HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC

SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES

FRIDAY, 4 NOVEMBER 2022

DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA   
The Secretary-General strongly condemns the launch of a ballistic missile of intercontinental range by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) as well as the barrage of various missiles over the past two days.
The Secretary-General reiterates his calls on the DPRK to immediately desist from taking any further provocative action and to fully comply with its international obligations under all relevant Security Council resolutions.  He is deeply concerned about the tension on the Korean Peninsula and troubled by the increase in confrontational rhetoric.
He strongly urges the DPRK to take immediate steps to resume talks and asks all parties to come together and to foster an environment that is conducive to dialogue with a view to achieving sustainable peace and the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. 
 
UKRAINE 
Today, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs visited the Kherson region to deliver much-needed relief supplies in areas where the Government recently regained control. 
As part of today's convoy, 11 trucks delivered winter supplies, water, medical kits, and high-energy biscuits to more than 7,500 people in three communities. The supplies are enough to cover the most immediate needs of the entire population, which has dropped from 37,000 to 7,500 people. 
Civilians in these areas of the Kherson region tell our humanitarian colleagues they have been living under relentless hostilities since the war began, and their homes and critical infrastructure facilities, including the local hospital, have been destroyed.  
We are also aware of the power cuts in different areas, due to attacks on infrastructure.
At the same time, shelling reportedly continued in the city of Donetsk, resulting in civilian casualties and damaged power infrastructure. Some 7,500 people have been left without power, with schools having sustained damage. 
Meanwhile, the UN Secretariat of the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) reported that yesterday, seven vessels carrying a total of 290,102 metric tonnes of grain and food products are transiting the maritime humanitarian corridor under the Black Sea Grain Initiative. 
 
SOUTH SUDAN/SUDAN 
The Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, will travel with Courtenay Rattray, the Secretary-General’s Chef de Cabinet, to South Sudan from 6 to 9 November. The purpose of the visit is to meet political leaders, civil society representatives, and other key stakeholders in the peace process.
The delegation will meet with the UN peacekeeping mission -UNMISS -, and the broader UN Country Team, to discuss ways to further the support to the South Sudanese peace process. Together with other senior officials, they will also travel to Bor in Jonglei state to see first-hand the tangible impact of the UN’s peacebuilding and humanitarian work on the ground. 
Under-Secretary-General Lacroix will then travel on to Khartoum, in Sudan, where he will be joined by the Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Hanna Tetteh, for meetings with Sudanese officials about the situation in Abyei. 
They will also visit Abyei itself for discussions with the local administrations, the Ngok Dinka Paramount Chief and community, the Misseriya community, and women’s groups. They will also meet with the peacekeeping mission (UNISFA) and its partners on the ground. They also expect to visit a ‘smart camp’ in Dukra, designed to minimize the environmental footprint of our peacekeepers. 

SOUTH SUDAN 
The peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan – UNMISS - are continuing their efforts to support the implementation of the Revitalized Peace Agreement, which includes the organization of timely elections. This week, 100 members of parliament from the Eastern Equatoria State Legislative Assembly participated in a workshop organized in Torit by the Mission and the UN Development Programme to strengthen their knowledge of parliamentary procedures. 
Separately, the Mission and partners helped rehabilitate a primary school in the community of Ngolembo, in Western Bahr El Ghazal State. Schools in this remote area were destroyed several years ago, and children were sometimes forced to attend classes under trees. UNMISS has worked on 32 school rehabilitation projects in the state in the past two years, as part of UN efforts to ensure that children impacted by conflict have access to education.            

SUDAN 
Alice Nderitu, the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, expressed her concern at reports of a resurgence of ethnic clashes in the Blue Nile region of Sudan.  
She said she is particularly concerned that the violence and reprisal attacks have been fuelled by hate speech and incitement to hatred, amplified through social media and in ethnic gatherings.  
Ms. Nderitu calls on all those in positions of authority to do their utmost to institute conflict prevention mechanisms and to bring perpetrators of violations to account no matter how high or influential.  

MALI 
In Mali, the peacekeeping Mission facilitated the first mobile court hearing in the town of Diré, in the Timbuktu region.  
Five cases were brought before the mobile court and the judge also met with local authorities and the investigation units of the police and the gendarmerie to discuss ways to improve access to trial for victims.   
For over two years, access to justice in this area was hampered by insecurity and the judge had to be relocated 120 km away from his own jurisdiction. With the UN Mission’s support, the local administration gradually redeployed to Diré. This mobile hearing was held on the sidelines of a military operation undertaken by peacekeepers in the Timbuktu region, in support of the Malian armed forces efforts to better protect communities.                                        
 
PAKISTAN 
Ahead of the COP27 conference in Egypt, the World Food Programme is calling on the international community to invest in building the resilience of vulnerable communities living in Pakistan and other climate hotspots. They say the floods in Pakistan more than doubled the number of people needing emergency food assistance – bringing it up to 14.6 million men, women and children. With large swathes of farmland still under water, WFP says the autumn wheat-planting season is now compromised. WFP has provided food, cash, nutritional and livelihood support to more than 2 million of Pakistan’s most impacted people. They are now working with the Government and other partners to reach a total of 2.7 million people through May of next year, while expanding resilience-building activities. As usual, additional funding is required to carry out all of these activities.   

SENIOR PERSONNEL APPOINTMENT 
The Secretary-General, in consultation with the Secretary-General of UNCTAD [United Nations Conference on Trade and Development], Rebeca Grynspan, has appointed Pedro Manuel Moreno of Spain as Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD.     
He succeeds Isabelle Durant of Belgium to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her dedicated service and commitment to UNCTAD. 
Mr. Moreno brings to this position substantive international experience in the UN and regional intergovernmental organizations. 

**BRIEFINGS TODAY   
Upali Galketi Aratchilage, Senior economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization, briefed reporters on the October FAO Food Price Index.  
  
At 1:00 p.m., there was a hybrid briefing by Ambassador Federico Villegas, the President of the Human Rights Council.