Noon briefing of 11 March 2015

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC,

SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

WEDNESDAY, 11 MARCH 2015

SECURITY COUNCIL VISITS CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

• The Security Council is in Bangui, in the Central African Republic, on a mission that will also take its members to Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia and Bujumbura, in Burundi.
• Today, the Council delegation is meeting with the Transitional Authorities, including Catherine Samba-Panza, Head of State of the Transition, as well as with representatives of civil society, the diplomatic corps and of course the UN Mission in the country, MINUSCA.
• This is the Security Council’s first visit to the country since the Mission’s deployment last September.
• Council Members are on the ground to assess the progress made in the stabilizing the country and the first months of operation of MINUSCA.

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION AND WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME JOIN FORCES TO REACH ZERO EBOLA CASES

• On Ebola, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) are combining their forces in a new partnership in the Ebola-affected countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
• This arrangement combines the logistics strength of WFP with WHO’s public health expertise to help get the current Ebola outbreak down to zero cases in West Africa.
• Today, more than 700 people are deployed in the Ebola affected countries -- which is more WHO employees than at any other point in the epidemic.
• In districts with ongoing Ebola transmission, WFP is ensuring that WHO disease detectives have the resources they need — computer equipment, phones and stable internet connectivity — to share information critical to tracking and stopping the virus.
• The World Food Programme is also managing the fleet of rugged vehicles carrying social anthropologists and epidemiologists to isolated villages.
• This joint partnership responds to the directive of WHO9;s Executive Board Special Session on Ebola, to develop new ways to strengthen health emergency operations.

COTE D’IVOIRE: U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS CHIEF URGES JUSTICE FOR VICTIMS OF 2011 CONFLICT

• On Côte d’Ivoire, the High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein urged today the Government to focus on justice for victims of serious human rights violations and abuses that occurred prior to and during the 2011 conflict in the country.
• In the wake of the guilty verdicts against numerous supporters of former President Laurent Gbagbo, the High Commissioner said it was unacceptable that not a single individual has so far been convicted in a civilian court in Côte d’Ivoire on conflict-related human rights violations.
• He also deplored that some of the alleged perpetrators continue to hold official positions of responsibility.
• For the peace gains to be secured and sustainable, Côte d’Ivoire must prioritize equitable justice, truth and reconciliation, particularly ahead of the presidential elections later this year, Mr Zeid said in a statement.

U.N. PEACEBUILDING COMMISSION STARTS NEW SESSION, ELECTS SWEDEN AS CHAIR

• The United Nations Peacebuilding Commission inaugurated today its ninth session and elected Sweden, represented by its Permanent Representative, H.E. Mr Olof Skoog, as its new Chair.
• The new Chair noted that 2015 marks the tenth anniversary of the Peacebuilding Commission and it is a “critical year for the UN peace and security architecture with both the peacebuilding review and the peace operations review” taking place.
• He stressed the need to “seize this opportunity and make sure that the UN is better equipped to meet the increasingly complex global security challenges.” The Chair also said that the Commission will work to ensure that the recovery efforts in countries affected by Ebola will include special attention to their peacebuilding needs.

U.N. FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION STRESSES UNTAPPED POTENTIAL OF ‘AGROCORRIDORS’

• The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) issued a report today on agro-corridors, meaning development programmes fostering promising economic sectors, such as agriculture, in territories connected by lines of transportation like highways, railroads, ports or canals.
• So-called economic corridors are hardly new - an archetype is the Silk Road - but their potential as engines of broad-based sustainable development has been largely untapped, says that report.
• It reviews in detail six case studies in Asia, Africa and South America.