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UN Daily News
Issue DH/6805
Monday, 22 December 2014
In the headlines:
• In Security Council, UN officials urge renewed
• Central African Republic: rebels clash with UN
• Courage of Ebola health workers should inspire
• Maldives: UN expert concerned at ‘unacceptable’
• 10 years after Indian Ocean tsunami, Asia-Pacific
• In Guinea, as Ebola spread slows, Ban pledges UN
engagement with DPR Korea on human rights
greater efforts by all, says Ban
region better prepared: UN
•
UN rights chief urges return to moratorium as
executions resume in Pakistan, Jordan
peacekeepers during weekend fighting
dismissal of Supreme Court justices
support towards total eradication
• On International Day, Ban urges human solidarity
to build new sustainability agenda
• 2015 will be ‘tough year’ for humanitarian
operations, senior UN official warns
In Security Council, UN officials urge renewed engagement with
DPR Korea on human rights
22 December - Despite a grim litany of human rights abuses committed against its own
people and ongoing provocations to global peace and security, the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea (DPRK) has shown signs of compliance with human rights mechanisms
prompting hopes that the Asian nation may one day yield to the call for full accountability
and reform, two senior United Nations officials stated today.
A wide view of the Security Council
during a briefing on the situation in the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
(DPRK). UN Photo/Loey Felipe
Briefing the Security Council on the situation in the DPRK, Assistant Secretary-General for
Human Rights Ivan Šimonović highlighted the “widespread and systematic” crimes
perpetrated by the Pyongyang Government, as detailed in a recent report produced by the
UN Commission of Inquiry on human rights in the DPRK.
Released in February, the 400-page report, culled from first-hand testimony from victims and witnesses, details
“unspeakable atrocities” committed in the country spanning murder, enslavement, torture, rape, forced starvation and
disappearances which, Mr. Šimonović said, in many instances “constitute crimes against humanity.”
“Rarely has such an extensive charge-sheet of international crimes been brought to this Council’s attention,” he told the 15member body, which decided in an 11-2-2 vote at the outset of the meeting to put the issue on its provisional agenda.
“It documents a totalitarian system that is characterized by brutally enforced denial of the right to freedom of thought,
conscience and religion, as well as the rights to freedom of opinion, expression, information and association.”
In its report, the Commission found that the DPRK “displays many attributes of a totalitarian State,” with State surveillance
permeating private lives and virtually no expression critical of the political system going undetected – or unpunished.
Military spending – predominantly on hardware and the development of weapons systems and the nuclear programme – has
always been prioritized, even during periods of mass starvation, the report added.
For information media not an official record
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22 December 2014
Referring to a 2013 survey conducted by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme
(WFP), Mr. Šimonović explained that 84 per cent of households in the DPRK were not consuming enough food. Moreover,
he noted, the State’s political prison-camp system – which the Commission estimated contained up to 120,000 people –
imposed deliberate starvation, forced labour, executions and torture upon its inmates.
The UN official also reaffirmed the Commission of Inquiry’s suggestion that the DPRK’s human rights situation and the
security situation in the region were inextricably linked.
“Comprehensive human rights violations by the DPRK have had a significant impact on regional peace and security, from
international abductions and enforced disappearances to trafficking and the outflow of desperate refugees,” he continued. “If
we are to reduce tension in the region, there must be movement towards real respect for human rights in the DPRK.”
Nonetheless, Mr. Šimonović voiced optimism that a reversal in the status quo was still possible amid “promising new signs”
of the DPRK authorities’ engagement with international human rights mechanisms. The country’s representatives had
engaged productively with the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review and held an “unprecedented”
meeting with the UN Special Rapporteur. At the same time, he said, Pyongyang had reopened investigations into alleged
abductions of Japanese nationals.
“All these developments may present an opportunity for real change,” he stated. “Other countries in the region have shown
in the recent past that it is possible to dismantle deep-seated structures of repression and receive assistance in reform,
leading to new recognition and standing in the international community.”
