UN Webcast

By the Office of the Spokesperson of the Secretary-General and the Spokesperson for the President of the 66th General Assembly.

Nihal Saad, Spokesperson for the President of the 66th General Assembly, will introduce Ambassador Zahir Tannin, Chair of the Inter-governmental Negotiations to brief on the Security Council Reform.

Elements of Today's Noon Press Briefing:

[Before the briefing, Vijay Nambiar, Chef de Cabinet, made an announcement on behalf of the Secretary-General.]

SG TRAVELS

The Secretary-General visited Bongha, the home town of the late Roh Moo-hyun near Busan, today to pay respects at a memorial and to meet the widow of the former President of the Republic of Korea.

Ban Ki-moon served President Roh as foreign minister and earlier as diplomatic adviser.

Later in Seoul, the Secretary-General met former President Kim Young-sam at his residence.

The Secretary-General served separately as Chief of Protocol and National Security Adviser at the presidential Blue House under President Kim.

The Secretary-General is now on his way back to New York and will arrive this evening.

LEBANON

The Secretary-General told Prime Minister Najib Mikati of Lebanon over the telephone today that he was very pleased the Lebanese Government had decided to transfer to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) the 49 percent of the 2011 budget for which the country is responsible.

The Secretary-General expressed his gratitude for the Prime Minister’s personal efforts in this regard.

The Secretary-General said the decision was a very positive step that would allow the Special Tribunal to continue its work to uncover the truth about the assassination of former Prime Minister Hariri and others.

He said he appreciated Prime Minister Mikati's commitment to uphold Lebanon's international obligations and was confident the Government would continue to respect those obligations and cooperate with the Special Tribunal.

DRC

According to a press release from the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, MONUSCO, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Roger Meece, shares the concerns about the elections expressed by the observer missions, in particular with regard to the reported irregularities and the need to assess their impact on the electoral process.

Mr. Meece also deplores the violence that marred the elections in certain areas in the country and calls on all political leaders to urge their partisans to refrain from any violence or other acts that may disrupt the electoral process.

Copies of the full press release are available in the Spokesperson’s office and on the MONUSCO website.

Also on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said today that she deplores the killings and other acts of violence committed by Congolese security forces and supporters of political parties in the context of the presidential and parliamentary elections in the country over the past few days.

Furthermore, Ms. Pillay stressed the obligation of the Government under Congolese and international laws to protect the fundamental rights of the people, including the right to life and security of the person.  

Copies of the OHCHR press release are also available in the Spokesperson’s office.

AMOS

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos has concluded a mission to Saudi Arabia.

She welcomed the opportunity to work more closely with Saudi Arabia in regional and international humanitarian affairs.

In addition to contributing greatly to crises in Somalia, Pakistan and Haiti, Ms. Amos noted that the Kingdom also engages in other forms of humanitarian response, such as the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group.

CYPRUS

The leaders of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities met today in Nicosia.

The Secretary-General’s Special Advisor, Alexander Downer, told reporters afterwards that the talks were concentrated on governance and power-sharing.

The leaders’ next meeting will be on Monday.

YEMEN

According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), violent clashes between government and opposition forces continue in key cities and other areas of Yemen, intensifying the humanitarian crisis. This is putting civilians at risk and leading to the breakdown of essential public services.

Dozens of schools are still occupied by armed groups in Yemen, while more remain closed due to security concerns.

AIDS

In his message marking World Aids Day today, the Secretary-General says that heading into the fourth decade of AIDS, we are finally in a position to end the epidemic.

He said that the progress we have made so far is proof that we can realize our vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.

But to end AIDS, we need to deliver even greater results, the Secretary-General stressed.

With strong political will, reasonable financial resources and a firm human rights-based approach, we can achieve targets such as reducing the sexual transmission of HIV by half and eliminating new infections in children.

For his part, the head of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) says that never before in the history of AIDS have we reached a moment where we are able to stand up and say with conviction the end of AIDS is in sight.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Following today’s briefing, Nihal Saad, Spokesperson for the President of the General

Assembly, will brief. She will be accompanied by Ambassdor Zahir Tannin, Chair of the Inter-governmental Negotiations, who will brief on Security Council Reform.

At 12:45 pm, there will be a press conference on the upcoming tenth session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Ambassador Christian Wenaweser, current President of the Assembly of States Parties to the ICC and Ambassador Tiina Intelmann, incoming President will address the press in this room.

At 2:00 pm, there will be a briefing on the upcoming UN Framework Convention on Climate Change which will take place in Durban, South Africa from 28 November to

9 December.  Bob Orr, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Strategic Planning, will be briefing.

Tomorrow’s guest at the noon briefing will be Catherine Bragg, Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator. She will brief on Yemen and the Philippines.

And at 12:30pm, Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation and President of the Security Council for the month of December will be briefing you in this room on the Council’s monthly Programme of work.