Noon briefing of 17 November 2020

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STÉPHANE DUJARRIC,​
SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
TUESDAY, 17 NOVEMBER 2020

ETHIOPIA
In Ethiopia’s Tigray region, our humanitarian colleagues and our partners continue to call for the protection of civilians, respect for International Humanitarian Law, and ways to assess needs and ensure that aid continues to reach areas affected by the conflict.
Roads to the Tigray region remain blocked and our partners warn that supplies will soon be exhausted, putting millions at risk of food insecurity and disease.
Our partners have finalized a Humanitarian Preparedness Plan targeting nearly 2 million people in the Tigray, Afar and Amhara regions between now and next January.
Our UN Resident Coordinators and teams in the Horn of Africa are deeply concerned with the situation in Ethiopia and reiterate the Secretary-General’s call earlier this month to de-escalate tensions.
Our UN teams in four countries – Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan and Djibouti – are working with authorities to address the needs of the most affected people.
In Ethiopia, the UN team is particularly concerned about the plight of some of the most vulnerable households in the Tigray region. It is also concerned with the movement of people and the risk this entails for the spread of COVID-19. Since the beginning of the conflict, all systems of surveillance have broken down, with lack of communications and access to health facilities.

ETHIOPIA/REFUGEES
Also, in Ethiopia, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned today that a full-scale humanitarian crisis is unfolding as thousands of refugees flee ongoing fighting in Tigray every day to seek safety in eastern Sudan.
UNHCR says this is an influx unseen over the last two decades in this part of the country.
People have been crossing the border at the rate of 4,000 per day since 10 November, rapidly overwhelming the humanitarian response capacity on the ground. UNHCR says that more than 27,000 have now crossed into Sudan.
UN agencies and our partners are supporting the Sudanese Government’s response. We are providing clean water and other hygiene support, while the World Food Programme (WFP) is providing food and high protein biscuits.
UNHCR is calling for more sites to be identified to relocate refugees away from the border and allow them to access aid and services.

SECRETARY-GENERAL/G20
Ahead of this weekend virtual G20’s summit later this week, the Secretary-General has written a letter to all of its members.
In this letter, he says that the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare systemic fragilities in our societies, our global economic system and the frameworks that govern the international system.
The Secretary-General says that the G20’s early response was crucial in easing the social and economic fallout from the pandemic, but he stresses that it now needs to scale up ambition and deliver bolder measures to enable developing countries to address the crisis effectively and to prevent the global recession from becoming a global depression.
He also notes in the letter that the world needs unprecedented leadership that is united in its quest to respond to the crisis and recover better.
He said we will succeed if we cooperate to address the current emergency; stabilize economies; redouble efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals; and align the recovery from the pandemic with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change.

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL
The Deputy Secretary-General is back in Nigeria today. This morning she met with the Minister of Women’s Affairs and participated in an event to launch the National Situation Room and Data Dashboard for ending violence against women and girls in Nigeria.
The new programme, supported by the UN, introduces an innovative data management and visualization platform, which uses technology to enable government, decision-makers, and programme managers to view and analyze Gender-based Violence data.
Following the launch, Amina Mohammed met with the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and joined the Nigerian Governors’ Forum virtually. She had exchanges with the Ministers of Youth and Women’s Affairs as well as youth leaders and representatives of Youth organizations to explore tangible solutions to some of Nigeria's biggest challenges.
You will also have seen that she joined the Secretary-General and the Envoy on Youth in an event to meet the 2020 class of Young Leaders for the Sustainable Development Goals.

CENTRAL EMERGENCY RESPONSE FUND
The UN humanitarian chief, Mark Lowcock, today allocated $100 million from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund to help people feed themselves in countries most at risk from growing hunger due to conflict, economic decline, climate change and COVID-19. Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen will each receive a share of $80 million.
An extra $20 million has been set aside for anticipatory action to fight hunger in Ethiopia, where droughts could worsen an already fragile situation.
Our humanitarian colleagues warn that without immediate action, famine could be a reality in the coming months in parts of Burkina Faso, North-east Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen. This would be the first-time famine has been declared since 2017 in parts of South Sudan.
CERF’s $80 million cash injection will be distributed via cash and voucher programming and it will target the most vulnerable – especially women and girls, and people with disabilities.

