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UN Daily News
Wednesday, 13 April 2016

Issue DH/7136

In the headlines:
As new round of talks begins, UN envoy for Syria

FEATURE: at UN film screening, animal heist fable

We cannot forget the girls from Chibok UN child

Republic of Congo: top UN officials concerned by

Ban urges insurance industry to take leadership in

The next UN Secretary-General: informal briefings

says cessation of hostilities must continue to give

hope

rights envoy

climate change response

serves as poignant metaphor for Middle East

relations
reported attacks against civilians
continue

Investing in treatment for depression and anxiety

leads to four-fold return UN report

As new round of talks begins, UN envoy for Syria says cessation

of hostilities must continue to give hope
13 April On the first day of a new round of peace talks to end the
five-year conflict in Syria, the UN mediator on the crisis emphasized
that despite the cessation of hostilities still holding, he is concerned
about the deterioration of the security situation in some locations.
We need to make sure, at any cost, that the cessation of hostilities, in
spirit and in substance, continues to give hope to the Syrian people,
because that is what made all of them believe that, in fact, even if they
have to wait for the intra-Syrian talks, their lives are at least
improved, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura told
reporters at a press briefing in Geneva.
He indicated that the humanitarian task force set up by the
International Syria Support Group (ISSG) comprised of the UN, the
Arab League, the European Union and 18 countries that have been
working on a way forward since late last year to ensure access and
the delivery of aid will tomorrow be very actively addressing the incidents so they can be contained.
Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura arrives for a press
conference on the Intra-Syrian Geneva Talks. UN Photo/Jean-Marc
Ferr

Indeed, it will be quite appropriate I think, just because we need to make sure that if incidents in the cessation of hostilities
are too often repeated they could at least deteriorate the spirit and the confidence in it, Mr. de Mistura said.
The UN envoy recently returned from visiting Moscow, Amman, Damascus and Teheran, where he said all government
officials indicated interest and support in reaching a political transition.
The main purpose was to sound [out] the authorities in these capitals about their own advice on how to make sure that this

For information media not an official record

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current phase of the intra-Syrian talks are as productive or as effective as possible, Mr. de Mistura explained.
With all of them I have been very clear that what we aim at is actually an agenda which is based on political transition,
with the issue of governance and constitution as per [Security Council] resolution 2254, and none of them actually
expressed any doubt that that is the priority and agenda, he noted, adding that the word governance is crucial, and no one
had any objection to that point.
He also indicated that he had the first meeting today with the delegation of the High Negotiations Committee (HNC).
Meanwhile, he confirmed that the government delegation will be arriving on Friday: To my understanding when I was in
Damascus, [it] will be led again by [Bashar Jaafari, Syrian Ambassador to the United Nations] so that we will be able to
expand discussions and negotiations related to the three points of the agenda, he said, referring to political transition,
governance and constitution.
He concluded his remarks by reminding the press that it is normal for each delegation to state its strong position, but that
they do come to negotiate.

We cannot forget the girls from Chibok UN child rights envoy

13 April Marking two years since Boko Haram abducted 276 girls in
Nigeria, a United Nations child rights envoy reiterated a call to bring
them back, stressing that the international community must be their
voice and help give children of Nigeria and the region the peaceful,
stable lives they deserve.
It is up to us to be their voice and give them back the life they
deserve, said Leila Zerrougui, Special Representative of the
Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, in a message on
the anniversary.
Two years ago, in the middle of the night, 276 girls were abducted by
Boko Haram from their school dormitory in Chibok, in Nigerias
northeast. Fifty-seven escaped hours later but what happened to the
remaining 219 girls has been unknown.

Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and

Armed Conflict Leila Zerrougui (centre), meets displaced children
and their families in northeastern Nigeria, in January 2015. Photo:
UN

In the past two years, the conflict has continued to grow and Boko Harams activities have spilled over into the
neighbouring countries of Cameroon, Chad and Niger. More children have been abducted. Hundreds of boys and girls have
been killed, maimed and recruited by Boko Haram.
Children used as suicide bombers
In what has become one of the armed groups most gruesome tactics, women and children, girls in particular, have been
forced to serve as suicide bombers in crowded markets and public places, killing many civilians.
It is no surprise that in the midst of such violence, families decided to flee to safer areas in Nigeria, and to neighbouring
countries. With over two million people displaced, including more than one million children, often separated from their
families, the UN has described these massive displacements as one of the fastest growing crises in Africa.
In the past year, as the Government of Nigeria has retaken control of some territory in the countrys northeast, Boko Haram
captives were liberated or have been able to escape, including many children.
Girls and boys told distressing stories about their captivity, including how entire villages were burned to the ground, and
recounted stories of rape and sexual violence, recruitment and use of children by the group, as well as other violations.

