HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY FARHAN HAQ,
DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
MONDAY, 20 MARCH 2023
CLIMATE
This morning, the Secretary-General spoke via a video message at the press conference to launch the Synthesis Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
He warned that humanity is on thin ice – and that ice is melting fast. He said that the latest IPCC report is a survival guide for humanity and a clarion call to massively fast-track climate efforts by every country and every sector and on every timeframe.
The Secretary-General also presented a plan to super-charge efforts to achieve the Climate Solidarity Pact which he proposed to the G20. The plan asks leaders of developed countries to commit to reaching net zero as close as possible to 2040 and to end all international public and private funding of coal.
SEA REPORT
The report of the Secretary-General on special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and abuse covering the year 2022 has now been published. The report provides details on system-wide efforts to strengthen our capacity to prevent and respond to sexual exploitation and abuse, in line with the Secretary-General's strategy.
Throughout the UN system, there were initiatives aimed at improving our prevention and response last year. Risk assessments, mandatory training and action plans were undertaken around the world. As an example, in support of the Ukraine crisis, coordinators quickly deployed to Ukraine and the neighbouring countries - demonstrating the importance we attach to integrating prevention and response to sexual exploitation and abuse into our response from the onset of emergencies.
Our approach – which as you know, is centered on the rights and needs of victims - continues. Last year, the first project of the Trust Fund for Victims of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Haiti concluded. New projects were launched in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, and South Sudan. While the Trust Fund has been invaluable for providing some degree of support to some of the victims, it is tragically inadequate. The Secretary-General urges Member States to consider ways to provide a greater level of sustainable and consistent support for the victims and the children born as a result of sexual exploitation and abuse.
The report also notes that our work continues to end impunity and ensure justice for victims.
This past September, Christian Saunders became the new Special Coordinator on improving the United Nations response to sexual exploitation and abuse and he has been active in evaluating what we, as a system, can do better, and in providing strategic advice, operational support and improving coordination across the UN system. Mr. Saunders is right now in South Sudan, which is why he isn’t here to present the report today. He will be available to speak with you about his work in the near future.
BLACK SEA GRAIN INITIATIVE
On Saturday, a note issued that day said that the Black Sea Grain Initiative, signed in Istanbul on 22 July 2022, has been extended. The Initiative allows for the facilitation of the safe navigation for the exports of grain and related foodstuffs and fertilizers, including ammonia, from designated Ukrainian seaports. During the first two terms, some 25 million metric tonnes of grain and foodstuffs have been moved to 45 countries, helping to bring down global food prices and stabilizing the markets.
We expressed our gratitude to the Government of Türkiye for the diplomatic and operational support to the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative, alongside the Memorandum of Understanding on promoting Russian food products and fertilizers to the world markets, are critical for global food security, especially for developing countries.
We remain strongly committed to both agreements and we urge all sides to redouble their efforts to implement them fully.
YEMEN
After a ten-day meeting in Switzerland, the parties to the conflict in Yemen today concluded and finalized the implementation plan for the release of 887 conflict-related detainees from all sides.
The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, Hans Grunberg, welcomed the outcomes and expressed hope there will be an end soon to the suffering of all Yemenis who are still waiting to be reunited with their loved ones, and stressed that the United Nations remains ready and eager to facilitate progress towards releasing all conflict-related detainees.
The parties have also agreed to reconvene in May to discuss more releases and committed to undertake joint visits to each other’s detention facilities, and to enable access to all detainees during these visits.
SYRIA
We have an update for you on the response to the earthquake in Syria. In areas under government control, humanitarian partners have provided assistance to 324,000 people in February and 170,000 people so far in March, primarily in the most affected governorates of Aleppo, Hama and Lattakia.
In north-west Syria, since February 9th, an average of 22 trucks carrying aid provided by seven UN agencies have crossed from Türkiye to north-west Syria every day, using the three available border crossings.
Our humanitarian colleagues warn about the lack of resources to replenish emergency stocks with the main Humanitarian Response Plan for Syria being only 5.7 per cent funded.
Partners providing relief items and shelter assistance tell us that their emergency response stocks have been depleted, threatening the suspension of these activities unless urgent funding is made available. The healthcare system, already overwhelmed before the earthquake, is also at risk of collapse in some areas, depriving people in need of life-saving medical services.
SECURITY COUNCIL
This morning, the Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas, Miroslav Jenca, briefed Security Council members on non-proliferation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
He noted that the DPRK has greatly increased its missile launch activities since 2022, including approximately 70 launches using ballistic missile technology last year alone. In addition, it has continued to actively pursue its nuclear weapons programme in violation of Security Council resolutions.
Mr. Jenca said that to reduce tensions, the DPRK needs to take immediate steps to resume dialogue leading to sustainable peace and the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. He added that communication channels must be enhanced, particularly military to military.
DSG’s SENIOR WOMEN LEADERS’ RETREAT
The Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, hosted the second annual Senior Women Leaders Retreat at Greentree Estate in New York. The retreat brought together over 40 Under Secretaries-General as well as Assistant Secretaries-General, who lead UN offices or entities.
This annual retreat is intended as a space for senior women leaders at the UN to come together and share ideas, rethink approaches, leverage connections and reflect on how their collective leadership can help accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
On Friday, the Secretary-General addressed the retreat to share his vision for the year ahead and hear concrete recommendations for a United Nations that better reflects today’s world and the communities we serve.
SUDAN
The Trilateral Mechanism that consists of the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), and the United Nations convened a preparatory meeting yesterday with military and civilian signatories to decide on the next steps for completing the political process.
