HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC,
SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
THURSDAY, 15 JUNE 2017 

SECRETARY-GENERAL HAILS GENERAL ASSEMBLY’S ENDORSEMENT OF CREATION OF U.N. COUNTER-TERRORISM OFFICE

• In a statement, the Secretary-General welcomes the adoption today of General Assembly resolution A/71/L66, which endorsed his proposal to establish a new United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism. The Secretary-General sincerely thanks the President of the General Assembly for facilitating this consensus resolution and Member States for their strong support for his initiative which constitutes a major reform of the UN Counter-Terrorism architecture.
• The Secretary-General expects the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre within the new Office of Counter-Terrorism to play a central role in the provision of enhanced capacity building assistance to Member States. The Secretary-General expresses appreciation to the role being played by the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre Advisory Board in guiding its work, and the growing number of Member States who are contributing to it.
• The Secretary-General considers counter-terrorism and prevention of violent extremism to be one of the highest priorities of the United Nations to address a growing threat to international peace and security. He therefore hopes that this reform of the UN Counter-Terrorism architecture will contribute to the UN's broader efforts to promote conflict prevention, sustainable peace and development.

• In a statement, the Secretary-General said that he “condemns the attack that took place last night into this morning against civilians breaking the fast in Mogadishu. He expresses his full solidarity with the people of Somalia and extends sincere condolences to the friends and families of the deceased.
• The Secretary-General commends the response of Somalia’s security forces for their response. The United Nations will not be deterred from continuing to support the people and Government of Somalia as they continue working together for peace and stability in the country.”

• For his part, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia, Michael Keating, also strongly condemned the attack. He said there was no justification for such an act of wanton bloodshed, which was clearly aimed at civilians who were breaking their fast. He added that “the holy month of Ramadan is a time of peace and compassion, and the attackers have shown cynical contempt for this, and set back the prospect for a peaceful solution to Somalia's problems.”

• The Secretary-General’s Chef de Cabinet, Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, today briefed the Security Council members about the Secretary-General’s report on options for authorization and support to African Union peace support operations.
• She told the Council that we must move away from ad hoc arrangements.  The report, she noted, presents proposals for institutionalized approaches to joint planning and mandating, financing and supporting African Union peace support operations.
• The Chef de Cabinet added that predictable approaches are required, as the United Nations–African Union partnership is, has been and will be the preferred modality of pursuing peace and security in Africa.

• The beginning of the second phase of the arms laydown process in Colombia, corresponding to an additional 30 per cent of arms, took place Tuesday, June 13, in the zone for normalization with the participation of the Chief of the UN Mission in Colombia, Jean Arnault.
• At the end of this second phase of the laying down of weapons process, the Mission has in its custody about 40% of the approximately 7,000 individual weapons that were registered, monitored and verified by the UN Mission since 1 March of this year in the 26 Transitional Local Zones for Normalization and Transitory Points.
• The UN Mission in Colombia encourages the parties to continue their commitment to comply with the 29 May road map and in particular with regard to the ceasefire and the laying down of weapons.

• The UN Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) says that a convoy it escorted came under fire yesterday from suspected anti-Balaka elements near Mobaye in Basse-Kotto prefecture, with one peacekeeper sustaining minor injuries.
• Also in the area, presumed anti-Balaka elements destroyed a key bridge connected to the town and the airport. The Mission has increased patrols, specifically around settlements housing displaced people.
• As part of its conflict prevention efforts at the local level, the Mission continues to facilitate talks between anti-Balaka leaders of Bossangoa and representatives of FPRC/Mouvement Patriotique pour la Centrafrique (MPC) in Ouham Prefecture, ahead of peace talks between the two groups.
• The goal of the planned talks is for both parties to agree on the free and safe movement of people between the two communities, as well as to foster social cohesion and peaceful cohabitation in the area.

