United Nations Daily Highlights, 04-07-12

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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 MARIE OKABE

ASSOCIATE SPOKESMAN FOR THE

SECRETARY-GENERAL

OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Monday, July 12, 2004

ANNAN NAMES SENIOR PAKISTANI DIPLOMAT AS U.N. ENVOY IN IRAQ

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has informed the Security Council of his intention to appoint Ambassador Ashraf Jehangir Qazi of Pakistan as his Special Representative for

Iraq.

The Secretary-General reviewed a number of candidates, and considered a short-list of three highly qualified persons, the other two being Mr. Surin Pitsuwan, former Foreign Minister of Thailand, and Mr. Salman Haidar, former Foreign Secretary of India.

After extensive consultations, the Secretary-General selected Mr. Qazi, who currently serves as the Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States.

Mr. Qazi has had a distinguished career in Pakistans foreign service, and has previously served as Ambassador to Syria, the German Democratic Republic, the former Soviet Union and then the Russian Federation, the Peoples Republic of China, and as High Commissioner to India. Mr. Qazi was born on 2 April 1942.

Asked when the Special Representative would go to Iraq, the Spokeswoman said that President Pervez Musharraf had agreed to release Qazi from his responsibilities as Ambassador very quickly.

After that first step, she said, Qazi should be in position in the next week or two to come to New York for debriefing and consultations. She added she could not yet give a timetable for when he would be deployed in Baghdad.

She noted that the Secretary-General had stressed that he was appointing a Special Representative who would be based in Baghdad, to handle the political and humanitarian tasks needed in Iraq.

Asked about whether it was safe for UN international staff to return to Baghdad, the Spokeswoman said that the United Nations was monitoring the security situation, to determine whether circumstances would permit the return of staff. Among the considerations being examined was whether sufficient security for UN personnel would be provided.

On that issue, she confirmed, in response to another question, that Pakistan was among the countries that had discussed with the United Nations and the United States the possibility of providing its forces to protect UN personnel.

Asked how the appointment was made, the Spokeswoman said the United Nations did not discuss specific reasons for appointments, and added that the Secretary-General had felt that he had three highly qualified candidates. After intensive discussions, a decision was made.

CHILEAN DIPLOMAT NAMED AS SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR HAITI

The Secretary-General has informed the Security Council of his intention to appoint Juan Gabriel Valdes of Chile, as his

Special Representative and Head of the UN Mission in Haiti.

Valdes, a former Permanent Representative to the United Nations for Chile, is currently serving as Chile's Ambassador to Argentina.

He has also served as his countrys foreign minister.

ANNAN APPOINTS FIRST U.N. ADVISOR ON PREVENTION OF GENOCIDE

The Secretary-General today informed the Security Council of his intention to appoint Juan Méndez of Argentina as his first Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide.

As the Secretary-General

made clear this year, he set up the post of Special Adviser to collect existing information on massive and serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law of ethnic and racial origin, that could lead to genocide.

The Special Adviser would act as an early warning mechanism to the Secretary-General and Security Council to bring to their attention potential situations that could result in genocide, and make recommendations to the Council on how to prevent genocide.

Juan Méndez is currently President of the International Center for Transitional Justice. He previously worked for 15 years for Human Rights Watch, concentrating on human rights issues in the Western hemisphere.

ANNAN CALLS FOR STRONGER LEADERSHIP TO FIGHT AIDS

The Secretary-General

opened on Sunday evening the 15th

International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, saying that the world is not on track to begin reducing the scale and impact of AIDS by 2005. He urged leaders to scale up infrastructure to support both treatment and prevention; to empower women and girls to protect themselves against the virus; and to provide stronger leadership at every level to fight the disease.

Earlier in the day, he

told the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Meeting on HIV/AIDS that AIDS is far more than a health crisis, but is a threat to social and economic development as a whole.