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These children yearn for the safety of their families, but going back to their communities can mean persecution and
mistrust, she said. Girls who come back as young mothers face even greater challenges. These traumatized children
require assistance and our support to fight stigma and rejection.
Children missing out on education
The conflicts impact on education has been no less profound. Over 1,500 schools in northeastern Nigeria have been
destroyed and the teachers are gone. Hundreds of thousands of children are missing out on their education. The international
communitys efforts to support initiatives to bring children back to school are essential and must be maintained.
Much has been done to help children reintegrate back into their communities and return to school, but the need far exceeds
the resources available.
It is our collective responsibility to keep shining a spotlight on these children in need and ensure they have a future in
which they can overcome these challenges, she said.
The abduction of the Chibok girls catalyzed international action, including in the Security Council. In June 2015, Council
members adopted resolution 2225 that made the act of abduction by an armed group or force a trigger to list them in the
annexes of the Secretary-Generals annual report on children and armed conflict, she noted.
This means future acts of abduction, like in Chibok, can translate into a listing for those perpetrators and increase pressure
on them by the international community.
We cannot tolerate the abduction of children. We cannot forget the girls from Chibok, she said.

Ban urges insurance industry to take leadership in climate

change response
13 April The insurance industry is a key actor in forging new
instruments to anticipate and manage climate risks, Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon said today, urging the industry to continue to work with
the United Nations to manage and reduce such risks and ultimately
ensure a more sustainable world for all.
The world needs your leadership to meet the climate challenge, Mr.
Ban said in remarks at a high-level meeting on resilience with
insurance industry leaders and other stakeholders at UN Headquarters
in New York this morning.

Although small island states contribute the least to climate change,

they bear the brunt of its effects. Photo: FAO/Sue Price

Emphasizing that the impacts of climate change will affect every

aspect of our lives, the Secretary-General noted that the insurance
industry played a key role at the Climate Summit he hosted in 2014
and was instrumental in mobilizing momentum for the Paris

Agreement in December 2015.

Climate change profoundly affects the core business of the insurance industry because the industry will be faced with
mounting claims of a magnitude not yet seen and also because the industrys investment decisions can give rise to
unexpected risks.
Conversely, if you invest wisely, you could reap new rewards for both your own businesses and society at large, the UN
chief said.
Recalling the Anticipate, Absorb, and Reshape multi-stakeholder global initiative that he launched this past year to
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increase climate resilience, Mr. Ban stressed the importance of better anticipating and acting on climate hazards through
early earning and early action, as well as reshaping development to reduce risks at both national and international levels.
The initiative referred to as A2R was launched this past November by Mr. Ban and 13 agencies of the UN system, and
aims to strengthen the ability of countries to anticipate hazards, absorb shocks, and reshape development to reduce climate
risks.
Among the actions that the insurance industry should take include greening its investment portfolios and, by 2020, to
measuring its carbon footprint. In addition, the industry should also decarbonize its investments so as not to contribute to
rising greenhouse emissions, the Secretary-General said.
It is not enough to simply create new products to respond to climate catastrophes, he stressed.
At some $25 trillion dollars, you own some of the worlds largest investment portfolios.
Your investment decisions are crucial for reducing the growth of carbon emissions and protecting again the financial
disruption caused by stranded assets.
Mr. Ban also challenged the industry to double investments in clean energy and work with the UN to ensure that early
warning and early actions are made available to the most vulnerable countries by 2020, since more than one million people
have already lost their lives to disasters in this century. In addition, he said that the worlds most vulnerable people should
be provided with greater access to risk transfer mechanisms.
The poorest and most vulnerable people those who have done least to cause climate change need support to reduce their
exposure to climate impacts, the UN chief said.
Lastly, Mr. Ban challenged the insurance industry to develop auditable standards in the industry that incorporate the
Sustainable Development Goals.
It is no longer sufficient to work on voluntary principles and guidelines that do not affect vital decisions, he said. It is no
longer sufficient to think that human development is the responsibility of governments alone. We thought the same about
climate change for years. We were wrong.
Also attending the meeting were Robert Glasser, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk
Reduction (UNISDR); Selwin Hart, Director of the Climate Change Support Team; and Mike McGavick, Chairperson of
the Geneva Association.

