UKRAINE
Our humanitarian colleagues tell us that the situation in Donetsk remains extremely tense. Escalating hostilities since last week are taking an enormous toll on civilians, including aid workers living in the city.
In the past 24 hours alone, civilians – including children – have been killed or injured.
Some of you have asked me about attacks on hospitals in Donetsk which is not in a Government controlled area, where at least five health facilities were hit by shelling, including a maternity ward. Our colleagues on the ground tell us that no one was killed or injured. Still, some pregnant women had to be transferred to other hospitals.
Unfortunately, the latest attack on hospitals is not a new phenomenon in this war.
Since the beginning of the war, the World Health Organization says there have been at least 295 attacks on health facilities across Ukraine, and the actual figures are unfortunately and likely to be much higher.
In Donetsk, critical infrastructure – including homes, schools, hospitals, and markets – were hit across the oblast over the past week. This has made life nearly unbearable for people who are also facing severe water shortages, and at times are unable to leave their homes for days on end due to the fighting.
We, along with our humanitarian partners, continue to engage at the highest levels with the parties to the conflict and call on them to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure.
This must also include protecting our own humanitarian colleagues and facilitating the movement of relief supplies and personnel to areas where people need our support. Many lives are at stake.
For its part, the Food and Agriculture Organization today said that, to date, it has reached 65,000 people with emergency agricultural support and cash assistance. An additional 24,700 people will be supported in the coming weeks.
Together with local and international partners, FAO is also working on a damage and loss assessment of the Ukrainian agriculture sector, to catalogue the war’s impact on production, infrastructure, investment, storage facilities, exports, imports and expected yields for this year’s crops.
Under FAO's revised Rapid Response Plan, which seeks $115.4 million to assist 979,320 people in rural areas through December, only $13.4 million of the required funding has been received. FAO stresses that further contributions are urgently needed to bolster agricultural production and provide support to vulnerable households.
INDONESIA
This morning the Secretary-General spoke to H.E. Mr. Joko Widodo, President of the Republic of Indonesia. The Secretary-General thanked President Widodo for Indonesia’s support to the United Nations and to multilateral efforts to address global challenges.
They also discussed the global implications of the war in Ukraine, in particular in the area of food security. The Secretary-General briefed President Widodo on UN efforts to allow access of grains and fertilizers from Ukraine and Russia to global markets.
The Secretary-General also expressed support to Indonesia’s Presidency in the G20 in 2022.
YEMEN
This afternoon, the Security Council will hold a briefing, followed by consultations, on the situation in Yemen.
Council members will hear from both the Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, and the head of the UN Mission to support the Hudaydah Agreement, General [Michael] Beary.
And you’ll also get to hear directly from General Beary tomorrow, since he will be our guest at the briefing.
CLIMATE
This morning, the Secretary-General addressed - in a video message - the Sixth Austrian World Summit convened by the Austrian Government and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The Secretary-General said that the window to prevent the worst impacts of the climate crisis is closing fast while most national climate pledges are simply not good enough. He said we are witnessing a historic and dangerous disconnect, with science and citizens demanding ambitious and transformative climate action, while many governments are dragging their feet.
He added that new funding for fossil fuel exploration and production infrastructure is “delusional” and will only further feed the scourge of war, pollution and climate catastrophe.
He also repeated his call for G20 governments to dismantle coal infrastructure, with a full phase-out by 2030 for OECD countries and 2040 for all others. And he called on all financial actors to abandon fossil fuel finance and invest in renewable energy.
DISABILITIES
This morning, the Secretary-General also addressed in person the 15th session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
He said that progress in protecting the rights of people with disabilities and efforts to build a more inclusive and accessible world have been stalled by the pandemic.
COVID-19 exposed existing inequalities and gave rise to new threats, impacting those with disabilities even more.
The Secretary-General also underscored that the priorities highlighted by this year’s Conference need to be addressed with the active participation of persons with disabilities in their full diversity, and their full inclusion in the decision-making-process.
We need the leadership of persons with disabilities, particularly women, and their representative organizations.
