HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY FARHAN HAQ,
DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
TUESDAY, 18 JUNE 2024
SMALL ARMS AND LIGHT WEAPONS
This morning, Izumi Nakamitsu, the head of our Office for Disarmament Afairs, delivered remarks on behalf of the Secretary-General at the 4th Conference to review the implementation of the programme of action on small arms and light weapons.
In the remarks, the Secretary-General said the Conference arrives at a difficult and dangerous moment for humanity with global military expenditures on the rise. He added there is nothing “small” or “light” about the damage these weapons cause.
The New Agenda for Peace recognizes the vital importance of small arms control in preventing conflict and sustaining peace and makes a number of recommendations to strengthen national, regional and global arms control efforts on both the supply and demand side.
This Fourth Review Conference is a critical opportunity to ensure that these instruments continue to adapt to changing circumstances.
The Secretary-General called for bold and action-oriented recommendations that can strengthen this framework — particularly around new and emerging technologies, weapons-diversion, gender and international co-operation and assistance.
OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that displaced families in Gaza continue to face dire conditions and significant challenges in accessing basic services. Additionally, according to recent assessments led by OCHA and humanitarian partners on 7 June, critically low access to water was reported as a key concern.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says that it remains concerned about the escalating health crisis in the occupied Palestinian territory, including the West Bank, where attacks on health infrastructure and increased restrictions on movement are obstructing access to health care.
As of 28 May, WHO has documented 480 attacks on health care in the West Bank since 7 October 2023. These include attacks on health infrastructure and ambulances, detention of health workers and patients, obstruction of their access to health facilities, use of force on health workers and militarized searches of ambulances and staff.
Meanwhile in the West Bank, the closure of checkpoints, arbitrary obstructions, and detentions of health workers, rising insecurity, as well as the siege and closure of entire towns and communities has made movement within the West Bank increasingly restricted, impeding access to health facilities.
And a preliminary assessment released by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) finds that the environmental impacts of the war in Gaza are unprecedented, exposing the community to rapidly growing soil, water and air pollution and risks of irreversible damage to its natural ecosystems. UNEP reiterates the call for an immediate ceasefire to protect lives and eventually help mitigate the conflict’s environmental impacts. The authors find that resolving immediate and chronic environmental challenges in Gaza is key for its people’s health and must be integrated into recovery and reconstruction plans.
SECURITY COUNCIL
This morning, briefing the Security Council on the situation in the Sudan, Martha Pobee, the Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, said that we are deeply worried that the fighting in and around El Fasher could lead to more mass suffering by the civilian population, warning that there are atrocities along ethnic lines. She stressed that a ceasefire in El Fasher is needed now to prevent further atrocities, protect critical infrastructure, and alleviate civilian suffering, adding that it could and should also pave the way for a broader-scale cessation of hostilities.
Also briefing Council members, Edem Wosornu, the Director of Operations and Advocacy in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said that fourteen months of conflict have created a nightmare for civilians in Sudan – with the people of El Fasher at the epicentre today. Amid unrelenting violence and suffering, she warned, the lives of 800,000 people hang in the balance.
Ms. Wosornu warned that in addition to the direct toll on civilians, the conflict is also deepening humanitarian needs across the country. She said that almost 5 million people face emergency levels of food insecurity and over 2 million people in 41 hunger hotspots are at high risk of slipping into catastrophic hunger in the coming weeks. Women report having to watch their children starve because they cannot feed them.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) reports that over the weekend, suspected members of a Mayi-Mayi armed group attacked a UN patrol dispatched near Butembo, in the North Kivu province, leaving one peacekeeper wounded. The injured peacekeeper was evacuated to Goma for medical treatment and is reportedly in stable condition.
The patrol was dispatched in response to recent attacks on civilians by Allied Democratic Forces, late last week in which at least 42 civilians were killed.
Meanwhile, in response to recent clashes between the M23 and the Congolese Armed forces in Kanyabayonga, also in North Kivu, MONUSCO is continuing joint patrols with the Congolese armed forces to protect the population. These patrols are contributing to restoring a sense of safety, encouraging a small number of residents to cautiously return to the area.
UKRAINE
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) today said that attacks and hostilities over the last four days across Ukraine continued to cause multiple civilian casualties, including among children. The regions of Donetsk, Kharkiv and Poltava, in the east and the centre of the country, were particularly affected, with homes and civilian facilities having been damaged, as well as disruptions to the power supply. That’s according to the authorities and partners on the ground.
Following an attack in the Poltava Region, humanitarian partners provided psychological support and delivered repair materials, reaching more than 200 people. Aid workers also distributed construction materials for emergency repairs to the affected families in the Donetsk, Kharkiv and Dnipro Regions whose homes were damaged by recent attacks.
HAITI
Yesterday, in Haiti, two cargo flights organized through the World Food Programme (WFP) landed in the capital, Port-au-Prince, carrying 55 tonnes of medicine, shelter and hygiene materials. These supplies will be used to assist displaced people and to prepare for the hurricane season.
WFP’s school meals programme has now distributed some 30 million meals across the country since the start of the current school year. Of these, nearly 17 million meals have been provided through its programme that supports local farmers.
As we previously said, the education sector has been severely impacted by the recent violence, with more than 200,000 children and 4,000 teachers affected in the Ouest and Artibonite departments. Across the capital, 39 schools have also been transformed into displacement sites and have therefore stopped functioning as schools.
