Noon briefing of 20 September 2010

SECRETARY-GENERAL STRESSES URGENT NEED TO ACHIEVE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

• Speaking in the General Assembly Hall on Monday morning, the Secretary-General told more than 140 Heads of State or Government that there is an urgent need to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that world leaders had agreed to ten years ago in time for the target date of 2015.
  

• He said that the eight MDGs were a breakthrough, and they have already yielded real results. We have more development success stories than ever before. The transformative impact of the Goals is undeniable, he said. But we must protect these advances, many of which are still fragile.
  

• On Wednesday, the Secretary-General will launch a Global Strategy for Women9;s and Children9;s Health, which he described as our best chance for a multiplier effect across the Goals.
  

• He urged the gathered leaders, “Let us send a strong message of hope, of fundamental hope. Let us keep the promise.”

AFGHANS COMMENDED FOR TAKING PART IN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

• Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections took place on Saturday. In a statement issued that day, the Secretary-General commended Afghanistan’s women and men for their courage and determination in exercising their democratic right to vote.
  

• The Secretary-General noted that the election took place amid significant security challenges and condemned the reported acts of violence. The head of the UN Assistance Mission for Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, told the media that it is too early to say whether these elections have been a success. De Mistura emphasized the remarkable achievement of the Afghan Independent Election Commission to even hold these elections in such challenging conditions.
  

• However, he said, it is now essential that the Commission completes its review of all the electoral materials, ballots and other materials to ensure that irregularities are detected and properly dealt with.

SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES SUPPORT FOR FLOOD-HIT PAKISTAN

• The Secretary-General on Sunday convened a ministerial-level meeting on aid for Pakistan, telling the participants that the Pakistan floods are one of the biggest, most complex natural disasters that the United Nations has faced.
  

• The flooding, he said, has affected an estimated 20 million people and 20 per cent of Pakistan9;s land. Eight to twelve million people need urgent humanitarian assistance.
  

• The Secretary-General urged support for the new appeal, for more than $2 billion, issued last Friday for Pakistan, which extends the emergency relief to six months and includes the crucial element of early recovery for the next twelve months.

U.N. AND PARTNERS PRESS FOR HOLDING OF SECOND ROUND OF ELECTIONS IN GUINEA

• The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for West Africa, Said Djinnit, has been in Conakry since Sunday with a joint UN/ ECOWAS/African Union delegation.
  

• Djinnit and the regional officials are there to press for the peaceful holding of the second round of presidential elections. They met with Guinea’s two vice-presidents, and representatives of the International Contact Group on Guinea.
  

• Earlier today, the delegation met with members of the Electoral Commission and the two candidates for the presidency. Djinnit and the ECOWAS and African Union officials urged the candidates and the Government to ensure that all conditions are met for a peaceful, free and fair election.

U.N. MISSION HOLDS DARFUR SEMINARS TO EXPLAIN OUTCOMES OF DOHA PEACE TALKS

• The United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) has begun a series of in-depth seminars in all three Darfur states to disseminate information on the outcomes of the Doha peace talks.
  

• The month-long programme aims to inform community leaders in towns, villages and camps for internally displaced persons of the two sessions’ outcome documents and promote the exchange of ideas among participants on the peace process. The participants are encouraged to share their knowledge with their respective communities.

NEW C.E.R.F. ADVISORY BOARD ANNOUNCED

• The Secretary-General has announced the appointment of 18 members to the Advisory Group of the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).
  

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says eleven of the 18 members have previously served on the Advisory Group. Their re-nomination helps to ensure the continuation of the institutional memory of the Advisory Group, one-third of which should rotate every year.
  

• Established by the General Assembly under Resolution 60/124 of 15 December 2005, the CERF Advisory Group provides the Secretary-General with periodic policy guidance and expert advice on the use and impact of the Fund through the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos. Ms. Amos manages day-to-day operations of the Fund on behalf of the Secretary-General.

U.N. MISSION AND OBSERVERS GROUP EXAMINED COTE D’IVOIRE’S ELECTORAL PROCESS

• The UN Operation in Côte d’Ivoire says that the head of that mission, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Y.J. Choi, examined on Friday the electoral process with the International Observers Group.
  

• The talks revolved around the final tasks to be carried out before the presidential election scheduled for 31 October 2010.
  

• The International Observers Group said there was a lot of optimism regarding the safety and progress of the preparations for the holding of elections.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

TWITTER ACCOUNT SET UP FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL’S SPOKESPERSON’S OFFICE: The Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General has set up a Twitter account to help keep the media informed of the activities of the Secretary-General as well as developments from around the UN system. Tweets from the Spokesperson’s account can be found at: http://twitter.com/UN_Spokesperson.

*** The guests at the Spokesperson’s Noon Briefing were the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the UN Peacebuilding Office in the Central African Republic (BONUCA), Ms. Sahle-Work Zewde; Ambassador Jan Grauls of Belgium; and Mrs. Mary Barton-Dock, the World Bank Group’s Country Director for Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. They briefed the press on the Central African Republic’s peacebuilding needs.