HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC
SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
TUESDAY, 12 MARCH 2024
HAITI
The Secretary-General takes note of the agreement reached yesterday by Haitian stakeholders on a transitional governance arrangement, including the establishment of a Presidential Council and the appointment of an interim Prime Minister. He also takes note of Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s announcement that he would resign immediately upon the installation of a Transitional Presidential Council.
The Secretary-General expresses appreciation to CARICOM, and other international partners, for facilitating a solution to Haiti’s political crisis and calls on all Haitian stakeholders to act responsibly and to take steps towards the implementation of the agreement in order to restore the country’s democratic institutions through peaceful, credible, participatory and inclusive elections. The United Nations, through its mission, will continue to support Haiti on its path towards elections.
The Secretary-General reiterates his unwavering solidarity with the people of Haiti who are in need of safety, shelter, food and medical care, and to live their lives in dignity.
HAITI/HUMANITARIAN
The United Nations agencies continue to deliver assistance despite the risks.
The International Organization for Migration and its partners continue to run mobile medical and psychosocial clinics at sites for displaced people and are making referrals for more vulnerable cases.
The capacity of the health system remains a major concern, with many health facilities forced to shut down. Blood shortages persist at the National Blood Transfusion Center and efforts are underway to bring in blood that is currently in neighboring Dominican Republic.
The total number of displaced people – including the 15,000 people newly displaced in Port-au-Prince, has reached to more than 360,000 people, according to IOM. More than half of them are children, a particularly vulnerable group.
The lack of goods and resources is worsening an already precarious economic situation, with water and basic services being stretched to the limit.
GAZA
Sigrid Kaag, UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, and Jorge Moreira da Silva, the Executive Director of the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), jointly welcomed the opening of a maritime corridor to deliver much-needed additional humanitarian assistance by sea to Gaza. They commended the leadership of Cyprus and the support extended by the European Commission, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States and others.
They added that for aid delivery at scale, there is no meaningful substitute to the many land routes and entry points from Israel into Gaza. The land routes from Egypt, Rafah in particular, and Jordan also remain essential to the overall humanitarian effort. The maritime corridor brings, however, much needed additionality and is part of a sustained humanitarian response to provide aid as effectively as possible through all possible routes, the two officials said.
A joint UNOPS-UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator technical team is currently in Cyprus, working with national authorities and partners, pursuant to the new UN Mechanism for Gaza established under Security Council Resolution 2720 (2023).
OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
The World Food Programme (WFP) delivered food for 25,000 people in Gaza City – about 88 metric tonnes of food parcels and wheat flour. This was the agency’s first successful convoy to the north since February 20th.
WFP says that with people in northern Gaza on the brink of famine, daily deliveries to the north are needed, as well as direct entry points. As hunger grows across the Gaza Strip, the UN and partners are working to deliver desperately needed assistance, despite ongoing fighting and Israeli bombardment, as well as insecurity, frequent border closures and access constraints that continue to impede safe and efficient aid operations.
Last week, 19 partners reached a daily average of 200,000 people in Gaza with food assistance, including food parcels and hot meals. More than two-thirds of this number were in Rafah, with the rest in Deir al Balah, Khan Younis and other areas.
For their part, the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners reached two other hospitals in northern Gaza yesterday – Al Shifa and Al Helou. The team delivered food, as well as 24,000 litres of fuel to Al Shifa. They also brought medicines medical supplies for some 42,000 patients, including medicines, anaesthetic drugs and surgical materials.
WHO’s Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Al Shifa is minimally functional and urgently needs specialized health workers. He said needs are also dire at Al Helou hospital, where WHO carried out an assessment mission.
UNRWA
Catherine Colonna, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of France, who is leading an Independent Review into whether the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is doing everything within its power to ensure neutrality and to respond to allegations of serious breaches when they are made, is on a five-day visit to Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and Jordan until 15 March.
Yesterday, Ms. Colonna had a full day of meetings in Jerusalem with Israeli officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Minister for Strategic Affairs as well as representatives of COGAT, the Israeli Defence Force and the National Security Council. Today, she met with the Palestinian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister in Ramallah to seek their views.
The review group includes three research organizations who have been in the region since 21 February. The Group is expected to submit an interim report to the Secretary-General on 20 March, with a final report expected to be completed by 20 April 2024. The final report will be made public.
