HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPOKESMAN'S NOON BRIEFING
BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC
SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
UN HEADQUARTERS,
NEW YORK
Thursday,
January 12, 2006
PANEL TO REVIEW
U.N. ADMINISTRATIVE JUSTICE
Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed a panel of
external and independent experts to explore ways to redesign the system of
administration of justice at the United Nations.
The establishment of the Redesign Panel responds to a
request by the General Assembly. It builds on recently announced initiatives
such as the creation of the ethics office, the promulgation of a whistleblower
protection policy, and the introduction of more rigorous financial disclosure
requirements for senior officials, and is a major part of current efforts to
strengthen accountability, increase transparency and improve management reform
at the United Nations.
The Secretary-General has long felt that the current
system of administrative justice has serious shortcomings, in particularly its
slowness, and needs to be modernized and professionalized.
“The reform of the United Nations will be incomplete if
we do not fix the internal system of justice,” the Secretary-General says.
“Staff must have recourse to a system that is efficient and fair.”
The Panel is expected to start work by 1 February 2006
and submit its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly by the end
of July 2006.
SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES WORK ON
PREVENTION OF GENOCIDE
Fifty-five years
ago, on this day, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime
of Genocide entered into force. Ever since, it has embodied the United
Nation’s aspiration to prevent massive and serious violations of human rights
and humanitarian law.
Last year, at the
2005 World Summit, world leaders collectively affirmed the responsibility of
each individual State to protect its population from genocide, war crimes,
ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. Today, as we recall our
collective failures in places like Rwanda and Srebrenica, it remains my hope
that we may never again be found wanting where so many lives hang in the
balance.
That is why I
encourage Member States and non-governmental organizations to work with
the United Nations, and with my
Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, to develop the
Organizations’ capacity to provide early warning of potential genocidal
situations. Simultaneously, the international community's capacity for
preventive action must be strengthened, as should its ability to take timely
and decisive measures in the face of serious human rights violations that may
degenerate into genocide.
SECRETARY-GENERAL AND SECURITY COUNCIL DISCUSS DARFUR
There are no meetings or consultations of the
Security Council scheduled for today, but members are having their monthly
lunch with the Secretary-General.
The Secretary-General is expected to discuss Darfur with
Council members and briefed
reporters on those discussions following the luncheon.
ANNAN SPOKE WITH IRANIAN NUCLEAR
NEGOTIATOR
The Secretary-General spoke to the Iranian nuclear
negotiator Ali Larijani for over 40 minutes on the latest developments.
The Secretary-General will be giving you more details
when he speaks to you after the Council luncheon.
U.N. ENVOY TO IRAQ CONDEMNS LATEST
VIOLENCE
Ashraf Qazi, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for
Iraq, today condemned the upsurge of violence since last month’s
elections, notably in the cities of Baghdad and Karbala.
He said that much of the violence appears to be
politically motivated and calculated to provoke further inter-communal strife.
Qazi commended the calls of spiritual and community leaders, as well as of
ordinary Iraqis, for an end to the violence.
He added that it is also important that “the formation of
a new government proceed in an atmosphere free of intimidation.”
U.N. MISSION
IN HAITI SAYS DEATH OF COMMANDER WAS SUICIDE
The
UN Mission in Haiti says that suicide was the official cause of the death
of Lieutenant-General Urano Teixeira Da Matta Bacellar, the late Force
Commander for UN peacekeepers in the Caribbean nation.
That was also the conclusion of the Brazilian
investigation.
SOUTH AFRICA TO LEAD THE G-77
Later this afternoon, we expect that South Africa will
assume the chairmanship of the
Group of 77 coalition of developing nations for the coming year, replacing
Jamaica.
The Secretary-General will speak at that handover, and he
is to call on the Group of 77 members to redouble their efforts for an early
agreement on a new Human Rights Council, as well as to move ahead on UN
management reforms.
He is to say that tremendous work lies ahead, with the
disappointing outcome of last month’s trade talks in Hong Kong illustrating
that agreement on difficult and contentious issues does not come easily.
MEMBER STATES ‘KICK OFF’ 2006
HUMANITARIAN FUNDING
As a follow-up to the Humanitarian Appeal 2006, which the
Secretary-General launched last November, Member States
gathered in Geneva today to state their humanitarian priorities as well as
their funding intentions for 2006.
Called the “Programme Kick-off,” the event marked the
start of the new funding cycle and highlighted the
need for donations, so that this year’s humanitarian programmes could get up
and running as soon as possible.
