HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY FARHAN HAQ,
DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
TUESDAY, 21 JANUARY 2025
Occupied Palestinian Territory
In Gaza, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that a surge of humanitarian aid continues to enter the Strip.
OCHA says that our priorities include food assistance, opening bakeries, providing healthcare, restocking hospitals, repairing water networks, bringing material to repair shelters, and starting family reunifications.
Today, OCHA and its partners visited Jabalya camp in North Gaza governorate. They report that people there are creating makeshift shelters in the middle of the rubble. There is also a critical lack of access to water, with all wells destroyed, and the risk of unexploded ordnance remains high. We and our humanitarian partners are mobilizing to provide food and emergency shelter support.
With the ceasefire in place, displaced Palestinians have been making their way back home, with many returning to find mountains of rubble. According to our partners working on the shelter response, more than 90 per cent of housing units in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed over the past 15 months. Given the scale of destruction and needs in Gaza, we are working to get vital aid to people as fast as humanly possible.
We also urge Member States and partners to ensure that our aid operations are funded to meet the overwhelming needs.
Turning to the West Bank, OCHA is extremely concerned about the safety and wellbeing of Palestinians in Jenin city and Jenin refugee camp, where the Israeli forces have been operating today.
According to initial reports, air strikes, heavy bulldozing and the operation of undercover forces have resulted in several fatalities and dozens of injuries – including among medical personnel.
This latest Israeli operation in Jenin refugee camp follows weeks of clashes there between Palestinian forces and armed Palestinians. UNRWA says that, as of last week, about 2,000 families had been displaced from the camp during those clashes.
Previous Israeli operations in Jenin refugee camp have damaged critical infrastructure, and as a result, the camp remains largely disconnected from basic services, including water. Electricity and solid waste management have also been disrupted.
Earlier this month, the UN and our humanitarian partners were distributing mattresses and blankets to those displaced – but humanitarians have not been able to safely access the area more recently on a reliable basis.
Secretary-General
The Secretary-General arrived in Davos, Switzerland, this morning to attend the annual World Economic Forum.
Tomorrow morning, he will deliver a special address at the Forum. He is expected to say that climate change and ungoverned Artificial Intelligence are two profound threats that demand much more attention and intelligent collaboration than they are receiving, as they threaten to upend life as we know it. You can also expect him to reserve some sharp words at those parts of the private sector that are actively backtracking on climate goals.
Later this evening, the Secretary-General will participate in a Leadership Dialogue on Digital and Emerging Technologies, where he will promote the recently adopted Global Digital Compact as a tool that provides a new framework to help ensure that technology benefits all of humanity — guided by strong guardrails that minimize risks, while amplifying the benefits. He is expected to call on the private sector, the philanthropic community and Member States to work together with their relative strengths to ensure that Artificial Intelligence serves its highest purpose: advancing human progress, equality, and dignity for all countries and all people.
The Secretary-General will finish the day by delivering remarks at a dinner organized by Global Investors for Sustainable Development.
Security Council
This morning, the Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, spoke to the Security Council, during a session on countering terrorism in Africa.
She told Council members that Africa has remained the epicentre of global terrorism with the Sahel as ground zero for one of the world’s most brutal crises. For three straight years, terrorism-related deaths in that region have soared past 6,000, making up more than half of all global fatalities.
Burkina Faso is now leading the world in terrorism deaths with a staggering 68% increase, and with little support to help reverse this trend.
Ms. Mohammed told Council members that countering terrorism on the African continent must continue to innovate with an approach that holds the respect for human rights and the rule of law at its core.
First, she said, we need to continue to address the drivers of terrorism. Second, she added, we need human rights-based approaches to counter-terrorism, grounded in accountable and inclusive institutions. And third, the Deputy Secretary-General said that regional cooperation is the linchpin of any effective counter-terrorism strategy. Fragmenting our efforts only plays into the hands of the perpetrators.
She called for the coordination of all efforts, adding that the Security Council has a critical role in supporting African Union counter-terrorism initiatives, grounded in African leadership and solutions.
Syria
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs tells us that, amid heightened insecurity in eastern Aleppo, a UN humanitarian mission went to the city of Menbij yesterday.
The mission met with local authorities, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and local Non-Governmental Organizations to identify and address issues including those related to the Tishreen Dam, which continued to face attacks in its surrounding areas as of yesterday.
The team also visited the Menbij National Hospital, where health workers are working voluntarily with limited resources due to past looting of equipment, ambulances and generators.
Also yesterday, OCHA and the UN Children’s Fund – UNICEF- completed a monitoring mission to the Ain Al Bayda water station in eastern Aleppo, which had been recently rehabilitated with the support of the Syria Humanitarian Fund.
