HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY FARHAN HAQ,
DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
WEDNESDAY, 22 JANUARY 2025
SECRETARY-GENERAL/TRAVELS
The Secretary-General delivered his address to the World Economic Forum in Davos today. He outlined how 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.
He called out parts of the private sector that are actively backtracking on climate goals, telling them: You are short-sighted and on the wrong side of history. “To the corporate leaders who remain committed to climate action,” the Secretary-General went on to say, “your leadership is needed now, more than ever. Do not back down. Stay on the right side of history.”
Regarding Artificial Intelligence, the Secretary-General underscored how, through the Global Digital Compact, the United Nations is working with governments, industry, and civil society to ensure that AI becomes a tool of opportunity, inclusion and progress for all people.
In remarks afterwards, the Secretary-General said that we have witnessed in recent days in Gaza an example of robust diplomacy that should be recognized.
The Secretary-General also participated in the annual off-the-record IGWELL lunch organized by the World Economic Forum, and he also continued with a number of bilateral meetings.
COLOMBIA
This morning, Carlos Ruiz Massieu, the head of the UN Verification Mission in Colombia, briefed Security Council members. He said that, as last year ended, Colombians celebrated the eighth anniversary of the Peace Agreement, but that tragically, the first days of the year have been marred by violence in the Catatumbo region of northeast Colombia.
This has resulted in the deaths of dozens of people, including former combatants, signatories of the Peace Agreement, as well as local leaders and members of communities. Thousands of people have also been displaced.
Mr. Ruiz Massieu called again for armed groups to cease all actions that place at risk the civilian population, and to allow unhindered access for
humanitarian responders.
Local teams of the Verification Mission have assisted in the evacuation of
at-risk persons including ex-combatants from the areas of confrontation,
and UN humanitarian colleagues are offering their support to the affected
population, he said.
Yesterday evening, the Secretary-General also issued a statement calling for an immediate cessation of violence and reiterating the importance of fully implementing the Final Peace Agreement as the cornerstone for consolidating peace in Colombia.
This afternoon, Council members will hear from the Secretary-General's Special Representative on Haiti, María Isabel Salvador, and the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Ghada Waly.
COLOMBIA/HUMANITARIAN
Earlier today, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Colombia, Mireia Villar Forner, together with the Government, launched the 2025 Humanitarian Response Plan for Community Priorities. It seeks $342 million to address the urgent needs of 2 million of the most vulnerable people in the country, where more than 9 million people need assistance this year.
The plan focuses on empowering local communities and responders, particularly in critical areas such as the Pacific region and the border with Venezuela. Women, children, and indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities remain the most affected by conflict and climate-related emergencies in Colombia.
YEMEN
The UN welcomes the release of the 25-member crew of the Galaxy Leader cargo ship that was taken hostage in November 2023 while transiting the Red Sea.
In a statement, Hans Grundberg, our Special Envoy for Yemen, said that this is a step in the right direction. He urged Ansar Allah to continue these positive steps on all fronts, including ending all maritime attacks. These measures are critical in improving the space for mediation, he added, which in the long-term will facilitate the resumption of the Yemeni political process that millions of Yemenis have been yearning for.
Mr. Grundberg also expressed his gratitude to the Sultanate of Oman for its determined and tireless efforts to advocate for the release of the Galaxy Leader crew.
For his part, the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Arsenio Dominguez, stated that IMO will continue to rigorously uphold its commitment to the safety of seafarers worldwide, who continue to face risks in their essential work.
The UN reaffirms the importance of ensuring that international law be respected in full in relation to maritime navigation.
GAZA
The Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process ad interim, Sigrid Kaag, visited southern and central Gaza today. This is her first visit since the ceasefire started on 19 January.
In Khan Younis, she visited a newly built temporary learning space where 3,000 children get education, supported by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Ms. Kaag also spoke with children and mothers at a nutrition centre and a centre focused on mental health and psychosocial support.
