HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY FARHAN HAQ,

DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES

WEDNESDAY, 22 DECEMBER 2021

AFGHANISTAN
This morning, the Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2615 (2021), on a humanitarian exception in the UN sanctions regime applicable in Afghanistan.
In a statement, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, welcomed the adoption, stressing that this milestone decision will enable urgently needed humanitarian action to save lives and livelihoods in the country. He said that this humanitarian exception will allow organizations to implement the work we have planned, and it will give legal assurances to the financial institutions and commercial actors we rely on to engage with humanitarian operators.
Mr. Griffiths noted that some 160 national and international humanitarian organizations are providing critical food and health assistance in Afghanistan, as well as education, water and sanitation, and support to agriculture, and that we urgently need to ramp up this work. He said humanitarian operations in Afghanistan are set to be the largest anywhere in the world in 2022, reaching some 22 million people.
Also today, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned that children across Afghanistan are increasingly vulnerable to disease and illness due to the deadly combination of rising malnutrition, an unprecedented food crisis, drought, disruptions to vital health and nutrition centres, lack of access to and poor quality of water and sanitation services, and crippling winter weather. UNICEF noted that so far in 2021, more than 66,000 cases of measles have so far been reported in children. There have also been outbreaks of acute watery diarrhoea, malaria and dengue fever. Four cases of wild poliovirus type 1 have been confirmed this year. 
UNICEF warned that severe winter weather conditions, with temperatures already well below freezing in many areas, increase the risk of pneumonia and Acute Respiratory Illness. Children living in high altitude regions are especially vulnerable and require urgent life-saving assistance. including winter clothing, blankets and fuel for heating.
 
ETHIOPIA
In response to questions about our contacts regarding Ethiopia in recent days, the Spokesman said that over the past few days, while in Lebanon, the Secretary-General has been speaking by phone to key interlocutors regarding Ethiopia in an effort to find a way to end the conflict.
Over the past two days, one staff member and one dependent were released from detention in Ethiopia.  Ten staff members and one dependent continue to be detained, and we continue to call for their release.

DSG TRAVELS
This morning, the Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, traveled to Washington, D.C. to participate in an informal brainstorming meeting to discuss advancing the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Deputy Secretary-General will return to New York this evening.

YEMEN
The World Food Programme (WFP) warned today that it is running out of funds to continue to provide food assistance to 13 million people in Yemen. From January, eight million will receive a reduced food ration, while five million who are at immediate risk of slipping into famine conditions, will remain on a full ration.
The reductions come at the worst possible time for families in Yemen who are dependent on WFP’s food assistance to survive. In the last three months, inadequate food consumption – one measure of hunger tracked by WFP – has risen rapidly to affect half of all families, as currency devaluation and hyper-inflation drives the economy to near collapse. Food prices have more than doubled across much of Yemen this year.

With food assistance reductions from January, families will receive barely half of WFP's daily minimum ration. Without new funding, more severe reductions will soon be unavoidable. This could see people cut from food assistance programmes completely. Malnutrition treatment and school feeding for children may also be reduced.

WFP needs $813 million to continue to assist the most vulnerable in Yemen through May. In 2022, WFP needs $1.97 billion to continue to deliver vital food assistance to families on the brink of famine.

CAMEROON-CHAD
The World Food Programme is providing emergency food assistance to 104,000 Cameroonian refugees who have been arriving in Chad since the beginning of the month. Our colleagues say they are in dire need of humanitarian assistance after being forced to flee their homes due to inter-communal conflicts in north-eastern Cameroon.
To date, WFP has assisted approximately 80,000 people with emergency food assistance across 28 sites in N’Djamena, Koundoul, and Mandelia.
However, funding shortages have forced WFP to provide just 50 percent of the standard daily food rations to these people.
They are seeking additional support to fund these operations.

PHILIPPINES
On the Philippines, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that, as of today, an estimated 2.6 million people have been affected by Typhoon Rai.
More than 600,000 people have been displaced, with nearly 160,000 houses having been damaged.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that increased food insecurity is being reported across communities affected by the typhoon. This is due to food shortages and inadequate nutrition, especially among children, the elderly and breastfeeding women.  
OCHA says there is a shortage of drinking water, posing health risks.
The Government is leading assessments and the response, and the Humanitarian Country Team is preparing to mobilize resources to help those most severely affected.
For its part, the UN Children’s Fund said that some 845,000 children need urgent assistance, including food, water, medicine, and personal protective equipment. UNICEF is on the ground conducting assessments and its emergency supplies – including for safe drinking water, sanitation and education – are ready to be distributed.
The Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in the Philippines, Gustavo Gonzalez, will visit Dinagat Island and Surigao City to see the impact of the typhoon. 
Mr. Gonzalez will be the guest at the noon briefing tomorrow, and he will speak of the experiences of affected people he met and highlight the new response plan.