HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY MICHELE
MONTAS
SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON
U.N.
HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Thursday, April
19, 2007
IRAQ: BAN KI-MOON OUTRAGED BY SLAUGHTERING OF
INNOCENT CIVILIANS
Following the horrendous
carnage in Baghdad yesterday, where a string of bombings left nearly 200
people dead and many more injured, the Secretary-General
expresses his
outrage at the callousness and scale with which innocent civilians are being
slaughtered on an almost daily basis in Iraq. Another deadly bomb attack
registered today only underscores his concern.
In the face of these
latest provocations, the Secretary-General expresses his solidarity with the
Iraqi people and he appeals to all communities of Iraq to show maximum
restraint. He calls urgently on the political and religious leaders of Iraq
to come together in a spirit of dialogue and mutual respect in order to find a
way out of this destructive spiral of violence.
Ashraf Qazi, the
Secretary-General’s Special Representative for
Iraq, also issued a
statement, warning that these horrific acts threaten Iraq’s integrity and
viability, jeopardizing the country’s future, and thrusting its citizens
deeper into the cycle of violence and vengeance. He again called on all Iraqis
to resist being pushed into the abyss of calamitous sectarianism.
BAN KI-MOON WELCOMES ARAB LEAGUE STATEMENT ON
ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN PEACE PROCESS
The Secretary-General
welcomes the
statement yesterday by the Arab Ministerial Committee for the Arab Peace
Initiative, which indicates increased engagement of the League of Arab States
to reinvigorate the Israeli-Palestinian peace
process.
The Secretary-General looks forward to meeting
with the Ministerial Committee that has been formed to promote this process.
Asked when the
Secretary-General would meet with Arab ministers, the Spokeswoman said that
the Secretary-General expected to meet with Arab ministers at a conference on
the International Compact with Iraq, to be held soon in Sharm el-Sheikh,
Egypt.
SECRETARY-GENERAL WRAPS UP ITALY TRIP, HEADS TO
SWITZERLAND
The Secretary-General
wrapped up his visit to Italy today after he visited the UN Logistics
Base in Brindisi, where he observed the
main facility that provides support to UN field operations worldwide.
He toured warehouses
stocking tents, blankets and high-protein biscuits, which are ready to be sent
at the outset of any humanitarian emergency worldwide, and he listened to
staff explain the logistical challenges of setting up communications equipment
in remote peacekeeping outposts.
The Secretary-General then
flew back to Rome, where he attended a luncheon hosted by Mayor Walter
Veltroni before leaving Italy for Switzerland.
He was also scheduled to
meet in Bern with Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey and to have a working
dinner with the President and other senior leaders before he traveled to
Geneva tonight.
In response to a question, the Spokeswoman
confirmed that the Secretary-General had invited the Pope to visit UN
Headquarters in New York when the two met on Wednesday.
U.N. WELCOMES SUDAN’S ACCEPTANCE OF PEACEKEEPING
PACKAGE
The Tripartite Mechanism,
composed of representatives from the United Nations, the African Union and the
Government of Sudan, which oversees the implementation of the UN support to
the African Union Mission in Sudan, held its tenth meeting yesterday in
Khartoum.
The participants welcomed
the Sudanese Government’s acceptance of the UN Heavy Support
Package, as well as the pledge from Sudan that the Permanent Mission of
Sudan in Addis Ababa has been instructed to expedite issuance of travel visas
to AMIS staff and associated personnel.
Asked about the report that the Government of
Sudan had used an aircraft in Darfur which inappropriately had UN markings,
the Spokeswoman noted that the Secretary-General had issued a
statement on Wednesday.
Asked about the UN response, Montas said that
the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS)
has been instructed to convey the Secretary-General's concerns, expressed in
the statement, and to seek clarifications from the Sudanese Government on the
reported use of the UN marking on aircrafts for military use.
Asked about the possibility that the plane
could have belonged to Kazakhstan, the Spokeswoman said that was among the
issues that would need to be clarified.
Asked about the Secretary-General’s awareness
of the report, Montas said he was aware of past violations by Sudan, and had
raised the matter of previous violations with President Omar al-Bashir when
the two met in Riyadh.
She noted, in response to further questions,
that aircraft with UN markings – possibly the same plane – were seen not only
in Darfur, but in part of Chad controlled by the Chadian Government, as well
as in the Central African Republic. The United Nations, she said, was trying
to ascertain whether it was the same plane in all three instances.
Asked about differing policies within the
United Nations on Sudan, the Spokeswoman said that it is not unusual for
Member States to have differing political views and strategies on many issues,
within the Security Council or the General Assembly.
U.N. LEGAL COUNSEL CONTINUES PUSH FOR LEBANON
TRIBUNAL
UN Legal Counsel Nicolas
Michel is continuing his visit to
Lebanon, in which, since arriving on Tuesday, he has met with the Lebanese
Prime Minister, the Speaker of Parliament, the President of the Republic and a
number of Lebanese parliamentarians and political leaders.
The main purpose of his
visit is to assist the Lebanese authorities and the Lebanese parties on their
way toward the ratification of the bilateral agreement between Lebanon and the
United Nations on the establishment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, in
accordance with the constitution.
All of his interlocutors
have expressed support for the establishment of the tribunal. Mr. Michel has
emphasized that it is in the interest of all to have the tribunal established
within Lebanon’s constitutional process. He will continue his meetings in
Beirut tomorrow.
Asked about plans to send
a mission to the Lebanese border, the Spokeswoman said that a mission will be
sent, but there is no timeline yet for that.
