UN Daily News Issue DH/6738 Wednesday, 17 September 2014

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1 For updates and alerts, visit UN NEWS CENTRE at UN Daily News Issue DH/6738 Wednesday, In the headlines: Ban welcomes US support in Ebola response ahead of Security Council emergency session on outbreak UN underscores importance of good urban planning for sustainable development Voices of indigenous peoples must be heard on issues affecting them, UN rights body told Some 22 million displaced by natural disasters in 2013, UN-backed report reveals UN deputy envoy welcomes reconciliation conference in southern Somalia Citing official obstruction, UN body dealing with torture suspends Azerbaijan visit UN envoy meets with Greek Cypriot, Turkish Cypriot leaders Ban welcomes US support in Ebola response ahead of Security Council emergency session on outbreak 17 September - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, together with the head of the United Nations health agency, will outline the international action plan to contain Ebola tomorrow when the Security Council convenes an emergency meeting on the outbreak. The United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO), in statements issued late Tuesday, both welcomed United States Government plans to ramp up its support to the global response to Ebola, saying the commitment exemplifies the kind of international effort required to intensify response activities. Mr Ban called on the international community to be as bold and courageous in its response as those who are on the frontlines fighting this disease, according to at the UN statement. In response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, WHO has distributed these plastic buckets for hand washing in Guinea. Photo: WHO/L. Toure According to the WHO, the backbone of the US response is military leadership and the establishment of a regional command and control in Monrovia. The approach includes a military staging base to facilitate the coordination of the American and international response and to expedite the transportation of equipment, supplies and personnel including up to 3,000 from the military. The new commitment provides support to the United Nations and to other international partners to help the Governments of Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Senegal in their work to contain this outbreak. The United Nations on Tuesday released the Overview of Needs and Requirements to contain the Ebola outbreak, saying needs totalled $987.8 million for a massively scaled response, covering chiefly activities in the three most-affected countries of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone for six months. And on Thursday afternoon, the UN Security Council has scheduled an emergency meeting on the outbreak, and the Secretary-General told reporters that he and WHO Director General Margaret Chan will outline the international action plan to contain this threat. For information media - not an official record

2 UN Daily News This is not just a health crisis; it has grave humanitarian, economic and social consequences that could spread far beyond the affected countries, the Secretary-General said at a press conference at UN Headquarters on Tuesday to outline the priorities of the new session of General Assembly. To that end, next week, the Assembly will follow-up with a high-level meeting on the needs of the people and countries affected by Ebola which Mr. Ban described by saying Every day we delay, the cost and the suffering will grow exponentially. WHO, in its most recent update, reported a total of 4,963 cases and 2,453 deaths attributable to Ebola in those three countries. In addition, in Nigeria, there have been 21 cases and eight deaths, and in Senegal, there has been one case, but as yet there have been no deaths. UN underscores importance of good urban planning for sustainable development UN-Habitat housing project in Port-au- Prince, Haiti. Photo: UN-Habitat 17 September - With more than two-thirds of humanity expected to live in cities by the middle of this century, strong, well-planned urbanization is vital for development, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today told an international group of Government officials and experts on housing. The group is part of the first session of the preparatory committee for the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development to take place in 2016, known as Habitat III. Urban areas are at the heart of many great challenges, opportunities and promise, Mr. Ban said, adding that urbanization is a driving force as well as a source of development. It comes as the international community is formulating a sustainable development agenda for beyond 2015, the deadline for achievement of the eight anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). As the new agenda is being formulated, the role of urbanization in supporting sustainable development is becoming increasingly important, Mr. Ban said. The United Nations should continue to promote equitable urban development in our human settlements, villages, towns, cities and countries, he added. The first such conference was held in 1976, followed by Habitat II in 1996 and Istanbul+5 in Habitat III will have an important role to play to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, the UN chief noted. Today s audience included Job Clos, Secretary-General of Habitat III Conference and Executive Director of the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). In an opinion piece in the Guardian today, Mr. Clos wrote that Habitat III will be the first UN global summit after the adoption of the post-2015 agenda and hopefully a new climate change agreement which will be negotiated next year in Paris. It is an opportunity to change the way we think about cities and the way they are growing, he penned. To put people at the centre of cities and make them work for us. For that, the international community needs ideas from forward-thinking governments, city planners and citizens, who know better than anyone the challenges and needs of their communities.