In addition to incidents linked to ongoing hostilities, civilians—particularly children—are also at risk from explosive ordnance contamination across several governorates. Our partners have recorded 69 explosive ordnance incidents over the first two weeks of January, in which 45 people were killed and 60 others wounded. Since 26 November, a total of 134 new areas with explosive remnants of war have been identified by partners across five governorates - Idlib, Aleppo, Hama, Deir-ez-Zor and Latakia.
As people continue to move and return to their communities, our partners are calling for increased and flexible funding for mine action, including risk education and emergency clearance, particularly roads and bridges.
And OCHA says that increased funding is also needed to ensure the continuation of services, including in camps sheltering displaced people.
And just to give you an example of the dire situation without sufficient funding - in north-west Syria, water and sanitation services have been suspended in many displacement camps due to funding gaps, affecting more than 635,000 people.
We continue to call for the support of the international community to bridge those gaps.
MALI
Turning to Mali, we and our partners, together with the country’s transitional authorities, today launched in Bamako a $770 million Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan to support millions of people across the country this year.
The Plan aims to address the urgent needs of 4.7 million people affected by conflict, displacement, health emergencies and climate shocks. Nearly 80 per cent of the people to be reached with aid are women and children. The Plan aims to provide them with food, water, healthcare and protection support, among other assistance.
The UN and our partners have worked closely with the Malian transitional authorities to develop the needs analysis and response plan. We’re also working hard to ensure humanitarian action complements and promotes resilience and longer-term development goals.
We’re grateful for the authorities’ continued leadership on these issues and welcome our ongoing partnership to deliver principled humanitarian aid and support resilience and development.
Last year, partners mobilized nearly 40 per cent of what was required – just over $270 million – enabling life-saving assistance and protection to reach 1.8 million people.
The Acting Humanitarian Coordinator there, Khassim Diagne, said that it is urgent that the entire humanitarian community and donors renew their commitment to addressing essential humanitarian needs.
Mozambique
Turning to Mozambique, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that access issues continue to hamper humanitarian operations in some parts of the country. Our humanitarian partners say that access restraints – including illegal checkpoints, unofficial requests for payments to cross checkpoints, and threats to NGO vehicles and other government convoys carrying aid – are affecting the main supply roads that our partners use in Cabo Delgado.
OCHA is engaging with provincial and district authorities, including community leaders, to advocate for the safe access and safety of humanitarian workers.
Meanwhile, insecurity across the provinces of Cabo Delgado and Nampula is also disrupting the delivery of humanitarian aid to more than 700,000 people impacted by the two recent cyclones in the country.
Climate
In response to questions on the White House announcement that the United States will withdraw from the Paris Agreement, the Deputy Spokesperson said the following:
The Paris Agreement was adopted by all the world’s nations in 2015 because they recognize the immense harm that climate change is already causing and the enormous opportunity that climate action presents. It offers a meaningful yet flexible framework for action by all countries.
The last ten years have been the hottest in recorded history. We have to look no further than Los Angeles to see this human, ecological and economic disaster play out. The collective efforts under the Paris Agreement have made a difference but we need to go much further and faster together.
The transformation envisaged in the Paris Agreement is already underway. The Paris Agreement has unleashed an energy revolution, offering unparalleled opportunities for countries and businesses to invest in renewables that power 21st century jobs and prosperity. Leaders must seize these opportunities in this critical decade for climate action.
The Secretary-General remains confident that cities, states and businesses within the United States -- along with other countries -- will continue to demonstrate vision and leadership by working for the low-carbon, resilient economic growth that will create quality jobs and markets for 21st century prosperity. It is crucial that the United States remains a leader on environmental issues.
WHO
The World Health Organization today said that it regrets the announcement that the United States of America intends to withdraw from the Organization. And I would also like to add the Secretary-General’s consistent support for the work of the World Health Organization.
WHO pointed out that the United States was a founding member of WHO in 1948 and has participated in shaping and governing WHO’s work ever since, alongside its other Member States, including through its active participation in the World Health Assembly and Executive Board.
For over seven decades, WHO and the USA have saved countless lives and protected Americans and all people from health threats. Together, WHO and the US ended smallpox, and together WHO and the U.S. have brought polio to the brink of eradication.
With the participation of the United States and other Member States, WHO has over the past seven years implemented the largest set of reforms in its history, to transform its accountability, cost-effectiveness, and impact in countries. This work continues.
WHO said that it hopes the United States will reconsider. The agency added that it looks forward to engaging in constructive dialogue to maintain the partnership between the USA and WHO, for the benefit of the health and well-being of millions of people across the globe.
Briefing today
Muhannad Hadi, the Deputy Special Coordinator, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator. Office of the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, briefed reporters on the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
