Noon briefing of 10 November 2014

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY FARHAN HAQ,

DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

MONDAY, 10 NOVEMBER 2014

SECRETARY-GENERAL UNVEILS BOARD OF INQUIRY INTO GAZA INCIDENTS

• According to a statement, the Secretary-General has established an internal and independent United Nations Headquarters Board of Inquiry into certain incidents that occurred in the Gaza Strip between 8 July and 26 August 2014.
• The Board will be led by Mr. Patrick Cammaert of The Netherlands and includes, as its other members, Ms. Maria Vicien-Milburn of Argentina, Ms. Lee O’Brien of the United States, Mr. Pierre Lemelin of Canada and Mr. K.C. Reddy of India. It will review and investigate a number of specific incidents in which death or injuries occurred at, and/or damage was done to United Nations premises. The Board will also review and investigate incidents in which weapons were found to be present on United Nations premises. The Secretary-General expects that the Board will enjoy the full cooperation of all parties concerned.

NIGERIA: SPEAKING OUT AGAINST SCHOOL BOMBING, SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES PERPETRATORS BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE SWIFTLY

• In a statement, the Secretary-General strongly condemns the suicide bombing today at the government boarding school in Potiskum, in Northeastern Nigeria’s Yobe State, which has reportedly killed dozens of students and wounded countless others. He extends his sincere condolences to the families of the bereaved and to the Government and people of Nigeria.
• The Secretary-General is outraged by the frequency and brutality of attacks against educational institutions in the north of the country and reiterates his demand for an immediate cessation to these abominable crimes.
• The Secretary-General calls for the perpetrators to be swiftly brought to justice through a process respectful of Nigeria’s human rights obligations and for adequate security measures to be provided for the protection of civilians. The Secretary-General reiterates his firm conviction that no objective justifies wanton violence against civilians.
• For its part, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has also condemned the attack, saying that these repeated and relentless attacks on children and schools are attacks on the future of Nigeria, a country that already has the largest number of children out of school in the world. UNICEF calls on those with the responsibility and power to bring the perpetrators to justice, and to uphold their responsibilities to protect children.

SECRETARY-GENERAL EN ROUTE TO MYANMAR

• The Secretary-General is traveling to Myanmar, 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.
• He will also meet with leaders, including the President of Myanmar, on the margins of these meetings.
• From Myanmar, he will travel to Australia, where he will take part in sessions of the Group of 20 leaders’ summit in Brisbane.

U.N. ENVOY MEETS SYRIAN LEADER IN DAMASCUS

• Staffan de Mistura, the Special Envoy for Syria, arrived in Damascus over the weekend and met with President Bashar al-Assad this morning.
• Then, in the afternoon, Mr. de Mistura visited the city of Homs, where he met with Government officials and a delegation from al Waer.
• During his meetings, the Special Envoy discussed the proposals that he made when he briefed the Security Council on 30 October, concerning freeze zones, starting with the city of Aleppo.

BURKINA FASO: U.N. ENVOY CONTINUES TALKS TOWARDS SETTING UP DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION

• The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for West Africa, Mr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, continued his consultations with all the parties in Burkina Faso to help establish a democratic and civilian-led transition period in the country.
• He is encouraged by the engagement of all the parties to establish a civilian-led government that will hold democratic elections in a reasonable period of time.
• He calls on all the parties to do their utmost to ensure that a peaceful transition period be initiated soon in the interest of the people of Burkina Faso.

DARFUR: AFRICAN UNION-U.N. MISSION GAIN ACCESS TO SITE OF ALLEGED MASS RAPE

• In Darfur, a verification team of the African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) was granted access yesterday to Tabit, a village in North Darfur, following media reports of an alleged mass rape incident perpetrated against 200 women and girls in the area.
• The team included representatives from police, military and civilian components. It spent several hours touring the village and interviewing residents as well as community leaders, teachers and students to ascertain the veracity of the media reports. The team also interviewed the local Sudanese Armed Forces Commander.
• UNAMID reports that none of those interviewed confirmed that any incident of rape took place in Tabit on the day of that media report.
• The team neither found any evidence nor received any information regarding the media allegations during the period in question.
• The Mission intends to conduct further follow-up actions including possible further investigations and patrols.

WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME WELCOMES SAFE ARRIVAL OF FOOD CONVOY IN SOUTH SUDAN

• The World Food Programme (WFP) is welcoming the safe arrival of the first convoy of food assistance moved through Sudan to South Sudan.
• Eighteen trucks transporting 700 metric tons of food, enough to feed about 45,000 people for one month, have arrived in Upper Nile state from Kosti marking the opening of a humanitarian corridor to enable the delivery of food assistance to South Sudan through the Republic of Sudan.
• The World Food Programme says that this will help reduce the reliance on costly air operations to provide assistance in conflict-affected areas of South Sudan, and to reach more vulnerable people with food assistance.
• The current cross-border operation will see WFP use trucks and river barges to deliver a total of 4,650 metric tons of food to feed around 275,000 people for one month in the northern parts of South Sudan.

FOOD, HEALTH SUPPORT URGENTLY NEEDED IN NORTH-EAST CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC – U.N. OFFICIAL

• The Senior Humanitarian Coordinator in the Central African Republic, Claire Bourgeois, visited the north-east of the country this weekend with representatives of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, agencies and partners.
• They travelled to Vakaga province which has suffered from years of instability, violence and chronic insecurity, while its geographical remoteness and poor infrastructure have cut it off from the rest of the country.
• They found that the most urgent needs are food, health support and education.
• Ms. Bourgeois said that some people fled Bangui to get to this remote area. She said that it was imperative to secure access for convoys delivering aid supplies from Bangui and to increase protection programmes or else, there could be a further deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the region.

U.N.E.S.C.O., JAPAN-BACKED EDUCATIONAL CONFERENCE KICKS OFF IN NAGOYA

• The head of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) took part in today’s opening of the World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development in the Japanese city of Nagoya.
  To achieve sustainable development, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said that technology, political regulations and financial incentives will not suffice. She said that we need to change the way we think and act, both as individuals and as societies.
• At the opening, also attended by the Crown Prince of Japan, the country’s Minister of Education announced the establishment of the UNESCO-Japan Prize on Education for Sustainable Development.

BURUNDI: MAURITIAN NATIONAL TAPPED TO HEAD U.N. ELECTORAL OBSERVATION MISSION

• The Secretary-General appointed today Cassam Uteem of Mauritius as his Special Envoy and Head of the UN Electoral Observation Mission in Burundi (MENUB).
• Mr. Uteem served as President of Mauritius from 1992 to 2002, and is credited for having promoted his country9;s "Unity in Diversity" policies which succeeded in establishing national unity and a stable inclusive democracy in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious society.
• Issaka Souna of Niger has also been appointed as Deputy Head of the Mission that will start its operations on 1 January 2015 to follow and report on the 2015 electoral process in Burundi, immediately at the end of the current UN Office in Burundi’s mandate.

U.N. WAR CRIMES COMMISSION’S RECORDS OPEN TO PUBLIC IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

• For the first time in 70 years, the records of the United Nations War Crimes Commission are now open to the public at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
• Tomorrow, there will be a panel discussion entitled “United Nations War Crimes Commission Records (1943-1948): Past, Present and Future” to examine the historical significance of the records and their future potential use.

U.N. FLAG TO FLY AT HALF-MAST TO HONOUR FUNERAL OF FORMER ZAMBIAN LEADER

• Tomorrow, the UN flag will be lowered to half-mast at UN Headquarters as a mark of respect for the funeral ceremony of Michael Chilufya Sata, President of the Republic of Zambia, which will take place on the same day.