Also briefing the Council was Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Tayé-Brook Zerihoun, who agreed, noting
that the situation provided an opening to restart credible dialogue in order to help overcome the current standoff on the
Korean Peninsula.
“These signals of engagement offer an important opportunity for the United Nations and the wider international community
to redouble efforts towards building trust, dialogue and cooperation on all tracks,” Mr. Zerihoun declared. “It is also an
opportunity for the DPRK to work with the international community to improve the human rights situation and the living
conditions of the people of the country.”
For his part, Mr. Šimonović called for greater Council engagement on the situation in the DPRK now that it had been
presented with the Commission’s report in order to advance what he said were “two crucial goals: accountability and
engagement for reform” in the country.
“Concerted actions by the international community can have a powerful deterrent effect and may begin to change the policy
of the DPRK,” he said, adding that the UN body should continue to “carefully” monitor developments in order to see
whether engagement will lead to real change or whether it should take action by referral to the International Criminal Court
and by adopting targeted sanctions.
“The people of the DPRK have endured decades of suffering and cruelty. They need your protection. And the cause of
justice, peace and security in the region requires your leadership.”
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22 December 2014
Courage of Ebola health workers should inspire greater efforts
by all, says Ban
22 December - Citing the “memorable and moving” example of a Sierra Leonean nurse
who had contracted Ebola but became a caregiver as soon as she had recovered, United
Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today that kind of commitment “should move
us all to do more to end the outbreak” in West Africa.
Mr. Ban spoke to reporters at UN Headquarters upon his return from a trip to the region
that took him to Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Sierra Leone and Ghana to ensure that “the UN
response is a rapid, effective and comprehensive one.”
“Over the past few days, I witnessed immense suffering,” he stated. “Ebola is a terrible
disease that denies the humanity of its victims and stigmatizes its survivors. But I also saw
almost superhuman acts of kindness and support.”
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (centre)
stands with Ebola survivors in Sierra
Leone, seen here showing their hospital
discharge certificates. Photo:
UNMEER/Martine Perret
The UN chief said he saw the progress being made and the slowing of the rate of transmission in many places.
“Where the strategy of isolation of the patients and treatment, contact tracing and safe and dignified burial is implemented, it
is working,” Mr. Ban said. “Some areas that were once hot spots, such as Lofa County in Liberia, have been free of Ebola
for weeks.”
He noted an “especially memorable and moving encounter” at a local Ebola Treatment Unit in Sierra Leone with a nurse
named Rebecca Johnson, who contracted the disease, survived and then immediately became a caregiver again.
He also met other patients who proudly showed off their certificates stating that they were cured completely from Ebola.
“Nurse Johnson’s commitment should move us all to do more to end the outbreak – and to stop the stigma that she and so
many victims and caregivers face,” he said.
Mr. Ban outlined four steps as “especially urgent” to respond to Ebola, which the World Health Organization (WHO) said in
its latest update released today is affecting 19,340 people and has so far killed 7,418.
“The outbreak is evolving, and so has our response,” he said, noting that instead of one outbreak spreading relentlessly from
the epicentre, there are now dozens of isolated chains of transmission.
Also, noting that there is increasing emphasis on hunting the virus, he said: “We cannot afford to miss a single case.”
He went on to say that, “we must step up recovery efforts now” and said that he has asked the UN system, led by the UN
Development Programme (UNDP), to plan the recovery for the region. “That means restoring essential services, getting
children back in school, getting people back to work, rebuilding shattered economies and caring for thousands of orphans,”
he said.
And lastly, the international community needs better early warning and rapid response. “I intend to engage Member States in
a serious effort to explore what more we can do to stay ahead of the next outbreak of disease – a test that is sure to come,”
he said.
But today, “our immediate goal is simple: zero cases.”
He once again stressed the need for more resources and help for the countries and people affected by Ebola – human
resources, medical doctors and nurses and health workers, and financial support and equipment and logistical support.
