HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY FARHAN HAQ,
DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
THURSDAY, 29 JUNE 2023
SYRIA
This morning, the Deputy Special Envoy for Syria, Najat Rochdi, told Security Council members that the Special Envoy, Geir Pederson, continues his efforts to reconvene the Constitutional Committee. She said that it’s important to overcome the issues that prevent the Committee from convening, and to see it resume its work.
For his part, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, told the Council that he just returned from Damascus where he held discussions with President Bashar al-Assad. He noted that the Security Council’s cross-border resolution will expire in eleven days, on July 10th. Reauthorizing the cross-border operation for an additional 12 months would enable the United Nations and partners to deliver better humanitarian outcomes in the months ahead, he said, and build on the unprecedented support for humanitarian efforts in Syria since the February earthquakes.
SECURITY COUNCIL
This afternoon, at 3:00 p.m., the Security Council will hold a meeting on threats to international peace and security. Izumi Nakamitsu, the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, will brief Council members.
DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL
The Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, is in Beijing today.
In her meetings with governments officials, which included the Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, the Executive Vice Foreign Minister, the Minister of Environment, and China’s Special Envoy for Climate Change, she outlined the benefits of financing and aligning China’s development objectives with the Sustainable Development Goals.
Ms. Mohammed also expressed the urgent need for all leaders to embrace a just transition amid the climate crisis.
She further expressed the importance of an ambitious and action-oriented dialogue among leaders at the UN General Assembly in September at this crucial midpoint of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement on Climate change.
And yesterday, she met with the UN Country Team in China.
UKRAINE
In Ukraine, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says there has been a horrific attack on Tuesday in the east of the country, in the town of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region. The Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine, Denise Brown, said the attack is an example of the inexcusable level of suffering Russia’s invasion is inflicting on the people of the country.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has, to date, verified more than 50 civilian casualties, with 12 people killed, including 3 children. This makes it the second deadliest attack in Ukraine since January when more than 40 people were killed in Dnipro when missiles struck residential buildings.
Multiple residential buildings, shops, restaurants and schools were damaged as a result of the attack in Kramatorsk. The town has been used as a hub by humanitarians and volunteers working in the east of the country.
OCHA emphasizes that international humanitarian law protects civilians and civilian infrastructure and everything must be done to minimize or avoid civilian harm, including by verifying targets.
Humanitarian organizations on the ground mobilized immediately, including by providing first aid supplies, shelter support and cash assistance. The UN partners have delivered construction kits, tarpaulin and other materials in the first 24 hours to repair roofs and windows. They have also set up psychological support to help people cope with the immediate shock and trauma.
SUDAN
The Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) today said that the number of people uprooted by the conflict in Sudan continues to rise. More than 2.1 million people have been internally displaced since 15 April, including 1.4 million people who fled the capital Khartoum. More than 560,000 people have crossed the border into neighbouring countries, mostly to Egypt, Chad and South Sudan.
In the last two months, humanitarian organizations have reached more than 2.8 million people across the country, including with food, nutrition, health, water and protection services.
But insecurity and bureaucratic access impediments, including the lack of visas for international NGOs, as well as attacks against humanitarian premises and warehouses, continue to hamper our ability to safely deliver aid. We face tremendous difficulties in reaching people in conflict-affected areas in Khartoum, Darfur and Kordofan.
Since the start of the crisis, 13 humanitarian workers have been killed, with many more having been injured and some are unaccounted for.
The UN partners have reported that 43 humanitarian warehouses have been looted, further making it difficult to resume and scale-up aid operations.
In the meantime, OCHA continues to facilitate the movement of relief supplies from Port Sudan and across conflict lines. Between the end of May and the end of June, 480 trucks carrying some 19,700 metric tons of aid have been delivered to Al- Jazirah, Khartoum, Gedaref, Kassala, Sennar, Northern State, River Nile and Blue Nile states.
Since 3 May, the World Food Programme (WFP) has delivered emergency food and nutrition assistance to over 1.2 million people in 14 of the country’s 18 states, including some hard-to-reach areas in Darfur.
Despite access challenges, WFP has supported more than 420,000 people in the Darfur region with emergency food assistance and nutrition support. West Darfur remains largely inaccessible and WFP hubs and stores have been largely looted and destroyed.
WFP has delivered food assistance to around 50,000 people trapped in the Khartoum metropolitan area, with plans to support 500,000 as the security situation allows.
CHAD
Related to the crisis in Sudan, more than 200,000 people have fled the country to seek refuge in Chad. This includes both Sudanese and Chadians returning to their country.
Prior to the outbreak of fighting, Chad was hosting nearly 600,000 refugees – including 400,000 from Sudan.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the Chadian Government are relocating people from the border, where they are exposed to flooding and security risks.
The Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, has allocated $6 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund for Chad. This funding will support host communities in the eastern part of the country who need food and livelihood support as they face the lean season and following the impacts of floods and the crisis in their neighbouring country.
ISRAEL/PALESTINE
In a statement issued yesterday, the Secretary-General condemned Monday’s advancement of plans for over 5,500 housing units in Israeli settlements in Area C of the occupied West Bank, including the retroactive regularization, under Israeli law, of three settlement outposts adjacent to the settlement of Eli.
The Secretary-General reiterates that settlements are a flagrant violation of international law and relevant United Nations resolutions. He once again urges the Government of Israel to halt and reverse the expansion of settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, to immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and to fully respect its legal obligations in that regard.
OCEANS
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and four of their partner organizations have been tasked with leading the Clean and Healthy Oceans Integrated Programme.
The initiative seeks to address agricultural, municipal, and industrial pollution from land-based sources that harm coastal environments.
The decision was made at the 64th Council Meeting of the Global Environment Facility (GEF). FAO will co-lead the programme together with the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Development Bank of Latin America, in a strategic partnership with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The programme also aims to improve sustainable practices on 200,000 hectares of landscape and 14.3 million hectares of marine habitats. More information is available online.
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE TROPICS
Today is the International Day of the Tropics.
This Day highlights unique challenges and opportunities that nations of the Tropics face. It provides an opportunity to take stock of progress across the tropics, to share expertise and to acknowledge the diversity and potential of the region.
FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION
Bhutan and Honduras have paid their dues to the regular budget in full.
GUEST TOMORROW
Tomorrow, our guest will be Bruno Lemarquis, the Humanitarian Coordinator for the United Nations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
He will be here to update you on the humanitarian situation in the DRC.
***The guest at the Noon Briefing was Catherine Russell, the Executive Director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). She briefed reporters on her recent trip to Haiti.
