Noon briefing of 31 January 2019

The Secretary-General appointed Lt. Gen. Michael Anker Lollesgaard of Denmark as the Chair of the Redeployment Coordination Committee and Head of the UN Mission in support of the Hudaydah Agreement, otherwise known as UNMHA, as established in Security Council resolution 2452.
The Lt. Gen. succeeds retired Maj. Gen. Patrick Cammaert of the Netherlands, who has led the advance team and has been serving as the RCC Chair and Head of the mission. The Secretary-General is very grateful for Maj. Gen. Cammaert’s dedicated and exemplary service during this period.
Lt. Gen. Lollesgaard brings to this position 30 years of national and international military experience.

Following consultations with the Bureau of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, the Secretary-General has appointed Ibrahim Thiaw of Mauritania as the next Executive Secretary of the Desertification Convention.
He succeeds Monique Barbut of France to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her outstanding commitment and dedicated service to the United Nations and the Desertification Convention.
Mr. Thiaw brings to the position almost 40 years of experience in sustainable development, environmental governance and natural resource management. He is currently Special Adviser to the Secretary-General for the Sahel.

UN STAFF UNION
According to the annual report issued by the Standing Committee for the Security and Independence of the International Civil Service of the UN Staff Union, at least 34 United Nations and associated personnel — 26 peacekeepers and eight civilians— were killed in malicious attacks in the line of duty in 2018. The 2018 casualty rate is among the lowest of the last five years and is less than half the number recorded in 2017.
In 2018, the peacekeeping mission in Mali suffered the greatest loss of life, with eleven peacekeepers killed. This was followed by the missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where 8 peacekeepers were killed, and in the Central African Republic, where 7 peacekeepers were killed. Since 2012, at least 344 United Nations and associated personnel have died in malicious and deliberate attacks.

SYRIA
The World Health Organization says it’s extremely concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Al-Hol camp in Syria’s Al-Hasakeh governorate and calls on all parties to the conflict to provide unhindered humanitarian access to people in need of life-saving aid.
Over the last two months, approximately 23,000 people, mainly women and children fleeing hostilities in rural areas of neighbouring Deir Ezzour, have arrived in the camp. At least 29 children and newborns are reported to have died over the past eight weeks, mainly from hypothermia, while travelling to the camp or shortly after arrival.
The situation in the camp is now critical. Its population has tripled in size [in less] than two months.
A team supported by the World Health Organization [is] working around the clock to screen new arrivals and refer them to hospitals when required. Severely malnourished children are being referred to a WHO-supported hospital in Al-Hasakeh. WHO is also supporting the deployment of additional vaccination teams, setting up disease surveillance, and training camp volunteers on psychological first aid and basic counselling.

GUATEMALA/MEXICO
The UN Children’s Fund says that more than 12,000 people, including 3,000 children, have crossed from Guatemala to Mexico, over the past two weeks.
The agency said that it is critical to uphold special protection for these children, particularly those who are traveling alone. Last year, more than 30,000 children from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador were temporarily held in detention centres. The Mexican Government recently pledged to end detention of all child migrants and UNICEF is supporting these efforts by helping develop alternatives to detention such as open shelters, day centres and humanitarian visas.
UNICEF is also providing assistance to ensure unaccompanied children are duly processed and receive appropriate care.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
According to the latest humanitarian report, the Gaza Strip continues to face an unprecedented humanitarian crisis as its health system struggles to cope with a high number of injuries following months-long demonstrations along the fence. In 2018, 180 Palestinians were killed and more than 23,300 were injured.
Along with medical supply shortages, the health system is facing severe energy concerns, with disruption of the provisions of health services at some of hospitals and clinics. At the end of December 2018, 42 per cent of essential drugs were at zero stock level – meaning up to a month’s worth of supplies.
The Humanitarian Coordinator in the occupied Palestinian territory, Jamie McGoldrick, has welcomed the contribution of some $20 million from Qatar for cash-for-work programmes in Gaza. The UN hopes that this Qatari transfer will help to alleviate some of the immediate distress and calls for continuous support for the people of Gaza, where a further $148 million will be required for cash-for-work activities in 2019.

UKRAINE
The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in the country, Osnat Lubrani, today launched an appeal for more than $162 million to provide aid and protection for 2.3 million of the most vulnerable people in the east in 2019.
She said that five years of conflict have had a devastating impact on civilians on both sides of the so-called “contact line.”
The new plan will allow for 43 UN, national and international organizations to implement collective action to provide food, shelter, winterization support, access to clean water, and education, among other sectors.

HONOUR ROLL
Today there are four new members who have paid their dues in full to the regular budget. Those are Azerbaijan, India, New Zealand and Thailand. This brings the total up to 32.