The Special Coordinator has so far held several meetings in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory and continues to engage the countries of the region. She also spoke earlier this week with Kaja Kallas, the Vice-President of the European Commission, about the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) today said that the UN and its partners are seizing every opportunity presented by the ceasefire to step up our support to people across the Gaza Strip. This includes increasing the flow of incoming supplies and deliveries, as well as scaling up storage capacity, repair work, life-saving services, and needs and damage assessments.
OCHA says the UN and its partners are dispatching incoming supplies to designated emergency shelters and distribution centres across the Gaza Strip. We are distributing food parcels and flour and working to reopen bakeries.
Yesterday and Monday, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) distributed 118 trucks of more than 53,000 food parcels to communities in Khan Younis and to the UNRWA shelters in Deir al Balah.
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) says that yesterday, 20 trucks carrying critical supplies - including for safe births, emergency obstetric care, postpartum kits, contraceptives and winter items - were offloaded in Deir al Balah. Twenty more trucks carrying UNFPA assistance are entering northern Gaza today.
The UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is distributing fuel to ensure that critical services such as healthcare and water pumping and desalination can run on back-up generators, in the absence of electricity.
The UN and its partners are also supporting infrastructure repairs, including to water wells and desalination plants.
The UN humanitarian partners are carrying out rapid assessments in newly accessible areas to identify people’s most urgent needs, including water, hygiene, sanitation and healthcare. They are also stepping up disease surveillance efforts.
The UN and its partners are setting up trauma stabilization points to handle emergency cases and are mobilizing specialized care teams.
In the West Bank. OCHA warns that the ongoing operation by Israeli forces in Jenin is putting people's safety and welfare at risk, while destroying infrastructure as basic as roads, electricity and water pipes. Ten people have reportedly been killed, with dozens more injured.
OCHA warns that since yesterday, the Jenin Government Hospital has been disconnected from the water grid and electricity network. It relies on dwindling water reserves from emergency tanks that were installed just weeks ago in preparation for such situations, through an allocation by the occupied Palestinian territory Humanitarian Fund, which is managed by OCHA. UN partners are set to refill water and full reserves at the hospital as soon as they secure access to the facility.
LEBANON
According to a new food security assessment, nearly a third of Lebanon’s population is facing acute food insecurity following the escalation of conflict in late 2024.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis on Lebanon, developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Ministry of Agriculture, shows that some 1.65 million people in Lebanon are now facing crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity, which is IPC phase 3 or above, up from 1.26 million before the escalation. Meanwhile, 201,000 people are grappling with emergency levels, which is IPC phase 4, twice the number as before.
The report projects that food insecurity is expected to persist over the next three months, with no short-term return to pre-crisis conditions. With challenges ahead, ongoing humanitarian efforts in supporting recovery will be critical.
SYRIA
In Syria, the UN and its humanitarian partners continue to support the response across the country, as security permits. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that from 14 to 20 January, 44 trucks carrying over 1,000 tons of food aid from the World Food Programme (WFP) have crossed from Türkiye to northern Aleppo through the Bab Al-Salam border crossing.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), WFP and the World Health Organization (WHO) - with the support of community health workers - continue to screen children and breastfeeding women for malnutrition across the country. In the cities of Homs and Hama, UNICEF and its partners have deployed mobile teams to provide nutrition services following the return of thousands of families.
In the north-east, more than 20 medical mobile units are providing primary health consultations and support for critical cases in collective centres in Ar-Raqqa, Al-Hasakeh governorates and Ain al-Arab district. And over the past week, more than 6,300 patients received medical consultations.
However, underfunding is affecting the health response, and OCHA tells us that in the north-west, nearly half of 60 emergency obstetric and newborn care facilities are facing imminent financial risks, putting the survival of pregnant mothers and newborns at risk.
DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL/TRIP ANNOUNCEMENT
The Deputy Secretary-General, Amina J. Mohammed, will travel later today to attend the Nineteenth Seminar for Special and Personal Representatives and Envoys of the UN Secretary-General.
