United Nations Daily Highlights, 08-03-06

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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

MARIE OKABE

DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Thursday, March 6, 2008

BAN KI-MOON TO ATTEND ISLAMIC CONFERENCE SUMMIT IN DAKAR

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is scheduled to travel to Dakar, Senegal, next week to attend the 11th Summit of the Organization of Islamic Conference.

President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal has also invited the Secretary General to attend a mediation meeting he is chairing between President Idriss Deby of Chad and Omar Al Bashir of Sudan on the eve of the OIC summit to defuse tension and to amend relations between the two countries.

DARFUR: BAN KI-MOON WELCOMES INITIATIVE SEEKING

TO RALLY SUPPORT FOR PEACEKEEPING OPERATION

The Secretary-General welcomes the initiative to establish a group of Friends of UNAMID (African Union/United Nations Hybrid operation in Darfur). which will focus on supporting the deployment of the AU-UN peacekeeping operation in Darfur. The first meeting of the group was convened by the United States and Canada on 6 March 2008 in New York.

The Secretary-General urges all UNAMID troop and police contributors to expedite the deployment of the units and assets that they have pledged to the Operation.

In this connection, the Secretary-General also welcomes the initiative of the U.S. Government to help accelerate the deployment of UNAMID by providing $100 million to African troop contributing countries for training and equipping military units which have been pledged for UNAMID.

The Secretary-General also urges Member States to provide the outstanding enabling units, including air assets, in order to permit UNAMID to achieve full operating capability.

The Secretary-General looks forward to sustained and focused international engagement on both peacekeeping and the political process in Darfur, and calls on all parties to engage in good faith in political negotiations in order to bring the current crisis to an end and achieve lasting peace.

Asked about the provision of air assets to Darfur, the Spokeswoman said that the key item that the United Nations wants is helicopters. There has been no new contribution of those, she said, since the last monthly report of UNAMID.

WOMEN ARE UNTAPPED POTENTIAL FOR DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE

Earlier this morning at UN Headquarters, the Secretary-General addressed a commemoration of International Womens Day (which is Saturday).

This years theme is Investing in women and girls. Calling women the worlds most significant yet largely untapped potential for development and peace, the Secretary-General said investing in women is not only the right thing to do; it is the smart thing to do.

Despite progress, he noted that women are still severely hampered by discrimination, a lack of resources and economic opportunities, limited access to decision-making and gender-based violence.

He also promised to strengthen the Secretariats own gender machinery by proposing to double the staffing of the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, and to significantly increase the resources of the Division for the Advancement of Women.

He also urged Member States to agree on creating one dynamic and strengthened gender entity, consolidating resources currently scattered among several structures. "

Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro was in Brussels today to address a European Union Commission conference on women, entitled: Women: Stabilizing an Insecure World. The Conference brought together female Heads of State, as well as ministers, heads of international organizations, business leaders, and civil society activists, to discuss the twin themes of security and women's empowerment.

Also marking International Womens Day, World Health Organization Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan, issued a statement in which she stressed the importance of investing in women and girls as an investment in health development.

Meanwhile, the UN Refugee Agency launched a handbook on the protection of women and girls. It outlines strategies, as well as international legal standards and responsibilities. The launch of this important protection tool which replaces UNHCR's 1991 "Guidelines on the Protection of Refugee Women" is directly linked to International Women's Day on Saturday.

And the International Labour Office (ILO), which began a two-week session in Geneva today, released its report on Global Employment Trends for Women.

U.N. ENVOY BEGINS VISIT TO MYANMAR

The Special Advisor of the Secretary-General, Ibrahim Gambari, arrived today in Yangon, where he held talks with Myanmars Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Gambari also met with the U.N. Country Team in Myanmar, the Diplomatic Corps and the Representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

In the next few days, Mr. Gambari expects to continue consultations with a broad range of representatives of Myanmar society, including groups which he was not able to meet during his last visit.

