GA/11877

GENERAL ASSEMBLY PLENARY

SEVENTY-FIRST SESSION, 63RD MEETING (AM)

Adopting a draft resolution on global health and foreign policy that focused on the role of health employment in driving economic growth and helping Member States move toward sustainable development, the General Assembly also held a debate on the culture of peace and elected members to the Organizational Committee of the Peacebuilding Commission.

By the terms of the draft resolution “Global health and foreign policy: health employment and economic growth,” adopted without a vote, the Assembly urged Member States to continue to consider health issues in the formulation of their foreign policy. It also called on Member States to strengthen their dialogue with civil society, academia and the private sector to maximize engagement to solve global health challenges, while safeguarding public health interests from undue influence or potential conflict of interest.

The Assembly urged Member States to promote equal access to health services and the development of resilient and sustainable systems capable of responding effectively to outbreaks and emergencies. It called on States to make greater investments and promote decent work with adequate remuneration in the health and social sectors and to enable safe working environments and conditions. The Assembly committed to support technology transfer arrangements on mutually agreed and advantageous terms with the objective of increasing the availability and affordability of medicines and related technologies.

The Assembly also decided to hold a high-level meeting in 2017 on the fight against tuberculosis and requested the Secretary-General to propose modalities for the conduct of such a meeting.

Addressing Member States prior to action on the text, General Assembly President Peter Thomson (Fiji) said that recent global outbreaks of Ebola and the Zika virus had shown how quickly global health crises could cross borders, divert limited resources and wreak devastation on families and communities. The impact of such pandemics had stretched far beyond the health sector, undermining socioeconomic development, weakening social cohesion and threatening national and regional security. “We need to accelerate our pace of progress,” he said.

In the ensuing discussion, delegates touched on various aspects of the global health system, including the need to train medical professionals to cope with major outbreaks. The United States’ representative said as a country that employed millions of health workers and deployed many others to missions worldwide, cultivating a strong employment base was critical to dealing with modern outbreaks. Health professionals faced many dangers in responding to emergencies and “we owe it to them to have effective shared procedures for human resource preparedness,” she said.

Echoing that sentiment, the Russian Federation’s delegate said recent international epidemics had put immense pressure on medical staff. Implementing a comprehensive strategy to enhance training and capacities was in line with the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. On a national level, the Russian Federation put forth a medical personnel initiative to boost the number of doctors in rural areas. That programme had successfully encouraged young doctors starting their careers to work in villages by providing them financial incentives.

Speakers also called attention to the needs of women and girls. Canada’s representative, who spoke on behalf of Australia, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden and the United Kingdom, expressed concern over the deliberate exclusion of language on universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, and women’s and girl’s full enjoyment of all human rights. Member States had a duty to promote sexual and reproductive health and rights aimed at protecting women and girls, she added.

Women and girls also made up the majority of workers in the health sector, said South Africa’s delegate, who had also introduced the draft on behalf of the Foreign Policy and Global Health Network, comprising Brazil, France, Indonesia, Norway, Senegal, Thailand and his own country. Yet, too much of that work was unpaid. Investments in the health sector had to focus on enhancing women’s economic empowerment, including transforming unpaid and informal care roles into decent work and promoting opportunities for enhancing skills.

Earlier in the morning, the Assembly took up its agenda item on the culture of peace, holding an open debate during which several delegations stressed the growing need for countries to come together to counter extremism and intolerance. Iran’s representative said absurd mentalities and the pursuit of short‑sighted political gains and cultural and military hegemony were threatening peace every day. As such, he stressed the importance of confronting cultures that spread hatred and intolerance.

Deploring the rise of xenophobia in the world, Morocco’s delegate said his country had recently hosted a forum on the rights of minorities living in Muslim lands, an event reaffirming that dialogue among all people was necessary. Combating religious extremism required a holistic approach that included social and religious leaders. Morocco had already reformed school programmes and parts of the media to promote and teach a message of peace in line with moderate Islam.

Several delegations recognized the importance of empowering youth to prevent them from falling into the “trap of extremism”, with Cambodia’s representative emphasizing that the political participation of young men and women would lead to inclusive societies. “Young people are the hope for a better world,” he added.

Delivering statements were the representatives of Brunei Darussalam (on behalf of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)), Cuba, Thailand (also on behalf of ASEAN), Qatar, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Paraguay, Bangladesh, Tunisia, Israel, Japan and Mexico, as well as the European Union. The representatives of Switzerland and India spoke in explanation of position.

The Assembly had before it a report of the Secretary-General titled “Promotion of a culture of peace and interreligious and intercultural dialogue, understanding and cooperation for peace” (document A/71/407) and two notes of the Secretary-General titled “Global health and foreign policy” (document A/71/601) and “State of health security” (document A/71/598).

In other matters, the Assembly elected Colombia, Egypt, Kenya, Indonesia and Mexico as members of the Organizational Committee of the Peacebuilding Commission for a two‑year term of office beginning on 1 January 2017. The Assembly also took note of two letters dating back to 28 November 2016 (document A/71/664) and 8 November 2016 (document A/71/610), the former deciding that Brazil, Canada, Germany, Japan and Norway would serve a full two‑year term from 2016 to 2018 on the Organizational Committee, and the latter deciding that Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Pakistan and Rwanda would serve from the troop‑contributing countries category of membership for a term of office beginning on 1 January 2017 and ending on 31 December 2018.

The Assembly today decided to postpone the date of its recess to Friday, 23 December 2016, also extending to that date the work of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary).

The General Assembly will meet again at 10 a.m., Friday, 16 December to take up its agenda items on sport for peace and development and strengthening of the coordination of humanitarian and disaster relief assistance of the United Nations.

Opening Remarks

PETER THOMSON (Fiji), President of the General Assembly, addressed agenda items on the culture of peace and on global health and foreign policy. He said racism, xenophobia, intolerance and other manifestations of hate were driving many of today’s conflicts while motivating violent extremism and inspiring acts of terrorism. They also lay behind the persecution and targeting of ethnic and religious minorities, migrants, refugees and other vulnerable and marginalized people. “Far too often, hate is used as a tool by leaders seeking, for their own gains, to exploit the insecurity of people, disunity of societies and injustices of our world,” he stressed, adding that fostering a culture of peace required dedicated attention to the promotion of intercultural understanding and strengthening of interreligious dialogue, inspiring people’s hope for the future and motivating them to unite for peace.

Commending the work of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Alliance of Civilizations in that regard, he said such targeted projects were rebuilding fragmented societies and should be scaled up and supported. Building long-term, sustainable peace also required comprehensive approaches that brought together peace and security, human rights and sustainable development, he said, emphasizing that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was a fundamental tool. Expressing his commitment to deepening understanding at the United Nations itself, he announced his intention to convene a high-level informal dialogue on 24 January 2017 on the subject “Building Sustainable Peace for All: Synergies between the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Sustaining Peace”.

Turning to the agenda item on “Global Health and Foreign Policy”, he said the recent global outbreaks of Ebola and the Zika virus had demonstrated all too clearly how quickly global health crises could cross national borders, divert limited health resources and wreak devastation on families, communities and entire regions. The impact of such pandemics stretched far beyond the health sector, undermining socioeconomic development, weakening social cohesion and ultimately threatening national and regional security. Noting that the World Health Organization (WHO) had estimated the annual global cost of “moderate to severe” pandemics to be around $750 billion, or 0.7 per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP), he said addressing global health was therefore not only a goal in itself, but also a cross-cutting precondition for achieving the rest of the Sustainable Development Goals.

“We need to accelerate our pace of progress in fighting malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, hepatitis, Ebola and other communicable and non‑communicable diseases,” he said, adding that more dedicated attention should also be paid to the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance. Specific mechanisms should be established to ensure that the needs of women and girls, children, the elderly, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups were not overlooked. Also critical were well-functioning, resilient national health systems that had the necessary service delivery, finance, human resources, infrastructure and information.

Culture of Peace

DATO ABDUL GHAFAR ISMAIL (Brunei Darussalam), speaking on behalf of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), reaffirmed a commitment to security and stability in the region and to the peaceful resolution of disputes. ASEAN would continue to play a central role in developing a rules-based regional architecture that emphasized tolerance and non-violence. With that in mind, it had incorporated the 2030 Agenda into its holistic approach to building an inclusive, people-centred community. Meanwhile, as the world faced borderless threats defined by extremist ideologies, terror attacks had underscored the need to be vigilant and cultivate a culture of tolerance and peace, an objective that could not be attained by individual efforts alone. Achieving the 2030 Agenda goals depended on building a culture of peace, as development was very much dependent on it.

ANA SILVIA RODRÍGUEZ ABASCAL (Cuba), stressing the importance of fully respecting the sovereignty of States, said a global culture of peace could not even be discussed when nuclear weapons still threatened the very survival of humankind. Expressing concern about the global gap between rich and poor and the growing disparity between developed and developing countries, she said that while the Secretary-General’s Plan of Action on Violent Extremism was one contribution to peace, any decision on that vital issue could only be made by consensus among all Member States. Warning in particular against State terrorism, she said intolerance and discrimination — as well as the hidden agendas of regime change in developing countries — also continued to threaten peace. In that regard, ending the United States’ economic blockade against Cuba would be a major step towards restoring peace and eliminating double standards.

