The Secretary-General has arrived in Moscow, where he will participate in the meeting of the Middle East Quartet on Friday. He is scheduled to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, among other senior officials.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
The Secretary-General returned in the early hours of this morning from a visit yesterday to Haiti, where he met with President René Préval and Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive in Port-au-Prince and he also visited a camp for displaced people in Petionville. Speaking after his meeting with the President, the Secretary-General praised the Haitian people for their courage and sense of solidarity in these difficult times.
The Secretary-General will be travelling to Haiti this Sunday on a one-day visit to assess conditions on the ground. This will be the Secretary-General’s second visit to Haiti since the tragic earthquake of 12 January. He will meet with Haitian President [René] Préval and Prime Minister [Jean-Max] Bellerive, as well as with the leadership of MINUSTAH [the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti] and the UN country team.
The Secretary-General addressed a Panel on Violence against Women this morning and said that women’s empowerment is central to all of the Millennium Development Goals. Freedom from fear and violence is a precondition for this empowerment. He said the United Nations must have the resources it needs to pursue this goal with the urgency it deserves.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has repeatedly called for a halt to Israel’s settlement construction, has condemned its announcement that it is building 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem.
This morning, a memorial ceremony was held for the 101 United Nations staff members who lost their lives in the Haiti earthquake, and the Secretary-General spoke at that ceremony.
Ad Melkert, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, congratulated the more than 12 million Iraqis who turned out for the country's parliamentary elections -- a turnout of 62.3 per cent, higher than many had expected, marking the historic character of election day.
The Secretary-General has arrived in Santiago, on a visit to Chile to show solidarity with the Chilean people as they deal with the destruction caused by the earthquake on 27 February. He said on arrival that the United Nations stands ready to help provide any assistance that the Chilean Government requests, immediate and long term.
The Secretary-General will be travelling to Chile this evening. He wants to express solidarity and sympathy with the people and Government of Chile following the earthquake on 27 February. He will also assess the humanitarian assistance effort and the scale of the disaster for himself. He is expected to meet on Friday with President Bachelet and President-elect Piñera, as well as senior Government officials in charge of national disaster and emergency humanitarian assistance.
The Secretary-General today addressed the Commission on the Status of Women high-level event marking International Women’s Day. He said that as a son and husband, a father and grandfather to girls, and as United Nations Secretary-General, it is his duty to fight for gender equality and women’s empowerment, which are fundamental to the very identity of the United Nations.