United Nations Daily Highlights, 10-03-15

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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 MARTIN NESIRKY

SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Monday, March 15, 2010

SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON TO HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE TOMORROW

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hold a press conference at 12:15 p.m. tomorrow at UN Headquarters, ahead of his travel to Moscow to attend the Quartet meeting and subsequent visit to the Middle East.

NEED TO KEEP SPIRIT OF SOLIDARITY WITH HAITI THROUGH DONORS CONFERENCE AND BEYOND

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon returned in the early hours of this morning from a visit yesterday to

Haiti, where he met with President René Préval and Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive in Port au Prince and visited a camp for displaced people in Petionville.

Speaking after his meeting with the President, the Secretary-General

praised the Haitian people for their courage and sense of solidarity in these difficult times. He said that, even though time has passed since the January earthquake, the world would not forget Haiti.

He noted that the revised

Flash Appeal for the year, totaling $1.4 billion, is 49 percent funded. The challenge, the Secretary-General said, is to maintain this spirit of solidarity with Haiti through the upcoming donors' conference and beyond.

He highlighted the progress made in supplying emergency food and water. Meanwhile, tents and tarpaulins have been supplied to approximately 60 percent of the 1.3 million people in need, with the aim of reaching everyone by the end of April.

PASSING OF DEPUTY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR TIMOR-LESTE MOURNED

The UN Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) expressed its sorrow at the untimely death of the Missions Deputy Special Representative, Takahisa Kawakami, who passed away overnight, of natural causes, at his residence in Dili.

Takahisa Kawakami, a Japanese national, had served as the Secretary-Generals Special Representative in Timor-Leste since September 2008. He had also served in UN missions in Afghanistan and Cambodia.

NEW U.N. ENVOY NOW IN AFGHANISTAN; EVACUATED STAFF RETURN TO KABUL

Staffan de Mistura has taken up his duties as the Secretary-Generals Special Representative for

Afghanistan,

arriving in that country on Saturday.

He said on his arrival in Kabul, Whatever the United Nations will be doing in Afghanistan will be done to assist both the stability and the socio-economic improvement of the Afghan people. That effort, he added, will be Afghan-led and Afghan-owned.

The

UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan also announced today that all UN staff who had moved temporarily to Dubai, following the attack on a guesthouse in Kabul last October, have now returned to resume their duties in Afghanistan.

PROPOSALS TO EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND FOR CHILEAN EARTHQUAKE AID BEING FINALIZED

The

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

says that three inter-agency teams composed of members from various UN programmes and partners such as the

World Food Programme, the

UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the European Union completed assessments of the needs for the regions Biobío and Maule in Chile last week.

The teams identified the following key needs: shelter; water and sanitation; education and epidemiological control and access to health services.

Based on the assessments and coordination meetings in-country, the UN agencies and partners are now finalizing the project proposals to apply to the

Central Emergency Response Fund from which the Secretary-General has authorized the release of up to $10 million.

PROGRESS ACHIEVED IN PROVIDING ACCESS TO WATER, BUT SANITATION STILL A MAJOR PROBLEM

The

World Health Organization and the

UN Childrens Fund have

released a new

report on the worlds progress in providing access to sanitation and drinking water.

In it, they say that with 87 per cent of the worlds population or approximately 5.9 billion people using safe drinking-water sources, the world is on track to meet or even exceed the drinking-water target of the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

However, with almost 39 per cent of the worlds population or over 2.6 billion people living without improved sanitation facilities, the report also points out that much more needs to be done to come close to the sanitation MDG target if the current trend continues unchanged, the international community will miss the 2015 sanitation goal by almost one billion people.

The report is aimed at policy-makers, donors, governments and NGOs to help their efforts to achieve the MDG goals.

QUARTET CONDEMNS ISRAELI PLAN FOR HOUSING UNITS IN EAST JERUSALEM

In response to questions, the Spokesperson noted that, in a statement issued last Friday, the Quartet

condemned Israels decision to advance planning for new housing units in

East Jerusalem.

The Quartet, which includes the

Secretary-General as a principal member, has agreed to closely monitor developments in Jerusalem and to keep under consideration additional steps that may be required to address the situation on the ground.

The Quartet will take full stock of the situation at its meeting in Moscow on 19 March. Nesirky added, in response to a question about the situation in Gaza, that the Quartet would consider all relevant topics at that meeting.

He added that the Quartet re-affirms that unilateral actions taken by either party cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations and will not be recognized by the international community.

SECRETARY-GENERAL CONSIDERING TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR ADVISORY PANEL OF EXPERTS ON SRI LANKA

Asked about the

Secretary-Generals stated intention to move ahead on a Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka, the Spokesperson said that the Secretary-General has not as yet appointed a Panel of Experts which would be asked to advise him on accountability issues as they might apply to

Sri Lanka.

He is still to consider such a panel's terms of reference and is in contact with his advisers, including the

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, on this.

No persons have been suggested to him as experts yet, Nesirky said. It is unlikely that such a panel will be actually established very soon.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE CONTINUES 98th SESSION: The

Human Rights Committee continues its

98th session at UN Headquarters today, starting the review of New Zealand's fifth periodic report under the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights this afternoon and tomorrow morning. Last week, the Committee reviewed reports from Argentina and Uzbekistan. At the end of next week, the Committee will brief the press on the outcomes of the session.

SECURITY COUNCIL TO DECIDE ON YUGOSLAVIA TRIBUNALS TIMELINE: Asked about the revised timeline for the completion of work by the

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the Spokesperson said that was a matter to be considered by the

Security Council. The

Secretary-General would not prejudge the Councils decisions on that matter.

REPORT THAT CHEF DE CABINET TRAVELED TO MYANMAR IS FALSE: Asked about a news report that Chef de Cabinet Vijay Nambiar had recently traveled to

Myanmar, the Spokesperson said that Nambiar had told him that the report was false.

U.N. MISSION IN SUDAN HAS EXPLAINED BALLOT PRINTING ISSUE: Asked about the printing of ballots for

Sudans elections, the Spokesperson noted that the

UN Mission in Sudan had issued a press release explaining its position on the matter.

Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General

United Nations, S-378

New York, NY 10017

Tel. 212-963-7162

Fax. 212-963-7055

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