Noon briefing of 8 June 2016

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC,

SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

WEDNESDAY, 8 JUNE 2016

SECRETARY-GENERAL EXPRESSES CONCERN ABOUT VIOLENCE IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA

• The Secretary-General expressed concern by reports of violent clashes between students and police in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
• He called for calm and stressed the importance of respect for peaceful protest and freedom of assembly, and a commitment to rule of law, dialogue and non-violence.

HIV/AIDS: SECRETARY-GENERAL STRESSES ON PROGRESS BUT WARNS EPIDEMIC IS NOT OVER

• The Secretary-General spoke at the General Assembly High level meeting on HIV/AIDS on 8 June, stressing that enormous progress had been made, and recalling that the Millennium Development Goal number 6 of halting and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS had been met.
• He also said he was particularly happy that new HIV infections among children are down by 56 percent in the past fifteen years, with four countries having eliminated them completely: Cuba, Thailand, Armenia and Belarus.
• However, the Secretary-General warned that AIDS is far from over. Over the next five years, we have a window of opportunity to radically change the trajectory of the epidemic and put an end to AIDS forever, he said.
• That requires commitment at every level: from the global health infrastructure, to all Member States, civil society organizations and Non-Governmental Organizations, to the United Nations Security Council that has dealt with AIDS as a humanitarian issue and a threat to human and national security.
• It means making sure that we meet the annual target of $26 billion in funding; continued advocacy to the most vulnerable groups; removing punitive laws, policies and practices that violate people’s dignity and human rights; and guaranteeing that everyone affected has access to comprehensive HIV services, without discrimination.

WORLD OCEANS DAY

• On 8 June, the Secretary-General was across the East River in Long Island City, where he attended a World Oceans Day event with the President of Palau.
• Welcoming the traditional Polynesian voyaging canoe, Hôkûle‘a, the Secretary-General said that the canoe9;s voyage is a testament to the power of island people.
• The Secretary-General, while attending the Samoa Conference in 2014, boarded the Hôkûle‘a and gave them his message in a bottle - a message, he said, which promised to rally world leaders for a better future.

SYRIA: U.N. REITERATES CALL FOR HUMANITARIAN ACCESS

• On June 8, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) received reports of attacks in eastern Aleppo city, hitting two medical facilities and resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries.
• The recent escalation of violence in Aleppo and surrounding areas since late April has resulted in the death and injury of hundreds of people, many of them children. It has also caused damage to schools, hospitals, and other civilian infrastructure, and hindered humanitarian aid operations.
• The UN consistently condemns attacks on civilians, civilian infrastructure and the violence that is leading to more unnecessary suffering. Such attacks can constitute violations of international humanitarian law.
• The U.N. calls on all parties to the conflict to take all measures to protect civilians and facilitate humanitarian access, as required under international humanitarian law, in order to safeguard the lives of all civilians.
• Meanwhile, the United Nations has requested access to reach 17 besieged areas under the June inter-agency convoy plan. The convoys have now received approval for Daraya, Douma and Moadamiyeh; in all, we have received approvals for 15 of the 17 locations requested under the June plan.
• The only besieged locations where we have not received approval are Al Wa9;er in Homs and Zabadani in Rural Damascus.

U.N. SCALES UP FALLUJAH RELATED HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE

• The United Nations remains deeply concerned over the humanitarian crisis unfolding as tens of thousands of people flee Fallujah.
• Displacement is dramatically increasing as military operations in Fallujah continue. More than 20,000 people have fled Fallujah and surrounding areas since 22 May. Humanitarian workers are receiving reports that hundreds more families are trying to flee.
• The eight camps prepared in advance have been stretched to their limits as thousands of people have fled in recent days. The Government of Iraq and the UN and its partners are working to rapidly scale up camps and other assistance in preparation for possibly tens of thousands of more people that could leave Fallujah in the next days.
• But more resources are needed to ensure that assistance is sufficient. All of the UN and our partners’ resources are directed towards providing assistance to people fleeing Fallujah.

SECURITY COUNCIL HOLDS MEETING ON FORMER YUGOSLAVIA AND RWANDA CRIMINAL TRIBUNALS

• The Security Council held on 8 June a meeting on the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
• Serge Brammertz, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals briefed the Council and stressed that his office will continue to monitor and support national courts prosecuting war crimes committed in the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

EUROPE: AIR POLLUTION IS THE BIGGEST HEALTH RISK

• Poor air quality, climate change, unhealthy lifestyles and disconnection between people and the environment are increasingly affecting human health in Pan-European region according to the latest Global Environment Outlook prepared by UN Environment Agency and (UNEP) and UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) with support from the European Environment Agency (EEA).
• Air pollution is now the greatest health risk in the region, with more than 95% of the EU urban population exposed to levels above World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines.

F.A.O. AND I.L.O. JOIN FORCES AGAINST CHILD LABOUR

• The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) launched an online learning course aimed at policymakers to make sure that child labour prevention measures are included in agricultural and rural development programs.
• Let me remind you that nearly 60 percent of all child labourers -- almost 100 million girls and boys -- work in agriculture.
• The agencies launched the course ahead of the UN9;s World Day Against Child Labour, to be celebrated on 12 June.

SECRETARY-GENERAL COMMENDS INDIA AND U.S. ON THEIR COMMITMENT TO PARIS AGREEMENT

• The Secretary-General commended on 7 June the joint statement on climate change made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Obama, announcing their support for early entry into force of the Paris Agreement.
• The Secretary-General welcomed the domestic steps being undertaken by both countries to join the Paris Agreement as soon as possible, including in 2016, and their collaborative efforts to address climate change.
• The announcement is one of a number of events that demonstrates the growing momentum towards the rapid entry into force and successful implementation of the Paris Agreement.
• As of 7 June, 177 Parties had signed and 17 had ratified the Paris Agreement.
• The Secretary-General encourages all countries to accelerate their domestic processes to join or ratify the agreement to ensure its early entry into force.

GENERAL PER LODIN OF SWEDEN BECOMES HEAD OF U.N. MILITARY OBSERVER GROUP IN INDIA AND PAKISTAN

• The Secretary-General announced on 8 June the appointment of Major General Per Lodin of Sweden as Chief Military Observer and Head of UN Mission for the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan, otherwise known as UNMOGIP.
• Major General Lodin succeeds Major General Delali Johnson Sakyi of Ghana, who will have completed his two-year assignment in July of this year. The Secretary-General is grateful to Major General Sakyi for his contribution to UN peacekeeping.
• Major General Lodin has had a distinguished military career in the Swedish Army since 1978.