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Meanwhile, the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) reported today that votes are being counted in
Liberia's senate election held on Saturday and that turnout in the poll was low as many people decided to stay away. “Those
who came to polling stations had their temperature taken, were told to stand a meter apart and wash their hands before and
after voting.”
And the World Food Programme (WFP) said today that it is launching together with the China Foundation for Poverty
Alleviation a public fundraising campaign with Tencent, which it described as one of the world’s largest internet companies,
to raise funds to fight Ebola.
Funds raised from the campaign will go towards WFP’s emergency operations to meet basic food and nutrition needs of
affected families and communities in the three countries worst impacted by Ebola –Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
Since the Ebola outbreak began earlier this year, WFP said it has provided food assistance to more than 2 million people and
has supported the medical response through logistical services for the entire humanitarian community, including air
transport of people and goods.
10 years after Indian Ocean tsunami, Asia-Pacific region better
prepared: UN
22 December - Ten years after the Indian Ocean tsunami hit South and Southeast Asia,
countries in the region are better prepared to deal with tragedies, the United Nations Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today, while stressing that there is still room for
improvement.
A fishing trawler damaged by the
December 2004 tsunami under repairs at
the Kudewella boat repair centre in Sri
Lanka with assistance from FAO. Photo:
FAO/Prakash Singh (file)
“A decade later, while events marking the remembrance of the tsunami recall the human
tragedy, FAO examines the lessons learned in mitigating damage to agricultural
livelihoods, food security and nutrition wrought by such natural and climatic events,” said
Hiroyuki Konuma, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia
and the Pacific.
“What we and our member countries have learned and now see in place is impressive, but
there is still more that can and should be done to prevent and mitigate disasters,” he added.
The world's worst recorded natural disaster hit the Asia Pacific region in December 2004, claiming the lives of more than
200,000 people and leaving the livelihoods of some 1.4 million survivors in tatters as it destroyed entire food production
systems on which whole populations depended.
Some of the countries worst affected by the Tsunami are now better prepared for disasters and better positioned to respond
but a recent FAO-sponsored workshop with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) stressed additional
actions that are needed to further increase resilience to disasters, largely due to the effects of rapid population increases and
urbanization, together with eroded natural resource bases and climate change.
The workshop stressed the importance of building pro-active national and regional policy processes for disaster risk
reduction and management and for improved data disaggregation on sectors and livelihoods affected. It also stressed the
importance of knowledge and technology sharing to empower those most vulnerable and most at risk.
Combining that need with the importance of effective early warning systems, the UN Economic and Social Commission for
Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) have
partnered with the German Ministry contributing 250,000 euros to the ESCAP Multi-Donor Trust Fund for Tsunami,
Disaster and Climate Preparedness to add to an initial 500,000 euros contribution made in December 2013.
“ESCAP welcomes the renewed support of the German Government to strengthen early warning systems,” said Dr.
Shamshad Akhtar, UN Under-Secretary-General and ESCAP Executive Secretary. “Ten years after the 2004 Indian Ocean
Tsunami, much has been achieved in strengthening resilience to disasters in the Asia-Pacific region; however, we need to
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22 December 2014
continue to invest in preparedness and early warning, especially in high risk and low capacity least developed countries of
the region.”
The German-ESCAP partnership is an example of the shift from reactive to proactive approaches, with the focus shifting
from life-saving followed by recovery to anticipative, multi-hazard risk reduction with prevention and mitigation of natural
disasters.
With 200 million people in Asia and the Pacific affected each year by a broad range of natural disasters between 2003 and
2013, and with the cost of those disasters averaging $34 billion each year between 2001 and 2010, the change in approach is
essential.
Early disaster warning systems and clearly marked tsunami evacuation routes are evident in countries such as Thailand,
which established a dedicated Government Department of National Disaster Prevention and Mitigation following the
tsunami. In the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, flood protection dykes have been built and there is a nationwide early
warning system for flooding.
