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HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY FARHAN HAQ,
DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
TUESDAY, 16 MAY 2023

SECRETARY-GENERAL IN JAMAICA
The Secretary-General is now back in New York. Yesterday, in a press encounter in the afternoon with the Prime Minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness, Mr. Guterres said that when we look at today’s international financial architecture, we are facing a moral, power and practical problems. These problems, he added, are impacting countries like Jamaica.
He said it was important to hear the perspective of the Prime Minister so that he is able to translate the dramatic needs and interests of developing countries, and countries like Jamaica, in initiatives we are developing, and also when he will be addressing G7 leaders later this week.
Turning to Haiti, the Secretary-General reiterated the need – expressed in his proposal to the Security Council last year – for a non-UN international police force to crack down on gangs. This, he added, needs to take place in parallel with a political process.
He acknowledged that this has been a difficult exercise, but once again asked the international community to understand that an effective solidarity with Haiti is not only a matter of generosity, it is essentially a matter of enlightened self-interest, because the present situation in Haiti reflects a threat to the security of the region as a whole and further afield.

HAITI
The Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, has allocated $9 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to support relief efforts in Haiti.
Haiti has seen a massive deterioration of the humanitarian situation due to exploding violence and insecurity.
Overall, the number of people who need humanitarian assistance in Haiti has doubled over the past five years, rising to 5.2 million people.
This includes a 30 per cent jump in the number of children suffering severe acute malnutrition, compared to a year ago.
This year’s Humanitarian Response Plan for Haiti is the largest since the devastating 2010 earthquake. Unfortunately, our $720 million appeal for Haiti is only 12 per cent funded.

SECURITY COUNCIL
This morning, the Security Council held a briefing on the G5 Sahel. In her remarks, Martha Pobee, the Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, said that the G5 Sahel Joint Force has made steady progress in its operationalization and is also restructuring itself following Mali’s withdrawal of the force and the reconfiguration of European and French Forces. Ms. Pobee also mentioned the expected end in June of the Tripartite Agreement between the European Union, the G5 Sahel and the UN.
But, she added, the international community’s efforts have fallen short of what is required to render the Joint Force fully operational and autonomous with the capacity to help stabilize the Sahel region.
Resolute advances in the fight against terrorism, violent extremism and organized crime in the Sahel are desperately needed. Without significant gains, she said, it will become increasingly difficult to reverse the security trajectory in the Sahel, and further expansion of insecurity towards coastal West African countries.

SUDAN
In Sudan, the United Nations along with humanitarian partners are continuing to scale up our response to spiraling needs all over the country.
The World Health Organization has delivered 30 tons of medical supplies to Al-Jazirah state. Trauma supplies to treat 2,400 people were delivered yesterday to five hospitals there and three hospitals in the capital, Khartoum.
WHO also supports the delivery of critical items to its partners and has additional supplies in the pipeline. Those will be released as soon as the security situation and logistics situation allow.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian partners are resuming operations in some states in the Darfur region.
For example, in North Darfur, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has helped deliver some 235,000 liters of clean water to eight health care facilities and one nutrition centre. UNICEF is also distributing water, sanitation and health supplies for nearly 15,700 patients at more than a dozen healthcare facilities.
And in Eastern Darfur, UNICEF has provided clean water to some 40,000 people in the Elneem camp for internally displaced people.

CHAD
Following the start of conflict in Sudan a month ago, approximately 80,000 people have arrived in Chad, including 60,000 refugees and 20,000 Chadian who are returning home.
Chad was already home to over one million forcibly displaced persons, including about 600,000 refugees, mainly from Sudan, the Central African Republic (CAR), Cameroon and Nigeria.
So far, 3,000 refugee families have received non-food items from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and UNICEF. UNICEF has also installed water points and distributed water treatment material, ready-to-use therapeutic food, as well as essential medicines to health centres to ensure the treatment of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
The World Food Programme (WFP) for its part has distributed food and nutrition supplies to more than 20,000 new refugees in eight different locations along the eastern border, while the UN Population Fund is boosting reproductive health support, with dignity kits and other supplies.
The UN team, led by Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Violet Kakyomya, is concerned about the imminent start of the rainy season, as thousands of people need transportation from border areas to other locations before roads become obstructed.
The Government of Chad and the UN are calling on international partners to provide more financial and material assistance to refugees and returnees.

MYANMAR
Cyclone Mocha has been one of the strongest ever to hit Myanmar. 5.4 million people are expected to have been in the path of the cyclone in Rakhine and in the northwest.
Right now, health, relief items, shelter, and water, sanitation and hygiene support are the top priorities, given the high risk of waterborne and communicable diseases.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that to deliver aid, humanitarian agencies will need access to people impacted by the cyclone, as well as expedited travel authorizations and customs clearances for supplies. There will be a need of a massive investment of funds.
The $764 million Humanitarian Response Plan is less than 10 per cent funded. Some 17.6 million men, women and children are already in need in Myanmar, and that was before the disaster.

COLOMBIA
The Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Joyce Msuya, is in Bogotá, Colombia, for a five-day visit to Colombia.
She is meeting with senior officials from the Government, representatives of aid organizations, and humanitarian donors.
While in Colombia, she will underscore the UN’s continued support for the Government’s efforts to end armed conflict and respond to humanitarian emergencies.

PLASTIC POLLUTION
A new report from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) say that plastic pollution could be reduced by 80 per cent and result in savings of over $300 billion per year if countries and companies make deep policy and market shifts using existing technologies. The report recommends first eliminating unnecessary plastics to reduce the size of the problem, and then implementing the reuse, recycling and reorientation and diversification of plastic products. The report also suggests ways to deal with the remaining plastic pollution legacy.

INTERNATIONAL DAYS
Today is the International Day of Living Together in Peace. Living together in peace means accepting differences and having the ability to listen to, recognize, respect and appreciate others.
Also, today is the International Day of Light. Light plays a role in science, culture and art, education, and sustainable development, and in fields as diverse as medicine, communications, and energy.

WORLD TELECOMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION SOCIETY DAY
Tomorrow is the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, and this year, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is focusing on “Empowering the least developed countries through information and communication technologies.”
To mark the Day, there will be an event at ITU headquarters in Geneva from 2:30 to 4:30 pm (local time) to showcase the work ITU does, together with its members and partners, to support Least Developed Countries.

FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION
Andorra has paid the Regular Budget dues in full. This brings the number of fully paid-up Member States to 107.

NOON BRIEFING GUESTS
The noon briefing guests are from the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), who will brief on the World Economic Situation and Prospects mid-year report.
Shantanu Mukherjee, DESA’s Director of the Economic Analysis and Policy Division, and Hamid Rashid, the lead author of the report, who is also the Chief of the Global Economic Monitoring Branch, Economic Analysis and Policy Division in DESA.

HYBRID BRIEFING TOMORROW
Tomorrow, at 11:00 a.m., there will be a briefing here by the Special Rapporteur about human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews.