The SG: The SG made remarks at the opening ceremony for the Global Forum on Migration and Development in Sweden today. The SG will be back in NY tomorrow and will leave Saturday for China where he will attend an event for Every Woman Every Child. While in China, the SG will meet with the Chinese President, Premier of the State Council, Foreign Minister and State Councilor.
Burundi: Briefing the Security Council via teleconference this morning, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, the SG’s Special Representative for Burundi, said the UN Peace-building Office in Burundi is transitioning to become a country team.
South Sudan: UNMISS is reporting large deployments of government and pro-government forces. UN staff also reported pro-government people looting hospitals and noted such acts as violations of the Geneva Convention. UN partners are currently working to upgrade facilities to host about 13,000 displaced people. About 32,000 civilians seek protection at UN bases in Juba and the current facilities are overcrowded with risk of disease outbreak.
Iraq: The SG’s Special Representative for Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, condemned the deliberate flooding of Abu Ghraib, which has displaced 12,000 families with submerged houses and schools. Mladenov called on the Government and local authorities to work swiftly for legitimate control over the flow of the river Euphrates.
Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW): In Geneva, the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) Meeting of Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems is underway. Acting Director-General of the UN Office at Geneva, Michael Moller, urged participants to take pre-emptive action on lethal autonomous weapons.
Big Data Climate Change Challenge: Global Pulse and the SG’s Climate Change Team launched the Big Data Climate Challenge today, a competition to gather projects worldwide that address impacts of climate change using big data.Submissions will be judged by a high-level advisory board of climate and data experts and winning projects will be showcased at the 2014 Climate Summit.