UN Webcast

By the Office of the Spokesperson of the Secretary-General.

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Margot Wallström, is in West Africa where she visited Guinea, Sierra Leone and Côte d’Ivoire.

Today, on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, she called on people to stand in solidarity with the survivors of sexual violence in conflict throughout the world. She said these survivors, mainly women and girls, have lived through unspeakable horrors at the hands of armed groups who deliberately and systematically use rape as a tactic of terror.

Ms. Wallström added that women can only reach their full potential when they feel safe. Underlying attitudes about the rights of women will only change when people everywhere work together to change them.

As you know, the Secretary-General marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women with a commemoration on Wednesday. And you can find issued today his message on this occasion, in which he says that the right of women and girls to live free of violence is inalienable and fundamental. 

BAHRAIN

We put out a statement yesterday afternoon about the report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, a copy of which was given to the Secretary-General on Wednesday by the Permanent Representative of Bahrain to the United Nations. We will closely study that report and its follow-through.

The Secretary-General calls on the Government to ensure the report’s recommendations are implemented as a meaningful step in addressing serious allegations of human rights violations. He hopes the report's issuance and implementation will help to create the conditions in Bahrain for all-inclusive dialogue, reconciliation and reforms that will meet the legitimate aspirations of the Bahraini people.

IRAQ

Martin Kobler, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, has strongly condemned the series of attacks that took place yesterday in Basra, which have claimed the lives of dozens of victims and wounded many more.

He extends his condolences to the families of the victims and to the people and the authorities of Basra, as well as the Government of Iraq. He wishes a speedy recovery to those who were wounded.

LEBANON

The Deputy Secretary-General, Asha-Rose Migiro, was in Tyre yesterday to commemorate Lebanon's Independence Day, and she delivered remarks celebrating the United Nations’ partnership with Lebanon.

She said that the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has been helping to create a window of opportunity for establishing a permanent ceasefire and finding a long-term solution to the conflict. And she said that the United Nations is there for the people of Lebanon and will never leave them to the mercy of brutal forces seeking to undermine peace. Her remarks are posted online.

SUDAN

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reports population movements of more than 75,000 people from Sudan into neighbouring South Sudan and Ethiopia since August. 

The Refugee Agency is concerned that many of those who have moved due to fighting in Sudan’s South Kordofan and Blue Nile states are now located in extremely remote locations in South Sudan’s Upper Nile and Unity states, where humanitarian assistance can only be provided by helicopter.

Meanwhile, efforts continue to encourage people to relocate from the Yida refugee site in Unity State to safer sites further south away from the border area, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

In western Ethiopia, the majority of the 36,000 refugees who arrived since August remain close to the border and approximately half of them have been transferred to camps.

UNHCR believes that the number of persons moving from Sudan to the two countries could reach 100,000 in the coming weeks if the trend continues. 

PAKISTAN

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that a quarter of the more than 5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance following floods in Pakistan’s Sindh and Balochistan provinces are women, and half are children, according to a recently completed joint UN-Government Needs Assessment

Around 660,000 people in Sindh and 84,000 in Balochistan remain displaced. 

With 797,000 homes either destroyed or damaged, many of the estimated 1.2 million returnees had gone back to homes that either needed to be repaired or entirely rebuilt. 

OCHA continues to call for full funding of its humanitarian appeal as soon as possible.  To date, only $129 million of the $357 million requested, or 36 percent, has been received.

PRESS CONFERENCES MONDAY

At 9:30 on Monday morning, you are invited to a press conference which will be piped into this room from Geneva, for the release of the report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria. The authors – Paulo Pinheiro, the Chairperson, Yakin Ertürk and Karen Koning AbuZayd – will present the report.

And then at noon, Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, will be the guest, to talk about her recent mission to the Central African Republic.