HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY FARHAN HAQ,
DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
MONDAY, 3 JUNE 2024
TRIP ANNOUNCEMENT
Secretary-General, António Guterres, will be traveling to Washington D.C. today.
Tonight, the Secretary-General will attend the annual Kuwait-America Foundation Gala Dinner for the UN Refugee Agency -UNHCR.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, will also attend the event.
On Tuesday, the Secretary-General will meet with the U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, to discuss several issues of mutual interest.
ISRAEL
Earlier this morning, the Secretary-General met with representatives of the Hostages and Missing Persons Forum from Israel.
The Secretary-General listened to the testimonies of the families.
He expressed his solidarity with the families and reiterated his call for the immediate and unconditional release of all the hostages.
OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
On Gaza, the World Health Organization says the last functional hospital in Rafah – Al-Helal Al-Emirati – is now out of service, as of 30 May.
This means there are almost no health services available in Rafah city.
Only one field hospital there remains partially functional, but it is currently inaccessible due to hostilities in the vicinity and can only provide basic services to patients inside.
WHO says that hospitals in Rafah urgently need to be restored. However, without safe access, a sustained flow of supplies into and across Gaza, and reliable conditions for delivering those supplies to the facilities that need them, the agency’s ability to effectively support the health system in Gaza is severely challenged.
The UN Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, says that all 36 of its shelters in Rafah are now empty – with some 1.7 million people estimated to be displaced in Khan Younis and the Middle Area. In Khan Younis, thousands of families are sheltering in damaged and destroyed facilities.
As others continue to seek safety in Deir al-Balah, UNRWA warns that space for displaced families is running out. People there are sheltering on extremely overcrowded land, with limited supplies and critical services.
LEBANON
Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert has arrived in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, in her new capacity as the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon.
She has already met with the caretaker Foreign Minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, to mark the beginning of her first round of consultations with Lebanese officials.
In a statement, Ms. Hennis-Plasschaert said she touched upon some of the key issues and priorities that she will be following closely.
Topics discussed include Lebanon’s protracted political deadlock. She added that while Lebanon faces challenges on many levels, developments across the Blue Line are of particular concern.
CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICT
The Office of the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict tells us that they have signed a new action plan today with the opposition Syrian National Army (SNA) - which includes Ahrar al-Sham, the Army of Islam, and their aligned legions and factions.
Through this action plan, they have committed to ending and preventing the recruitment and use of children, as well as the killing and maiming of boys and girls. As such, they have committed to issuing command orders to end these violations, to identify and release children currently within their ranks, and to put in place preventative, protective and disciplinary measures for the recruitment and use and killing and maiming of children.
Virginia Gamba, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict said the signing of the action plan is the result of years of engagement between the United Nations and the opposition SNA, including Ahrar al-Sham and Army of Islam.
She commended the work of child protection partners on the ground, adding that Syria remains one of the most dire situations on the children and armed conflict agenda.
UKRAINE
From Ukraine, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that attacks on Kharkiv, in the east of the country, continued over the weekend and today.
Local authorities report civilian casualties, including among children, and damage to civilian infrastructure.
Since the escalation of the war in 2022, nearly 90 children have been killed and more than 320 injured in the Kharkiv Region alone, according to authorities.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
Turning to the Democratic of the Congo, the UN peacekeeping mission reported heavy firing and clashes over the weekend between the M23 armed group and the Congolese armed forces (FARDC), south of Kanyabayonga in North Kivu's Rutshuru territory.
The fighting triggered displacement of civilians towards Kayna, Miriki and Kirumba, with some reaching Lubero and Butembo.
In response, peacekeepers, in coordination with the Congolese armed forces, deployed patrols around Kanyabayonga to assist some of the 150,000 men, women and children displaced in recent days, providing escorts to safer areas as well as medical care. The Mission is maintaining its presence in the area.
Similarly, heavy fighting was also reported over the past few days near Sake. The Mission is monitoring the situation.
PAKISTAN
In Pakistan, the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Mohamed Yahya, joined Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif this weekend in calling for the protection of girls’ right to education – this after a recent string of attacks against girls’ schools.
He reinforced the UN in Pakistan’s commitment to support the Government in the rehabilitation and re-opening of these schools and to the girls in Pakistan in realizing their right to quality inclusive education, free from fear and intimidation.
NEW RESIDENT COORDINATORS
We have an update from the Development Coordination Office.
The Secretary-General has appointed Resident Coordinators to Serbia, Uzbekistan, and Barbados and the East Caribbean, with the approval of the respective host governments.
Matilde Mordt of Sweden started her new functions over the weekend as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Serbia.
Sabine Machl of Austria is the UN Resident Coordinator in Uzbekistan and Simon Springett of the United States will serve as the UN Resident Coordinator in Barbados.
Their full bios are online.
WORLD BICYCLE DAY
Today is World Bicycle Day.
It reminds us about the benefits of using the bicycle — it’s a simple, affordable, clean and environmentally fit and sustainable means of transportation.
And we have the results of the UN Bike Month Challenge, which took place throughout May.
This year, 147 UN staff members and delegates registered to participate and between them traveled over 16,500 miles on their bicycles (this is about the same distance between New York and Hanoi).
This is close to 40 per cent more than the distance traveled during last year’s challenge.
BRIEFING TODAY AND TOMORROW
At 1 p.m., Ambassador Joonkook Hwang, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea, and President of the Security Council for the month of June, briefed reporters on the programme of work for June.
Tomorrow, the guest at the noon briefing will be the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths.
