Noon briefing of 15 March 2016

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

TUESDAY, 15 MARCH 2016

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPEALS FOR SUCCESFUL NEGOTIATIONS ON FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF SYRIAN CONFLICT

• In a statement issued today, the Secretary-General said that five years ago thousands of Syrians took to the streets calling for political change, only to be met with violence and repression. Recalling the origins of the conflict is important as we mark this grim anniversary. The destruction that engulfed Syria following those hopeful days of March 2011 was not inevitable.
• The Syrian authorities could have responded peacefully to the legitimate demands of the people with genuine dialogue and reform. Regional and international actors could have united to help Syria stabilise rather than use it as a battlefield for regional rivalries and geo-strategic competition.
• Instead, over 250,000 Syrians have been killed. Nearly half of all Syrians have been forced from their homes, seeking refuge within or outside the country. The world has been confronted with an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe. Terrorist groups such as Daesh and Al Nusra Front have capitalised on the chaos. Foreign fighters and sectarian militias, nightly, have poured into Syria to join the fighting. Syrian men, women and children feel abandoned by the international community.
• The Syrian conflict has been the scene of the use of chemical weapons, siege and starvation as a tool of war, unlawful detention, torture, and the indiscriminate and criminal shelling and aerial bombardment of civilians. Those responsible for these crimes must be held to account. The Secretary-General repeats his call to the Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court. In Syria as elsewhere, peace without justice is not sustainable.
• The global consequences of failing to resolve the Syrian conflict are now lamentably clear. It is in this context that renewed international and regional diplomacy and commitment to finding a solution to the Syrian conflict is vitally important. The formation of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) and the commitment of its members to use their influence with the parties to increase humanitarian access to besieged and hard to reach areas in Syria and to implement a cessation of hostilities has created a rare opening and given reason for hope
• We have finally moved beyond mere calls on the parties to uphold their obligations under international law to concerted and concrete action to reduce violence and aid civilians in need. Diplomacy is finally making a difference in the daily lives of the long suffering Syrians. Remarkably, as the violence has fallen in the past two weeks, the Syrian people have returned to the streets, demonstrating peacefully as they did five years ago.
• As welcome as these developments are, they alone do not represent a solution to the Syrian conflict. That can only come through a comprehensive political settlement to the conflict that addresses the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people and builds on a nationwide ceasefire. Building on the call in Security Council resolution 2218 (2013) for a political transition, Security Council Resolutions 2254 (2015) and 2268 (2016) now provide a political path and timeline for pursuing this goal.
• The Secretary-General added: “My Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has this week convened intra-Syrian negotiations in pursuit of the full implementation of the Geneva Communique as the basis for a Syrian-led political transition. I appeal to Syrian parties, regional and international stakeholders and the Security Council to fulfil their responsibilities and to help make these negotiations successful. If we miss this opportunity the consequences for the Syrian people and the world are too frightening to contemplate.”

U.N. SYRIA ENVOY WELCOMES RUSSIAN ANNOUNCEMENT ON DAY OF START OF INTRA-SYRIAN TALKS

• Staffan de Mistura, the Special Envoy for Syria, said today that the announcement by President Vladimir Putin of Russia on the day of that the current round of Intra-Syrian Talks began in Geneva is a significant development.
• He said that he hoped that it will have a positive impact on the progress of the negotiations in Geneva, aimed at achieving a political solution of the Syrian conflict and a peaceful political transition in the country.

SECRETARY GENERAL MEETS WITH CO-CHAIRS OF WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT PANEL

• The Secretary-General this morning met with the Co-Chairs of his High Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment, President Luis Guillermo Solis, President of Costa Rica, and Ms Simona Scarpaleggia, CEO of IKEA Switzerland.
• He also inaugurated the first meeting of the Panel which has 20 members drawn from governments, business, academia, civil society.
• The High Level Panel, which was launched in January by the Secretary-General, is expected to produce its first report in September 2016 to be followed by its final report in March 2017.
• The Panel will provide leadership and galvanize political will to outline actions and policies to accelerate women’s economic empowerment in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
• Support for the Panel’s work is being provided by UK Department of International Development.

SECRETARY-GENERAL MEETS MOROCCAN FOREIGN MINISTER, CALLS FOR GENUINE NEGOTIATIONS ON WESTERN SAHARA ISSUE

• The Secretary-General met on Monday with Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar of Morocco, to exchange views on the state of efforts to settle the Western Sahara dispute, as well as his recent visit to the region to explore ways to intensify the negotiating process.
• The Secretary-General took note of the misunderstanding related to his use of the word “occupation” as his personal reaction to the deplorable humanitarian conditions in which the Sahrawi refugees have lived in for far too long.
• The Secretary-General also conveyed his astonishment at the recent statement of the Government of Morocco and expressed his deep disappointment and anger regarding the demonstration that was mobilized on Sunday, which targeted him in person. He stressed that such attacks are disrespectful to him and to the United Nations.
• The Secretary-General reiterated his 4 November 2015 call for genuine and serious negotiations without preconditions to make progress soonest.

