HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC
SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
THURSDAY, 28 SEPTEMBER 2023
ARMENIA/AZERBAIJAN
The UN Refugee Agency says it’s deeply concerned about the rapidly increasing number of refugees fleeing into Armenia, with long queues reported at the border. People arriving are traumatized, exhausted and hungry, and need urgent psychosocial support and emergency assistance, including warm clothes and medicine.
Filippo Grandi, the High Commissioner for Refugees, said today that UNHCR convoys with more relief supplies are on their way and that the UN agency is ready to mobilize additional resources to support the humanitarian efforts of the government and people of Armenia. As part of the response that is led by the government of Armenia, UNHCR teams are on the ground, providing immediate assistance and closely monitoring the situation.
The High Commissioner for Refugees warns that with temperatures dropping and limited accommodation, emergency support is urgently needed.
UNHCR is calling for the protection of civilians and full respect for international humanitarian and refugee law. UNHCR also reiterated its call to refrain from actions that would cause further displacement of civilians, and to ensure their safety, security and of course their human rights. Nobody should be forced to flee their home.
HAITI
A report of the Secretary-General in response to Security Council resolution 2563 says that the multifaceted crisis in Haiti, with gang violence at its centre, has deepened since the establishment of the Haiti sanctions regime.
Gang-related violence has continued to escalate and to spread, exposing the Haitian population to extreme and systematic violence. Rape and other acts of sexual violence are pervasive, the report says.
While 80 per cent of criminal acts reported to the national police were committed in the Port-au-Prince area, gang activities have expanded to other regions, particularly in the Artibonite Valley, Gonaïves and Cap-Haïtien.
Between October last year and June this year, close to 2,800 intentional homicides were recorded. The number of kidnappings for ransom also increased, with reports of nearly 1,500 cases.
National institutions, including the judiciary, the national police and the corrections service, have taken steps to address the situation on the ground but remain ill-equipped to fulfil their mandate and re-establish the rule of law. Corruption and impunity continue to undermine trust in State institutions, the report states, adding that stabilizing the security situation in Haiti will require significant international support, not only to the national police to restore security, but also in the areas of corrections, the justice system, customs control and border management. This support needs to be matched by equally significant political will and commitment to securing adequate, predictable and sustained financing to preserve institutional gains in the long term.
And from Geneva, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, today issued a call for a multinational security support mission to help the Haitian National Police (HNP) out of the security crisis which has permeated all levels of society and worsened a dire security and human rights crisis.
His latest report on the human rights situation in Haiti stresses that the deployment of a multinational security support mission is essential to assist the National Police in tackling organized crime, armed gangs and international trafficking in arms, drugs and people.
HUMAN RIGHTS/ REPRISALS
A Secretary-General’s report on reprisals released today shows that, from 1 May 2022 to 30 April 2023, more than 220 individuals and 25 organizations in 40 countries across the world faced threats and retaliation from State and non-State actors for cooperating with the UN on human rights. Given it is increasingly difficult to document such cases, the number is likely much higher.
The report shows that human rights defenders and other civil society actors were increasingly under surveillance and continued to face legal proceedings, travel bans and threats, and be given prison sentences for cooperating with the UN and the UN’s human mechanisms. Many are choosing not to cooperate with the UN due to concerns for their safety, or only doing so if kept anonymous.
SECURITY COUNCIL/ MIGRANTS
This afternoon, the Security Council will hold a meeting on Maintenance of International Peace and Security to discuss the situation of migrants in the Mediterranean. Ruven Menikdiwela, Director of the UN Refugee Agency office in New York, and Pär Liljert, Director of the International Organization for Migration office in New York, are expected to brief Council members.
SECURITY COUNCIL/ DRC
This morning, the head of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), Bintou Keita, briefed the Security Council on the situation in the country.
She said that the situation remains volatile in the country’s east and requires continued efforts to protect civilians. She reminded Council members that today, over six million people remain displaced in Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu. She reiterated the call on donors to continue to support the Humanitarian response plan which remains underfunded.
Turning to the Mission’s progressive departure from the DRC, Ms. Keita called on the Council to express itself clearly on the recommendations set out in the August report of the Secretary-General on the future of MONUSCO.
SECURITY COUNCIL/ SYRIA
Yesterday afternoon, Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pederson, told Security Council members that he had been working with all parties to seek urgent progress on step-for-steps. He sees that there is an opportunity that should be seized since there is an invitation to a genuine engagement and to concrete discussions.
LEBANON
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East – also known as UNRWA – announced yesterday that it’s been forced to postpone the start of the school year in Ein El Hilweh refugee camp, the largest Palestine Refugee camp in Lebanon.
All of UNRWA’s eight schools inside the camp have been taken over by armed groups, and they have sustained significant destruction and damage, while other schools, outside the camp, are currently being used by displaced families.
While than 11,000 Palestine Refugees children in South Lebanon will not be able to start the school year on 2 October, UNRWA is currently working to find alternatives so that children from the camp and the surrounding areas can go back to school as soon as possible. UNRWA called on those fighting and those with influence over them to vacate its schools inside the camp.
LIBYA
More than 16,000 children are displaced in eastern Libya following Storm Daniel, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned today. Their psychosocial well-being is at stake. Many more children are affected due to lack of essential services, such as health, schooling and safe water supply.
Some of the families displaced by the storm are hosted in schools. UNICEF has been working with authorities and partners since the beginning of the tragedy to respond to the urgent needs of children and families in the affected areas.
UNICEF is revising its humanitarian response appeal of $6.5 million to integrate initial recovery efforts with a focus on education, health and water. To date, UNICEF has received about 25 per cent of these much-needed funds.
INTERNATIONAL DAYS
Today is World Maritime Day. In his message for the Day, the Secretary-General says that now we need all-hands-on-deck to deliver on the policies and investments required to realize a just and equitable transition for the entire maritime sector.
Today is also the International Day for Universal Access to Information. It’s a reminder that Artificial Intelligence and e-governance can play an important role in improving access to information in our digital world, and that universal access to information is a cornerstone of healthy and inclusive knowledge societies.
FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION
Sierra Leone is the 136th Member State to pay its dues to the UN regular budget.
