TRIP ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Secretary-General will be heading out of New York this evening. He will first go to Germany, where he will attend the Munich Security Conference.
On Friday afternoon, in Munich, he will deliver an address in the opening segment of the Conference with the theme: “Turning the Tide: International Cooperation in a Time of Mounting Crises.”
He will also hold bilateral meetings with leaders on the sidelines of the Conference.
Then, on 22 February, the Secretary-General will arrive in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he will attend the 10th Summit of the Regional Oversight Mechanism of the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the DRC and the Region.
At the summit, which will take place on 24 February, leaders from the Great Lakes region will take stock of progress and challenges in the implementation of the agreement signed in Addis Ababa nine years ago.
Prior to arriving in Kinshasa, the Secretary-General will travel to the eastern provinces of North Kivu and Ituri. He will meet with local authorities and with people displaced by conflict, and he will express his solidarity with men, women and children who continue to be deeply affected by violence in the region.
While in Kinshasa, the Secretary-General is also scheduled to meet with President Felix Tshisekedi and senior members of the Congolese government, as well as civil society leaders.
Finally, he will the go on to Geneva to deliver remarks at the opening of the 49th regular session of the Human Rights Council.
While he is in Geneva, he is expected to take part in a virtual press conference linked to the release of the upcoming Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.
DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL/HAITI
The Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, is in Haiti, where she arrived this morning in Port-au-Prince, to attend an International Event for the Financing of the Reconstruction of Haiti’s Southern Peninsula following the August 2021 earthquake.
In her opening remarks, Ms. Mohammed, who also visited Haiti six months ago in the immediate aftermath of the tragic earthquake that struck the country, noted that, with strong government leadership in partnership with communities and international partners, emergency relief was provided to 600,000 people in need.
The Deputy Secretary-General added that we are aware that aid budgets are under pressure across the globe and that there is donor fatigue.
But this is not the time to give up, she said, stressing that Haiti needs our support and we need Haiti to succeed in its path to stability, democracy and sustainable development.
She also emphasized the importance of focusing on the longstanding structural causes of Haiti’s challenges and that the Haitian people - like people everywhere in our global community - deserve a stable, peaceful and prosperous future.
This afternoon, the Deputy Secretary-General is expected to meet with senior Haitian leaders, as well as UN officials.
COLLECTIVE SECURITY TREATY ORGANIZATION
The Secretary-General spoke at today’s Security Council meeting on the relations between the UN and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
He said that the CSTO has been an important partner for the UN, adding that several Memoranda of Understanding and Protocols on Cooperation between the CSTO and various UN entities are testament to the increasing depth and breadth of our relationship – notably in the areas of counterterrorism, drugs and crime, refugees and peace and security.
He outlined three priority areas for strengthening relations with the CSTO: cooperation on conflict prevention, counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics; cooperation on peacekeeping; and cooperation in the context of Afghanistan, where, he warned, the humanitarian crisis is worsening by the day.
YEMEN
Yesterday afternoon, Hans Grundberg, the Special Envoy for Yemen, and Martin Griffiths, the head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, briefed the Security Council on Yemen.
LIBYA
In Libya, the humanitarian situation has improved in the past year, with a 40 per cent reduction in the number of people in need - to 800,000, down from 1.3 million in 2021 - and a steady decrease in the number of internally displaced persons.
Due to the uncertain political situation, the Humanitarian Response Plan issued in 2021 has been extended until the end of May and requests $75.3 million to assist 211,000 people on the ground in the greatest need. A contingency plan is also in place should the security situation deteriorate.
Key humanitarian needs are protection, access to critical services, such as healthcare and education; water and sanitation; and access to basic household goods and commodities.
SOUTH SUDAN
From South Sudan, the Humanitarian Coordinator there, Sara Beysolow Nyanti, today strongly condemned the continuing violence in the country that is impacting the safety of civilians and humanitarian workers and disrupts the delivery of aid and services to vulnerable people.
On February 10th, a nurse working with an international aid organization was killed and several civilians, including aid workers, were injured in the town of Agok in the Abyei province. Some 70,000 men, woman and children have been displaced by the fighting, and humanitarian operations have been temporarily suspended.
On the same day, an aid worker was killed in crossfire in MirMir in Unity State, and on February 12th, also in Unity State, a clearly marked humanitarian vehicle came under fire, resulting in three health workers being gravely injured.
The Humanitarian Coordinator stresses that these appalling acts of violence against civilians and humanitarians must stop. Every day, people in South Sudan are struggling to survive and violence has no place in a country determined to move forward towards peace.
Attacks against civilians and humanitarian staff and their assets, along with the destruction and looting of aid supplies intended for the most vulnerable are unacceptable. They also severely impact the UN’s ability to deliver assistance.
MYANMAR
From Myanmar, the UN Country Team there tells us that it remains concerned over the deteriorating security, humanitarian and human rights situations due to heightened conflict. This has led to further loss of civilian lives, the destruction of homes and livelihoods, and a surge in internal and cross-border displacement.
The total number of men, women and children who remain displaced due to conflict and insecurity since the military takeover a year ago stands at 438,800, according to UNHCR. This is in addition to 370,000 people who were already internally displaced due to conflict before the military takeover.
Aid workers are worried over reports of the widescale destruction of civilian properties, with more than 3,500 houses, churches, monasteries, schools, and markets having been either burnt down or destroyed since last February.
The humanitarian community in Myanmar continues to reiterate their call for safe and unhindered humanitarian access to those in need, including in conflict areas where the situation is most acute.
The 2022 Humanitarian Response Plan aims to reach a record 6.2 million people and we need $826 million to make that happen.
SYRIA
Geir Pedersen, the Special Envoy for Syria, met today in Damascus with Syrian Foreign Minister, Fayssal Mekdad. He told reporters afterward that they had had very thorough, in-depth discussions on all aspects of the Syrian crisis. He said that, after his discussions, he is more optimistic that it will be possible to convene the seventh round of the drafting body of the Constitutional Committee, hopefully sometime in March.
Mr. Pedersen added that he will speak to the Syrian opposition and have a few more rounds of discussions before deciding on the convening of the new round.
COVID-19/LAO PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC
In the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, the UN team there, led by the Resident Coordinator, Sara Sekkenes, continues to support the response to the pandemic.
The UN has provided personal protective equipment, food assistance, and medical and lab equipment. We have helped on initiatives for children returning safely to school.
The UN has contributed to campaigns spotlighting the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.
To date, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic has received enough vaccines through COVAX to reach just over half of the population. Some 4.2 million people in the country, which is more than half the people, have been fully vaccinated.
***The guest at the Noon Briefing today was the UN Resident Coordinator for Tonga, Sanaka Samarasinha, who spoke to reporters following the one-month anniversary of the volcano and tsunami that hit Tonga.
