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HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC

SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES

FRIDAY, 10 FEBRUARY 2023

Martin Griffiths, the Emergency Relief Coordinator, has just announced an additional US$25 million grant to boost aid efforts in the earthquake-stricken parts of Syria.
The additional aid will aim to address some of the most urgent needs of the hundreds of thousands of people impacted by this earthquake.
Mr. Griffiths is in Ankara today and had separate meetings with Vice President, Fuat Oktay and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.
The discussion focused on the earthquake response and the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Mr. Griffiths affirmed the support of the UN for Türkiye’s efforts following the devastating earthquake.
Mr. Griffiths also visited the [Turkish] disaster management agency - the National Disaster Management Operations Centre-, where representatives of the Turkish Government, national and international NGOs, the United Nations, and others are based to support the Government’s coordination and response efforts.
The UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination Team are also embedded in that Centre to strengthen the coordination and support the Turkish authorities. Mr. Griffiths also met with the head of the National disaster agency, Governor Yunus Sezer.

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On the ground, the UN is continuing to mobilize emergency teams and relief operations. Some 130 International Urban Search and Rescue Teams are working in the earthquake impacted area of Türkiye. Another 57 international search and rescue teams are on their way. At the Government’s request, two UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination teams with a total of 50 members have been deployed to Gaziantep and to four hubs in the impacted area to support the coordination of the operations.
A separate UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination team has arrived in Syria and is deploying to Aleppo, Homs and Latakia to support the response there.
We are working to rapidly scale up its assistance, including through cross-border aid operations, as humanitarian needs are overwhelming in the aftermath of the earthquake.
Today, a second UN aid convoy since the earthquakes struck crossed the Bab al Hawa crossing from Türkiye into north-west Syria. The convoy comprised 14 trucks loaded with shelter and non-food items. Those have been provided by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Humanitarian organizations are supporting immediate response efforts in Syria, including the provision of food and non-food items, portable water, medicines, first aid and trauma care, dignity kits and other protection interventions.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has delivered urgently needed food aid to 115,000 people in Türkiye and Syria in the first four days since the earthquake struck. Distribution is ongoing.
The World Health Organization, for its part, delivered 72 metric tons of trauma and emergency surgery supplies to both countries to support the ongoing response efforts. 
A first charter flight departed to Türkiye on 9 February, carrying 37 metric tons of life-saving supplies, and a second flight is scheduled to deliver 35 metric tons of supplies to Syria today.
In both Türkiye and Syria, the UN Population Fund is delivering reproductive health services to earthquake survivors, especially pregnant women, through existing delivery points in Türkiye, and is also distributing dignity kits, containing basic hygiene items, as well as maternity kits for new mothers and their babies.
UNFPA has begun distributing 60,000 prepositioned dignity kits to women and girls in need in that were in northwest Syria.
This weekend, UNFPA will dispatch two trucks with reproductive health supplies, medicines and equipment to meet women and girls' unique needs across the border into the northwest of Syria; through the Bab al Hawa crossing. Distribution of prepositioned kits has started today.
UNFPA reported that a convoy of 13 trucks arrived in Aleppo carrying basic hygiene supplies, blankets, winter clothing and essential items for pregnant and lactating women. Supplies are being distributed at shelters and women and girls' safe spaces in Aleppo and rural Aleppo districts and that is today.
Six trucks will take essential hygiene items, blankets and supplies for pregnant and lactating women to Latakia and Hama over the weekend.
For its part, the UN Refugee Agency had a preliminary estimate that as many as 5.3 million people in Syria may have been left homeless by the earthquake. The agency is focusing on providing shelter and relief items, ensuring that collective centres that displaced have gone to have adequate facilities, as well as tents, plastic sheeting, thermal blankets, sleeping mats, winter clothing and more.

BLACK SEA GRAIN INITIATIVE
The UN Coordinator for the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Abdullah Dashti, concluded yesterday a three-day visit to Türkiye’s capital, Ankara, where he met with senior government officials and members of the diplomatic community, including representatives of the parties. Mr. Dashti reiterated the appreciation of the UN for the continuous support of the Government of Türkiye for the implementation of the Initiative, even as the authorities scale up their response to the devastating earthquakes in the country earlier this week.
Mr. Dashti highlighted that more than 20.6 million tons of grain and food products have so far been safely transported from Ukrainian ports under the Initiative and that demand for further exports remains high. He also noted that the Initiative continues to help bring down global food prices after the record highs of 2022.
The UN Coordinator [for the Black Sea Grain Initiative] emphasized that the extension of the Initiative beyond 18 March would allow for the considerable achievements to date to be further built upon. He noted that the work taking place in Istanbul by the Joint Coordination Centre has implications for the food security of many millions of people all around the world, and it is essential that we all do what we can to ensure that this Initiative continues.
Mr. Dashti also emphasized that the Initiative allows for the export of fertilizers from the Ukrainian ports, including ammonia, and highlighted ongoing efforts by the UN to facilitate those exports. He noted that both grain and fertilizer are urgent and critical to comprehensively address global food insecurity.

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL/TRIP ANNOUNCEMENT
The Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, is traveling to Washington, to have meetings with the Executive Board of the World Bank to discuss the acceleration of SDGs, the Bank’s “Evolution” strategy, strengthening coordination between the UN and the World Bank at country level, and brief on her recent trip to Afghanistan. She will also meet with senior members of the US Government, and the diplomatic community in Washington.
She is travelling early this afternoon and she will be back in New York on 12 February.

