on an equal basis as fathers.
• The release of the new report marks one year since the launch of UNHCR's #IBelong Campaign to End Statelessness by 2024.

NEW JOINT AGREEMENT TO ALLOW CENTRAL AFRICAN REFUGEES VOTE IN CAMEROON DURING UPCOMING ELECTIONS

• The UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (CAR) (MINUSCA) said that a tripartite agreement between Cameroon, CAR and UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was signed in Yaoundé yesterday to facilitate voting in the upcoming elections by Central African refugees in Cameroon.
• Over the past few days, the Mission launched an operation to retrieve all electoral kits from the provinces to Bangui. So far, nearly 3,500 kits have been transported to the capital, largely using UN air assets and vehicles.
• The National Elections Authority and the Mission are currently drawing up plans for the pre-deployment of non-sensitive material, including polling booths and boxes, voting centre kits and indelible ink, from Bangui to the provinces.

UKRAINE: U.N. HUMANITARIAN CHIEF VISITS EASTERN PARTS AFFECTED BY CONFLICT

• The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Stephen O'Brien, today travelled to eastern parts of Ukraine affected by conflict.
• He met representatives of the de facto Luhansk authorities and discussed ways of improving humanitarian access to non-Government-controlled areas.
• Mr. O’Brien visited a school in an area of Luhansk which saw heavy fighting earlier this year. The school had been badly damaged and was recently refurbished with international assistance.
• He also met elderly residents, who are particularly vulnerable as the winter approaches, without adequate shelter or heating.
• Mr. O'Brien noted that all parties to the conflict must do their utmost to facilitate immediate and unhindered access to people needing essential aid, wherever they are.