HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STÉPHANE DUJARRIC,
SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
MONDAY, 13 JANUARY 2025
TRIP ANNOUNCEMENT/LEBANON
On Saturday, the Secretary-General had phone calls with the Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to congratulate him on his election. He also spoke with Caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati.
In these phone calls, it was agreed that later this week, the Secretary-General will travel to Lebanon for a solidarity visit with the country and its people.
In Beirut, he will be meeting with the Lebanese political leadership and others. The Secretary-General is also expected to travel to southern Lebanon to see the UN peacekeeping force and express his support and thanks for the work they have been doing in very challenging circumstances.
HAITI
Turning to Haiti. Yesterday – January 12th – marked 15 years since the devastating earthquake claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
The Secretary-General remembers the victims of the earthquake and continues to honour their legacy through the United Nations’ work in the country. He also paid tribute to the 102 colleagues, our own colleagues, who died on that day, including the head of the Mission at the time, Mr. Hédi Annabi, and one of our dear colleagues who used to work on the documents counter, Alexandra Duguay, who is remembered by her bright smile and efficient work.
An estimated three million people as you know, were impacted by the earthquake, which led to severe humanitarian, protection, health, displacement, and infrastructural challenges for Haiti, some of which are still present today.
Yesterday, in Haiti, the United Nations held a ceremony in Port-au-Prince to honour the victims of the earthquake and our colleagues.
In a statement, the head of the UN political office in Haiti, Maria Isabel Salvador, expressed her solidarity with all those whose lives continue to be impacted by this tragedy. She also saluted the determination and resilience of the Haitian people, who responded with courage in the aftermath of the earthquake, and she also, of course, reaffirmed the UN’s commitment to continue working alongside the Haitian authorities and people to build a better future for the country.
UKRAINE
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Tom Fletcher, is in Ukraine this week to meet with people impacted by the hostilities, to discuss how we can further cooperate with Ukrainian authorities, and engage with our humanitarian partners on the ground.
Yesterday, in Zaporizhzhia, Mr. Fletcher held talks with authorities. He visited the site where last month a missile hit a medical clinic, totally destroying the facility and causing civilian casualties. He also visited an underground school, built in just 6 months, which will educate 1,000 children every day.
Also yesterday, Mr. Fletcher was in Dnipro, where he visited a collective site for displaced people.
Today, he travelled to the frontline area of the Donetsk region, where he commended the work of local first responders and NGOs. Mr. Fletcher saw how communities remaining in the area are supported by aid organizations and how evacuees receive assistance at a transit centre in the city of Pavlohrad, which is in Dnipro.
Tomorrow, Mr. Fletcher will visit Kharkiv, and on Thursday, he and the head of UNHCR, Filippo Grandi, will launch this year’s humanitarian and refugee response plans for Ukraine and the region. Mr. Fletcher and Mr. Grandi will jointly speak to the press from Kyiv just before the plan is launched.
YEMEN
The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, concluded today a visit to Tehran where he met with Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, along with other senior Iranian officials.
Discussions focused on the resumption of a Yemeni-owned political process under the auspices of the United Nations.
Mr. Grundberg expressed his serious concern over the broader regional escalation involving Yemen and its adverse impact on the mediation environment. He underlined the importance of immediate de-escalation for the benefit of the Yemeni people.
In all his meetings, the Envoy briefed on our efforts for the immediate and unconditional release of the arbitrarily detained staff from the United Nations, NGOs, diplomatic missions and civil society personnel which remain detained by Ansar Allah. He requested Iran’s support towards the efforts to have them released.
SYRIA
Yesterday, Geir Pedersen, our Special Envoy for Syria, attended the Riyadh meeting on Syria. He welcomed the strong support expressed for the Syrian people and the commitment to assisting caretaker authorities during this critical phase.
Mr. Pedersen held a constructive meeting with Syria’s caretaker Foreign Minister, As’ad Al Shaibani, focusing on advancing an inclusive, Syrian-led political transition and addressing the challenges Syria faces following the fall of the Assad regime.
The discussions in Saudi Arabia underscored the importance of a credible, inclusive transition led by Syrians, backed by genuine international support to help Syria navigate the transition peacefully and to help to start to rebuild their country.
The Special Envoy reiterated our readiness to assist Syria and its people in seizing this historic opportunity and challenge.
His Deputy, Ms. Najat Rochdi, remains in Damascus, and she is, of course, continuing consultations with various interlocutors there.