SUCHANAREE TARANATHAM (Thailand), associating herself with ASEAN, said sustained focus and efforts were needed for a culture of peace to prevail. “Peace depends on how we, the people, perceive and make the world,” she said, recalling that all people had a shared responsibility to promote and sustain peace. As a co-sponsor of the draft resolutions on a culture of peace, Thailand supported the common duty of all States to promote constructive dialogues and interactions between different cultures and religions to foster trust and understanding. Earlier in 2016, Thailand had hosted an international symposium on interfaith dialogue and peaceful coexistence in multicultural societies. Stressing that education could cultivate and strengthen the culture of peace, she said Thailand was also supporting curricula and activities in schools and universities that emphasized multicultural understanding.

GHOLAMALI KHOSHROO (Iran) said peace was being threatened by occupation, xenophobia, Islamophobia, underdevelopment and climate change. Occupation in Palestine, Yemen, Syria and Iraq reflected a collective failure on the part of the international community in building a peaceful world. Human tragedies had taught humanity important lessons on the importance of dialogue among cultures. “We need to move forward,” he added, reaffirming that peace meant more than the absence of war. It was critical to confront cultures that spread hatred and intolerance. Absurd mentalities had continued to nurture the ideology of terror. The pursuit of short-sighted political gains and cultural and military hegemony threatened peace every day. Iran would continue to promote tolerance and the culture of peace.

ALANOUD QASSIM M. A. AL-TEMIMI (Qatar) said the inclusion of the culture of peace into the 2030 Agenda was critical. Young people had a great role to play, as they were responsible for securing the future. Qatar had focused on conflict prevention through the adoption of policies aimed at resolving differences using peaceful means. It had also played a mediation role in regional conflicts. To combat terrorism, Qatar had focused on dealing with the root causes, encouraging dialogue, and rejecting extremism and intolerance. Her country also supported programmes that empowered young people in the Arab region and aimed at protecting them from extremism. Qatar had recently launched an education initiative for Syrian children and adolescents, she said, emphasizing the importance of building bridges of cooperation and understanding among different societies and regions.

FARAH T A S H ALGHARABALLY (Kuwait) said the culture of peace had been threatened between nations, communities and individuals. Extremism persisted and intellectual conflicts had taken on a more ugly form. Urging people to work together at the local, regional and international levels to turn violence into dialogue, she said no State or community was sheltered from extremism and terrorism. In June 2015, a terrorist attack in Kuwait had aimed at spreading fear. However, Kuwait had united and rejected extremism. Justice and liberty were the pillars of the Kuwaiti society. Throughout its history, Kuwait had seen many examples of coming together and being open to other people’s values. Freedom of expression and religion were enshrined in its Constitution, she said, noting that many different people lived in Kuwait, enjoying mutual security and respect.

RY TUY (Cambodia), associating himself with the statement made by ASEAN, said that strengthened participation of young men and women in international governance structures would produce more inclusive societies. “Young people are the hope for a better world,” he added, reaffirming that youth would lead progress and development. His Government had recognized the increasing importance of young people as a driving force towards maintaining a culture of peace. It was unfortunate that armed conflicts continued to rage and claim the lives of so many people, including children. Some conflicts had stemmed from people being left out, marginalized, excluded and malnourished. People could easily fall into a trap of extremism, organized crime and terrorism. Good governance and the rule of law were essential preconditions for stability, he said, urging Governments to choose confidence-building measures and preventive diplomacy.

ALMAGUL KONURBAYEVA (Kazakhstan) said the Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace in the context of sustainable development had taken on even greater significance in light of increasingly long, protracted conflicts, violent extremism, gross violations of human rights, humanitarian crises and massive refugee flows. The implementation of a synergistic plan, including the eight Programme of Action areas, was therefore mandatory for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. “We need to chart a new course for humankind” by addressing development challenges to minimize violence and extremism, she said. In that regard, the international community should focus on building respect for human rights, pluralism and gender equality while bolstering efforts to end all forms of xenophobia, racial discrimination and intolerance. To that end, Kazakhstan had convened a triennial Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions and cooperated with UNESCO and the Alliance of Civilizations. Kazakhstan also stood for total disarmament, non-proliferation and a nuclear weapon-free world.

MARCELO ELISEO SCAPPINI RICCIARDI (Paraguay) said the United Nations and its Member States had a responsibility to tackle extremism and other root causes of conflict through dialogue and efforts that met the needs of the most vulnerable people. Peace was not simply the absence of conflict. Rather, it was poverty and inequality that had continued to undermine peace. “We are living in difficult times,” he said, recalling that large numbers of people were being displaced and cultural heritage was being threatened. The international community had been able to agree on valuable instruments to overcome challenges facing humankind. With the 2030 Agenda, the international community had made a commitment to reach the most vulnerable through agreeing on a set of goals. For its part, Paraguay had been focusing on achieving those targets while considering its national unique challenges. The refugee crisis, gender inequality and climate change required urgent action on a global level. Education was a crucial instrument to build a culture of peace. Diversity enriched humanity rather than divided it, he added, emphasizing the importance of friendship in promoting solidarity between civilizations.

TAREQ MD ARIFUL ISLAM (Bangladesh) said current divisive challenges were disturbing and derailing the shared objective of attaining sustainable peace, stability and development. The international community had an onerous responsibility to nurture and cultivate a culture of peace at national and global levels. Promoting such a mindset was at the core of peaceful and mutually respectful coexistence and dialogue among different civilizations, cultures, religions, faiths and beliefs around the globe, he said, recalling that the culture of peace was deeply ingrained in her/his country’s foreign policy. That ethos had also inspired its leadership role in United Nations peacekeeping, being among the world’s top troop‑contributing countries and a founding member of the Peacebuilding Commission. Bangladesh had also initiated Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security and remained committed to maintaining a zero‑tolerance policy to all forms of terrorism, violent extremism and radicalization.

OMAR HILALE (Morocco) expressed concern about the rise of intolerance, xenophobia and prejudice in the world. Morocco had recently hosted a forum on the rights of minorities living in Muslim lands, an event that had reaffirmed that dialogue among all people was necessary. Allocating resources towards development efforts was also important. On combating religious extremism, he said Morocco supported fighting the scourge by taking a holistic approach. That included the consideration of social and religious factors. For its part, Morocco had reformed school programmes and parts of the media to promote and teach a message of peace in line with moderate Islam. Morocco was a land of diversity that aimed to bring people together based on harmonious coexistence.

SOUMAYA BOURHIL (Tunisia) said an increase in terror and violent extremism was being fuelled by macabre ideologies and fanaticism and driven by misunderstanding and miscommunication alongside great disparities and widening poverty. Emphasizing the urgent need for the international community to address those challenges, she said Tunisia was a living example of tolerance and dialogue, having successfully emerged from its recent democratic transition due to the establishment of a national dialogue mechanism. Such a dialogue had allowed Tunisia to overcome that difficult period with full respect for the rule of law, human rights and the principles of justice and tolerance, she said, recalling that the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet had recently won a Nobel Peace Prize for such efforts. In addition, Tunisia had recently adopted a declaration on the fight against terrorism and the promotion of tolerance and solidarity between peoples and religions.

Global Health and Foreign Policy

JERRY MATTHEWS MATJILA (South Africa), speaking on behalf of the Foreign Policy and Global Health Network, comprising Brazil, France, Indonesia, Norway, Senegal, Thailand and his own country, introduced the draft text titled “Global health and foreign policy: health employment and economic growth” (document A/71/L.41). Health was one of the most important yet broadly neglected issues, he said, adding that his delegation had presided over the negotiation process, which had been marked by vibrant and construction dialogue. Delegations had demonstrated flexibility, reaffirming their commitment and dedication to the 2030 Agenda, in particular regarding Goal 3 on health. Notwithstanding some divergent views, there was a common understanding among Member States that twenty‑first century health challenges were related to demographic, epidemiological and technological changes.

A global health workforce, he said, must be geared towards health promotion, disease prevention and people-centred, community-based services and personalized long‑term care. Recognizing the role of women and girls in the health and social sector, he said way too much of that work was done unpaid and in an informal manner. Investments in the health sector should enhance women’s economic empowerment and participation, including by transferring unpaid and informal care roles into decent work and promote opportunities for enhancing skills.

