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HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY MICHELE MONTAS
SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
BAN KI-MOON REGRETS EXTENDED DETENTION OF AUNG SAN SUU KYI
[The
following statement was issued in the name of Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon:
"I
regret the decision of the Government of Myanmar to extend for a sixth
consecutive year the detention under house arrest of Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi, the General Secretary of the National League for Democracy (NLD).
"The
sooner restrictions on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political figures
are lifted, the sooner Myanmar will be able to move towards inclusive
national reconciliation, the restoration of democracy and full respect
for human rights.
"In this regard, I expect my Special Adviser, Ibrahim Gambari, to continue on my behalf the process of political dialogue that he has begun with both the Myanmar authorities and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in the context of his good offices mandate."]
UNITED NATIONS IS DETERMINED TO REDOUBLE
EFFORTS TO
END SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND ABUSE OF CHILDREN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is deeply concerned by
the Save the Children (UK) report focusing on the under-reporting of
child sexual exploitation and abuse by aid workers and
peacekeepers.
The abuse of children by those sent to help is a
significant and painful issue and one that UN peacekeeping has and will
continue to address candidly, comprehensively and robustly. Even one
incident is one incident too many.
The United Nations is committed to training and
monitoring our civilian staff and working with our troop and police
contributing countries to ensure that all categories of UN personnel
are both trained in -- and are accountable for -- the highest standards
of conduct.
As pointed out in the report, the United Nations
has already undertaken a series of measures designed to tackle this
problem directly, from establishing Conduct and Discipline Units in all
of our missions to strengthening our training regimes for all
categories of UN personnel.
We are determined to redouble our efforts in
this regard and to work with all of our partners to implement fully our
policy of zero tolerance of sexual exploitation and abuse by UN
personnel.
The United Nations will continue to depend on the active efforts of its troop and police contributing countries in investigating and disciplining their national personnel found to have committed misconduct including acts of sexual exploitation and abuse while serving in UN operations.
SECURITY COUNCIL CAN GO FURTHER IN ADDRESSING PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS IN ARMED CONFLICT
The Security Council is holding an open meeting
today on the protection of civilians in armed conflict.
Briefing this morning, Under-Secretary-General
for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes said the Council could go further
in addressing the protection of civilians in armed conflict. In fact, a
more consistent approach to integrating the matter into the Council’s
work could make a very real difference to the lives of millions trapped
in the chaos and horror of war.
In that regard, Holmes suggested the creation of an informal Security Council expert group to deal with this theme.
IAEA BOARD OF GOVERNORS TO DISCUSS IRAN REPORT ON JUNE 2
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
has
transmitted its latest report on Iran to the Security Council and
the IAEA Board of Governors.
The IAEA says the contents of the latest
report cover developments since Director General Dr. Mohamed
ElBaradei’s report of 22 February 2008.
The IAEA Board of Governors will discuss the
report when it next convenes in Vienna on 2 June.
The IAEA says the report’s circulation is restricted and cannot be released to the public unless the IAEA Board decides otherwise.
CONGOLESE WAR CRIMES SUSPECT ARRESTED
The International Criminal Court said in a statement
this weekend that Belgian authorities have arrested Jean-Pierre Bemba
Gombo, a former Vice-President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
on a sealed ICC warrant.
The Court says that Bemba, in his capacity as
president and commander in chief of the Mouvement de libération
du Congo (MLC), is alleged to be criminally responsible for 4 counts of
war crimes and 2 counts of crimes against humanity committed in the
Central African Republic between October 2002 and March 2003.
Specifically, the Court charges that, during
that period, MLC forces led by Bemba carried out a widespread
or systematic attack against a civilian population, during which
rape, torture, outrages upon personal dignity and pillaging were
committed.
The warrant for Bemba’s arrest was issued under seal just four days ago.
CHILDREN
& ARMED CONFLICT ENVOY VISITS
CHAD & CENTRAL AFRICAN REP.
Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Secretary-General’s
Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, yesterday began
an official regional visit to Chad and the Central African Republic
(CAR) at the invitation of the Governments of these two countries.
Her mission aims to collect first-hand
impressions of the situation of children in the region in order to
enhance advocacy for protection and programme interventions for
children in war zones. Coomaraswamy will pay particular attention to
child recruitment, including cross-border recruitment, by state and non
state actors. She will also study conditions for humanitarian personnel
and the safety and security for in camps for the internally
displaced.
Meanwhile, in a race against the start of the rainy season in mid-June, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says it began the transfer of more than 9,500 newly arrived refugees from the CAR to a new camp in Moula, southern Chad. This latest wave of CAR refugees arrived in southern Chad between January and March this year following violence in northern CAR.
COTE D’IVOIRE: RE-EDUCATION STARTS FOR EX-COMBATANTS
Kyung-wha Kang, the Deputy High Commissioner
for Human Rights, is in Cote d’Ivoire
for a working visit during which she will be meeting Government
officials, members of the international community and the UN country
team, among others. She is also expected to visit Liberia later this
week.
Meanwhile, the UN Mission in Cote d’Ivoire has
confirmed the start of the first phase of post-conflict re-education
for former combatants.
Yesterday, UN officials were among the guests
at a formal induction of 250 ex-rebel combatants into a German-funded
programme in Bouake, the former rebel stronghold. Through this
programme a total of 730 former rebels will be receiving basic
professional skills in the agriculture, construction and computer
sciences in the short to mid-term.
The programme, which is an integral of the
UN-backed disarmament initiative for Cote d’Ivoire, targets the 70
percent of former combatants believed to lack basic reading and writing
skills.
