Bolivia, UNRWA, UNIFIL & other topics - Daily Press Briefing

All right.
Good afternoon.
Welcome.
Thank you for your usual patience.
As soon as you're done with me, we will be joined by Vanessa Frazier, the Secretary-General Special Representative for Children armed conflict.
She'll be here to brief you on her recent mission to Haiti.
I also want a programming note for you tomorrow.
That would be the 22nd of May at 6:30 P.M.
Yes, 6:30 P.M.
In this room.
There'll be a briefing by Ambassador Do Hung Viet president of the 11th Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty of the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons.
Um, you will see that yesterday, the Secretary-General issued a statement welcoming the adoption by the General Assembly of a resolution following up on the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion on climate change.
The world's highest body has spoken, he said, and yesterday, the General Assembly has answered.
The Secretary-General said this vote is a powerful affirmation of international law, of climate justice, of climate science, and the responsibility of states to protect people from the escalating climate risks.
Commended the leadership of the Pacific Island countries and other small island developing states, together with young people whose moral clarity helped bring the world this moment.
Those least responsible for climate change are paying the highest price, he said, That injustice must end, Mr.
Guterres explained.
The science is clear, fossil fuels are the primary driver of the climate crisis.
The path to climate justice runs through a rapid, a just and an equitable transition away from fossil fuel and towards renewable energy.
Renewables have proved to be the cheapest and the most secure form of energy supply.
The task ahead is clear, the Secretary-General concluded.
Keep 1.5 degrees within reach and build a safer, fair, and more resilient future for all.
Also, I want to tell you that on that the Secretary-General is following the developments in Bolivia with concern, including reports of violence and protests that have disrupted essential services.
The Secretary-General encourages all relevant actors to engage in inconclusive and constructive dialogue, to address grievances peacefully with a view to de escalating tensions and safeguarding the country's democracy and stability.
If asked, sorry.
I haven't been asked.
Also, yesterday, we yesterday afternoon, we issued a statement in which the Secretary-General condemned in the strongest terms the Israeli authorities decision to establish military facilities at the Jarrah Sheikh compound in East Jerusalem.
As you well know, that compound was seized by Israeli authorities in January.
The UN Relief and Works Agency is an integral part of the United Nations, and UNRWA Sheikh Jarrah a compound remains United Nations premises.
These unprecedented and escalatory measures against UNRWA, are a breach of the inviability of United Nations premises.
Such actions, as affirmed by the International Court of Justice, are unlawful.
The State of Israel is not entitled to exercise sovereign powers in any part of the Occupied Palestinian territory and is under obligation to bring an end to its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem as soon as possible.
The Secretary-General urges the government of Israel to rescind its decision and immediately return to the United Nations, the UNRWA Sheikh Jarrah compound.
Back here, but on a related note, you heard from Ramiz Akhorov, the Deputy Special coordinator for the Middle East peace process.
He briefed the council members and warned that the situation across the occupied Palestinian territory is increasingly precarious in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Settlement expansion, settler violence, and the incitement continues to drive tensions.
Meanwhile, in Gaza, Mr.
Abkhov said delays in the implementation of Security Council resolution 20 803 alongside daily violence, and a continuing humanitarian crisis have replaced the early momentum that followed the cease fire.
Israeli strikes continue on a nearly daily basis, killing dozens alongside activities, armed activity by Hamas and other Palestinian groups.
He added that humanitarian conditions remain acute and the population remains deeply dependent on daily humanitarian deliveries.
And just to give you a bit of granularity of situation on the ground, our OCHA colleagues tell us that yesterday we and our partners collected more than 180 pallets of medical items, including vaccines, refrigerated medicine and sanitation supplies from the cream Shalom Karim Ab Salam crossing.
These supplies will help support services in a health system that is nowhere near full recovery.
The World Health Organization said just over half of primary health care facilities are currently functioning, and slightly more than half of the hospitals are operational, although only partially.
Since the start of the year, WHO in Gaza has recorded 22 attacks on health care resulting in casualties or affecting health transport and health facilities.
Meanwhile, humanitarians continue to deliver assistance at scale despite the impediments that we brief you about almost daily.
Last week, between the fourth and the 17th of May, our UNICEF colleagues distributed hygiene and dignity kits along with gerrycans benefiting about 116,000 people across Gaza.
Our partners say that access to water remains challenging with three out of four families relying on water carried in by truck, and we know how expensive and complicated that.
Partners are delivering about 24,000 cubic meters by truck every day across about 2000 distribution points.
However, the water deliveries that depend on generators and machinery, they're at risk of breaking down due to the shortage of maintenance and repair supplies.
