HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY MARIE OKABE
DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
ANNAN:
NOW IS THE TIME TO BREAK DISARMAMENT CONFERENCE IMPASSE
In Geneva today,
Secretary-General Kofi Annan
addressed a meeting
of the
Conference on Disarmament, warning the delegates that the world was
“sleep-walking” down a path in which a growing number of countries are acquiring
nuclear weapons and non-state actors are capable of nuclear terrorism. If ever
there was a time to break the prolonged impasse that has stymied the Disarmament
Conference’s work, he said, it is now.
He said that two specific situations
must be resolved. The situation on the Korean peninsula is “especially
disappointing”, the Secretary-General said, given last September’s agreement
in the six-party talks. He said he hopes the leaders of the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) will listen to what the world is telling
them, and take great care not to make the situation on the peninsula even more
complicated.
On Iran, he said the country needs to
enable the International Atomic Energy Agency
to assure the world that its nuclear activities are exclusively peaceful in
nature. We have his speech upstairs.
Earlier today, the Secretary-General
met with the head of the Global
Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Richard Feachem, and also
addressed the Fund’s staff.
Afterwards, he addressed the staff of
the World Health Organization, for the
first time he had met with them since the
sudden death
earlier this year of
Director-General Lee
Jong-wook. He told the staff that Dr. Lee would want them to
continue their dedicated work towards the betterment of international public
health.
Asked when the United Nations will
become involved in dealing with the DPRK dispute, the Spokeswoman noted that
the Secretary-General has been making repeated appeals for the resumption of
six-party talks and expressing his concerns, as he did in today’s speech in
Geneva, and he had also recently visited the Korean peninsula.
Asked when the Secretary-General will
become more directly involved, the Spokeswoman said that the Secretary-General
considers all options, and when he believes that UN involvement can make a
difference, he would step in.
ANNAN
DEPLORES KILLING OF THREE CHILDREN BY ISRAEL
The
Secretary-General deeply
deplores the killing
of three children and the injury of other bystanders in an attempted
Israeli targeted killing of alleged militants in Gaza on 20 June.
The Secretary-General calls on Israel
to respect international law and to ensure that its actions are proportionate
and do not put civilians at grave risk. The Secretary-General sends his
condolences to the families of the dead and injured.
The Secretary-General is fully
cognizant of Israel’s legitimate security concerns in light of continuing
rocket fire, which endangers Israeli civilians, and calls on the Palestinian
Authority to do all in its power to halt such actions.
UN
OFFICIAL BRIEFS SECURITY COUNCIL ON MIDDLE EAST
VIOLENCE
Under-Secretary-General for Political
Affairs
Ibrahim Gambari, in an
open meeting on the
Middle East, this morning told the Security Council
that the past month has seen heightened tension and increasing violence among
Palestinians and in the conflict between them and Israel.
He said that all acts of violence,
especially those that endanger or target civilians, must cease, and
negotiations towards a comprehensive settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict must not be further delayed.
Gambari said that the
Secretary-General was pleased that the Quartet endorsed a temporary
international mechanism developed by the European
Union to facilitate needs-based assistance directly to the Palestinian
people. For his part, the Secretary-General looks to donors, other
international organizations and Israel – bearing in mind its responsibilities
– to support the mechanism, so that it can become operational quickly and
effectively.
The Security Council is now continuing
its discussion of the Middle East with him in its closed consultations.
SECURITY
COUNCIL DEBATES MONTENEGRO’S BID TO JOIN UN
The Security
Council this morning, in a formal meeting,
considered an application by the Republic
of Montenegro, transmitted by the Secretary-General, for membership in the
United Nations.
The Council decided that its Committee
on the Admission of New
Members would take up that request. That Committee, which includes the 15
members of the Security Council, will hold a closed meeting at 3:00 this
afternoon to discuss the matter.
IRAQ
: TOP UN OFFICIAL CONDEMNS KILLING OF DEFENSE LAWYER
Ashraf Qazi, the
Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq today condemned the
abduction and killing of Khamis Al-Obeidi, a defense lawyer in the Iraqi
Higher Tribunal. The attack follows the assassination of two trial defense
lawyers and the wounding of another last year.
Qazi expressed his concern that such
killings and harassment would undermine Iraqi efforts at rebuilding the rule
of law and democracy in the country. He urged the Iraqi authorities to adopt
effective measures to address the level and extent of violence which threatens
the stability of the country.