• The Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, said today that the man-made humanitarian crisis in the country is resulting in famine-like conditions and an unprecedented spread of cholera.
• There are more than 140,000 suspected cases, half of them children, and nearly 1,000 associated deaths, all of which he said could have been prevented.
• Mr. McGoldrick warned that humanity is losing to politics and called on the parties to the conflict to end tactics which inflict suffering on the Yemeni people and contribute to the collapse of critical services, such as the health sector. More than one million civil servants haven't been paid for nearly a year.
• Since the beginning of the year, 2 million more people are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection, pushing the total past 20 million. 
• On average, 4 million people have received food assistance each month since the beginning of the year, but funding is running out. Unless donors provide fresh funds, the food pipeline is at risk of breaking in September and the prospect of famine will be a reality.
• Of the $2.1 billion required for the Yemen response plan, it is only 29 per cent funded.

• The members of the Commission of Inquiry on Burundi today gave their second oral briefing to the Human Rights Council. Members said that their initial fears concerning the scope and gravity of human rights violations and abuses in the country since April 2015 have been confirmed.
• Since the beginning of its investigations, the Commission has collected more than 470 testimonies of human rights violations allegedly committed in Burundi since April 2015. These include extrajudicial killings, acts of torture and other inhuman and degrading treatment, sexual and gender-based violence, arbitrary arrests and detention as well as enforced disappearances.

• Yesterday, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed briefed the Member States on the UN’s two-track approach to help the people of Haiti as they deal with the outbreak of cholera there.  She said that Secretary-General António Guterres is strongly committed to taking forward the New Approach.  However, he needs the full support of the Membership in order to do so.  UN action requires Member State action. She said that we cannot fail the people of Haiti at this critical moment and we cannot leave Haiti behind.
• The Deputy Secretary-General said that financing is a key challenge across the entire New Approach, with the envisaged financial assistance amounting to around $400 million over two years. So far, she said, as of 20 April, voluntary contributions to the UN Cholera Response Multi-Partner Trust Fund totalled approximately $2.7 million from seven Member States.
• Without additional resources, she warned, the intensified cholera response and control efforts cannot be sustained through 2017 and 2018.

• Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O'Brien yesterday expressed concern for nearly 400,000 people on both sides of the ‘contact line’ in the Donetska Oblast of eastern Ukraine who have been without access to safe drinking water for several days.
• Today, the pumping station of the South Donbass Water Pipeline, which had been damaged by shelling earlier, has resumed operations.
• Resumption of water supply in both Government-controlled areas, where more than 200,000 people live, and in non-Government controlled areas, where there are 180,000 people, is expected tonight or tomorrow local time.
• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stressed that a sustained cease-fire is urgently needed to ensure full restoration of services to civilians on both sides of the 'contact line'. 

• The United Nations in Bangladesh says it remains concerned about the loss of lives, livelihoods, and damage to homes and infrastructure in the country’s south-east following mudslides that killed more than 150 people.
• These mudslides are said to among the deadliest in the country’s recent history, and are attributed in part to environmental degradation caused by unregulated deforestation and a growing population.
• UN agencies are working with authorities to assess the impacts of and respond to the latest disaster.

• UNICEF has issued its latest report card measuring the Sustainable Development Goals for children in high-income countries.
• It found that while most of these countries have seen drops in rates of child mortality, adolescent suicide, teenage births and drunkenness, they are still far from delivering the vision held out by the SDGs.
• Income inequality is growing, the mental health of adolescents is getting worse, and child obesity is on the rise.

• Today is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, and this year’s theme is “Understanding and Ending Financial Abuse of Older People: A Human Rights Issue”
• The theme underscores that older people have the right to a life of dignity in old age, free of all forms of abuse, including financial and material exploitation, which could lead to poverty, hunger, homelessness, and even premature mortality.
• To mark the Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a study which says that around 1 in 6 older people experience some form of abuse – this can be physical, psychological, financial or simply being neglected. WHO said the figure is higher than previously estimated and is predicted to rise as populations age worldwide.

• Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands, the United States and the United Kingdom have been ranked as the world’s most innovative countries in the world, according to the 2017 Global Innovation Index, which was released today by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and its partners.
• Each year, the Global Innovation Index surveys some 130 economies using dozens of metrics, from patent filings to education spending to provide decision makers a high-level look at the innovative activity that drives economic and social growth.
• Key findings this year show the rise of India as an emerging innovation centre in Asia, as well as countries like Kenya and Viet Nam outperforming their peers.