3 UN Daily News Voices of indigenous peoples must be heard on issues affecting them, UN rights body told 17 September - The voices of indigenous peoples must be effectively heard and they must be consulted on issues that affect them, including rights to land and resources, the United Nations Human Rights Council heard today. Although there is, at both the international and domestic levels, a strong legal and policy foundation upon which to move forward with the implementation of indigenous peoples rights, there are still numerous obstacles preventing indigenous peoples from fully enjoying their human rights, said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples. Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples Victoria Tauli- Corpuz. UN Photo/JC McIlwaine There are an estimated 370 million indigenous people in some 90 countries who constitute 15 per cent of the world's poor and about one third of the 900 million extremely poor rural people. Practicing unique traditions, they retain social, cultural, economic and political characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they live. Indigenous peoples are also among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable populations, with many of them struggling to remain on their lands and retain the right to their natural resources, while others have long since been removed from their lands, denied their languages and traditional ways. Ms. Tauli-Corpuz noted that among the barriers preventing indigenous peoples from fully enjoying their rights is the absence of steps towards reconciliation with indigenous peoples and redress for past violation of their human rights. Linked with reconciliation yet to be completed, she said, is the ongoing negative perception of indigenous peoples among the broader societies in which they live, including within governments. The nearly universal disadvantageous social and economic conditions of indigenous peoples as compared to the economic and social conditions of the majority societies in which they live present a barrier to the full exercise of their human rights, the expert added. Today s meeting in Geneva comes just days ahead of the first-ever World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, a high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly, set to take place on 22 and 23 September in New York. The World Conference will be a unique opportunity for the international community to renew its commitment to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Albert Deterville, Chair-Rapporteur of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, said in his statement to the Council. Adopted by the General Assembly in 2007, the UN Declaration recognizes their right to self-determination and to freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. It is the Expert Mechanism s hope that the World Conference and its outcome document will lead to concrete measures to fulfil the rights of indigenous peoples in all regions of the world, said Mr. Deterville. He added that the Expert Mechanism has been actively engaged in the preparation for the Conference. Its members have consistently advocated for, and remain committed to, the full, equal and effective participation of indigenous peoples in the event, and are pleased to see that indigenous peoples perspectives and inputs have been included in the outcome document. Mr. Deterville also reported to the Council on the work carried out by the Expert Mechanism, including a follow-up on study access to justice in the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples, and a study on the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples in natural disaster risk reduction.

4 UN Daily News Some 22 million displaced by natural disasters in 2013, UNbacked report reveals Aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban, Philippines, 6 December Photo: OCHA/Gemma Cortes 17 September - A new United Nations-backed report launched today reveals that 22 million people worldwide were displaced in 2013 by disasters sparked largely by earthquakes or climate- and weather-related events almost three times more than by conflict in the same year. The report, Global Estimates 2014: people displaced by disasters, conducted by the Norwegian Refugee Council s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), shows that the risk of displacement due to disasters has more than doubled over the last four decades largely due to the growth and concentration of urban populations, particularly in vulnerable countries. This increasing trend will continue as more and more people live and work in hazard-prone areas. It is expected to be aggravated in the future by the impacts of climate change, said Jan Egeland, Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, at a Headquarters conference. Launching the report alongside Mr. Egeland, UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said the report was extremely timely as it highlights the need for early warning systems and emergency evacuations in today s world of increasing and intensifying disasters. The numbers of people who need humanitarian assistance, and the cost of helping them, are skyrocketing. We need to shift our focus to prevention and preparedness in close cooperation with national partners, said Mr. Eliasson. The report calls for action to be taken to reduce disaster risk and to help communities adapt to changing and more unpredictable weather patterns, to prevent further displacement. According to the report, both wealthy and poorer countries are affected, although developing countries bear the brunt, accounting for more than 85 per cent of displacement. But as in previous years the worst affected was Asia, where 19 million people, or 87.1 per cent of the global total, were displaced. In the Philippines, typhoon Haiyan alone displaced 4.1 million people, a million more than in Africa, the Americas, Europe and Oceania combined. Seasonal floods also caused significant displacement in sub-saharan Africa, most notably in Niger, Chad, Sudan and South Sudan countries with highly vulnerable populations who are also affected by conflict and drought. Africa s population is predicted to double by 2050 therefore displacement risk is expected to increase faster than in any other region in the world. The extent to which populations in the most developed countries are exposed to hazards also led to some of the world s largest displacements. Typhoon Man-yi in Japan displaced 260,000 people and tornadoes in the United States state of Oklahoma 218,500. As the world gears up to solidify a post-2015 development agenda, there will also be an opportunity to include the needs and challenges of internally displaced people in negotiations. As we prepare for the [Secretary-General s] climate summit next week the devastating impact of disasters and the massive displacement we see as a result, highlight the need for strong and decisive action to tackle the catastrophic threat of climate change, Mr. Eliasson said.