WALAYA JARIYADHAM (Thailand), speaking on behalf of ASEAN, said 2016 had been a year of remarkable progress towards closer international cooperation on global health. While many challenges remained and more collaboration was needed, ASEAN welcomed the outcomes and recommendations of various high-level and regional discussions, which had allowed the international community to address such issues as HIV/AIDS, communicable diseases and antimicrobial resistance. Expressing support for the efforts including high-level panels on access to medicines and on global response to health crises, she said her region’s evolving demographics and lifestyles were affecting the health sector’s development. Economic growth and connectivity had led to a greater demand for quality and innovative services, and a strong, dynamic health workforce was needed to strengthen local and regional systems. Such a workforce was also critical in regional preparedness and resilience to public health emergencies and could have a positive impact on economic growth and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

KATHRIN LOEBER, of the European Union delegation, stressed that strong health systems were a precondition for sustainable development, and investments in health improved growth sustainability. Those returns must be taken into account when calculating GDP and undertaking other macroeconomic analyses. Investing in health for growth was a priority and should be seen as an investment in a critical area to promote poverty reduction and economic prosperity. The European Union strove to guarantee equitable access to good quality health care provided by well-trained workers. The rising global demand and need for such workers presented a significant challenge, but also offered an opportunity to generate employment in areas where decent jobs were most needed. In that regard, she expressed strong support for a recent report of the Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth and its 10 recommendations, including a call for urgent action to invest in the health workforce.

Taking note of the final report of the High-level Panel on Access to Medicines, she expressed deep regret at the lack of nuance around the assumption for setting up the panel – namely, that there was policy incoherence between the justifiable rights of inventors, international human rights law, trade rules and public health. The European Union would have been in favour of a more comprehensive approach on that critical issue, and the panel could have advanced a more balanced, comprehensive and workable solution to the problem of access to global health. “The challenge is to strike the right balance between the need to promote and finance the research of new and better medicines for all, ensuring that medicines are accessible and affordable to those in need, while guaranteeing the sustainability of health systems,” she said, noting that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) would soon be issuing a report on access to innovative medicines and the sustainability of pharmaceutical spending. Given widespread concerns, any future United Nations activities on those matters should be conducted on the basis of a much broader understanding of the complex issues involved, she concluded.

SERGEY B. KONONUCHENKO (Russian Federation) said recent years had witnessed serious challenges in the outbreak of infectious diseases, putting increased pressure on medical staff. Implementing a comprehensive strategy to enhance their training and capacities was in line with the 2030 Agenda. It was critical to adapt medical training programmes to national particularities. Expressing concern at the continuing gap in providing medical staff in urban and rural areas, he said that the Russian Federation had successfully implemented a programme that provided doctors under the age of 40 with financial incentives to work in villages. He welcomed the new resolution’s decision to organize a high-level meeting on tuberculosis, which would follow an international gathering in Moscow. The Moscow meeting would focus on the medical aspect and the social support Governments could provide to vulnerable communities, including migrants. That would hopefully mobilize broad political will to deal with such dangerous infectious diseases.

CYNTHIA RYAN (United States) said her country employed millions of health workers, provided cutting-edge training and educated professionals in its universities. Welcoming a number of paragraphs in the resolution that had reaffirmed that a high functioning health workforce was integral in achieving development targets, she said cultivating a strong employment base was critical to dealing with modern outbreaks. Health professionals faced many dangers in responding to emergencies and “we owe it to them to have effective shared procedures for human resource preparedness”. The United States welcomed the decision to hold a high-level meeting on tuberculous. She expressed deep disappointment with regard to the report of the High-level Panel on Access to Medicines. While there were real problems pertaining to access, those barriers were due to many reasons. The report did not help to attain those critical objectives, but detracted from them. The Panel had been unable to find consensus on its key recommendations, she said, noting her strong objection to its narrow focus and presumption of “policy incoherence”. The United States also supported voluntary technology transfers and did not support the use in the text of the word “advantageous”, which was unclear and inappropriate.

MAJDOLINE MOUFLIH (Morocco) said health systems must be able to handle emergencies and daily medical needs. Welcoming the draft resolution, she said global health crises were constantly on the rise, including emerging risks of infection that represented global threats. Proactive measures and global monitoring were needed in that regard, as was international action taken in a timely and coordinated manner. Reaffirming the will to address the emergence of new and contagious diseases and to prevent pandemics, she said Morocco had been among the first to respond to the Ebola outbreak. Describing a number of related national measures, she spotlighted Morocco’s national plan for medical emergencies, bolstering medical personnel training and ensuring universal health-care coverage by 2020. Among other things, she commended the decision to hold a Ministerial Global Conference on Tuberculosis in Moscow in 2017.

DAVID YITSHAK ROET (Israel) said the aftermath of the Ebola outbreak – shattered communities, dysfunctional health systems and destroyed communities – had reinforced the strong connection between health and sustainable development. “Healthy societies are happy societies,” he said, adding that strong public systems were prerequisites for economic growth, peace and prosperity. Earlier in 2016, the African Union Commission had recognized Israel as the largest donor per capita for fighting and preventing the spread of Ebola on the continent, and the country remained committed to continuing and strengthening such cooperation with African nations. Noting that one of the biggest health challenges still facing the developing world was the high rate of maternal and neonatal mortality, he said Israel was working with health professionals around the world to improve care and provide support and training. Israel had also been a member of the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance and had made HIV prevention affordable through the development of PrePex, a nonsurgical circumcision device that required no sutures or anaesthesia.

HIROSHI MINAMI (Japan) welcomed the draft’s focus on the importance of the health-related 2030 Agenda targets, including the provision of universal health coverage and improving the prevention and resilience to pandemic diseases. For its part, Japan would continue to make contributions to reach those ends. However, the issue of universal access to medicine should be discussed further. Having co‑sponsored the draft, Japan nevertheless wished to put on record that its position on the issue of technology transfer had not changed since the adoption of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.

JESÚS VELÁZQUEZ CASTILLO (Mexico) welcomed the recognition of the link between health and social development. Mexico would remain committed to working in the health sector to reach the Sustainable Development Goals. He also recognized WHO’s integral role in bringing consensus on the text.

The Assembly then adopted, without a vote, the draft resolution titled “Global health and foreign policy: health employment and economic growth” (document A/71/L.41).

The representative of Switzerland, in explanation of position, said that while she did not want to block consensus, she had to disassociate herself from certain aspects in the draft. Expressing concern at the text’s lack of focus on health employment, she said that while the Oslo Ministerial Declaration on public health had evolved over the years, it was still essential to acknowledge that the scope of the draft must contribute to its message. The text also included a variety of unrelated topics that should be discussed in appropriate forums. Tuberculosis, access to medicine and sexual reproductive rights should be discussed in specialized meetings and were not directly related to the topics covered by the text. She hoped that the draft resolution would not set a precedent for that.

The representative of Canada, also speaking on behalf of Australia, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden and the United Kingdom, said they had joined consensus on the resolution, but stronger language around sexual and reproductive and rights would have contributed to a more comprehensive text. Expressing strong support for the inclusion of “universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights and women’s and girl’s full enjoyment of all human rights” as initially proposed in the zero draft, she expressed concern about the deliberate exclusion of that language.

She said that as duty bearers, Member States must, at the very least, promote sexual and reproductive health and rights aimed at protecting women and girls. It was also important to ensure that women, girls and adolescents were aware of and understood their ability to realize their sexual and reproductive health and rights was consistent with the 2030 Agenda. Those were inextricably linked to other human rights already recognized in national laws, international instruments and United Nations consensus documents. The language in the resolution must not create a precedent on technology transfers, with language contained in the 2030 Agenda and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda remaining the most recent intergovernmental agreement on the issue.

The representative of India said that despite earnest efforts to promote and protect the right of every person to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, substantial gaps persisted. India welcomed the draft’s adoption, but remained disappointed at efforts to dilute the importance accorded to the recommendations of the High-level Panel on Access to Medicines, which addressed policy incoherence and glaring imbalance between human rights, intellectual property rights and public health objectives in the context of health technologies. Among other things, the text addressed such issues as incentives for research and development, including delinking the cost of research and development from prices, full utilization of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights flexibilities and governance, accountability and transparency. In that regard, the Indian pharmaceutical industry continued to be a globally acknowledged source of affordable, safe and effective quality generic medicine to vulnerable people, especially in developing countries.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) launched in 2000 sought to halve by 2015 the proportion of the world’s population without sustainable access to improved water sources and sanitation facilities. By 2015, about 2.6 billion additional people had gained access to improved water sources since 1990, the baseline year for the MDGs, thus meeting the MDG target. However, 663 million people still do not have access to improved water sources. While 2.1 billion people had gained access to improved sanitation facilities since 1990, 2.4 billion still do not have access, below the MDG target.

1. Summary

In November 2015, more than 1,000 Cuban nationals were reported to be camped out at the Paso Canoas border crossing with Panama. In view of requirements for entering the country and the fact that these migrants did not meet them, a significant amount of people began to congregate in this border community, taking to living in the streets while they waited for a solution to their immigration status. The Costa Rican government issued permits allowing migrants to enter the country and continue on their way to the United States.

