BY MICHELE MONTAS
SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Friday, November 30, 2007

BAN KI-MOON CONVENES HIV/AIDS ORIENTATION SESSION
FOR TOP U.N. OFFICIALS

• Today is the eve of World AIDS Day.

• As part of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's efforts to ensure the United Nations becomes a model workplace in responding to HIV and AIDS, he is convening an orientation session on HIV in the UN workplace for all Under-Secretaries-General and Assistant Secretaries-General based in the Secretariat, as well as the Executive Heads of New York-based agencies.

• The session will be facilitated by one of the UN's coordinators on HIV in the UN workplace. The Secretary-General hopes the session will provide him and his senior leaders with important lessons and messages, while helping them set an example as managers and colleagues.

• Orientation sessions on HIV in the UN workplace have been offered to UN staff on a voluntary basis for several years, but are now becoming mandatory for all employees both at Headquarters and in the field. The sessions cover essential information about transmission, prevention, stigma and discrimination, care and treatment, as well as UN policies, initiatives and services. 

• This evening, the Secretary-General will speak at a World AIDS Day observance at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in Manhattan. His remarks will focus on the need for leadership by Governments and individuals alike in working for universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support. He will note that whatever our role in life, wherever we may live, in some way or another, we all live with HIV. We are all affected by it. We all need to take responsibility for the response.

• High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour has also issued a statement. She says that achieving universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support by 2010 is a truly ambitious goal.  But it is also a human right.  

U.N. ENVOY CONDEMNS CLOSURE OF MYANMAR HIV/AIDS HOSPICE

• The Secretary-General’s Special Advisor, Ibrahim Gambari, today in Phnom Penh, Cambodia gave a press conference where he denounced the latest closure in Myanmar of a monastery used as hospice for HIV/AIDS patients.

• Gambari said that “any action that runs counter to the spirit of national reconciliation in an all-inclusive manner, any action that will inflame passions, any actions that will undermine the dialogue between the Government and those who disagree with the policies of the Government should be avoided.”

• He stressed that the United Nations has called repeatedly for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.

• Gambari has now arrived in Vientiane and will meet the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Laos tomorrow. This will be the last stop of his three-nation consultations with regional leaders. 

• Asked whether the Secretary-General would bring up Myanmar in his discussions with other leaders at the climate change summit in Bali, Indonesia, next month, the Spokeswoman said that Myanmar would be on the agenda of his bilateral discussions in Bali.

SECURITY COUNCIL DISCUSSES MIDDLE EAST

• The Security Council held an open meeting this morning on the Middle East, including the Palestinian question. 

• Briefing Council members, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe said that, three days ago, the most significant breakthrough in the peace process in several years was achieved at the Annapolis conference. 

• But although we have much reason to be hopeful, we must not close our eyes to the difficulties on the ground, he added. Violence continues to plague both Palestinians and Israelis. He also said the humanitarian situation, particularly in Gaza, continues to be a source of acute concern – and one that the Secretary-General has raised strongly.

• On Lebanon, Pascoe noted that extensive diplomatic efforts aiming to mediate between the parties are ongoing, aimed at bridging the political divide.

• Concluding his remarks, Pascoe said that, for 60 years, the Israeli state has feared for its survival and the survival of its people. Meanwhile, during that same period, the Palestinian people have wandered and suffered in search of a state. It is time for the Palestinians to have a home of their own, he said. It is also time for the Israelis to feel at peace in their home. The time to act is now.

• The Security Council then went into closed consultations on the Middle East.

• Asked about the UN role in following up on the Annapolis meeting’s results, the Spokeswoman noted that the United Nations is playing a role in the process largely through its involvement in the Middle East Quartet. She added that, in addition to the upcoming Quartet meeting, the Secretary-General would attend a meeting taking place in Paris on 17 December concerning assistance to the Palestinians.

SECURITY COUNCIL DELEGATION WRAPS UP TIMOR-LESTE VISIT

• The Security Council concluded its four-day visit to Timor-Leste, having met with a wide variety of Timorese actors across the country and having gained a first hand view of the challenges facing the country. 

• [Today, they visited the "Hospital IDP camp" and met with leaders from the five main camps housing displaced persons in Dili to get a better understanding of the challenges facing those who are displaced as well as to help identify ways to facilitate their return home. The delegation also met with the U.N. and national police, the Secretary of State for Security, the Chief of the Falintil-Forca de Defensa de Timor-Leste (F-FDTL), the Deputy Prosecutor-General and the Provedor for Human Rights. 

• In the meeting with police, the delegation emphasized the importance of a well-trained police force for the development of Timor-Leste.  It also pledged the U.N.'s continued support towards strengthening and rehabilitating the national police to provide necessary skills to take over Timor’s policing responsibilities.] 

• The delegation wrapped up its last day with a press conference where the Head of Delegation, Ambassador Kumalo, thanked the authorities, people and staff of the United Nations, stating that there will be continued international support for the UN on the ground in Timor-Leste. 