“It's clear that many countries in the region are now better prepared to reduce the risks and mitigate the damage of natural
disasters such as tsunami and typhoons and protect their agriculture and food systems,” said Mr. Konuma. “The most recent
example is Typhoon Hagupit that struck the Philippines earlier this month, where the authorities' early warnings to farmers
and fishers to take pre-emptive action helped ensure that the damage would be far less severe than a year earlier when
Typhoon Haiyan ripped through the centre of the country.”
UN rights chief urges return to moratorium as executions
resume in Pakistan, Jordan
22 December - The top United Nations official on human rights issues voiced “deep
regret” today over the resumption of executions in Pakistan and Jordan at a time when the
international community is increasingly turning away from the use of the death penalty.
In a news release, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein,
condemned the recent lifting of the moratorium on capital punishment in both countries,
stressing that “no judiciary, anywhere, can be infallible.”
“It is very unfortunate that Pakistan and Jordan have resumed executions, reversing the
moratoria on the death penalty that they had commendably put in place in 2008 and 2006
respectively,” stated Mr. Zeid.
High Commissioner for Human Rights
Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein. UN Photo/JeanMarc Ferré
“This is particularly disappointing given that just last week, a record 117 States voted in the UN General Assembly in favour
of an international moratorium on the use of the death penalty.”
In October, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released its report – entitled Moving
away from the Death Penalty, Arguments, Trends and Perspectives – upholding abolition as a necessity, particularly due to
the need to avoid executing those subjected to wrongful convictions; the lack of statistical evidence pointing to the death
penalty as a useful deterrent; and the higher rate of execution among those from marginalized communities, including
people with mental or intellectual disabilities.
“The crime rate, historically, is not lowered by the imposition of capital punishment,” the High Commissioner continued.
“Instead, shocking cases emerge, with tragic frequency, of the execution of people who are subsequently proven innocent –
including in well-functioning legal systems.”
Recently, Equatorial Guinea and the states of Washington, Maryland and Connecticut in the United States, decided to
establish a moratorium or suspend executions while last April, El Salvador, Gabon and Poland acceded to the Second
Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – an international agreement aimed at
abolition. These countries join the more than 160 other Members States who have already either eliminated capital
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22 December 2014
punishment or do not practice it.
Mr. Zeid urged the Governments of Pakistan and Jordan to re-impose the moratoria on the death penalty, stressing that “no
justice system, no matter how robust, can guarantee against wrongful convictions.”
2015 will be ‘tough year’ for humanitarian operations, senior
UN official warns
22 December - The outlook for global humanitarian operations is “very, very bleak,” a top
United Nations humanitarian official warned today saying that “it’s been a rapid
deterioration through 2014 and sadly, as we move forward we’re expecting to face a tough
year in 2015.”
UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Director
of Operations John Ging in Ndélé,
Central African Republic (CAR). Photo:
OCHA/L. Fultang
“When we look back at where we were this time last year we had about 52 million people
in humanitarian need and we are now ending the year with over 76 million people,” UN
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Director of Operations John
Ging told UN Radio.
The cost of responding to that has grown by a similar rate from about $12.9 billion in 2013
up to $19.2 billion dollars right now, Mr. Ging added.
“The poor people who are affected by the crisis…are losing their lives in the hundreds of thousands, in the millions, in fact.
And with tens of millions really subsisting in terrible misery and inhumane conditions, they certainly can’t afford for this
situation to continue,” he said.
These people are relying on the generosity of those who have the means to help them. And while there are no clear
indicators for optimism, it is important to stay hopeful, he said.
“We have to work to see an end to so many of these conflicts which have been raging on and intensifying. They are
manmade conflicts so they can be ended. There is a basis there for progress if we can find a way to find political solutions.”
Mr. Ging stressed that 2014 was a very difficult as well as dangerous year for aid workers.
“Sadly we have lost 85 colleagues so far this year in over 230 attacks on humanitarian workers. It’s very frustrated for
humanitarian workers to be out there on the frontlines, underfunded facing the inhumanity and suffering, unable to deliver
the assistance that people urgently need.”