Thousands of migrants benefitted; however, despite these permits, migrants were unable to enter Nicaraguan territory as they failed to meet Nicaragua’s immigration requirements. By March 2016, approximately 8,000 migrants were in Costa Rican territory, requiring an immediate humanitarian intervention by the CRRC, which was later joined by other government institutions, churches and organized communities, among others; all of these organizations jointly supported the establishment of 37 collective centres to address food, water and sanitation needs and promote health.
Nonetheless, the solution for many of the Cuban nationals came several months later (March to May 2016) after an air bridge between Costa Rica and El Salvador was established; in the end, around 8,000 people were airlifted to Mexico.

However, the departures of the Cuban nationals marked the beginning of the arrival of a group of Haitians and people from various countries in Asia and Africa to Panama’s border areas, specifically in Paso Canoas and Peñas Blancas; most of those from outside the continent were from Burkina Faso, Congo, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Senegal and Somalia, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Angola, Cameroon, Eritrea, Gambia, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leona, Togo, Benin, Haiti, Afghanistan, Ivory Coast and Tanzania. Since the migrants lacked visas to enter Costa Rica, they started congregating in surrounding streets as they were unable to continue because they were not authorized to enter the country and unable to turn back because Panamanian authorities would not allow them to return; those that managed to evade police started gathering near the Peñas Blancas, Costa Rica border crossing with Nicaragua, where they were living in unsuitable conditions in regard to housing, drinking water, food and hygiene.

On 12 April 2016, some migrants were transported back to the Paso Canoas border crossing with Panama by Security Ministry vehicles, which exacerbated the problem given the precarious conditions and the amount of people involved; this led to several institutions deciding to open a "humanitarian aid post" in order to assess basic food, health and hygiene conditions. This post was later handed to the Costa Rican Red Cross so that it could manage and operate it.

In May 2016, reports indicated the existence of 43 collective centres, 33 communities hosting migrants, 15 active municipal emergency committees, more than 500 volunteers and more than USD$5 million in operating and administrative maintenance executed by Costa Rica’s Emergency Commission. Panama also faced a rapid build-up of Cuban migrants in May 2016, when the Costa Rican government stopped issuing transit permits to migrants, which forced 4,000 migrants that had congregated in Paso Canoas to live in hotels, apartments and houses; this situation continued until late June 2016 when migrants were able to take flights out or find informal routes to travel across the remaining Central American countries.

At the end of July 2016, Colombian media outlets observed a rise in the migrants concentrated in Uraba Antioqueño and Choco, which are near Panama’s Darien province. Moreover, while only 35 Haitian migrants were registered by Colombian migration authorities in July 2015, the number of Haitian migrants has increased significantly, thereby surpassing the total of Cuban migrants. The Panamanian government closed its borders in May 2016; however, it is still permitting the controlled entry and exit of migrants. By August 2016, thousands of migrants were en route to North America; many of them having started their journeys in Brazil and later travelling through Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico.

Immigration authorities in all of the involved countries are doing everything within their power to manage the burgeoning immigration crisis, and emergency authorities are attempting to meet the humanitarian needs arising in each country's meeting points or points of passage; this was instantiated by the Panamanian authorities’ establishment of a reception centre in Nicanor for the migrants (the migrants enter Panama from Las Blancas, Peñitasor Yaviza on the Colombian-Panamanian border). From there, the migrants are transported by bus to Paso Canoas, Panama, which is near the border with Costa Rica.

The entry of migrants at the Colombian-Panamanian border increased in October 2016; according to health authorities, an average of 300 to 500 migrants was entering Panama per day on the Colombian-Panamanian border and only 100 were leaving the country per day through Panama’s border with Costa Rica, which means more migrants were entering Panama on a daily basis than leaving from it. This influx of migrants swelled the number of migrants staying in the temporary reception centre in Nicanor.

Over the last nine weeks, 7,000 migrants have passed through Panama, and there are approximately 5,000 migrants in Nicanor that are waiting to travel to the border with Costa Rica; the migrants’ average stay in Nicanor is 4 to 6 weeks. In 2016, the centre in Nicanor received 17,000 migrants “formally”; nevertheless, the number of migrants that entered Panama in 2016 could be higher as the authorities have not registered all of the migrants that have passed through Panama.

In the case of Costa Rica, approximately 12,567 migrants have been registered in the country to date. An agreement was reached with the government of Panama stipulating that as of 18 September 2016, Costa Rican authorities would only allow the entry of 100 migrants per day. When arriving at the border with Costa Rica, migrants go to a reception centre known as Kilometro 20 in Paso Canoas, which is the only migrant reception centre in southern Costa Rica. The government has arranged for buses to take migrants across the country to the border with Nicaragua, where there are currently two active migrant reception centres. Costa Rica grants migrants a temporary visa valid for 22 days; if they are delayed, this visa can be immediately renewed for 22 more days. The migrants' greatest expectation and hope upon arriving in Paso Canoas, Panama is to be granted the visa that will enable them to reach Costa Rica’s northern border with Nicaragua; while this border with remains closed, small groups of migrants are able to cross into Nicaragua

Improved household food security continues across the country due the main season harvests

KEY MESSAGES

• The dry season is beginning in December with the cessation of rains and the harvesting of the main season’s food crops. Harvests of vegetables and staple cereals is increasing food availability for poor households, while farm labor is providing wages that are improving their access to food. Most areas in the country will remain in Minimal (IPC Phase 1) acute food insecurity through January 2017.

• Harvests are allowing for increased economic recovery from EVD related shocks in both Kailahun and Port Loko Districts. However, continuing economic shocks including closed mining operations, trade disruptions during the rainy season, and increased petrol prices since November, is affecting purchasing power and recovery for poor households. Both districts will remain in Stressed (IPC Phase 2) acute food insecurity through January 2017.

• The current harvesting of lowland (boliland and IVS) rice is reported to be above-average in the northern region, while the IVS rice harvests concluding in January are also expected to be aboveaverage.
Off-season crop cultivation is beginning and will supplement household and market food stocks. Food availability and access will remain stable throughout the scenario period, allowing all districts to be in Minimal (IPC Phase 1) acute food insecurity from February to May 2017.

Introduction

Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) and security sector reform (SSR) have become integral components in the international community’s peacebuilding toolkit for countries recovering from internal conflict. In recent years the United Nations (UN) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations have called for more closely coordinated DDR and SSR strategies in their peacekeeping and statebuilding interventions, and emphasized the need for better planning, implementation and monitoring frameworks to make them more effective on the ground. Academic and policy research has also suggested that DDR and SSR programmes could be more closely linked, although some practitioners cast doubt about the feasibility of operationalizing a policy “link” in practice.

Debates on whether and how DDR and SSR could be effectively linked have so far been theoretical and normative in nature. The existing literature lacks sufficient empirical data taking into account the transitional context in which these processes take place. Policy-oriented research on DDR and SSR tends to prioritize supply-side considerations related to coordination, financing and programming. Less attention has been focused on demand-side considerations related to how DDR and SSR interact in local political and state formation processes after war. The main aim of this paper is thus to provide an empirical understanding of how SSR and DDR were linked in two past peacebuilding interventions in West Africa Introduction in order to identify opportunities and constraints for establishing closer practical linkages in war-to-peace transitions.

The space in which countries transition from war to peace involves complicated political processes shaped by ongoing conflicts and the negotiation and distribution of political (and economic) power, especially for control of state power. Countries in transition from intrastate warfare often lack an effective state capable of enforcing contracts or political commitments between factions. In this institutional vacuum, conflict is often resolved outside formal and institutionalized political structures. DDR and SSR interventions must be understood within this context of formal and informal negotiation processes. DDR and SSR programmes have been largely shaped by external actors seeking agreement between powerful factions at the negotiation table. However, a significant gap exists between the formal terms of an agreement and the operationalization of those terms. The terms for DDR and SSR tend to be standardized according to international norms, but the implementation phase is far from an exact science. Formal and informal agreements on the terms for DDR and SSR are often purposively vague and designed to be sorted out later depending on local conditions and the emergent nature of relations over how power vacuums are to be settled.

This paper assumes that in transitional statebuilding processes there may be incentives for central rulers to adopt (or at least seem to embrace) certain elements of DDR and/or SSR when these allow them to consolidate their domestic power and/or enhance their legitimacy internationally. DDR may influence a political process that entails shifting the balance of power from irregular factions to a recognized central state capable of establishing (and maintaining) itself as the sole political authority with the legitimacy to use force. SSR seeks to build on the gains from this shift to enhance state capacity to provide security and legitimize state rule through democratic governance, particularly the democratic civilian control of the security sector, within a larger framework of the rule of law and respect for human rights. From this perspective, this paper argues that DDR and SSR can be characterized as distinct processes with overlapping objectives on a war–peace transition spectrum seeking to restore a central state authority and reduce the power of irregular armed factions.

To understand how DDR and SSR interact within the political context of a transitional setting, this paper argues that it helps to consider how local political processes place constraints on the implementation of peacebuilding interventions. More integrated DDR–SSR strategies are likely to fail if the intervention’s logic is based on a flawed analysis of local political conditions and processes. This paper identifies four dimensions critical for post-conflict political environments in statebuilding literature, which together constitute broad parameters for taking into account how politics in a post-civil-war transition might condition or constrain opportunities for DDR–SSR synergies:

1. The nature of the conflict, how the war ends and how this shapes the balance of forces between the warring factions (political settlement).