Today, the Secretary-General conferred with his regional special envoys dealing with AIDS and also met with the Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

He also visited the UN Building in Bangkok and met with staff there, telling them that the United Nations has a future if it adapts and changes, and adding about the UNs future, If I were a doctor, I would say you are in reasonably good health but you must remain active and exercise.

The Secretary-General and Nane Annan visited an AIDS ward and talked with several patients there, accompanied by the Thai Health Minister.

The Secretary-General has also held several bilateral meetings with foreign ministers while in Bangkok. Sunday, he met with the foreign ministers of Australia, Timor-Leste and Thailand. He also spoke to reporters.

In a statement issued in

Bangkok on Sunday, the Secretary-General strongly condemned the terrorist attack that took place this morning in Tel Aviv. He sent his sincere sympathy and condolences to the Government of Israel and to the families of the victims. "No cause whatsoever can justify terrorism," the statement said. "In this connection, the Secretary-General urges the Palestinian Authority to do everything possible to end terror."

NANE ANNAN VISITS CENTER FOR VICTIMS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING

In a separate program, Nane Annan visited a center housing 550 girls and women who have been trafficked from within Thailand and surrounding countries. She spoke with them as they demonstrated vocational skills they had learnt at the centre, such as cooking, fruit carving, painting, basket-weaving, foot massage and dancing.

Mrs. Annan encouraged the young women to focus on developing their skills and education so as to enable them to be strong and stand up for themselves.

The Kredtrakarn Protection and Occupational Development Centre also provides shelter, food and medical care, as well as psychosocial rehabilitation, family tracing and repatriation. It is supported by the United Nations Inter-Agency Programme on Human Trafficking for the Greater Mekong Area.

UN REPORTS PROGRESS ON HUMANITARIAN ACCESS IN DARFUR

Since the United Nations and the Government of Sudan signed their recent joint communiqué, progress has been reported in humanitarian access, according to the

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

As promised by the Sudanese Government, the situation concerning visa restrictions and limitations on movement has improved, and the import of humanitarian supplies, vehicles and communications equipment, has been made easier.

However, local government authorities in North and West Darfur are still requiring travel permits.

Also, although more Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) have been going to Darfur, the Sudanese Governments 90-day registration plan is discouraging NGOs from building up large asset bases, since it is possible that their permits might not be extended.

Security around current Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) settlements remains worrisome as the decreasing supply of firewood around IDP camps has forced women to venture further out to collect it.

Over the past week, a number of rapes and gang rapes were reported. The Sudanese Government has supplied police outside some settlements, but vastly increased numbers are needed.

Despite Government encouragement of IDPs to voluntarily relocate and return to their areas of origin, the vast majority of the IDP population has maintained that they are not ready to move until increased security is provided at their return locations.

ANNAN UPDATES SECURITY COUNCIL ON WORK OF IRAQ MONITORING BOARD

In a

letter to the Security Council, the Secretary-General forwarded an update on the work of the International Advisory and Monitoring Board for Iraq. (IAMB)

The IAMB was created last year by resolution 1483 as an audit oversight body for the Development Fund for Iraq which holds the proceeds of petroleum export sales from Iraq, as well as remaining balances from the UN Oil-for-Food Program and other frozen Iraqi funds.

The update reviews the work of the Board to date. It also outlines a number of areas of concerns in the way the Coalition Provisional Authority has managed the fund. These concerns rose as a result of the work of the international auditing firm of KPMG, which was hired by the Board.

Those areas include controls over the extraction of oil, bartering and the awarding of sole sourced contracts.

The IAMB expects to receive in mid-July the final audit covering the period from its inception through December 31st, 2003. The audit for the first six months of this year will be received in September. The audits will be made public.

U.N. MIDDLE EAST ENVOY CONDEMNS KILLING OF PALESTINIAN CIVILIANS

[In statement released in Jerusalem, the UN Special Co-ordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Terje Roed Larsen condemns the killing of Palestinian civilians that had taken place in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip over the past few days.