ISRAEL’S RESTRICTIONS HURT GAZA FISHERMEN, SAYS
U.N. HUMANITARIAN AGENCY
The Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
says that Israel’s restrictions on where Palestinian fishermen can fish are
hurting the 40,000 Gazans dependent on the fishing industry for their primary
source of income.
As those Palestinians have
become progressively impoverished in the last six years, the World Food
Programme (WFP),
the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
and other humanitarian agencies have been working to provide food and support
job creation.
HUMAN RIGHTS CHIEF RENEWS CALL FOR UGANDA TO
REVIEW DISARMAMENT STRATEGY
High Commissioner for
Human Rights Louise Arbour today
reiterated her call to the Government of Uganda to review its forced
disarmament strategy in Karamoja, in northeastern Uganda, where violence and
human rights violations have continued to escalate since her report last
November.
In a report released
today, Arbour deplored Uganda’s failure to implement the recommendations in
her last report. She concluded that any disarmament process must be
accompanied by concerted and sustainable development initiatives in order to
stabilize the situation in Karamoja.
CHILDREN BEAR THE BRUNT OF ARMED CONFLICT IN
MIDDLE EAST
The Secretary-General’s
Special
Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, just
ended a two-week mission to Lebanon, Israel and the occupied Palestinian
territory. Her conclusion was that children bear the brunt of the armed
conflict in the Middle East.
Interacting with children
in the region, Coomaraswamy said she was disturbed by their expressions of
fear, anxiety, anger, revenge and hopelessness. But she added that she was
pleased that both the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli Government said
they were ready to review school curricula to make sure they weren’t inciting
violence and hatred.
GREATER EFFORTS NEEDED TO FULFILL
INTERNATIONAL COMMITMENTS ON HIV/AIDS
Available today is the Secretary-General’s
report on developments in the past year toward achieving universal access
to HIV/AIDS treatment.
He says important progress has been made, but
much more needs to be done in the areas of prevention and fulfilling
international commitments. The rapid scaling up of services must also be
balanced against ensuring the long-term sustainability of those services, he
says.
Meanwhile, the UN
Development Programme, in partnership with the National Basketball
Association, is
launching an HIV/AIDS anti-stigma campaign. It features basketball star
Yao Ming and Chinese film star Pu Cunxin.
ROAD TRAFFIC DEATHS
LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE
In a new
report,
the World Health Organization (WHO)
finds that road traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for people
between the ages of 10 and 24, claiming nearly 400,000 lives each year and
injuring or disabling millions more.
WHO is calling for greater prevention measures,
including lowering speed limits, promoting and enforcing seat-belt use, and
creating safe areas for children to play.
WHO launched the report as part of the First UN
Global Road Safety Week –
which starts Monday.
THESSALONIKI CENTRE INQUIRY ONGOING
Asked about what a reporter characterized as a
“stand-off” between the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS)
and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA)
concerning a report, the Spokeswoman said that the ‘final’ report on the
Thessaloniki Centre issued on 23 February is still part of an ongoing process
between DESA and OIOS. The main focus at this point is to finalize the
recommendations to be implemented by DESA, which will improve its management
priorities.
Montas said that the apparent conclusion
reached by the press that the two departments are at a “stand-off” is entirely
false. Both entities consider that the audit process is a consultative one.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
UNESCO MISSION TO ASSESS CONDITIONS AT MACCHU
PICHU: All
next week, a mission from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO)
will be in Peru, to assess the state of conservation at Macchu Pichu, one of its
World Heritage sites.
The mission comes amid concerns about the
impact of tourism on the site, uncontrolled urban development in a nearby town,
and risk preparedness in the wake of mudslides and fires in recent years.
NEW DEPUTY HIGH
COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES NAMED: Mr.
L. Craig Johnstone of the United States has been
appointed as UN
Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees. He succeeds Ms. Wendy Chamberlin, also
from the United States, who left in December last year and he is expected to
assume his duties in June.Mr. Johnstone has more than 40 years of international
experience in a wide variety of relevant positions, including refugee work. He
most recently served for more than five years as European Vice President and
General Manager for The Boeing Company.
UNICEF WELCOMES GRAND DUCHESS OF LUXEMBOURG AS
NEW CHILDREN’S ADVOCATE: UNICEF today
named Her Royal
Highness Grand Duchess of Luxembourg Maria Teresa as an Eminent Advocate for
Children in a ceremony which included the Grand Duchess, UNICEF Executive
Director Ann M. Veneman and UNAIDS
Executive Director Dr. Peter Piot. As a UNICEF Eminent Advocate for Children,
Her Royal Highness will focus on children impacted by conflict and children who
are affected by HIV and AIDS.
SPECIAL COORDINATOR DE SOTO CONTINUES TO WORK FOR
U.N.: Asked about a replacement for UN
Special Coordinator
Alvaro de Soto, the Spokeswoman noted that de Soto continues to work for the
United Nations, and a replacement would be named after his contract ends.
EXECUTIVE OFFICE APPOINTMENTS IN FINAL STAGE:
Asked when appointments will be made for the Executive Office of the
Secretary-General, the Spokeswoman declined to give a timetable but said that
this was now the final stage of the process. She noted the large amount of
applications for the posts.
U.N. REFORM DISCUSSIONS CONTINUING:
Asked about calls from UN staff for reforms, the Spokeswoman said that the
process of discussions between UN management and staff representatives on
reforms is continuing.
Office of the Spokesman for the
Secretary-General
United Nations, S-378
New York, NY 10017
Tel. 212-963-7162
Fax. 212-963-7055