2. The nature and interests of central state authority (balance of forces within the ruling coalition).

3. The central state’s relative strength vis-à-vis the relative influence of international actors.

4. Local capacities for change.

To test these ideas, this paper comparatively explores two West African DDR and SSR experiences. The central research questions addressed here are what role did DDR and SSR play in the local context, what was the nature of the respective DDR and SSR interventions and to what extent was a link established between DDR and SSR interventions in practice? The case studies focus on Sierra Leone and Liberia for several reasons. First, these two countries hosted extensive international DDR and SSR programmes at different times during the early 2000s as part of the global community’s response to ending civil conflicts and (re)building state institutions in the aftermath of war. Sierra Leone, and to a lesser extent Liberia, became an important testing ground for experimenting with and developing concurrent DDR–SSR interventions. Both cases feature a prominent role for DDR and SSR in the broader process of restoring central states that had essentially fragmented and collapsed. They involved different Western (UK and US) and/or regional powers serving in coordination and leadership roles at different points of time in support of SSR, making it possible to disaggregate and analyse the various roles that external donors assume and discern their actual and potential influence over policy-making and in altering power relations.

While the Sierra Leonean and Liberian post-conflict contexts can be described as “relatively benign” cases of post-war peacebuilding compared to Afghanistan or Iraq, due to the relatively minor geopolitical significance of these countries, they can tell us about how British and US-led post-conflict interventions engage in “second-order” countries. This is an important starting point to take stock of the relationship between DDR and SSR in the context of DDR and SSR in War-to-Peace Transition wider post-conflict statebuilding processes. Additionally, while the West African cases may be considered first-generation SSR programmes, the lessons from these interventions have yet to be extracted systematically. Despite the fact that this paper only focuses on two states, the analysis of these comparatively older and presumably more benign cases is empirically valuable from both academic and practical perspectives.

It is necessary to take into account the fact that the transition path adopted by these two cases was quite different. In Sierra Leone the main anti-government warring faction (the Revolutionary United Front) was defeated at the end of the war. In Liberia three irregular armed factions became the state through a negotiated political settlement that was implemented by international donors. These cases demonstrate how variations in underlying political settlements – i.e. their nature and relative degree of stability – can lead to different outcomes during DDR–SSR processes. There were a number of facilitating conditions that aided the DDR and SSR processes in both countries. Sierra Leone and Liberia did not experience a resumption in fighting after their political settlements were established in May 2001 and August 2003 respectively, but for different reasons. War fatigue was certainly omnipresent in both countries at the end of their wars. Robust UN interventions (led by large UN peacekeeping missions) and direct Western diplomatic, development and military support, along with regional commitment (from Nigeria), effectively shored up the existing political settlements and, to a large extent, sent strong signals to all parties that a negotiated peace was possible.

The rest of this paper is structured as follows. Next, a review of the emerging discourse and underlying ideas and assumptions of DDR and SSR is presented, with a discussion of recent claims about an emerging DDR–SSR nexus in some peacebuilding policy circles. This section also examines the relationship between DDR and SSR in the context of war-to-peace transitions. The discussion is then brought into focus through an examination of DDR and SSR practices in Sierra Leone (2001–2004) and Liberia (2003–2005). The conclusion summarizes the empirical evidence and considers how the DDR–SSR relationship can be enhanced in war-to-peace transition contexts.

I. Introduction

1. In a letter dated 23 December 2013 (S/2013/759), the Security Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Office for West Africa until 31 December 2016 and requested me to submit a report every six months on the implementation of its mandate. Following my letter to the Council dated 14 January 2016 (S/2016/88) on the strategic review of the Office of my Special Envoy for the Sahel, the Council requested me, on 28 January 2016, to proceed with the merger of the two offices into the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) and asked me to provide an update on the implementation of the mandate of UNOWAS in my next report (see S/2016/89). The present report covers the period from 30 July to 31 December 2016 and provides an overview of developments and trends in West Africa and the Sahel. It also outlines the activities of UNOWAS and the progress made in the implementation of the United Nations integrated strategy for the Sahel (S/2015/866).

II. Developments and trends in West Africa and the Sahel

A. Political and governance trends

1. Since my most recent report (S/2016/566), efforts to consolidate democracy and stability continued in the region. Noticeable progress was made in the political dialogue process in Guinea and in the development and implementation of key political, institutional and constitutional reforms in a number of countries, including Benin and Senegal. Elections were held in Cabo Verde, the Gambia and Ghana.

2. Cabo Verde successfully conducted peaceful local elections on 4 September and a presidential election on 2 October. Observers from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union applauded the elections as professional, fair, inclusive and transparent. With a 35 per cent turnout, incumbent President Jorge Carlos De Almeida Fonseca secured 74 per cent of ballots cast, while the opposition Movement for Democracy party reversed the 15-year dominance of the African Party for the Independence of Cabo Verde by winning the majority of seats in Parliament.

West Africa can be divided into three agro-ecological zones or three different trade basins (West Basin, Central Basin and East Basin). Both important for understanding market behavior and dynamics.

The three major agro-ecological zones are the Sahelian, the Sudanese and the Coastal zones where production and consumption can be easily classified. (1) In the Sahelian zone, millet is the principal cereal cultivated and consumed particularly in rural areas and increasingly, when accessible, in urban areas. Exceptions include Cape Verde where maize and rice are most important, Mauritania where sorghum and maize are staples, and Senegal with rice. The principal substitutes in the Sahel are sorghum, rice, and cassava flour (Gari), the latter two in times of shortage. (2) In the Sudanese zone (southern Chad, central Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Togo, Côte d'Ivoire, southern Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Serra Leone, Liberia) maize and sorghum constitute the principal cereals consumed by the majority of the population. They are followed by rice and tubers, particularly cassava and yam. (3) In the Coastal zone, with two rainy seasons, yam and maize constitute the most important food products. They are supplemented by cowpea, which is a significant source of protein.

The three trade basins are known as the West, Central, and East basins. In addition to the north to south movement of particular commodities, certain cereals flow horizontally. (1) The West basin refers to Mauritania, Senegal, western Mali, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, and The Gambia where rice is most heavily traded. (2) The Central basin consists of Côte d'Ivoire, central and eastern Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Togo where maize is commonly traded. (3) The East basin refers to Niger, Nigeria, Chad, and Benin where millet is traded most frequently. These three trade basins are shown on the map above.

Le Réseau de systèmes d’alerte précoce contre la famine (FEWS NET) surveille les tendances des prix des aliments de base dans les pays vulnérables à l'insécurité alimentaire. Pour chaque pays et chaque région couvert par FEWS NET, le Bulletin des prix fournit un ensemble de graphiques indiquant les prix mensuels de l’année commerciale en cours pour certains centres urbains, et permettant à l’utilisateur de comparer les tendances actuelles à la fois aux moyennes quinquennales, qui indiquent les tendances saisonnières, et aux prix de l'année précédente.

L'Afrique de l’Ouest peut être divisée en trois zones agro-écologiques ou en trois bassins commerciaux (bassins de l’ouest, bassin du centre, bassin de l’est). Les deux sont importants pour l'interprétation du comportement et de la dynamique du marché.

Les trois principales zones agro-écologiques incluent la zone Sahélienne, la zone Soudanaise et la zone Côtière où la production et la consommation peuvent être facilement classifiées. (1) Dans la zone Sahélienne, le mil constitue le principal produit alimentaire cultivé et consommé en particulier dans les zones rurales et de plus en plus par certaines populations qui y ont accès en milieux urbains. Des exceptions sont faites pour le Cap Vert où le maïs et le riz sont les produits les plus importants, la Mauritanie où le blé et le sorgho et le Sénégal où le riz constituent des aliments de base. Les principaux produits de substitution dans le Sahel sont le sorgho, le riz, et la farine de manioc (Gari), avec les deux derniers en période de crise. (2) Dans la zone Soudanienne (le sud du Tchad, le centre du Nigéria, du Bénin, du Ghana, du Togo, de la Côte d'Ivoire, le sud du Burkina Faso, du Mali, du Sénégal, la Guinée Bissau, la Serra Leone, le Libéria) le maïs et le sorgho constituent les principales céréales consommées par la majorité de la population. Suivent après le riz et les tubercules particulièrement le manioc et l’igname. (3) Dans la zone côtière, avec deux saisons de pluie, l’igname et le maïs constituent les principaux produits alimentaires. Ils sont complétés par le niébé, qui est une source très significative de protéines.

Les trois bassins commerciaux sont simplement connus sous les noms de bassin Ouest, Centre, et Est. En plus du mouvement du sud vers le nord des produits, les flux de certaines céréales se font aussi horizontalement. (1) Le bassin Ouest comprend la Mauritanie, le Sénégal, l’ouest du Mali, la Sierra Leone, la Guinée, le Libéria, et la Gambie où le riz est le plus commercialisé. (2) Le bassin central se compose de la Côte d'Ivoire, le centre et l’est du Mali, le Burkina Faso, le Ghana, et le Togo où le maïs est généralement commercialisé. (3) Le bassin Est se rapporte au Niger, Nigéria, Tchad, et Bénin où le millet est le plus fréquemment commercialisé. Ces trois bassins commerciaux sont distingués sur la carte ci-dessus.