“But they just continue to do a heroic job. There’s no choice. We have to keep going and not give up. And the fact that they
don’t give up and that they do keep going saves tens of millions of lives and reduces suffering,” he said.
When asked about why some crises get more attention than others, Mr. Ging said that it is a duty to treat all people equally
in terms of support. But he admitted that it is easier said than done because political attention is often focused on some of the
more politically important crises.
“There are places, for example, across the Sahel where 572,000 children died last year, malnourished, suffering from
diseases that could be cured or prevented. There is a scale of suffering in so many places that I think the world has become
quite numb in a way.”
Certainly, it is difficult to gain media attention for such a broad scale of disaster across the world, Mr. Ging said.
“Our job is to somehow work to raise that profile. And make sure that the way we do our humanitarian action we are
focused on people and not the media spotlight and any other drivers of attention.”
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22 December 2014
Central African Republic: rebels clash with UN peacekeepers
during weekend fighting
22 December - The United Nations mission in the Central African Republic has said it is
concerned about fighting that took place this weekend in several locations around the
country, including between anti-Balaka members and peacekeepers.
“On Saturday, anti-Balaka elements clashed with peacekeepers in Berberati when
MINUSCA troops were deployed to prevent anti-Balaka attacks in the area,” UN
spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told a news conference in New York. He said one antiBalaka member and one civilian were killed, and the Mission also recovered a number of
weapons.
MINUSCA, the UN Multidimensional
Integrated Stabilization Mission in the
Central African Republic (CAR), on
patrol in the capital Bangui. UN
Photo/Catianne Tijerina
Peacekeepers serving with the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the
CAR (MINUSCA) were involved in another armed confrontation on Sunday in Nola. A
peacekeeper and one civilian were slightly injured during the clash and four anti-Balaka members were apprehended and
disarmed.
The Mission also reported fighting near Bambari on Saturday between anti-Balaka and the ex-Séléka branch of ‘General’
Ali Darass’ forces. Three ex-Séléka and four civilians were said to have died and four others were wounded.
Today, in Batangafo, the situation is tense, the Mission reports, after two ex-Séléka were killed by anti-Balaka members.
“The Mission is also closely monitoring the situation and addressing these issues both through political channels and
providing security with its troops,” said Mr. Dujarric. “The Human Rights Division of the Mission will also deploy a mobile
human rights unit to investigate further.”
Earlier this month, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hervé Ladsous warned of a potentially explosive
situation in the CAR amid continuing violent clashes between the mainly Muslim Séléka alliance and anti-Balaka militia,
which are mostly Christian.
Maldives: UN expert concerned at ‘unacceptable’ dismissal of
Supreme Court justices
22 December - The removal of two Supreme Court justices in the Maldives by local
authorities threatens the independence of the country’s judiciary and further compromises
the rule of law, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and
lawyers has warned.
Special Rapporteur on the Independence
of Judges and Lawyers Gabriela Knaul.
UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré
“This decision seriously undermines the independence of the judiciary in the country and
will have a chilling effect on the work of the judiciary at all levels,” Gabriela Knaul
stressed in a news release issued today.
“Since my visit to the Maldives in February 2013, I have been closely following a series of
developments in the country that point at a serious deterioration of respect for the rule of
law and the independence of the judiciary,” she warned.
The removal of the two justices, former Supreme Court Chief Justice Ahmed Faiz and Judge Muthasim Adnan, was
approved by the People’s Majlis, the Maldives’ legislative body, three days after the enactment of the First Amendment to
the Judicature Act which reduced the number of Supreme Court judges from seven to five.
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Ms. Knaul noted that the procedure for the removal was characterized by a “lack of transparency and due process” – a fact,
she said, that rendered their dismissal concerning and “particularly unacceptable.”
