HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY FARHAN HAQ,
DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
THURSDAY, 15 MARCH 2018
 
IN ROME, SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES SOLIDARITY WITH LEBANON, ‘A FUNDAMENTAL PILLAR OF STABILITY IN THE REGION’

• Today in Rome, the Secretary-General delivered the opening remarks at the ministerial meeting of the International Support Group for Lebanon. The Secretary-General told the delegates that it is now absolutely essential for the international community to show strong solidarity with Lebanon, a country he called “a fundamental pillar of stability in the region”. As such, he underscored that countries in the region should work to avoid any steps that could lead to misunderstanding, confrontation or escalation. 
• The strengthening of Lebanon’s institutions and the extension of state authority throughout its territory are of crucial importance, the Secretary-General added, while also welcoming the strengthened deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces south of the Litani River.
• The Secretary-General spoke to reporters afterwards, saying that support for Lebanon is a question of enlightened self-interest to support Lebanon.
• On the sidelines of the Lebanon meeting, which took place at the Italian Foreign Ministry, the Secretary-General held separate bilateral meetings with the Italian Prime Minister, Paolo Gentiloni, and Federica Mogherini, the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
• Earlier in the day, shortly after arriving in Rome, the Secretary-General attended the ministerial conference to mobilise collective action for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, or UNRWA. “We are here to help UNRWA overcome the worst financial crisis in its history”, the Secretary-General declared. He warned that for 2018, with pledges reduced, UNRWA faces a shortfall of $446 million. If it cannot be met, he warned, critical services could be reduced or eliminated entirely.
• He appealed to the participants of the meeting to give generously to bridge the UNRWA shortfall for 2018 with predictable, sustained and additional funding.
• The Secretary-General will travel to Lisbon this evening, and he will speak to the Islamic community of Lisbon tomorrow.

• Today, thousands of people reportedly left Hammouriyeh in eastern Ghouta in Syria, following reports of fierce fighting that resulted in civilian deaths and injuries, as well as damage to civilian infrastructure. The actual number of people who have exited eastern Ghouta is not known, as is the destinations of all evacuees.
• The UN has not observed the evacuations, but is visiting collective shelters where some of the evacuees are arriving. This includes the Dwier collective centre, where families are being assisted by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. The shelter has a staffed medical point, water and electricity.
• The UN is conducting needs assessments at the shelters and stands ready to provide assistance to people in need who have evacuated from eastern Ghouta. WHO is sending hospital beds, medical equipment and medicine to help support health needs in the Dwier collective centre.
• Also today, a UN/Syrian Arab Red Crescent/International Committee of the Red Cross convoy delivered food assistance for 26,100 people in need in Douma in eastern Ghouta. However, much more is needed, including medical and health supplies, for people in need in Douma and humanitarian assistance throughout eastern Ghouta.
• Today’s convoy follows a convoy last week that delivered food assistance for 27,500 people, as well as health and nutrition items.

• The UN Migration Agency continues to help stranded migrants in Yemen return home, with the latest of its humanitarian return movements taking place this week – one from Al Hodeidah for 41 Ethiopian migrants and a Croatian migrant, and the other from Aden for 144 Somali refugees.
• So far in 2018, IOM has helped nearly 660 stranded migrants return home from Yemen, while in 2017, 2,860 were assisted.
• Every month, around 10,000 migrants enter Yemen. Usually their hope is to reach the Gulf countries but they often become targets of the conflict, seldom making it to their destinations.

• The UN has allocated US$9 million from the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund to provide life-saving assistance to some 60,000 children, women and men recently displaced by ongoing hostilities in Borno State. The humanitarian crisis in the region remains one of the most severe in the world today, with at least 7.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in 2018 in the worst-affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.
• The $9 million allocation will support humanitarian rapid response in areas recently affected by large-scale conflict-related displacements, particularly in the northern parts of Borno, along the Maiduguri-Monguno axis. In three months, close to 30,000 people have fled the violence in areas that are hard to reach for international humanitarian organisations. They need food, water, shelter, blankets, clothes and medical services.
• The funds will also support scaling up the response near the border with Cameroon in eastern Borno and northern Adamawa, where another 30,000 people have arrived in the past three months following military operations. They will also help maintain UN Humanitarian Air Service operations, which are crucial for aid workers to be able to reach and deliver aid in remote areas of the north-east.

• A report by the UN Human Rights Office says that there are strong grounds to believe that some of the people detained in Mexico during the early stages of the investigation into the disappearance of 43 students from Ayotzinapa in 2014 were arbitrarily detained and tortured. These serious violations were in turn inadequately investigated and even covered up. The documented cases of human rights violations took place after 5 October 2014 when the Office of the Attorney-General of the Republic took over the investigation.
• The High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein says that this is a test case of the Mexican authorities’ willingness and ability to tackle serious human rights violations.
• For some three and a half years, the victims’ families have been fighting for the right to know what happened to their loved ones.  
• Mr. Zeid urged the Mexican authorities to ensure that the search for truth and justice regarding Ayotzinapa continues, and also that those responsible for torture and other human rights violations committed during the investigation are held accountable.

• UN Women, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) called today for increased efforts to eradicate gender inequality in nationality laws, which is a key driver of statelessness.   
• In 25 countries around the world, nationality laws do not allow women to confer their nationality to their children on an equal basis as men, and in more than 50 countries, women are denied equal rights to acquire, change or retain their nationality.
• These sex-discriminatory laws result in wide-ranging human rights violations. They are one of the primary causes of statelessness, whereby a person is not recognized as citizen of any country. This can lead to the denial of basic human rights that most of us take for granted—like access to education, health care, social security, job opportunities or participation in political processes.
• Several positive developments have taken place in recent times: In 2017 alone, two countries, Madagascar and Sierra Leone, reformed their nationality laws to allow women to confer their nationality on their children on an equal basis as men. These achievements follow similar reforms made by 15 other countries in the last 15 years.

• Natural disasters are costing farmers in the developing world billions of dollars each year, with drought emerging as the most destructive in a crowded field of threats that also includes floods, forest fires, storms, plant pests, animal diseases outbreaks, chemical spills and toxic algal blooms.
• According to a new report from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), between 2005 and 2015 natural disasters cost the agricultural sectors of developing country economies a staggering $96 billion in damaged or lost crop and livestock production.
• Half of that damage — $48 billion worth — occurred in Asia, says the report, which was launched today at a conference in Hanoi convened by Viet Nam's government in collaboration with FAO.