HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY ERI KANEKO

ASSOCIATE SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES

FRIDAY, 2 SEPTEMBER 2022

PAKISTAN
We have an update from Pakistan where, along with our humanitarian partners, we have supported the Government’s response by providing food aid to 300,000 people and clean water to 55,000 people. Our colleagues have also deployed 14 mobile clinics to provide health care services in impacted areas.
In addition to this, we have delivered more than 71,000 emergency relief items including tents, plastic tarpaulins, cooking stoves, blankets, solar lamps and sleeping mats to refugee and host communities in the country.
Over 1.1 million houses have now been damaged or destroyed and more than 470,000 people are living in camps.
UNICEF said today that they estimate that 16 million children have been impacted by the floods and at least 18,000 schools have been damaged or destroyed across the country. 
Access continues to be a major obstacle to the delivery of aid and the ability of people to flee their homes to safer locations. In total, over 5,000 kilometres of roads and 243 bridges have been damaged or destroyed.
As you are aware, on Tuesday, we launched a flash appeal requesting $160 million to provide assistance to millions of men, women and children impacted by the floods in Pakistan.

UKRAINE
In Ukraine, the Humanitarian Fund managed by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has allocated $70 million to kick-start winter assistance and address the needs of people with disabilities, older people and vulnerable women.
This is the Fund’s largest single allocation since its creation in 2019. Funding goes directly to local civil society organizations and volunteer groups on the front lines.
The Fund has allocated $118 million so far this year to help 5 million people across Ukraine with food, water, shelter, health interventions and educational support.
We thank our donors for their generous contributions, and we count on their continued support to meet the needs.

SOUTH CAUCASUS
Today in Yerevan, Armenia, the Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and Americas for the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, Miroslav Jenča, wrapped up his trip to the South Caucasus.
There, he met with government officials, the diplomatic community, civil society, and experts, as well as UN country teams in all three capitals, Baku, Tbilisi and Yerevan.
During his exchanges in Azerbaijan and Armenia, he expressed support for the ongoing peace talks and the high-level meetings in both Moscow and Brussels. He stressed the UN’s readiness to step up its support for these efforts, should the parties request it.
In Georgia, Mr. Jenča discussed the ongoing preparations for the next round of the Geneva International Discussions and expressed the hope that it will take place as planned in October.
Major developments in the region, regional cooperation, the Sustainable Development Goals and Our Common Agenda, including the proposed Summit of the Future, were discussed in all three capitals. Mr. Jenča underlined the importance of strengthening cooperation between the UN and the countries of the South Caucasus.

MALI
Our peacekeeping mission in Mali, is telling us that its camp in Ber, in the Timbuktu Region, came under attack this morning. 
A preliminary assessment indicates no casualties – thankfully – but our colleagues say there is significant damage to their facilities.  
The Head of the peacekeeping mission, El-Ghassim Wane, condemned the attack, which demonstrates the ongoing threat posed by terrorist groups to peacekeepers and the communities we serve in Mali.

WESTERN SAHARA
And we have been asked about travel by the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara. I can tell you that, as part of an ongoing phase of visits to all concerned interlocutors in the region, the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, is travelling to Tindouf today to meet with the leadership of Frente POLISARIO.  
Other regional visits will be announced in due course. As he indicated at the onset of the visits, the Personal Envoy continues to look forward to deepening the consultations with all concerned on the perspectives to constructively advance the political process on Western Sahara.  In doing so, he intends to remain guided by the clear precedents set by his predecessors.

AFGHANISTAN
And we’ve also been asked about an attack on a mosque today in Afghanistan. The Secretary-General condemns today’s attack and conveys his deep condolences to the families of those killed and wishes a prompt recovery to the injured. The right to freedom of religion must be protected at all times.

FOOD PRICE INDEX
The Food and Agriculture Organization today said that world food commodity prices dipped for a fifth month in a row.
The FAO Food Price Index averaged 138.0 points in August, down 1.9 per cent from July although remaining 7.9 per cent above its value a year before. 
Notably, the FAO Cereal Price Index decreased by 1.4 per cent from the previous month, a drop driven by a 5.1 per cent decline in international wheat prices that reflected improved production prospects in North America and the Russian Federation as well as the resumption of exports from the Black Sea ports in Ukraine. 

SENIOR PERSONNEL APPOINTMENT
I’d like to read into the record that yesterday afternoon we announced the appointment by the Secretary-General of José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs of Costa Rica as Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, also known as ECLAC.  
Mr. Salazar will succeed Alicia Bárcena Ibarra of Mexico to whom the Secretary-General is deeply grateful for her commitment and dedicated service to the United Nations. The Secretary-General also wishes to extend his appreciation to the Deputy Executive Secretary of ECLAC, Mario Cimoli, who will continue to serve as Acting Executive Secretary until Mr. Salazar assumes this position. Mr. Salazar’s full bio is on our website. 

FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS
And it gives me great pleasure to end the week with the news that we have two fresh payments to the regular budget. Our thanks go to Eswatini and Saudi Arabia, whose cheques take us to 122 fully paid-up Member States.