HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANIE TREMBLAY
ASSOCIATE SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
MONDAY, 16 JANUARY 2023
 

SECRETARY-GENERAL TRAVEL 
The Secretary-General will leave tonight for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. On Wednesday he will deliver a special address on the “State of the World.” He will also hold a number of bilateral meetings with world leaders and other delegates to the World Economic Forum.  
And on Thursday, he is scheduled to take part in the Seventeenth Seminar of his current Special and Personal Representatives and Envoys, and that will take place in Yverdon-les-Bains.

UKRAINE 
In Ukraine, The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) notes that civilians across the country faced a grim weekend, with air strikes having killed and injured dozens of civilians. Homes, schools and hospitals were also damaged in different parts of the country. A strike hit a residential building in Dnipro on Saturday evening, in one of the deadliest attacks in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion last February.
The Secretary-General condemned the attack saying that was another example of a suspected violation of the laws of war.  
The Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine, Denise Brown, condemned the immense civilian toll of the attack by the Russian Federation Armed Forces and called for an effective investigation of suspected war crimes and appropriate prosecution of suspects.
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, said at least 40 civilians, including 3 children, were killed. At least 75 people, 15 of them children, were injured, while in their homes. These numbers are expected to rise even further, as search and rescue operations continue by local authorities right now.
More than 1,000 people have been made homeless as a result of the attack.  
On the response side, UN agencies and NGOs have acted quickly to support the families. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and others are providing psychosocial support to the families, as well as winter clothes, blankets, hygiene kits and other critical household items. The UN is helping families relocate to temporary accommodations in the city.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is supplying medicines and other supplies.  
This was not the only attack impacting civilians in Ukraine over the weekend. In Kherson, the premises hosting the Ukrainian Red Cross Society were hit during shelling in the city on 15 January. Although no one was injured, the organization lost critical supplies.
International humanitarian law is clear: humanitarian workers and facilities are protected and constant efforts must be made to spare them. A hospital, also protected under international humanitarian law, was hit in the city. 
In Kryviy Rih, in the Dnipro region, local authorities informed that more than 50 homes, three schools, two kindergartens were damaged yesterday alone.   
Further east, the situation remains critical, with scores of civilians killed and injured on both sides of the front line in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. In the parts of Donetsk under the temporary control of the Russian Federation, dozens of homes were damaged, and at least two health centres and several ambulances were also hit during shelling reported over the weekend, according to Russian-installed authorities.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
In a statement issued yesterday, the Secretary-General strongly condemned the deadly attack that took place yesterday at a church in Kasindi, this is in the North Kivu province, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) today said that the casualty toll has increased now to 13 civilians killed and 76 injured, of whom 19 are reportedly in critical condition. 
MONUSCO is providing medical evacuation by air and road to the injured, in coordination of course with Congolese authorities. The UN mission’s ambulances and medical teams are also on standby to reinforce national capacities if required. 
The Secretary-General stressed the need to hold the perpetrators of this attack to account and notes that the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) is supporting the Congolese authorities in conducting the investigation into the circumstances of the incident.  

YEMEN 
The Security Council met this morning on the situation in Yemen. Special Envoy, Hans Grundberg, briefed Council members by videoconference, and told them that the overall military situation in the country has remained stable and there has been no major escalation, or changes in the disposition of frontlines. He added that currently there is an intensification of regional and international diplomatic activity to resolve the conflict. 
Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, also briefed the Council by videoconference, and he said that humanitarian needs remain alarmingly high, as the country’s economy continues to weaken and basic services hang by an ever-thinning thread.
He added that last year, humanitarian partners reported more than 3,300 access incidents, affecting the provision of assistance to more than 5 million people. 
  
AFGHANISTAN 
On Afghanistan, the Secretary-General is shocked by the killings of Ms. Mursal Nabizada, a former member of the Afghan parliament, and a member of her security detail this happened in Kabul yesterday. The Secretary-General extends his condolences to the families of the victims and wishes a speedy recovery to the injured. 
The Secretary-General calls for a prompt, thorough, and transparent investigation and for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

NIGERIA 
Nearly 25 million Nigerians are at risk of hunger between June and August of this year, if urgent action is not taken. This is according to the October 2022 Cadre Harmonisé, a food and nutrition analysis led by the Government of Nigeria in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), UNICEF and the World Food Programme (WFP).
Continued conflict, climate change, inflation and rising food prices are the key drivers of this alarming trend, and children are as you can imagine and as is unfortunately always the case, are the most vulnerable to food insecurity.  
The UN is calling on the Government of Nigeria, the donor community, and public and private stakeholders to commit resources and to implement mitigation measures to save lives and prevent a potentially catastrophic food security and nutrition situation.  

LIBYA 
The head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), Mr. Abdoulaye Bathily, announced on Sunday the launch of joint work between the international ceasefire monitoring team and Libyan monitors, during the meeting of the Joint Military Commission 5+5 in Sirte, he encouraged the Joint Military Commission to move forward in implementing the ceasefire agreement. 
And during the meeting, several issues were covered including moving forward with the Libyan ceasefire monitoring mechanism and the withdrawal of mercenaries and foreign fighters, jointly developed by Libyan and international monitors.
 
INTERNATIOANL LABOUR ORGANIZATION 
According to a new International Labour Organization (ILO) report, the current global economic slowdown is likely to force more workers to accept lower quality, poorly paid jobs which lack job security and social protection, the report says that this risks to accentuate inequalities that have been worsened by the COVID-19 crisis. 
The ILO report also highlights that as prices rise faster than nominal labour incomes, the cost-of-living crisis risks pushing more people into poverty. The report also projects that global employment growth will be only 1 per cent in 2023, less than half the level of last year.