HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC
SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
MONDAY, 8 FEBRUARY 2021
HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
The Secretary-General welcomes the decision of the United States of America to re-engage with the UN Human Rights Council. The Human Rights Council is the world’s leading forum for addressing the full range of human rights challenges. The Council’s mechanisms and special procedures are vital tools for ensuring action and accountability.
The United Nations looks forward to hearing the crucial voice of the United States across the Council’s urgent work.
CLIMATE
This morning, the Secretary-General briefed Member States on the forthcoming UN Climate change Conference, which will take place in Glasgow, Scotland, in the United Kingdom, later this year.
He welcomed the incoming COP President, Alok Sharma of the United Kingdom, and thanked the countries who have announced bold new commitments since the Climate Ambition Summit in December.
However, he said, the world remains way off target in staying within the 1.5-degree limit of the Paris Agreement. He stressed the need for the global coalition for net zero emissions to grow exponentially.
The Secretary-General said that by COP26 at the latest, all countries need to come forward with significantly more ambitious nationally determined contributions. He added that members of the G20 must lead the way.
The Secretary-General also emphasized that because of the pandemic, preparatory negotiations for COP26 will need to take place virtually. He called for countries’ flexibility in this matter. He said the UN will support this process in every way possible to ensure its success.
ETHIOPIA
UN agencies today received approval from the Government for 25 international staff to move to the Tigray region.
This clearance is a first step towards ensuring that aid workers in Tigray can deliver and ramp up the response given the rapidly rising needs in the region.
As we told you, there have been a number of recent positive engagements with the Government of Ethiopia by senior UN officials, including the Under-Secretary General for Safety and Security, Gilles Michaud, and the High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, as well as recently, with the Executive Director of the World Food Programme, David Beasley.
Mr. Beasley has just wrapped up a trip to Ethiopia and he says that WFP has accepted the Government’s request to help authorities and aid partners transport aid into and within Tigray. WFP has also agreed to provide emergency food aid for up to 1 million people in Tigray. More in the press release from the World Food Programme.
Humanitarian workers are looking forward to receiving approval for the remaining 60 NGO and UN staff who are in Addis Ababa and are ready to deploy to Tigray, as well as for rapid approvals of any additional requests put forward in the period ahead.
While we welcome these clearances, we remain deeply concerned about the significant escalation in humanitarian needs in Tigray where people have endured more than three months of conflict with extremely limited assistance. We are also very concerned by reports of grave violations against civilians that we continue to receive.
We reiterate our call for the full resumption of free and unconditional access for humanitarian supplies and personnel to the Tigray region - including through blanket clearances for organisations operating in the area - so that we can immediately reach all the people in need with all the assistance they urgently require.
YEMEN
UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, has begun a two-day visit to Iran. Today, he met with Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and other Iranian officials.
They exchanged views on Yemen and how to make progress towards the resumption of the political process. Mr. Zarif and Mr. Griffiths further discussed the urgent need to make progress towards a nationwide ceasefire, the opening of Sana'a airport and the easing of restrictions on Hudaydah ports. Mr. Griffiths welcomed the expression of Iran’s support towards the UN's efforts to end the conflict in Yemen.
The visit is part of the Special Envoy’s diplomatic efforts to support a negotiated political solution to the conflict in Yemen that meets the aspirations of the Yemeni people. The Special Envoy’s immediate priority is to support agreement between the parties to the conflict on a nationwide ceasefire, urgent humanitarian measures and the resumption of the political process.
As you will have seen over the weekend, we welcomed the announcement that the United States intends to revoke the designations of the Houthi movement, or Ansar Allah, as they refer to themselves, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
MYANMAR
In response to questions on the situation in Myanmar and U.N. involvement, the Spokesman said that the Secretary-General continues to follow the situation in Myanmar closely and with grave concern. He and his Special Envoy have been reaching out to key international actors, including regional leaders in calling for collective and bilateral action to create conditions for the recent coup in Myanmar to be reversed. The U.N. welcomes the fact that there are discussions for a Human Rights Council special session to take place soon, which will help to keep the momentum following the Security Council’s February 2nd discussion.
