HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY FARHAN HAQ,
DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
THURSDAY, 15 AUGUST 2024

GAZA 
Volker Türk, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that today marks a grim milestone for the world with 40,000 Palestinian lives officially confirmed to have been lost, according to Gaza’s health ministry.  
Most of the dead are women and children. This unimaginable situation, he said, is overwhelmingly due to recurring failures by the Israeli Defense Forces to comply with the rules of war. 
Mr. Türk said that on average, about 130 people have been killed every day in Gaza over the past 10 months.  
He added that the Human Rights Office has documented serious violations of international humanitarian law by both the Israeli military and Palestinian armed groups, including the armed wing of Hamas.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that hostilities and recurrent evacuation orders are driving a seemingly endless cycle of displacement – and making it increasingly difficult for people to access the humanitarian assistance they need to survive after 10 months of war. 
To give an example of the conditions in which people live now in Gaza, our teams were able to access two sites in Khan Younis today. 
In addition to the difficulties getting to markets, the lack of food and high prices, families explained to our colleagues that due to the absence of cleaning and hygiene products, they are getting skin infections, particularly affecting their children. 
They had to make their own shelter with whatever fabric, pieces of wood, or cartons they found. Children are attacked by rodents and insects at night due to poor shelter conditions. And yet they might need to leave again and start all over again.

YEMEN 
This morning at the Security Council, Hans Grundberg, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, told Council members that he counts on their full support for his efforts regarding the resumption of an inclusive Yemeni-led political transition. 
On the region's situation, Mr. Grundberg said the Middle East is currently holding its breath, but he sincerely hopes that the escalatory trajectory witnessed in the past months can be reversed. 
Lisa Doughten, OCHA’s Director of Financing and Partnership Division, also briefed the Council. She said that the UN continues efforts to secure the release of our detained colleagues and is in frequent contact with the Houthi de facto authorities and others towards this end.   
On the situation on the ground, Ms. Doughten said that over the past ten days, heavy rainfall and flash flooding hit several governorates in Yemen, damaging homes, farms and public infrastructure. Food security in Yemen also continues to deteriorate, and as of the beginning of this month, the number of suspected cholera cases across the country has swelled to more than 147,000. 
She warned that a lack of adequate funding continues to undermine our efforts to address critical needs across Yemen.

SYRIA 
The Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria, Adam Abdelmoula, and the Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis, Ramanathan Balakrishnan, issued a statement yesterday voicing deep concern over recent violence in the governorates of Deir-ez-Zor and Al-Hasakeh, in the north-east of the country, and its impact on the already serious humanitarian situation there. 
Since August 6th, the violence in Deir-ez-Zor has led to at least 25 civilian deaths, with several hundred people having been displaced. 
The closure of all crossings along the Euphrates River in Deir-ez-Zor, along with the fighting, have restricted access to healthcare, water and food, driving up the already-high prices. 
Meanwhile in Al-Hasakeh Governorate, restrictions on movement in some parts of the Governorate have disrupted access to water and food services which benefit over 100,000 people, though there have been recent encouraging reports of renewed access there. 
Mr. Abdelmoula and Mr. Balakrishnan call on all parties to take every measure to protect civilians, civilian infrastructure, and humanitarian operations, and to ensure immediate, safe, unimpeded, and sustained humanitarian access must be ensured for all those in need throughout Syria. 
This also comes as the humanitarian response in Syria remains severely underfunded. Less than a quarter – or $983 million - of the $4.1 billion appeal for 2024 has been received.

VENEZUELA 
In response to questions about the issuing of the interim report of the Panel of Electoral Expertsconcerning Venezuela, I would like to recall that the document was made public under the authority of the Secretary-General as a normal procedure in line with our transparency policy. 
The Secretary-General reiterates his call for transparency and encourages publication of the election results and a breakdown by polling station.  
The Panel continues to follow the technical aspects of the coming remaining phases of the electoral process, as per its terms of reference, and will provide a final report to the Secretary-General.

AFGHANISTAN 
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today released a report showing that, because of bans imposed by the de facto authorities, 1.4 million Afghan girls have been deliberately deprived of schooling in Afghanistan.  According to the report, access to primary education has also fallen sharply, with 1.1 million fewer girls and boys attending school. 
UNESCO notes that three years after the de facto authorities took power, Afghanistan stands out as the only country in the world where secondary and higher education is strictly forbidden to girls and women.  
The report points out that if we add the girls who were already out of school before the bans were introduced, there are now almost 2.5 million girls in the country deprived of their right to education, representing80 per cent of Afghan school-age girls.  
The report adds that the figures are also very concerning in higher education, with a decrease by 53 per cent of the number of students enrolled in universities since 2021. UNESCO warns that as a result, the country will rapidly face a shortage of graduates trained for the most highly skilled jobs, which will only exacerbate development problems.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO 
The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) has deployed a Mobile Operating Base in Tchomia, 30 kilometres southeast of Bunia in Ituri province, in response to recent attacks that have resulted in civilian casualties.  
The Mission also dispatched patrols towards a site for internally displaced persons in Lodha to protect civilians. This follows alerts received by the Mission of the presence of CODECO combatants in the area, which have triggered temporary displacement of civilians.

MPOX 
The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday determined that the upsurge of Mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo - and a growing number of countries in Africa - constitutes a public health emergency of international concern. 
WHO is warning also about the potential of this Mpox virus to spread further across countries in Africa and possibly outside the continent. 
To allow for an immediate scale up, WHO has released $1.45 million from the WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies.  It may need to release more in the coming days.  
The health agency, however, anticipates an immediate funding requirement of an initial $15 million to support surveillance, preparedness and response activities and is working with countries and vaccine manufacturers on potential vaccine donations. 
The Organization appeals to donors to fund the full extent of needs of the Mpox response.