SECRETARY-GENERAL
Good afternoon everyone. The Secretary-General is traveling today to Borgo Egnazia, Italy, where he will participate in the G7 summit. As he told reporters yesterday, the priorities he believes the G7 leaders should focus on include action on climate change, reform of the international financial architecture and the challenges posed by artificial intelligence.
Earlier today, he was in the Italian city of Brindisi, where he celebrated the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Global Service Centre.
Mr. Guterres said that the Centre is a beacon of service in a troubled world. He noted the ways in which the Centre ensured business continuity for the UN during the COVID-19 pandemic, provided lifesaving supplies to people facing disasters and conflicts from Türkiye to Gaza to Sudan, and helped carry out the effective drawdown and closure of large UN missions, including in Darfur and Mali. His remarks are available online.

CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICT
This morning, the annual report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict was published. Virginia Gamba, the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, just presented the report to you a short while ago.
She told reporters that the evolving nature, complexity, and intensification of armed conflict, as well as the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, has led to a shocking increase in grave violations committed against children in 2023. 
Close to 33,000 grave violations against 22,557 children were verified last year and are included in the report.
She reiterated her call to all parties to conflict to engage with her and the United Nations on the ground, to identify and implement measures to protect children from grave violations. 
The full report is online, as well as a press release summary.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
Turning to the situation in Gaza, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warns that active fighting, access restrictions and other major obstacles continue to undermine our efforts to address the deepening humanitarian crisis. OCHA underscores once again that reaching people in need, wherever they are in Gaza, hinges on safe, sustained and unimpeded access for aid organizations.
The World Food Programme reports that since the Rafah incursion more than a month ago, deliveries to southern and central areas of Gaza have plummeted – though the agency has been able to increase deliveries to the north.
WFP says that insecurity, access restrictions and damaged infrastructure continues to hamper ongoing efforts to move food safely into and within Gaza. Despite these obstacles, the agency was able to reach about one million people in May, though WFP was forced to reduce rations.
Food prices remain exorbitant in Gaza. Availability in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis has increased, but food is still too expensive for the average person to afford.
Meanwhile, our colleagues from the World Health Organization say they are working with partners to meet rising health needs in southern Gaza by supporting the gradual expansion of services at Nasser Medical Complex.
WHO stresses that Nasser and other hospitals in Gaza need ongoing support to stay functional. However, without the sustained flow of aid into and across Gaza, as well as unimpeded access for humanitarian operations, efforts to resupply hospitals remain extremely challenging.
 
SECURITY COUNCIL 
This morning, briefing the Security Council members by video teleconference, our Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, urged the Houthis to respect the rights of Yemenis under international law and release all UN and non-governmental personnel immediately and unconditionally and to refrain from the arbitrary detention of civilians.
Mr. Grundberg noted that ever since the escalation in the Red Sea, he has aimed to make sure that no one loses sight of the ultimate objective: a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Yemen. However, he added, instead of making tangible progress towards protecting commitments made and finalizing of the roadmap, the parties have reverted to a zero-sum game. Instead of putting the Yemenis first, they have opted for measures they believe will strengthen their own position.
Also briefing Council members, Edem Wosornu, the Director of Operations and Advocacy in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, pointed out that in recent weeks, both the Houthis and the Government of Yemen have issued competing and increasingly stringent directives banning individuals, businesses, and local and international financial institutions from dealing with banks based in areas controlled by the other party. 
She warned that these developments have potentially catastrophic ramifications, including serious repercussions for humanitarian relief operations.

HAITI
The Secretary-General welcomes the installation of Haiti’s new government, yesterday in Port-au-Prince which, importantly, includes women in key cabinet positions. He encourages Haitian stakeholders to continue to make steady progress in the transition to restore democratic institutions through the holding of elections.
This positive transitional governance milestone should be accompanied by urgently needed security gains. The Secretary-General therefore reiterates his call for the swift deployment of the Multinational Security Support mission to Haiti to support the Haitian National Police in addressing the dire security situation. He appeals to Member States to ensure the MSS mission urgently receives the financial and logistical support it needs to succeed.
And staying on Haiti, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs tells us that aid organizations continue to support people displaced by violence in the capital Port-au-Prince.
Between 8 and 12 June, the World Food Programme distributed more than 40,000 hot meals to over 9,000 displaced people in Port-au-Prince. 
Since the beginning of the year, WFP has distributed more than 1.1 million hot meals to over 120,000 displaced people.
In May, the UN Population Fund supplied 900 dignity kits to women and girls. It also deployed 8 mobile clinics providing sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence services and support. UNFPA’s hotline offering psychosocial support received more than 160 calls in May. The International Organization for Migration also continued to provide mental health, well-being and other types of assistance through sessions held in sites hosting displaced people.
Our humanitarian colleagues continue to sound the alarm on the deteriorating situation in Haiti’s southern regions, where more than 268,000 people are now displaced. This represents a 95 per cent increase since March.
Meanwhile, the health system in the country continues to face serious challenges, crippled by both the recent violence and years of lack of investment. Currently, just 20 per cent of health facilities in Port-au-Prince are functioning normally.
This year's Humanitarian Response Plan, which calls for $674 million, is just 23 per cent funded at $156 million.