SECURITY COUNCIL EXTENDS MANDATE OF U.N. LIBYA MISSION AND AFGHANISTAN MISSION

• This morning, the Security Council extended the mandate of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) until 15 June 2016 as well as the mandate of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) for an additional year.
• On Afghanistan, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the country, Nicholas Haysom, briefed Council members.
• He stressed that the people of Afghanistan want peace and that without a peace process, the sustainability and viability of all of our efforts, in Brussels, Warsaw, New York, and elsewhere to bring stability and prosperity to Afghanistan will be called into question.
• Last year alone, an estimated 11,000 Afghans were killed or injured as a result of the conflict. A quarter of these victims were children. The Special Representative added that a successful peace process will require the support of neighbouring countries and the wider region, especially in addressing terrorism.
• He said that the UN Mission has repeatedly called for nothing less than direct talks between the Taliban and the Afghan Government, adding that the organization will continue to energetically engage with all parties to offer its support and assistance.

ANGELINA JOLIE, U.N. REFUGEE AGENCY’S GOODWILL AMBASSADOR, VISITS REFUGEES IN LEBANON

• Angelina Jolie, who is a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, visited Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley today, and she spoke to reporters there, saying that we should never forget that for all the focus on the refugee situation in Europe at this time, the greatest pressure is still being felt in the Middle East and North Africa, as it has for each of the last five years.
• She noted that there are 4.8 million Syrian refugees in the region, and 6.5 million people displaced inside Syria. Ms. Jolie said that the number of refugees in Lebanon living below the minimum threshold for survival has doubled in the last two years, in a country where 79% of all Syrian refugees are women and children.
• She added that it is not wrong to feel unsettled faced by a crisis of such complexity and such magnitude, but we must not let fear get the better of us. She appealed to all governments to uphold the UN Convention on Refugees and basic human rights law. UNHCR has more details online.

U.N. REFUGEE AGENCY SAYS NUMBER OF PEOPLE FLEEING FROM MOZAMBIQUE TO MALAWI IS GROWING

• On Malawi, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says that daily arrival rates in the country of people fleeing Mozambique have been growing over the past month.
• The number increased from around 130 people a day before late February to around 250 a day now.
• Most of the Mozambicans who have been crossing to Malawi since mid-December, are in a single village, called Kapise. Close to 10,000 refugees have now been registered in southern Malawi.
• The Agency is welcoming the Malawi Government’s decision to reopen a former refugee camp to help cope with the rising numbers of people fleeing Mozambique.
• It adds that the reopening of the Luwani refugee camp will allow better basic services and security for refugees.

ZIMBABWE: 25 PERCENT OF THE POPULATION AFFECTED BY DROUGHT

• The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns today that Zimbabwe is currently in the grip of an intense drought driven by one of the strongest El Niño events in the last 35 years, with more than a quarter of its 15 million people food insecure.
• The combination of a poor 2014 - 2015 harvest, an extremely dry October to December season, and forecasts for continuing hot and drier-than-average conditions through mid-2016, is expected to lead to extensive crop failure exposing vulnerable people to high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition.
• Food availability - through production in the country - is at its lowest in a decade. The Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee recently concluded that about 2.8 million people in the country are already food insecure, and that drought conditions are driving water, sanitation, health, education and other sectoral needs across the country.
• OCHA has provided technical support to the Government in rapid assessments and planning for resource mobilization.

FINAL RESULTS OF FIRST ROUND OF LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS ANNOUNCED IN CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

• The UN Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) reports that the Transitional Constitutional Court on Monday announced the final results of the first round of legislative elections.
• The Court confirmed that 45 candidates - out of the 140-seat Parliament - were elected with an absolute majority.
• The results in 10 constituencies were annulled due to inconsistencies and by-elections will be organised for those constituencies at a date to be determined.
• A second round of legislative elections for the remaining 85 seats is tentatively scheduled for 27 March.

NEW REPORT SAYS 12.6 MILLION PEOPLE DIED AS RESULT OF UNHEALTHY ENVIRONMENT

• A new report issued today by the World Health Organization (WHO), entitled “Preventing disease through healthy environments: a global assessment of the burden of disease from environmental risk” says that an estimated 12.6 million people died as a result of living or working in an unhealthy environment in 2012 – nearly 1 in 4 of total global deaths.
• Environmental risk factors, such as air, water and soil pollution, chemical exposures, climate change, and ultraviolet radiation, contribute to more than 100 diseases and injuries.
• The report emphasizes cost-effective measures that countries can take to reverse the upward trend of environment-related disease and deaths. It is available online.

U.N. DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME DESIGNATED ACTRESS MICHELLE YEOH AS GOODWILL AMBASSADOR

• This morning Michelle Yeoh, the Malaysian born Hollywood film star, was designated as UNDP Goodwill Ambassador. In her new role, she will partner with the UN Development Programme to raise awareness and mobilize support for the Sustainable Development Goals.
• As Goodwill Ambassador, Ms. Yeoh will leverage her influence as an actress and advocate to shine a spotlight on disaster recovery efforts, as well as pursue her longstanding passion for global development issues, including the eradication of poverty and gender equality.