United Nations Daily Highlights, 06-10-12

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From: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.org

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING

BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC

SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

U.N. HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Thursday, October 12, 2006

SECURITY COUNCIL DISCUSSING DRAFT RESOLUTIONS ON GEORGIA, NORTH KOREA

The Security Council had two items on its consultations agenda today: discussions on a draft resolution on the UN Observer Mission in Georgia, and another on the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.

PEACEBUILDING COMMISSION MEETING ON SIERRA LEONE

The Peacebuilding Commission is meeting today on Sierra Leone at UN Headquarters.

Todays meeting, and the one scheduled for Friday on Burundi, are expected to kick-start the process by establishing them as eligible under the Peacebuilding Fund, which Carolyn McAskie, the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support, briefed the press on yesterday at UN Headquarters.

MORE THAN $200 MILLION PLEDGED SO FAR FOR EMERGENCY FUND

The Advisory Group of the UN Central Emergency Response Fund met in Geneva today to take stock of the Funds work and make recommendations for 2007.

Thus far, 52 Member States, a Japanese prefecture and a private organization have pledged more than $273 million to the Funds grant facility since its inauguration last March. Of those pledges, nearly $267 million is in the bank.

Since its inception, the Fund has given $174 million to over 250 projects in 26 countries experiencing humanitarian crises.

Among its achievements over the past seven months, the Fund allowed the World Food Programme to get food to the needy in

Timor-Leste following last Aprils violence. It also helped to make the use of helicopters possible in

Darfur, so that humanitarians could gain access to isolated internally displaced persons.

Speaking at a press conference today in Geneva, Jan Egeland, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said that the Fund was living proof that the United Nations can reform, is reforming and is getting better.

OCHA: CLOSURES CONTINUE IN OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES

In a

report available today, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that no significant improvement in

Palestinian movement has been observed in recent months.

Closures continue to carve up the West Bank, leading to the isolation of communities, in particular the cities of Nablus and Jerusalem as well as the Jordan Valley, OCHA reports.

It says that as of 20 September, the West Bank closure system comprised 528 checkpoints and physical obstacles, representing an increase of almost 2% since June.

The closure system is a primary cause of the humanitarian crisis in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the report adds. It notes that the Israeli Government says that the purpose of these obstacles is to protect Israeli citizens from Palestinian militant attacks.

ATMOSPHERE OF FEAR GROWING IN DARFUR I.D.P. CAMPS

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has released today its Sudan Humanitarian Overview for the month of September, and its findings include that in general, the atmosphere of fear and insecurity in the camps for internally displaced people is growing.

The UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) says it has received reports that two cars belonging to an NGO were shot at by armed men on camels in Goussa Shark, near the town of Nyala in

South Darfur, on Wednesday. UNMIS also received reports that sporadic shooting was heard in El Fasher, North Darfur, following an altercation between two soldiers.

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL TO SPEAK ON USE OF FORCE

The Deputy Secretary-General, Mark Malloch Brown, is in Washington today where he has been invited to speak at the Brookings Institution.

He will be addressing an international conference on The Use of Force and Legitimacy in the Evolving International System.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

U.N. ENVOY FOR HORN OF AFRICA TO STUDY FOOD SITUATION IN ERITREA: The Secretary-Generals Special Humanitarian Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Kjell Magne Bondevik, arrives tomorrow in Asmara, Eritrea, for an official mission that will last until 18 October. The purpose of Bondeviks visit is to look at the food security situation in Eritrea in the wake of the rainy season.

REMAINS EXHUMED IN CYPRUS: The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus met formally this morning in Nicosia to discuss the progress made to date on the exhumation, identification and return of missing persons remains. Since the end of August, some fifty remains of missing individuals have been exhumed and approximately twenty-four have undergone anthropological analysis at the Committees laboratory in the UN Protected Area in Nicosia.

ANNAN TO ATTEND GENERAL ASSEMBLY EVENT FOR NEW SECRETARY-GENERAL: Asked whether the Secretary-General will be present at the Friday event in the General Assembly on the appointment of a new Secretary-General, the Spokesman said that he would be there.