Noon Briefings

The Secretary-General is launching the 7 billion Actions Initiative. In just seven weeks, the global population will reach 7 billion. The campaign is a clarion call to people, communities, countries, and our partners such as non-governmental organizations, businesses, academics, and faith leaders.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement continues in Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan States. The Sudanese Red Crescent Society has reported that some 115,000 people fled their homes, while 20,000 more people were displaced in the west of the state.

The Secretary-General attended the closing of the sixty-fifth session of the General Assembly today and expressed his great appreciation for the outgoing President Joseph Deiss. He said that Mr. Deiss highlighted the relevance of the General Assembly as the United Nations chief deliberative and representative body.

The first-ever report by the Secretary-General on the use of preventive diplomacy by the United Nations and its partners is now available. Entitled Preventive Diplomacy: Delivering Results, it makes the case that building the world's capacities for fast and effective preventive diplomacy is “without a doubt, one of the smartest investments we can make”.

The Secretary-General strongly condemns yesterday’s suicide bombings in Quetta, Pakistan, which reportedly targeted officers of the region’s Frontier Corps. The attacks left scores of people dead, including two children, and wounded many others. The Secretary-General extends his deep condolences to the families of the victims and the Government of Pakistan.

The Secretary-General strongly condemns the bomb attack at the Indian High Court in New Delhi which has killed and injured many today. He reiterates his firm stance that there is no justification for indiscriminate violence against civilians and expresses his solidarity with the Government and people of India.

The Secretary-General started the weekend in Australia, holding talks with Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd in Canberra before flying to the Solomon Islands and Kiribati to see for himself the effects of climate change. In Kiribati he joined President Anote Tong and many young people to plant mangroves on a beach to help fight coastal erosion.

The Panel of Inquiry on the 31 May 2010 Flotilla Incident, which was an independent body established in August last year, submitted its report to the Secretary-General this morning. The report is now available on the United Nations website.

The Secretary-General attended the International Conference in Support of the New Libya in Paris today, where he told participants that our most immediate challenge is on the humanitarian front, with some 860,000 people having left the country since February. Public services are under severe strain, with sporadic fighting continuing in the south.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed its alarm at the emerging reports of atrocious human rights violations in Libya, including what appear to be mass summary executions, mostly apparently carried out by the forces of the Qadhafi Government during the last few days before they lost Tripoli.