L'essentiel :

• Les prévisions régionales de la production agricole sont en hausse par rapport à la moyenne des cinq dernières années. Toutefois, des baisses de la production céréalière sont notées au Libéria et en Mauritanie.

• Les résultats du Cadre Harmonisé indiquent que 10,4 millions de personnes dans la région sont en insécurité alimentaire entre octobre et décembre 2016.

• Au Nigéria, près de 8 millions de personnes sont identifiées en insécurité alimentaire et nutritionnelle, entre octobre et décembre 2016, avec 1,8 million en urgence et 55.000 personnes en état de famine dans l’Etat de Borno.

Au Sahel et en Afrique de l’Ouest, la campagne agro-pastorale 2016-2017 a été caractérisée par des conditions agro-météorologiques favorables au développement des cultures et des pâturages permettant de confirmer les tendances de productions dégagées à l’issue de la rencontre (PREGEC) de septembre 2016.

La production céréalière connaitrait une hausse de 3,2 pour cent par rapport à celle de l’année dernière et de 15,5 pour cent par rapport à la moyenne des cinq dernières années. Cependant, d’importantes baisses comparées à l’année passée et à la moyenne quinquennale, sont enregistrées au Liberia (-8,8 et -5,1 pour cent) et en Mauritanie (16,9 et 9,9 pour cent).

Sur le plan pastoral, la production fourragère est équivalente à la moyenne des cinq dernières années. Toutefois, des productions inférieures à cette moyenne (-25 à -10 pour cent) sont observées localement dans tous les pays du front sahélien du Sénégal au Tchad.

L’insécurité alimentaire et nutritionnelle touche 10,4 millions de personnes en cette période de récoltes et 15,6 millions de personnes pourraient être en insécurité alimentaire et nutritionnelle pour la période de soudure de 2017 si aucune réponse adéquate n’est apportée.

Children and women in West and Central Africa remain vulnerable to multiple threats, including insecurity, conflict, drought, flooding and epidemics. In the Central African Republic and the Lake Chad basin, widespread violence and armed conflict characterized by grave human rights violations have led to mass displacement both internally and across borders. More than 6 million people in the region remain displaced due to conflict: 874,000 people in the Central African Republic; 1.9 million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; 2.6 million people in the Lake Chad basin; and more than 172,000 people due to the conflict in Mali. For countries such as Chad and Nigeria, the volatility has increased due to falling oil prices and declines in state revenues. Throughout the region, elections planned for 2017 may create further unrest. Across the Sahel, cyclical drought conditions and chronic food insecurity have caused alarming levels of malnutrition.

In addition, severe acute malnutrition (SAM) affects more than 6 million children under 55 and more than 46,000 suspected measles cases and 28,900 cholera cases were reported6 in the region in 2016. Cholera outbreaks continue to affect the Mano River, Lake Chad, Congo River and Niger River basins.

Regional humanitarian strategy

The West and Central Africa Regional Office (WCARO) will continue to support country offices in the region to respond to emergencies, in line with the Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action. WCARO will support preparedness by monitoring risks and providing technical expertise to strengthen capacities to prepare for emergencies, emphasizing contingency planning for high-risk countries.

Partnerships for emergency response, capacity building and supply pre-positioning will be strengthened. WCARO will continue to provide multi-sectoral technical support to country offices in the areas of nutrition, health, HIV and AIDS, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), Communication for Development, child protection, education and emergency coordination and operations. Country offices will also receive support to respond to cholera, meningitis, measles and other epidemics. UNICEF will continue its integrated nutrition response, focusing on the crises in the Sahel and the Lake Chad basin. The priority will be the integrated management of acute malnutrition, focusing on lifesaving treatment of SAM, as well as the prevention of malnutrition through infant and young child feeding and the promotion of essential family practices. SAM treatment and prevention remains integrated into a package of interventions for health, WASH, education, promotion of essential family practices and psychosocial support. WCARO will support the strengthening of key child protection activities, focusing on cross-border and sub-regional emergency responses, particularly for the Lake Chad basin crisis. The priority will be to reach children associated with armed groups and armed forces, children in detention, and/or children who are unaccompanied and separated from their families, while providing mental health and psychosocial support. WCARO will support the implementation of the Safe Schools Strategy, provide technical guidance to country offices on protective learning environments and strengthen coordination and information management for country offices and clusters. UNICEF will maintain rapid response capacity for mapping and rapid assessment, surge staff deployments and regional supply hubs that pre-position supplies, enabling timely and cost-effective response. WCARO will also support country office capacities for monitoring and evaluation, increase the use of third-party monitoring in hard-to-reach areas and support more timely evidence-based decision making. Public advocacy efforts will continue to focus on countries in crisis to ensure that the rights and well-being of children in emergencies are at the centre of the global agenda and adequate resources are made available.

OVERVIEW

In 2016, between January and November, 351,619 people crossed the Mediterranean Sea, risking their lives to reach Europe. These new arrivals are in addition to more than one million refugees and migrants who made the journey across the Mediterranean Sea on unseaworthy boats in 2015.

In 2016, the number of those arriving decreased substantially after March. Of those reaching European shores so far this year, 58% came from the ten countries currently producing the most refugees globally.

MAIN TRENDS

• In November 2016, 16,352 refugees and migrants arrived by crossing the Mediterranean. Among those, 1,991 people arrived in Greece, 13,581 people in Italy and 780 people arrived in Spain. Total arrivals in Greece, Italy and Spain in November decreased by 48% compared to the previous month, (31,429), primarily due to the worsening weather conditions brought on by the onset of winter. Overall, arrivals also decreased by 89% compared to the same month in 2015 (154,975), largely due to the greater number of arrivals last year through the Eastern Mediterranean route.

• Between January and November 2016, 351,619 people arrived by sea, including 171,785 in Greece, 173,008 in Italy and 6,826 in Spain. This constitutes a 61% decrease compared to the same period in 2015 (896,285).

• In November 2016, arrivals most commonly originated Nigeria, Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire.

• So far in 2016, the majority of arrivals are from the Syrian Arab Republic (23%), Afghanistan (12%), Nigeria (10%), Iraq (8%), Eritrea (6%), Guinea (4%), Côte d'Ivoire (4%), Gambia (4%) and Pakistan (3%).

Combined Monthly Ebola Operations Update No 37 (1)

10 January 2017

Current situation

From the time of the confirmation of the initial cases of the current West Africa Ebola outbreak in Guinea in March 2014, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, comprising National Red Cross Red Crescent Societies, the IFRC Secretariat and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been an essential part of the extensive global effort mobilized to stop the epidemic.

National Societies in affected countries assumed a lead role, complementing their national health systems. Immediately the outbreak was confirmed, IFRC organized its resources to provide coordinated operational support to National Societies.

The unprecedented spread of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in West Africa has resulted in one of the most challenging public health disasters in recent times. The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is part of the extensive global effort mobilized to contain the epidemic in solidarity with the affected countries and the international community. With more than 10,000 Red Cross volunteers trained in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, supported by the Red Cross Red Crescents network of 189 National Societies worldwide, the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement uniquely played a critical role in responding to the outbreak while fostering preparedness in at-risk countries.

The management and supervision of the EVD operation shifted to Countries under the supervision and support of technical department at the Africa Region office after the exit of the Ebola Regional Coordination Unit. The overall EVD operation responsibility of the appeal was transferred to respective country Representative under the supervision of the designated Health Coordinator at Africa Region Office.

The 10 Country European Union Beneficiary Communication and Social Mobilisation project continued until October 2016. The responsibility of overseeing this project was transferred to the Africa Region Office after the exit of the Ebola Coordination Unit. The main objective of the project was to reduce the threat of an outbreak of Ebola and other prevalent epidemic threats and infectious diseases in the surrounding countries (of the mainly affected countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea) by addressing at risk groups and risk- related behaviours among the population of the ten target countries. The aim was to strengthen prevention and control the spread of the most prevalent infectious diseases by increasing knowledge on the causes, symptoms and modes of transmission and promoting healthy behaviours as well as the early detection of infectious diseases. The Africa Region Office has also maintained PMER capacity in Nairobi and Dakar to support updates on the Country level appeals and the Regional Beneficiary Communications project for West Africa.

Activities in the 10 country EU Beneficiary Communications project were concluded in October 2016. As there is a need to conduct an evaluation for these activities, the bidding process was initiated but not finalised in 2016 prior to project closure. In addition, it is envisaged that as per the project agreement, final reports from the National Societies implementing the project will be received in January 2017. Services of a consultant will also be required to undertake a technical analysis of the final EU report. Because of these reasons, a three- month no cost project extension has been requested to ensure proper closure of P60018-MDR60002. The new end-date is 31 March 2017.

