ɫ��TV

SECRETARY-GENERAL TO CHAIR INTERNATIONAL MEETING ON LIBYA NEXT WEEK

• In an effort to coordinate the international response on Libya, the Secretary-General will chair a meeting of concerned international and regional organizations to be held at the League of Arab States Headquarters in Cairo on Thursday, 14 April 2011.
  

• The Secretary-General thanked the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Mr. Amre Moussa, for agreeing to provide the venue for the meeting. Apart from Amre Moussa, the leaders scheduled to participate in the meeting include: Jean Ping, Chairman of the Commission of the African Union; Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Conference; and Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
  

• The objective of the meeting will be to exchange views and enhance coordination among the participating organizations in addressing the current crisis in Libya.
  

• Also, next Tuesday in Doha, the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, B. Lynn Pascoe, and the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Libya, Abdul Ilah Al-Khatib, will represent the United Nations at the first meeting of the Libya Contact Group. The delegation will also include representatives of the UN Development Programme and Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
  

• The Libya Contact Group was established at the London Conference on Libya of 31 March 2011.

SECRETARY-GENERAL MEETS WITH ISRAELI PRESIDENT IN NEW YORK; CONDEMNS ROCKET FIRE FROM GAZA

• The Secretary-General and Israeli President Shimon Peres discussed the worrying impasse in the Middle East peace process and the urgent need for a way forward, in a meeting this morning.
  

• The Secretary-General repeated his condemnation of militant rocket fire from Gaza, and expressed his serious concern about Palestinian civilian casualties in Israeli military operations. He called for maximum restraint.
  

• The Spokesperson’s Office on Thursday night put out a statement in which the Secretary-General condemned the recent rocket fire from Palestinian militants, which hit a school bus and injured two Israeli civilians He calls for an immediate end to rocket fire.
  

• The Secretary-General is also concerned at reports of civilian casualties from Israeli operations in Gaza and calls for maximum restraint.
  

• The Secretary-General and President Peres also discussed the Goldstone report and regional developments.

U.N. RIGHTS INVESTIGATORS FIND MORE BODIES IN WESTERN COTE D’IVOIRE

• On Côte d’Ivoire, the Office for the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) says that the Human Rights teams investigating reports of killings and other human rights violations in the west of the country have found more than a hundred bodies over the past 24 hours in three different towns.
  

• In Duékoué, they saw 15 bodies, in addition to the 229 already found and buried, bringing the total number to 244 confirmed to have been killed during the 28-29 March incident. The human rights team also found around 40 corpses in Blolequin. In Guiglo, the team found more than 60 corpses.
  

• The Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Ivan Šimonovic, met on Thursday with President Alassane Ouattara and two of his ministers and discussed at length the issue of the killing of civilians. Mr. Šimonovic also spoke by phone with a senior aide of Laurent Gbagbo.
  

• Asked about negotiations with Laurent Gbagbo, the Spokesperson said that discussions have been going on in recent days. He added that he did not have a recent update.
  

• Asked about the massacres in the country, Nesirky noted that Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos had said that there were differing accounts of who was responsible.
  

• UN human rights teams are looking into the killings to determine accountability and to ensure that there is no impunity. The Secretary-General and Mr. Šimonovic have both raised the issue with President Ouattara.

CONTINUED FIGHTING IMPEDES HUMANITARIAN ACCESS IN LIBYA

• The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that the sustained hostilities in Libya continue to impede intervention by the humanitarian community to deliver life-saving aid and evacuate stranded people. The United Nations continues to call for an immediate temporary cessation of hostilities to allow access for humanitarian assistance.
  

• The -chartered vessel that was able to dock yesterday at the port in Misrata has unloaded supplies that will cover urgent medical needs for 50,000 people for a month. More than 600 metric tons of food – enough to feed more than 40,000 people for a month – is also on board the ship and will be distributed in the coming days.
  

• Meanwhile, reports indicate an urgent need for medical supplies and personnel, potable water, food and other supplies for the people in Misrata, Al-Brega, Az-Zantan and surrounding areas.

IRAQ’S STABILITY REMAINS UNDER PRESSURE

• Ad Melkert, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for , told the Security Council this morning that while notable progress had been made in Iraq in recent months, many challenges remain.
  

• While Iraq has made strides in its democratic transition in recent years, he said, the people of Iraq are now demanding the dividends that were promised by their leaders. He noted the protests in Iraq since 25 February, which have brought people out onto the streets demanding progress in employment, basic services and accountability. Mr. Melkert said that Iraqi officials are taking these issues seriously.
  

• The Special Representative added that Iraq’s stability is still under pressure. He noted the continued targeting of various communities, as well as terror attacks, and said that an average of 25 security incidents a day were reported over the past month, although the average number of incidents is declining.

