HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STÉPHANE DUJARRIC
SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
FRIDAY, 28 JUNE 2024
TRIP ANNOUNCEMENT/SECRETARY-GENERAL
Tomorrow, the Secretary-General will begin a visit to Central Asia, where his first stop will be Tashkent, in Uzbekistan. From there, he will travel to Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
During the visit, the Secretary-General will hold meetings with each country's Heads of States and other senior government officials. He will also visit projects related to climate change and speak with local communities and youth activists.
In Kazakhstan, the Secretary-General has been invited to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit, which will take place in Astana, on 4 July.
He will deliver remarks at the SCO Plus session.
The Secretary-General is expected to highlight the need to reaffirm our common commitment to multilateralism based on the UN Charter, international law, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, noting that the central goal of our multilateral system must be peace. He is also expected to underscore that today’s deep global divisions are preventing countries from coming together to resolve the two serious threats emerging from climate change and digital technologies.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Tthe Secretary-General and Under-Secretary General Li Junhua just launched the 2024 Sustainable Development Goals Report.
The Secretary-General said that this is the annual SDG report card – and it shows the world is getting a failing grade.
“Our failure to secure peace, to confront climate change, and to boost international finance is undermining development,” he said.
The Secretary-General noted that only 17 per cent of the SDG targets are on track and that progress on over one-third has stalled or even regressed. He urged nations to double down on SDG acceleration.
AFGHANISTAN
The Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, is traveling to Doha this weekend, where she will chair the third meeting of Special Envoys on Afghanistan on behalf of the Secretary-General.
That meeting will take place on Sunday and Monday.
Then on Tuesday in Doha, the Under-Secretary-General and Special Envoys are set to meet with representatives of Afghan civil society, including human rights and women’s rights advocates. The USG will raise the rights of women and girls, human rights in general and political inclusion in the discussions in Doha with the de facto authorities.
As Ms. DiCarlo has made clear, the Doha discussions are part of a process; they are not a one-off.
The ultimate objective of this process is an Afghanistan at peace with itself and its neighbours, fully integrated into the international community and meeting its international obligations, including on human rights, particularly those of women and girls.
SECURITY COUNCIL
This morning, Izumi Nakamitsu, the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, briefed Security Council members on non-proliferation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
She said that any relationship that any country has with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, including the Russian Federation, must entirely abide by the relevant Security Council sanctions.
Ms. Nakamitsu also underscored that the DPRK’s persistent pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes continues to undermine the global nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime, and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) that underpins it.
She reiterated the Secretary-General’s call on the DPRK to fully comply with its international obligations and stressed that all relevant States must avoid taking any actions that could lead to further escalation not only in the Korean peninsula but also in other regions and undermine even more the arms control and non-proliferation regime.
OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs say that UN’s partners are reporting new displacement from areas east of Gaza City.
Yesterday, the Israeli military ordered people living in 28 residential blocks in areas east of Gaza City to immediately evacuate. The humanitarian partners estimate that at least 60,000 people were displaced from this area, which spans over seven square kilometres.
Also yesterday, a military operation in the area of al-Mawasi resulted in scores of casualties arriving to a nearby field hospital and the displacement of at least 5,000 people, according to our partners on the ground.
Meanwhile, access constraints – coupled with insecurity and ongoing hostilities – continue to significantly impede the delivery of essential humanitarian assistance and services across Gaza.
This includes critical food and nutrition aid, medical care, shelter support, and water, sanitation, and hygiene services for hundreds of thousands of people in need.
OCHA reports that, as of yesterday, the Israeli authorities had facilitated less than half of more than 100 planned humanitarian assistance missions that were coordinated to reach northern Gaza this month. The rest were either impeded, denied access, or canceled due to logistical, operational or security reasons.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Bintou Keita, visited peacekeepers in Nyiragongo and Goma in North Kivu and expressed her solidarity with them.
The peacekeepers are deployed in both towns as part of an operation launched jointly with the Congolese Army last year, to protect civilians and defend major routes leading to the key towns of Sake and Goma to prevent the armed group from advancing.
During the visit, Ms. Keita reiterated that despite the Mission's disengagement from South Kivu, the Mission continues to implement its mandate in North Kivu and Ituri.
BURKINA FASO
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that Burkina Faso is facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, with 6.3 million people in need of humanitarian support and protection.
The UN and its humanitarian partners are supporting the Government's efforts to meet people’s immediate needs.
Working through the Humanitarian Response Plan, aid organizations have so far assisted more than 730,000 people across Burkina Faso this year. While this is a good start, it represents just 19 per cent of the 3.8 million people we are aiming to assist.
Nearly halfway into the year, the $935 million Humanitarian Response Plan for 2024 is only 17 per cent funded at $157 million.
INTERNATIONAL DAYS
Tomorrow is the International Day of the Tropics. As you may know, the Tropics are regions of the Earth surrounding the equat or. This Day celebrates the extraordinary biodiversity of these Tropics.
And on Sunday, it’s the International Day of Parliamentarism. This Day is a reminder that if democracy is to thrive, then parliaments need to be strong, transparent, accountable and representative.
It is also the International Asteroid Day, which mainly raises awareness about threats from near-Earth objects. These objects or comets pass close to the Earth’s orbit and represent catastrophic threats to our planet.
BRIEFINGS ON MONDAY
On Monday, at 11 a.m., there will be a briefing here by Jean Todt, the Secretary General's Special Envoy for Road Safety, along with Jean-Luc Decaux, President and Co-CEO at JCDecaux North America, and Edward Mermelstein, New York City's Commissioner for International Affairs.
They will brief you on the UN-JCDecaux Global Campaign for Road Safety.
[This campaign aims to create secure, inclusive and sustainable streets worldwide.]
At 12.30 p.m., the President of the Security Council for the month of July and Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation, Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, will be here to brief on the Council’s programme for July.
This briefing will be in person only.
At 2 p.m., there will be a briefing on the closing of the Fourth Review Conference on the Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons (also known as RevCon4).
The Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, along with Ambassador Maritza Chan-Valverde, President-designate of RevCon4 will be here to brief you on the closing of RevCon4.
FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS
Kenya and Egypt have made full payments to the Regular Budget, bringing the number of paid-up Member States to 118.