WFP HUMANITARIAN AIR SERVICE
We often talk here about the direct impact of cutbacks to humanitarian funding. And I just want to flag a small item but an important one. Our colleagues at the World Food Programme as you know, WFO operates the UN’s Humanitarian Air Service, they are warning today that flights they operate in Guinea and Niger for the UN system and our partners will be grounded by August, unless they receive an additional $6.4 million in funding.
WFP says that high fuel prices, linked obviously to the conflict in Ukraine, have resulted in higher-than-expected costs required for the maintenance and running of the aircraft.
This situation risks cutting off communities from life-saving aid at a time of unprecedented humanitarian needs.
WFP urges governments, donors, and partners to step up support for this crucial service that benefits the wider humanitarian community.
BURKINA FASO
From Burkina Faso, our humanitarian colleagues tell us that recent attacks on the town of Seytenga, in the country’s Sahel region, have led nearly 3,500 people to flee their homes, with this number continuing to climb.
We along with our humanitarian partners are working to mobilize aid to impacted people as quickly as possible, with a rapid response – including food, shelter and health, among other services– that are under way in the regional capital of Dori.
We join the Head of our UN office in West Africa and the Sahel, Mahamat Saleh Annadif, and the Resident Coordinator in Burkina Faso, Barbara Manzi, in strongly condemning this attack.
More than 1.9 million men, women and children – that’s nearly two thirds of whom are children – are currently displaced in Burkina Faso due to increasing insecurity.
Nearly one person out of five in the country urgently needs humanitarian help.
The 2022 Humanitarian Response Plan seeks $591 million to help the most vulnerable people. It is only 15 per cent funded.
SUDAN
Our humanitarian colleagues tell us that recent inter-communal clashes in West Darfur have led to the deaths of more than 100 people, with some 50,000 men, women and children forced to flee their homes.
Many homes were destroyed, and livestock looted.
If the security situation allows, we and our humanitarian partners plan to visit the area to assess what the needs are, as early as today, as well as to help register people impacted by the violence.
The violence in West Darfur and other states is preventing farmers from cultivating their land, which, with the start of the rains, is likely to lead to further food insecurity.
SOUTH SUDAN
Almost one-third of the acutely food insecure South Sudanese that the UN World Food Programme planned to support this year will be left without humanitarian food assistance due to critical funding shortages. This heightens the risk of starvation for 1.7 million people. WFP warned that the suspension of aid comes at the worst possible time for the people of South Sudan as the country faces a year of unprecedented hunger.
According to WFP, more than 60 per cent of the population in the country are grappling with severe food insecurity during the lean season, fueled by continuing conflict, severe flooding, localized drought, and soaring food prices made worse obviously by the crisis in Ukraine. WFP said that it had exhausted all options before suspending food assistance, including halving rations in 2021, leaving families in need with less food to eat.
CABO VERDE/COVID-19
Quick note from Cabo Verde, where our team, led by Resident Coordinator Ana Graça, continues to support the country’s response and recovery from the pandemic. As of May, more than 325,000 people – that’s nearly 85 per cent of the over 18 population in that country and more than 38,000 adolescents, have been fully vaccinated. Our team is also ensuring that other health services remain available, including UNICEF providing technical support for the vaccination of more than 4,500 girls against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), surpassing the goal of at least 90 per cent vaccination coverage. On education, through a public-private partnership between UNICEF and the Swedish Akelius Foundation, 2,000 primary students were also provided with fully equipped technology labs to boost their mathematics and language skills.
LEBANON
Our Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Joanna Wronecka, said last night in a tweet that she had had an inspiring discussion that evening with the US Senior Advisor for Energy Security, Amos Hochstein.
She said that the UN is committed to supporting an agreed and mutually beneficial delineation of the maritime boundary between Lebanon and Israel.
WORLD BLOOD DONOR DAY
Today is World Blood Donor Day, and this year’s theme is “Donating blood is an act of solidarity. Join the effort and save lives”.
The World Health Organization notes that the need for blood is universal, but access to it is limited – especially in low- and middle-income countries, where shortages especially impact women and children as they tend to be the people who need blood most. More online from our colleagues at the World Health Organization.