Since 8 June, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Haitian education ministry have started running classes and courses to compensate for missed classes over the past few months across 30 centers in Port-au-Prince.
DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL
The Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, is in Paris today. Yesterday she spoke at the first Transforming Education Summit Stocktake. The Deputy Secretary-General said that while some progress had been made since the Transforming Education Summit in September 2022, much more work was needed to address inequalities and provide quality and relevant education for all. She added that there was still an urgent need for increased investments to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4 on quality education and stressed the importance of prioritizing education in meetings with ministers, civil society leaders, and other partners.
Ms. Mohammed also held meetings with SDG finance stakeholders including on issues related to the reform of the international financial architecture.
She will return to New York tonight.
LEBANON
During the Eid holiday, the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, and the UNIFIL Force Commander, Lt. Gen. Aroldo Lázaro, jointly called for all actors along the Blue Line to put down their weapons and commit to a path of peace.
Since October, they said, we have seen too many lives lost, families uprooted, and neighbourhoods destroyed. They expressed concern about the latest escalation and said that the danger of miscalculation leading to a sudden and wider conflict is very real.
And it is with great sadness that we learn of the passing of General Claudio Graziano, who served as UNIFIL's Head of Mission and Force Commander from 2007 to 2010. Our sincere condolences to his family and the Government of Italy.
WEST AFRICA
The World Food Programme (WFP) is ramping up its food and nutrition assistance programme in West and Central Africa, targeting 7.3 million people during the ongoing June to August lean season.
The programme supports national governments’ lean season response plans in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Nigeria.
WFP says the number of people targeted as part of the programme could expand to 12 million people if adequate funding allows. But, they say, dwindling resources available for humanitarian operations means that despite near-record level needs, WFP has been forced to assist less people than originally planned.
Nearly 55 million people in the region are projected to face acute hunger between now and August. That is four times more than 5 years ago. Malnutrition has also reached very high levels, with an estimated 17 million children under five acutely malnourished.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Earlier today in Geneva, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk opened the 56th session of the Human Rights Council. Presenting his global update, the High Commissioner voiced his dismay at the extent to which warring parties have pushed beyond the boundaries of what is acceptable - and legal - on many fronts, trampling human rights at their core. “We urgently need to find our way back to peace, in line with the UN Charter and international law,” Mr. Türk stressed. Later in the day, he also presented his update on the human rights situation in Myanmar.
NEW RESIDENT COORDINATORS
The Secretary-General has appointed new Resident Coordinators to Georgia and The Gambia, followed by the respective host Governments’ approval.
Didier Trebucq from France started his new function over the weekend as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Georgia. He brings more than 24 years of experience in sustainable development, climate change, social cohesion, crisis prevention and humanitarian action with the United Nations and International Organizations. He previously served as the UN Resident Coordinator for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean states, covering 10 countries and territories.
Karl Frédérick Paul of Haiti is now the Resident Coordinator in The Gambia. He brings 20 years of extensive experience in development and humanitarian work, having held leadership roles within NGOs across Africa and Latin America. Before joining the UN, he was the Resident Representative for Plan International in Burkina Faso and Benin. He also served as Country Director for CARE in Haiti.
REFUGEES
Ahead of World Refugee Day this Thursday, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) would like to invite you to two exhibits at the UN which highlight the skills and talents that refugees bring to the communities that welcome them. The first is an art exhibit entitled “Interwoven: Refugee murals across borders”, which is at the UN Visitor’s Lobby as of today through the end of July. This exhibition presents a collection of murals created through a collaborative process, travelling from different locations and refugee camps where refugees and host communities contributed to their creation. The second exhibit is the Made51 exhibit which showcases refugee craftsmanship– from home décor, to accessories and jewelry. You can go see it by the curved wall in the UN Conference Building, and that will be there until Thursday.
And staying on the same topic, UNHCR today announced the appointment of the British actor Theo James as its newest global Goodwill Ambassador. Mr. James is a producer and star of dramas like “The Gentlemen” and “The White Lotus”, and he has been supporting the work of UNHCR since 2016. He has travelled to meet asylum-seekers and refugees in Greece, France and Jordan and has helped raise awareness of the importance of securing access to mental health services for refugees. We wish him the best of luck.
INTERNATIONAL DAYS
Today is the International Day for Countering Hate Speech. In a message, the Secretary-General notes that hate speech is a marker of discrimination, abuse, violence, conflict, and even crimes against humanity, and we have seen this play out from Nazi Germany to Rwanda, Bosnia and beyond.
He stressed that there is no acceptable level of hate speech; we must all work to eradicate it completely.
And today is also Sustainable Gastronomy Day.
BEHROOZ SADRY
The Secretary-General was saddened to learn of the death of Behrooz Sadry, who served as a valued United Nations senior leader for decades. Mr. Sadry was the Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative in five peacekeeping missions from the 1980s through the early 2000s, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Angola, Mozambique and Cambodia. For more than four decades, he was a trusted colleague and crucial part of UN peacekeeping operations, both at UN Headquarters and in the field. We extend our condolences to his family.
BRIEFING TOMORROW
Tomorrow, at 9:00 a.m., there will be a briefing here by the Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, along with Ambassador Maritza Chan-Valverde, President-designate of RevCon4 and Ivor Fung, Chief of the Conventional Arms Branch in the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA). They will brief you on the Fourth Review Conference on the Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons.
