HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY MICHELE
MONTAS
SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON
U.N.
HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Tuesday, March
20 2007
BAN KI-MOON OFFERS CAUTIOUS ENCOURAGEMENT
TO PALESTINIAN NATIONAL UNITY GOVERNMENT
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon views the
establishment of the new government of Palestine as an important and positive
step forward, and he wants to encourage that process. At the same time, he has
expressed disappointment because he would like to see the program of the
National Unity Government fully reflect Quartet principles.
He will be watching very carefully the new
Government's actions and hopes to see further positive movement in that
direction.
Asked why a clarification was required for the
Secretary-General's comment on the new Palestinian Government of National
Unity, the Spokesperson said that this was in response to some media reports
incompletely quoting the Secretary-General as expressing disappointment at the
government.
She added that the Secretary-General was watching very
carefully the new government's actions and would like to see positive
developments in that direction. She said that he would like to encourage that
process. His disappointment, she added, referred to the fact that the
programme of the new government appeared not to reflect the principles of the
Middle East Quartet.
Asked to explain the reasons for the delay in issuing a
Quartet statement as announced at yesterday's briefing, Montas said that some
among the Quartet Principals were discussing the terms of the statement, which
explains why the statement has not yet been released.
Asked what the new Palestinian government was expected to
do in order to win broad international recognition and legitimacy, Montas
replied that the Quartet Principals, including the Secretary-General, expect
the government to accept the Quartet's clearly stated principles.
U.N. LEBANON MISSION SAYS IT HAS NO
PLANS TO MONITOR SYRIAN BORDER
A number of recent press articles regarding the United
Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)
have not accurately reported the Mission’s current activities. Contrary to
what was expressed in one article, there has been no official communication
between the United Nations and the Lebanese Government planning for the
establishment of a United Nations or any other monitoring mechanism on the
Lebanese border with Syria.
In the course of his duties, the UNIFIL Force Commander
has regular detailed conversations with senior Lebanese Armed Forces officials
regarding all aspects of implementation of
resolution 1701.
UNIFIL is mandated under resolution 1701 to assist the
Government of Lebanon to secure its border with Syria, at the request of the
Government of Lebanon. Until now, the Government has not made any such
request, and UNIFIL’s activities are limited to helping facilitate
international bilateral assistance to the Government of Lebanon in this
regard.
As the Secretary-General stated in his recent report
regarding implementation of resolution 1701, the United Nations strongly
encourages bilateral assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces and other
internal security and border agencies to assist the Government to secure all
its borders.
It should be noted that any smuggling across the Lebanese
border with Syria is a serious violation of resolution 1701.
As the Secretary-General’s recent report stated, it is
critical to reinforce and strengthen the Lebanese Armed Forces and other
internal security and border agencies so that the Lebanese Government is able
to extend its authority over all its territory, including all its border
areas.
STRATEGIC COORDINATION NEEDED IN
AFGHANISTAN
The
Security Council held an
open meeting
on Afghanistan.
Briefing Council members were the Secretary-General’s
Special Representative for Afghanistan Tom Koenigs and Antonio Maria Costa,
Executive Director of the Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Koenigs, the Special Representative, in his briefing,
said that
while the conflict continues in the South, with Afghanistan’s border areas in
the east and southeast vulnerable to incursions and violence, the need for
strategic co-ordination of military, political and development efforts is
stronger than ever. The threat to peace has not diminished.
Costa, referring to the current opium situation, outlined
four points and said he hoped that the Security Council will judge these
developments as helpful to free Afghanistan from the clutches of drugs, crime
and violence.
HEAD OF PEACEKEEPING SAYS
MISUNDERSTANDINGS
DELAY MISSION DEPLOYMENT IN DARFUR
The Under-Secretary-General for
Peacekeeping Operations, Jean
Marie Guéhenno, after briefing the Security Council yesterday afternoon on
Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al Bashir’s response to the Secretary-General
letter detailing UN support to the African Union force in Darfur, said:
“We still have, unfortunately, a long way to go because there may be some
fundamental misunderstandings on what are the expectations of the Government
of Sudan and what is on offer.”
But in response to a question, the
Under-Secretary-General said, “We'll never take any reaction as a rejection.
We can't afford that and the people in Darfur can't afford that."
DARFUR: CAMPS HOUSING DISPLACED NEARING
MAXIMUM CAPACITY
The most recent humanitarian update from Darfur
reports that camps for internally displaced persons are almost at full
capacity due to a continuing influx of people fleeing violence.
