HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC
SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
THURSDAY, 16 JUNE 2022
CLIMATE
Tomorrow the Secretary-General will be taking part in the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, convened by the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry.
The Secretary-General will be stressing to major emitters that we cannot let the war in Ukraine be an excuse to increase our dependency on fossil fuels and he will reiterate the urgency of investing in renewable energy. And those remarks, I think we shared with you.
HAITI
This afternoon, the Security Council will hold a session on the situation in Haiti. Helen La Lime, the head of our UN mission there, will brief Council members.
UKRAINE
In Ukraine, intense and stepped-up fighting in the country’s east – especially in and around Sievierodonetsk, the city of Donetsk, and many other locations – continues to impact men, women and children and cause a large number of casualties. Yesterday, the NGO World Central Kitchen, which has been providing hot meals to people displaced by the war in Ukraine, said they lost more than 30 pallets of food. They said this happened when a missile struck and destroyed a wagon of the train that was transporting supplies in the east. No one was injured in the strike.
In Sievierodonetsk, thousands of people – including women, children and the elderly – are experiencing constant bombardments and clashes. The parties to the conflict have not yet reached an agreement to
either facilitate safe evacuations of civilians or enable access to aid workers to provide urgent assistance.
UN partners are particularly concerned by the health situation after most of the health facilities in Sievierodonetsk and the neighbouring city of Lysychansk were damaged or just destroyed.
The UN also continues to receive reports of residential areas being shelled in non-Government-controlled-areas of Donetska and Luhanska oblasts. In the past day alone, dozens of houses, a healthcare facility, and a school were damaged, according to local sources.
The UN calls on the parties to the conflict to fulfill their obligation to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure. We also call on them to allow for the urgent delivery of critical aid and to agree on safe passage for the civilians who wish to leave areas experiencing clashes and constant bombardments. It goes without saying that many lives are indeed at stake.
AFGHANISTAN
Yesterday was Deborah Lyons' last day as the UN Special Representative in Afghanistan and head of the UN Mission in the country. In her farewell statement, Ms. Lyons said that she could not have imagined, when she accepted the job, the Afghanistan that she is now leaving. She said that her heart breaks, and particularly for the millions of Afghan girls who are denied their right to education, and the many Afghan women full of talent who are being told to stay at home instead of using those talents to rebuild a society that now experiences far less conflict but in some ways as much fear as before.
Ms. Lyons said that it was an honour as a woman to be selected to be the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in March 2020, and that it is that much more painful as a woman to leave her Afghan sisters in the condition they are in.
Ms. Lyons added that she leaves convinced, however, that the best hope lies in an engagement strategy that demonstrates to the de facto authorities that a system that excludes women, minorities, and talented people will not endure, and that at the same time it is possible to construct a policy that is both inclusive and Islamic.
The Officer in Charge of the Mission at the moment is Deputy Special Representative, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Ramiz Alakbarov, and there should be an announcement soon of Ms. Lyons' replacement.
UNHCR ANNUAL GLOBAL TRENDS REPORT
The UN Refugee Agency today published their Global Trends report, in which they say that the speed and volume of displacement is still outpacing the availability of solutions for those displaced – like return, resettlement or local integration. UNHCR says the number of people forced to flee their homes has increased every year over the past decade and – at 100 million now - stands at the highest level since records began.
MONGOLIA INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON WOMEN IN PEACEKEEPING
Under-Secretary-General, Jean-Pierre Lacroix is in Ulaanbataar, Mongolia, today where he is attending an international conference on “Strengthening the Role of Women in Peacekeeping” organized by the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defense of Mongolia.
During his visit to Mongolia, Mr. Lacroix is meeting with Mongolian high-level officials, including the President. He will visit the Five Hills Peacekeeping Training Center as well as witness the country’s annual multinational peacekeeping exercise called “Khaan Quest”.
At the conference, nearly 80 participants from 30 countries, as well as UN officials and peacekeepers, will exchange views on good practices, challenges and opportunities to strengthen women’s participation in national security forces and in peacekeeping, especially in the military. While progress has been made in many areas (for instance, 21.5% of individual military officers are women in peacekeeping missions), we must continue efforts in all areas, and in particular those where we are behind our goals: so far, women make up only 5.8% of peacekeeping military contingents.
Speaking at the opening of the gathering this morning, Mr. Lacroix called on participants to fulfil their pledges on Women, Peace and Security and together shape the future of peacekeeping, where gender equality and inclusion are the norm so as to enable missions to better serve the population and help build more resilient and peaceful societies.
As Mongolia celebrates the 20th anniversary of its contribution to UN Peacekeeping, USG Lacroix also paid tribute to all the women and men from Mongolia who have served, and continue to serve in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations. Mongolia currently deploys about 890 uniformed personnel to five UN peace operations, the bulk of it being in South Sudan, then in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Western Sahara, Yemen and Abyei. With 21.4% women military officers deployed as individuals and 7.8% women in troops, and its efforts to gather lessons learned on the participation of women in peacekeeping, Mongolia is championing the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda and materializing the related pledges it made at the 2021 Peacekeeping Ministerial.