(1) A single combined operations update is produced for the 4 Ebola operations on a monthly basis.

PROJECTED FOOD ASSISTANCE NEEDS FOR JULY 2017

This brief summarizes FEWS NET’s most forward-looking analysis of projected emergency food assistance needs in FEWS NET coverage countries. The projected size of each country’s acutely food insecure population (IPC Phase 3 and higher) is compared to last year and the recent five-year average and categorized as Higher ( p), Similar ( u), or Lower ( q). Countries where external emergency food assistance needs are anticipated are identified. Projected lean season months highlighted in red indicate either an early start or an extension to the typical lean season. Additional information is provided for countries with large food insecure populations, an expectation of high severity, or where other key issues warrant additional discussion. Analytical confidence is lower in remote monitoring countries, denoted by “RM”. Visit www.fews.net for detailed country reports.

I. Introduction

1. Dans une lettre datée du 23 décembre 2013 (S/2013/759), le Conseil de sécurité a prorogé le mandat du Bureau des Nations Unies pour l’Afrique de l’Ouest jusqu’au 31 décembre 2016 et m’a prié de lui rendre compte, tous les six mois, de l’exécution du mandat du Bureau. En réponse à la lettre datée du 14 janvier que je lui ai adressée et qui portait sur l’examen stratégique du Bureau de l’Envoyé spécial du Secrétaire général pour le Sahel (S/2016/88), le Conseil m’a prié, le 28 janvier 2016, de procéder à la fusion des deux bureaux pour créer le Bureau des Nations Unies pour l’Afrique de l’Ouest et le Sahel (UNOWAS) et de lui rendre compte, dans mon prochain rapport, de l’exécution du mandat de l’UNOWAS (voir S/2016/89). Le présent rapport porte sur la période allant du 30 juillet au 31 décembre 2016 et donne un aperçu de l’évolution de la situation et des tendances en Afrique de l’Ouest et au Sahel. Y sont également décrits les activités de l’UNOWAS et les progrès accomplis dans la mise en œuvre de la Stratégie intégrée des Nations Unies pour le Sahel (S/2015/866).

II. Évolutions et tendances observées en Afrique de l’Ouest et au Sahel

A. Politique et gouvernance

1. Depuis mon dernier rapport en date (S/2016/566), l’action menée pour consolider la démocratie et la stabilité dans la région s’est poursuivie. Des progrès notables ont été réalisés en ce qui concerne le dialogue politique en Guinée, a insi que la conception et la mise en œuvre d’importantes réformes politiques, institutionnelles et constitutionnelles dans plusieurs pays, notamment au Bénin et au Sénégal. Des élections ont eu lieu à Cabo Verde, en Gambie et au Ghana.

2. Cabo Verde a organisé avec succès des élections locales et une élection présidentielle qui se sont déroulées pacifiquement le 4 septembre et le 2 octobre, respectivement. Des observateurs de la Communauté économique des États de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (CEDEAO) et de l’Union africaine ont salué ces élections jugées professionnelles, justes, inclusives et transparentes. Avec un taux de participation de 35 %, le Président sortant, Jorge Carlos Fonseca, a obtenu 74 % des voix, tandis que le Mouvement pour la démocratie, parti de l’opposition, a remporté la majorité au Parlement, mettant fin à 15 ans de domination du Parti africain pour l’indépendance de Cabo Verde.

By Issa Davies

In Sierra Leone, an estimated 1,000 children experience sexual violence each year. Learn how two sisters received help from the Family Support Unit of the Sierra Leone Police after both were sexually abused.

KENEMA, Sierra Leone, 13 January 2017 – Teenage sisters, Fanta and Umu*, had a happy childhood in Kenema, eastern Sierra Leone, living with their mother and going to school. But within the space of just a few months, both shared a similar traumatic story of abuse by men in their town.

Fanta, now 19, met a middle aged trader on her way to school three years ago. “He was giving me lunch and money to buy shoes and some small stuff, and I thought he was helping me. I never knew his intentions,” she said. He went on to lure her into having sex with him. “He usually had sex with me in a hotel room whenever I left home for school and passed by his stall,” she said.

Her younger sister Umu, then aged 14, was raped at night by a man in his mid-30s while fetching water from one of the wells in the community. As a result, both sisters became pregnant, and sought help at the Rainbow Centre – a local NGO that deals with sexual violence and abuse cases.

Seeking justice

The girls’ mother lost no time in reporting the attacks to the Family Support Unit (FSU) of the Sierra Leone Police. The FSU is the police branch that deals with sexual violence and abuse – especially cases involving children – as well as child abuse and domestic issues. UNICEF works closely with the FSU, and earlier this year donated 67 motorbikes and a 4x4 vehicle to help the FSU reach families living farther away from major towns.

Equipped with the donated bikes, Police Constable (PC) Edward Smith and Deputy Constable Mohamed Sesay quickly went into action after receiving the report. “As soon as [the trader] realized that we had got wind of his crime against the girl, the trader ran away and is nowhere to be found,” said PC Smith, “but we apprehended the other culprit who was prosecuted, found guilty and sentenced to three years imprisonment.”

According to the FSU in Kenema, sexual violence against children in the district is common. The small, one-storey building that houses the police unit is packed inside and out with families coming to report issues of child abuse and violence.

“The most commonly reported cases in this community are sexual penetration and child abuse,” said Police Inspector Marty Tarawally, who heads up the FSU in Kenema, Sierra Leone’s second biggest town. “Every month, we receive around 25 cases of sexual violence against children. We usually charge all sexual abuse cases to court, but our biggest challenge is that quite a few are being compromised and settled in the communities,” she added.

The FSU estimates that over 1,000 children experience sexual violence in the country each year. Between January and September of 2016, the FSU recorded 764 sexual offences against children.

Returning to school

After losing three years of schooling, Fanta is now back in uniform thanks to counselling and support from the FSU. She is determined to move on.

“I am usually late for school as I have to take care of my baby and my books at the same time,” she said. “This is affecting my performance as I have no one to help me except my mother. The baby usually cries at night when I want to study.”

But she hasn’t given up on her ambitions. “I want to be a nurse and I want my baby to be well educated.”

Her younger sister Umu also gave birth, but lost her child during its first six months. She’s hoping to return to school soon.

*names have been changed to protect identities

Message from the Regional Director

Politicians, leaders and stakeholders across West and Central Africa are clear. We must put young people first if we are to harness the demographic dividend, build resilience and transform our region to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the Africa We Want.

At the beginning of 2016, following strong advocacy from UNFPA and other stakeholders, the African Union (AU) Heads of State and Government underlined this commitment by agreeing to focus their 28th and 29th Ordinary Sessions in 2017 on ‘Harnessing the demographic dividend through investments in youth’.

They further called on UNFPA and its partners to develop a roadmap with key deliverables and milestones for 2017 and beyond.

UNFPA West and Central Africa Regional Office (WCARO) has taken this call for action seriously and is committed to support the region in this regard. Our proactive contribution to this continental priority corresponds with UNFPA’s own strategic plan and its focus on improving people’s lives – in particular young people, women and girls. This strategic plan and its accompanying mode of engagement underline the need for a unified focus and an integrated approach – because by working together we can achieve so much more for the women and girls whose lives we seek to transform.

The AU’s call has encouraged a partner-led approach to long-term development plans that will transform the continent and ensure shared prosperity whilst showing respect for our planet.

By collaborating with others, we can better build the resilience of people, communities, health systems and countries.

This year, we have used that call as a lever to bring together and mobilise political leaders, parliamentarians, faith-based leaders, entrepreneurs from the private sector, researchers, scientists, voluntary groups and young people themselves, to proactively participate in delivering a better future.

The demographic dividend is so important in WCA because nearly two-thirds of our population are under 24 years old. But it can only be harnessed by making strategic investments and policy interventions to allow parents to plan families better and to improve education, skills development, health systems, economic reforms, job creation, good governance and accountability.

The crucial factor is to bring about a demographic transition – a shift from high to low mortality and fertility levels and a resulting reduction of the dependency ratio. This transition is at the core of what UNFPA in WCA is striving for. It is also at the heart of some of the ongoing regional flagship collaborative platforms – the French Muskoka Fund, the Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend initiative, the Ouagadougou Partnership on Family Planning and also the joint programmes with UNICEF to end child marriage and female genital mutilation.

Our focus is on improving the lives of women and young people but our overriding philosophy is to ‘leave no-one behind’. If we bring about the demographic dividend by improving opportunities for young people, allowing mothers to plan their pregnancies and making childbirth safe for mother and child, the overall effect will make life better for the entire population – and we will, indeed, have helped ensure a life of dignity for all.

This report is a summary of what the team at WCARO and in our country offices did in 2016 to advance the wellbeing of women and young people. It also shows how we prepared and engaged constituencies so that in 2017 we can focus on securing resources and moving forward actions on Africa’s demographic dividend.

