Noon briefing of 16 March 2021

This morning, the Secretary-General spoke virtually at the Civil Society Townhall, which took place on the sidelines of the Commission on the Status of Women. He said that we are seeing new evidence almost every day that the social and economic impact of the pandemic has been devastating for women’s rights – and particularly for those most vulnerable: poor women, women working in the informal economy, and indigenous women.
He noted that despite these serious setbacks to gender equality and women’s rights, there is a huge gender gap in the task forces and panels that are supposed to be building the recovery. There is no excuse for this, he said, adding that male-dominated teams will come up with male-dominated solutions.
The Secretary-General underscored that we cannot go back to the failed man-made policies that have resulted in the fragility we see around us – in healthcare systems, in social protection, in access to justice, and in the wellbeing of our planet.
The Secretary-General added that the upcoming Generation Equality Forum will offer a critical opportunity to confront gender disparity, as well as the enduring structural inequalities that preceded it.
He also heard from representatives from civil society and answered their questions and that was live on WebTV and I think it is already archived there or will be shortly.

LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
This morning, the Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, spoke at the opening ceremony of the Fourth Meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean for Sustainable Development.
She noted that while the pandemic is expected to produce the worst economic contraction in the history of the region, governments are implementing rapid responses through unprecedented fiscal and social measures which have saved millions of lives and prevented many from falling into poverty.
She underscored that much remains to be done to stave off further damage and use the recovery to reignite the Sustainable Development Goals and reiterated the UN’s support for the region.
Yesterday, Ms. Mohammed chaired the first annual meeting of the new Regional Collaborative Platform for Latin America and the Caribbean. The Regional Collaborative Platforms are a new mechanism to bring together all UN entities with regional activities to support the sustainable development for the region.

MYANMAR
The UN Rights Office, said today that the number of peaceful protestors who have been killed since 1^st February according to them has climbed to at least 149.
The Office says that more than 2,000 people remain arbitrarily detained. There are deeply distressing reports of torture in custody and hundreds of people who have been unlawfully detained remain unaccounted for.
You will have also seen the statement we issued yesterday afternoon in which the Secretary-General said he is appalled by the escalating violence in the country at the hands of the Myanmar’s military.
He also said the killing of demonstrators, arbitrary arrests and the reported torture of prisoners violate fundamental human rights and stand in clear defiance of calls by the Security Council for restraint, dialogue and a return to Myanmar’s democratic path.
He urged the international community to work collectively and bilaterally to help bring an end to the repression by the military and urges the military to allow a visit by his Special Envoy as an important element in calming down the situation and setting the stage for dialogue and a return to democracy.

MYANMAR/FOOD
The World Food Programme today warned that the current political unrest could impact the supply chain and markets, leading to rising food and fuel prices.
WFP has found that prices of palm oil and rice are trending upwards in some areas.
According to WFP, coming on top of the pandemic, if these price trends continue they will severely undermine the ability of the poorest and most vulnerable to put enough food on the family table.

YEMEN
The Special Envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, warned the Security Council this morning via videoconference that Ansar Allah’s offensive on Marib continues, putting civilians, including an estimated one million internally displaced persons, at risk. Fighting forces on both sides have suffered heavy losses, he told Council members.
He added that cross-border attacks have also increased significantly in recent weeks. He said he was concerned by the intensification of missile and drone strikes, including ones that have targeted civilian and commercial infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.
The Special Envoy noted the recent fire at a migrant detention centre in which dozens of people were killed, saying that there must be an independent investigation into the cause of these fires. All people in Yemen, regardless of nationality, must be afforded protection and kept safe, he affirmed.
Mark Lowcock, for his part, our head of Humanitarian Affairs, warned the Council members that a lack of funding was hurting efforts to stave off famine. Although the 1 March event for Yemen raised $1.7 billion, he said, that’s less than half of what aid agencies need for this year’s response plan.

