HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY FARHAN HAQ

DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES

MONDAY, 18 MARCH 2024

INTEGRATED FOOD SECURITY PHASE CLASSIFICATION REPORT
You’ve just heard an extremely somber briefing on the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report, and I’d like to add that the Secretary-General said this morning that the report’s findings on food insecurity in Gaza are an appalling indictment of conditions on the ground for civilians. 
He said that more than half of all Palestinians in Gaza –1.1 million people– have completely exhausted their food supplies and are facing catastrophic hunger, according to the report. This is an entirely manmade disaster, the Secretary-General emphasized, and the report makes clear that it can be halted.
The Secretary-General calls on the Israeli authorities to ensure complete and unfettered access for humanitarian goods throughout Gaza and for the international community to fully support our humanitarian efforts. 

U.N.R.W.A.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner General for the UN Relief and Works Agency, Philippe Lazzarini, said that the Israeli Authorities had denied his entry to Gaza today.
In light of the report showing that famine is imminent in the northern Gaza Strip, Mr. Lazzarini said that he had tried to visit Gaza today to coordinate and improve the humanitarian response. He noted that UNRWA has by far the largest presence among all humanitarian organizations in Gaza.
The Commissioner General said that too much time has been wasted, and all land crossings must open now. Famine can be averted with political will, he said.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
And an update on the humanitarian front, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that intense Israeli bombardment and ground operations – as well as heavy fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups – continue to be reported across much of the Gaza Strip, particularly in Deir Al Balah and near Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza city, in the north.
Despite the ongoing hostilities and other impediments, we and our humanitarian partners are trying to get life-saving aid to civilians in Gaza wherever and whenever we can.
Last night, the World Food Programme delivered 18 truckloads of food supplies – including wheat flour, food parcels and ready-to-eat rations – to Gaza city, via a new route along the border. OCHA said this route needs to be made available for daily convoys so that we can have consistent and safe access to the north.
Meanwhile, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, said he is terribly worried about the situation at Al-Shifa Hospital, which is endangering civilians – both patients and health workers. He reiterated that hospitals should never be battlegrounds and must be protected. On Saturday, a WHO team visited the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, to bring medical supplies for some 80,000 patients and assess water, sanitation and hygiene capacities at the facility.
And on Sunday, WHO, UNRWA and the UN Mine Action Service delivered some 10,500 litres of fuel to Nasser Hospital, also in Khan Younis. While there, they evaluated safety concerns and assessed conditions for the resumption of essential services.                                               

NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT  
This morning, the Secretary-General spoke at the Security Council open debate on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.
He said that almost eight decades after the incineration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear weapons still represent a clear and present danger to global peace and security.
Today, he added, we meet at a time when geopolitical tensions and mistrust have escalated the risk of nuclear warfare to its highest point in decades. 
Humanity cannot survive a sequel to Oppenheimer, the Secretary-General told members of the Security Council.
He said that September’s Summit of the Future — and the Pact that will emerge — will be an important moment for the world to gather around concrete reforms to the global disarmament architecture and the bodies and institutions that uphold it.
He also told council members that they have an opportunity to lay down a marker. To look beyond today’s divisions, and state clearly that living with the existential threat of nuclear weapons is unacceptable.

COLOMBIA
On Colombia, I have the following: the Secretary General takes note of President Gustavo Petro's decision to suspend the bilateral ceasefire between the Government and the armed group known as EMC in several departments in Colombia. He condemns the latest acts of violence against indigenous communities that prompted this decision and calls on armed groups to cease immediately all such hostilities against the civilian population.