SYRIA/HUMANITARIAN
In the north-east of Syria, on the humanitarian front, the World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners conducted a successful 10-day oral cholera vaccination campaign in Al Hol camp targeting people aged one year and above, and that took place between 28 December and 7 January.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affair (OCHA) said that the security situation remains volatile in parts of Syria.
Hostilities in Aleppo governorate are affecting the area surrounding the Tishreen Dam, which, as you know, has not been functional for 35 days. More than 403,000 people living in the cities of Menbij and Kobani continue lack access to water.
In Deir-ez-Zor, most of the villages in the eastern countryside are facing drinking water shortages due to the insufficient number of functional water stations.
Despite all these challenges, we and our partners continue to support the humanitarian response, of course, as security and logistics permit.
OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
Moving to Gaza. As the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza continues, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is once again calling on the Israeli authorities to enable the delivery of life-saving assistance to people across the Strip – and we are doing our best to deliver this assistance safely, swiftly and at scale.
OCHA reports that the Israeli authorities continue to deny UN-led efforts to reach Palestinians with vital aid. Throughout Gaza yesterday, only seven out of 22 UN planned humanitarian movements were facilitated by the Israeli authorities. Six were denied outright, five were impeded, and four were cancelled due to security and logistical challenges.
Meanwhile, OCHA warns that ongoing hostilities and evacuation orders continue to displace civilians across the Gaza Strip.
We stress once again that civilians must be protected, whether they leave or stay. Those fleeing fighting must be allowed to do so safely, and they must be able to voluntarily return when the situation allows.
In central Gaza yesterday, the Israeli military issued a new evacuation order for residents in An Nuseirat, in the Al Mufti neighbourhood. UN partners estimate that some 4,100 people are affected by the latest directive. The area under evacuation includes residents living in and around two displacement sites managed by UNRWA. It also includes three medical points, two water delivery points and two temporary learning spaces.
UN partners have observed a limited number of people moving from the area under evacuation toward Nuseirat City and other parts of Deir al Balah.
Displaced people across Gaza Strip continue to report critical shortages of food, critical shortage of water, and critical shortage of sanitation facilities. That is what a new survey of nearly 2,500 households across the Strip shows us. More than two thirds of those households told our humanitarian partners that they had been displaced at least once over the last 60 days.
Yesterday, the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Muhannad Hadi, visited a church hosting more than 400 [displaced] Palestinians in Gaza city. He once again stressed the need to protect places of refuge and to end this war.
Today in southern Gaza, he visited a factory providing furniture to temporary learning spaces in the Strip. After 15 months of war, less than a fifth of school-age children in Gaza have access to some form of learning.
G77
At 3:00 p.m. this afternoon, our Secretary-General will speak at the ceremony in which the leadership of the G77 and China passes from Uganda to Iraq. The Secretary-General will congratulate Iraq, a founding member of the G77 60 years ago, for its assumption of the Chairmanship for 2025.
In his remarks this afternoon, he will welcome the G77’s focus on accelerating support for developing countries, especially as we approach the deadline for the 2030 Agenda. He will say that 2025 must be a year of keeping promises to developing countries.
MADAGASCAR/MOZAMBIQUE
A quick update from southeast Africa, where the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) continues to track the impact of Tropical Cyclone Dikeledi.
In northern Madagascar, we are working with the authorities to mobilize response efforts after the cyclone made landfall on Saturday. According to reports, over 5,200 people were directly impacted, nearly 1,300 homes were flooded, with five health centres damaged.
UN partners are also distributing water treatment supplies, as well as water, sanitation and hygiene kits.
And in Mozambique, the cyclone is bringing heavy rains and strong winds to the northern part of the country – that’s the same area hit by Cyclone Chido less than a month ago.
As of Saturday, the World Food Programme (WFP) had also reached more than 190,000 people in five districts with one-week food rations. And for its part, The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and its partners have distributed more than 800 kits of relief items for 4,000 people. UNHCR has also stepped up its efforts to assess protection concerns in parts of Cabo Delgado where displaced people are sheltering.
We are aiming to provide assistance to more than 400,000 people impacted by the cyclone, but to do that, we urgently need additional funding.
UNICEF/2025 GLOBAL OUTLOOK
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today released a report warning that the world is facing a new and intensifying era of crisis for children, and many of these crises – including climate change, conflict and economic instability – are closely interconnected.
According to the report the percentage of children impacted by conflict has almost doubled to almost 19 per cent today from around 10 per cent in the 1990s. UNICEF notes that over 473 million children – more than one in six globally – lived in areas affected by conflict in 2023, a number that is likely to have risen in [2024].
FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has paid its dues in full, bringing the Honour Roll to 7.
