HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC

SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES

THURSDAY, 19 DECEMBER  2019

Secretary-General
The Secretary-General travelled to Brindisi today with Italy’s foreign minister, Luigi Di Maio, to mark the 25th anniversary of the UN Global Service Centre there.
In a tour of the UN facilities, he saw the wide scope of services provided by the UN in Brandisi, from telecommunications to humanitarian services, as well as an innovative pilot project to reduce the UN’s carbon footprint in the field.
During the ceremony to mark the anniversary, the Secretary-General highlighted the vital role of the Global Service Centre in supporting some of the most difficult peacekeeping operations and other United Nations endeavours. 
He noted the strong commitment of the Italian Government to the UN and multilateralism that have created the opportunity for the UN to have a remarkable presence in Brindisi and throughout Italy.
Speaking to the press at the end of his visit, the Secretary-General reiterated his gratitude to the Italian Government and people for their support as the UN strives to advance peace around the world. 
Back in Rome, the Secretary-General had a bilateral meeting with Robert Fico, President of the Chambers of Deputies. Tomorrow, the Secretary-General is scheduled to have an audience with Pope Francis. 
 
Syria
Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Ursula Mueller briefed the Security Council on Syria this morning, and she said discussed the importance of continued cross-border humanitarian operations.
Ms. Mueller said the situation in northwestern Syria remains alarming, and she noted recent reports of families in Idlib burning tires and old clothes to stay warm. The World Food Programme (WFP) has increased its number of people receiving aid through cross-border mechanisms to one million people per month.
She recalled that the Secretary-General has warned that a full-scale offensive would have devastating consequences and must be avoided.
Ms. Mueller added that the situation in northeastern Syria remains serious, even as hostilities have decreased in recent weeks.
Also, this morning, the Security Council adopted resolutions extending the mandates of the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) and the UN Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO).
 
Yemen
Concerning Yemen, the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC) held its seventh joint meeting yesterday and today aboard the UN-flagged vessel in international waters.
The RCC members reiterated their commitment to work jointly on the implementation of the Hudaydah Agreement. In this regard, Lieutenant General Abhijit Guha, the Chair of the Committee, is encouraged by the effective cooperation between their Liaison Officers, who work through the Joint Operations Center of the Ceasefire Enhancement and De-escalation Mechanism, and at the five Observation Posts established in October along the Hudaydah city frontlines.
Building upon this progress, the RCC is developing a roadmap for humanitarian corridors in order to improve humanitarian access and facilitate smooth movement of civilians. Both parties are working on the swift implementation of this roadmap.
The RCC members are working to formalize all the operational aspects for the full implementation of Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the mutual redeployment of forces.
 
Global Refugee Forum
In Geneva, the Global Refugee Forum wrapped up last night. Governments, international financial organizations, business leaders, humanitarian and development actors, refugees, and civil society representatives has secured wide-ranging and substantial commitments of support for refugees and the communities they live in.
In all, over 770 pledges had been made from across the spectrum at the Global Refugee Forum, attended by some 3,000 participants, including refugees, and 750 delegations.
These were in areas from employment, to places in schools for refugee children, new government policies, solutions like resettlement, clean energy, infrastructure and better support for host communities and countries.
You can check a complete list of pledges online.
 
Terrorism
The Regional High-Level Conference on “Empowering Youth and Promoting Tolerance: Practical Approaches to Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism Conducive to Terrorism concluded today in Abu Dhabi.
Co-organized by the United Arab Emirates, the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) and Hedayah, it gathered 250 representatives from 32 Member States, various UN entities, international and regional organizations, and civil society partners to discuss different approaches to strengthening resilience against radicalization leading to terrorism.
In closing, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism Vladimir Voronkov announced that UNOCT and Hedayah signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen cooperation.
He also stated that conference participants agreed that the threat from ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaida, and other terrorist groups remains acute and widespread and underlined the need to further strengthen international and regional cooperation.
 
Resident Coordinators
Our colleagues from the UN Development Coordination Office tell us that we have new UN Resident Coordinators (RCs) to announce for three countries: Ethiopia, the Maldives and Pakistan. These appointments follow the confirmations from the respective Governments.
Catherine Sozi of Uganda will serve as the UN Resident Coordinator in Ethiopia, Catherine Haswell of Australia will serve in the Maldives, and Julien Harneis of the United Kingdom will be the new Resident Coordinator in Pakistan.
In this leadership position, they will boost the development coordination among UN agencies, funds and programmes, which will be crucial to support countries as we enter the Decade of Action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
We are also proud to announce that we will remain with full gender parity among all our resident coordinators covering 162 countries and territories.  We have the full biographies in our office. You can also check out the UN Sustainable Development Group website, where you will find the list of all Resident Coordinators and heads of UN agencies, funds and programmes in each country.
 
World Health Organization
There are two reports from the World Health Organization. The first says the number of cholera cases decreased globally by 60 per cent in 2018. WHO said this points to an encouraging trend in cholera prevention and control in the world’s major cholera hotspots, including Haiti, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The second report is tobacco and it projects that the number of men using tobacco is on the decline, indicating a powerful shift in this global epidemic.
By 2020, WHO projects there will be 10 million fewer tobacco users, both men and women, compared to 2018, and another 27 million less by 2025, amounting to 1.299 billion.