HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STÉPHANE DUJARRIC,
SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
THURSDAY, 19 APRIL 2018
 
SECRETARY-GENERAL HONOURS U.N. PERSONNEL WHO LOST THEIR LIVES IN LINE OF DUTY

• This morning, the Secretary-General spoke at a memorial service to honour United Nations personnel who lost their lives in the line of duty between July 2016 and the end of last year – that’s 140 colleagues from 42 nations.
• The Secretary-General said that despite all our efforts to ensure the safety and security of our personnel, the UN has become a target of those who oppose our commitment to peace. But the sad fact is that people do lose their lives while serving the United Nations, he said, and it is our duty to honour their service and sacrifice.
• The Secretary-General said that all around the world, the blue flag of the United Nations represents the hopes of some of the world’s most vulnerable people for peace, security and an opportunity for a better future. Those people depend on the women and men who dedicate themselves to serving the United Nations. “It grieves me that anyone should perish doing this essential work. And it angers me that there is so little accountability for attacks on us”, he said, adding that he was committed to calling for attackers to be held to account and to improving safety.

 

• This morning, the Secretary-General also said he was deeply saddened to learn last night of the sudden passing of Ambassador Bernard Tanoh-Boutchoué, the Permanent Representative of Côte d’ Ivoire.
• He said he had a clear recollection of his conversation with him during the presentation of his credentials last September. The Secretary-General had expressed his satisfaction at seeing Côte d’Ivoire prepare itself for a Security Council mandate with renewed confidence, in light of the auspicious developments made by the country in restoring peace, stability and development.
• He added that Ambassador Bernard Tanoh-Boutchoué was well liked and respected and will be missed by all of us, and he offered heartfelt condolences to his family and colleagues, as well as to the Government and people of Côte d’Ivoire.

 

• Yesterday evening, the Deputy Secretary-General departed New York for Washington, DC to participate in the Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund.
• The Deputy Secretary-General will speak at meetings related to advancing the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, with a focus on international economic development, data, climate action, sustainable finance, gender equality and women’s empowerment, education and global health.

 

• The Security Council heard a briefing this morning by Jean Arnault, Head of the UN Verification Mission in Colombia. Mr. Arnault said that the recent arrest of one of the leaders of the FARC on drug trafficking charges reverberated in a country that remains divided around the peace process.
• He stressed the need for a sustained drive to put the reintegration of former combatants on a more solid basis before the end of the Government's mandate. Weaknesses in this effort can only increase the risk of the drift of some ex-combatants to criminal groups, he said, adding that he looked forward to the prompt approval of the decree allowing access to land to former combatants.
• While it is too early to take stock of a peace process that has set ambitious and long-term goals, Mr. Arnault said we already observed that it has achieved a notable reduction of violence in the congressional elections.
• Similarly, it has created a series of institutions dedicated to overcome the patterns of social, economic and political violence in the conflict areas.
• Throughout the implementation phase of the Peace Agreement, circumstances have occasionally tested the commitment of the two parties to stay the course. They have stayed the course, Mr. Arnault said.

 

• The UN Mission in the Central African Republic today expressed concern over inflammatory rhetoric coming from some armed groups, political figures and media, which could exacerbate tensions in the country. The Mission is calling for calm and restraint. It is particularly concerned about attempts to revive disputes between anti-Balaka and ex-Seleka groups.
• The UN Mission denounced the attempts to manipulate Operation Sukula, which was launched jointly with the government to restore order and eliminate criminal groups in the PK5 neighbourhood of Bangui.
• The Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the country, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, called for all disagreements to be solved through dialogue.

 

• The Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Bintou Keita, wrapped up her visit to South Sudan today. Speaking to the press at the UN Tomping Base in Juba, she reiterated that there is no military solution to the conflict and urged all South Sudanese stakeholders to engage genuinely and constructively in finding a political solution to this crisis. She said peace must be won in every state of the country where politically motivated intercommunal violence has caused numerous fatalities in the past month. We all need to make sure that the peace initiatives, reconciliation efforts and the national dialogue process succeed in reducing these tensions and bring the country towards a sustainable resolution of the conflict, she said.
• Ms. Keita added that she was particularly appalled by the violence the conflict has brought against women and girls. She said South Sudan is facing an emergency related to sexual violence and what we need from the Government, the United Nations, and its partners, is an emergency response.

 

• The UN Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, is deeply concerned for the safety and security of civilians in the Palestine Refugee Camp of Yarmouk, Syria and surrounding areas.  All parties to the fighting should exercise maximum restraint to ensure that civilians are spared, and should take measures to prevent unnecessary damage to civilian infrastructure.
• UNRWA calls on all sides to allow civilians wishing to leave the areas of conflict to do so in safety and security. Medical cases should be allowed to be evacuated.  It calls for safe access to distribute life-saving assistance, including food and medicine, to all civilians trapped inside Yarmouk and the neighbouring areas.
• UNRWA estimates that there are up to 12,000 Palestine refugees in Yarmouk and the surrounding areas of Yalda, Babila and Beit Sahem.  In the last few weeks, both checkpoints into Yarmouk camp have been closed for the majority of the time, cutting the last lifelines.