Humanitarians continue to stress that essential supplies must be allowed into Gaza urgently to avoid the risk of equipment collapsing.
And turning to the West Bank, our OCHA colleagues tell us that settler violence continues, as Mr.
Albukhorov said, in just one week between the 12th and the 18th of May, OCHA documented at least 49 attacks by Israeli settlers that caused casualties or damage, including a rise in arson attacks against homes, farmland, vehicles, and a mosque.
With this, over 870 settler attacks across more than 220 communities have caused casualties or property damage this year alone.
Also, I have been asked by some of you about the recent Israeli high court ruling impacting the work of international non governmental organizations.
That ruling was handed out yesterday.
I just want to underscore yet again that international NGOs are indispensable to the overall humanitarian operations in the occupied Palestinian territory, and their work must and needs to be facilitated.
Moving north to south Lebanon, our UNIFIL peacekeepers are continuing to observe significant air and ground activities across the area of operations, including multiple Israeli airstrikes in the vicinity of Rashaf and Baitlif in Sector West, and Al Qatara in Sector East.
Peacekeepers also continue to observe extensive military activity by the Israeli defense forces across the area of operations, characterized by high density armored movements, large scale engineering works, and sustained logistical traffic alongside persistent artillery shelling, mortifire and rocket impacts.
UNIFIL reported 276 firing incidents attributed to IDF and 65 trajectories attributed to Hezbollah alongside nine projectile interceptions in the area of operations.
UNIFIL reported also several impacts by IDF with two closest ones occurring 550 and 600 meters from a UFL position in Sector West, a stop fire request was sent to the IDF by us.
We continue to urge everyone to fully respect the cessation of hostilities, cease any further attacks, and comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law.
Meanwhile, on the humanitarian side, strikes continue to be reported in localities of Der, Timn, Gando and Kfar Dunin.
And as you'll recall, the Lebanese authorities have informed us and the public that since March 2nd, more than 3,000 people have reportedly been killed and more than 1 million people remain displaced.
Yesterday, renewed displacement orders were issued by Israeli authorities in Nabtih District.
Since March 2nd, displacement orders have been issued for more than 400 villages and localities across Lebanon.
Humanitarian partners continuous scale up emergency cash assistance to support affected families.
As of mid May, 618,000 people have received emergency multipurpose cash assistance through government led and humanitarian channels.
However, additional humanitarian funding is needed.
The $308 million flash appeal for Lebanon is 54% funded.
That's more than 2.5 months into the crisis.
This leaves major gaps in assistance protection, and basic services that we try to provide to all those who need it.
Our Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed arrived in Azerbijan to attend the 13th session of the World Urban Forum.
Today, she held bilateral meetings with President Aliyev as well as other senior government and UN officials.
In her meetings, she expressed her appreciation to the government of Azerbijan on the successful hosting of the forum, recognizing it as a milestone moment at the midpoint of the new Urban agenda and SDG 11 review, as well as for Azerbaijan's strong commitment and support to multilaterlism.
She also opened the special session on Africa Affordable Housing Compact.
In her remarks, she noted that Africa carries a disproportionate share of the global housing burden.
And turning to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and our efforts to deal with the Ebola outbreak there, our humanitarian peacekeeping colleagues are continuing to support the government's efforts regarding the fast spreading outbreak of Ebola and the deterioration of the humanitarian situation.
The province of Ituri remains the epicenter of the outbreak from the most affected areas in the towns of Rampara, Mgwalu, and Bunya.
These towns may not be familiar to you, but it's important to note that they are densely populated.
The peacekeeping mission is providing critical logistical assistance to enable the rapid delivery of medical supplies and equipment to Bunia, where response efforts are being reinforced.
Yesterday, two cargo flights operated by the peacekeepers brought medical supplies and equipment from Nairobi and Kinshasin to Bunia for our humanitarian partners.
On Monday, the peacekeeping mission also supported air movement of over 4,600 kilograms of medical supplies and equipment from the WHO regional warehouse in Nairobi.
The mission also made available four light passenger vehicles to support the search team operations in Eturi.
In addition, Monusco has positioned one helicopter to support flights affected areas in Euri as required.
Two ambulances and two armored vehicles are also en route from Goma to Bunia to support medical evacuation and outreach in areas with high security risks.
This material will be made available to our WHO colleagues.
There are increasing concerns also over the spread of Ebola to the province of North Kivu, where cases have now been confirmed in Goma, Bambo, and Katwa Our colleagues note that these are urban areas with a history of Ebola transmission.
In North Kivu, partners are strengthening surveillance, introducing screening at points of entry and adapting operations, including remote coordination where it is needed.
To strengthen the mobility of health teams engage in contact tracing and rapid response, Manuscs also sent motorcycles from Uga to Bi, while additional ones will be serviced in Bunia for handover to WHO.