• The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Timor-Leste, Atul Khare said the visit expresses the strong support that the international community has for the ongoing work in Timor-Leste and that the country is still a priority for assistance.

U.N. MISSION IN LEBANON PROTESTS ISRAELI OVERFLIGHTS

• The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has observed a significant number of Israeli overflights in the past few days. UNIFIL has reported these violations to the UN Security Council through the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. 

• The Force Commander in Lebanon, Gen. Claudio Graziano, also raised this matter with the Israeli army command, expressing his serious concern and asking them to cease these violations.

BURUNDI PEACE REMAINS FRAGILE AS RIGHTS VIOLATIONS PERSIST

• The peace consolidation process in Burundi has passed through a difficult period in the past six months, the Secretary-General says in his most recent report on the activities of the UN Integrated Office in Burundi (BINUB). 

• He says that the political crises and institutional paralysis, along with the blockage in the peace process, underscore the fragility of the situation and the continued need for vigilance.

• The deterioration of the overall security situation and the continued human rights violations are of particular concern, he says.

• The Secretary-General adds that he feels that the Office should play a more robust role in support of the peace process between the Government and FNL (Palipehutu-Forces Nationales de Liberation), in full coordination with regional and international partners and in accordance with its mandate.

UNITED NATIONS WELCOMES STEPS TO END COTE D’IVOIRE CRISIS

• The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Cote d’Ivoire, Young-jin Choi, and the UN Operation there have welcomed the signing of supplementary agreements to the Ougadougou Peace Agreement between the government and rebel forces. 

• The latest agreements aim to firmly end the political and military crisis and realize the holding of general elections before June 2008.

• In a statement, the UN Operation in Cote d’Ivoire has pledged to support the parties in implementing the provisions of the peace agreement.

• ONUCI, as the UN Mission in known, also said that Special Representative Choi was in Ouagadougou yesterday for consultations with the Facilitator of the Ivorian peace talks, Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaoré.

TOP HUMANITARIAN OFFICIALS VISITS SOUTH DARFUR

• Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes has arrived in South Darfur.  

• Today, he met with internally displaced persons in Ed Daein camp, which is home to some 50,000 people.

• He noted the frustration of those who had been living there for, in some cases, more than three years.  He added that everyone he spoke to expressed the desire to go home, but only when it is safe to do so and the necessary services are in place.  

• Holmes also met with aid workers, who brought up continuing challenges concerning access and the safety of staff, including car hijackings, assault and harassment. 

• Tomorrow, Holmes travels to El-Fasher in North Darfur.

CHILDREN IN CYCLONE-HIT BANGLADESH AT RISK OF MALNUTRITION

• The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today sounded the alarm bell about an estimated 300,000 children under the age of five who are living throughout the Bangladesh cyclone disaster zone in makeshift camps with their families, surviving on meagre food and water, without proper shelter or access to basic amenities. 

• If these children were not fed micronutrients quickly and were not protected by vitamins and iron, and if diarrhoeal diseases spread, then the children would die, it warned. 

• Starting tomorrow, UNICEF announced it would start a massive distribution of high-energy biscuits and family kits to children under three years of age and to pregnant women. The distribution will be carried out jointly with the World Food Programme and Save the Children and local non-governmental organizations.

UNICEF DENOUNCES ABDUCTIONS/KILLINGS OF CHILDREN IN HAITI

• UNICEF today condemned the kidnappings and assassinations carried out against children in recent weeks in Haiti.

• It notes that, according to local authorities, there have been at least 11 such kidnappings in November alone. A few days ago, the mutilated body of a seven-year-old boy was found, two weeks after he was kidnapped in the city of Cabaret, north of Port-au-Prince. His family had been unable to pay the ransom of nearly $700.

• It also called on the Haitian authorities to do everything to ensure the protection of children and to ensure that the culprits were brought to justice. 

W.H.O. COORDINATES RESPONSE TO NEW STRAIN OF EBOLA IN UGANDA

• The World Health Organization (WHO) is helping to coordinate the response to a new Ebola outbreak in western Uganda. 

• The agency says it is “very concerned” since the Ebola strain in question is different from past ones and poses a new challenge.

• WHO reports that there have been more than 50 suspected cases in this outbreak, including 16 deaths.

STATE PARTIES TO INT’L CRIMINAL COURT GATHER IN NEW YORK

• Today is the start of the sixth session of the Assembly of State Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

• This is the second time the ICC is holding its Assembly of State Parties at UN Headquarters, the first one having taken place in 2002. 

• In his address to the delegates at the two-week long Assembly, ICC President Philippe Kirsch said that, with 105 State Parties today, the Court is half the way to its eventual goal of universal ratification of the Rome Statute. 

• An independent institution, the ICC was formally launched in 2002 after a worldwide ratification campaign, which saw the Rome Statute take effect only 4 years after it was adopted. 