“Article 154 of the Constitution of the Maldives itself states that a judge may be removed from office only if the Judicial
Service Commission finds the person grossly incompetent, or guilty of gross misconduct,” she added, highlighting that
international human rights standards on this issue were “clear.”
She called on the authorities of the Maldives to reconsider the removal of the justices and to engage in a “transparent,
impartial and independent process” in line with its international human rights obligations.
The Supreme Court of the Maldives has come under scrutiny from UN rights officials in recent years. In 2013, former High
Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called for reforms to the judiciary to safeguard the rule of law following the
Supreme Court’s repeated interventions in the presidential election process in the Maldives which, she said, were
undermining the country’s democracy.
In that specific case, the Court had nullified the first round of the election on the basis of irregularities in the process, despite
conclusions by national and international observers that the election was free and fair.
And, in October 2014, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) voiced deep concern about a
criminal case initiated by the Supreme Court of the Maldives against members of the country’s Human Rights Commission.
In Guinea, as Ebola spread slows, Ban pledges UN support
towards total eradication
20 December - Cautioning that much remains to be done to wipe out Ebola in Guinea,
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today that joint national, regional and
global efforts have “significantly” slowed the spread of the deadly virus, giving hope to
thousands of people and providing space for communities to look ahead to socio-economic
recovery.
Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon (r), with
Dr. Margaret Chan, Director General,
World Health Organization (WHO) (c),
with Guinean President Alpha Condé (l)
in Conakry. December 2014. UN
Photo/Evan Schneider
“Thanks to the determination of national authorities, the mobilization of affected
populations and with partners around the world, the spread of the virus has been
significantly slowed in some regions of the country,” said Mr. Ban during a press
conference in Conakry alongside Guinean President Alpha Condé.
“However, much remains to be done. Ebola continues to spread and is a serious risk for all
Guineans. The UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) and our partners
are here to help you. It has never been more important to work together,” said the Secretary-General.
Following “very successful” discussions with President Condé on the country's Ebola response, the UN chief said he had
delivered a personal message to the people of Guinea:
“The United Nations will support you until the epidemic is halted and the country to recover from its devastating effects.”
The Secretary-has been in West Africa since Thursday, on a mission of solidarity to show support for the people and
governments on the front lines battling the world's worst-ever outbreak of Ebola.
After a stop at UNMEER's home base in Accra, Ghana, Mr. Ban visited Liberia and Sierra Leone yesterday. Later today, he
heads to Mali. He is being accompanied by the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Margaret Chan, as well
as his Special Envoy for Ebola, Dr. David Nabarro, and the head of UNMEER, Anthony Banbury.
Along the way, Mr. Ban has expressed cautious optimism that Ebola can be beat in West Africa. In respective meetings with
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone, he stressed that the approach
against Ebola is adapting to the shifting evolution of the outbreak as it becomes more geographically dispersed.
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The Secretary General's visit and call for continued vigilance comes as the WHO reports in its latest regional statistics on the
outbreak that Ebola is affecting some 19,031 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and has killed 7,373.
In his remarks in Conakry, the Secretary-General said that progress against Ebola has given hope to defeat the disease to
thousands of people – doctors, care givers and people affected by the virus – especially those fighting for their lives.
“All Guineans – government officials, community leaders, traditional healers and local communities – will be actively
involved in the fight against the disease to end the epidemic,” said Mr. Ban, noting that he had spoken with President Condé
about the situation in Forest Guinea, where there has been a “worrying” increase in the number of patients.
The two leaders also agreed that it was strong cross-border cooperation is need, particularly in the framework of the Mano
River Union, to keep the virus from spreading or from bouncing back in areas where the number of transmissions had
decreased.
Thanking President Condé for his Government's efforts, the Secretary-General said that he had just met with dedicated
health care workers in the country and expressed his “deep admiration…for those on the frontline, the thousands of men and
women from Guinea and other countries of the world who are struggling to save lives.” P>
Further, Mr. Ban said in the long term, the Ebola outbreak may have serious socio-economic consequences.