BAN KI-MOON ADDRESSES PLANNING SESSION FOR U.N. HIGH-LEVEL MEETING ON HIV/AIDS

• This morning, the Secretary-General highlighted the role that civil society can play to boost efforts to fight HIV and AIDS.
  

• Speaking at a civil society hearing on the disease, he pledged to take action and continue to personally urge government officials to bring us closer to our ultimate goals: no new infections; no stigma or discrimination; and no AIDS-related deaths.
  

• Today’s hearing is part of the preparatory process for the High-Level on HIV/AIDS, which will be held this June.

SOMALIA: TENS OF THOUSANDS HAVE FLED LATEST BOUT OF VIOLENCE

• The UN Refugee Agency is reporting that fighting in south and central Somalia has displaced 33,000 civilians since February, about half of them from the capital Mogadishu.
  

• Many of the newly displaced people are in desperate need of assistance, with temporary shelters in Mogadishu already housing another 372,000 people.
  

• UNHCR says it is monitoring the situation in the affected regions, where fighting continues intermittently between government forces and Al-Shabaab militants. Meanwhile, the number of Somalis fleeing into Kenya has also gone up, with more than 31,000 registered new arrivals so far this year.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

BAN KI-MOON SPOKE WITH YEMEN PRESIDENT THIS WEEK: Asked about the situation in Yemen, the Spokesperson noted that the Secretary-General had talked by phone with the President of Yemen earlier this week and had, among other things, called for maximum restraint in dealing with demonstrations there.

LEAKED WESTERN SAHARA DOCUMENT NOT A FINAL REPORT: In response to a question, the Spokesperson reiterated that he was aware that an internal working document pertaining to the situation in Western Sahara was leaked and published electronically. This document is not a final report, he said. It has not been endorsed by the Secretary-General and therefore has no status.

NEW ZEALAND’S RUGBY WORLD CUP WINNING TEAM TO VISIT U.N HEADQUARTERS: On Monday, 11 April from 9:40 - 11:00 a.m., at the Main Gallery, Visitors’ Lobby, in the Building, the Permanent Mission of New Zealand - in collaboration with the Department of Public Information -- will have a ceremony for the Rugby World Cup, also the Webb Ellis Cup. To mark its trip to the US, the cup will make stops at various major New York City landmarks.

** The guest today at the briefing was Edmond Mulet, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti and Head of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).

THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS

9 – 15 APRIL 2011

Saturday, 9 April

There are no major events scheduled for today.

Sunday, 10 April

Today, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue, will begin his first visit to Algeria. The visit will end on 17 April.

Monday, 11 April

At 10:00 a.m., the 44^th session of the Commission on Population and Development will begin in Conference Room 1 of the North Lawn Building (NLB). It will run until 15 April.

This morning, the Security Council will adopt a resolution on piracy in Somalia. In the afternoon, it will be briefed by the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) in consultations.

Today, the 20^th session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) begins in Vienna. It runs until 15 April.

At 12:00 p.m., in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium, Ivan Simonovic, Assistant Secretary-General of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in New York, will be the guest at the Noon Briefing. He will brief reporters on the human rights situation in Côte d’Ivoire, following his mission in the country.

At 1:15 p.m., there will be an event entitled “Family Planning: Key to Saving Lives” in Conference Room C of the NLB. Participants will include Purnima Mane, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Tuesday, 12 April

This morning, the Security Council will hold a meeting with troop-contributing countries on the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). It will also hold consultations on women and peace and security, and UN Women.

At 1:15 p.m., in Conference Room 1 of the NLB, there will be an event entitled “Putting Girls First.” Participants will include Babatunde Osotimehin, UNFPA Executive Director.

At 3:00 p.m., the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will hold a panel discussion on “South-South and Triangular Cooperation.” It will be take place in Conference Room 6 of NLB.

Wednesday, 13 April

This morning, the Security Council will hear a briefing on the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI).

At 11:00 a.m., in Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium, there will be a press conference with Henri Djombo, Minister of Sustainable Development, Forestry and Environment of the Republic of the Congo, on the Summit of Heads of States and Government of the Amazon, Congo, and Borneo-Mekong Forest Basins to be held in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, from 31 May to 3rd June 2011.

At 1:15 p.m., there will be an event entitled “No woman left behind in the fight against NCDs: Towards health services that address breast and cervical cancer.” Participants will include Purnima Mane, UNFPA Deputy Executive Director.

Thursday, 14 April

This morning, the Security Council will hold a meeting with troop-contributing countries on the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS). It will then be briefed on and hold consultations on sexual violence.

Friday, 15 April

This morning, the Security Council will hold consultations on the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).

Today, the United Nations Independent Expert in the field of cultural rights, Farida Saheed, will speak to reporters in Vienna at the end of her 11-day visit to Austria.