HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC
SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
FRIDAY, 19 APRIL 2024
ISRAEL/IRAN
In a statement this morning in which the Secretary-General reiterated that it is high time to stop the dangerous cycle of retaliation in the Middle East.
The Secretary-General condemns any act of retaliation and appeals to the international community to work together to prevent any further development that could lead to devastating consequences for the entire region and beyond.
OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
On Wednesday and Thursday –the UN was able to transfer into Gaza 15 of 30 trucks bought by the United Nations to enhance aid delivery. The purchase and shipment of those trucks is being funded by the Humanitarian Fund for the OPT [Occupied Palestinian Territory], at a cost of almost $3.5 million.
Meanwhile, we’ve received information that some 270,000 tons of solid waste have now accumulated across the Gaza Strip; that’s according to the Union of Gaza Strip Municipalities. That is what they are telling us. This is creating, as you can imagine, an environmental and public health catastrophe. The destruction of waste management facilities and medical waste disposal centres has severely hampered the collection and disposal of solid waste by municipalities.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that ongoing hostilities in Gaza, the destruction of roads, and the prevalence of unexploded ordnance continue to pose significant risks for humanitarian workers. These challenges are also impeding the physical movement of aid supplies across the Gaza strip.
This is in addition to fuel supply constraints, delays and insecurity at the checkpoint on the coastal road, restrictions on telecommunications equipment being able to be brought in, and an insufficient number of drivers and trucks cleared by Israel to use the fence road.
Since the beginning of the war, most trucks used for transporting aid have been damaged or destroyed. The fleet available in Gaza is extremely limited. And as I’ve told you, we did bring in extra trucks.
UKRAINE
The Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, Denise Brown, condemned yet other deadly strikes in the country, this time in the city and region of Dnipro that took place earlier today.
Local authorities and aid workers on the ground said the attacks killed and injured civilians – including children – and damaged civilian buildings and infrastructure. The cities of Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih – with a combined population of 1.5 million people – and several other locations across the region, were reportedly hit.
Humanitarian workers are on site in Dnipro [City], complementing the efforts of rescue services and first responders. Humanitarian organizations are also providing hot meals for impacted people, rescue workers, and emergency shelter kits to repair the damage to infrasctructure and homes.
Meanwhile, ongoing hostilities today and yesterday in the front-line Donetsk Region, in eastern Ukraine, reportedly killed and injured a dozen civilians and damaged homes and civilian infrastructure, and that is what we are hearing from local officials.
DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL
The Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, is in Washington D.C. She is there to attend the Spring meetings of the World Bank and the IMF. Today, she spoke at the Brookings Institution on building an international financial architecture that is fair and fit for purpose.
She also described the role of this September’s Summit of the Future in seeking political consensus on this agenda.
Ms. Mohammed was also at the opening of the Global Education Forum and there, she stressed the importance of global efforts to transform education financing, building on the Secretary-General’s Call to Action on education financing during the Transforming Education Summit.
Ms. Mohammed, in addition, participated in the World Bank and IMF Development Committee’s Plenary Meeting and held a number of bilateral meetings, including with Mr. Axel van Trotsenburg, Senior Managing Director of the World Bank,
She also joined Anna Bjerde, Managing Director of Operations at the World Bank and Jutta Urpilainen, EU Commissioner for International Partnerships, for a trilateral meeting on strengthening programmatic collaboration between the United Nations, the World Bank and the European Union.
SECURITY COUNCIL/SUDAN
This afternoon, the Security Council will convene for a meeting on Sudan.
Briefing will be Rosemary DiCarlo, the Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, as well as Edem Wosornu, the Director of Operations and Advocacy at OCHA.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
And an update from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where our peacekeeping mission tells us they have handed over their Bunyakiri base to the Congolese Armed Forces.
This is in the context of the Mission’s disengagement from the South Kivu province. This was the first transfer of a base to military authorities.
Our peacekeeping colleagues describe this as a pivotal step of disengagement efforts that also reflects the Congolese army’s commitment to strengthen its presence as the Mission withdraws from South Kivu province.
The base, located about 80 km from the city of Bukavu, was first established in 2004 – first as a Mobile Operating Base, and then became a fully-fledged Permanent Operating Base in 2016.
More online.
HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS / DRC
And as we mentioned, Volker Türk, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, concluded his mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo last night with a press conference.
