Noon briefing of 25 January 2016

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC, SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

MONDAY, 25 JANUARY 2016

SECRETARY-GENERAL TO TRAVEL TO ETHIOPIA, OMAN AND THE UNITED KINGDOM

• On Thursday, 28 January, the Secretary-General will leave New York for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to attend the 26^th African Union (AU) Summit. He will then proceed to Muscat, in Oman, for an official visit to the country on February 1 and 2, and from there, he will attend the fourth Syria Donors Conference which is being held in London.
• In Addis Ababa, the Secretary-General will address the AU Summit on 30 January, and hold bilateral meetings with Heads of States and other high officials. The theme of the Summit is: “2016: African Year of Human Rights with particular focus on the Rights of Women.”
• On January 31, in the evening, the Secretary-General will leave Addis for Muscat, Oman, to deliver a lecture at the College of National Defence. He is also scheduled to meet with the Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers, and the Minister responsible for Foreign Affairs in Oman.
• On 2 February, the Secretary-General will leave Muscat for London to participate in the conference on the Syria humanitarian crisis hosted by the United Kingdom, Germany, Norway, Kuwait and the United Nations.
• Building on previous conferences in Kuwait, this event aims to raise significant new funding to meet the needs of all those affected by the Syria crisis, identify long term funding solutions and address longer term needs.
• The Secretary-General will be back in New York on February 6.

SOUTH SUDAN: SECRETARY-GENERAL CONCERNED OVER POLITICAL DEADLOCK

• In a statement issued today, the Secretary-General expressed concern over the parties’ deadlock over the issue of the establishment of 28 states, and their failure to meet the 22 January deadline to establish the Transitional Government of National Unity in South Sudan.
• He stressed that the formation of the Transitional Government is an essential step in implementing the peace agreement and laying the foundation for peace and stability in the country.
• The Secretary-General called on the parties to overcome their differences. He encouraged the Intergovernmental Authority on Development and African Union member states to seize the opportunity of the forthcoming African Union summit to address the political impasse that is impeding the formation of the Transitional Government of National Unity.
• The Secretary-General reaffirmed that the United Nations will continue to do all it can to support the people of South Sudan who continue to be subjected to unimaginable suffering and human rights abuses, as they have been since the beginning of the conflict over two years ago.

PEACEKEEPING CHIEF BRIEFS SECURITY COUNCIL, U.N. ASSISTS COMMUNITIES AFFECTED BY CONFLICT IN DARFUR

• The Security Council is expected to meet on Colombia at 3 p.m. today. Prior to that, this morning, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Hervé Ladsous, briefed the Security Council on the situation in Darfur.
• He said that the United Nations remains committed to developing the exit strategy of the African Union–United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) on the basis of concrete and tangible achievements against benchmarks.
• He said that he looked forward to the full commitment of the Government of Sudan in making measurable progress against those key benchmarks, such as the cessation of hostilities, inclusive peace process, unhindered access and movement of United Nations and humanitarian personnel, as the starting point for further discussions on the phased drawdown of the Mission.
• Mr. Ladsous also reiterated his concern about the impact of the renewed upsurge in fighting on the civilian population in the Jebel Marra, and he expressed hope that the cessation of hostilities negotiations will come to a positive conclusion and bring an end to the suffering of the population.
• Meanwhile, on the ground, UNAMID has reported that it remains engaged with the ongoing displacements and serious humanitarian consequences caused by the fighting between government forces and armed movements in Jebel Marra, in Central Darfur.
• Some 8,403 affected civilians, mostly women and children, have taken refuge in the vicinity of the Mission’s Sortoni camp site, in North Darfur. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 2,385 people have also been displaced to Tawila, North Darfur.
• The mission continues to work with the United Nations Country Team and other national and international nongovernmental organisations to protect the displaced in Sortoni, Tawila and Nertiti and provide emergency humanitarian relief to them.

HAITI: SECRETARY-GENERAL CONCERNED OVER POSTPONEMENT OF ELECTIONS

• In a statement issued recently on Haiti, the Secretary-General expressed concern over the recent postponement of the elections in Haiti, which were scheduled for 24 January.
• He strongly urged all stakeholders to work towards the peaceful completion of the electoral process without delay, through the forging of a consensual solution that will allow the people of Haiti to exercise their right to vote for the election of a new President and the remaining representatives of the new Parliament.
• The Secretary-General urged all political actors to reject all forms of violence and intimidation and refrain from any action that can further disrupt the democratic process and stability in the country.
• The Secretary-General reaffirmed the commitment of the United Nations to continue supporting the consolidation of democracy and stabilisation in Haiti.

