Noon briefing of 1 March 2024

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STÉPHANE DUJARRIC,​
SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
FRIDAY, 1 MARCH 2024

SECRETARY-GENERAL/CELAC
This morning in Kingstown, the Secretary-General spoke at the opening of the Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, also known as CELAC.
He paid tribute to the resilience shown by the people of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines a few years ago in the aftermath of the devastating eruption of the La Soufrière volcano and he praised the solidarity shown in the region to help those impacted. “We need that spirit more than ever,” he said.
The Secretary-General outlined four areas in which solidarity is needed, which include: solidarity for peace and security, sustainable development, social cohesion and addressing the climate crisis.
And yesterday, the Secretary-General met with Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves. Following their meeting, they held a press encounter in which the Secretary-General praised Latin America and the Caribbean as a continent of peace and commended its commitment to finding solutions to the conflicts that arise, including the one in Haiti.
And this afternoon, he will be meeting with various leaders on the margins of the Summit. Tomorrow, he will visit areas impacted by the volcanic eruption and see the progress of the reconstruction efforts.

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL/TRIP ANNOUNCEMENT
The Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, will travel to the Middle East region to advance action on the Sustainable Development Goals following the SDG Summit last year and in the leadup to the Summit of the Future.
Ms. Mohammed will visit the State of Kuwait at the invitation of the government to meet with the Kuwaiti leadership, women leaders from different walks of life, as well as interaction with youth and other key stakeholders.
Afterwards, she will be in Lebanon where she will preside over the opening of the Arab Regional Forum for Sustainable Development, engage with the Regional Coordination Mechanism, meet with UN Resident Coordinators in the region, senior government officials and other stakeholders.
Before heading back to New York, the Deputy Secretary-General will stop briefly in the United Arab Emirates where she will meet with senior government officials.
Ms. Mohammed will return to New York on 7 March.

UNRWA
The Secretary-General welcomes the decision taken today by the European Commission to imminently release €50 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). This comes at a critical time, and our understanding is that this is part of the €82 millions of aid to be implemented through UNRWA this year.
The Secretary-General very much hopes that other donors will follow suit and support UNRWA.
Mr. Lazzarini, the Commissioner General of UNRWA, also welcomed the decision taken by the European Union commission and said that the funds will support the Agency’s efforts to maintain lifesaving and essential services for Palestine Refugees across the region.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
Today, a team from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) visited Shifa hospital in Gaza City.
They brought with them medicines, vaccines and fuel to help ensure that the medical facility remains functioning.
The team also met with people who were among those injured yesterday while seeking life-saving aid west of Gaza City. 
Shifa hospital has reportedly admitted more than 700 people injured in that incident, about 200 of whom are still hospitalized. By the time of the team's visit, the hospital had also received the bodies of more than 70 people who had been killed.
This is the first time the UN has been able to deliver aid into besieged northern Gaza in over a week.

SIGRID KAAG
Sigrid Kaag has just completed a three-day visit to Israel and Palestine, during which she met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Mahmoud Abbas, respectively. While in Israel, she also met with other members of the War Cabinet and President Isaac Herzog.
In her meetings, she discussed the implementation of Security Council resolution 2720 and emphasized the urgency of increasing the volume of aid to Gaza to address the needs of the civilian population.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
The Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) today warned about the deteriorating security situation and humanitarian situation in North Kivu, in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Since early February, more than 215,000 people have fled towards Goma, which is now hosting some 630,000 men, women and children who have been displaced due to the insecurity.
Ongoing clashes have also impacted civilian infrastructure. According to humanitarian partners, at least seven health facilities have been looted and seven schools damaged by bombings since early January.
Fighting is disrupting aid delivery, with several roads cut off. Some partners have withdrawn from high-risk areas like the Masisi territory.
On February 26th, an aid organization suspended medical care for over 20,000 people due to renewed clashes in Rutshuru territory, which is in North Kivu.
Humanitarians are continuing to push for unimpeded access to everyone that needs our support.

ZAMBIA
In Zambia, the UN is supporting the Government-led response to the drought emergency in the country, as weather extremes, economic hardship and a cholera outbreak fuel a worsening of the humanitarian crisis.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the UN team in Zambia are working to scale up our response over the next nine months – a plan that will urgently require some $39 million in funding.
UN agencies aim to provide emergency cash transfers to some 475,000 people facing high levels of food insecurity in more than a dozen districts in the country. These households will also receive drought-tolerant crop varieties and other critical agricultural support meant to help farmers maintain their livelihoods and prevent hunger-filled migration.
More than 2 million people – or 21 per cent of Zambia’s population – are estimated to be facing high levels of food insecurity this year.

MOZAMBIQUE
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) today said that it is deeply concerned about the escalating humanitarian crisis in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique.
UNHCR notes that since the latest outbreak of violence and attacks on civilians at the beginning of February, more than 70,000 people have been forcibly displaced across the region.
According to UNHCR, nearly 90 per cent of those displaced are women, many of them pregnant, people with disabilities, and the elderly. More than half of the newly displaced are children.
The UN Refugee Agency warns that this rampant destruction has further worsened the already dire humanitarian situation in Mozambique, where over 709,000 people remain internally displaced due to violence perpetrated by non-state armed groups and the impact of the climate crisis. UNHCR and other partners are providing core relief items, and additional interventions are being planned and discussed with local authorities. However, lack of funding is hampering the response.

INTERNATIONAL DAYS
Today is Zero Discrimination Day.
Established by UNAIDS ten years ago to advance equality and fairness for everyone regardless of gender, age, sexuality, ethnicity or HIV status, the theme for this year is “To protect everyone’s health, protect everyone’s rights”.
Today is also World Seagrass Day. Seagrasses are marine flowering plants, one of the most widespread coastal habitats on Earth, storing up to 18 percent of the world’s oceanic carbon.

SENIOR PERSONNEL APPOINTMENT
Today, the Secretary-General is appointing Stephanie Koury of the United States as his Deputy Special Representative for Political Affairs for Libya in the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).
She succeeds Raisedon Zenenga of Zimbabwe, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his dedicated service in Libya.
Ms. Koury brings to the position more than 30 years of experience supporting political processes, peace talks and mediation in conflict and post-conflict settings, including in the Middle East and over 15 years with the United Nations in Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, the Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Most recently, she served as Director of Political Affairs in the United Nations Transition Assistance Mission in the Sudan (UNITAMS).

MONDAY BRIEFINGS
A couple of programming notes for Monday. At 2:00 p.m. Pramila Patten, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict will brief reporters on her recent visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank, including her key findings and recommendations. That will be at 2:00 p.m.
We will perhaps have a press briefing by Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), at the end of the day on Monday, following the General Assembly special session. This briefing will be confirmed later today, or tomorrow.