HIGHLIGHTS OF
THE NOON BRIEFING
BY MICHELE
MONTAS
SPOKESPERSON
FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON
U.N. HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Thursday, June 4, 2009
BAN KI-MOON
WELCOMES PRESIDENT OBAMA’S MESSAGE “OF PEACE, UNDERSTANDING AND RECONCILIATION”
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is strongly
encouraged by the speech delivered today in Cairo by President Barack
Obama of the United States of America. He strongly welcomes its message of
peace, understanding and reconciliation.
The Secretary-General believes that President Obama’s
speech is a crucial step in bridging divides and promoting intercultural
understanding, which is a major objective of the United Nations. His message
reaffirms our shared commitment “to practice tolerance and live together in
peace with one another as good neighbors”, as enshrined in the Preamble of
the United Nations Charter.
The Secretary-General hopes that President Obama’s
message will herald the opening of a new chapter in relations between the
United States and the Islamic world. He hopes that this will have a positive
impact on the peace process in the Middle East and the resolution of a
number of conflicts in the Middle East and beyond.
BAN KI-MOON TO
MEET U.S. VICE-PRESIDENT BIDEN
The Secretary-General is on his way to Washington D.C.
for an overnight visit.
He is scheduled to meet with U.S. Vice President Joseph
Biden this afternoon. Then, this evening, he plans to take part in a
dialogue on international affairs at the Brookings Institution.
The Secretary-General has a meeting with U.S. Secretary
of Energy Steven Chu scheduled tomorrow morning before returning to New
York.
He plans to be back at UN Headquarters tomorrow
afternoon.
SECURITY
COUNCIL HEARS BRIEFINGS ON WORK OF U.N. TRIBUNALS
The Security Council is holding a debate today on the
work of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
Two dozen speakers are addressing the Council, including the Prime Minister
of Croatia.
Speaking for the ICTY earlier, Prosecutor Serge
Brammertz
said that 2009 is the last year of full trial activity before the
Tribunal starts downsizing in 2010. As part of the ICTY’s completion
strategy there will be a 60% reduction in personnel in the next two years.
Brammertz said significant progress has been made overall, including in the
Tribunal’s transfer of outstanding cases to jurisdictions in the region.
Brammertz also reported increased cooperation from
concerned countries. Serbia, for example, has been notably more responsive
to Tribunal requests, including in granting access to national documents and
archives. However, Brammertz warned that "the search for and arrest of Ratko
Mladić and Goran Hadžić" remained "the central issue in relation to Serbia’s
cooperation."
In his address to the Council, the ICTY President,
Judge Patrick Robinson, also
warned that, if these two men remained fugitives by the time of the
Tribunal’s closure, it would leave a stain on the Security Council’s
historic contribution to peace-building in the former Yugoslavia.
For his part, Prosecutor Hassan Jallow of the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda pressed for greater Security
Council assistance in obtaining the cooperation of countries in the region
to deliver fugitives to the Tribunal. Jallow pointed to Kenya and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo where he said most of the dozen remaining
fugitives are known to be residing.
He also outlined the Tribunal’s completion strategy
with regards to its judicial work, saying that the transfer of outstanding
cases to Rwandan jurisdictions was proceeding smoothly, with Rwanda
abolishing the death penalty to comply with international standards.
UNITED NATIONS APPOINTS HUMANITARIAN
COORDINATOR FOR PAKISTAN
The Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mr. John Holmes,
designated today Martin Mogwanja as Humanitarian Coordinator for Pakistan.
Prior to his appointment as UNICEF Representative in Pakistan in January
2007, Mr. Mogwanja was the UNICEF Representative in Uganda for six years, as
well as the Humanitarian Coordinator in the country between 2005 and 2007.
Fikret Akcura, the Resident Coordinator for Pakistan, will continue to be
the Head of the UN Country Team.
While some two million people
displaced from Pakistan’s northwestern areas urgently need assistance with
food, clean water, shelter and emergency health care, the Humanitarian
Response Plan remains only 22% funded. The Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
says that some sectors have already indicated that supplies such as food and
essential medicines may not be sustainable beyond early July unless the
international community rapidly and generously responds to these acute
needs.
Meanwhile, two new camps
have been established for internally displaced persons (IDPs) arriving
from Swat in the last few days, bringing the total to 21 camps.
