Venezuela, Lebanon & other topics - Daily Press Briefing

All right.
Good afternoon.
Thank you for joining us, and I'm sure you're watching the game on your laptops.
No? Okay.
You would never thank you.
Yeah.
I won't check.
Just a reminder, 12 45, there'll be a briefing here on the Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026.
It will be launched by our Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed.
Joining her will be the Under Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Lee Jung Hoa and the Acting Director of the Statistics Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, our friend Santanu Mukuje.
Then tomorrow I will be joined by UN FPA's Director General Executive Director, excuse me, Dian Keita and Alessio Canano senior advisor at UNFPA.
They'll be here to brief you on the launch of their new global report based on the findings of the Demographic Futures Survey.
Our Deputy Secretary-General Antonio Gutierrez, is on his way back from Geneva, where as you know, he was at the AI Summit.
He'll be in New York later today and in the office tomorrow morning.
Related somewhat to the DESA report, I wanted to flag that the World Investment Report 2026 was released today by our friends at the UN Conference of Trade and Development, otherwise known as UnktAD.
That report shows that global foreign direct investment rose 6% to 1.6 trillion in 2025.
That ended two years of decline.
But the recovery remains narrow, it remains fragile and remains uneven.
The report notes that inflows to developed economies rose 11% while developing economies recorded only 2% growth reaching $901 billion.
According to Uktad, the world's top 20 host economies attracted more than 80% of global foreign direct investment in 2025, underscoring a trend that runs throughout the report.
Investment is becoming more concentrated across countries, across sectors, and projects.
Full report is available to you on the Internet.
Also want to flag that Tom Fletcher, our emergency relief coordinator, is arriving today in Venezuela.
He'll be on a four day visit to meet with survivors as well as frontline responders after the devastating earthquakes that hit that country nearly two weeks ago.
Mr.
Fletcher will also meet senior government officials and those supporting search and rescue effort.
Tomorrow morning at 8:30 A.M.
New York Time, he will speak from Cacas at a virtual ministerial level member states briefing about the humanitarian response so far and what comes next and what member states can do.
That will be available to you on UN web TV starting at 8:30 A.M.
Concerning the ongoing assessments that are going on in Venezuela from our part, our colleagues at the Humanitarian Affairs Office refer to rapid assessment of people's immediate humanitarian needs a process which includes humanitarian partners, field visits, surveys with affected people, These are not overall damage and recovery assessments, which normally includes development partners as well as international financial institutions.
Yesterday, I guessed the answer to a question and I was wrong.
OCHA also wants to clarify that the current status of humanitarian funding for Venezuela, which as you know, had a response plan in place prior to the earthquake.
Before the earthquakes, the $632 million humanitarian response plan for Venezuela had received around $115 million since then, Total reported funding for that plan has increased to $300 million and we expect to hear more about the appeal in tomorrow morning's member states briefing by Tom Fletcher.
Meanwhile, on the ground, we, along with our humanitarian partners are continuing to help coordinate and deliver assistance to meet people's most urgent needs in support of the government led efforts in Venezuela.
The World Food Program provided ready to eat food kits to nearly 2,400 people and family food baskets to over 4,100 response centers and shelters that have been set up.
They also provided about five metric tons of food through community kitchens in LaGuardia.
Since the response efforts began, the World Food Program has reached more than 25,000 people with food assistance that was much needed.
WFP though aims to reach half 1 million human beings sheltering in affected areas during the first three months of the response and has the operational capacity to scale up assistance to up to 1 million people if the funding comes in.
Moving to Lebanon where Jean Arneux the officer in charge of the Office of Special Coordinator for Lebanon, kicked off a visit to Israel today.
He is scheduled to meet with senior officials for discussions on the importance of consolidating the cessation of hostilities and advancing the implementation of Security Council resolution 1701.
We will keep you updated as the meetings take place and we are briefed on them.
In recent days, he also held meetings in Lebanon with senior government officials.
Yesterday, he met with the Minister of Interior Ahmad Al Ajar and separately with Lebanese Army commander, General Rudolph Hakl.
Discussions with the officials focused on recent developments and efforts to strengthen stability in Lebanon.
On the humanitarian front in Lebanon, our humanitarian colleagues tell us that situation on the ground remains critical with major protection concerns and significant gap in essential services, despite the reduction of hostilities after the cease fire that was announced on June 19th.
While returns continue, military activities and security incidents are still being reported and conditions remain fragile in many areas.
More than half 1 million displaced people have begun returning to their communities, but tens of thousands remain displaced, including more than 34,000 people still living in collective shelters.
Many families are reluctant or unable to return due to damaged housing, due to insecurity and due to the continued presence of unexploded ordinance and the absence of basic services in their home villages.
Children continue to bear a disproportionate burden to this crisis.
According to UNICEF, an estimated 308,000 children remain displaced.
More than 1 million children require some sort of humanitarian assistance, and 62 unaccompanied or separated children have been identified.
Disrupted education, psychosocial distress, limited access to services continue to impact children across the conflict affected areas.
Partners are also reporting increased protection concerns linked to child labor, school dropout, exploitation, gender based violence, domestic violence, harassment, movement restrictions, and barriers to accessing humanitarian services.
These concerns are particularly acute in conflict affected communities.
We and our humanitarian partners are responding despite these challenges, but as you can imagine, as always, funding remains below the needed level.
The revised flash appeal launched by us and the government of Lebanon in June, $640 million to support 1.4 million vulnerable people through August.