This report is not only about our work – it is also about the work we carried out with so many strategic partners. It is about what other organizations and stakeholders helped us achieve towards our shared goal: a transformed Africa with healthy, educated and productive citizens.

They may not share our specific focus of planned pregnancies, safe motherhood and empowered young people, but by working towards a healthier, fairer, peaceful and more prosperous Africa – driven by more productive, less dependent young people – they share our intent. Because all our visions are interlinked and interconnected.

This year has seen us work with the private sector in many new ways, from getting together with a technology company to prepare demographic dividend observatories to collaborating with a hotel chain to fundraise for women suffering from the crippling, ostracizing condition of Obstetric Fistula.

We brought faith-based leaders together to brainstorm ways of advancing family planning, ending child marriage and female genital mutilation and organized trainings for those in government responsible for developing policy.

We have helped young people voice their opinions and campaign for their needs by enabling them to participate in meetings with world leaders – as well as organize their own conferences.

Our partnerships with the Research Center for Economics and Applied Finance of University of Thies and others are allowing us to offer solid research skills to countries as they work to prepare their own demographic profiles to plan for the challenges ahead.

Governments from across the world,1 gave us the funding we need to train midwives and community nurses and provide family planning commodities to women and girls in some of the most remote areas of our region.

Former Heads of States pledged their support and commitment to bridge the generational gap and make a difference in the lives of our young people in the continent.

Thanks to sustained advocacy, parliamentarians are also fully onboard to pass and implement laws that will provide a safe environment for our young people to reach their full potential.

These are just some of the ways we are working with others to invest in women, girls and young people in general. So much more is documented in this report.

By cooperating, collaborating and communicating with our partners, we see improved results.

I applaud all colleagues at WCARO and across the region who are working so hard to make this happen and I thank all our partners who are helping us achieve our dream – putting young people first and achieving the demographic dividend for all in Africa.

Mabingue Ngom,

Regional Director

West and Central Africa Region

Message du Directeur Régional

Les politiciens, les dirigeants et les parties prenantes d’Afrique de l’Ouest et du Centre sont clairs. Nous devons faire passer les jeunes d’abord si nous vou- lons maîtriser le dividende démographique, établir la résilience et transformer notre région pour réaliser les objectifs de développement durable et l’Afrique que nous voulons.

Au début de 2016, à la recommandation appuyée de l’UNFPA et d’autres parties prenantes, les chefs d’État et de gouvernement de l’Union africaine (UA) ont souligné cet engagement en acceptant de concentrer leur 28e et 29e Sessions ordinaires en 2017 sur « la maîtrise du dividende démographique par des inves- tissements dans la jeunesse ».

Ils ont, de plus, invité l’UNFPA et ses partenaires à établir une feuille de route avec des livrables et des échéances clés pour 2017 et au-delà.

Le Bureau régional de l’Afrique de l’Ouest et centrale (BRAOC) a pris cet appel à l’action sérieusement et s’est engagé à soutenir la région à cet égard. Notre contribution proactive à cette priorité continentale correspond au plan stratégique propre à l’UNFPA et à ses efforts pour améliorer les vies des personnes, en particulier des jeunes, des femmes et des filles. Ce plan stratégique et son mode d’engagement associé soulignent le besoin d’un effort unifié et d’une ap- proche intégrée parce qu’en travaillant ensemble nous pouvons réaliser tellement plus pour les femmes et les filles dont nous cherchons à transformer leurs vies.

L’appel de l’UA a encouragé axée sur le partenariat pour les plans de développement à long terme, qui transformeront le continent et assureront une pros- périté partagée tout en faisant preuve de respect envers notre planète. Par la collaboration avec les autres, nous pouvons améliorer la résilience des per- sonnes, des collectivités, des systèmes de santé et des pays.

Cette année, nous avons utilisé cet appel comme levier pour rassembler et mobiliser les dirigeants politiques, les parlementaires, les dirigeants d’orga- nisations religieuses, les entrepreneurs du secteur privé, les chercheurs, les scientifiques, les groupes bénévoles et les jeunes eux-mêmes, pour participer proactivement à la création d’un avenir meilleur.

Le dividende démographique est très important en Afrique de l’Ouest et du Centre, car presque deux-tiers de notre population ont moins de 24 ans. Toutefois, il peut seulement être maitrisé en effec- tuant des investissements et des interventions poli- tiques stratégiques pour permettre aux parents de mieux planifier les familles et d’améliorer l’éducation, le développement de qualifications, les systèmes de santé, les réformes économiques, la création d’em- plois, la bonne gouvernance et la responsabilité.

Le facteur crucial est de provoquer une transition démographique, à savoir une baisse des niveaux de mortalité et de fertilité et une réduction correspon- dante du rapport de dépendance. Cette transition est au cœur des efforts de l’UNFPA et de l’AOC. Elle est également au cœur de certaines des plateformes phares de collaboration régionale en cours, comme le Fonds Français Muskoka, le Projet d’autonomisation des femmes et dividende démographique au Sahel, le Partenariat de Ouagadougou sur la planification fa- miliale et également les programmes conjoints avec l’UNICEF pour mettre fin au mariage des enfants et la mutilation génitale féminine.

Nos efforts se concentrent sur l’amélioration des vies des femmes et des jeunes, mais notre principale philosophie est de ne laisser personne pour compte. Si nous amenons le dividende démographique en améliorant les opportunités pour les jeunes, en permettant aux femmes de planifier leurs grossesses et en permettant un accouchement sans risques pour la mère et l’enfant, l’effet global améliorera la vie de la population entière et nous aurons, en effet, aidé à assurer une vie digne pour tous.

Ce rapport est un résumé de ce que l’équipe au BRAOC et dans nos bureaux pays ont réalisé en 2016 pour faire progresser le bien-être des femmes et des jeunes. Il montre également comment nous avons préparé et engagé les partenaires de sorte qu’en 2017, nous puissions nous concentrer sur la conso- lidation des ressources et la progression des actions sur le dividende démographique de l’Afrique.

Ce rapport ne concerne pas seulement notre travail; il concerne également les travaux que nous avons menés à bien avec tant de partenaires stratégiques. Il s’agit de ce que d’autres organismes et parties pre- nantes nous ont aidés à réaliser vers notre but par- tagé : une Afrique transformée avec des citoyens en bonne santé, instruits et productifs.

S’Ils ne partagent pas forcément notre effort spéci- fique pour des grossesses planifiées, une maternité sans risque et l’autonomisation des jeunes, en tra- vaillant pour une Afrique plus saine, juste, paisible et plus prospère, menée par des jeunes plus productifs et moins dépendants, ils partagent cependant notre intention. Parce que toutes nos visions sont liées et interconnectées entre elles.

Cette année, nous avons travaillé avec le secteur pri- vé, de la réunion avec une entreprise de technologie pour préparer les observatoires de dividende démo- graphique à la collaboration avec une chaîne hôtelière pour collecter des fonds pour des femmes souffrant de la condition invalidante et ostracisante de la fistule obstétricale.

Nous avons réuni les chefs religieux pour réfléchir aux moyens de faire avancer la planification familiale, de mettre fin au mariage précoce et à la mutilation génitale féminine, et nous avons organisé des forma- tions pour les personnels gouvernementaux respon- sables de développer les politiques.

Nous avons aidé les jeunes à exprimer leurs avis et à faire campagne pour leurs besoins en leur permet- tant de participer aux réunions avec des dirigeants du monde ainsi qu’à organiser leurs propres conférences.

Nos partenariats avec le Centre de recherches en éco- nomie et finances appliquées de l’université de Thiès et d’autres nous permettent d’offrir aux pays des com- pétences de recherches solides pendant qu’ils tra- vaillent pour préparer leurs propres profils démogra- phiques pour se préparer aux défis qui les attendent.

Les gouvernements du monde entier1 nous ont oc- troyé le financement nécessaire pour former des sage-femmes et des infirmières travaillant au service de la collectivité et fournir des produits de planifica- tion familiale aux femmes et aux filles dans certaines des zones les plus éloignées de notre région.

Des anciens chefs d’État se sont engagés à soutenir les efforts pour combler le fossé entre les générations et à faire une différence dans les vies de nos jeunes dans le continent.

Grâce à un plaidoyer continu, les parlementaires sont également entièrement avec nous pour faire passer et mettre en application les lois qui fourniront un environnement sûr pour que nos jeunes puissent réa- liser leur plein potentiel.

Il ne s’agit que de certaines de nos manières de tra- vailler avec d’autres pour investir dans les femmes, les filles et les jeunes en général. Ce rapport illustre cela de manière plus approfondie.

En coopérant, collaborant et communiquant avec nos partenaires, nous voyons des résultats améliorés. J’applaudis tous les collègues au BRAOC et dans la région, qui travaillent dur pour atteindre cet objectif, et je re- mercie tous nos partenaires qui nous aident à réaliser notre rêve : faire passer les jeunes d’abord et réaliser le dividende démographique pour tous en Afrique.

Mabingue Ngom,

directeur régional

Région Afrique de l’Ouest et du Centre