Noon briefing of 7 November 2014

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC,

SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

FRIDAY, 7 NOVEMBER 2014

SECRETARY-GENERAL TO TRAVEL TO MYANMAR, AUSTRIALIA

• The Secretary-General will leave New York on Monday, 10 November, for a trip which will take him to Myanmar and Australia.
• His first stop will be in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyitaw, where he will attend the sixth summit between the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the ninth East Asian Summit.
• The Secretary-General will meet with leaders on the margins of these meetings. He will also hold talks with senior officials from the Government of Myanmar and others.
• He will then travel to Australia to attend sessions of the Group of 20 leaders’ summit which will take place in Brisbane, in Australia.
• The Secretary-General will also hold bilateral meetings with other attendees of the G-20 summit.
• He will arrive in New York on 17 November.

EBOLA: U.N. VOICES APPRECIATION TO JAPAN FOR CONTRIBUTION TO GLOBAL EBOLA RESPONSE EFFORT

• The United Nations expressed its sincere gratitude to the Government of Japan for its latest contribution to international efforts against the Ebola virus.
• The Government of Japan announced that it will be providing $4.02 million each to the Governments of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. That money is to go toward the purchase of medical and epidemic prevention equipment.
• In addition, there will be a financial contribution to the UN Ebola Response Multi-Partner Trust Fund of $5.94 million to support activities of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER).
• This new contribution of $18 million marks the completion of the allocation of $40 million, which was announced by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on 25 September at the Secretary-General’s High-level Meeting on Ebola on the margins of the General Assembly.
• The United Nations thanks the Government of Japan and encourages others governments, who may not have yet contributed to the efforts, to do so.
• In Geneva, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) stressed the impact of the Ebola crisis on essential health services in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
• UNICEF said that the quickest way of getting health services to function again is to stop the virus. The Agency is increasing its presence on the ground to support basic health services as well as social mobilization.
• In the past three months, UNICEF has shipped almost 3,000 metric tonnes of life-saving supplies, including protective equipment and essential medicine.

BURKINA FASO: SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES ONGOING INTERNATIONAL MEDIATION EFFORTS

• On Burkina Faso, the Secretary-General continues to follow the situation on the ground very closely and he welcomes the ongoing efforts of the joint mediation by the United Nations, African Union and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
• The Secretary-General commends the decision by the extraordinary session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government to establish a Contact Group led by President of Senegal Macky Sall to join the international mediation efforts.
• The Secretary-General also welcomes the decision of the African Union to appoint Mr. Edem Kodjo as Special Envoy to facilitate dialogue among Burkinabe stakeholders.
• He looks forward to the appointment of an ECOWAS Special Envoy.

U.N. ENVOY URGES SUDANESE GOVERNMENT TO ALLOW AFRICAN UNION-U.N. MISSION ACCESS TO INVESTIGATE ALLEGED MASS RAPE

• Zainab Bangura, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, said she is concerned about the allegations recently reported in the media of mass rape of 200 women and girls in Tabit, North Darfur.
• She called on the Government of Sudan to allow immediate and unhindered access to the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) to investigate and verify whether these incidents have occurred and if so to ensure accountability, and for humanitarian actors to ensure appropriate services for any survivors. It is critical that in the process of verifying the facts that the safety of survivors be of paramount concern.
• Ms. Bangura reiterated the support of the United Nations to Sudanese authorities to address in a comprehensive manner any incidents of conflict-related sexual violence. Her Office also stands ready to cooperate with the African Union in line with the UN-AU Framework of Cooperation on Prevention of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Africa.

SOUTH SUDAN: U.N. MISSION STRESSES NEED FOR UNHINDERED MOVEMENT OF PERSONNEL

• The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) says it is concerned by serious violations of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) as signed by the Mission and the Government.
• The Mission reports that four trucks carrying a consignment of armoured vehicles and equipment for Ethiopian peacekeepers in Juba were stopped by National Security Service (NSS) personnel on Wednesday on the outskirts of Juba. The truck drivers were assaulted by the security agents and accused of transporting weapons to armed opposition forces, and the vehicles were impounded.
• As of this morning, the Mission is still trying to obtain the release of all trucks and their cargo. It calls on the Government to immediately release the trucks along with the consignment of vehicles and equipment.
• UNMISS also reports that a fact-finding mission on Wednesday to Raga County in Western Bahr el-Ghazal state was denied permission by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) to visit a site outside of the town that was allegedly bombed by Sudanese Armed Forces aircraft earlier this month.
• The Mission was also prohibited from visiting a local hospital, where residents allegedly wounded in the bombardment have been receiving medical treatment.
• The Mission reminds all parties of the inviolability of UN assets and the need to ensure unhindered movement of UN personnel, including to Raga, so that the UN Mission can fulfill its mandate.

U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS CHIEF SPEAKS OUT AGAINST SRI LANKA’S LACK OF COOPERATION WITH PROBE INTO ALLEGED ABUSES

• From Geneva, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, spoke out against what he called the continuing attacks by the Sri Lankan Government on the integrity of the UN Human Rights Office’s investigation into alleged grave human rights violations and abuses in the country.
• He also condemned the intimidation of human rights defenders and individuals who may wish to cooperate with the investigation.
• The High Commissioner said that the Government of Sri Lanka has refused point blank to cooperate with the investigation despite being explicitly requested to do so by the Human Rights Council.

WORLD EXPERIENCING SURGE OF WATER-RELATED CRISES, SAYS DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL

• The Deputy Secretary-General, Jan Eliasson, spoke yesterday at the Economist’s World Water Summit in London, where he warned that the world today is experiencing a surge of water-related crises. He noted that the eastern basin of the Aral Sea dried up completely in August, for the first time in 600 years. California is experiencing an unprecedented three-year drought. Climate change is manifested through more frequent and intense storms, more destructive floods and more devastating droughts, he said.
• He added that demand for water is projected to grow by over 40 per cent by 2050. An estimated 1.8 billion people will soon live in countries or regions with water scarcity. Two-thirds of the world’s population could be living in water-stressed conditions by 2025. The Deputy Secretary-General urged action to deal with these challenges and said that water and sanitation must be available, accessible, safe and affordable for all, without discrimination.

ONE YEAR SINCE TYPHOON HAIYAN, U.N. RELIEF OFFICIAL NOTES PROGRESS MADE IN PHILIPPINES

• The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in the Philippines, Luiza Carvalho, noted the progress made in supporting the people and Government of that country in the year since the islands were hit by Typhoon Haiyan. The Humanitarian Country Team has served roughly 3.7 million people with food assistance, almost one million people with rehabilitated water systems and 4,900 temporary learning spaces have been created for children over the past year. The Humanitarian Coordinator noted the extraordinary resilience of the Filipino people who, despite the unprecedented destruction and tragedy that struck, pushed through individually and collectively.
• The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said in Geneva today that most of the 4.1 million people who had been displaced by Typhoon Haiyan had either returned home to rebuild, or been relocated. Solutions were still needed for some 20,000 people either living in shelters or with host families. And at the same time, UNHCR continues to highlight the urgent need for the Philippines to adopt legislation to protect the rights of internally displaced people, in what is one of the world’s most natural disaster-prone countries.