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HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY FARHAN HAQ,

DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

THURSDAY, 19 MARCH 2015

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SECRETARY-GENERAL CHAIRS MEETING OF U.N. SENIOR ADVISERS IN TURIN, ITALY

• The Secretary-General is in Turin, Italy, where he has been chairing a meeting of his senior advisers.
• He also met today with the Mayor of Turin, Pietro Fassino, and expressed his sympathies to the Mayor for the local victims of yesterday’s horrific attack on the Bardo Museum in Tunis.

FORTHCOMING POLLS ‘PIVOTAL MOMENT’ FOR HISTORY OF D.R. CONGO, U.N. ENVOY TELLS SECURITY COUNCIL

• The Head of the in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), Martin Kobler, briefed the this morning.
• He said that the upcoming elections will be a pivotal moment in the history of the Congo and that political space for civil society is a prerequisite for credible elections. He also reiterated his concern about the arrest of more than 40 civil society actors just a few days ago.
• Regarding the security situation, Mr. Kobler said that the Congolese government has strived to restore security to its people and has succeeded in freeing much of the territory from the terror of armed groups.��
• However, he said that the overall security situation is still not stable, and that any exit of the UN Mission, MONUSCO, should be gradual and progressive.
• Mr. Kobler added that the greatest threat to peace and security in the Great Lakes Region remains the Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR).
• On this, he said that the decision to suspend support to the Congolese Army against the FDLR upholds indisputable values enshrined in the protection of Human Rights.
• He added that the UN Mission wants both to support the fight against the FDLR and implement the UN’s Human Rights Policy.
• He added that we owed this to the people of Congo, and we owed it to ourselves, he added, saying he was confident that the government will take appropriate measure to remedy to this situation.
• Meanwhile, on the FDLR, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Great Lakes Region, Said Djinnit, encouraged the DRC Government and the UN Mission to engage in a structured strategic dialogue to resume full cooperation.
• The DRC and the Great Lakes Region have made considerable progress in overcoming the tragedies of the past but they are yet to achieve irreversible progress for lasting peace, Mr. Djinnit added.

DA’ESH MAY HAVE COMMITTED CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, GENOCIDE – NEW U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT

• The Da’esh group may have committed all three of the most serious international crimes – namely, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide – according to a issued by the on Thursday.�� The report, compiled by an investigation team sent to the region by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights late last year, draws on in-depth interviews with more than 100 people who witnessed or survived attacks in Iraq since last June.
• The report finds that widespread abuses committed by Da’esh include killings, torture, rape and sexual slavery, forced religious conversions and the conscription of children. All of these, it says, amount to violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Some may constitute crimes against humanity or may amount to war crimes.�� The report says that the pattern of the attacks against the Yezidi community pointed to the intent to destroy the Yezidi as a group and “strongly suggests” that Da’esh may have perpetrated genocide.
• The investigation team also received information from numerous sources who alleged that Iraqi Security Forces and affiliated militia had committed serious human rights violations during their counter-offensive operations against Da’esh.�� It called on the Iraqi Government to investigate all crimes outlined in the report and bring the perpetrators to justice.

U.N. LIBYA MISSION SPEAKS OUT AGAINST STEPPED UP VIOLENCE

• The UN Support Mission in Libya () has strongly the escalation of violence in the country.
• The Mission called the attacks wholly unjustified and reckless. It expressed deep disappointment that attacks against civilians and key infrastructures continue despite repeated calls by the UN and the international community to avoid the risk of escalating tensions at a time when Libya’s leaders are engaged in peace talks.
• The Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Bernardino Leon, underscored the international community’s firm stance against those seeking to escalate the fighting. The mission continues to question the motives of the escalation, which can only undermine efforts to reach a peaceful resolution of the Libyan conflict.

U.N. RAMPS UP SUPPORT TO COUNTRIES HIT BY CYCLONE PAM

• A flight carrying relief supplies to Vanuatu in the wake of cyclone Pam left the UN Humanitarian Response Depot () in Dubai today.
• The aircraft, made available by the Government of the United Arab Emirates, is loaded with supplies from several non-governmental organizations and UN agencies, such as the World Food Programme ().������
• The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs () reports that priority needs are for water and sanitation support, particularly clean drinking water, as well as food, shelter and health care.
• The UN Children’s Fund () is emergency supplies – including basic health kits, 1,000 packs of water purification tablets and vitamin A capsules – to people affected by Cyclone Pam in nearby Tuvalu.
• UNICEF reports that more than 40 per cent of households in the northern islands of Tuvalu were seriously affected by flooding, and that these supplies will help to meet their immediate health needs.
• UNICEF is maintaining its focus on the hardest-hit country of Vanuatu, while providing support to other countries in the region – Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.

U.N. UNVEILS NEW, MODERN HOMEPAGE

• The 51�Թ� has a new, modern, mobile-friendly .
• The Department of Public Information () is pleased to unveil the new portal in all six official languages. The new-look website has been completely redesigned and restructured.��
• Information on the portal is broken down by categories allowing the users to easily find and bookmark the pages they are interested in.�� For example, with a single click, journalists can access a dedicated section where they will find important resources such as ‘Media Accreditation’, ‘Spokesperson of the Secretary-General’, ‘51�Թ� News Centre’, ‘Meetings Coverage’, as well as subscribe to UN documents and receive e-mails or RSS feeds.��

MALAYSIA BECOMES 62^ND MEMBER STATE TO PAY U.N. DUES IN FULL

• Malaysia has become the 62nd Member State to pay its UN contributions in full.��

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***The guests at the noon briefing were John Ging, Director of Operations at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and Afshan Khan, the UN Emergency Director from the 51�Թ� Children’s Fund (UNICEF). They spoke to journalists about their recent mission to Ukraine and Nigeria.