HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STÉPHANE DUJARRIC,
SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
THURSDAY, 14 SEPTEMBER 2017
 
NUMBER OF ROHINGYA REFUGEES CROSSING MYANMAR-BANGLADESH BORDER REACHES 389,000 – U.N. RELIEF WING

• The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that the number of Rohingya refugees who have crossed the border from Myanmar into Bangladesh since 25 August has now reached 389,000.  
• In the last 24 hours alone, 10,000 people reportedly crossed into Bangladesh.
  Combined with those who fled during the last round of violence in Rakhine State last October, it is estimated that some forty percent of the total Rohingya population living in Rakhine State have now fled into Bangladesh.
• For its part, UNICEF says it has trucks filled with emergency water, sanitation and hygiene supplies for thousands of Rohingya children heading to Cox’s Bazar, with a steady stream of supplies in the pipeline for the coming days and weeks.
• It is estimated that 60 per cent of Rohingya refugees arriving in Bangladesh are children.
  The sheer number of refugees has overwhelmed pre-existing refugee camps, with new arrivals seeking shelter anywhere they can find space.
• UNICEF says that there are acute shortages of everything, most critically shelter, food and clean water, and is also helping the Government of Bangladesh on improving water treatment plants.
• UNICEF plans to massively scale-up its emergency response to the growing number of Rohingya children in Bangladesh, and has appealed for more than $7 million to provide emergency support over the next four months.

• This morning, the Security Council discussed the situation in Darfur. The Joint Special Representative, Jeremiah Mamabolo, said that the African Union-UN mission in Darfur has started phase one of its reconfiguration. Since June, UNAMID has closed four team sites in North and East Darfur, and seven more will be closed by the end of September.
• After brief clashes in East and North Darfur in May and June, the region largely remained calm. However, Mr. Mamabolo noted that the clashes are in themselves a reminder of the need for the commitment of all parties to cease hostilities and take steps towards a permanent and lasting peace.
• Mr. Mamabolo added that most of the insecurity currently experienced in Darfur can be attributed to tensions originating from the underlying causes of the conflict, exacerbated by the proliferation of arms in the hands of civilians and militia groups.
• The Security Council also renewed the mandate of the UN mission in Libya and adopted the resolution creating the UN Verification Mission in Colombia.

• The Special Representative of the Secretary-General in South Sudan, David Shearer, spoke to the press this morning in Juba. He said that the number of people displaced in the country has risen to nearly four million during the first half of this year. That includes 1.9 million who have been internally displaced and two million who have fled to neighbouring countries. The total number of people in real need of aid has risen to 7.6 million, Mr. Shearer said.
• He noted the need for the National Dialogue to be transparent and genuinely inclusive, and said it was as a positive step in the overall pursuit of peace, as well as an opportunity to inject new life into the 2015 peace agreement. However, Mr. Shearer added that for the National Dialogue to enable free discussion and bring all parties together, a cessation of hostilities is required.
• He also mentioned that 11,000 internally displaced people have left the UN’s protection of civilians sites around the country since the beginning of the year. While that is good news, he said, the UN continues to shelter some 213,000 people.

• The United Nations is deeply concerned for the safety and protection of up to 15,000 people, many of them women and children, still trapped inside Syria’s Raqqa City.
• The humanitarian situation inside the city remains dire, with a majority of the remaining population reportedly facing deteriorating humanitarian, health, living and security conditions.
• Since July, over 51,000 people in Raqqa have been displaced, including close to 30,000 in the month of August.
• UN agencies through their local partners have continued to provide food and other key items, hygiene kits, nutrition, medical treatment and vaccinations for people in need in at least 58 areas where most of the internally displaced people are concentrated. In the month of August alone, more than 333,000 people were reached with food assistance, while 252,000 children under five were vaccinated against polio in both Raqqa and Deir Ezzour governorates.

• Yesterday, Jeffrey Feltman, the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, briefed the Security Council on the situation in the Lake Chad Basin. He said that thanks to coordination among impacted countries, we have witnessed encouraging progress in the fight against Boko Haram. However, while the group’s combat capacity has diminished, to compensate for this, Boko Haram has changed tactics, increasing the use of suicide attacks.
• Mr. Feltman said that the Lake Chad Basin crisis has wreaked havoc on basic infrastructure, assets and Government services. Insecurity has sparked large-scale unemployment and left 1 million school-age children deprived of education. On the humanitarian front, despite significant progress made in reaching impacted people in the region, some 10.7 million people require humanitarian assistance.

• A partnership between the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Google is using high-resolution satellite imagery to assess land degradation in Small Island Developing States.
• Cabo Verde was the first island state to conduct such an assessment, and the FAO is working with 30 other countries.
• The assessment tool has already been used successfully in the Great Green Wall initiative to build a wall of trees across the width of Africa, and is now a vital instrument in providing critical information to understand the true dimension of restoration needs in Small Island Developing States.
• The assessment results will be used in formulating policies and making decisions to address climate change and boost the resilience of people and their landscapes.
• Speeding up efforts to reverse or prevent land degradation is vital in the next few years if the Sustainable Development Goals are to be achieved.

• The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that the recent upsurge of violence in the Central African Republic has caused a 50 per cent increase in the number of internally displaced people this year, bringing the total to close to 600,000 across the Central African Republic, mostly in the South-East.
• Armed fighting is engulfing territories that had been relatively stable, including Basse-Kotto, Mbomou and Haut-Mbomou. Over the past twelve months, eight of CAR’s 16 provinces have been affected by violence and nearly 70 per cent of the territory lies in the hands of armed groups. 14 out of the 16 provinces host people in dire need of humanitarian assistance. However, the Humanitarian Response Plan requires US$497 million but is only 30 per cent funded.

• Tomorrow the International Day of Peace will be celebrated at the UN Headquarters in New York. This year’s theme is “Together for Peace: Respect, Safety and Dignity for All” and it honours the spirit of the UN’s Together campaign.
• At 9:00 a.m., as per tradition, the Secretary-General will ring the Japanese Peace Bell. The President of the General Assembly and UN Messenger of Peace Jane Goodall will also be there.
• The Secretary-General will then deliver remarks at the annual student conference, which will be held in Conference Room 4. He will be joined by Jane Goodall and his UN Youth Envoy.

• A new entity of the UN will be established next week as an organ of the General Assembly, dedicated to Least Developed Countries (LDC): the Technology Bank for LDCs.  
• The Technology Bank is expected to broaden the application of science, technology and innovation in the world’s poorest countries; helping to secure intellectual property rights, improve related policies, facilitate the transfer of technologies, and hasten the integration of LDCs into the global knowledge-based economy.  
• The creation of the Technology Bank marks the first Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) target to be achieved, Goal 17.8. Its achievement responds directly to the 2030 Agenda’s principle of leaving no one behind.
• There will be a ceremony on 22 September with the UN and the Government of Turkey, which will sign a Host Country Agreement as Turkey has taken the lead and has been generous in its financial support as host of the Bank.

• In the spirit of New York Fashion Week, the UN Visitors Services are happy to announce that they have received newly-designed uniforms for the UN tour guides from fashion designer Elie Tahari.
• Uniforms are a historic part of the UN Guided Tours, dating back to the 1950’s when tour guides were provided with summer and winter uniforms with a somewhat “military look” with tailored suits. Over the past 60 years, designers such as Christian Dior, Harvé Benard, Edith Head and Italian fashion house Benetton have designed and donated uniforms to the UN.
• A media launch event will be held today at 6 p.m. in the Visitors Lobby.
• A media kit comprising background information and press releases is also available.