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Investing in treatment for depression and anxiety leads to fourfold return UN report
13 April Depression and anxiety disorders cost the global economy
$1 trillion each year, and every one dollar invested in scaling up
treatment leads to a return of four dollars in better health and ability to
work, according to a new study led by the United Nations health
agency.
The study, published today in The Lancet Psychiatry, estimates, for
the first time, both the health and economic benefits of investing in
treatment of the most common forms of mental illness globally, and
provides a strong argument for greater investment in mental health
services in countries of all income levels.
We know that treatment of depression and anxiety makes good sense
for health and wellbeing; this new study confirms that it makes sound
economic sense too, said World Health Organization (WHO)
Director-General Margaret Chan in a press release jointly issued
with the World Bank Group. We must now find ways to make sure that access to mental health services becomes a reality
for all men, women and children, wherever they live.
When 43 year-old Anil Agarwal learned he was HIV positive, he fell
into a deep depression. But after he became involved in HIV
education and helping others to protect themselves, he was able to see
beyond his own problems. Photo: UNICEF India/Candace Feit

Depression and anxiety are increasing

Common mental disorders are increasing worldwide. Between 1990 and 2013, the number of people suffering from
depression and/or anxiety increased by nearly 50 per cent, from 416 million to 615 million. Close to 10 per cent of the
worlds population is affected, and mental disorders account for 30 per cent of the global non-fatal disease burden.
Humanitarian emergencies and ongoing conflict add further to the need for scale-up of treatment options. WHO estimates
that, during emergencies, as many as one in five people are affected by depression and anxiety.
Returns on investment in treatment far outweigh the costs
The new study calculated treatment costs and health outcomes in 36 low-, middle- and high-income countries for the 15
years from 2016-2030. The estimated costs of scaling up treatment, primarily psychosocial counselling and antidepressant
medication, amounted to $147 billion. Yet the returns far outweigh the costs. A five per cent improvement in labour force
participation and productivity is valued at $399 billion, and improved health adds another $310 billion in returns.
However, current investment in mental health services is far lower than what is needed. According to WHOs Mental
Health Atlas 2014 survey, governments spend on average three per cent of their health budgets on mental health, ranging
from less than one per cent in low-income countries to five per cent in high-income countries.
Despite hundreds of millions of people around the world living with mental disorders, mental health has remained in the
shadows, said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim. This is not just a public health issue its a development
issue. We need to act now because the lost productivity is something the global economy simply cannot afford.
Finance and development actors meet to consider scale-up
A series of events, being co-hosted by the World Bank and WHO today and tomorrow, as part of the World Bank GroupInternational Monetary Fund Spring Meetings in Washington DC, is bringing ministers of finance, development agencies,
academic experts and practitioners together to discuss how to put mental health at the centre of the health and development
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agenda globally and in countries.

The event aims to kick-start an increase in investments in mental health: investments by governments, development agencies
and civil society. It also includes an Innovations Fair showcasing feasible, affordable and cost-effective ways to improve
mental health care around the world.
Scaling up mental health services will contribute to reducing by one third premature mortality from noncommunicable
diseases by 2030, one of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), endorsed at the UN General
Assembly in 2015.

FEATURE: at UN film screening, animal heist fable serves as

poignant metaphor for Middle East relations
13 April A 15-foot giraffe is one of the main characters in
Giraffada, a film shown at the United Nations, depicting the struggles
of living in a Palestinian town as seen through the eyes of a young boy
who has a close connection with the animal.
The award-winning productions title is a cross between giraffe and
intifada or Palestinian uprising, the director Rani Massalha told
the UN News Centre in an interview ahead of the screening.
The film is set during the second Intifada, Mr. Massalha said,
referring to a period of intensified Israeli-Palestinian violence from
September 2000 to February 2005.
A scene from the film, Giraffada, directed by Rani Massalha and
produced by Pyramide Films. The film was screened at the UN on 7

The film focuses on a widowed Palestinian veterinarian, Yacine, and April 2016. Photo: Courtesy of Pyramide Films
his 10-year-old son, Ziad, who are trying to keep a giraffe named Rita
from dying of loneliness after her partner is killed in an Israeli air raid.
The only viable solution is for Rita to be placed in a zoo in Tel Aviv, Israel, or so it seems.

Created as a fable, the film shows what it is to be a kid in West Bank today living in war, living with a wall surrounding
you, with checkpoints, colonies, its a very different childhood from people in the West, the director said.
In one of the most emotional scenes in the film, a giraffe meanders through Palestinian streets, temporarily stopping day
activities, such as shopping and praying, as people watch in jaw-dropping disbelief.
The giraffe is the tallest animal in nature so it sees man from above looking down, Mr. Massalha said, a reference to the
height giving the animal perspective to see the situation in the Middle East as it is, not politicized.
The director also used giraffes as a metaphor for how the relationship between the Israelis and Palestinians could be, with
two giraffes coming together from both sides of the West Bank barrier, known simply as the wall.
In this interview clip, Mr. Massalha discusses how he came up with the idea of having the worlds tallest land animal star in
the film, and the connection with hope for peace in the Middle East.
The screening was organized under the auspices of the UN Working Group of the Committee on the Exercise of the
Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.
Deputy Permanent Representative of Malta to the United Nations and Chairperson of the Working Group, Natasha MeliDaudey, said the film was chosen because of its portrayal of the reality of the conflict and the impact of the Israeli
occupation on the daily life of Palestinian adults and children.