It is expected that this year alone some 20,000 young men and women aged 18 to 35, the majority of whom were not fighters, will learn new professional skills through this initiative.
U.N. ENVOY CALLS FOR RENEWED EFFORTS
TO HELP INTERNALLY DISPLACED KENYANS
Walter Kaelin, the Representative of the
Secretary General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons,
on Friday completed a working visit to Kenya.
He said at the conclusion of his trip that
special efforts by the Kenyan Government, humanitarian agencies and the
donors are essential if the return of those displaced by the
post-election violence is to be sustainable and compatible with
international human rights standards.
“In the absence of substantially increased efforts, we will jeopardize the fragile process of building and restoring of peace in displacement affected communities,” he noted.
NEPAL: SUCCESSFUL ELECTION A MAJOR MILESTONE
BUT NOT AN END IN ITSELF
On the eve of the first meeting of Nepal’s
Constituent Assembly, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in
Nepal, Ian Martin said that the successful election was a major
milestone in the peace process, “but it does not represent the
completion of the process.”
Speaking to the press in Katmandu, Martin
highlighted the challenges that lay ahead for both the yet-to-be-formed
government and the 601-member Constituent Assembly.
He reiterated messages from his briefing last
week to the Security Council, including focusing on challenges still
faced in forming the new government to provide the basis for stable
governance and development throughout the life of the Constituent
Assembly and move ahead with economic development.
In a swearing-in ceremony today at the Birendra International Convention Centre – the site for Constituent Assembly meetings – the 567 members took their oaths in preparation for tomorrow’s historic first session of the Assembly.
AIRCRAFT THAT DOWNED GEORGIAN DRONE
BELONGED TO RUSSIAN AIR FORCE
The UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG)
yesterday released a
report on last month’s downing of a Georgian drone over Abkhazia.
The report concluded that the aircraft that shot down the drone
belonged to the Russian air force.
The report stresses the importance of the
Moscow Agreement, which provides for the Commonwealth of Independent
States peacekeeping forces and no one else to perform the separation of
Georgian and Abkhaz forces.
In that regard, from a strict peacekeeping
perspective, UNOMIG considers that enforcement action by third-parties
– in this case the Russian Federation - in the zone of conflict is
fundamentally inconsistent with the Moscow Agreement.
At the same time, and from the same peacekeeping perspective, UNOMIG reiterates its position stated to the Georgian Minister of Defence on 7 April 2008 that the overflight of the zone of conflict by surveillance aircraft also constitutes a breach of the Moscow Agreement.
HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL’S FACT-FINDING MISSION ARRIVES IN GAZA
An independent high-level fact-finding mission
by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Professor Christine Chinkin is currently
in Gaza as part of its mission to Beit Hanoun.
The mission was established by the UN Human
Rights Council in November 2006 after an Israeli attack in Beit Hanoun
resulted in the deaths of 19 people, including seven children.
Archbishop Tutu and Professor Chinkin entered
Gaza today from Egypt and, in addition to visiting Beit Hanoun itself,
are holding a range of meetings, including with survivors and witnesses
of the original attack.
The mission will submit a final report to the September session of the Human Rights Council.
BAN KI-MOON CONGRATULATES LEBANON ON ELECTION OF PRESIDENT
In a statement
issued on Saturday, the Secretary-General congratulates the people of
Lebanon on the election of Michel Suleimane as President of the
Republic.
This election brings to an end the
constitutional void that has endured in Lebanon since 21 November 2007.
The Secretary-General hopes that today's
historic event leads to the revitalization of all of Lebanon 's
constitutional institutions and a return to political dialogue within
this framework.
He urges all Lebanese parties to press ahead
together in consolidating the sovereignty, stability and political
independence of the Lebanese State in accordance with the Taif accord
and relevant Security Council resolutions.
The Secretary-General stands ready to support the Lebanese people as required and looks forward to working closely with the President and the future Government of Lebanon towards these goals.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
ANTI-RACISM REVIEW CONFERENCE TO BE HELD IN GENEVA IN APRIL 2009: The Preparatory Committee for the Anti-Racism Review Conference has announced that the Conference will be held in Geneva from 20-24 April 2009. The purpose of the Review Conference will be to review progress and assess implementation of the Declaration and Plan of Action adopted by the 2001 World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.
REFUGEE AGENCY WELCOMES COLOMBIAN DECISION ON PROTECTION OF DISPLACED WOMEN: The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) welcomes a decision by Colombia’s Constitutional Court, which ruled that displaced women are particularly vulnerable and ordered the government to create 13 programmes for their protection, and prioritize them for access to emergency humanitarian assistance. The Court also ordered direct protection for 600 displaced women and asked the country’s attorney-general to investigate several cases of sexual and gender-based violence.
DARFUR MISSION’S OPERATIONS HINDERED: The United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) has reported two incidents over the weekend hampering its operations – one involving a peacekeeping patrol and another involving staff of a humanitarian non-governmental organization.
UNICEF HELPS SURVIVORS OF RECENT SOUTH AFRICA VIOLENCE: UNICEF South Africa has joined forces with the cities of Johannesburg, Ekhuruleni and Tshwane, the areas hardest hit by the violence in South Africa, to provide emergency relief supplies to meet immediate needs of vulnerable women and children.
*** The guest at the noon briefing today was John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. He briefed on his recent trip to Myanmar.
Office
of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General
United Nations, S-378
New York, NY 10017
Tel. 212-963-7162
Fax. 212-963-7055
