HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STÉPHANE DUJARRIC,
SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
FRIDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER 2022
SECRETARY-GENERAL/ACTIVITIES
Tomorrow afternoon, the Secretary-General is scheduled to meet Gordon Brown, who is our Special Envoy for Global Education and is in New York for the Transforming Education Summit. Immediately after their meeting, at about 4:15 pm, the Secretary-General and Mr. Brown will speak to the media about the International Finance Facility for Education.
On Sunday morning, the Secretary-General will deliver remarks at the launch of the Global Africa Business Initiative. Bilateral meetings are also starting on Sunday, and as usual, readouts will be issued.
On Monday, at 8:30 a.m., the Secretary-General will deliver remarks at the SDG moment. At 10:00 a.m., he will speak at the Transforming Education Summit.
SECRETARY-GENERAL/PEACE BELL CEREMONY
The Secretary-General spoke at the Peace Bell ceremony this morning, noting that peace is under assault across regions, countries and communities.
He said the poison of war is infecting our world, jeopardizing the lives of millions and pushing our shared goals for the future farther and farther away.
Instead of fighting each other on the battlefield, the Secretary-General said humanity should be rallying together to tackle the common challenges we face, such as poverty, hunger, inequality, climate change, COVID-19 and racism.
He said the task of building peace belongs to every person, underlining the need to wage peace together.
TRANSFORMING EDUCATION SUMMIT
The Transforming Education Summit kicked off this morning. Today is the youth-led Mobilization Day, and this will be followed by a Solutions Day tomorrow and the Leaders Day on Monday.
The Summit is being convened by the Secretary-General in response to major challenges relating to the relevance of education in a rapidly changing world and to the wake-up call provided by the pandemic.
Today young people called for their fundamental right to learn, insisting that nothing should be decided about them, without them. There will be an intergenerational dialogue throughout the day with leaders and ministers from across the world and youth declaration will be handed to the Secretary-General this afternoon.
The day will end with the arrival to UN of Little Amal, the giant puppet depicting a ten-year old Syrian refugee, from her long journey from the Syrian-Turkish border, highlighting the plight of marginalised children and their right to education.
LEARNING CRISIS CLASSROOM
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today released a report which highlights the urgency to act of education. The report warns of shockingly low levels of learning, with only a third of 10-year-olds globally estimated to be able to read and understand a simple written story, down from half pre-pandemic.
UNICEF also has an installation of a classroom at the visitor’s entrance of United Nations Headquarters here in New York until 26 September, highlighting this issue.
GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS/CHILDREN
The UN World Food Programme, the African Union Development Agency and organizations working on education, including the Education Commission chaired by Gordon Brown, former British Prime Minister and the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, today warned that school-aged children are bearing the brunt of today’s global food crisis. They note that this is having devastating consequences for their education and their ability to catch up on learning lost during COVID and the lockout of many schools.
The World Food Programme and its partners are calling for an ambitious plan of action to restore school meal programmes disrupted by the pandemic and expand their reach to an additional 73 million children. Detailed costing estimates for the plan suggest around $5.8bn annually would be required.
SECRETARY-GENERAL/HAITI
In a statement issued today, the Secretary-General said that he is deeply concerned about the current situation in Haiti where civil unrest has brought the country to a standstill. The Secretary-General is particularly preoccupied with the safety of all Haitians including the most vulnerable and calls for calm and maximum restraint. He urges all relevant stakeholders to take immediate steps to de-escalate the situation, avoid violence, and allow the Haitian National Police to fulfil its role to protect the population.
The Secretary-General reiterates his strong call for all stakeholders to rise above their differences and to engage, without further delay, in a peaceful and inclusive dialogue on a constructive way forward. He warns that if the current circumstances continue, the already dire humanitarian situation faced by Haiti’s most vulnerable people will deteriorate even further.
HAITI/HUMANITARIAN
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) today said that they are following with concern the recent escalation of violence on the ground in recent days. The violent civil unrest and countrywide road closures make it very challenging for humanitarian partners to provide assistance at this stage. We and our partners remain on the ground and are ready to assist people in need across the country.
However, a shortfall in funding and prepositioned in supplies, including risks to supplies on the ground means that the UN will struggle with supplying aid in the coming days.
On top of all of that, tropical storm Fiona has formed in the Caribbean and may impact Haiti on Monday.
The 2022 Humanitarian Response Plan for Haiti, which calls for $373 million is only 21 per cent funded.
CENTRAL EMERGENCY RESPONSE FUND
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator at the United Nations, Martin Griffiths, today released $100 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to boost underfunded humanitarian crises in 11 countries in Africa, Asia, the Americas and the Middle East.
Millions of people are suffering unprecedented hardship in conflicts, droughts, floods and other humanitarian emergencies where the scale of needs has vastly outpaced the resources we have available.
The funding gap this year is the widest it has ever been at nearly $32 billion.
Today’s allocation will go towards Algeria, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Mali, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, South Sudan, Uganda, Venezuela and Yemen.
The Fund has now allocated a record $250 million so far this year for underfunded emergencies.