The World Food Programme
(WFP) said today that it has begun moving 97 metric tons of a highly
nutritious food supplement, called Plumpy Doz, that is to be distributed to
children under the age of five. Even before the recent crisis, WFP had been
feeding 6.2 million people in Pakistan.
And the International Labour Organization (ILO) has
appealed to all relief and development agencies to engage IDPs in different
productive activities and pay them for short-term employment. It has been
helping to employ displaced persons to perform development activities, from
digging trenches and fixing tents to nursing injured and pregnant women, in
two camps in Pakistan.
Asked about the low level of funding for the
humanitarian appeal, the Spokeswoman noted that the level of funding to the
humanitarian efforts in Pakistan have increased and that the United Nations
consistently tries to ensure that Member States will provide sufficient
funds for its appeals.
SUDAN: UNITED
STATES TO HOLD U.N.-BACKED CONFERENCE ON NORTH-SOUTH PEACE DEAL
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative in
Sudan Ashraf Qazi has confirmed that the United Nations is working to
facilitate a United States initiative to host a review conference on the
2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA)
later this month in Washington.
Qazi also noted that the CPA signatories were facing
many challenges in completing the implementation of that peace deal by 2011.
He was speaking in Juba, the capital of South Sudan,
where he was for meetings with Southern-Sudanese President Salva Kiir
Mayardit and other senior government officials. They discussed the security
situation in the south, national elections, disarmament and the preparations
for an upcoming referendum to decide the status of South Sudan in relation
to the rest of the country.
HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL IS URGED TO DO ALL
IT CAN TO PROTECT CIVILIANS IN ARMED CONFLICTS
In Geneva today, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Navi Pillay
underlined the conditions of civilians in armed conflicts and urged the
Human Rights Council to do its utmost to protect them.
Addressing the 11th regular session of the Human Rights
Council – which opened Tuesday– she highlighted situations in Afghanistan,
Pakistan, Iraq, Colombia, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Sudan and Chad. Concerning the Occupied Palestinian Territory, she urged
full cooperation with the Independent Fact-Finding Mission, mandated by the
Human Rights Council and which is in the region now.
Pillay also cited two countries, Sri Lanka and Nepal,
where post-conflict situations “warrant close scrutiny.”
On Sri Lanka, she said she had called for an
independent international inquiry. "I believe that accountability is a
prerequisite for the attainment of justice and reconciliation for all Sri
Lankans," she said, and, thus, a foundation for lasting peace.
Regarding the Durban review conference last April, the
High Commissioner said that the conference’s Outcome Document had provided a
platform for a renewed beginning. The few States that chose to stay away
should now evaluate this platform on its own merit and substance, she
added. She also said she was hopeful that these States would rejoin
international efforts to combat racism and intolerance as laid out in this
important document.
BAN KI-MOON REPORTS PROGRESS IN
PALESTINIAN REFORMS
In a
report to the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council,
which is out as a document today, the Secretary-General says that the
Palestinian government under Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has made progress
in recent months on fiscal, monetary and social reforms.
At the same time, as a result of the situation in Gaza,
the economic situation in the occupied Palestinian territory deteriorated
further than envisaged in the Palestinian Reform and Development Plan. By
April, real gross domestic product was estimated to have declined by 13
percent from a year before, while per capita income dipped to almost 34
percent below its level in 2000.
Asked whether the Secretary-General had discussed
efforts to ease the situation at the Gaza border crossings with Israeli
officials, the Spokeswoman noted that he has met with two senior Israeli
officials this week, and in both cases brought up the situation at the
crossings and the need for construction materials to enter Gaza. The United
Nations, she said, has consistently brought up the difficulties posed by the
border closings and by the multiple check points in the Occupied Palestinian
territory.
Montas added, in response to further questions,
that the United Nations has also called for a halt to settlement activity.
Asked about the Quartet, she
said that discussions are going on concerning the next meeting of that body.
CHIEF OF STAFF RELAYED SOME TAMIL REBELS’
CONDITIONS FOR SURRENDER TO SRI LANKA
In response to questions received yesterday, as he had
confirmed while in Sri Lanka, Mr Nambiar had indeed communicated to the Sri
Lankan Government the conditions for the surrender of a specific group of
LTTE members.
