HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC

SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES

WEDNESDAY, 27 MARCH 2024

 
OPT 
In Gaza, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that they helped evacuate civilians on Monday from Al Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, which is in southern Gaza, amid intense military operations there. 
OCHA – together with the Palestine Red Crescent Society and the International Committee for the Red Cross – moved out six patients and a companion, more than two dozen staff, and the bodies of two people killed inside the hospital. As of yesterday, Al Amal Hospital had ceased to function. 
According to the World Health Organization, two-thirds of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are now non-functional. Two are minimally functional, and 10 are partially functional – four in the north and six in the south.
OCHA’s Head of the Office for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Andrea De Domenico, was able to visit one of the four partially functional hospitals in northern Gaza, which was the Kamal Adwan, and he was able to do that visit last week. He said the hospital is receiving about 15 malnourished children a day and is struggling to maintain services. The hospital’s only generator has been heavily damaged, and health workers and patients desperately need food, water and sanitation assistance. 
According to the World Food Programme, roughly 70 per cent of the population in northern Gaza is facing catastrophic hunger. However, efforts to deliver life-saving assistance to the north have been impeded by access constraints and the ongoing fighting. This month, the World Food Programme was only able to send 11 convoys to the north – bringing food to some 74,000 people. Given the colossal needs, daily deliveries will be needed to halt famine. 
 
UNRWA 
Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner General of UNRWA [UN Relief and Works Agency], thanked Germany today for its contribution of 45 million Euros for UNRWA’s activities in Jordan, in Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank. 
He said on social media that with these new contributions, Germany is now among UNRWA’s top donors.  
He added that the solidarity of Germany is a proof of the commitment to supporting Palestine refugees and their right to a dignified life. 
  
SYRIA 
The UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria, Adam Abdelmoula, deplored in a statement yesterday the killing of a humanitarian staff member in Deir-ez-Zor City, which is in the north-east of Syria, and that came as a result of ongoing hostilities. 
On Tuesday, 26 March, a colleague from the World Health Organization was killed when his building was among those hit by multiple airstrikes across Deir-ez-Zor Governorate. Several other civilians were also reportedly killed in the attacks, according to what local sources are telling us. 
Mr. Abdelmoula said this attack is a reminder of the daily continued danger and devastation that civilians are facing in Syria as the crisis has now entered its 14th year. He called on all parties to the conflict to take constant care to spare the civilian population and civilian objects in their military operations, of course in accordance with international humanitarian law. 

SOMALIA 
In Somalia, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is worried about the spread of cholera and acute watery diarrhea.  
As of a week ago, nearly 4,400 cases and 54 deaths had been recorded in nearly half of all districts in Somalia, that is since the start of 2024. Over 60 per cent of the deaths are reportedly among children under five years old. 
The World Health Organization says the number of reported cases in Somalia this year is three times higher than the previous three-year average. Somalia is already among the countries most severely impacted by cholera and acute watery diarrhea.  
We, along with our humanitarian partners, are working with Somalia’s health authorities to step up preparation and response efforts, in line with a six-month plan of action that will require nearly $6 million.
There are severe shortages in the number of available oral cholera vaccine doses. Aid organizations are pre-positioning those treatment kits and working on surveillance and case management.  
However, we urgently need additional funding. This year’s humanitarian appeal for Somalia is only 10 per cent funded. We have about $150 million received out of the nearly $1.6 billion that are needed. 
  
CAMEROON 
The World Food Programme and UNHCR [UN Refugee Agency] are warning today that vital food assistance to refugees in Cameroon’s Far North, Adamawa, East and North regions is at risk of grinding to a halt due to funding shortfalls. 
Most refugee families there rely on WFP food assistance to survive. However, funding shortfalls have already forced the agency to cut rations and to distribute incomplete food baskets since the end of last year.  
WFP needs US$ 23.1 million to assist over 222,000 refugees from Nigeria and the Central African Republic who are currently being hosted in Cameroon, funding that will ensure that life-saving humanitarian assistance can continue through the end of the year. 
As of December 2023, 4.7 million people in Cameroon needed humanitarian assistance.                                 
The humanitarian response plan this year, requires US$ 371.4 million, it is only 5 per cent funded.  

ZERO WASTE 
And a rather eye-opening report from the UN Environment Porgramme. They launched the UN Food Waste Index report, which has some alarming figures. 
The report says that households across all continents wasted over 1 billion meals a day in 2022, while 783 million people were affected by hunger and a third of humanity faces food insecurity. Food waste also continues to hurt the global economy and fuel climate change, nature loss, and pollution. The report was launched ahead of the International Day of Zero Waste, which is this Saturday.  
In his message to mark the Day, the Secretary-General says that our planet is drowning under a torrent of trash, with humanity producing more than 2 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste every year.   
He adds that overconsumption is killing us, and he calls on businesses, governments and all of us frankly – as consumers – to end the destructive cycle of waste. 
 
SENIOR PERSONNEL APPOINTMENT  
Today, the Secretary-General appointed Kamal Kishore of India as Assistant Secretary-General and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction. 
He succeeds Mami Mizutori of Japan, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her service and commitment.  The Secretary-General also extends his appreciation to the Director of the office, Paola Albrito, who will continue to serve as Acting Special Representative until Mr. Kishore assumes his position. 
Mr. Kishore is currently Head of Department of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), with the rank of Secretary to the Government of India.  
He brings to the position nearly three decades of experience in disaster risk reduction, climate action and sustainable development at the global, regional, national and local levels.  
  
 
POST-GENOCIDE RECONCIILIATION RWANDA EXHIBIT 
A new exhibit is opening today in the Visitors Lobby, which focuses on Rwanda’s post-genocide reconciliation.  
The exhibit is called “Remember. Unite. Renew.”  
At the heart of the exhibit is the story of Laurence, who fled the killings led by her then neighbours in Rwanda. She then started a reconciliation process with one of the killers of her family, Xavier. 
The exhibit coincides with the 30th anniversary of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, which is marked on 7 April. 
The exhibit was organized by the Department of Global Communications, with collaboration from the UN system in Rwanda; the Office of the Special Adviser on Genocide Prevention; the Government of Rwanda and the Prison Fellowship Rwanda and the Aegis Trust. 
                                                      
FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION 
Viet Nam paid its dues to the regular budget in full. There are now 93 Member States who have paid up in full.

GUEST - TODAY      
Bintou Keita, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Head of the peacekeeping Mission briefed reporters on the situation in the DRC, following her briefing to the Security Council.