HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC

SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

TUESDAY, 2 AUGUST 2016

CHILDREN SUFFERING “LIVING HELL” IN ARMED CONFLICTS, SAYS U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL

• The Secretary-General this morning addressed the Security Council on children and armed conflict this morning, telling Council members that in places such as Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen, children suffer through a living hell, and in many cases, it is getting even worse.  He said that even wars have rules. Hospitals and schools should be protected. Civilians should be spared. Children should not be used to fight.
• Discussing his annual report, the Secretary-General said that, once again this year, objections to the report forced him to make difficult decisions. After very careful consideration, the Saudi Arabia-led coalition was removed from the annexes, pending the conclusions of a review.
• The Secretary-General has since received information on measures taken by the coalition to prevent and end grave violations against children. The forward-looking review continues – and the situation on the ground will be closely monitored.      
• The Secretary-General promised to continue engagement to ensure that concrete measures to protect children are implemented.  And he repeated that the content of the report stands.  The Secretary-General said to all Member States and parties: If you want to protect your image, protect your children.

U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL TO CARRY OLYMPIC TORCH, VISIT BRAZIL, ARGENTINA, CANADA, CALIFORNIA

• The Secretary-General will leave New York tomorrow evening to begin a series of travels to Brazil, Argentina, the West Coast of the United States and Canada.
• He will first go to Rio de Janeiro, where he will take part in the opening of the 31st Olympic Games. He will also participate on Friday in the relay in which the Olympic Torch is handed over. And that evening, he will attend a meeting for Heads of State hosted by the acting President of Brazil. While in Rio, the Secretary-General will visit the Olympic Village and meet with the Refugee Olympic Team, among others.
• Over the weekend, he will travel to Buenos Aires, where he will meet on Monday, 8 August, with Argentine President Mauricio Macri and Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra. The Secretary-General and the Foreign Minister will talk to the press following their meeting.  On Tuesday, he will meet with the Mayor of Buenos Aires, as well as with youth and civil society leaders.
• On Wednesday, 10 August, the Secretary-General will travel to Los Angeles, where he will meet with leaders in the creative community to discuss ways in which they can help to support the goals of the United Nations. And he will also meet with the Chairman of the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Representative Ed Royce. While in Los Angeles, the Secretary-General will also participate in a refugee resettlement event hosted by the International Rescue Committee and the Annenberg Foundation.
• The following day, he will visit San Francisco, where he will meet with Libba Patterson, who hosted Ban Ki-moon for a number of days in 1962 during his first visit to the United States. And the Secretary-General will also meet with California Governor Jerry Brown to thank him for his steadfast support for the fight against Climate Change.
• On Friday, 12 August, the Secretary-General will travel to Calgary, where he is to deliver a lecture at the University of Calgary that evening.

U.N CALLS FOR AN END OF DESTRUCTION OF HOSPITALS IN SYRIA

• The United Nations is deeply disturbed by the ongoing destruction of civilian infrastructure, particularly medical facilities, across the country. Over recent days, the UN has received reports of five hospitals hit by airstrikes, including three in Aleppo governorate and one each in Dara’a and Idleb.  Dozens of casualties and injuries resulting from these strikes have been reported, including to pregnant women and children.
• Prior to the reported strikes, these medical facilities provided life-saving healthcare to tens of thousands of people: many of the facilities are no longer functioning.
• Further attacks on civilian infrastructure, including those on 31 July and 1 August, reportedly damaged Aleppo’s electricity and water distribution infrastructure. This has resulted in an electricity blackout throughout the city and has left residents throughout Aleppo with no access to water through the public water network.
• The UN continues to call on all parties to the conflict to end the destruction of hospitals and other civilian infrastructure that is essential for the civilian population, and to respect their obligations under International Humanitarian Law and the International Human Rights Law.

WFP SCALES UP ASSISTANCE TO LAKE CHAD BASIN

• The World Food Programme (WFP) is scaling up its assistance to reach more than 1.5 million people in desperate need in the Lake Chad Basin. A brutal insurgency by Boko Haram has increased humanitarian needs in what was already a deeply vulnerable region.
• WFP had earlier been assisting 1 million people in the area, but it is increasing its work, both because the needs are greater as more people are pushed into displacement and because it can do more as further areas become accessible inside Nigeria.
• Across the Lake Chad Basin, the UN estimates that over nine million people need humanitarian assistance. In the areas affected by Boko Haram violence, nearly 5 million face hunger.  Unless life-saving assistance is provided fast, hunger will only deepen during the current lean and rainy season, which lasts until September.
• WFP needs urgent support to continue to provide food and nutritional assistance to displaced people and host communities alike, with $122 million required until the end of the year.

U.N. AGENCIES REPORT WORSENING SITUATION IN SOUTH SUDAN

• The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reports that with new fighting erupting in Juba, the situation in South Sudan has been getting increasingly tense.
• Refugee flows from South Sudan into Uganda have doubled in the past ten days, according to UNHCR. It is helping some 52,000 people who have fled to Uganda, including an increasing number of severely malnourished children.
• The refugees say armed groups on roads to Uganda were preventing more people from fleeing South Sudan in anticipation of a renewed conflict between rebel and government forces. The armed groups were looting villages, murdering civilians and forcibly recruiting young men and boys into their ranks.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) said that inside South Sudan an outbreak of cholera had caused 21 deaths by the end of July. Some 586 cases have been reported, with an average of 35 new hospital admissions every day.
• Under Secretary-General Stephen O’Brien of the Office for the coordination of Humanitarian affairs, is in South Sudan today, to visit some of the affected people and renew his call for funding.   
• The humanitarian response plan inside South Sudan has asked for almost $1.3 billion, but it is only 40 per cent funded.
• There are 1.61 million internally displaced people inside the country and estimated 4.8 million people there are food insecure.  

SOUTH SUDAN U.N. MISSION INTENSIFYING CIVILIAN PROTECTION PATRO

• The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) reports that it has intensified its patrols in and around the Protection of Civilians sites as well as in the wider Juba city area, following reports of sexual violence, including rape.
• It also reports that as an enhanced protection measure,  it is working with community leaders and partners to coordinate peacekeeper efforts to  escort of women and young girls leaving protection sites to collect food and non-food items at scheduled times of the day.
• The mission said it takes very seriously recent allegations that peacekeepers may not have rendered aid to civilians in distress, and it is looking into the specific allegations, in line with its established protocols.
• UNMISS has reinforced the message to all peacekeepers that if these incidents of abuse are committed in areas for which they have responsibility, they have an individual and joint duty to act, to prevent harm to innocent civilians. 
• The United Nations condemns unequivocally these actions, and reminds all combatants and parties to the conflict, their commanders, and responsible leaders, that these acts constitute grave violations of international human rights law and may be regarded as war crimes as well as crimes against humanity.

U.N. WELCOMES EU CONTRIBUTION TO DARFUR DIALOGUE

• The UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the African Union-United Nations   Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) report today that the EU has contributed 800,000 Euros help the ongoing internal dialogue process in Darfur.
• Sudanese government also has contributed the equivalent of about one million dollars to support the Darfur Internal Dialogue and Consultations (DIDC) process.