INTRA-SYRIAN TALKS EXPECTED TO START AT END OF WEEK, ANNOUNCES U.N. SPECIAL ENVOY

• The Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, told reporters in Geneva today that due to intense disagreements about who would be invited to the intra-Syrian talks, the start of the talks, scheduled for today, has been delayed. He said that invitations will be sent tomorrow, and that the talks will start on 29 January, this Friday.
• He said that the priority for the talks would be the establishment of a broad ceasefire and the delivery of humanitarian aid, as well as stopping the threat posed by Da’esh.
• Mr. de Mistura said that the meetings will start with proximity talks, which are expected to last for six months.
• The first phase of talks could last two to three weeks, he added, before preparations are made for further phases. Although there could always be posturing or walk-outs, he said, the important thing will be to maintain the momentum of the process set during the meetings in Vienna.
• The United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown, has warned that 2.5 million children could be displaced as refugees from Syria by the end of 2016, adding that the only way to ensure they remain in the region is to provide stability through a new plan for double-shift education.
• Under that system, local children would be schooled in the mornings and early afternoons and refugee boys and girls would use the same classrooms in late afternoon and early evening.
• The plan will cost an initial $750 million but $500 million has already been raised through offers of grants or loans from countries and businesses. Mr Brown said that was an important way of dealing with the biggest refugee crisis since 1945.

HUMANITARIAN COORDINATOR FOR YEMEN CALLS FOR SUSTAINED ACCESS TO TAIZZ

• Over the weekend, Jamie McGoldrick, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, spoke to the press after traveling to the Taizz and Ibb Governorates to see the humanitarian situation there.
• He said that everywhere he went he saw the trauma the conflict is causing to the women, men, and children, who have been living in this enclave and under these conditions for months.
• He appealed to authorities and groups to work with the United Nations to establish a mechanism that will allow regular and sustained access of goods into the city of Taizz.
• He appealed to all parties to the conflict in Yemen to observe international humanitarian law and provide humanitarian access, as well as refrain from targeting civilian infrastructure.

U.N. REFUGEE AGENCY SEEKS $545 MILLION TO HELP PEOPLE AFFECTED BY CONFLICTS IN NIGERIA AND CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

• The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and its partners have appealed today for more than half-a-billion dollars this year to help hundreds of thousands of people forced to flee conflicts in Nigeria and the Central African Republic (CAR) and the host communities providing them with shelter and other basic services.
• The two Regional Refugee Response Plans, which were presented at a donor briefing in Yaoundé, in Cameroon, include almost US$200 million for 230,000 Nigerian refugees, as well as US$345 million for refugees from the Central African Republic.

WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME EXTENDS EMERGENCY OPERATION IN EASTERN UKRAINE

• The World Food Programme (WFP) announced today that it will extend its emergency operation in eastern Ukraine to provide food to more than 260,000 people affected by conflict until the end of June.
• WFP aims to provide food to families during the critical cold period between January and April. Priority will be given to the most vulnerable and food insecure among internally displaced people, returnees and conflict-affected residents, as well as households headed by women.
• The head of the WFP’s office in Ukraine said that the ongoing conflict has affected tens of thousands of people who are in desperate need of help, adding that they are either trapped by the fighting or have fled their homes, thinking they would return in a few months and are now living in difficult conditions, especially in winter when temperatures are extremely low.

2015 WAS HOTTEST YEAR ON RECORD, SAYS WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION

• According to our colleagues at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), 2015 was the hottest year on record.
• It noted that 15 of the 16 hottest years on record have all been in this century, with the five-year period from 2011 to 2015 being the warmest ever.
• WMO’s Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said that an exceptionally strong El Niño and global warming caused by greenhouse gases joined forces with dramatic effect on the climate system in 2015.
• He added that we have reached for the first time the threshold of 1°C above pre-industrial temperatures, calling it a sobering moment in the history of our planet.
• Mr. Taalas said that if the commitments made during the climate change negotiations in Paris and furthermore a higher emission reduction ambition level is reached, we still have chance to stay within the maximum 2°C limit.

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION WARNS OF RISING TREND IN CHILDHOOD OBESITY IN NEW REPORT

• The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity presented its final report to the Director-General of WHO, Dr. Margaret Chan, culminating a two-year process to address the alarming levels of childhood obesity and overweight globally.
• The report proposes a range of recommendations for governments aimed at reversing the rising trend of children under the age of 5 becoming overweight and obese.
• Worldwide obesity has more than doubled since 1980 – reaching 600 million people. In 2013, 42 million children under the age of 5 were either overweight or obese.