HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STÉPHANE DUJARRIC,
SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
WEDNESDAY, 29 MARCH 2023
CLIMATE
This morning, the General Assembly held a meeting on climate. The Secretary-General spoke on this meeting related to an advisory opinion on the obligations of States in respect of climate change.
Mr. Guterres said that for some countries, climate threats are a death sentence. He noted that today’s meeting came about because of the initiative of those countries, as well as the efforts of young people and many others. He told the supporters of the draft resolution, “Together, you are making history.” The Secretary-General said that if an ICJ opinion was given on climate issues, such an opinion would assist the General Assembly, the UN and Member States to take bolder and stronger climate action that our world so desperately needs, adding that climate justice is both a moral imperative and a prerequisite for effective global climate action.
Also on climate, the Secretary-General delivered remarks in a video for the Economist magazine Sustainability Week. He noted that the Economist event comes on the heels of a landmark synthesis report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which confirmed that global emissions are at their highest level in human history – and are rising. In his remarks, he said all fossil fuel CEOs to present credible, comprehensive and detailed new transition plans – fully in line with all the recommendations of his own High-Level Expert Group on net zero pledges. And he called on all financial institutions to publicly present credible and detailed plans to transition their funding from fossil fuels to clean energy with clear targets from 2025 to 2030.
SECURITY COUNCIL
In the Security Council this morning, Bintou Keita, the Head of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), briefed Council members.
She said the security situation in the East has continued to deteriorate. Conflict with the M23 and the continued activism of other armed groups, including the ADF, Zaire, and CODECO, continue to inflict intolerable suffering on the civilian population. She commended regional efforts underway to bring peace and stability and called on the Council to lend its full weight to these efforts by encouraging the parties to abide by their commitments and ensuring that recalcitrant actors are held to account.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today that the education of around 750,000 children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been disrupted in the eastern provinces of North Kivu and Ituri.
New figures released by UNICEF show that between January last year and today, at least 2,100 schools in just 2 provinces have been forced to shut their doors because of the security situation getting worse.
Children displaced by the violence have also had their education interrupted. UNICEF said the scale of the crisis means that the majority of children living in displacement camps are not able to have any educational services, only a minority of these children are able to access some UNICEF-supported Child Friendly Spaces or Temporary Learning Centres.
UNICEF is supporting the construction of Temporary Learning Spaces and providing school materials to students, in addition to training teachers on relevant topics, including psychosocial support.
UKRAINE
Turning to Ukraine, The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that a convoy reached the front-line community of Huliaipole in the Zaporizhzhia region today. The five trucks delivered shelter materials, solar lamps, medicines, and other medical and hygiene supplies.
OCHA notes that just 3,000 people – that’s one-sixth of the population in February last year – remain in that town, where repeated shelling has destroyed or damaged many homes. Aid was provided by the International Organization for Migration, by UNICEF, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
This is the sixth inter-agency convoy to the Zaporizhzhia region since the start of this year.
Meanwhile, dozens of civilians have reportedly been killed or injured in recent days during attacks in eastern and southern Ukraine, including in Sloviansk in the Donetsk region. Authorities and humanitarian sources say a hospital was damaged in the front-line city of Kherson on Tuesday. Aid distribution point and another humanitarian facility were also hit by strikes on 25 March.
And there’s been damage to homes, schools and health facilities on both sides of the frontlines in eastern Ukraine.
TÜRKIYE/SYRIA
In Türkiye, the United Nations and partners continue to support the Government-led response to the earthquake that hit that country. Water and sanitation have emerged as key priorities and we have delivered over 900,000 litres of drinking water and over 1.7 million litres of water for sanitation. The UN has also provided over 300,000 hygiene kits, including dignity kits, as well as thousands of latrines and bathing facilities.
The UN is also supporting the Government of Türkiye’s health response with over 4 million vaccine doses and 23 tons of trauma and medical supplies.
The United Nations urgently need funding to help more than 5 million people affected by the earthquakes in Türkiye. As of today, the US$1 billion flash appeal is about 23 percent funded.
The humanitarian response is also ongoing across Syria. In Government areas, the UN and partners have provided protection services for hundreds of thousands of people in Aleppo, Latakia, Hama, Tartous and for people displaced in other governorates. This includes psychosocial care, legal counseling, and support for survivors of gender-based violence and children separated from their families.
In the north-west, we and our partners have cleared over 32,000 cubic metres of debris, also rehabilitated 80 classrooms in Aleppo and Idlib governorates.
Other programmes are underway to restore water stations and health clinics. These projects have created short-term work opportunities for about 1,400 people.
MEXICO
An official statement was issued yesterday in which the Secretary-General expressed deep sadness at the death that took place in the migrant center in Ciudad Juarez in Mexico.