TOP U.N.
PEACEKEEPING OFFICIAL TO MEET WITH SUDANESE PRESIDENT
The
UN Mission in Sudan has
sent a team to The Hague to attend a meeting of a Core Coordinating Group on
Early Recovery and Development followed by a one-day Workshop to launch the
Darfur Joint Assessment Mission. This follows a request made to the
international community by the parties to the Darfur Peace Agreement to
provide early recovery and development support in support of peace efforts.
CHARLES TAYLOR
TRANSFERRED TO THE HAGUE
The transfer of Charles Taylor, the
former President of Liberia, from the Freetown headquarters of the
Special Court for Sierra Leone to The
Hague was successfully completed yesterday under UN supervision. Taylor is now
being held the International Criminal Court
Detention Facility in The Hague pending his next court appearance.
Earlier today in The Hague, Special
Court Registrar Lovemore Munio and Acting Prosecutor Christopher Staker held a
press conference, at which they updated journalists on logistical and other
arrangements for the pending trial of Mr. Taylor.
TIMOR-LESTE:
UNITED NATIONS ASSESSES
HUMANITARIAN SITUATION
The UN and its partners will start
assessing the outer districts of Timor-Leste this Monday, in order to better
understand the needs and impacts of internally displaced persons (IDPs) there.
To date, the
World Food Programme (WFP) has
delivered food to nearly 70,000 beneficiaries in the country’s capital, Dili,
and selected districts not covered by the Government’s rice distributions. And
UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has been
working with partners to deliver 180,000 litres of water everyday to 19 IDP
locations in Dili.
But there is still concern over
possible food shortages outside the capital, so the UN and its partners will
be delivering food to those districts in the coming weeks.
BIRD
FLU CONFERENCE OPENS IN JAKARTA
Experts from the World Health
Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture
Organization, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and several countries – as well
as Indonesian officials – are
gathering in Jakarta today, for a three-day meeting on bird flu control.
According to WHO, the bird flu virus
is firmly entrenched in poultry throughout much of Indonesia, and that
widespread presence has led to more than 33 human cases with 27 deaths this
year alone. Unless the situation is urgently addressed, sporadic human cases
are likely and human-to-human transmission is possible, WHO warns.
AFGHANISTAN: UN MISSION DONATES FOOTBALLS TO CHILDREN
While the struggle to win the World
Cup goes on in Germany, football fever is spreading among Afghanistan’s
children thanks to a donation of hundreds of footballs from the staff of the
UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan
(UNAMA).
The footballs, made especially for the
UN Mission by disabled Afghans and paid for from staff donations, will be
delivered to schools, orphanages and prisons across Afghanistan.
The Mission’s staff football team was
also on hand at Amani High School in Kabul today to coach a new generation of
aspiring football stars.
GENERAL
ASSEMBLY TO CONDUCT HEARINGS ON POVERTY REDUCTION
According to the General Assembly Spokesperson, tomorrow
all day, informal interactive hearings will be held with NGOs, civil society
and the private sector on the subject of forging partnerships for poverty
reduction in the least developed countries. This is in preparation for the
General Assembly high-level review of implementation of the
Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries, to take place in
September.
The
General
Assembly President will open and chair the hearings, which will be held in
the ECOSOC Chamber. Additional speakers include Under-Secretary-General
Anwarul K. Chowdhury and the Deputy Secretary-General. A number of civil
society representatives from least developed countries have traveled here to
participate and interact with delegations at the hearings.
CONFERENCE
IN SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN WAR-AFFECTED COUNTRIES BEGINS
More than 250
participants from 30 countries are meeting at the Palais d’Egmont in Brussels
today for the first major international conference addressing sexual violence
in war-affected countries.
The three-day
International
Symposium on Sexual Violence in Conflict and Beyond is being
convened by
UN Population Fund, the United Nations
Population Fund, on behalf of the European Commission and the Government of
Belgium.
**The guest at the noon briefing today
was Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam of Sri Lanka, President-designate of the 2006
Small Arms Review Conference, which will be taking place at UN Headquarters in
New York from 26 June until 7 July 2006.
Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General
United Nations, S-378
New York, NY 10017
Tel. 212-963-7162
Fax. 212-963-7055
