HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC
SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
THURSDAY, 1 SEPTEMBER 2022
CHIEFS OF POLICE SUMMIT
This morning, the Secretary-General spoke at the UN’s Chiefs of Police Summit, where he said the UN Police is a cornerstone of our peacekeeping work as well as the vision contained in Our Common Agenda.
The Secretary-General added that more than ever, we need specialized policing expertise to keep the peace, maintain public order, fight organized crime and natural resource trafficking, and advance environmentally responsive policing practices.
The guests at the noon briefing were UN’s Police Commissioner Luís Carrilho, the Police Commissioner for the Mali Peacekeeping Mission, Bettina Patricia Boughani, and the Police Commissioner for the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei, Violet Nasambu Lusala.
SOMALIA
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, started a mission to Somalia today.
The country is bracing for its fifth consecutive failed rainy season over the coming months. An estimated 1 million Somalis have been displaced by the drought, and more than 213,000 people face catastrophic food insecurity.
There is an imminent risk of famine if crop and livestock production fail, food prices continue to rise, and those most in need do not get aid.
In Somalia, Mr. Griffiths will meet with affected communities, Government officials and partner organizations to support the urgent scale-up of the response.
Aid groups on the ground are doing all they can to save lives and livelihoods. At the end of July, they had provided assistance to up to 5.3 million men, women and children in Somalia.
ETHIOPIA
In Ethiopia, UN humanitarian colleagues say that fighting continues in the north of the country, impacting civilians. There are reports of new displacements and increased humanitarian needs.
We and our partners continue to provide humanitarian aid in the north, including in Afar, where more than 31,000 people were reached with food. More than 8,000 people have received health services since 24 August.
In Tigray itself, 17 trucks of fertilizers were distributed this week to support farmers during the planting season.
Also, more than 39,000 people in the North-Western Zone received food assistance since last week.
In Afar, tens of thousands of people have been displaced since last week from Yallo and Gulina districts bordering Tigray, and from Chifra district, bordering Amhara province, due to the ongoing armed clashes we have been talking about.
In Amhara itself, the situation is reported to be calm in Dessie town following the movement of people who arrived yesterday from other places in the region.
A curfew is imposed in several towns in Amhara from 7pm to 6am. This impacts the movement of population, their access to emergency health services, and, of course, commercial activities.
As for the roads into Mekelle, they continue to be closed, as well as the air transport available to the UN continues to be unaccessible.
We continue to call on all parties to the conflict to take constant care to spare civilians and civilian objects, including by allowing civilians to leave for safer areas, in accordance with international humanitarian law.
Rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access to all those in need across northern Ethiopia remains critical.
YEMEN
The Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, strongly condemned the attack that was launched from areas controlled by Ansar Allah on Sunday night into Dabab area in Taiz.
The attack left a number of soldiers killed or wounded and threatens to seriously worsen the humanitarian situation for civilians.
Mr. Grundberg called on the parties to seize the opportunity provided by the truce extension to demonstrate full commitment to ending the prolonged conflict in Yemen and the suffering of its people, as well as to engage with his office to continue discussions to meet the obligations they made under the truce.
He said he will continue to work with the parties to navigate the path toward reaching a comprehensive political and peaceful settlement of the conflict.
UKRAINE
And on Ukraine. As in many places around the world, a new academic year started today.
According to the Government, over 40 per cent of schools started their studies online due to widespread damage to educational facilities and because learning spaces are used for other purposes including hosting internally displaced people.
As of last week, we and our partners have reached 260,000 children with educational services and learning materials. However, it’s only a fraction of what’s required as 5 million school children and their teachers will need support until the end of the year.
And on the humanitarian end, we have also reached with our partners 12 million people with some form of aid including food, water, shelter, health services, and cash
assistance. Across Ukraine, almost 18 million people need humanitarian assistance and protection. As of today, the revised Humanitarian Flash Appeal for Ukraine is 57 per cent funded with $2.46 billion out of the required $4.29 billion, which has been generously committed by donors but more is needed to cover the upcoming needs in the Winter.
UNESCO
UNESCO data shows that 244 million children and youth worldwide between the ages of 6 and 18 worldwide are still out of school.
It shows that sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the most children and youth out of school, with a total of 98 million children in sub-Saharan Africa. It is also the only region where this number is increasing.
UNESCO Director-General, Audrey Azoulay, called for collective mobilization to ensure that the right of every child to access quality education is respected.
She will of course [participate] in theTransforming Education Summit, that will take place on September 19 here in New York.
THAILAND
In Thailand, the UN team, led by Resident Coordinator Gita Sabharwal, is helping authorities improve green technologies.
We are partnering with nearly 300 companies to cut food waste by up to 10 per cent. With 15,000 young Thais, we developed a real-time tracker to keep organic waste in check.
To cut emissions, the UN Industrial Development Organization and 70 large-and medium-sized companies are improving resource efficiency and clean production processes in the main polluting industries.
For its part, UNEP [UN Environment Programme] is supporting a 10 per cent increase in organic rice production.
The UN has also brought together 43 banks and investors to commit $1.3 trillion for the Sustainable Development Goals, including on climate action.
ELSIE INITIATIVE FUND
The Elsie Initiative Fund for Uniformed Women in Peace Operations, which is hosted by UN Women, today announced that the Ghana Armed Forces will receive $3.7 million over the next three years to increase the deployment of military women to UN peace operations and to make security institutions more gender inclusive.
Ghana is currently the 7th highest contributor to UN peacekeeping. With this grant, Ghana will deploy a Gender-Strong Unit — that’s a military battalion with substantial representation of women overall including in command positions—to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, for 3 years and beyond.
SENIOR PERSONNEL APPOINTMENT
Today, the Secretary-General is appointing Imran Riza of Pakistan as his new Deputy Special Coordinator for Lebanon, as well as Resident Coordinator for Lebanon. He will also serve as Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon.
Mr. Riza succeeds Najat Rochdi of Morocco, who recently completed her assignment and to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her accomplishments. He wishes her continued success in her new appointment as the Deputy Special Envoy for Syria.
Imran Riza brings over 35 years of international experience across the System, mainly in field settings. We congratulate him.
FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has paid its membership dues in full.