ERITREAS TREATMENT OF U.N. MISSION

IS IN BREACH OF FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF PEACEKEEPING

The Secretary-Generals special report on the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea is out as a document today. In it, the Secretary-General warns that restrictions imposed by Eritrea on the Mission are unacceptable and in breach of the fundamental principles of peacekeeping. They also bear serious implications for the safety and security of peacekeepers deployed elsewhere.

As a party to the

Cessation of Hostilities, under which Eritrea and Ethiopia invited the UN to deploy peacekeepers on their territory, the Secretary-General says that Eritrea has an obligation to treat the peacekeepers with respect and dignity, and to guarantee their safety and security. Eritrea must also ensure the peacekeepers right to move freely and perform their mandated tasks without any restrictions.

The Secretary-General asks Eritrea to reconsider its position, resume fuel supplies to the peacekeepers, lift all restrictions on the Mission, and allow it to function as mandated by the Security Council.

Meanwhile, the just-completed regrouping in Asmara and Assab under a contingency plan, leaves the peacekeepers in ad hoc, substandard and congested accommodation. The initially planned temporary move to Ethiopia would be a lengthy and complex exercise, with the relocation of equipment likely to take up to three months.

In the light of this, the Secretary-General has instructed the Mission to send the military staff to their home countries, pending a final decision of the Security Council on the future of the Mission. Some 60 civilian staff, including the Deputy Special Representative and the Chief of Mission Support, will remain in Asmara to liaise with Eritrea.

Once the relocation is complete, the Secretary-General intends to send a further report with options and recommendations for any future UN peacekeeping presence in the area. He regrets that fundamental political and legal issues at the centre of the dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea remain unresolved and a source of continued tensions between the two countries.

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL DISCUSSES SITUATION

IN PALESTINE AND OTHER OCCUPIED ARAB TERRITORIES

Today in Geneva, the Human Rights Council began considering the human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories. It heard from High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, as well as representatives of Israel, Palestine and Syria, before opening a debate.

The Human Rights Council is expected to take action on a draft resolution on this issue today.

In her remarks, Arbour condemned the rocket attacks by Palestinian militants against Israeli civilian targets, as well as the Israel Defense Forces disproportionate use of force. She urged all parties to conduct law-based, independent, transparent and accessible investigations into the killings of civilians, to make the findings public and to hold any perpetrators accountable.

She also stressed that all human rights are equal for all human beings and no party can claim that, in defending its own population, it is allowed to disavow the rights of others. On the contrary, all parties have obligations not only towards the rights of their own people, but for the rights of all.

On the issue of Palestinian pregnant women giving birth at Israeli checkpoints, she noted that, while there was a decrease in their number during the reporting period, the restrictions on mobility and rising poverty in the occupied Palestinian territory resulted in limited and unpredictable access to health care for Palestinian pregnant women, which in turn increased risks of complications at birth.

Asked about a recent NGO report on the deterioration of humanitarian conditions in Gaza, the Spokeswoman said that the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Secretary-General believe that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is dire and deteriorating.

Okabe said that OCHA cannot confirm that the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is "worse now than it has ever been since the start of the Israeli military occupation in 1967," as asserted in the NGO report. The United Nations has not been monitoring the situation since 1967 and so do not have the data, she said.

ISRAELI ARMY DID NOT CROSS BLUE LINE INTO LEBANON

Asked about media reports about activities by the Israel Defence Forces in Lebanon, the Spokeswoman said that the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) established in the vicinity of the village of Ghajjar that the Israeli forces did not cross the Blue Line, and there was no incursion or violation of the Blue Line.

Similarly, Okabe said, media reports about a shell impact inside Lebanese territory, in the general area of Kafer Chuba, were wrong and the explosion in that area was a result of a UNIFIL explosive ordnance disposal team detonating previously-unexploded ordnance at that location.

She added that UNIFIL is in contact with the parties, urging them to refrain from any action or unsubstantiated statements which may raise the tension and complicate the situation on the ground.

