• Evacuations escorted by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and International Committee of the Red Cross, that had been  stalled for more than a day – resumed this afternoon at 4pm local time from the besieged neighbourhoods in eastern Aleppo, with operations expected to continue through the coming hours.
• At least 20 surge staff from Damascus have been deployed to Aleppo to support ongoing observations of evacuations and response activities in the city.
• UN teams have maintained a presence at the Ramouseh Government checkpoint in Aleppo to observe the evacuations from east Aleppo since 15 December.
• The ICRC estimates that more than 25,000 people have been evacuated from the besieged neighbourhoods in eastern Aleppo between 15 and 20 December.
• According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of 19 December, 301 wounded and sick people had been evacuated, including 93 patients in critical condition who have been transferred to Turkey; others were transferred to hospitals in Idlib and in rural western Aleppo.
• Protection of civilians leaving these areas remains the biggest concern. The process for evacuation was traumatic, with crowding and vulnerable people waiting for hours and exposed to sub-zero temperatures.  All remaining civilians must be allowed to safely leave should they choose to do so. Access to people in need to provide them with life-saving humanitarian assistance is also urgently needed.

• The Security Council this morning renewed the terms of its resolutions concerning humanitarian access in Syria for another twelve months. It requested the Syrian authorities to expeditiously respond to all requests for cross-line deliveries submitted by the United Nations and their implementing partners, and to give such requests positive consideration.
• In a Presidential Statement adopted this morning, the Security Council reiterated its request to outgoing President Yahya Jammeh and the relevant Gambian Authorities to fully respect the results of the presidential election of 1 December 2016, to respect the will of the Gambian people and to carry out a peaceful and orderly transition process, and to transfer power to President-elect Adama Barrow by 19 January 2017 in accordance with the Gambian constitution.

• An aid distribution point in Iraq’s newly retaken eastern Mosul city neighbourhood of Zuhoor, where a local community-based organization was distributing food and fuel, was hit by indirect fire yesterday, reportedly killing four volunteers and injuring scores of bystanders.
• This tragic incident underlines the security concerns associated with the situation in eastern Mosul neighbourhoods where scheduled distributions of multi-sectoral aid, including food and hygiene supplies, have not taken place in recent days due to insecurity.
• The UN in Iraq has also received reports of an explosion in the eastern Mosul neighbourhood of Samah earlier today, possibly close to another aid distribution point. Further details on the event are being established.
• Meanwhile, UN agencies continue to support primary health centres in eastern Mosul city neighbourhoods and are trucking water to 45,000 people in this area.

• The Secretary-General is in the US state of Illinois today.
• In his lecture at Southern Illinois University, he emphasized that great achievements are possible when nations work together. He will say that as he passes the baton to his successor, the United Nations will count on the United States and all countries to pull together at this consequential time for peace, prosperity and human rights for all.
• In the afternoon, the Secretary-General will visit the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum, as well as President Lincoln’s tomb.
• He will return to New York this evening.

• In a statement issued yesterday evening, the Secretary-General applauded the Government and the people of Côte d’Ivoire for the peaceful and inclusive legislative elections of 18 December.

• The successful conclusion of this election confirms Côte d'Ivoire’s steady march towards lasting peace and stability, the Secretary-General said.

• In statement issued yesterday evening, the Secretary-General said that he shared the concern expressed by the Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) over the prolonged political and institutional crisis in Guinea-Bissau.
• He called on Guinea-Bissau's political leadership to demonstrate the requisite commitment and goodwill to reach a lasting political solution to the crisis in their country on the basis of the ECOWAS Roadmap and the Conakry Accord.

• A new Cost of Hunger in Africa (COHA) study indicates that Madagascar’s economy loses US$1.5 billion per year – the equivalent of 14.5 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – to the effects of malnutrition.
• In Madagascar, 47 percent of children under the age of five are affected by stunting - which designates, as you may know, a state of low growth for age. It is the fifth highest rate of stunting in the world.
• Madagascar is the tenth country in Africa to have conducted a Cost of Hunger study, with support from the World Food Programme (WFP).
• The process has revealed that African economies are losing between 1.9 and 16.5 per cent of their GDP to child malnutrition.

• A new agreement to simplify the import, export and transit of humanitarian aid in large-scale emergencies between the United Nations in Tajikistan and the country’s Government entered into force today.
• Tajikistan is susceptible to disasters such as earthquakes and floods, and this new agreement – the first of its kind in Central Asia – will allow people to receive international aid much faster than before.

 
***The guest at the noon briefing was Kristiina Kangaspunta of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. She presented the  Global Report on Trafficking in Persons.