HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY FARHAN HAQ,

DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

FRIDAY, 12 AUGUST 2016

 

SECRETARY-GENERAL CONDEMNS BOMB ATTACKS IN THAILAND

 

• The Secretary-General condemns the bomb attacks in Thailand on Thursday and Friday.
• The Secretary-General extends his condolences to the families of the victims and wishes those injured a speedy recovery. He expresses his sympathies to the Government and people of Thailand.
• The Secretary-General hopes the perpetrators of these crimes will be brought to justice expeditiously.

SECRETARY-GENERAL TO MEET SYRIAN REFUGEES IN CANADA

• The Secretary-General is on his way to Calgary, in Canada’s Alberta Province. Later this evening, he will speak to students at the University of Calgary.
• Prior to that, he will meet with a number of federal and provincial officials, as well as with Syrian refugee families recently resettled in Canada.
• Yesterday, the Secretary-General met with California Governor Jerry Brown in San Francisco. The two discussed a number of issues, including climate change.
• He also spent part of the day in Novato, California, meeting with the Patterson family, who hosted him as a young student in 1962.

SOUTH SUDAN REFUGEES STRAINING HUMANITARIAN RESOURCES: U.N WARNS

• On South Sudan, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned that, with refugees fleeing in their thousands, surrounding countries are straining under the weight of large numbers of displaced people and critically underfunded operations.
• There are already some 930,000 refugees in the region, and more are arriving daily. UNHCR is extremely worried that even as the refugee population grows, funds to meet basic needs are becoming exhausted.
• South Sudan is now the second largest refugee situation in Africa, and the fourth largest in the world but only one dollar out of five dollars needed to take care of each refugee is currently available.
• Uganda and Sudan have received an estimated 110,000 and 100,000 new arrivals respectively in 2016, together accounting for more than 90 per cent of the new arrivals in the region this year.
• UNHCR appeals to the international community to support countries of asylum to protect and assist South Sudanese refugees.

U.N. AGENCIES CONDEMN INCREASED FIGHTING IN YEMEN

• The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, strongly condemns the increasing violations to the cessation of hostilities in Yemen and urges the parties to speed up their efforts to find a comprehensive, political solution to the conflict.
• He said that the violations are unacceptable and not conducive to the peace process.  The United Nations remains fully committed to bringing peace to Yemen, but the process requires good faith and concessions from all sides.
• He calls on all parties to show restraint and refrain from any action which undermines efforts to bringing about a peaceful, political solution to the conflict.
• Meanwhile, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, also voiced alarm today at the intensification of violence across the country. He said that the people of Yemen continue to bear the brunt of the suffering as a result of the inability of the parties to find a political solution. 
• And the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights also said today that the numbers of civilian casualties in the conflict has been steadily mounting recently, with a sharp increase last week.

NEW POLIO CASES TURN BACK ERADICATION CLOCK:  WHO

• The World Health Organization said today the confirmation of two new cases of Polio in Nigeria was a disappointing development.
• Michel Zaffran, Director, Polio Eradication at the WHO, told a briefing in Geneva today the cases were discovered in parts of Borno that have recently become accessible, and that large areas of the state remain unreachable.
• He said Africa was scheduled to be declared polio-free in about a year.
• The clock will have to be turned back, he said, but the goal remains within reach.
• A vaccination campaign will begin within the next ten days.

U.N AND GOVERNMENT ACTIVATE CHOLERA CONTROL INITIATIVE IN CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

•  The World Health Organization (WHO) informs that, along with its partners, it is working with the Central African Republic (CAR) Ministry of Health to respond to the cholera outbreak declared on 10 August. There are 46 confirmed cases and 13 deaths from Djoujou, Damara and Bangui cities, in villages along the banks of the Oubangui River and close to the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• WHO and the Ministry of Health have activated a cholera control command centre within the country’s existing Emergency Operational Centre which includes all humanitarian partners on the ground.  Patients who have reached Bangui are being taken care of in a treatment centre established with WHO support. 

U.N. RIGHTS OFFICE DECRIES “DEGRADING” TREATMENT OF MIGRANTS IN NAURU

• The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights today said it was extremely concerned about the serious allegations of violence, sexual assault and degrading treatment of detainees in Nauru. The agency said the allegations made in more than 1,000 incident reports, were sadly consistent with findings from its own previous visits.
• A spokesperson said in Geneva today, that many of the migrants, asylum seekers and refugees were transferred by Australia to Nauru more than three years ago and have been living in very difficult conditions ever since.
•  The agency said the recent allegations, “must be systematically and properly investigated and those responsible held accountable.”
• The Office repeated its call for the authorities in Nauru and Australia to put an end to the model of processing and keeping migrants offshore

YOUTH CAN LEAD WAY TO A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE: U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL

• Today is International Youth Day. On this occasion, the Secretary-General said that young people can lead a global drive to break the patterns of the past and set the world on course to a more sustainable future.
• He said that young people are directly affected by the tragic contradictions that prevail today, and that they can deliver solutions on these issues, which lie at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
• The Secretary-General called for the active engagement of the world’s young people to transform the production and consumption of goods and services so they meet the basic needs and aspirations of the world’s poorest people without overburdening already strained ecosystems.
• “Let us empower young people with the resources, backing and space they need to create lasting change in our world”, he said.