HAITI
We have a humanitarian update on the situation in Haiti.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says the delivery of humanitarian assistance to people in Port-Au-Prince continues, despite the tense and volatile situation in the capital.
On Saturday, UNICEF reported that one of its containers was looted at Port-au-Prince's main port. The container held essential items for maternal, neonatal and child survival. These included resuscitators as well as critical supplies for early childhood development and education and water equipment. Our colleagues from UNICEF condemned the looting and emphasized that depriving children of vital health supplies amidst a collapsing healthcare system is a violation of their rights.
With more than 300 containers belonging to UN agencies and non-governmental organizations in Port-au-Prince, discussions continue with port and state authorities to secure them.
Meanwhile, since early March, the World Food Programme has delivered 115,000 hot meals to people displaced in the capital.
On the health front, the Hôpital Universitaire la Paix, the only public hospital in Port-au-Prince with the capacity to treat trauma, continues to operate with support from the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization. The hospital has activated its mass casualty plan to increase its capacity to receive more patients.
On displacement, the International Organization for Migration says in a new survey that, in addition to creating displacement within the capital area, attacks and insecurity are pushing more and more people to leave the capital to find refuge in provinces, taking the risk of passing through gangs-controlled routes.
From March 8th to 14th, IOM said nearly 17,000 people left the capital. More than half of them are heading towards the Grand Sud departments. Our colleagues tell us that this region already hosts more than 116,000 people who have fled the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince in recent months.
 
UKRAINE
Turning to Ukraine, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that humanitarian organizations continue to support communities impacted by the recent attacks on the cities of Odesa and Mykolaiv in the south of the country. According to humanitarian partners on the ground, the attacks have killed and injured dozens of civilians over the past three days. Homes, as well as gas and electricity facilities, were also affected.  
In Odesa and Mykolaiv, humanitarian workers quickly mobilized, providing first aid, meals for the affected people and rescuers, and psychological support. Aid organizations distributed repair materials to cover immediate damage and are engaging in support for larger scope repairs and multi-purpose cash assistance.
Kharkiv and Sumy regions, east and north-east of Ukraine, were also attacked. Over the past few days, humanitarian organizations delivered emergency shelter kits to the impacted communities. Civilian infrastructure sustained damage, including in the Velyka Pysarivka Community, where more than a dozen houses, a preschool and a hospital were damaged in an attack on 17 March. 

SOUTH SUDAN
Moving to South Sudan, where our peacekeeping mission, UNMISS, released its quarterly report on violence affecting civilians today. 
The report indicates a surge in intercommunal violence across the country from October to December 2023. A total of 233 incidents were documented during these months, with 862 victims either killed, injured, abducted, or subjected to conflict-related sexual violence. Warrap state was the main hotspot with a steep 87 per cent spike in victims as compared to the previous quarter. 
The report specifies that more than half of those affected by overall subnational violence were caught up in retaliatory attacks related to the ongoing dispute between Dinka Twic Mayardit in Warrap and Dinka Ngok communities in the Abyei region.
UNMISS continues to proactively protect civilians through patrols and swift deployments of temporary operating bases in conflict locations, but urgent intervention by national, state, and local authorities is required to resolve underlying grievances and build sustained peace, says Nicholas Haysom, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for South Sudan. 

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
And you will have seen that on Saturday, we issued a statement in which the Secretary-General condemned an incident in which eight peacekeepers of the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were wounded. This happened during fighting between the M23 and the Congolese Armed Forces in the area of Sake, 20 kilometers from Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu. The wounded peacekeepers were deployed as part of Operation Springbok, launched in November to protect civilians in the area.
Today, our peacekeeping colleagues say the mission is maintaining its blocking positions while clashes have continued in the area of Sake.

YEMEN
And over the weekend, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, held meetings with senior American officials in Washington DC. 
During the meetings, Mr. Grundberg reiterated the Secretary-General’s calls for de-escalation in the region and the Red Sea. The Special Envoy emphasized the paramount importance of sustaining regional and international concerted support to the parties to finalize a UN roadmap that operationalizes their commitments to a nationwide ceasefire, measures to improve living conditions in Yemen, and the resumption of a political process to reach an inclusive and sustainable settlement of the conflict.