HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC
SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
TUESDAY, 7 MAY 2024
SECRETARY-GENERAL
The Secretary-General said this morning that he is disturbed and distressed by the renewed military activity in Rafah by the Israeli Defence Forces.
He said that the closure of both the Rafah and Karem Shalom crossings is especially damaging to an already dire humanitarian situation. They must be re-opened immediately, he said.
The Secretary-General urged the Government of Israel to stop any further escalation.
He reiterated his appeal for both parties to show political courage and spare no effort to secure an agreement now.
The Secretary-General added that international humanitarian law is unequivocal: civilians must be protected – whether they leave Rafah or whether they stay.
He warned that an assault on Rafah would be a strategic mistake, a political calamity, and a humanitarian nightmare.
OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
According to OCHA [Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs] colleagues, they say that yesterday’s evacuation orders from the Israeli military have already resulted in the forced displacement of tens of thousands of people. Many of them have been uprooted multiple times over the past seven months.
Civilians in Gaza must be protected and have their basic needs met, whether they move or they stay. Those who leave must have enough time to do so, as well as a safe route and a safe places to go.
As you are aware, both crossings, as we said, are closed. This means that we cannot bring in humanitarian assistance.
We cannot access the nutrition supplies we need to treat more than 3,000 children with acute malnutrition.
And we cannot access the fuel needed to power our response efforts.
UN Women, in a new report, says that Rafah now hosts more than 700,000 women and girls who have nowhere else to go. It says that 93 per cent of women respondents express feeling unsafe within their own homes or at displaced locations.
Over 80 per cent of women report feelings of depression, 66 per cent are not able to sleep, and over 70 per cent have heightened anxiety or nightmares. And that is according to a polling they have done.
ITALY
The President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, addressed the General Assembly this morning, and the Secretary-General spoke at that meeting. He affirmed that Italy has consistently demonstrated its leadership at the United Nations in defending peace, human rights and sustainable development – hosting many UN bodies and deploying its forces in peacekeeping missions. Today, the Secretary-General added, these shared values are under threat.
The Secretary-General said that as discussions ahead of the Summit of the Future enter a key phase, Italy’s voice is more necessary than ever to bridge divides, to build trust and to find solutions. He said that Italy’s priorities as G7 President – defense of the rules-based international system, dialogue with the global South and “human-centered” artificial intelligence governance – echo this vision. Those remarks have been shared with you.
And also, we put out last night the remarks that the Secretary-General made before his meeting with President Mattarella in his office, and before he hosted a dinner for him, in which the Secretary-General said that Italy is always present in the UN’s activities - present in climate action, human rights and the rule of law, peacekeeping and sustainable development. Those remarks were also shared with you.
SECURITY COUNCIL
This morning, in the Security Council, Jean Pierre Lacroix, the Head of our Peace Operations, spoke to Council members on the operations of the UN Interim Force in Abyei – known as UNISFA.
He said that the political progress towards the determination of the final status of Abyei remains stalled.
Nonetheless, he underscored that the UN stands ready to support the parties, in close coordination with the African Union, once the Parties in position return to a political process.
For her part, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Horn of Africa, Hanna Tetteh, updated Council Members regarding the political situation in Sudan and South Sudan, and other regional issues.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
The UN peacekeeping mission in the Democaratic Republic of the Congo– MONUSCO - has closed its permanent operating base in Baraka, in South Kivu, yesterday.
This was done in accordance with the Mission's disengagement plan.
During the ceremony, the Mission leadership expressed gratitude to the government, civil society and local residents for their 17 years of cooperation in the town of Baraka. Some peacekeeping assets were donated to the provincial authorities there.
But as we mentioned last week, in accordance with Security Council resolution 2717, the Mission’s mandate, including the responsibility to protect civilians, has ended in South Kivu as of May 1st.
HAITI
Turning to Haiti, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that heavy rainfall is affecting the northwest of the country since May 3rd has triggered landslides and floods, and damaged buildings and homes in the region. According to local authorities, 13 people were killed in a landslide in Cap-Haïtien.
More rainfall and additional floods are expected in the coming days, including in the capital, Port-au-Prince, where sites hosting people that are displaced by the ongoing violence were already facing sanitation challenges prior to the heavy rains.
And, in a statement related to the violence in the capital, the Humanitarian Coordinator ad interim in Haiti, Bruno Maes, strongly condemned the profound humanitarian impact of the repeated attacks in the Solino neighbourhood and the surrounding areas of Port-au-Prince.
Thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes. Those who remain trapped find themselves without access to water, to food or to fuel.
Mr. Maes urges all armed actors to allow humanitarian organizations to assist those affected, in line with basic humanitarian standards. He also calls on them to stop the violence.
SYRIA
And another flooding situation, in a different part of the world, this time in north-west Syria, where the UN and its humanitarian partners are continuing to respond to last week’s windstorm and flash flooding that impacted more than 12,000 people, mostly in the area of Idlib.
Yesterday, an OCHA team completed a cross-border mission to Idlib to assess the impact of the floods. They met the managers of two displacement camps, as well as the families living there. We’ve been told that in one of those sites, the homes of 115 households were damaged.
As of yesterday, we and our humanitarian partners have provided support to 20 different displacement sites impacted by the floods, including emergency food assistance for 7,500 people, as well as tents and other core relief items for more than 5,300 men, women and children.
Mobile health teams are providing outpatient consultations in Idlib, Harim and Afrin, as surveillance teams step up efforts to monitor water-borne diseases in high-risk areas.
And just to note that since last year’s devasting earthquakes in February, we’ve completed more than 450 cross-border missions to north-west Syria, including almost 140 this year alone.
However, funding shortfalls are challenging efforts to provide humanitarian assistance. Overall, 6 per cent of the more than $4 billion needed for this year’s response in Syria has been received. This includes just 8 per cent of the $1.4 billion for the cross-border humanitarian response in the north-west.
CARIBBEAN HIV/SYPHILIS
Today, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that Belize, Jamaica, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis.
The achievement represents significant progress to strengthen maternal and child health programmes and to boost the region’s advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals, including ending AIDS as a public health threat.
MIGRATION REPORT
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) today launched the World Migration Report [2024].
The report reveals that international migration continues to drive human development and economic growth.
The report also sheds light on the challenges.
While the estimated number of international migrants worldwide is 281 million people, the number of displaced individuals due to conflict, violence, disaster, and other reasons has surged to the highest levels in modern records, reaching 117 million men, women and children.
TRAIL BLAZER AWARD
The Spokesman introduced Major Alem Douzi of Tunisia. She is a peacekeeper serving in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is the winner of this year’s Trail Blazer award, which recognizes women justice and corrections officers’ outstanding contributions to peace operations.
She is the first Military Technical Armament and Ammunition Expert within the Prosecution Support Cells in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s UN peacekeeping mission. She provides technical advice to investigators on the specific methods and techniques used particularly for the collection, protection and preparation of evidence for trial. She has conducted various technical missions with MONUSCO, including a detailed analysis of the shooting down of a MONUSCO helicopter. Because of her expertise, she is called upon to assist the Congolese authorities to investigate mass crimes committed by firearms.
GUEST TODAY
Andrea De Domenico, the Head of OCHA's Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, briefed reporters from Jerusalem on the situation in Gaza.
