Noon briefing of 30 September 2024

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STÉPHANE DUJARRIC​,
SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
MONDAY, 30 SEPTEMBER 2024

Lebanon-Israel
The Secretary-General remains deeply concerned about the humanitarian consequences of the events that are unfolding in Lebanon. He continues to reiterate his call for de-escalation, a cessation of hostilities and the full implementation of Security Council resolution 1701.
The Secretary-General and his senior staff are in contact with our representatives on the ground, who continue to engage with all actors and all parties to appeal for diplomatic avenues to be given space.
On the peacekeeping end, UNIFIL remains in position in the Mission’s area of responsibility, while the intensity of fighting is preventing their movements and ability to undertake their mandated tasks.
On the humanitarian front, civilians continue to bear the brunt of the escalation of violence with a devastating human toll that keeps growing.
Meanwhile, a new Flash Appeal will be launched tomorrow, Tuesday, which will serve to mobilize additional resources for Lebanon to meet the growing needs of about 1 million people impacted by the growing crisis.
In the meantime, we, along with our partners in Lebanon are working closely with the Lebanese Government to assess the needs and to support the response. The World Food Programme has reached more than 65,000 people in shelters with food assistance in recent days.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has opened seven emergency shelters, accomodating more than 1,400 individuals and continues to provide critical health, sanitation, and protection services to those who need it.
For its part, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says that the number of people who have crossed into Syria from Lebanon fleeing Israeli airstrikes — mostly Syrian and Lebanese nationals — has now reached 100,000. The outflow continues. UNHCR is present at four crossing points on the Syrian side of the border, alongside local authorities and the Syrian Red Crescent to support new arrivals.
UNHCR and its partners continue to provide core relief items to the impacted individuals, such as mattresses, blankets, sleeping mats, kitchen sets, jerry cans, and solar lamps.

Yemen
The United Nations takes note with concern the claim by the Houthis that they launched missiles and drone attacks on Tel Aviv and Ashkelon in recent days.
It is also concerned about the airstrikes in and around the port of Hodeidah that took place yesterday (29 September), for which Israel has claimed responsibility, in response to previous Houthi attacks on Israel.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is concerned about the possible humanitarian impact, and the humanitarian community in Yemen is assessing priority areas for our response. OCHA warns that disruption to the flow of imports, which go through Hodeidah and surrounding areas could have dire consequences for Yemen’s population, especially that most imports of necessities including fuel and food arrive in Yemen through Hodeidah and Ras Issa.

Occupied Palestinian Territory
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warns that without unimpeded access, aid organizations are unable to adequately prepare for the rainy season, when people’s needs grow further.
OCHA says that rain and flooding will only worsen the already dire living conditions in Gaza, raising the risk of health hazards, and may prompt further displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.
Many of the 215 temporary learning spaces serving nearly 34,000 children in Gaza stand to be severely affected by flooding.
The UN and its humanitarian partners have developed a Winterization Plan to address the most critical needs of more than 2.1 million people in Gaza during the rainy season, which will be their second, given that we are close to the first year mark of the conflict.
This plan targets more than 850,000 people across nearly 50 neighbourhoods in flood-prone areas.
It requires $242 million to improve shelter conditions; provide warm clothing and blankets; and redirect floodwaters away from critical infrastructure and dumping sites, among other interventions.
However, OCHA stresses that these plans cannot be realized without the unimpeded entry of necessary humanitarian items into Gaza, as well as adequate fuel and the facilitation of safe humanitarian movements between warehouses and distribution points.

Haiti
Haiti has reached today another grim milestone, as the number of people facing acute hunger has now reached half of the country’s population.
According to the latest analysis by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification – better known as the IPC - 5.4 million Haitians struggle to feed themselves and their families.
This is one of the highest proportions of acutely food insecure people in any crisis around the world.
Out of these 5.4 million people, 2 million people are in the grips of emergency levels of hunger – what we refer to as IPC Phase 4.
At least 6,000 displaced people, living in temporary shelters in Port-au-Prince are now facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity – which puts them in the IPC Phase 5 zone.
The World Food Programme has assisted 1.35 million people in the country so far this year, including through emergency assistance, school meals, social protection, and resilience activities. Families with pregnant or breastfeeding women, as well as children under five, receive additional support to prevent malnutrition.
Humanitarian food agencies and NGOs in Haiti need an additional $ 230 million to implement programmes until the end of the year – also noting that humanitarian organizations continue to face challenges in accessing communities living in areas controlled by armed groups.