NIGERIA
In Nigeria’s capital Abuja today we, along with our humanitarian partners, launched Nigeria’s 2021 Humanitarian Response Plan. We are seeking $1 billion to help 6.4 million of the most vulnerable people - among 8.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in Nigeria.
Most of the funds will go towards the response to the humanitarian crisis in the north-eastern states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe. More than 5 million people in the region risk acute hunger in the forthcoming lean season because of escalating conflict, displacement, and livelihood disruptions due to the pandemic restrictions. This is the worst outlook in four years.
Last year, just over half of the funding needed for the 2020 Humanitarian Response Plan was received. Despite the low funding, humanitarian partners helped more than 5 million people in 2020.

SOUTH SUDAN
In South Sudan, we along with our partners launched this year’s South Sudan Humanitarian Plan, calling for $1.7 billion to reach 6.6 million people in need of aid and protection.
Alain Noudéhou, the Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan, said that thousands of humanitarian workers – most of them South Sudanese – are working tirelessly to save lives and provide humanitarian assistance to people in the areas of greatest need.
But, he said, we need urgent funding to prevent a further deterioration of the situation, and we need the violence to stop so that the people of South Sudan can finally recover and rebuild their lives.

SOUTH SUDAN/REFUGEES
The UN Refugee Agency launched the 2021 South Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan, which seeks $1.2 billion to help 2.2 million South Sudanese refugees across five neighbouring countries.
Nearly two-thirds of these refugees are under the age of 18, including 66,000 children who have been separated from their parents.
UNHCR praised the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda for continuing to generously host South Sudanese refugees. It calls for renewed support from the international community to help them.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
In response to questions I’ve been asked about the violence over the weekend in the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
I can tell you that the UN Peacekeeping Mission in that country is reporting that at least 14 civilians were killed in an attack by suspected combatants of the ADF. This happened on Sunday night in Bulongo village, which is located East of Beni.
Yesterday, peacekeepers from the Force Intervention Brigade deployed to the area of the incident, following the discovery of the bodies.

AFRICA/COVAX
Today, Somalia kickstarted its COVID-19 vaccination campaign, a day after the arrival of 300,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through the COVAX facility. This initial batch of vaccines targets frontline workers, the elderly and people with chronic health conditions.
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General, James Swan, said the UN is committed to supporting authorities to reach out to the most vulnerable groups to contain the spread of the virus.
Over the weekend COVAX delivered 12,000 doses of the vaccine to Eswatini. This brings the total number of doses delivered to the country to 32,000. Authorities received an initial 20,000 doses from the Government of India last week, also with UN support. Health care and essential workers will be vaccinated first.

LEBANON
The UN Interim Force in Lebanon recently conducted a three-day COVID-19 disinfection training workshop with civil defence volunteers from south-east Lebanon.
Volunteers from eight Civil Defence Centres active in the area joined UNIFIL peacekeepers in the training. The practical training is intended to share knowledge and experience on best practices in dealing with the pandemic.

SENIOR APPOINTMENT
The Secretary-General has appointed El-Ghassim Wane of Mauritania as his new Special Representative and Head of the Peacekeeping Mission MINUSMA.
We welcome Mr. Wane back to the UN. He previously held a leadership position in the peacekeeping department and was then most recently with the African Union. He succeeds Annadif Khatir Mahamat Saleh of Chad, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his invaluable contribution to peace and reconciliation efforts in Mali.

UN NEWS/SURVEY
The UN News Centre would like you to participate in a survey. They are checking with their audiences starting today until 5^th April. The Department of Global Communications will carry out a survey in order to understand how the UN is meeting users’ needs and to identify areas of improvement.
The survey is available in all UN languages as well as Hindi, Kiswahili and Portuguese. It’s on UN News and on social media.

FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS
We thank the three Member States that have paid their regular budget dues in full bringing us up to 73. It’s the Bahamas, Fiji and Micronesia. Three island states.