SUDAN
In Sudan, the World Food Programme says that a record 15 million people– that’s one-third of the country’s population – are currently facing acute food insecurity.
According to WFP’s Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Assessment, climate shocks, economic and political crises, rising costs and poor harvests are pushing millions into deeper poverty and hunger.
To compound the situation, the conflict in Ukraine is further driving up food and fuel prices in Sudan, which is dependent on food imports with more than half of the country’s wheat imports stemming from the Black Sea region.
WFP warned that funding levels are not matching the humanitarian needs and called on countries to act now to avoid increasing hunger levels and to save the lives of those already affected.
SRI LANKA
In Sri Lanka, WFP is today launching its emergency response in the country amid the escalating food crisis. WFP is working to provide life-saving food, cash and voucher assistance to three million of the most vulnerable people who can no longer meet their food needs due to the unprecedented economic crisis in Sri Lanka.
WFP is distributing food vouchers to pregnant women in underserved districts of Colombo. The monthly vouchers - valued at $40 - will enable more than 2,000 women to buy food and are delivered alongside antenatal care.
WFP also aims to assist one million children through the national school meal programme, one million people participating in the Thriposha programme, which provides nutritionally-fortified food to mothers and children, and one million people in need of emergency food rations through food, cash or vouchers.
LEBANON
The Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, Najat Rochdi, today launched the country’s revised Emergency Response Plan, which calls for $546 million to help one million people in areas where the needs are greatest.
Initially planned from August 2021 to July this year, the Plan has been extended to December due to the increasing humanitarian needs among the most vulnerable Lebanese people, as well as migrants and refugees from Palestine. Just over half of the funds we need have been received, which has allowed us to reach more than 600,000 people with assistance.
The Emergency Response Plan complements support provided through UNRWA [ UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees], as well as the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan.
Ms. Rochdi announced a $16 million allocation from the Lebanon Humanitarian Fund to scale up the response.
In total, some 2.5 million people need humanitarian assistance in Lebanon, including migrants, and refugees.
MOZAMBIQUE
In Mozambique, more than 17,000 people in the northern districts of Ancuabe and Chiure in Cabo Delgado were forced to flee their homes after attacks in the past week. A vast majority of the people who have been displaced are women and children.
To date, humanitarian organizations have helped more than 1,700 people while the UN Humanitarian Air Service airlifts aid supplies. Our partners are also prepositioning food, education and hygiene kits.
Since the beginning of the year we, along with our partners, have reached 100,000 people in Cabo Delgado. We are targeting to reach 84,000 people with regular humanitarian assistance in the Ancuabe and Meluco districts.
And again, we remind all parties to the conflict that they must respect and protect civilians, as well as facilitate rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian relief to civilians in need. It is also critical that vulnerable people – including the elderly, people with disabilities, pregnant women and unaccompanied or separated children – are reached with food, shelter, protection and other urgent aid as quickly as possible.
INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION
The International Telecommunication Union has mobilized $25 billion in pledges with the aim of helping to connect under-served communities around the world to digital networks and services.
Pledges were submitted in line with the Partner2Connect Action Framework, developed through an 8-month long process involving over 200 organizations and in close coordination with our Envoy on Technology at the UN here. The Partner2Connect Roundtable took place during the ITU’s World Telecommunication Development Conference which just wrapped up in Kigali, Rwanda. ITU will be monitoring and reporting annually on the implementation of the more than 380 pledges by governments, the private sector, civil society and others.
DOMESTIC WORKERS
A report released by the International Labour Organization shows that only six per cent of domestic workers worldwide have access to comprehensive social protection such as medical care, sickness, unemployment, old age, employment injury, family, maternity, invalidity and survivors’ benefits. According to the report, about half of all domestic workers have no coverage at all, with the remaining half legally covered by at least one benefit. ILO notes that despite their vital contribution to society, most of the world’s 75.6 million domestic workers face multiple barriers to enjoying legal coverage and effective access to social security. As 76.2 per cent of domestic workers are women, social protection gaps leave women particularly vulnerable.
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF FAMILY REMITTANCES
Today is the International Day of Family Remittances. The Day recognizes the contributions of hundreds of millions of migrant workers to their communities of origin. In a message for the Day, the Secretary-General said that this year’s theme, “Recovery and Resilience through Digital and Financial Inclusion”, highlights an urgent priority. He notes that nearly half the world’s population cannot access the internet, and COVID-19 has worsened the digital divide.
The Secretary-General adds that the war in Ukraine is also impacting remittances and aggravating the widespread cost-of-living crisis. He stresses that as countries redirect traditional development assistance to meet immediate needs, protecting the function and delivery of remittances is vital.
NOON BRIEFING GUESTS
Today, the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Liu Zhenmin, the Permanent Representative of Portugal, Ana Paula Zacarias, and the Deputy Permanent Representative of Kenya to the UN, Ambassador Kinyungu, briefed reporters on the forthcoming UN Ocean Conference.
Tomorrow, the guest at the noon briefing will be the UN Special Adviser on Genocide, Alice Nderitu. She will brief reporters ahead of the International Day of Countering Hate Speech, which is on June 18th.