SECURITY COUNCIL
This morning, members of the Security Council met in person. They held a short open meeting on the situation in Mali.
The Security Council also had closed consultations on the 1701 Report, regarding Lebanon, which was followed by a stakeout by Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, the Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations.

PEACEKEEPING
The United Nations African Union Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) said today that it conducted two dialogue forums in Khartoum Jadid and Korgul villages in North Darfur. The aim was to help prevent tension between farmers and herders during the current harvest season.
About 95 participants, including 35 women attended the two forums, which were addressed by the community and traditional leaders. Since 2018, UNAMID has initiated similar dialogue forums in collaboration with local leaders and authorities to bring together conflict parties.
For its part, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), organized a three-day forum in Bentiu in Unity State. The forum brought together women to foster dialogue on achieving 35 per cent representation at all levels of governance and decision-making as stipulated in the Revitalized Peace Agreement signed by parties to the conflict in 2018.
The forum was organized in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Institute of Leadership of the University of Juba.

LIBYA
The Acting Special Representative for Libya, Stephanie Williams, attended a meeting yesterday hosted by Sirte Oil Company in Marsa Brega. The meeting brought together the Chairman of the National Oil Company and the Commanders of the Petroleum Facilities Guards of the Eastern and Western regions.
The meeting, which is the first of its kind, comes as part of efforts to unify and restructure the Petroleum Facilities Guards and to form a new oil facilities protection force, as stipulated in the ceasefire agreement signed on 23 October in Geneva.
Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Ms. Williams hailed the dedication of the National Oil Company's employees as they work tirelessly and under difficult circumstances to ensure the production of oil for the Libyan people.

COVID-19/RESEARCH ROADMAP
A new UN report is providing provides suggestions on how to immediately address the complex health, humanitarian and socio-economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic while boosting speedy recovery efforts.
The new Research Roadmap for the COVID-19 Recovery encourages targeted research for data-driven responses that focus particularly on the needs of people being left behind.
In the report, the Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, says that we have an historic opportunity for change – for macroeconomic choices and fiscal policies that are pro-poor and that place peoples' rights at the centre of recovery.
She stresses that we must focus on gender equity and invest in public services and other measures that will help close the widening gap on inequalities and lead to a greener future.

COVID-19/SRI LANKA
In Sri Lanka, the UN team, led by Resident Coordinator Hanaa Singer, and partners are helping to respond to the crisis on the health, socio-economic and risk communications fronts.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has provided 100,000 rapid testing kits and nearly 600 hospital beds. It also helped to renovate nine local hospitals to boost clinical capacities. For its part, the International Organization for Migration provided testing supplies for the airport.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and WHO worked with authorities and local civil society organizations to develop communications campaigns in local languages to counter misinformation and prevent the spread of the virus. The World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) produced content to combat gender-based violence and highlight the rights of older persons during lockdown.

CERVICAL CANCER
The World Health Organization (WHO) today launched a Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer. The initiative outlines three key steps, which are vaccination, screening and treatment.
WHO notes that successful implementation of all three could reduce more than 40% of new cases of the disease and 5 million related deaths by 2050. The launch is being celebrated with a day of action across the globe, as ministries of health, partners, and cancer advocates engage in activities to improve access to cancer prevention and treatment for girls and women.
The World Health Organization emphasizes that cervical cancer is a preventable disease and it is also curable if detected early and adequately treated. Yet, it is the fourth most common cancer among women globally.

The Secretary-General will today address, by video message, the closing of the annual Internet Governance Forum. He is expected to highlight how digital technologies have become essential during the pandemic, helping many people continue doing their jobs. However, the digital divide means that those without access to digital technology – almost half the world – are denied opportunities to study, communicate, trade, shop, work and participate in much of modern life.
The Secretary-General will stress the need to put digital technology to work for those who need it most: the vulnerable, the marginalized, those living in poverty, and people suffering from discrimination of all kinds and will urge governments to make sure their response and recovery plans include increasing digital connectivity in a way that is affordable, safe and inclusive.