This had been passed onto him, first through a western
journalist, Marie Colvin, and subsequently through an LTTE interlocutor,
before he arrived in Sri Lanka. He in turn relayed the insistence of the Sri
Lankan Government that any surrender would have to be to the Sri Lankan
armed forces and not through or to a third party.
In response to a subsequent request, received during
the last hours of the fighting for the surrender of two individuals, Nadesan
and Puleedeevan in the presence of parties other than the Sri Lanka armed
forces, he relayed the governments earlier response, and the assurance given
to him, that this group need only display a white flag to the armed forces
to safely effect their surrender.
This last request conveyed to him through Ms. Colvin
was also apparently transmitted directly to several other persons, including
Colombo- based diplomats and politicians. These were in turn, we understand,
communicated to high Governmental levels and were responded to with similar
assurances.
Asked about reports that the
Government of Sri Lanka may bring charges against some journalists operating
in that country, the Spokeswoman said that the United Nations was following
that situation, as well as the treatment of doctors there.
BAN
KI-MOON REMAINS CONCERNED AT MYANMAR’S TREATMENT OF AUNG SAN SUU KYI
Asked about the UN response to the trial of Aung
San Suu Kyi in Myanmar, the Spokeswoman noted that the Secretary-General’s
statement
from last month still stands.
She recalled that he indicated his grave concern
about this situation and clearly urged the authorities to refrain from any
actions that could undermine the national reconciliation process in Myanmar.
He reiterated his conviction
that Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners in Myanmar should be
released without delay and allowed to participate freely in the political
process.
TOMORROW IS
WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY
Tomorrow, the 5th of June, is World Environment Day,
and the theme this year is, Your Planet Needs YOU – Unite to Combat Climate
Change!
As part of activities marking the day, the UN
Environment Programme, (UNEP), will be launching a special programme called,
Climate Heroes. This initiative aims to recognize and support the efforts of
people who are doing innovative and unusual things to raise awareness of the
simple fact that: Your planet needs you!
According to the Executive Director of UNEP, Achim
Steiner, these Climate Heroes show the kind of commitment, enthusiasm and
understanding that’s crucial for addressing the problems of climate change.
Among some of the Climate Heroes being recognized this
year are, Roz Savage, who plans to row across the pacific to draw attention
to the need to take action on CO2 levels. She hopes to achieve this by
inspiring people to walk more and drive less.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
GLOBAL FOOD SUPPLY NOW LESS VULNERABLE:
The world food supply looks less vulnerable to shocks than it was during last
year’s food crisis. That’s according to a new
report by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). Although food prices
remained high in many developing countries, prices for most agricultural
commodities have fallen in 2009, says the FAO. The improvement concerned mostly
cereals, which is considered a critical sector for food security.
U.N. AGENCIES
SIGN GLOBAL PACT DEALING WITH VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN DEVELOPING CITIES:
The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) has joined forces
with the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) to tackle the issue
of violence against women and girls in developing cities. They signed a
global pact that addresses violence against women in both public and private
spheres. The programme implemented under this pact concentrates on violence
prevention.
REFUGEE AGENCY
SEEKS NEW SYSTEM TO ADDRESS NEEDS OF TEENAGE ASYLUM SEEKERS: With the
growing number of teenagers seeking asylum in Central Europe, the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is
calling for a new asylum system that will address their specific needs.
UNHCR reports that this is the largest project that it has ever carried out and
that their recommendations are being implemented swiftly.
DECISIONS BY INTERNATIONAL COURTS SHOULD BE RESPECTED:
Asked about the Secretary-General’s position concerning the International
Criminal Court warrant against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, the
Spokeswoman said that his views have not changed and he continues to believe
that the actions taken by international courts should be respected.
REBEL LEADER’S FAILURE TO SIGN DEAL LED TO U.N.
CLOSURE OF UGANDA PEACE OFFICE: Asked
about the end of the mandate of the mediator dealing with the Lord’s Resistance
Army (LRA), Joachim Chissano, the Spokeswoman said that he had done all that he
could do, but she pointed to the failure by LRA leader Joseph Kony to sign any
agreement.
BAN KI-MOON TO BRIEF THE PRESS ON 11 JUNE:
Asked about the Secretary-General’s next press conference, the Spokeswoman said
it would take place on 11 June.
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