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

WEDNESDAY, 22 JUNE 2016

U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL TO WITNESS SIGNING OF COLOMBIA CEASEFIRE AGREEMENT IN HAVANA

• The Secretary-General will leave New York this afternoon for Havana, Cuba, where he will be a witness to the signing tomorrow of the bilateral ceasefire and laying down of arms agreement between the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP).  
• The President of the General Assembly, Mogens Lykketoft, and the President of the Security Council, Ambassador François Delattre of France, will also participate in the ceremony. While in Havana, the Secretary-General is also expected to have a number of bilateral meetings.

U.N. DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL REMEMBERS JO COX; SAYS ‘NEVER GIVE IN TO FEAR’

• The Deputy Secretary-General, Jan Eliasson, spoke recently at a ceremony at the UNICEF courtyard honouring the life of UK Member of Parliament Jo Cox. He said that her death has reminded us of standing up for values and principles that unite us – not divide us – in today’s deeply troubled world. And he made clear that we must never give in to fear or succumb to violent provocations. If we do, the extremists and perpetrators will declare victory.

U.N. SPECIAL INVESTIGATION OF SOUTH SUDAN INCIDENT COMPLETE

• In a note issued yesterday afternoon, describing the work of a Special Investigation and a UN Headquarters Board of Inquiry that had been convened to review the circumstances of the violence that erupted in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Protection of Civilians (PoC) site in Malakal from 17 to 18 February.
• The Special Investigation, which was tasked to look into the external factors that led to the incident, has been completed.  The Investigation determined that the immediate trigger for the attacks was an attempt by two Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) soldiers to smuggle ammunition into the site on 16 February. The Investigation team requested that the Transitional Government of National Unity hold the individuals responsible accountable for the violence. The team also provided a number of recommendations aimed at preventing such attacks in the future.
• A UN Headquarters-led Board of Inquiry, which was tasked to look into the Mission’s response to the incident, is being finalized.
• The preliminary report of the Board mentions that a number of issues contributed to the incident. On the UNMISS response, in particular, there was confusion with respect to command and control and Rules of Engagement and a lack of coordination among the various civilian and uniformed peacekeepers in Malakal at the time of the crisis.
• UN Headquarters is reviewing a number of recommendations made by the Board in order to minimize the recurrence of such incidents, including the reviewing of the concept of Protection of Civilians sites and the performance of troop and police contributing countries.
• The Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Hervé Ladsous, and the Under-Secretary-General for Field Support, Atul Khare, will brief the Security Council in this regard this afternoon.

ARMED CLASHES IN SUDAN RESULT IN DEATHS, AND DISPLACE VILLAGERS AND IDPS

• Following armed clashes on 21 June around the village of Thur in Central Darfur, preliminary reports indicate that an estimated 17,000 people - including people who had already been displaced earlier this year due to conflict in the area - have fled the village and an IDP camp and sought refuge at a nearby Sudanese Armed Forces site.
• Initial information from community leaders indicates that several people have also been killed and injured, and property damaged or looted.
• At the current site, there is no access to services or supplies, including shelter materials.
• At the original site in Thur, no international humanitarian assessment has been possible since the start of the fighting this year. There are believed to be significant water and sanitation needs.  An inter-agency assessment to Thur is planned tomorrow to determine humanitarian needs, pending approval from the authorities.

HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE CONTINUES IN SYRIA

• An inter-agency convoy delivered much needed life-saving assistance to the hard-to-reach town of Bloudan in Rural Damascus yesterday. The convoy contained food, medicine, heath and other emergency items for 25,000 people in need. This is the third inter-agency convoy to Bloudan this year.
• Since the beginning of 2016, nearly 850,000 people have been reached, many more than once, with assistance through UN inter-agency operations in besieged and hard-to-reach areas, including more than 330,000 people in besieged locations.
• Meanwhile, the number of people in Syria being assisted by UN cross-border convoys from Turkey and Jordan continues to grow. Since the launch of UN cross-border deliveries in 2014 through May, a total of 337 convoys have been sent by the United Nations and its implementing partners, reaching millions of people with food, health and other assistance in Aleppo, Dar’a, Hama, Idleb, Latakia and Quneitra governorates.

VIOLENCE IN CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC DISPLACING THOUSANDS

• Renewed violence in the Central African Republic is displacing thousands of people internally and to neighbouring Chad and Cameroon.
• In the capital Bangui, a recent flare-up of violence has forced thousands of people to seek safety in the Bimbo area, to IDP sites at Carmel and M'Poko airport. Several humanitarian partners have limited or temporarily suspended their activities in the area around the PK5 enclaves.
• The acting Humanitarian Coordinator, Dr. Michel Yao, called on all parties to respect international humanitarian law, protect civilians and ensure that they can relocate safely.
• Underfunding continues to undermine humanitarian operations with the 2016 Humanitarian appeal of US $531 million only 14 per cent funded so far.

EGYPT AND U.N.  TO SUPPORT EGYPTIANS RETURNING FROM LIBYA

• The World Food Programme (WFP) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the launch of a three month emergency operation to support Egyptian returnees from Libya with much needed food assistance.
• Through the emergency operation, WFP will provide an estimated 60,000 returnees from Libya with monthly food vouchers.
• According to the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Libya hosts around 1.6 million Egyptians, mostly migrant workers.    

U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES BUSINESSES TO SUPPORT SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND THE CLIMATE CHANGE AGREEMENT

• The Secretary-General, this morning, met with the Global Compact Board, during which he stressed the importance of mobilizing businesses to help deliver the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Climate Change Agreement.
• At 3 p.m. today, the Secretary-General will address the 2016 UN Global Compact Leaders Summit in the General Assembly. We will share his remarks with you later today. 

A COORDINATE EFFORT NEEDED TO ENSURE FOOD SECURITY: U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL

• The Secretary-General chaired the UN High-level Task Force (HLTF) on Global Food and Nutrition Security this morning.
• UN Principals agreed to align the High-level Task Force work on food and nutrition security in support of the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The meeting also focused on responding to the impact of El Niño and climate change.
• Recounting his recent visits to Ethiopia and Madagascar, the Secretary-General voiced his deep concern about the effects that the El Niño has had on the resilience, food security and nutrition of the most vulnerable. The Secretary-General underscored the link between climate action and delivering on the development goals, and called for a well-coordinated UN system response.
• The Task Force concluded that a systematic transformation of agricultural and food policies is required, so they are people-centred and climate-compatible, and deliver both on the development goals and the Paris Climate Agreement.