The Secretary-General and his Special Envoy will continue to mobilise the international community, including through engaging members of the Security Council to carry out calls for a return to democracy, pursuance of dialogue and reconciliation in accordance with the will and interests of the people of Myanmar, and for the immediate release of those detained. The U.N. remains in close contact with national actors, including Civil Society Organizations whose protection is paramount. The U.N. is concerned at the restrictions on civil society, journalists and media workers.
The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy remains prepared to visit under agreeable conditions to help calm the situation. Her many exchanges over the weekend included a virtual meeting with elected parliamentarians of the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD).
INDIA
In a statement issued yesterday, the Secretary-General said he is deeply saddened by the reported loss of life and dozens missing following the glacier burst and subsequent flooding in Uttarakhand state.
The Secretary-General expresses his deep condolences to the families of the victims and to the people and Government of India.
Humanitarian colleagues say that at least 170 people are missing and 14 people have reportedly died.
The UN stands ready to contribute to the ongoing rescue and assistance efforts, if requested.
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
The UN Mission in the Central African Republic says that the National Assembly in the CAR extended the State of Emergency for six months on Friday, due to security concerns.
Over the weekend, the Government held a series of events to mark the second anniversary of the signing of the peace agreement, in coordination with the UN, the African Union and the Economic Community of Central African States – ECCAS, the guarantors of the Peace Agreement.
The President, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, declared the government’s commitment to continue the implementation of the Agreement and reaffirmed his readiness for a dialogue with the democratic opposition.
The Special Representatives of the UN Secretary General, Mankeur Ndiaye, for his part, continues to pursue his good offices and political facilitation to engage with all parties to encourage dialogue and consensus, while the mission continues to maintain a robust posture to protect civilians.
On Friday, the mission and local authorities launched a Community Violence Reduction programme near Bria, in the Haute-Kotto Prefecture. Sixty-eight weapons were collected from civilians.
SUDAN
In Sudan, a blockade of key roads to Geneina, the regional capital of West Darfur, was lifted yesterday. The lifting of the blockade, which lasted several weeks, will allow humanitarian organizations to scale up assistance to people displaced by the recent violence in West Darfur, both inside and outside Geneina.
To date, over 67,000 internally displaced people who are in Geneina have received food for one month as well as water, non-food items, and health services.
A rapid needs assessment of three affected villages outside Geneina is planned for tomorrow, with 45,000 people estimated to need assistance.
An operational response plan is also being finalised to assist 100,000 people in West Darfur. The plan’s priorities include protection, water and sanitation hygiene, shelter and education. The UN’s Sudan Humanitarian Fund has provided $1.3 million for the response.
Overall, humanitarian organizations need $1.9 billion to assist 8.9 million people across the country in 2021.
COVID-19/INDONESIA
In Indonesia, the UN team, led by Resident Coordinator, Valerie Julliand, is supporting national efforts to vaccinate 80 per cent of Indonesia’s population in the next 13 months – that’s more than 216 million people.
The UN team is working to prepare and include Indonesia in the COVAX facility. The World Health Organization is supporting the vaccine roll-out and has trained more than 23,000 health workers so far.
WHO has helped to finalize a vaccine introduction roadmap and technical guidelines. Vaccine safety surveillance has been strengthened to monitor and respond to any potential risks.
More than 780,000 healthcare workers have been safely vaccinated across the country so far.
Meanwhile, UNICEF is working with the Government to prepare and deploy the vaccine rollout. This includes procuring the vaccines through COVAX, as well as strengthening cold chain capacity and financing, among other areas. UNICEF is also working to engage communities on accepting the vaccine and on data and analytics on registrations for the vaccine and monitoring to those who [have received it.]