“While our immediate priority is to stop the spread of the disease, it is not too early to start thinking about recovery,” he
underscored, echoing a call he has made at every stop in the region, to boost efforts to restore basic social services,
strengthen health services, support the economy and increase resilience in the affected countries.
Wrapping up his comments, the Secretary General emphasized that the countries of Africa and the world have mounted and
“extraordinary” response to tackle the Ebola outbreak. “I invite the international community to remain mobilized. Our
common goal is to eradicate the disease completely,” he declared, pledging that he and the United Nations family are
committed to doing everything possible to help Guinea.
Flying on to Mali later in the day, Mr. Ban met in Bamako with President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta. According to a read-out
the meting from the Office of his spokesperson, the Secretary-General expressed his appreciation for the swift and
determined reaction by Malian authorities to imported cases of Ebola.
Further to the read-out, Mr. Ban and President Keïta agreed on the importance of remaining vigilant to the ongoing threat of
Ebola in the region and of continuing to strengthen national systems' preparedness.
In addition, the Secretary-Genera reiterated his call for positive engagement by President Keïta and his Government in the
Inter-Malian dialogue. He stressed that sustainable peace in Mali is the only way to achieve sustainable development, said
the read-out.
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22 December 2014
On International Day, Ban urges human solidarity to build new
sustainability agenda
20 December - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon marked Human Solidarity
Day today by calling for joint action to craft and take forward a new, inlcusive development
agenda that eradicates poverty, protects the planet and ensures dignity for all.
In his message on the International Day, Mr. Ban said this year's observance comes as the
world shapes a new sustainable development agenda to succeed the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), the largest anti-poverty campaign in history, by 2015.
Two children in a Bronx, New York,
school solidifying their friendship with a
spontaneous expression of mutual
understanding. UN Photo/Marcia
Weistein
Member States, the UN system, experts, representatives of civil society, business
executives and millions of individuals from all corners of the globe, have come together
with a shared sense of purpose to make the most of this once-in-a-generation opportunity.
“The new agenda will centre on people and planet,” the Secretary-General continued, explainig that it will be underpinned
by human rights and supported by a global partnership determined to lift people from poverty, hunger and disease.
“It will be built on a foundation of global cooperation and solidarity,” he decalred.
Indeed, the United Nations believes that solidarity with people affected by poverty and an absence of human rights is vital,
he said adding that, based on equality, inclusion and social justice, solidarity implies a mutual obligation across the global
community.
“As we map our future development path, we must be firm in our commitment
to champion solidarity and shared responsibility as part of the sustainable development agenda. These are fundamental
values that must be upheld,” affirmed the UN chief.
Only through collective action could the world tackle such far reaching issues as poverty and growing inequality, climate
change, chronic poverty and major health challenges, such as the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
“On International Human Solidarity Day, I call for a renewed commitment to collective action. Let us act together as one to
end poverty, achieve shared prosperity and peace, protect the planet and foster a life of dignity for all,” said Mr. Ban,
echoing a call he made just two weeks ago when he introduced and advance version of his so-called “synthesis report,”
which will guide negotiations for the new global agenda.
In an informal briefing to the General Assembly, the UN chief on 4 December presented his report, The Road to Dignity by
2030: Ending Poverty, Transforming All Lives and Protecting the Planet, which aims to support States' discussions going
forward, taking stock of the negotiations on the post-2015 agenda and reviewing lessons from pursuit of the MDGs.
It stresses the need to “finish the job” – both to help people now and as a launch pad for the new agenda.
In the report's conclusion, the Secretary-General issues a powerful charge to Member States, saying: “We are on the
threshold of the most important year of development since the founding of the United Nations itself. We must give meaning
to this Organization's promise to 'reaffirm faith in the dignity and worth of the human person' and to take the world forward
to a sustainable future.”
The UN Daily News is prepared at UN Headquarters in New York by the News Services Section
of the News and Media Division, Department of Public Information (DPI)