Security Council
This morning, the Security Council heard from Bintou Keita, the head of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) told Security Council members that since the ceasefire announced at the end of July between the parties in the East, there has been a reduction in fighting. She reiterated the Mission’s support for the ongoing mediation, adding that with an active framework for dialogue between the DRC and Rwanda, a real prospect for peace can be envisioned.
This afternoon, the Security Council will reconvene at 3:00 pm for a meeting on the Maintenance of International Peace and Security on Resolution 2240.
Sivanka Dhanapala, the head of the New York Office for the UN Refugee Agency and Pär Liljert, the Director of the International Organization for Migration’s Office in New York are expected to brief.

Democratic Republic of the Congo
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the UN Refugee Agency completed a humanitarian assessment in the country, conducted by its top refugee protection official, Ruven Menikdiwela [UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection]. She said she is extremely concerned about the forgotten but devastating plight facing civilians in the DRC.
UNHCR says that in the first half of 2024 alone, more than 940,000 people were forced to flee the violence perpetrated by a multitude of non-state armed groups. Many of those forced to flee have been displaced several times.
The number of internally displaced people in DRC currently stands at more than 6.4 million people.
UNHCR calls on all parties to urgently make the well-being of civilians, including displaced people, the priority, by ensuring the humanitarian and civilian nature of displacement sites is guaranteed and that safe passage for displaced populations is restored.
The agency is also calling for additional support and funding from the international community. As of 31 August 2024, UNHCR had received just 37 per cent of the $250 million required to meet the needs of displaced people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Ukraine
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that deadly attacks across the country this weekend continue to worsen the humanitarian situation. According to the authorities and humanitarian partners on the ground, over the last three days, hostilities caused more than a hundred casualties. Civilian infrastructure and homes were also damaged in the northern, eastern and southern regions of Ukraine.
On 28 September, the Sumy City hospital was hit by what we call double-tap air strikes, which killed and injured several people, including first responders. The Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, Matthias Schmale, condemned the attack in a statement, stressing that attacks on healthcare facilities and first responders are strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law.
The UN and its partners mobilized quickly, providing medical, psychological and legal aid, along with materials to repair damaged homes and hospitals after the attacks in Sumy and Zaporizhzhia cities and other parts of Ukraine. This support complements the efforts by the government’s own first responders.
As winter approaches, the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund has allocated $67 million to support time-critical winter needs for up to 150,000 displaced people and people living in collective sites. The allocation is supporting the Winter Response Plan for Ukraine which seeks $492 million to reach 1.8 million people in need between October 2024 and March of next year.

Western Sahara
On Western Sahara, the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, is consulting all concerned, ahead of his bi-yearly briefing to the Security Council, which takes place next month. He is currently in New York where he met separately with the Foreign Minister of Morocco, Nasser Bourita and the Foreign Minister of Mauritania, Mohamed Salem Ould Merzoug. This took place yesterday [29 September]. Later today, he is planning to meet with the Foreign Minister of Algeria, Ahmed Attaf. In the course of the coming days, Mr. de Mistura is also planning to meet with the leadership of Frente POLISARIO in Tindouf. He looks forward to reporting back on his contacts, undertaken in the spirit of advancing constructively the political process on Western Sahara, to the Security Council and of course to his boss, the Secretary-General.

Cyprus
Turning to Cyprus. During his recent bilateral meetings in New York, the Secretary-General has now invited the leader of the Greek Cypriot Community, Mr. Nikos Christodoulides, and the leader of the Turkish Cypriot Community, Mr. Ersin Tatar, to an informal trilateral discussion in October, in order to have an exchange on the way forward on the Cyprus issue. Both leaders, we are glad to report, have accepted his invitation.

Resident Coordinator in Thailand  
The Secretary-General has appointed Michaela Friberg-Storey of Sweden to be the UN Resident Coordinator in Thailand, with the Government’s approval, she started today, 30 September.
She brings over 25 years of expertise in the international humanitarian, development and peacebuilding fields. She previously served as the UN Resident Coordinator in Kazakhstan.

Cities
Today, the Secretary-General, in a video message to the Forum of Mayors "Cities Summit of the Future" that is being held in Geneva, said that cities are on the frontlines of shaping a world that is more prosperous, more sustainable, more inclusive, and more interconnected and he underscored their role in implementing the Pact of the Future at the local level.

International Translation Day
Today is International Translation Day.
The UN is one of the world's largest employers of language professionals. We salute them for everything they do for us here and around the world.
Also, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights holds the Guinness World Record as the most translated document. It exists in more than 500 languages.

Financial Contribution
Belarus has paid its dues to the United Nations in full. We now have 140 paid-up Member States.

Briefings Tomorrow
Tomorrow, at 12:30 p.m., the Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Switzerland, and President of the Security Council for October, Pascale Baeriswyl, will brief reporters on the Security Council programme of work for the month of October.