Following the seminar, she will travel to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, arriving on Sunday, 26 January 2025, to attend the Africa Heads of States Energy Summit on behalf of the Secretary-General and meet with senior government officials and stakeholders. During the Deputy Secretary-General’s engagements, she will aim to raise ambition of national commitments to provide energy access to 300 million people across Africa and strengthen action with partners to implement a sustainable and fair energy transition. The Deputy Secretary-General will return to New York next Wednesday.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) is deeply concerned by the deteriorating security situation in the country’s East. In recent days, the M23 armed group, which has continued to occupy new territories in North Kivu province, reportedly seized Minova yesterday. Minova is a critical hub along the supply route to Goma.
Also in North Kivu, the peacekeeping mission reports that heavy clashes persist between the M23, the Congolese Armed Forces, and other armed groups, particularly near Sake. Yesterday, fighting in Bweremana claimed at least 10 lives, triggering displacement flows towards Kalehe in South Kivu, as well as to Goma and Rusayo, while exchanges of mortar shells continue to threaten men, women and children in sites for displaced people in the area.
Since Saturday, the armed group has captured other localities in South Kivu, resulting in casualties and the displacement of over 250,000 people. Following MONUSCO’s withdrawal from South Kivu in June 2024, UN peacekeepers are no longer present in the province.
MONUSCO reiterates that it is imperative that the group lay down its weapons and abides by the cease-fire in place since 4 August. The peacekeeping mission also urges all parties to remain committed to the Luanda process.
SUDAN
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is deeply concerned about the impact of a series of reported drone attacks on civilians and critical civilian infrastructure in the northern, eastern and central areas of Sudan.
Today, an attack reportedly targeted the um Dabakir power station around Kosti, south of the capital, Khartoum. This follows another reported strike on a power station in Northern State earlier this week, which disrupted electricity and water supplies to the capital Dongola and surrounding areas.
Attacks were also reported over the weekend. This included an attack on a hydroelectric facility at the Girba Dam in Kassala state on January 18th, which knocked out power to hospitals and healthcare facilities, as well as drone attacks that same day on power stations in Gedaref and Sennar states.
A week ago, a reported attack on the Merowe Dam – which is the largest dam in the country – severely disrupted water and electricity in Khartoum, Northern and River Nile states.
OCHA says that major cuts to water and power risk depriving people of access to critical health services and safe water supplies.
The UN stresses that, under international humanitarian law, the parties have a clear obligation not to attack objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population. They must also take all feasible precautions to avoid and minimize incidental civilian harm.
SOMALIA
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that the UN, along with its partners and together with the Government, today launched the 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for Somalia.
It aims to support some 4.6 million of the most vulnerable people in the country with humanitarian and protection assistance. These efforts will require $1.43 billion.
OCHA notes that Somalia continues to face a complex, protracted humanitarian crisis fueled by conflict, insecurity, poverty, widespread displacement, climate shocks, disease outbreaks, and lack of access to basic services. Nearly 6 million Somalis are estimated to need humanitarian assistance in 2025 – with women, girls, and marginalized communities particularly vulnerable.
Despite major access challenges, humanitarian organizations managed to reach 3.5 million people in Somalia last year with at least one form of assistance.
The country is now experiencing widespread dry conditions following poor October to December rains. OCHA says that at least 4.4 million people face high levels of acute food insecurity, and 1.6 million children are likely to suffer from acute malnutrition through July.
HOLOCAUST
Tomorrow, at 1:00 p.m., the Holocaust and United Nations Outreach Programme Education, along with UN Publications, will host a book launch and discussion with Professor Debórah Dwork, the author of Saints and Liars.
The launch will take place at the UN Bookshop and will be broadcast live on the UN Publications Facebook page.
This is one of many events hosted by the Holocaust and UN Outreach Programme ahead of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust.
HONOUR ROLL
In the past couple of days, the UN had payments to the regular budget from Australia, Azerbaijan, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden and Ukraine, which take us up to 24 fully paid-up nations.
