MINE ACTION AWARENESS
Today is the International Day for Mine Action Awareness and Assistance. Our guests will be Ilene Cohn, the Director of the United Nations Mine Action Service. She will be joined by Giles Duley, the UN Global Advocate for persons with disabilities in conflict and peacebuilding situations; as well as Paul Heslop, the Ukraine Programme Manager for the UNDP, UN Development Programme.
They will be joined by the Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of Cambodia Ambassador Tithiarun Mao and the Deputy Permanent Representative of the Mission of Switzerland Adrian Dominik Hauri.
In his message for the Day, the Secretary-General notes that landmines and explosive ordnance and remnants of war threaten millions of people caught up in armed conflicts around the world.
Please stay for the briefing after we’re done here.
GAZA
Turning to the humanitarian situation in Gaza, our colleagues from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs tell us that aid movements resume tonight, after the 48-hour pause on night-time convoys that we told you about yesterday.
Today, the World Health Organization reached two hospitals in Gaza city. The agency carried out an assessment at Al Sahaba hospital and delivered food and supplies. Meanwhile, at Al Ahli hospital, WHO delivered medications and supplies and transferred one patient and their caregiver to a hospital in southern Gaza.
Regarding Al-Shifa hospital, the WHO team spoke with patients who were able to leave the hospital following the latest Israeli military operation at the facility. They described dire conditions during the siege, with no food, water or medicine available.
One patient said that doctors there resorted to putting salt and vinegar on people’s wounds in place of non-existent antiseptics, which are non-existent. And of course, the actual physical mission has still not been able to travel to Al Shifa.
MYANMAR
This morning, Khaled Khiari, the Assistant Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, spoke to Security Council members on Myanmar.
He said that more than three years since the military overturned the democratically elected Government and detained its leaders, the Secretary-General has consistently called for their immediate release as well as all arbitrarily detained prisoners. He has also called for a unified response as violence continues to intensify throughout Myanmar.
Mr. Khiari also voiced the Secretary-General’s concern about the military’s intention to move ahead with elections amid intensifying conflict and human rights violations across the country.
Also briefing was Lisa Doughten, the Director of Financing and Partnerships Division in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. She briefed on behalf of Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths. She stressed that people across Myanmar are living in daily fear for their lives, while their ability to access essential goods and services, and to cope with the crisis, is stretched to its limits. 2.8 million people have now been displaced, she said, 90 per cent have been displaced since the military takeover three years ago.
MYANMAR HUMANITARIAN
And just to give you a bit more context about the dire humanitarian situation in Myanmar, our humanitarian colleagues tell us that in Rakhine State, civilians are being exposed to ongoing fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army, with deadly aerial bombardment and heavy shelling, including in residential areas. Many people are facing water scarcity as they head into the driest weeks of the year. Food insecurity is also a major concern with soaring prices and extremely limited market supplies in many locations.
In addition, alarming new figures show that last year in Myanmar there was a staggering 270 per cent surge in deaths and injuries from landmines and explosive remnants [of war] compared to 2022, with more than a thousand casualties reported nationwide.
The 2024 Humanitarian Appeal and Response Plan for Myanmar, which asks for $994 million, is – as so many of our humanitarian response plans, extremely underfunded with just 4 per cent funded at $41 million. We urgently need additional resources to help 5.3 million men, women and children in need and replenish depleted supplies ahead of the cyclone season.
HAITI
Turning to another humanitarian crisis much closer to these shores and that is Haiti, the Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, has allocated $12 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to help people impacted by the violence that broke out in the capital Port-au-Prince a month ago.
The funds will go towards providing food, water, protection, healthcare, sanitation and hygiene support to displaced people and host communities in Port-au-Prince and the neighbouring department of Artibonite.
Meanwhile, OCHA tells us that the situation remains tense, with attacks on healthcare facilities aggravating the already dire situation for people. According to our friends at UNICEF, three out of four women and children lack access to essential public health and nutrition services in the metropolitan area.
Yesterday, the World Food Programme provided 17,000 hot meals to displaced people in Port-au-Prince.
The International Organization for Migration distributed more than 70,000 liters of water in six displacement sites across the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.
Just as a reminder that the reason why Mr. Griffiths had to allocate money from the Central Emergency Response Fund is one that’s easy to guess, and that’s because our Humanitarian Response Plan is currently only 6.6 percent funded – that means we’ve received only $45 million out of $674 million that we’ve asked for.
UKRAINE
Turning to Ukraine, Denise Brown, the UN representative in Ukraine condemned the repeated overnight attacks on the city of Kharkiv, in the northeast. She is currently on a mission to Kharkhiv. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says the strikes resulted in more than a dozen civilian casualties, including first responders. Civilian infrastructure was also impacted, with the electricity supply disrupted in several parts of the city.
Humanitarian groups have been at the site of the attack since early this morning, complementing the efforts by rescue workers and municipal services, by providing hot meals, emergency shelter material and other emergency assistance.
MADAGASCAR
And in Madagascar, we and our partners are supporting the Government’s response to Tropical Cyclone Gamane.
According to the Government, this tropical cyclone – which hit the country on Wednesday– killed 19 people, injured three others, and left some 22,000 people displaced.
Humanitarian partners are looking to reach 165,000 people out of nearly 230,000 people who need assistance.
The humanitarian community is warning that emergency relief stocks are alarmingly low, having been used up during the Alvaro storm that hit in January and flood response in February. Our flash appeal for Madagascar – which will require some $90 million this year – is under 20 per cent funded, with less than $15 million received to date.
SPORT FOR DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE
Two programming notes. One just to flag that ahead of the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace - which is marked on [Saturday], 6 April – our colleagues in the Department of Global Communications and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs are co-organizing an event taking place now in Conference room 12, under the theme “Sport for the Promotion of Peaceful and Inclusive Societies.”
The event is being livestreamed on Web TV and you can also watch the recorded version. It engages elite athletes and leading figures in the world of sports who share best practices and explore collaborative opportunities that leverage sport as a tool for sustainable development and peace. A number of high-level athletes including Bea Kim from the US Ski and Snowboard Team; World Champion rock climber, Sasha DiGiulian; and former international and English Premier League soccer player, Jason Roberts, are here.
This event has been sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Monaco and Qatar to the United Nations.
And THE Secretary-General tomorrow will be at the stakeout at 11 a.m. to speak to you ahead of the six-month mark since 7 October.
