HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC
SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
TUESDAY, 6 SEPTEMBER 2022
PAKISTAN
On Pakistan, just to remind you that the Secretary-General will be leaving for Pakistan tomorrow. Just before 3:00 p.m., I expect him to stop by and say a few wordPAs to you at the Security Council stakeout on Pakistan before he addresses the Council on the situation in the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Just a quick update for you from the ground, our humanitarian colleagues tell us that we and our partners have delivered food or cash assistance to at least 336,000 people impacted by the floods in Balochistan province. Distributions are currently underway for 117,000 people in Sindh province.
In addition, we have provided 32 metric tons of emergency supplies to support children and women, including medicines and medical supplies, water purification tablets, safe delivery kits, and therapeutic nutritional supplements.
An airlift from Dubai, established by us and our other partners, is going to focus on the worst affected areas of southern Sindh province.
The first three of nine scheduled flights arrived yesterday with 40,000 sleeping mats, 15,000 kitchen sets and 5,000 tarpaulins. An additional six flights are scheduled in the coming days.
According to the Government of Pakistan, more than 1,300 people have died and over 12,700 have been injured by the floods. Over 1.1 million houses have been damaged and some 560,000 houses have been destroyed.
Over 630,000 men, women and children are reportedly living in relief camps across Pakistan, most of them in Sindh. Many more displaced people are living with host communities.
Access remains difficult with over 5,700 km of roads damaged, and 246 bridges either damaged or destroyed.
BANGLADESH
Staying in the region, from nearby Bangladesh, the UN team there, led by the Resident Coordinator Gwyn Lewis, is calling for further resources to help millions of people impacted by recent flooding in the country’s northeast.
The floods have impacted nine districts, sweeping away homes and inundating the land of some 7.2 million people.
Just over a quarter of the $58 million needed has been received so far, and due to the limited resources, only 30 per cent of the most vulnerable families are receiving aid.
We need more support urgently, with flood waters not having receded in many areas.
SECURITY COUNCIL
Back here, this morning, the Security Council heard from Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the head of the UN peacekeeping department. He briefed the Security Council in an open meeting on the Action for Peacekeeping initiative.
As you will recall, the Secretary-General launched this initiative four years ago to make our missions stronger, safer and more effective.
Today, Mr. Lacroix called for stronger and more unified support from the Security Council to advance the political efforts of our operations. We’ve shared his remarks with you.
And, this afternoon, at 3:00 p.m., as I mentioned, the Secretary-General will join the Security Council members in an open meeting on the situation in Ukraine, focused on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The Secretary-General will brief in person.
Following the Secretary-General, you will also hear from Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and then you’ll hear from Council members.
DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL’S TRAVEL
Meanwhile, our Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, is in Egypt today, where she has been attending the Egypt International Cooperation Forum. She met today with the UN Country Team and Regional Directors, as well as youth and civil society. She also held meetings to prepare for the 27th Conference of Parties on climate change, COP 27.
On Sunday and Monday, the Deputy Secretary-General was in the Netherlands, where she attended the Global Adaptation Summit. Yesterday, Ms. Mohammed spoke at the official opening ceremony of the Summit held at the Headquarters of the Global Centre for Adaptation.
On Sunday, she met with the head of the Global Centre for Adaptation, Patrick Verkooijen, and also with Sigrid Kaag, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, to discuss development cooperation and the forthcoming UN General Assembly.
SOUTH SUDAN
A quick update from South Sudan, where a new UN report issued today documents violations of international human rights law and humanitarian law in the country’s Unity State.
The report – done by the UN Mission in South Sudan and the UN’s Human Rights Office – says that hostilities have claimed the lives of some 173 civilians. Nearly 40 women and children were abducted, many of them subjected to rape.
The Secretary-General’s Head of Mission, Nicholas Haysom, said that human rights violations were committed with impunity. He stressed that the Government is duty-bound under international law to protect civilians, investigate allegations of human rights violations, and hold suspected perpetrators accountable in compliance with fair trial standards.
MYANMAR
From Myanmar, our colleagues there tell us the people in the country continue to bear the brunt of continued fighting and a crippling economic situation that has been compounded by increasing inflation.