 

• The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, Ján Kubiš, congratulated Kurdistan Region political parties and blocs for signing the Electoral Charter of Honour on Wednesday in Erbil.
• Kubiš said that the credibility of the democratic process lies in the integrity of the electoral process. Thus, an effective Charter of Honour is essential to conducting the elections in a free, fair, impartial, transparent and credible manner. The UN Mission in Iraq, UNAMI, has a press release with more details.

 

• The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that yesterday the Donetsk Water Filter Station in Ukraine stopped its operations after five of its employees were shot and injured on 17 April. The station’s operations will likely remain suspended until guarantees for the safety of its personnel from parties to the conflict are received. This is not the first incident at the Donetsk Filter Station. On 14 March, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine, Neal Walker, had condemned similar attacks on the station’s workers on four separate occasions.
• The suspension of the station’s operations affects water supply to some 345,000 people in Donetsk province, on both sides of the ‘contact line’, with immediate consequences for the smaller settlements, unable to benefit from alternative water sources. It is essential that all parties to the conflict respect civilian infrastructure and protect civilian workers. Any targeting of civilian infrastructure and intentional disruption of access to water supply is a violation of International Humanitarian Law.
• Tomorrow, 20 April, at 3 p.m., Mr. Walker, will brief member states in New York on the humanitarian situation and response, and recovery efforts in the country. The meeting will be webcast and open to press.

 

• The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the International Federation of  Football Association, FIFA, have launched a campaign to get this year’s World Cup ticket holders to offset the carbon emissions resulting from their attendance of the tournament in Russia.
• All ticket holders will be invited to sign up on FIFA.com and take part in the campaign, regardless of where they live. For each ticket holder signing up, FIFA will offset 2.9 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents, which is the average emission per ticket holder traveling from abroad.  
• When signing up for the campaign, fans will also enter a prize draw to win two tickets for the final match in Moscow.

 

• We can say that neither the locality of Bir Lahlou or Tifariti fall within the buffer strip.
• Regarding meetings with Frente Polisario: since the arrival, in late December 2017 of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Colin Stewart, MINURSO has preferred to adhere with the longstanding practice of holding such meetings in Rabouni, Algeria. The Mission and Mr. Stewart remains in close contact with the Polisario Coordinator and have met informally outside of the Mission area.
• MINURSO reported to the Security Council that on 16 March, in the vicinity of the Tifariti Team Site, MINURSO Military Observers on duty were stopped by armed Frente Polisario members, with shots fired in the air.
• After a short discussion, the Observers were allowed to resume their patrol. The local Frente Polisario commander subsequently condemned the unauthorized action of the soldiers involved and indicated that disciplinary action would be taken. 

 

• The International Atomic Energy Agency, the Food and Agriculture Organization today announced that they have successfully tested a nuclear technique to suppress mosquitoes carrying diseases.
• The Sterile Insect Technique, consists of using radiation to sterilize male mosquitoes, which are then released from drones to mate with wild females. As these do not produce any offspring, the insect population declines over time.
• Testing of the system was carried out in Brazil last month, and the Government is planning to start using this technique starting in January next year.

 

• The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs  said today that the Government of Ethiopia and humanitarian partners held yesterday in New York an All Member States briefing on the humanitarian situation in Ethiopia.
• Ethiopia’s Humanitarian and Disaster Resilience Plan (HDRP) for 2018 seeks US$1.66 billion to reach 7.88 million people with emergency food or cash and non-food assistance, mainly in the southern and south-eastern parts of the country.
• Successive failed or under-performing rains, an increase in conflict-related displacement in the border areas of the Oromia and Somali regions, and a lack of recovery opportunities have left 2.4 million households in need of livestock support.
• There are also a projected 3.5 million cases of moderate acute malnutrition and 350,000 cases of severe acute malnutrition. In Ethiopia, some six million people are without access to safe drinking water, 1.2 million people are displaced due to conflict, and 500,000 others are displaced due to climate-induced shocks.

 

• The Food and Agriculture Organization added thirteen new landscapes to their list of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems.
• This landmark programme pays tribute to the ingenious ways that human needs and nature's resources have been combined to create mutually sustainable livelihoods and ecosystems.
• The new sites are in China, Egypt, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and Sri Lanka.
• These additions bring to 50 the total number of sites worldwide selected by the FAO for offering unique ways that rural communities have over generations forged to foster food security, viable livelihoods, resilient ecosystems and high levels of biodiversity, all while enhancing remarkable beauty.

 

• Ethiopia and Portugal have made their full payments to the budget. The Honour Roll is now 83.