In addition to this, as you may have seen, new cases were reportedly confirmed by local authorities in South Kivu in the town of Bukavu.
The case reportedly concerns a person arriving from Chopo, which borders Ituri province.
As we've said before, and it's worth repeating, this outbreak is unfolding in a context marked by displacement, marked by insecurity, marked by high population mobility, and significant access constraints for humanitarians and peacekeepers.
All our colleagues on the ground, whether they be OSHA, peacekeepers, WHO, WFP, UNICEF, and many others will continue to work at their best in support of the population.
Turning to Sudan, our OCHA colleagues said the humanitarian community is rushing to contain multiple disease outbreaks in Sudan despite insecurity and limited access.
In West Kordofan state, El Nuhd locality, the World Health Organization and their partners have responded to a suspected outbreak of acute watery diarrhea, commonly associated with cholera.
This week alone, preliminary figures indicate more than 100 suspected cases and dozens of associated deaths.
WHO and its partners have dispatched medical supplies to support the efforts, the response efforts.
In Darfur, we are working with health authorities to address suspected outbreaks of epox in central and south Darfur states, where more than 300 suspected cases and five associated deaths have been reported this week alone.
WHO is supporting a large scale cholera and measles vaccination campaign led by authorities in Darfur.
In northern and river Nile states, WHO and health partners are responding to growing dengue fever outbreaks.
In northern states, suspected cases have more than tripled over the past month, reaching over 500.
These health emergencies are unfolding as insecurity continues to endanger civilians and our own humanitarian operations.
In South Kordofan, multiple drone strikes in and around Dilling yesterday reportedly killed at least two people and injured several others.
One strike reportedly damaged a health facility and destroyed medical supplies and equipment.
Our partners are also reporting that two frontline health workers were killed due to shelling and Dilling last week earlier this month, excuse me.
Despite these challenges, over the first four months of this year, the humanitarian community has provided assistance to more than 1.6 million human beings across Sudan.
OCHA calls on all parties to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure and to facilitate access as required by international humanitarian law.
Additional funding also remains critical to deliver lifesaving assistance to millions of people in Sudan.
A couple of international days today is international.
Exactly.
Congratulations.
International Tea Day because sustaining a supporting communities is the theme this year.
Tea is one of the world's oldest beverages and the most consumed drink in the world after water.
Today is also World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.
In a message to mark the day, UNESCO Director General Khaled El Anani, reminded us that cultural diversity is also a condition for peace, teaching us that unity does not require uniformity, that dialogue begins when different histories and perspectives are recognized and that development cannot be sustainable if it ignores identities, creativity, and the rights of people.
We have a quiz.
Ready? In 1997, the UN Climate Change Conference, formerly known as CP three was held in this city, which is not the capital city, but the name of this city is an anagram for the capital city of this country.
Our quizmaster, David, is in rare form today.
So in this city, an agreement was reached to establish legally binding greenhouse gas emission reductions for an obligation for the industrialized world, the first time that had happened.
Exactly.
And Kyoto is an anagram for what city? Tokyo Tokyo.
So what country paid? Japan.
And we thank our friends in Japan for their payment in full.
And just to let you know, Japan paid $221,861,490.
That's good.
It is a good payment.
It is a good payment.
A lot of people are relying on that payment.
So Arias.
So thank you.
Sure.
Joe, you won.
Well, it was a half.
I mean, I did.
Okay.
As long as we're on the topic of climate change, and I know it remains at the top of the Secretary-General agenda of priorities.
I'm wondering whether the Secretary-General is considering, however, toning down his rhetoric somewhat calling climate change an existential threat, requiring urgent action to save the planet, in light of the IPCC Committee's very recent assessment that the gloomiest of its scenarios describing what would happen with greenhouse gases reaching certain levels of concentration is no longer plausible.
So the most extreme scenario has been kind of eliminated, and is the Secretary-General still, however, going to continue using the kind of existential rhetoric that he is.
Listen, we don't think the science has changed.
We continue to believe that human activity is the key driver for climate change.
We continue to see severe impact of climate change on the most vulnerable communities.
The Secretary-General push towards renewable, which cheaper than carbon based energy, and his point of view is not going to change, and he will continue to do whatever we can to encourage the world to move away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy, which frankly is what the science is based on.
No, I mean, all of that is fair, and I understand that, but I'm talking about some of the alarmist rhetoric that he has been using, as I said, you know, the existential threat and other fairly extreme rhetoric.
Describing the situation.
I understand his underlying priorities to transition to clean energy out of fossil fuels, et cetera.
It's just the alarmist rhetoric that I'm asking him whether he's considering toning down.