Nearly 1.3 million men, women and children are now displaced across Myanmar. This includes more than 947,000 people displaced by the conflict since the military takeover last February. In addition, 330,000 people, the majority in Rakhine State, remain displaced from previous conflicts.
Aid workers are gravely concerned over the impact of the resumption of full-scale fighting on civilians in Rakhine state and southern Chin state.
Food has become unaffordable for many people and agricultural production has fallen due to the high costs of inputs and displacement.
Aid workers also continue to face access issues. Unimpeded humanitarian access must be granted, and bureaucratic obstructions must be removed to allow for the delivery of services to people who need them.
Despite such challenges, our partners have continued to scale up their work, reaching nearly 3.1 million people in the first half year of this year alone.
The Humanitarian Response Plan for Myanmar is only 17 per cent funded and calls for $826 million.
CHINA
Just a note on China: the UN Resident Coordinator there, Siddharth Chatterjee, has Tweeted today how he is deeply saddened by the tragic loss of lives and destruction caused by yesterday’s earthquake in Sichuan province.
He said the thoughts of the entire UN family in China are with all those affected. The team stands ready to assist and support the Government of China’s valiant rescue efforts.
AFGHANISTAN
You will have seen that we issued a statement yesterday in which the Secretary-General strongly condemned the attack that took place in Kabul on Monday in the immediate vicinity of the Embassy of the Russian Federation. The Secretary-General conveys his condolences to the families of the deceased and wishes a speedy recovery to the injured.
He reiterates that attacks against civilians and civilian objects, including diplomatic missions, are strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law.
Related to Afghanistan, you will have seen that we have a new Head of Mission in Afghanistan.
Late on Friday, we announced that the Secretary-General appointed Roza Otunbayeva of Kyrgyzstan as his new Special Representative and Head of the Mission of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).
She succeeds Deborah Lyons of Canada, to whom the Secretary-General expresses his gratitude for her dedicated service.
Ms. Otunbayeva has over 35 years of senior experience in leadership, diplomacy, and civic engagement, including as President of the Kyrgyz Republic from 2010 to 2011.
WESTERN SAHARA
Further to his visit to Rabat in July and the trip he concluded recently in Tindouf, the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, is holding meetings with other concerned interlocutors in the region.
Yesterday, he traveled to Algiers to meet with the Algerian authorities. He is planning to travel to Nouakchott for meetings with the Mauritanian authorities on 10 September.
In the course of these regional engagements, the Personal Envoy continues to look forward to deepening the consultations with all concerned on the prospects of constructively advancing the political process on Western Sahara. In doing so, he intends to remain guided by the clear precedents set by his predecessors.
SENIOR PERSONNEL APPOINTMENTS
Also on Friday, the Secretary-General also appointed Abdoulaye Bathily of Senegal as his Special Representative for Libya and Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL). He succeeds Ján Kubiš of Slovakia, who previously served as, also, Special Envoy and Head of Mission, to whom the Secretary-General expresses his gratitude for his service to the Organization.
Mr. Bathily brings to the position over 40 years of experience with the Government of Senegal, academic institutions, regional organizations and the system of the UN.
KOSOVO
The Secretary-General is also designating Ms. Arnhild Spence of Norway to take up her new post as UN Development Coordinator in Kosovo and that took place yesterday.
NOON GUEST/PRESS BRIEFING TOMORROW
Tomorrow, we will have a packed guest briefing.
We will be joined by Anita Bhatia, Assistant Secretary-General and UN Women Deputy Executive Director for UN Coordination, Partnerships, Resources and Sustainability. She will be joined by Maria-Francesca Spatolisano, the Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs for the Department of Economic and Social Affairs and Katie Tobin, the Senior Programme Manager for Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO). They will be here to brief you on the “Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The Gender Snapshot.”
And Paulina Kubiak, the Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly, will mention to you another briefing that will take place at 12:30. We may have to start the briefing a little earlier to fit in everybody.
***The guest at the Noon Briefing was Martin Griffiths, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. He spoke to reporters from Mogadishu, Somalia, about the potential famine there.
