HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY FARHAN HAQ,
DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
MONDAY, 25 JUNE 2018
 
 

• This morning, the Secretary-General spoke at the General Assembly Debate on the Responsibility to Protect. He said today’s discussion is critical as atrocity crimes are being committed around the world at a scale and ferocity not seen in years, with little regard for international human rights and humanitarian law.
• He stressed that these crimes are not inevitable, and that the international community must build consensus to mount responses to end the violence against innocent people.
• “Our overarching challenge is to uphold the Responsibility to Protect principle while preventing its misuse. That means acting promptly, preventively, diplomatically, before situations escalate and spiral out of control,” he said.
• The Secretary-General reminded States of their duty to protect their own people, and added that the international community cannot abandon the Responsibility to Protect principle or leave it in a state of suspended animation.

• The Secretary-General discussed the situation in the Middle East and North Africa in the Security Council today, and he warned that the territorial integrity of countries like Syria, Yemen and Libya is under threat. Millions of people have been forcibly displaced from their homes. The impacts of this instability have spread to neighbors and beyond.
• Today, he said, in a region once home to one of history’s greatest flowerings of culture and coexistence, we see many fault-lines at work, old and new, crossing each other and generating enormous volatility. These include the Israeli-Palestinian wound, resurgent Cold War-like rivalries, the Sunni-Shia divide, ethnic schisms and other political confrontations.
• The Secretary-General said that economic and social opportunities are clearly insufficient. As such difficulties rise, he said, trust in institutions declines. Societies fracture along ethnic or religious lines, which are being manipulated for political advantage. At times, he added, foreign interference has exacerbated this disunity, with destabilizing effects, and the risk of further downward spirals is sky high.

• A series of statements were issued over the weekend. First, the Secretary-General condemned the explosion on Saturday at a rally attended by Abiy Ahmed, Prime Minister of Ethiopia.
• He also condemned another explosion during a rally in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, in which President Emmerson Mnangagwa and other party officials were present.
• Lastly, the Secretary-General welcomed the lifting of the driving ban for women in Saudi Arabia. He said he hoped that this will generate further new opportunities for women in the Kingdom, and that he looked forward to witnessing Saudi Arabia’s continuing journey toward substantive equality for women and girls.

• At the invitation of the Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, consultations were held in the United Nations Office at Geneva with senior representatives of France, Germany, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and the United States, on the way ahead on a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned, UN-facilitated Geneva political process in accordance with Security Council resolution 2254 (2015).
• During the meeting, updates and exchanges were shared on the situation on the ground. Grave concerns were expressed at the ongoing military escalation in southwestern Syria and calls made for an immediate end to violence. Substantive exchanges took place on the prospects for progress on the constitutional track, and on continuing diplomatic efforts to promote common ground among international players in support of a political settlement in Syria.
• The Special Envoy welcomes the six countries’ re-affirmation of their support of the United Nations’ role in facilitating the political process. The Special Envoy anticipates inviting them to Geneva again as efforts to facilitate the establishment of a constitutional committee and address the wider dimensions of the political process continue.
• Meanwhile, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) continues to be alarmed by reports of escalating hostilities in southern Syria, endangering an estimated 750,000 people. An estimated 45,000 people have reportedly been displaced due to the fighting, most from eastern Dara’a governorate to areas near the border with Jordan. There have been reports of 13 deaths due to hostilities since 23 June, including an attack in Mseifra town yesterday that killed nine people, including four children.
• The cost of goods such as fuel, has increased due to the disruption of commercial movement caused by the fighting. Displaced people are in particular need of humanitarian aid and shelter.
• Despite the hostilities, the United Nations and its partners continue to provide food, health, nutrition, education and core relief items to hundreds of thousands of people in need in southern Syria from across the border in Jordan.
• In a statement last Friday, the Secretary-General expressed his concern at the recent military escalation, including ground offensives and aerial bombardments, in southwestern Syria. He called for an immediate end to the current military escalation and urged all stakeholders to respect their obligations under international law and international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure.

• The UN Refugee Agency today released a report that shows a widening gap between the number of refugees in need of resettlement and the places available for them around the world.
• The report projects that some 1.4 million refugees will need a resettlement country in 2019. However, the number of available resettlement places has dropped to just 75,000.
• UNHCR is appealing to all countries to take in more refugees from a diverse range of countries and operations, and to commit to this policy on a sustained basis.

• On Friday, 22 June, the Government of Ethiopia and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) jointly launched a Response Plan to address displacement due to inter-communal violence that has escalated since early June 2018 around Gedeo and West Guji Zones, in the Oromia and SNNP regions, respectively.
• The Appeal requires US$117.7 million, of which approximately $6.99 has already been mobilized by Government and partners, for immediate life-sustaining assistance and access to basic services for the next six months to over 818,000 men, women and children displaced.
• The Internally Displaced People are mostly settled with already food insecure relatives or residing in cramped public buildings at the most densely populated parts of the country.
• Donors are encouraged to immediately mobilize new funding, along with global stocks of emergency shelter and non-food items.

• Today is the Day of the Seafarer. The theme this year focuses on seafarers’ well-being, and looks into best practices to help seafarers tackle stress and other issues affecting their mental health.