5 UN Daily News UN deputy envoy welcomes reconciliation conference in southern Somalia Deputy Special Representative for Somalia Fatiha Serour (second left) speaks at the opening ceremony of the Kismayo Reconciliation. Photo: UNSOM 17 September - A senior United Nations official today welcomed the opening of the Kismayo reconciliation conference in the southern Somali port town as a step towards strengthening the country and consolidating peace in the region. I urge participants to create an environment that allows the conference to develop resolutions that are inclusive of all stakeholders particularly women, youth and elders, regardless of social or economic status, said the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia, Fatiha Serour in a news release. She added that this reconciliation process is an avenue to develop a roadmap for the Interim Jubba Administration to continue to build its capacity. There are milestones that must be achieved in order to move forward with the state formation process, Ms. Serour said. In August 2013, the Interim Jubba Administration, which oversees the region in the southern part of the country, signed the agreement in the Ethiopian capital officially allying itself with Somalia s Federal Government. Among its main points, the agreement established the terms of governance in the Lower Jubba, Middle Jubba and Gedo regions. Opening the conference yesterday, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud called for parties to continue to join the peace process. Also speaking at the opening ceremony, Ms. Serour stressed that the people and leaders of the Interim Jubba Administration clearly desire peace, and this reconciliation process is a manifestation of those wishes. Peace-building and state-building in Somalia is supported by the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), which has a presence in Kismayo. Citing official obstruction, UN body dealing with torture suspends Azerbaijan visit 17 September - A United Nations human rights body today announced that it has decided to suspend its visit to Azerbaijan due to obstructions it encountered in carrying out its mandate under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, to which the south Caucasus country is a party. Credit: OHCHR According to statement from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) delegation was prevented from visiting several places where people are being detained. The delegation was in other ways barred from completing its work at other sites, despite repeated attempts to do so and assurances of unrestricted access to all places of deprivation of liberty by Azerbaijani authorities. Following what it referred to as serious breaches of Azerbaijan s obligations under the Optional Protocol, the Subcommittee concluded that the integrity of its visit, scheduled to run from 8 to 17 September, had been compromised to such an extent that it had to be suspended. The delegation members halted their work on 14 September but some members remained in Azerbaijan to seek further engagement with the country s authorities on the basis of the information currently at their disposal.

6 UN Daily News The head of the delegation, Aisha Shujune Muhammad, met the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs on 16 September. The SPT expects Azerbaijan to abide by its international obligations under the Optional Protocol and enter into a constructive dialogue with the view of preventing torture and ill-treatment. The SPT has a mandate under the Optional Protocol to conduct on-site visits and make recommendations to the authorities of State Parties to establish effective safeguards against the risk of torture and ill-treatment in places of deprivation of liberty. The SPT Delegation to the Republic of Azerbaijan comprises the following members: Ms. Aisha Shujune Muhammad (Head of Delegation), Mr. Milos Jankovic, Ms. Margarete Suzuko Osterfeld, Mr. Miguel Sarre-Iguiniz, and Mr. Victor Zaharia (Focal Point for Reprisals). The Optional Protocol on the Prevention of Torture has to date been ratified by 73 countries. At the end of a country mission, the SPT communicates its recommendations and observations to the State by means of a report. UN envoy meets with Greek Cypriot, Turkish Cypriot leaders 17 September - The United Nations Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide today met today with the leaders of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities, who reaffirmed their commitment to lead negotiations through a winwin approach and reach a settlement soon. Special Adviser on Cyprus Espen Barth Eide (left) with the leaders of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities. Photo: UNFICYP The leaders met today in a friendly and constructive atmosphere following their fruitful discussions at dinner last night, said Mr. Eide in a statement to the press. According to the statement, the leaders agreed that their negotiators and teams had completed submitting proposals on all issues and recognised the enormous amount of work that had been conducted to conclude the second phase of the negotiations. The leaders have reaffirmed their commitment to lead the negotiations in an interdependent, results-oriented manner, through a win-win approach with the aim to reach a settlement as soon as possible and hold separate simultaneous referenda thereafter, in order to put an end to the unacceptable status quo, as outlined in the Joint Declaration. Further, the leaders agreed to move to the next phase of structured negotiations and to increase the fluency of their meetings, as appropriate, and to hold meetings at least twice a month. They have instructed their negotiators to enter into active negotiations with a view to bridging the gaps through real negotiation on unresolved core issues and to increase the pace of their meetings, said Mr. Eide. The leaders also thanked Ms. [Lisa] Buttenheim for her tireless efforts in facilitating talks during the five months that she was acting Special Adviser. The United Nations works through the good offices of the Secretary-General to assist in the search for a comprehensive and mutually acceptable settlement to the Cyprus problem. The UN also maintains a peacekeeping force in Cyprus, known as UNFICYP, which was deployed in 1964, when intercommunal fighting erupted on the Mediterranean island. 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)