The report noted the need to locate a site for a new camp
in the vicinity of El Fasher, capital of North Darfur. A new site has been
identified in North Darfur near Zam Zam camp, which is nearing maximum
capacity.
According to the report, 30,000 people were displaced
across Darfur in February, bringing the total number of people who have fled
violence in the region since January to 80,000. In 2006, almost half a
million people were displaced.
U.N. MARKS 10TH ANNIVERSARY
OF NUCLEAR TEST-BAN TREATY
The
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT)
is 10 years old this year.
And on
the occasion of the commemoration of the Treaty’s anniversary, Sergei
Ordzhonikidze, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva and
Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament,
spoke at a special event in the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
He said
that the conclusion of the Treaty marked the completion of an important step
in the ongoing process towards the verified elimination of all nuclear
weapons, and yet challenges that impede the Treaty’s entry into force persist.
“A
universal and effectively verifiable Treaty constitutes a fundamental
instrument in the field of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation,” the
Director-General noted.
He added
that the Treaty’s entry into force would restore confidence in multilateral
security arrangements in general, and would boost efforts to negotiate further
instruments towards nuclear disarmament, such as a treaty on fissile
materials.
SECURITY COUNCIL TO TAKE UP HARIRI ASSASSINATION PROBE REPORT TOMORROW
Available as a
document
today is the latest progress report of the International Independent
Investigation Commission on the assassination of former Lebanese Prime
Minister Rafik Hariri and 22 others.
In it,
chief investigator Serge Brammertz provides information on his team’s progress
in the Hariri case, with particular emphasis on developing crime scene leads
and collecting evidence relating to perpetrators as well as other aspects of
the case.
The
report also asserts that the Commission has continued to provide significant
technical assistance on 15 other cases. The Commission also reports that it
continues to work with the Lebanese authorities on the investigation of the 13
February bombings, in which three people were killed and at least 20 people
were injured when two explosions occurred on two buses traveling through the
village of Ain Alaq, near Beirut.
Brammertz is scheduled to brief the Security Council tomorrow and will also
speak to correspondents at the 2nd floor stakeout after briefing
the Council.
HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL TAKES UP REPORTS ON SEVERAL ISSUES
In Geneva, the Human Rights Council (HRC)
began discussing thematic reports today, hearing presentations in the morning
from human rights experts on minorities issues; the rights of migrants; and
the rights and freedoms of indigenous peoples.
This afternoon, the Council is considering three
additional reports, from the representative of the Secretary-General on human
rights of internally displaced persons; the Special Rapporteur on violence
against women, its causes and consequences; and the Special Rapporteur on the
sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
Asked if Ban Ki-moon agreed with the stated intent of
some Member States to do away with the Human Rights Council's roster of
Special Rapporteurs, who have mandates to investigate and report on human
rights issues assigned them by the Council, Montas said that the Council has
not made any such decisions. She added that the Secretary-General expects the
Human Rights Council to complete discussions on its procedures by June and
that, in the meantime, he stands strongly behind the special procedures, as he
has consistently done.
Asked to confirm press reports that the United Kingdom
intended to request the Council to send a team of investigators to gather
evidence in Zimbabwe, the Spokeswoman later said any of the Council’s 47
members, the United Kingdom being one of them, could introduce a draft
resolution or decision calling attention to a particular item. For this
current session, the deadline for submission of any draft is this Friday by
close of business. To date no such formal action has been taken by the UK or
any other member.
UN REFUGEE AGENCY INVITES MORE THAN 190
COUNTRIES
TO IRAQ HUMANITARIAN CONFERENCE
The UN refugee agency
says that
invitations have now gone out to more than 190 governments, 65 international
organizations and some 60 NGOs for next month's international humanitarian
conference on refugees and displaced persons in Iraq and neighboring
countries.
The April 17-18 ministerial-level meeting will be held in
Geneva in the Palais des Nations.
It will examine the humanitarian dimensions of the
displacement crisis, identify the enormous needs, and seek to forge a common
international effort to address those needs, including through sharing the
burden that's now being borne by neighboring states.
It will also seek targeted responses to specific, urgent
humanitarian problems, including immediate solutions for those who are
particularly vulnerable both inside and outside Iraq.
Asked what the United Nations is doing to assist the
thousands of Iraqi refugees now pouring into neighboring countries, the
Spokesperson said that there are several UN programmes working to alleviate
the plight of these refugees. The planned high-level meeting in April is aimed
at discussing how best to address the growing needs of refugees and internally
displaced persons.