UKRAINE
From Ukraine, the Humanitarian Coordinator Denise Brown said that today the first of a series of humanitarian convoys with relief supplies arrived in areas of Kharkivska oblast, which, until recently, were out of reach to aid organizations. Today’s 10-truck convoy brought food, water, hygiene kits, shelter materials and critical household items, including bedding and blankets to more than 13,000 people in Shevchenkove, some 80 kilometres from Kharkiv city.
Denise Brown described a dire humanitarian situation in these areas of Kharkivska oblast. Houses have been damaged or destroyed and people have no electricity or gas. Making sure people can access warm shelter now that the cold season is upon us will be a matter of life or death for thousands. She stressed that people also need food, water and hygiene items, as well as medical attention.
The UN, along with its humanitarian partners, have been providing assistance to people in most areas of Kharkivska oblast since the start of the war and we have now reached more than 2 million people.
Denise Brown once again highlighted that humanitarians in Ukraine urgently need safe and unimpeded access to all regions, cities, towns and villages across the country so humanitarians can provide people who have endured over 200 days of ferocious fighting, with the humanitarian assistance they need to survive.
NIGER
In Niger today, the UN, in close collaboration with the Government, launched an anticipatory action response to support communities impacted by drought. To support this action, Martin Griffiths, the Emergency Relief Coordinator, allocated $9.5 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund.
With these funds, our humanitarian colleagues and their partners will support some of the most vulnerable and at-risk communities through humanitarian interventions in health, education, agriculture and nutrition. This will help mitigate the impact of low rainfall during the months of June and July - which was one of the lowest rainfall levels recorded in 30 years.
The humanitarian situation in Niger remains complex due to the multiple crises affecting the country. This year, 3.7 million people need humanitarian assistance due to insecurity, global economic shocks and erratic rains.
SECURITY COUNCIL
This morning, the Security Council held closed consultations on Myanmar, and Council members were briefed by the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Myanmar, Noeleen Heyzer.
SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANIZATION SUMMIT
The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo is at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Samarkand, where she warned that the global peace and security environment is more volatile than in at least the last 30 years. She said that a multilateral system based on cooperation and the rule of law remains indispensable if we are to build more peaceful societies. She also discussed Afghanistan as a major concern for the region.
Before and during the Summit, she met, among others, with the President and Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan, the Special Representative of the President of Uzbekistan for Foreign Affairs, the Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Foreign Ministers of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Iran. She also had discussions on the margins of the Summit with other leaders.
MIDDLE EAST
Tor Wennesland, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said today that he is gravely concerned by the deteriorating security situation and the unacceptable daily loss of life in the West Bank. There can be no winners if the current violence continues to escalate, he said. He added that civilians continue to pay the price for political failure.
Mr. Wennesland said that violence and the use of force only perpetuate the crisis and must cease. He is engaging with all concerned to immediately reduce tensions.
He said that political and community leaders on all sides must act now and engage in good faith through dialogue to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control.
GENDER PAY GAP
The International Labour Organization (ILO) today released a study showing that pay transparency measures can help expose pay differences between men and women and identify the underlying causes. According to the ILO, on average, women, are paid about 20 per cent less than men, globally. While individual characteristics such as education, working time, occupational segregation, skills and experience, explain part of the gender pay gap, a large part is due to discrimination based on gender.
In addition, the ILO notes that pay transparency may provide workers with the information and evidence they require to negotiate pay rates and provide them with the means to challenge potential pay discrimination.
SPYWARE AND SURVEILLANCE
The UN Human Rights Office today warned that people’s right to privacy is coming under ever greater pressure from the use of modern networked digital technologies whose features make them formidable tools for surveillance, control and oppression.
The report looks at three key areas: the abuse of intrusive hacking tools, known as spyware, by State authorities; the role of encryption methods in protecting human rights online; and the impacts of widespread digital monitoring of public spaces, both offline and online. UN Human Rights said it is even more essential that these technologies are reined in by effective regulation based on international human rights law and standards.
INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE OZONE LAYER
Today is the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer. In his message the Secretary-General said that thanks to this global agreement that was adopted 35 years go, humanity has averted a major health catastrophe due to ultraviolet radiation pouring through a massive hole in the ozone layer.
The Montreal Protocol is a success because, when science discovered the threat we all faced, governments and their partners acted, he said, adding that it is a powerful example of multilateralism in action.
SCORING FOR THE GOALS
Ahead of the 2022 World Cup, Qatar, the host country, will tomorrow launch the Scoring for the Goals campaign, which stresses the value of football for promoting sustainable development, peace, tolerance, inclusion and climate action.
As part of the launch, there will be a video projection on the East Side of the Secretariat building tomorrow at 7 p.m., which introduces the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals. The Foreign Minister of Qatar, as well as high-level dignitaries of the other 31 teams that have qualified for the World Cup 2022 will be present in the event.
***The guest at the Noon Briefing was the Chief of the Treaty Section, in the Department of Legal Affairs, David Nanopoloulos. He gave reporters the annual update of the treaties that we expect to be signed or ratified during this General Assembly Session.