The Trilateral Mechanism hopes that in the coming days, during the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, Sudanese men and women will reach a final agreement on solutions to pave the way for the establishment of a civilian-led government and take Sudan out of its current crisis.
And just to flag that Volker Perthes, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan, is briefing the Security Council today on the situation in the country.
SOUTH SUDAN
The Humanitarian Coordinator ad interim in South Sudan, Meshack Malo, has condemned an attack in Jonglei State in which two aid workers were killed on 17 March. This is the latest in a series of incidents targeting humanitarian convoys and workers in the country.
Following the latest attack, the World Food Programme temporarily paused its convoy movements out of Bor in Jonglei. This corridor is critical to preposition food ahead of the rainy season when roads are inaccessible.
More than one million people in Jonglei and Pibor rely on the food aid transported along this route. Mr. Malo called on authorities to urgently improve security and to protect civilians and humanitarian workers and supplies.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, our peacekeeping mission, MONUSCO, reported that armed groups perpetrated a string of attacks in North Kivu and Ituri overnight on Saturday, triggering population displacement.
In the village of Nguli in North Kivu, suspected ADF members killed at least 10 civilians, and abducted three others. The same day, in response to the attacks, MONUSCO and the Congolese defence forces launched joint patrols along the Beni-Butembo road and engaged with local authorities and community members in areas where the ADF is present.
Since 6 March, attacks by the ADF resulted in at least 118 civilian casualties.
In Ituri, at least 11 civilians died, including two women and two children, in simultaneous raids by the armed group CODECO across several villages in Mahagi territory. UN peacekeepers dispatched a patrol towards the village of Ngote to protect the populations fleeing the violence and to support efforts by the national army to restore stability there.
MALI
The Head of our peacekeeping Mission in Mali, El-Ghassim Wane, welcomed the launch of the Stabilization Strategy for the Central Regions, as well as its Action Plan.
Mr. Wane said that the Strategy, launched by Mali’s Prime Minister, Choguel Maïga, articulates a comprehensive approach to the multidimensional challenges facing the Central regions, and recognizes that a sustainable restoration of peace and security also requires improvements in governance and the strengthening of justice, the promotion and respect of human rights, dialogue and reconciliation between communities, and action to address economic and humanitarian challenges.
SOMALIA
A report released today by the World Health Organization, the UN Children’s Fund and the Federal Ministry of Health and Human Services suggests that an estimated 43 000 excess deaths may have occurred in 2022 in Somalia due to the deepening drought. Half of these deaths may have occurred among children under the age of 5.
The report forecast, spanning January to June 2023, estimates that 135 people might also die each day due to the crisis, with total deaths projected to fall between 18 100 and 34 200 during this period. These estimates suggest that, although famine has been averted for now, the crisis is far from over and is already more severe than the 2017-2018 drought crisis.
FREDDY/MALAWI
The Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths has released $5.5 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to support communities hardest hit by Tropical Cyclone Freddy. As of yesterday, the number of people displaced was at more than 490,000 in over 500 shelter sites.
The funds will support Government-led relief efforts and prioritize water, sanitation and hygiene in flood-affected areas to prevent the further spread of cholera. This is especially critical, as infrastructure has been destroyed and damaged, and displacement sites are overcrowded.
The CERF allocation will also be used to prevent gender-based violence and to protect unaccompanied children, with families separated by the floods and mudslides.
FREDDY/MOZAMBIQUE
In Mozambique, the number of people affected by Freddy’s second landfall has risen to 812,000. Overall, the storm and a cholera outbreak in the country have affected some 975,000 people.
We, along with our humanitarian partners, continue to provide life-saving assistance in the most affected province of Zambezia.
Our humanitarian colleagues note that there are enough medicines and supplies to control cholera and other water-borne diseases for 150,000 people for three months. Air transport is on standby to aid in the cholera response.
We and our humanitarian partners are very concerned about the high risk of increases in other water-borne diseases. Some 10,000 people have received water and sanitation support.
VANUATU
The UN team in Vanuatu is supporting authorities following twin Category-4 cyclones Judy and Kevin which hit the country this month. The UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has approved $1.7m in funding towards lifesaving activities in Vanuatu. The funding will specifically support three key areas - food security, water, sanitation & hygiene, and emergency shelter, targeted at the most vulnerable and most affected populations.
HAITI
In Haiti, humanitarian needs have risen sharply and are expected to increase further this year. UN figures released on Friday indicate that about 5.2 million people in the country require humanitarian assistance; 57 percent of them are women and girls.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that at least 1.5 million people – that’s half the population of the capital Port- au-Prince – are directly affected by gang violence.
Rape is being used to terrorize communities, and protection needs and gender-based violence have reached alarming levels.
Next month, the UN will launch this year’s humanitarian response plan to meet the needs of more than 3 million Haitians. Doing so will require $715 million.
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF HAPPINESS
Today is the International Day of Happiness, and it is marked as a way to recognize the importance of happiness in the lives of people around the world.
SECRETARY-GENERAL LINKEDIN
For those of you who follow the Secretary-General on social media platforms, you can now connect with him via LinkedIn where he’ll be sharing his thoughts on a range of issues.
BRIEFINGS TOMORROW
Tomorrow, the World Food Programme’s (WFP) Director of School Feeding, Carmen Burbano, will brief reporters on WFP’s State of School Feeding Report.
Then at around 12:30 p.m., Richard Connor, the Editor-in-Chief of the UN World Water Development Report of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, will brief reporters on this year's report entitled Partnerships and Cooperation for Water.
FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION
Tajikistan is the 78th Member State to pay is dues to the 2023 regular budget in full.
