HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC,
SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
TUESDAY, 7 FEBRUARY 2017
 
SECRETARY-GENERAL VOICES REGRET OVER ADOPTION OF ‘REGULARISATION BILL’ BY ISRAEL’S KNESSET

• The Secretary-General deeply regrets the adoption of the so called "Regularisation bill" on 6 February by the Knesset. This bill is in contravention of international law and will have far reaching legal consequences for Israel. It reportedly provides immunity to settlements and outposts in the occupied West Bank that were built on privately-owned Palestinian land.
• The Secretary-General insists on the need to avoid any actions that would derail the two-state solution. All core issues should be resolved between the parties through direct negotiations on the basis of relevant Security Council resolutions and mutual agreements. The United Nations stands ready to support this process.

• The UN Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has expressed its deep concern about the mounting death toll following a suicide attack in Kabul outside of the Supreme Court.  The Mission says many of the casualties are women, although they are still working to verify the number of those killed or injured.
• The Spokesman said we condemn this attack and express our condolences to the families of the victims and convey our solidarity to the Government and people of Afghanistan.
• Indiscriminate attacks against civilians, including employees of the judicial institutions, are violations of human rights and international humanitarian law and cannot be justified. Those behind today’s bombing and other such despicable acts must face justice.

• The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that, following a decrease in hostilities since the Iraqi Security Forces retook eastern Mosul, the rate of civilian displacement has slowed and the humanitarian situation in the eastern neighbourhoods is improving. That is happening despite an increase in indirect fire from mortars and unmanned aerial vehicles.
• Humanitarian partners continue to provide assistance to civilians displaced from Mosul, as well as inside the eastern neighbourhoods of the city, where access allows. Assistance includes distribution of more than 280,000 emergency kits of “ready to eat” food, basic water and hygiene supplies in and around Mosul. More than 30,000 of these kits have been distributed in eastern Mosul city. Assistance inside Mosul also includes the daily trucking of 2,300 cubic meters of safe drinking water, giving public access to safe drinking water to 28 Mosul neighbourhoods.
• Humanitarian partners are working closely with the Government to prepare for possible scenarios once the military operation on western Mosul begins. Additional camps and emergency sites are being prepared to shelter people fleeing when military operations recommence.

• Jeffrey Feltman, the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, briefed the Security Council this morning on the Secretary-General’s fourth report on the threat posed by ISIL (or Da’esh) to international peace and security. 
• That report stresses that Da’esh is on the defensive militarily in several regions. But although its income and the territory under its control are shrinking, Da’esh still appears to have sufficient funds to continue fighting, including through extortion and the exploitation of hydrocarbons. 
• Mr. Feltman added that Da’esh is adapting in several ways to military pressure – resorting to increasingly covert communication and recruitment methods, including by using the ‘dark web’, encryption and messengers.

• The Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng, said in a statement that he was shocked and alarmed by the accounts of serious human rights violations being committed against Muslim Rohingya in northern Rakhine State by Myanmar’s security forces, as set out in a report published recently by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
• The Special Adviser welcomed the Government’s commitment to investigate the matter immediately. But he added that he is concerned that the Government Commission, which had unhindered access to the location of the incidents, found nothing to substantiate the claims.
• Mr. Dieng said that the existing Commission is not a credible option to undertake the new investigation. He urges that any investigation be conducted by a truly independent and impartial body that includes international observers.

• The Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Zainab Hawa Bangura, said today she is gravely concerned about the situation of migrants in Libya.
• She said that in the course of their journey, women and girls but also men and boys face grave human rights violations, including conflict-related sexual violence, committed by parties to the Libyan conflict, as well as smugglers, traffickers and other criminal groups. They also face risks and incidents of sexual violence when being held in official and unofficial detention centres for irregular migrants. Ms. Bangura also expressed concern about the systematic use of sexual violence by groups affiliated to Da’esh in Libya.
• Tomorrow morning, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya, Martin Kobler, will brief the Security Council.

• UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, today launched a major campaign to spread awareness about the dangers of crossing the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea from Africa to Yemen.
• More than 117,000 refugees and migrants arrived in Yemen in 2016. Many were lured by smugglers to take the perilous boat journey across the high seas in search of protection or better livelihood prospects. UNHCR is alarmed that so many people are heading to a country where the conflict is worsening, displacement is growing, and arrivals face a very uncertain future.    

• In South Sudan, as previously reported, civilians have been fleeing Kajo Keji, Central Equatoria, due to insecurity, following clashes between the Sudan People’s Liberation Army and Opposition groups.
• It was a therefore a major priority for the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) to urgently access the location to assess the security situation and provide force protection to enable the delivery of humanitarian assistance. UN peacekeepers arrived in the town on Sunday from Juba after being held up at road blocks on three consecutive days and spending the last night on the road.
• The peacekeepers patrolled at the airport and market areas and reported the presence of a handful of civilians. The head of the UN Mission, David Shearer, said he was pleased the peacekeepers had reached Kajo Keji and thanked them for their persistence. He expressed his hope that this was a sign that in the future UN peacekeeping troops would be granted the access they are entitled to under the UN’s status of forces agreement with the Government of South Sudan.
• A civilian team from the UN Mission, including human rights, civil affairs, gender and relief reintegration and protection experts also arrived in Kajo Keji this morning to conduct an assessment of the situation on the ground.

• The World Food Programme (WFP) announced that a groundbreaking study of the impact of child undernutrition on Mali’s economy has launched in Mali. The latest in a series known as the Cost of Hunger in Africa (COHA) surveys, it will examine the effects of child undernutrition on health, education and national productivity in the country.
• According to results of a 2016 survey, some 26.2 percent of Malian children under five years old are stunted or have impaired growth as a result of undernutrition in the early stages of life. 
• Previous studies have revealed African economies to be losing the equivalent of between 1.9 and 16 percent of Gross Domestic Product every year because of the impact of child undernutrition.

• As hundreds of Burundian refugees continue to flow into neighbouring countries every week, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is today calling on host governments to urgently provide more land to ensure shelter and avert a drastic deterioration in conditions.
• 2017 projections indicate that the number of refugees from Burundi will cross half-a-million.
• The pressure is most acute in Tanzania, but camps in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda have also reached or even surpassed their capacity.

• Correspondents are invited to attend a discussion on Educational Strategies for the Prevention of Violent Extremism this Thursday, 9 February at 3pm. 
• The event is part of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations’ “Media and Information Literacy” and the United Nations Academic Impact’s “Unlearning Intolerance” programmes. 

• Austria has paid its regular budget dues in full, bringing the total number of Member States which have done so this year to 28.