High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres, who was
a key speaker at today’s meeting, said that humanitarian aid should not depend
on strategic considerations or public opinion. Rather, it should be
distributed fairly.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE PREPARES
SMALL ARMS CONFERENCE
A
General Assembly committee meeting has been going on all this week on the
prevention of the illicit spread of small arms.
The meeting is in preparation for a conference to be held
in New York starting June 27th to review progress on small arms
work, worldwide, over the past five years.
In the opening session
Nobuyasu Abe, the Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs warned
delegates that the problem is a long term one.
He
said while significant progress had been made in combating the illicit
small arms scourge, those weapons remained a massive problem, killing, maiming
and threatening individuals daily.
U.N.
ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME ISSUES REPORT ON CHINA RIVER POLLUTION
Last month, we told you that a
team from the
UN Environment Programme (UNEP) had gone to China following the chemical
explosion that led to pollution of the Songhua River.
That team’s
report is now available. Among other things, it
recommends that China conduct a risk assessment of a random sample of
Chinese chemical factories in order to strengthen safety-related procedures,
minimize the risk of accidents, and improve the handling of accidents if they
do occur.
The report also suggests that
China boost the coordination of local communities to reduce the risk of
industrial accidents.
UNEP stands ready to help the
Chinese authorities to implement the recommendations, and both the Chinese
Government and UNEP have agreed to share the report with the relevant Russian
authorities.
URGENT HELP NEEDED IN EAST AFRICA DROUGHT
The
UN Environment Programme
says urgent action is needed to overcome the drought which is spreading
across parts of East Africa, and threatens misery for millions alongside
livelihoods and livestock.
There are many causes of the
drought and these range from issues of good governance to tensions and
conflicts in water-scarce regions, but the drought also has strong links with
ongoing environmental damage to forests, grasslands, wetlands and other
critical ecosystems as well as global climate change.
UNEP is urging countries in the
region to invest in and rehabilitate their “natural or nature capital” in
order to buffer vulnerable communities against future droughts.
U.N. DOCUMENTS TO BE PRINTED IN BRAILLE
The United Nations will be able
for the first time to
print material in Braille thanks to the donation of a state-of-the-art
printer by the non-profit organization Services for the Visually Impaired, in
collaboration with the World Blind Union.
The printer was today handed
over to Ambassador Don MacKay of New Zealand, the Chairman of the Ad-Hoc
Committee on a convention on the rights of persons with disabilities.
It will be immediately used at
the seventh session of the General Assembly Ad Hoc Committee on a
Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on Protection and
Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities, which is
meeting at the United Nations from 16 January to 3 February.
GENERAL
ASSEMBLY MAKING PROGRESS ON HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
According to the
General Assembly, informal consultations on the
Human Rights Council yesterday produced encouraging results, and they
concluded on a very positive note.
Member States -- a considerable
number of which were represented at the Permanent or Deputy Permanent
Representative level -- agreed that the basis for further discussions would be
the 19 December text presented by the Co-Chairs of the consultations, of South
Africa and Panama.
It was also agreed that several
items in the text presented in bold face would be addressed as a priority.
These items relate to the size and membership of the future Council, as well
as method of adoption of country-specific resolutions.
They will now proceed to hold
consultations with individual member states or small groups of states, and
informal consultations of the plenary will resume subsequently, at a date to
be determined.
General Assembly President Jan Eliasson will take part this afternoon in the
ceremony to mark the formal handover of the chairmanship of the Group of 77
from Jamaica to South Africa.
Asked about several proposals for the reformed Human
Rights Council, the Spokesman said that the UN Secretariat would not comment
on the details of those proposals or insert itself into the negotiations
currently underway among Member States.
He noted that the
Secretary-General had put forward his vision of the Human Rights Council in
his In Larger Freedom report, and that heads of state and government had
committed themselves to establishing a Council last year, with Member States
now working on the details.
OTHER
ANNOUNCEMENTS
MURDER OF INDIAN JOURNALIST
CONDEMNED: The UN
Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today
condemned the murder last week in India of reporter Prahlad Goala. UNESCO
Director General
Koïchiro Matsuura said, “This killing must be considered a heinous crime
against society as a whole.” Goala’s murder follows on the publication of a
series of articles in which he linked local forestry officials to timber
smuggling.
UNITED NATIONS COOPERATING WITH INVESTIGATIONS:
Asked about the UN response to the arrest of Tongsun Park, the Spokesman said
that the UN has been cooperating, and continues to cooperate, with the U.S.
Attorney for the Southern District of New York, as it has done with a number of
law enforcement officials around the world. He added that the United Nations
would do its utmost to cooperate as requested.
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