HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY FARHAN HAQ, SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

WEDNESDAY, 23 DECEMBER 2015

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS NEW OFFICIALS FOR U.N. MISSIONS IN MALI AND KOSOVO

• The Secretary-General today announced the appointment of Mahamat Saleh Annadif of Chad as his Special Representative for Mali and Head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).
• Mr. Annadif succeeds Mongi Hamdi of Tunisia, who will complete his assignment on 14 January 2016. The Secretary-General is grateful for Mr. Hamdi’s dedicated service and effective leadership at the helm of MINUSMA.
• The Secretary-General has also appointed Christopher Coleman of the United States as his Deputy Special Representative for the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). He succeeds Jennifer Brush of the United States to whom the Secretary-General expresses his gratitude for her dedicated service with UNMIK.

SECURITY COUNCIL TO CONSIDER RESOLUTION ON LIBYA FOLLOWING RECENT SIGNING OF POLITICAL AGREEMENT

• The Security Council is expected to meet today to consider a resolution on Libya, following the signing last week of the Libyan Political Agreement.
• The Secretary-General has welcomed the signing, saying that the agreement is a critical step in continuing Libya’s post-revolution transition after months of turmoil and uncertainty.
• The Security Council yesterday also issued a press statement in which Council members expressed their strong commitment to supporting free and fair elections in Haiti.
• They called on all political forces to work through the electoral process to ensure that the will of the people is reflected in the outcome of the election.
• The Council has also issued a press statement on Yemen, welcoming the participation of Yemeni parties in peace consultations from 15-20 December 2015, held under the auspices of the UN.

MAJORITY OF SYRIAN REFUGEES IN LEBANON LIVE IN EXTREME POVERTY, U.N. AGENCIES WARN

• The food security situation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon significantly worsened since 2014, according to an assessment of the refugees’ vulnerability carried out by the World Food Programme (WFP), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
• An estimated 70 per cent of refugees in Lebanon are now living below the Lebanese extreme poverty line of $3.84 per day.
• Out of the more than 1.1 million Syrian refugees registered with UNHCR by June 2015, more than 760,000 were estimated to be mildly food insecure; more than 270,000 were moderately food insecure and nearly 6,000 were severely food insecure.
• The number of meals eaten each day by children and adults fell compared to 2014. In one in three households, members consumed just one or no cooked meals the previous day – up from one in four households just a year ago.

U.N. TO MARK 5 NOVEMBER AS WORLD TSUNAMI AWARENESS DAY

• The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström, today welcomed yesterday’s General Assembly resolution recognizing November 5^th as World Tsunami Awareness Day.
• Ms. Wahlström said that the Day will help to focus attention on measures which can be taken to reduce risks from both man-made and natural hazards and to ensure that more people live and work in places which are free from the threat, not just of tsunamis, but other sudden onset hazards such as earthquakes, floods and storms.
• The proposal was first proposed by the Japanese Government after the Third UN Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held in March in the northern city of Sendai.