U.N. SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR IRAQ VISITS TURKEY

The Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Iraq, Staffan de Mistura, arrived in Ankara at the invitation of the Turkish authorities.

On 6 March, he held consultations with Ertugrul Apakan the Foreign Ministry Undersecretary, Murat Ozcelik, Special Envoy for Iraq, and Derya Kanbay, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to Iraq.

Both sides shared the view that the encouraging changes in the security situation in Iraq and the positive developments in the political process provide an opportunity to make 2008 a year of substantive progress in the country, although some serious challenges still remain.

SOLUTION TO STALEMATE BETWEEN GREEK AND TURKISH CYPRIOTS

WILL BOOST SECURITY FOR ALL

Speaking today at a conference in Nicosia, the Secretary-Generals Special Representative in Cyprus, Michael Moller,

said that the status quo in Cyprus is unacceptable and that a settlement is in the interest of all Cypriots and of the region.

But part of the difficulty of reaching a solution has been the inability to convey strongly enough the positive elements of what an agreement would mean for Cypriots daily lives, he said.

Moller said that a just settlement will mean increased security for the people of Cyprus, greater stability for the region, an increase in trade and provision of services, the creation of conditions that will allow culture and art to flourish, and the emergence of Cyprus as a model of peaceful coexistence.

ASSISTANCE BEGINS FOR AFGHANS HIT BY HIGH COST OF FOOD

The World Food Programme has

begun providing emergency food assistance to millions of Afghans who can no longer afford to buy wheat and wheat flour, which are staples of the Afghan diet. Between now and the middle of the year, WFP aims to reach 2.5 million people in both urban and rural areas of Afghanistan.

In and around the capital, Kabul, WFP will distribute wheat to 650,000 people, with beneficiaries including households headed by women, very large households with single-wage earners and the disabled.

The food distributions in Afghanistan come as the rise in global food prices, by 40 percent since last June, pushes basic foodstuffs out of the reach of poor people in many countries.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

ANNOUNCEMENT EXPECTED SOON FOR NEW SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR AFGHANISTAN: Asked about the appointment of a new Special Representative for Afghanistan, the Spokeswoman said there was nothing to announce yet. She noted that when envoys are appointed, the Secretary-General normally informs the Security Council of his intention to appoint someone, and the Council then responds.

HEAD OF PEACEKEEPING TELLS STAFF HE WILL BE LEAVING POST THIS YEAR: Asked about reports that Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guéhenno is departing, the Spokeswoman said that Guéhenno informed the personnel of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Field Services today that he will be leaving his post after the end of his contract in mid-2008.

SECRETARY-GENERAL MET SERBIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN GENEVA ON MONDAY: Asked whether the Secretary-General would meet with the Serbian Foreign Minister, who is visiting New York, the Spokeswoman noted that they had met each other earlier this week in Geneva.

UNDP INVITES NOMINATIONS FOR 2008 EQUATOR PRIZE: The UN Development Programme-led Equator Initiative has opened nominations for the 2008 Equator Prize. The biennial award honors outstanding community projects in countries within the Equatorial belt that reduce poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. The closing date for nominations is May 31st. The awards will be presented in October at the World Conservation Unions Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

U.N. EMPLOYEES WIN NEW YORK RUNNERS-OF-THE-YEAR AWARD: Two UN staffers are set to be honored tonight as Runners-of-the-year by the New York Road Runners Club. Stephanie Hodge, who works with the U.N. Environment Programme, and Kevin Shelton-Smith, from the Department of Field Services, are being recognized in the over-40 age group. The award honors their success in a variety of races in 2007, covering distances of up to 60 kilometers.

*The guests at the noon briefing were Rachel Mayanja, the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women; Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, Minister of Public Service and Administration of South Africa; and Inez Murray, Vice President for Technical Assistance and Programs at the Women's World Bank, to brief on the observance of the International Day for Women.

Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General

United Nations, S-378

New York, NY 10017

Tel. 212-963-7162

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