TRIP ANNOUNCEMENT/COLOMBIA
The Secretary-General will visit Colombia from 23-24 November in celebration of the Fifth Anniversary of the signing of the landmark 2016 Final Peace Agreement between the Government of Colombia and the former FARC-EP. 
The Secretary-General will meet with President Iván Duque and officials of his government, as well as with leaders of the former FARC-EP guerilla movement.  He will attend commemorative events and observe peacebuilding and reconciliation efforts involving former combatants, communities, and authorities. The Secretary-General will meet with heads of the transitional justice system, victims of the armed conflict, and leaders of Colombian civil society, including women, youth, indigenous and Afro-Colombian representatives, as well as human rights and climate activists. 
Through his visit, the Secretary-General will take stock of the major achievements of the peace process, as well as the outstanding challenges.  He will convey a strong message of encouragement for the continued implementation of this far-reaching and transformative Peace Agreement for the benefit of all Colombians.

SOMALIA
From Somalia, the Federal Government and the humanitarian community today jointly said that they are alarmed at the rapidly worsening drought in the country.
Somalia is on the frontline of climate change and has experienced more than 30 climate-related hazards since 1990, including 12 droughts and 19 floods.
Some 2.3 million people – or 18 per cent of the population – are severely affected by serious water, food and pasture shortages. The risk of waterborne disease is on the rise due to the lack of access to safe and potable water.
Nearly 100,000 people have abandoned their homes, especially in central and southern areas, in search of food, water and pasture for their livestock. Over 70 per cent of all Somalis live below the poverty line.
The deteriorating situation has increased vulnerabilities at a time when the number of people who need assistance and protection in Somalia is predicted to climb by 30 per cent, from 5.9 million now to 7.7 million in 2022.
The Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Adam Abdelmoula, said that a severe storm is brewing in Somalia and stressed that we must act now to prevent a slide into the crippling kind of drought and even famine conditions experienced in previous years. The people who are affected have already endured decades of conflict, climate shocks and disease outbreaks.
The UN Central Emergency Response Fund is allocating $8 million for the drought response and the Somalia Humanitarian Fund is making a reserve allocation of $6 million.                                                        
 
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
The Humanitarian Coordinator for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, David McLachlan-Karr, condemned in the strongest terms a deadly attack that took place a few days ago on 11 November 11 on the village of Kisunga in the territory of Beni in North Kivu.
In this attack, 35 people were killed and 4,000 displaced. The area’s health centre was looted and destroyed, depriving 12,000 people of health care services.
In Beni alone, some 798,000 people are internally displaced.
Despite this volatile security context, aid workers have provided food security assistance to more than 458,000 people across the territory since January.
However, the needs remain high, with the recent Ebola outbreak adding to the already existing challenges. To scale up the response, it is critical that humanitarian partners have safe, timely and sustainable access to all people in need.
 
AFGHANISTAN/AGRICULTURE
On Afghanistan, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today said it is helping farmers and herders, as the people of the country face widespread drought, the collapse of rural livelihoods and widespread economic upheaval.
In Afghanistan, at least 18.8 million people face acute food insecurity – meaning they are unable to feed themselves on a daily basis – and that number is projected to rise to 22.8 million people by the end of the year.
FAO is supporting farmers and herders with seeds, fertilizer, cash and livelihood support to keep agricultural production going and to avoid widespread livelihood collapse in several parts of the country.
The Director-General of FAO, Qu Dongyu, warned that millions of Afghans are living on the edge of catastrophe, which he said will occur if their animals die or fields go unplanted.      
 
EASTERN CARIBBEAN/COVID-19
The UN team in Barbados and 10 Eastern Caribbean countries and territories today launched a new initiative to address COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.
This effort brings together experts from multiple UN agencies and seeks to increase research and public policy options to boost vaccination rates.
The Resident Coordinator in the area, Didier Trebucq, highlighted the importance of vaccination, as the pandemic is heavily impacting economies and societies, increasing debt and deepening existing inequalities. He acknowledged the hard work of the authorities in the region in securing offers of vaccines.
Mr. Trebucq said the restrictions of movement through border controls, curfews, school closures and lockdown measures have come at a huge cost to the region. But, he said, science is on our side, with vaccines being available in the Eastern Caribbean.
 
WORLD TOILET DAY
Today is a very important day – it is World Toilet Day. In his message, the Secretary-General says that life without a toilet is dirty, dangerous and undignified.
He stresses that everyone should have access to hygienic, safe, and sustainable sanitation, yet 3.6 billion people still live without safely managed sanitation, threatening their health, harming the environment, and hindering economic development.
Every day, 700 children under five die from diseases linked to unsafe water and sanitation. Toilets also drive improvements in gender equality and in society as a whole. 
Also marking the Day, the Deputy Secretary-General spoke in a prerecorded video message to an event hosted by the Permanent Missions of Singapore and co-hosted by the Permanent Missions of India and Nigeria.
Amina Mohammed said that every dollar invested in sanitation delivers five-fold in economic benefits, adding that achieving universal access to clean water and sanitation may seem expensive, but the cost of inaction is far greater.
 
GUESTS ON MONDAY
Our guests on Monday will be the Under-Secretary-Generals Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Atul Khare and Catherine Pollard – for the Peacekeeping, Operational Support and Management departments.
They will be joined by the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea, Ambassador Cho Hyun, to brief you on the 2021 Seoul UN Peacekeeping Ministerial Meeting, which will be held from the 7th to the 8th of December.
This meeting will bring together Member States at the Ministerial level and aims to strengthen UN Peacekeeping by improving the performance and impact of our operations.

***The guests at the Noon Briefing were Sima Sami Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women; Henrietta Fore, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF); Achim Steiner, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); and Olof Skoog, Ambassador, European Union Delegation to the United Nations. They spoke to reporters on the launch of the Spotlight Initiative’s impact report for 2020-2021, called 'Rising to the Challenge'.