• The International Criminal Court was established by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, so called because it was adopted in Rome, Italy on 17 July 1998 by the United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

BAN KI-MOON APPEALS FOR PROTECTION OF AFGHAN CIVILIANS: Asked what the United Nations is doing to deal with civilian deaths in Afghanistan, the Spokeswoman said that the Secretary-General has repeatedly raised the issue, including in a high-level conference on Afghanistan in September, and has appealed to the relevant authorities to take measures to spare civilian lives.

BAN KI-MOON TO STUDY ANTI-PIRACY RECOMMENDATIONS: Asked about the International Maritime Organization’s call on the Secretary-General to convene a meeting of countries with technical expertise on piracy issues, the Spokeswoman said that the Secretary-General would listen to the Organization’s recommendations and follow up on them.

KOSOVO STATUS REPORT EXPECTED BY DECEMBER 10^TH: Asked whether the Kosovo problem can be resolved, the Spokeswoman said that the Secretary-General was waiting for a report from the troika by 10 December, which he would transmit to the Security Council, which is actively involved on that matter. She noted that the Secretary-General had discussed Kosovo, among other topics, with EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana earlier this week.

THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS

Saturday, December 1

Today is World AIDS Day.

Today is the first day of Italy’s presidency of the Security Council.

Under-Secretary-General John Holmes continues his visit to Darfur.  Tomorrow he travels to Nairobi, where he concludes his three-country mission to Africa on Monday.

Sunday, December 2

Today is the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery.

Monday, December 3

The 13^th U.N. Climate Change Conference opens today in Bali, Indonesia.  Through 14 December, representatives from more than 180 countries, as well as observers from intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, will begin negotiations on a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol. (The Secretary-General plans to attend the conference from 12-14 December.)

All day in Conference Room 1, the Security Council Ad Hoc Working Group on Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Africa holds an open seminar on “An effective global conflict prevention strategy in Africa, the role of the Security Council”.

From 10 a.m. to 12 noon in the Economic and Social Council Chamber, UNRWA will hold an interactive briefing on “The plight of Palestinian refugees in the Middle East”

Today is the International Day of Disabled Persons.  At 11.15 a.m. in Room S-226, there will be a press conference by Chris Sullivan, Vice President of Merrill Lynch, and Judy Young, Vice President of the National Business and Disability Council, who will brief on dispelling the myth that persons with disabilities are unable to work. From 1.15 to 2.30 p.m. in Conference Room 4, there will be a panel discussion on “Decent work for persons with disabilities”.

Through Wednesday, High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour travels to Brasilia, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, to discuss the human rights situation in Brazil.

The Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Greece-FYROM talks, Matthew Nimetz, meets with Government officials in Skopje today, in connection with ongoing talks relating to the FYROM “name” issue. 

In Vienna, the U.N. Industrial Development Organization opens its weeklong General Conference.

Tuesday, December 4

Following the noon briefing in Room S-226, the Permanent Representative of Italy to the UN, Marcello Spatafora, will brief, in his capacity as the President of the Security Council for December, on the Council’s programme of work for the month.

From 1.15 to 2.30 p.m. in Conference Room 8, there will be a panel discussion on “From the United States to Africa to the Caribbean: Women at the front of the AIDS crisis”.

The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Darfur, Jan Eliasson, and his African Union counterpart, Salim Ahmed Salim, are meeting with regional partners in Egypt to discuss the situation in Darfur. 

Wednesday, December 5

This afternoon, the General Assembly is scheduled to take up the report of its First Committee.

The guest at noon is Robert Orr, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Strategic Planning, who will brief on the outcome of the informal General Assembly review on implementing the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.

At 1.15 p.m. in Room S-226, there will be a press conference by Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), following his meeting with the Security Council on the latest ICC report on Darfur.  

The Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Greece-FYROM talks, Matthew Nimetz, meets with Government officials in Athens today, in connection with ongoing talks relating to the FYROM “name” issue.

Today is the International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development.

Thursday, December 6

This morning, the General Assembly Plenary is scheduled to take up the following three agenda items:  the implementation of U.N. resolutions, the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, and cooperation between the U.N. and the Eurasian Economic Community.  In the afternoon, the Plenary is scheduled to discuss the Follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit.

At 1.15 p.m. in Room S-226, Joseph Stiglitz, President of the Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia University; Jagdish Bhagwati, Senior Fellow in International Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations at Columbia University; and Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, are scheduled to hold a dialogue on development.

From 1.15 to 2.45 p.m. in Conference Room 7, there will be an informal briefing on “The Feminization of HIV:  Do macroeconomic policies matter?”

In London, The World Health Organization launches “make medicines child size”, a new initiative aimed at increasing children's access to safe and effective medicines.

Friday, December 7

At Greentree in Manhasset, New York, Kieran Prendergast, the Chairman of the follow-up committee on the implementation of the Greentree Agreement between Nigeria and Cameroon on the transfer of authority in the Bakassi Peninsula, chairs a meeting between the parties.

Today is International Civil Aviation Day.

Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General
United Nations, S-378
New York, NY 10017
Tel. 212-963-7162
Fax. 212-963-7055

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~