So far, the appeal is only 42% funding, which leaves us with critical and active gaps in our work.
Heading south to the occupied Palestinian territory, our humanitarian colleagues there tell us that people continue being displaced in Gaza in areas along the so called yellow line as Israeli troops advancement is shrinking the area that families can still inhabit.
According to initial information received this morning, at least nine families were displaced from Dhab displacement site in Southern Gaza, with some saying they fled advancing tanks, shooting and injuries were also reported nearby.
Our humanitarian partners are responding by providing newly displaced people with tents, with shelter items, and other basic assistance.
Support to those facing protracted displacement continues.
Last week, we and our partners supported more than 30,000 households, including through vouchers.
Aid included more than 250 tents, 10,000 tarpaulins, 10,000 bedding items, and nearly 15,000 kitchen sets.
However, the number of families assisted is declining because of funding shortfalls that compound restrictions on the entire area of Gaza.
Excuse me, on the restrictions on the entry of items into Gaza.
So far, just a quarter of the $4.1 billion required for humanitarian operations in the occupied Palestinian territory this year has been secured.
Meanwhile, yesterday, our colleagues in the World Health Organization said while teams are providing wheelchairs, crutches, prosthetic limbs, walking aids to people with complex injuries, The support, as always, falls very much short of the actual need.
Over 43,000 people with life changing injuries require rehabilitation in Gaza, yet only one third of the need for assistive devices has been met.
Our partners working to support healthcare in Gaza remind us that attempts to bring in medical equipment and devices into Gaza continues to face delays and denials.
This includes equipment for labs, diagnostics, physical rehabilitation, and physiotherapy, as well as prosthetic device.
A quick update on the work of Peka Haveso Secretary-General personal envoy for Sudan.
I can tell you that he's currently in Chad, where he's holding meetings with national authorities and diplomatic counterparts to discuss the current situation in Sudan and its regional implications.
He's also expected to visit camps hosting Sudanese refugees in Chad.
This visit comes amid growing concern over the regional dimensions of the conflict in Sudan.
Mr.
Haviso is engaging with all relevant stakeholders, including neighboring countries, with a view to preventing any further escalation in advancing dialogue towards a resolution of the conflict.
In the coming weeks, he's expected to return to Sudan for further political meetings.
A quick note from the Central African Republic on the humanitarian situation where our colleagues say that we and our partners are mobilizing emergency assistance to meet people's urgent needs following clashes just over a week ago in the town of Amdafk near the country's border with Sudan.
Displaced people displaced by the fighting there urgently need protection support.
They need healthcare, and they need access to safe drinking water.
The security situation remains volatile with the town's sole health facility apparently having been looted.
While humanitarians were able to deliver 400 tarpaulins and other shelter assistance to the town over the weekend, the rainy season has rendered the main road into the town impassable, hampering efforts to scale up the response.
Some metric tons of humanitarian cargo are still awaiting transport.
Meanwhile, about 1,000 people displaced from villages around Amdafk have sought safety in Beirau, putting pressure on already stretched resources in the town, which is hosting 25,000 refugees from Sudan.
Just two more brief notes.
WMO, the World Meteorological Organization today released a report that shows the vast ocean expanse in the Southwest Pacific is becoming hotter and more acidic.
This is harming local economies and marine ecosystems while rising sea levels threaten vulnerable coastal communities.
And low lying island nations.
The report shows that the region had its second warmest year on record just behind 2024 with extreme weather causing widespread disruption and economic damage and loss of life.
According to WMO last year, the remaining tropical ice cover in Papua, Indonesia was estimated to be only about 2% of the ice observed in 1988.
The last remaining tropical glacier of the region is expected to disappear by the end of this year or early next.
Lastly, today is World Kiswahili Language Day.
Kiswahili is one of the world's most widely spoken languages with more than 200 million speakers across Africa and beyond.
And on that note, I will say to you, Maswai.
Everybody knows what that means.
Questions.
Ah.
Now you're paying attentions.
Yes, ma'am, please.
Thank you.
My question is about Cuba.
So in Cuba, we can see the General Assembly has voted for years to call end to the US embargo, but until now we can see the embargo still in place.
The world Sector G's message today, especially on the impact on the people in Cuba.
I mean, I think, as you know, the Secretary-General of the UN system as a whole has been following very closely the humanitarian situation in Cuba.
We have done working with our country team, we are trying to do our best to support the Cuban people in this difficult moment.
We've also been involved in efforts to get fuel in Cuba for humanitarian purposes.
We continue to be very concerned about the situation on the ground and the impact of the ongoing energy shortage and the knock on impact it has of a on health care, education, and just basic services.
I think it's very important that there be some measures to alleviate this situation.
Obviously, the Secretary-General continues to believe that there is a broader need for dialogue, cooperation, respect for international law, and he recalls the long standing position of the General Assembly, which has consistently called, as you said, for an end to the embargo imposed by the US on Cuba.
Ephraim.
Thank you so much, Steph.
On Mr.
Arnaud's travels, is there any particular message he's bringing with him to Lebanon and Israel? The message is about full respect for the Security Council resolution for 1701 for the need for everyone to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon for return to calm along the blue line, both in the south of Lebanon and in the north of Israel for the sake of people on both sides.
Yes, and quick question on Mr.
Havsto, who exactly is he meeting in Chad, do you know? I will try to get some more detailed names for you, but I'm sure he's meeting people at the at the senior level.
All right.
Well, that was a lot of questions.
You all have 17 minutes to take a break before the Deputy Secretary-General comes in.
I will see you then.