TRIP ANNOUNCEMENT
I have some travels to share with you. The Secretary-General will be traveling to Nairobi, Kenya, and that will be tomorrow afternoon, where he will take part in the UN Civil Society Conference.
This year’s conference aims to support the preparations for the Summit of the Future.
It is being held on the African continent for the first time and will include representatives from some 3,000 non-governmental organizations as well as academia.
On Friday, the Secretary-General will deliver remarks during the conference’s closing session. As the world faces conflicts, inequalities or the climate crisis - which Kenya as you know is currently experiencing with extreme weather and floods triggered by El Niño - the Secretary-General will highlight the need to revitalise multilateralism so that it reflects today’s reality.
And a multilateralism where the contribution of civil society is recognised as central – not as an afterthought.
Also on Friday, the Secretary-General will hold a press encounter at the UN Office in Nairobi. You will be able to watch that live on our UN Web TV platform.
We will have further travel to announce later this week.
OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
An operational update to share with you from Gaza. As of now, no goods have come in for our use for humanitarian operations through either the Rafah or Kerem Shalom crossings into the Gaza strip. We are engaging with all involved with the resumption of the entry of goods, including fuel, so that we can again begin managing incoming supplies. However, the situation remains extremely fluid, and we continue to confront a range of challenges, amid active hostilities.
Our colleagues at the humanitarian affairs office tell us that a daily average of 48 trucks and more than 160,000 litres of fuel entered Gaza via the Rafah crossing between 1-5 May. We need all of that fuel to sustain our humanitarian operations for the civilians in the Gaza strip who so desperately need it.
Also, our health partners say all the key medical facilities in Rafah could soon become inaccessible or inoperable. For example, one of the three hospitals in Rafah – Al Najjar – had to be abruptly vacated yesterday, as it was located in the area subject to the evacuation orders sent out by the Israeli Defense Forces.
According to the World Health Organization, this facility has the only dialysis department still operating in Gaza – and is a lifeline for some 200 patients that need that dialysis service.
We remain committed to providing aid to people regardless of where they are. Our teams are still in Rafah, which is where well over one million people, including 600,000 children, have been sheltering. We are also extending our presence northward to assist, as we can, families who are on the move.
In a statement released yesterday, the head of the Humanitarian Affairs Office and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, said that civilians in Gaza must be protected and have their basic needs met, whether they move or stay – and those who evacuate must have enough time to do so, as well as a safe route and safe place to go.
Meanwhile, Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner General of UNRWA, [the UN Relief Works Agency] said in a tweet that a protest that took place yesterday at UNRWA’s Headquarters in East Jerusalem was nothing less than harassment, intimidation, vandalism and damage to UN property.
The protest was called by an elected member of the Jerusalem municipality and took place under the watch of the Israeli Police.
Mr. Lazzarini said this has nothing to do with freedom of expression. Host countries – in this case, Israel - are expected to protect United Nations premises and operations at all times and a protest has been lodged.
SECURITY COUNCIL
This morning, the Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, briefed the Security Council members in closed consultations on Resolution 1559, which as you know refers to Lebanon.
GUATEMALA
I want to tell you that the Secretary-General is deeply concerned about the continued prosecution of a former official of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), and that person is Claudia González, and she is under continued prosecution for her activities relating to her work for that body.
The Secretary-General stresses the need to guarantee Ms. González's right to a fair trial.
The Secretary-General recalls the important contribution of the Commission and its personnel to the fight against corruption and impunity in Guatemala. He reiterates his call on the Guatemalan authorities, in accordance with the agreement between the UN and the Government establishing the Commission, to protect the personnel of Commission from abuse, threats, reprisals or acts of intimidation because of their work for that very Commission.
EAST AFRICA
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is working with governments and partners to respond to the impacts of the floods in East Africa by providing lifesaving assistance to the impacted populations there.
In Burundi, for example, IOM has provided emergency shelter, blankets, dignity kits and other items to over 5,000 people and is supporting the relocation of those affected to safer and less flood-prone areas.
In Kenya, IOM and its partners are working to deliver shelter and essential household items to support 39,000 people in the most severely flood-impacted parts of the country.
In neighbouring Somalia, IOM is targeting approximately 240,000 people with shelter materials, and other essential items and services.
And in Ethiopia, IOM has supported over 70,000 men, women and children impacted by floods across Somali and Oromia regions.
The agency says that at this critical moment, the call remains urgent for sustainable efforts to address human mobility spurred by a changing climate.
ZAMBIA
Turning to Zambia, while there are no floods there, there is drought. We and our partners launched an appeal yesterday to mobilize resources for the drought response. This comes after the Government declared a national drought disaster at the end of February.
The $228 million appeal seeks to assist 4.6 million people between May and December of this year.
Zambia is experiencing its driest agricultural season in more than 40 years, resulting in crop losses, increased livestock deaths and worsening poverty. Nearly half of the 2 million hectares of maize planted in the country have been destroyed by the drought and, according to authorities, cereal production is forecasted to decline by nearly 50 per cent this year.
More than 9 million people – or nearly half the population – are food insecure and in need of humanitarian assistance, that’s what the government is telling us.
The Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, released $13.5 million in April this year from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund to shore up support to address the El Niño-induced drought in Southern Africa.
$5.5 million of this CERF allocation went to Zambia - in addition to an earlier $2.5 million allocation.
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
Our peacekeeping colleagues from the UN Mission in the Central African Republic, (MINUSCA), have intensified activities in Haut Mbomou prefecture, aimed at bolstering civilian protection, fostering the environment for safe daily routines, and facilitating humanitarian aid distribution through the reinforcement of its Force Presence in the region. MINUSCA activities will also help its community violence reduction programs and facilitate the deployment of state authorities in other localities of the prefecture while providing support on infrastructure projects, including bridge repairs to aid increased patrols for enhanced protection and open up humanitarian space. In Obo, for instance, MINUSCA is currently supporting Community Violence Reduction efforts, benefiting over 300 beneficiaries through employment opportunities. MINUSCA's deployment in the region underscores its commitment to the protection of civilians and stabilization in conflict areas of the Central African Republic.
REMEMBRANCE AND RECONCILIATION
And an international day today, and this is a peculiar one because it is in fact celebrated over two days. So you can mark it today, or tomorrow. And that is the day called Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives during the Second World War.
Everyone is invited to observe one or both of these days to pay tribute to all victims of World War II.