UKRAINE
Turning to Ukraine. We have received reports from our humanitarian colleagues about another massive attack across the country, which resulted in several civilian casualties and damaged energy and other infrastructure, interrupting basic services amidst freezing temperatures.
In view of today’s latest large-scale missile and drone attack against Ukrainian cities, the Secretary-General reiterates what he has said when it concerns attacks on civilian infrastructure anywhere, that any attacks against critical civilian infrastructure are unacceptable and must cease immediately.
In Kharkiv alone, some 150,000 households and businesses have no electricity, which is what local authorities are telling us. Electricity supplies and heating were also disrupted in Zaporizhzhia in the south-east. The city suffered one of the most intensive attacks, which damaged energy infrastructure and other premises, according to city administrators.
On the humanitarian response side, today, we sent another inter-agency convoy with humanitarian aid to Ocheretyne, a community in the Donetsk region, which is 18 km from the front line. We have provided medical supplies, solar lamps, hygiene kits, bedding and other supplies.
About 3,600 people including some 200 children have stayed behind in the village, which used to have more than 23,000 people before the war, including 6,000 who had been previously uprooted by the conflict in eastern Ukraine, and that’s according to our colleagues on the ground. Almost 20,000 of them have been forced to flee.
The people in the area have had no gas supplies since February of last year, and access to water and electricity, as in many parts of Ukraine, is unstable.
The lack of transport is also impacting access to health services. There are also a number of small communities in similar conditions – some of them are now under the military control of the Russian Federation. Some of the villages do not have health services.
Local authorities are making every effort to support them and today OCHA facilitated the delivery of supplies from the International Organization of Migration, the UN Refugee Agency, UNICEF and the World Health Organization, which is meant to be distributed to residents.

NICARAGUA
In response to questions about the situation in Nicaragua and the release of over 200 political prisoners there, the spokesman said this has been a positive development as it has been a longstanding request since 2018 from the Secretary-General, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and multiple UN human rights mechanisms.
As the Universal Declaration of Human Rights makes clear, every person worldwide is entitled to respect for their human rights, including freedom of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly, and association.

DRC
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, clashes between the Congolese army and the M23 resumed yesterday in the area around Sake, in North Kivu province, triggering displacement towards Goma and the South Kivu province. The UN peacekeeping Mission, dispatched a patrol on the Sake-Goma axis and continues to deploy efforts to protect civilians. It is also coordinating with humanitarian partners to assess the situation and provide adequate responses to alleviate human suffering.
And our colleagues in the peacekeeping mission paid tribute and bid farewell to the fallen peacekeeper from South Africa, Sergeant Vusi Mabena, who – as you will recall - died in the 5 February attack in North Kivu province, in a helicopter. The body of Sergeant Mabena will be repatriated to South Africa tomorrow.
Meanwhile, our high-level delegation met yesterday in Kinshasa with the country’s Prime Minister, Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde Kyenge. You will recall that the delegation is made up of Martha Pobee, the Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Elizabeth Spehar, who leads the Peacebuilding Support office, and Alexandre Zouev, of the Rule of Law and Security Institutions office in the peacekeeping department and UNDP Assistant Administrator and Regional Director for Africa, Ahunna Eziakonwa.
Their discussions included priorities, such as the national Disarmament, Demobilization, Community Recovery and Stabilization programme, as well as regional initiatives – which include the Luanda and Nairobi processes – aimed at de-escalating tensions and pacifying the eastern part of the country and UN support for upcoming presidential elections.

ZAMBIA
In Zambia, the UN team, led by Beatrice Mutali, the Resident Coordinator, is supporting the Zambian government’s response to the cholera outbreak along with ongoing severe floods that have displaced over 170,000 men, women and children in 22 districts of Zambia. This challenges the access to basic services, like schools and hospitals. This has also impacted agriculture and livestock and destroyed critical infrastructure, like roads, bridges, schools, clinics and houses.
Our team is providing technical support to authorities while mobilizing funding to bridge a gap of $32 million for risk communication, water and sanitation, food and other items, among other needs. We are also tackling a cholera outbreak in three districts, where 90 cases and three deaths have been recorded.
Since December, UNICEF has provided 4.5 tonnes of granular chlorine, 20,000 bottles of liquid chlorine for household water treatment, and 250 containers of disinfectant, and other critical supplies to keep the water safe.
For its part, the World Health Organization (WHO) is working with authorities to strengthen assessment capacities along with surveillance, contact tracing, and lab preparations for cholera vaccination.


INTERNATIONAL DAYS
Today is World Pulses Day. Pulses can contribute to climate change mitigation by reducing dependence on the synthetic fertilizers used to introduce nitrogen artificially into the soil.
Tomorrow, Saturday, is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. In his message, the Secretary-General underscores that women and girls bring diversity to research, expand the pool of science professionals, and provide a fresh perspective benefiting everyone. Yet in too many places around the world, women and girls’ access to education is limited or denied completely.
And on Sunday, we mark the International Day for the Prevention of Violent Extremism as and when Conducive to Terrorism. Violent extremism is an affront to the purposes and principles of the UN.
This day aims to raise awareness of the threats linked to violent extremism, and to enhance international cooperation in this regard.

HONOUR ROLL
Kiribati is the 39^th Member State on the honour roll for paying its dues to the 2023 regular budget in full.