NEARLY $4 MILLION NEEDED FOR FLOOD
VICTIMS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is
appealing for close to $4 million to help flood victims in southern
Africa, where heavy rains and a series of cyclones have destroyed thousands of
hectares of crops.
As part of efforts to adapt aid to conditions on the
ground, affected families in Mozambique will be given vouchers that they can
redeem for seeds, tools and even small livestock at trade fairs organized by
the FAO and the local Government.
The agency is also asking for help for Madagascar, where
cyclones have caused severe crop damage over the past four months. In the
coming days, the FAO also plans to launch an appeal for funding for Zambia.
SRI LANKA: WFP RESPONDS TO SURGE IN
NUMBER OF DISPLACED PERSONS
The World Food Programme (WFP) is
ramping up its
operations in eastern Sri Lanka, where intense fighting between Government and
Tamil Tigers forces has more than doubled the number of internally displaced
persons in just the past week.
The WFP plans to send nearly 600 tons of rice and wheat
flour to the Batticaloa District. The agency warns, however, that its
available food stocks in Sri Lanka are dwindling. The WFP has received only
about a third of its required funding for food assistance, and could run out
of supplies by the end of next month unless it receives new contributions
soon.
INITIATIVE AIMS AT LOWERING COST OF
SENDING REMITTANCES TO RURAL AREAS
The UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development
(IFAD) is launching
a global initiative to improve the remittances services used by foreign
workers around the world to send money back to their families in rural areas.
IFAD is establishing a $0 million financing facility to
fund innovative money transfer proposals. While competition has driven down
the cost of sending remittances between major cities, it is still more
expensive to send money to rural areas that lack formal financial services.
As part of the Fund’s efforts to turn remittances into a
development tool, priority will be given to proposals submitted by financial
institutions that link remittances with other services, such as savings,
insurance and loans.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
WORLD BANK LAUNCHES FUND TO PROMOTE
GREENHOUSE GAS REDUCTIONS: The World Bank today
launched the Carbon Fund for Europe, in partnership with the European
Investment Bank. The Carbon Fund is a 50-million Euro trust designed to help
European countries meet their commitments to the Kyoto Protocol and the EU’s
Emissions Trading Scheme. The fund will purchase greenhouse gas emission
reductions from climate-friendly investment projects.
U.N. CONFERENCE
ADDRESSES UNDER-INVESTMENT IN INFRASTRUCTURE: The UN Economic and Social
Commission on Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP)
is holding a regional meeting in New Delhi, India from
21-22 March, to tackle underinvestment in infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific
region. UNESCAP estimates that the requirement of infrastructure investment in
the region is over $600 billion annually but falls short by about US$200 billion
every year. A proposal is expected to be made in the meeting on raising the $200
billion annually.
SYRIA, IRAQ NOT PART OF SECRETARY-GENERAL’S MIDDLE EAST
ITINERARY: Asked if the Secretary-General would visit Syria and Iraq during
his upcoming Middle East trip, the Spokesperson said that Ban Ki-moon would not
visit Syria or Iraq.
OVERSIGHT OFFICE NOT INVOLVED IN UNESCO AUDIT: Asked if the UN Office
of Oversight Services (OIOS) was involved in the UNESCO audit that would have
led to the resignation of Peter Smith, the highest-ranking U.S. official at the
Paris-based UNESCO, Montas said that OIOS had no direct involvement in this
audit. UNESCO, she added, is a separate agency that is part of the greater UN
family . As a matter of principle, however, Montas went on, ""the
Secretary-General has expressed the need in all UN bodies for accountability and
transparency, as well as investigations into all allegations of wrongdoing."
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF FRANCOPHONIE: Asked if the
Secretary-General had any messages or comments on the International Day of
Francophonie and the anniversary of UNESCO's Convention on Cultural Diversity,
both of which are commemorated today, the Spokesperson said that Ban Ki-moon has
no specific message or comment on these commemorations. However, she added, Ban
Ki-moon supports cultural diversity and language parity, as he has repeatedly
said.
EARTH DAY CELEBRATIONS: Asked if the United Nations
would be represented at the ringing of the bell at the Equinox in celebration of
Earth Day, the Spokesperson later said that Earth Day is not a "UN day", which
would be the World Environment Day observed on 5 June. An NGO, the Earth Society
Foundation, organizes the ringing of the bell at the Equinox – this year at 8:07
p.m.
** Mr. Yvo de
Boer, Executive Secretary for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change, was the guest at noon.**
Office of the Spokesman for the
Secretary-General
United Nations, S-378
New York, NY 10017
Tel. 212-963-7162
Fax. 212-963-7055
