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HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC, SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

WEDNESDAY, 27 JANUARY 2016

THOSE WHO DENY HOLOCAUST ONLY PERPETUATE FALSEHOODS AND MAKE MOCKERY OF THE PAIN, SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL AT COMMEMORATION

• The Secretary-General today at the event marking the International of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust.
• He paid respects to the 6 million Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust, as well as the millions of others who were killed alongside them.
• The Secretary-General said that the Holocaust was a colossal crime and that the evidence is irrefutable. Those who deny it only perpetuate falsehoods and make a mockery of the pain. Yet today, he said, we continue to see hurtful efforts to question the reality and scale of the tragedy.
• The Secretary-General said that he was profoundly disappointed to learn of another so-called “Holocaust cartoon contest” being planned this year in Iran. 
• He warned that today, international humanitarian law is being flouted on a global scale and the international community is failing to hold perpetrators to account.
• Today, he said, we see actions of Da’esh that may amount to grave crimes against minority groups such as the Yazidis.
• The conflict in Syria has generated the worst humanitarian crisis of our time, with the village of Madaya becoming a scene of shocking suffering. He once more reminded all parties that starvation as a weapon of war is a war crime.

SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES INVESTOR COMMUNITY TO SEIZE OPPORTUNITY FOR CLEAN ENERGY GROWTH

• The Secretary-General General this morning at the Investor Summit on Climate Risk. He said that he has invited all heads of State and Government to a signing ceremony for the Paris Agreement on April 22nd.
• The Secretary-General also stressed that to keep global temperature rise well below 2 degrees, we must begin the shift away from fossil fuels immediately and that we need a massive scaling up of investments in clean energy and energy efficiency.
• The Secretary-General said that investors and businesses that redirect resources to low-carbon, climate-resilient growth will be the economic powerhouses of the 21st century, with those failing to do so being on the losing side of history.
• He called on the investor community to seize the opportunities for clean energy growth, challenging investors to double – at a minimum – their clean energy investments by 2020.

SYRIA: U.N. HUMANITARIAN CHIEF CALLS FOR URGENT DELIVERY OF MEDICAL SUPPLIES TO MADAYA

• The Emergency Coordinator, Stephen O’Brien, briefed the today on humanitarian access in , and he said that the recent pictures of emaciated, starving children in the besieged town of Madaya seemingly shocked the collective conscience of the world.
• At the same time, humanitarian deliveries to besieged towns have recently delivered desperately needed food, medical and other aid sufficient for one month for over 60,000 people in total.
• Mr. O’Brien said that we urgently need to get more medical supplies and teams into Madaya, since the last time the Syrian Arab Red Crescent was able to enter with supplies and teams was 15 January.
• Many of those remaining in the town need treatment where they are rather than evacuation, and we do not know if there are others that require evacuation.
• The Executive Director of the World Food Programme (), Ertharin Cousin, said that more than 4.5 million people are trapped in besieged or hard to reach areas in Syria.
• WFP’s food security analysis suggests that 2.5 million are severely food insecure. Every day, the agency receives alarming reports of lack of food, of lack of water, of acute malnutrition, and of death.
• Earlier today, the Security Council extended sanctions on the Central African Republic by one year.

STATUS QUO IS UNTENABLE AND UNDERMINES SECURITY OF ISRAELIS AND FUTURE OF PALESTINIANS, WARNS SECRETARY-GENERAL

• The Spokesman said that the Secretary-General at yesterday’s Security Council meeting on the Middle East ̽����ѡ Process has provoked a lot of reactions, some of it negative.
• The Secretary-General stands by every word that he used in the Security Council. Some have accused the Secretary-General of justifying terrorism. Nothing could be further from the truth.
• The Secretary-General has repeatedly said that nothing, absolutely nothing justifies terrorism. We have to work together to fight the sources and the causes that fuel terrorism.
• To echo what the Secretary-General said yesterday in the Security Council: he condemns the stabbings, vehicle attacks and shootings by Palestinians targeting Israeli civilians. Again, nothing excuses terror.
• The Secretary-General rejects the language that accused him of “giving terror a tailwind.”
• Anyone is free to pick and choose what they like or dislike from the Secretary-General's speeches; words can continue to be twisted, but the grave reality cannot be obscured.
• At the same time, if we want to see an end to this violence, security measures will not be enough – we must address the root causes -- the underlying frustration and failure to achieve a political solution.
• After nearly 50 years of occupation -- decades after Oslo -- Palestinians – especially young people -- are losing hope.
• Israelis, Palestinians and the international community need to read the writing on the wall: the status quo is untenable, it undermines the security of Israelis and the future for Palestinians.

U.N. AND AID PARTNERS APPEAL FOR NEARLY $400 MILLION TO HELP 3.5 MILLION PEOPLE IN AFGHANISTAN IN 2016

• The humanitarian community in Afghanistan today for $393 million to help the most vulnerable and marginalized Afghans.
• The is expected to provide food as well as access to health care, nutrition, drinking water and sanitation to an estimated 3.5 million people.
• Last year alone, more than 300,000 people in Afghanistan fled their homes due to conflict, marking a 160 per cent increase compared with the same period in 2014.
• The country is also prone to natural disasters, including floods and earthquakes. The earthquake that struck the north-eastern province of Badakhshan in October left an estimated 130,000 people in need of humanitarian assistance.

COLOMBIA: HEAD OF U.N. POLITICAL CHIEF DISCUSSES ROLE OF REGIONAL BODY IN UPCOMING POLITICAL MISSION

• The Under Secretary-General for , Jeffrey Feltman, is returning today to New York from Quito, Ecuador, where he represented the Secretary-General at the 4^th Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). 
• Mr. Feltman engaged with the leadership and membership of the regional body on their role in the Political Mission approved Monday by the Security Council to help monitor and verify the future peace agreement between the Government of Colombia and the FARC.
• The United Nations, with the Department of Political Affairs in the lead, has started to plan the Mission.

OVER 14,000 PEOPLE SEEK REFUGE IN A.U.-U.N. MISSION TEAM SITE IN NORTH DARFUR DUE TO FIGHTING

• The African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur () has reported that the number of civilians seeking refuge in the vicinity of its Sortoni team site, in North Darfur, has increased to almost 14,770 people. That’s an increase of more than 50 percent in just 24 hours – which is reportedly the result of intensified bombings carried out during Monday afternoon.
• The Mission yesterday also received information that 19 villages near Rockero, north Jebel Marra, in Central Darfur, were burned down during fights; most residents of these villages are reported to have fled to Sortoni, Kabkabiya and Tawila, while others have sought shelter in surrounding mountains.
• The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in , Marta Ruedas, said that, following the fighting in the Jebel Marra region, about 19,000 people have fled into North Darfur State and up to 15,000 others into Central Darfur State in the past two weeks.
• She added that although some humanitarian assistance was being provided, much more was needed. She called for safe and unfettered access to provide timely assistance to those in need.