Larsen is particularly disturbed by the killing of 70 year old wheelchair bound Mahmoud Halfalla in Khan Yunis this morning. He sends his sincere sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and calls on the Government of Israel to abide by its obligation under international humanitarian law to avoid the use of disproportionate force in densely populated areas and to protect the civilian population.]

On Tuesday, the

Security Council has scheduled an open briefing, followed by consultations on the

Middle East. Larsen is expected to brief the Council on recent developments.

U.N. AGENCIES TO REBUILD HOUSING IN GAZA

Two UN agencies and the Palestinian Authority yesterday signed an agreement that will pave the way for the UN to build replacement homes in Rafah in the Gaza. These will be built on land donated by the Palestinian Authority.

Funding for the project, run by the

UN Relief Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and the UN Development Programme, was contingent on the Palestinian Authority donating the land.

Peter Hansen, UNRWA's Commissioner-General said this agreement now allows his agencies to move on quickly to the most important task in hand - that of translating the concern of the international community for the people of Rafah into bricks and mortar.

According to UNRWA, over 22,000 people have lost their homes to Israeli demolitions in the Gaza Strip, since the beginning of the current strife. Almost three quarters, over 15,000 people, are those who have lost their homes in Rafah.

U.N. ENVOY IN AFGHANISTAN OUTLINES CHALLENGES IN HOLDING ELECTIONS

The head of the

UN Mission in Afghanistan, Jean Arnault, told the press in Kabul yesterday that many things have to be done before the October 9 elections for President, and next Aprils legislative and local elections.

Among the tasks still to be done are the setting of district boundaries and, prior to the April elections, the preparation of credible population figures for all districts and provinces.

Noting the Sunday attack in Herat, in which at least four female registration officers were killed, Arnault stressed, The time for the arrival of the international forces is now, not in four months from now.

REFUGEE FLOW FROM DR CONGO HAS SLOWED

In Burundi, continued fighting between the Burundian Army and anti-Government forces has displaced tens of thousands of civilians. Near Bujumbura, cases of severe malnutrition among IDPs are increasing.

Meanwhile, the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that the refugee flow from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to Burundi has slowed considerably. That was accompanied by an increase in unfacilitated returns to the DRC. However, UNHCR notes that while calm had been returning to eastern DR Congo, conditions arent yet suitable to begin facilitated repatriations.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS:

SECURITY COUNCIL: There are no meetings or consultations of the

Security Council scheduled for today. The Security Councils

report on its recent mission to West Africa was published today. The mission led by British Ambassador to the United Nations, Emyr Jones Parry, visited Ghana, Cote dIvoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau and Guinea. It focused on issues such as the link between security and development and importance of an active approach to conflict prevention.

COTE DIVOIRE: The UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) reports that the majority of towns and villages in Cote dIvoire lack safe drinking water. This is due to the overexploitation of existing infrastructures, insufficient production capacity in urban areas, and maintenance difficulties due to lack of spare parts and personnel

SPAM: The

International Telecommunication Union ended its meeting last week on ways to fight unsolicited commercial email also known as SPAM with general agreement that there is no silver bullet to curb the problem. The Geneva meeting was designed to launch a global effort that can ultimately lead to the eradication of spam. There a large consensus on the need to adopt a multi-track approach incorporating strong legislation combined with technical solutions, consumer education, industry self-regulation and international cooperation. The meeting was part of preparations for the second phase of the

World Summit on the Information Society.

MINES: This coming Thursday, the

UN Mine Action Service is sponsoring a panel discussion on goals and expected outcomes of the upcoming

Nairobi Summit for a Mine Free World, which will bring together world leaders, top UN officials, and key players in the movement to ban landmines on the fifth anniversary of the entry into force of the Ottawa Convention on antipersonnel mine-ban treaty.

Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

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Fax. 212-963-7055

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