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We thought the film was well suited to inform a UN and broader New York audience about such topics, she continued,
adding that more than 500 people, including children, attended the screening.
The films human characters include different portrayals of Israeli and Palestinian personalities, often with fluid stereotypes.
The characters include an Israeli veterinarian, who is actually played by an Arab actor of Moroccan descent, and whose help
is integral to the plots success.
In contrast, there is an angry confrontation between the characters and a gun-wielding Israeli settler.
Despite it being a film with animals, shown through a childs eyes, there are scenes of that touch on the brutality of living in
a war zone. Rather than give away the films ending, the UN News Centre asked Mr. Massalha to explain one of the scenes
from the film.

Republic of Congo: top UN officials concerned by reported

attacks against civilians
13 April United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he is
deeply concerned about recent reports that security operations
undertaken by the Government of the Republic of the Congo in an
area of southern Brazzaville known as the Pool allegedly resulted in
attacks against civilian targets and displacement of the population
from the affected areas.
A statement attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General
said the UN chief is also troubled about restrictions on access to the
region, which hamper adequate information gathering, evaluation and
reporting on the situation.
Condemning all acts of violence, the Secretary-General also urged the A child plays in a wheelbarrow while her family collects water into
jerrycans in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo. Photo:
Government of the Republic of the Congo to ensure that humanitarian UNICEF/Christine Nesbitt
and other relevant actors are granted access to the affected areas and
population, and that security forces act in compliance with the
countrys obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law.
Calling on all parties to show restraint and to engage in constructive and inclusive dialogue in the aftermath of the
presidential election, Mr. Ban said he is dispatching his Special Representative for Central Africa and Head of the UN
Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), Abdoulaye Bathily, to Brazzaville to consult with national authorities and
other relevant stakeholders in order to defuse tensions.
Earlier today, the UN human rights chief today expressed concern over very alarming reports coming out of the Republic
of Congo regarding the apparent Government security operation in Brazzaville.
In a statement, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein said that since the 20 March presidential
election, there have been reports that security operations have been conducted against opposition leaders and supporters who
allegedly attacked a police station and areas in the southern part of the capital on 4 April.
The Government has announced that 17 people died in security operations, including three members of security forces, with
several others wounded, he said.
There have been reports of mass arrests and torture in detention, as well as the killing and displacement of people from the
Pool, Mr. Zeid said. The reports have been difficult to verify, given the lack of access to the area by independent actors.

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Mr. Zeid urged the Government to ensure that humanitarian actors access the Pool and that security forces act in full
accordance with the Republic of Congos obligations under international human rights law.
Any incidents involving the use of force, particularly lethal force, by the security forces must be thoroughly, promptly and
impartially investigated, Mr. Zeid stressed.
All those arrested and detained must not be ill-treated. They should either be charged and brought before a judge, in line
with international due process standards, or be swiftly released, he added.
Mr. Zeid called on the Government, political leaders and their supporters to endeavour to resolve all differences peacefully
and within the law, and to eschew violence in the exercise of the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful
assembly.

The next UN Secretary-General: informal briefings continue

13 April Three more candidates for the position of the next United
Nations Secretary-General will be heard today, answering questions
on how they would promote sustainable development, improve efforts
to create peace, protect human rights, and deal with huge
humanitarian catastrophes should they be selected to lead the 193member Organization.
The current Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, is the eighth occupant
of the Organization's 70-year history. He took office in January 2007
and will be ending his 10-year tenure on 31 December 2016.

The General Assembly holds informal dialogues with candidates for

the position of the next Secretary-General of the United Nations. UN
Photo/Rick Bajornas

Yesterday's candidates three of the nine who have so far been

officially nominated by their home countries included Igor Luksic,
the current Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs
and European Integration of Montenegro; Irina Bokova

the current Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), nominated
by Bulgaria; and Antonio Guterres, who was most recently the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, nominated by
Portugal.
Describing the three days of informal dialogues as a new and transparent process, UN General Assembly President
Mogens Lykketoft underlined that it is the first time the opportunity presents itself for substantive and open engagement
with the candidates for the full UN membership and the public.
Each candidate will have a televised and webcast two-hour timeslot, starting with a short oral presentation. Representatives
from Member States will then ask questions, followed by the President of the General Assembly, who will ask a few of the
more than 1,000 questions submitted by the general public on social media under the hashtag #UNSGcandidates.
The three candidates who will go before the General Assembly today are listed below, in order of appearance. They will
present their 'vision statements,' which address the challenges and opportunities facing the UN and the next SecretaryGeneral, and answer questions from the audience.

Danilo Trk is a former President of Slovenia.

Vesna Pusi has been holding the office of the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs for the past four years, and the
office of the First Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia for the past three years.

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Natalia Gherman, held the position of first Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European
Integration of the Republic of Moldova.

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)