The rhetoric, from our point of view, the words that he uses are very clear.
He will continue to be an advocate for the world to deal with climate change and to deal with it quickly.
Iptm Thank you, Steph.
So I assume you saw the report by NPR and others that the US is threatening to revoke the visas of Palestinian delegates to the UN unless Palestinian ambassador withdraw the run of the vice president for the General Assembly.
Do you have any comments? We believe that the delegation of Palestine is a permanent observer to the United Nations, needs to be able to access New York, travel to New York, work in New York, and that is covered under the host country agreement, and we would not want to see any of that change.
And I have another question regarding what you talked about before.
So, the you mentioned that the Secretary-General condemned the Israeli government approval plans to establish an IDF museum center and other offices on the Onora compound.
The question is which steps is the UN going to take against that Israeli step? The steps that we can take can only be legal I mean, can only be diplomatic steps.
So we've taken we've continued the demarches.
We've made our position clear, and we very much hope that the Israeli government will respect its obligations and will respect international law.
But they are not that's a fact.
So is there any legal steps that the UN is planning to take? Let me get back to you on what further steps we can take besides the ones we've already taken.
Namo then Linda.
And then, Alex.
Thank you, Stephane.
On the climate change vote yesterday, does the Secretary-General see any significant significance in the composition of the eight countries that voted against this resolution to address climate change? They include bitter rivals like the United States, Russia, Israel, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.
It is an interesting group of eight.
I will let you journalists ask them what motivated them to vote in that way, and I will let you analyze the composition of this group.
Linda, Thanks, Sh.
Apropos of Gaza, what's the sense of the UN in terms of who's governing Gaza these days? I mean, is it still Hamas largely in control? I guess you mentioned a little violence, some violence, I believe, between the various armed groups.
Yeah, I mean, there's some de facto authority.
We continue to work with the people that we have to deal with to make our work possible.
And what is Ana doing these days? Are they able to do all their duties? They continue to do whatever they can in Gaza and in the West Bank under the current circumstances.
Alik Sen Abd Hahaid Thanks, Steph.
I'm wondering if you have any comments on the US charges against Raul Castro of Cuba.
Uh, not at this point, but I can tell you we continue to be very concerned about the humanitarian situation in Cuba.
Abdel Hamid.
Thank you, Stefan.
I'm letting know in his remarks to the Security Council, he said that 1,300 trucks a week used to be taken by armed men.
In general, I mean, do you confirm that this number? We never heard that, I mean, this question has come up again and again.
There is a dashboard that was created under resolution and I will not try to remember the number, but 27 28.
Exactly.
Which has the daily updates of the trucks that we can monitor.
We know very well that there are other trucks that are coming in through the commercial sector.
There are trucks coming in through bilateral agreements.
We can only speak about what we're able to monitor and at the crossings where we are present.
But he was talking about the trucks before the cease fire that I mean, that monitoring has been in place for almost two years, so.
My second question about those who were boarding the Somod flota.
Israel took them, humiliated them, treated them badly.
Many countries around the world are condemning Israel for what they did, including countries like Spain, Brazil, Poland, even.
The UN did not say anything about how these peace if you read the transcript yesterday, the question came up and I addressed it.
And the video that was seen has intolerable images.
No one should be treated that way.
And all of the people who've been detained should be sent home back to their home countries as soon as possible.
Dulce and then Islam.
Yes, the India Africa Summit has been canceled because of the Ebola outbreak in, I believe it's two countries in Africa.
Do you think this response is a measured response to personally, I had not seen that headline.
But I think every country has to make the decisions they need to make to protect themselves.
But that's just a matter of principle.
I have another question about the Japanese payment.
Will that keep the lights on at the UN through the summertime? Well, the nice thing about the summer is that we don't have to have as many lights out during.
Well, there's electricity.
But it is.
I can tell you, in all seriousness in all seriousness, it is an extremely appreciated payment at a time where the cash flow is an extremely challenging situation.
Islam.
Thank you, Stéphane.
US President Trump brought up again the claim white genocide in South Africa against white farmers.
So you must have a UN staff in the country.
Should it take me seriously? What kind of report you get from there? What's the UN view on this claim? We have no specific information on any imminent threat to South Africans of European origin.
Okay.
Joe, and then we'll go to our guest.
Yes.
It was said today in the Security Council meeting that HAMAS has not approved the roadmap in Gaza, so it's standing in the way of progress in implementing the peace plan.
Is the Secretary-General contemplating putting out his own personal statement urging HAMAS to approve the roadmap? We've been very clear that there are commitments that have been made and everyone needs to respect them.
All right.
I'm going to go get our guest.
Thank you.