HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC,
SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON
FRIDAY, 23 DECEMBER 2016
 
SECRETARY-GENERAL-DESIGNATE APPOINTS CHILEAN NATIONAL AS ASSISTANT SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR STRATEGIC COORDINATION

• The Secretary-General-designate has announced that he is appointing Fabrizio Hochschild of Chile as his Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Coordination in the Executive Office.
• Reporting to the Chef de Cabinet, Mr. Hochschild will work closely with other members of the Secretary-General-designate’s team in ensuring coherence across the political, peacekeeping, development, humanitarian, human rights and rule of law portfolios.
• Mr. Hochschild is currently serving as Deputy Special Representative for the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), to which post he was appointed in July 2016. He previously served as Deputy to the Secretary-General's Special Adviser for the Summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants.  From 2013 to 2016, he was the UN Resident Coordinator, Humanitarian Coordinator and Resident Representative of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Colombia. From 2010 to 2012, he served as the Director of the Field Personnel Division in the United Nations Department of Field Support, New York; and from 2005 to 2009, as Chief of Field Operations and Technical Cooperation in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Geneva.
• Mr. Hochschild began his United Nations career in 1988 with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Sudan.  He served in subsequent postings with UNHCR, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and in peacekeeping.  He was posted in Jerusalem (1990-1991), in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1991-1992), in Geneva (1993-1996), in New York (1998-1999), in Timor-Leste (2000), in Serbia (2001-2003) and in the United Republic of Tanzania (2003-2005).
• Born in 1963, he is married and has three children. He is a graduate of the University of Oxford in the UK. 

SOUTH SECURITY ARMS EMBARGO RESOLUTION FAILS TO PASS IN SECURITY COUNCIL

• The Security Council met this morning on South Sudan. A draft resolution to impose an arms embargo failed to pass.
• The Council then passed a resolution on the UN Mission in Liberia, extending its mandate until March 2018.
• It then met on the humanitarian situation in Syria, and was briefed by John Ging, Operations Director of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
• He told the Council that the operation to evacuate people from eastern Aleppo ended late last night, with more than 35,000 people evacuated, including 20,000 people since resolution 2328 was passed earlier this week.
• Mr. Ging said that the UN’s role in support the evacuation had four main elements: observation of the evacuation itself; support to evacuees once they have left; seeking access to the re-taken areas of eastern Aleppo to provide assistance in those remaining in those areas; and ongoing humanitarian support to those in need across western Aleppo.
• He noted that the evacuation operation was an extremely complex undertaking, and was punctuated by frustrating stops and starts due to negotiations between the relevant parties who were setting the terms and conditions of the evacuations.
• Following that meeting, the Council will meet on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.

D.R. CONGO: U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS CHIEF SPEAKS OUT AGAINST KILLING OF PROTESTORS

• Regarding the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said today that the high casualty figures during recent protests suggest a serious disregard by the various police, defence and security forces of the need to exercise restraint in policing demonstrations.
• He also warned that violent repression of dissenting voices and a heavy-handed and irresponsible response to demonstrations risk provoking violence in return by demonstrators and possibly even tipping the constitutional crisis over the president’s future into further conflict across the country.
• Over the previous week, the UN Joint Human Rights Office in the DRC (UNJHRO) has documented at least 40 killings of civilians in Kinshasa, Lumbumbashi, Boma and Matadi.

BAHRAIN: U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICE CALLS FOR ACTIVIST’S RELEASE

• The UN Human Rights Office today expressed its serious concern over the ongoing prosecution of Nabeel Rajab, a cofounder of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights.
• Mr. Rajab, who has been detained since June this year for exercising his right to freedom of expression, faces charges relating to his critiques of the Saudi-led coalition’s airstrikes on Yemen, among others.
• The Human Rights Office stressed that criticising the Government should not be grounds for detention or prosecution, and it called on the Bahraini authorities to immediately and unconditionally release him.

2017 SEES HIGHEST DEATH TOLL EVER FOR PEOPLE CROSSING MEDITERRANEAN SEA TO SEEK NEW LIVES

• The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says that 100 people are feared to have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea yesterday, bringing the number of casualties in the Mediterranean this year to more than 5,000.
• UNHCR says this is the worst annual death toll ever seen.
• An average of 14 people have died every day in the Mediterranean Sea this year. Last year, when over a million people crossed the Mediterranean, 3,771 casualties were recorded.
• The Agency stressed the need for States to increase pathways for admission of refugees, such as resettlement and student scholarship schemes so they do not have to resort to dangerous journeys and the use of smugglers.

EBOLA VACCINE FOUND TO BE HIGHLY PROTECTIVE IN TRIAL – WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

• The World Health Organization (WHO) published today the results of a major trial of an experimental Ebola vaccine in Guinea, showing this vaccine to be highly protective against the deadly virus.
• It is the first vaccine to prevent infection from one of the most lethal known pathogens, and the findings add weight to early trial results published last year.

U.N. CONGRATULATES INCOMING PRESIDENT OF CORRESPONDENTS ASSOCIATION

• The Spokesman congratulated Sherwin Bryce Pease on his election as President of the UN Correspondents Association.
• He could be the youngest and the first UNCA President to come from Africa.
• The Spokesman also congratulated his predecessor, Gianpaolo Pioli.

NUMBER OF MEMBER STATES PAYING U.N. DUES IN FULL REACHES 143

• Croatia and Jordan have paid their UN regular dues in full, bringing the total number of Member States which have done so to 143.