UKRAINE
Turning to Ukraine, the Humanitarian Coordinator there, Denise Brown, condemned in a statement yesterday the deadly attack on the densely populated city of Kryvyi Rih, in the south of the country. 
According to authorities and humanitarian workers on the ground, the attack hit a residential area, killing and injuring civilians, including children. Education facilities and numerous apartment buildings were also damaged.   
Humanitarian workers are on site, providing psychological support as well as materials for the quick repair of damaged homes.

CYPRUS
The UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus, UNFICYP, has issued a statement emphasizing its commitment to maintaining security and calm within the buffer zone. In collaboration with UN Refugee Agency, the Mission is providing essential humanitarian aid, such as food, water, shelter, and medical assistance, to vulnerable migrants, including women and children.
While acknowledging concerns about irregular crossings, the Mission stressed the importance of allowing asylum seekers unhindered access to asylum procedures as mandated by National, European, and international refugee laws. The organization is in discussions with the Republic of Cyprus to address the growing humanitarian challenges in the buffer zone.

SAHEL
A delegation of UN Regional Directors, led by Under-Secretary-General Abdoulaye Mar Dieye, the UN’s Special Coordinator for Development in the Sahel; and Yacoub El-Hillo, the Regional Director for Africa at the UN Development Coordination Office, have concluded the first leg of a high-level mission to the Central Sahel. 
The delegation was in Niger from 9 to 13 June. They will continue their mission in Mali next week, with a subsequent visit to Burkina Faso planned.
The UN delegation met with Prime Minister Ali Lamine Zeine and held substantive meetings with senior officials.
And the UN Development Programme announced an investment of $9.5 million to improve access to energy in Niger, aiming to strengthen the country’s energy infrastructure to meet the growing demand for sustainable and reliable energy.

AFGHANISTAN
Turning to Afghanistan. 
In a statement, the UN Children’s Fund Executive Director, Catherine Russell, noted that today marks a sad and sobering milestone: 1,000 days since the announcement banning girls in Afghanistan from attending secondary schools. She pointed out that for 1.5 million girls, this systematic exclusion is not only a blatant violation of their right to education, but also results in dwindling opportunities and deteriorating mental health.
Ms. Russell warned that the impact of the ban goes beyond the girls themselves. It exacerbates the ongoing humanitarian crisis and has serious ramifications for Afghanistan’s economy and development trajectory. She urged the de facto authorities to allow all children to resume learning immediately, and urged the international community to remain engaged and support these girls who need us more than ever. 

REFUGEES
The UN Refugee Agency today released a report showing that forced displacement surged to historic new levels across the globe last year, and into 2024. 
UNHCR said that the rise in overall forced displacement – to 120 million by May 2024 – was the 12th consecutive annual increase and reflects both new and mutating conflicts and a failure to resolve long-standing crises. 
UNHCR notes that the figure would make the global displaced population equivalent to the 12th largest country in the world, or around the size of Japan’s. The largest increase in displacement figures came from people fleeing conflict who remain in their own country, rising to 68.3 million people according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre – up almost 50 per cent over five years.
The report also showed that, worldwide, more than 5 million internally displaced people and 1 million refugees returned home in 2023. These figures show some progress towards longer-term solutions. Positively, resettlement arrivals increased to almost 160,000 in 2023. 

INTERNATIONAL ALBINISM AWARENESS DAY
Today is International Albinism Awareness Day. 
This year’s theme, ‘A decade of collective progress’, marks a decade since the launch of the Day. 
It celebrates the strides made within the movement, with renewed commitment for the future, and highlights the tireless efforts of albinism groups from around the world.

GUEST TOMORROW
Tomorrow, we will have a guest, Mohamed Moustapha Malick Fall, the UN Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, who will brief on the situation in the country.