Noon briefing of 5 April 2017

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY ERI KANEKO,
ASSOCIATE SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
WEDNESDAY, 5 APRIL 2017

SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES ‘DECISIVE STEPS’ TO BOOST SUPPORT FOR VICTIMS OF SYRIA CONFLICT

• The Secretary-General spoke this morning at the Brussels Conference on support to Syrians and the region, telling the participants that today, as the conflict lines shift, there may have been a perception that the situation has eased. This is completely false, he said. Recent months have been some of the worst yet. Hundreds of civilians have been killed and injured as fighting goes on.
• The Secretary-General said that the Brussels Conference must represent a moment of truth, when the international community takes decisive steps to increase its support for the victims of the Syria conflict, and for the neighbouring countries that are providing a safe haven for millions of refugees.
• Before speaking at the conference, the Secretary-General told reporters that the horrific events of yesterday demonstrate that, unfortunately, war crimes are going on in Syria, and that international humanitarian law continues to be violated frequently. He noted that the Security Council is meeting today and added, regarding accountability, that he is confident the Security Council will live up to its responsibilities.
• Also speaking in Brussels today, the Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, noted the pattern that every time there is a conference or meeting that can give some perception of hope about the future of Syria, there is a temptation by some, through horrific acts, to “kidnap” the event with a new outrage.

• Kim Won-soo, the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, briefed the Security Council on the alleged chemical weapons attack in Khan Shaykhun, southern rural Idleb, Syria. If confirmed, he said, this would be the largest single chemical weapons attack in Syria since the Ghouta attack in August 2013. He said he has been in close contact with the Director General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), who informed him that the OPCW has begun gathering information and is prepared to send a team to the area.
• In a statement issued yesterday afternoon, the Secretary-General recalled that the Security Council previously determined that the use of chemical weapons anywhere constitutes a threat to international peace and security and that it affirmed that the use of chemical weapons constitutes a serious violation of international law.
• The World Health Organization today said that at least 70 people have died and hundreds more have been affected in Khan Shaykhun. Doctors in Idleb are reporting that dozens of patients suffering from breathing difficulties and suffocation have been admitted to hospitals in the governorate for urgent medical attention, many of them women and children. The likelihood of exposure to a chemical attack is amplified by an apparent lack of external injuries reported in cases showing a rapid onset of similar symptoms, including acute respiratory distress as the main cause of death. Some cases appear to show additional signs consistent with exposure to organophosphorus chemicals, a category of chemicals that includes nerve agents.

• The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, Ján Kubiš, strongly condemned the multiple suicide attacks in Tikrit on Tuesday, which resulted in many casualties. He said that targeting civilians and inflicting maximum casualties among civilians is the hallmark of the terrorists’ despicable tactics.
• He added that these latest suicide bombings in the Sunni heartland of Tikrit show that the terrorists are sparing no effort to indiscriminately target everyone and anyone who is not willing to die for their barbaric ideology.
• Concerns remain high for civilians still trapped in western Mosul, where fighting is ongoing. An estimated 500,000 people remain in these western neighbourhoods, sheltering from the fighting, or waiting for an opportune time to flee. Civilian displacement continues to rise rapidly; more than 6,000 people were displaced from west Mosul yesterday alone. Almost 249,000 people have been displaced from west Mosul since late February.

• The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) continues to be alarmed by ongoing reports from the Kasai region of escalating violence and serious human rights violations, including discovery of mass graves.
• The Head of the Mission Maman Sidikou said that the violence in the Kasais has already claimed the lives of possibly more than 400 civilians as well as a significant number of members of the security forces.
• MONUSCO encourages the Government to intensify its efforts to find a political solution to the unrest and calls on the leadership of the Kamuina Nsapu and other militia to stop the senseless violence and immediately halt the recruitment of children.
• The Mission initially deployed peacekeepers and reinforced police and civilian capacities in the Kasai region in November 2016, and has done so again more recently.
• It will continue to monitor and document allegations of serious human rights violations in the region, and is also available to support greater humanitarian access.

• The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) reports that UN peacekeepers have been prevented twice, in as many days, from accessing Pajok in Eastern Equatoria by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). The Mission has received reports of fighting between SPLA troops and the Opposition there and is trying to follow-up on reports of civilians killed in the area.
• This morning, the UN Mission’s patrol was stopped at a checkpoint 7 km outside Torit and was prevented from proceeding further. The patrol remains at the checkpoint and is continuing to negotiate access.
• UNMISS is concerned by these reports and calls on the government to immediately allow the Mission access to Pajok, as obligated by the Status of Forces Agreement, so it can fully implement its mandate, including to protect civilians and report on human rights violations.

• Tomorrow at 11:30 am in Conference Room 8, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in partnership with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), will launch the report: “A Socio-economic Impact Assessment of the Zika Virus in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a Focus on Brazil, Colombia and Suriname”. All are invited.

• The Philippines have paid their regular budget dues in full, bringing the total number of Member States that have done so to 76.