SECURITY COUNCIL
Yesterday afternoon – Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, briefed the Security Council on her findings following her visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank. And just to remind you that the report of the visit was publicly issued on 4 March.
LEBANON
The Interim Mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL) continues to call for an urgent return to a cessation of hostilities and to prevent further escalation.
UNIFIL reports an escalation in the exchanges of fire across the Blue Line in recent days. Several fatalities were reported in Lebanon following Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon and up to Baalbek, 100km north of the Blue Line: at least five people were reported to have been killed in a strike on a house in Khirbet Silim, in Sector West (South of Lebanon), on 9 March, and another person was reported to have been killed in the strike on Baalbek on 11 March. Hizbullah claimed responsibility for firing over 100 rockets at sites in northern Israel and the occupied Golan since the weekend. In a message on the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander, Lieutenant General Aroldo Lázaro Sáenz, said that despite daunting challenges, peacekeepers remain on task, and continue to encourage de-escalation through liaison and coordination with the parties, and active presence on the ground.
DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL/TRIP ANNOUNCEMENT
Later today, the Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, will travel to Geneva, Switzerland, to address the opening of the eighth session of the Europe and Central Asia Regional Forum for Sustainable Development. Ms. Mohammed will also engage with Regional Directors of various United Nations entities, Resident Coordinators based in the region and other stakeholders, to advance action on the Sustainable Development Goals following the SDG Summit last year and in the leadup to the Summit of the Future.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) says that heavy clashes between the M23 armed group and the Congolese army in Kibirizi, Kibingu, and Kirima, southwest of Rwindi, in North Kivu, have triggered further population displacements.
The UN mission has reinforced its positions in the Kanyabayonga area, in Lubero territory, where more than 76,000 civilians have fled in recent days. Peacekeepers have established multiple humanitarian corridors in the area to ensure safe movement of civilians and support the provision of humanitarian assistance.
Together with the Congolese armed forces, peacekeepers are continuing to defend Rwindi.
As part of Springbok operation, peacekeepers are also continuing to maintain positions on key roads leading to Sake and Goma, to prevent the M23 armed group from advancing towards both cities.
MOZAMBIQUE
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says the United Nations is supporting efforts to prepare and respond to the impacts of Tropical Storm Filipo. The storm made landfall earlier today in Inhambane Province, in the country’s southeast.
The storm is bringing heavy rainfall to central and southern Mozambique, which has been impacted by an El Nino-induced drought since October. Authorities in Mozambique said that more than 525,000 people, as well as hundreds of schools and health centers, are located in high-risk areas. Relocations of people have already begun. Authorities are also working with community groups on early warning, including by putting out alerts in local languages.
OCHA has deployed to the provinces of Inhambane and Sofala to assist with preparedness and coordination efforts, together with our humanitarian partners. Live-saving equipment, including boats and drones, have been pre-positioned, but other humanitarian supplies, including food, water and education assistance, are in short supply.
Additional funding is also urgently needed: This year’s Humanitarian Response Plan for Mozambique is just over 5 per cent funded, with some $22 million received out of $413 million required.
CHAD/REFUGEES
The World Food Programme is warning that its programmes in Chad will come to a halt in a matter of weeks. This will force assistance to be suspended in April for 1.2 million Sudanese refugees and crisis-affected people in Chad, due to funding shortfalls.
This comes as thousands of Sudanese refugees continue to stream across the border from Darfur, and as the rainy season looms, threatens to cut off road access for humanitarian deliveries to the camps in the east of the country – where around a million Sudanese refugees have sought shelter.
To ensure continued support to crisis-affected people in Chad over the next six months, WFP urgently needs $242 million.
COSTA RICA
In Costa Rica, the Government – with support from the UN team – just launched its national strategy against hate speech and discrimination, which features 11 initiatives focusing on areas such as education and sport that aim to foster inclusivity. The strategy, which was created with guidance from Alice Nderitu our Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide, is being rolled out by various ministries, including Youth, Communications, Education, and Sport.
BRIEFINGS
Noon briefing guests are from the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), with Yasmine Sherif, from Education Cannot Wait, along with Oksen Lisovyi, the Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, and Yevhen Kudriavets, the First Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine.
Tomorrow the guest will be UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator, Achim Steiner, who will brief on the new Human Development Report and Index.
Then, at 1 p.m., there will be a briefing here by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) on the theme: Women representation in parliaments (latest data and analysis).