He reiterated that all Congolese people have a right to peace, adding that it is imperative that the State is able to fully play its role in the country’s east, to enforce security but also to provide essential services such as education and health.
He also called on countries that support or have influence over the armed groups to assume their responsibility to ensure the fighting stops.
His full remarks are online.
HAITI
Turning to Haiti, our political mission there – BINUH – tells us that the first trimester of 2024 has been the most violent recorded since the beginning of 2022.
Our human rights colleagues recorded over 2,500 cases of murder and injuries linked to gang violence – a 53 per cent increase compared to the previous period – which is October to December last year.
As you can imagine – most of the instances of murder and injuries were documented in the capital, Port-au-Prince, but the report adds that the department of Artibonite was also strongly impacted by this violence.
The report states that the impact of violence on children's rights continues to be extremely alarming and adds that sexual violence continues to be used by gangs. The full report is available online and I encourage you to take a look at it.
On the humanitarian end, today, we can report that UNICEF and its partners continue to deploy mobile clinics to provide consultations, medical treatments and other health care to children and families at displacement sites.
Our colleagues say that Haiti’s social services are on the brink of collapse amid persistent violence in the capital and medical supplies are alarmingly low rate.
Meanwhile, the World Food Programme reports that the availability of essential commodities – such as oil, rice and wheat flour – is declining in the capital. This is mainly due to supply difficulties and increased demand, as households anticipate a worsening of the security crisis. Meanwhile, the cost of a food basket in Port-au-Prince has increased by more than 20 per cent since the start of the year – and within just the past two weeks, the price of sugar has shot up by nearly three-quarters.
For its part, WFP continues to support families in need of food assistance, with some 13,000 people reached with hot meals in the capital yesterday. The agency also provided more than 215,000 children with school lunches, and about 6,000 people in Cap-Haïtien, in the north, with food rations.
PERMANENT FORUM ON PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT
Earlier today, in Geneva, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, spoke at the closing session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent. He urged stronger action against racial discrimination and other terrible legacies of enslavement and colonial oppression, adding that addressing these legacies was key to the Human Rights Office’s Agenda towards transformative change for racial justice and equality. This agenda calls, among other things, on States to deliver reparatory justice.
Mr. Türk also supported the proclamation of a second International Decade for People of African Descent, “so we can build on the gains made so far and address the ongoing challenges”.
His remarks are available to you.
NEW RESIDENT COORDINATOR
We have a new Resident Coordinator and that is James T. Bot of Nigeria as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in the Comoros. He starts tomorrow as he has the approval of the host government.
Mr. Bot brings more than 25 years of experience in humanitarian, development, and peacekeeping work. He currently serves as Head of Service of Civil Affairs in the UN Peacekeeping Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) and we congratulate him.
INTERNATIONAL DAYS
A couple of International Days to flag for you.
Tomorrow is Chinese Language Day. It is! Even Dezhi agrees. And just as a reminder that Language Days at the UN celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity.
On Sunday we mark World Creativity and Innovation Day. A day that is always good when it coincides with a Sunday. This Day raises awareness of the role of creativity and innovation in all aspects of human development.
MYANMAR
On Myanmar, Volker Türk, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, today warned that intensified fighting in Rakhine State between the military and the Arakan Army, alongside tensions being fuelled between the Rohingya and ethnic Rakhine communities, pose a grave threat to the civilian population. He warned of a grave risk that past atrocities will be repeated.
Since the year-long informal ceasefire between the two sides broke down last November, 15 of Rakhine’s 17 townships have been impacted by fighting, resulting in hundreds of deaths and injuries, and taking the number of displaced to well over 300,000 people.
Mr. Türk said that countries with influence on the Myanmar military and armed groups involved must act now to protect all civilians in Rakhine State and prevent another episode of horrendous persecution of the Rohingya. His statement is online.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
The President of the General Assembly, Dennis Francis, is scheduled to speak to reporters at a press stakeout today, sometime around 4:30 p.m., on the Call for Action and the wrap-up of Sustainability Week.
BRIEFINGS
On Monday, Catherine Colonna is scheduled to brief reporters around 12:30 pm or so. She is leading, the Independent Review of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, better known as UNRWA.
Then, on Tuesday, the Commissioner General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, is expected to brief reporters as well.
