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Briefing by Spokesperson for Secretary-General
Today, Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock visited Damascus to engage with the Government of Syria on how best to further scale up the collective humanitarian response across Syria and how to ensure that those in greatest need are assisted and protected.
His one-day visit coincides with a visit to Syria by the High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grande.
The Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan di Mistura, has invited Egypt, France, Germany, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and the United States for joint consultations at the UN Office at Geneva on 14 September.
The Special Envoy would like to take this opportunity to follow up on the 25 June meeting and discuss with senior representatives of these countries the way ahead on the political process pursuant to Security Council resolution 2254 (2015), including the UN effort to facilitate the establishment of a constitutional committee, and the broader dimensions of the effort.
The Security Council met this morning on Syria and was briefed by John Ging, the Director of Operations and Advocacy for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
He told the Council that recent weeks have seen a further serious deterioration of the humanitarian in northwest Syria, with intense aerial bombardment and shelling reported in parts of Idlib, Aleppo, Hama and Latakia governorates resulting in the death and injury of civilians.
Mr. Ging said that aid organizations are using cross-border assistance deliveries which provide a critical lifeline for hundreds of thousands of civilians. Some 680,000 people received food from Turkey in July alone.
He noted that, in the south-west, the Government of Syria has now regained control over the vast majority of Dara a, Qunaitra and As-Sweida governorates, which has led to the large-scale return of internally displaced people. But he cautioned that massive levels of humanitarian need persist, and the UN continues to provide aid in partnership with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and other local organizations.
Mr. Ging called on the members of the Council to do all they can to ensure de-escalation in Idlib and surrounding areas, emphasizing a worst-case scenario there will overwhelm humanitarian capacities and has the potential to create a humanitarian emergency at a scale not yet seen through this crisis.
The Secretary-General will speak at the Security Council meeting this afternoon on Myanmar.
He will recall his recent visit to Cox’s Bazar where he met with Rohingya refugees and heard their harrowing stories.
The Secretary-General will stress the need for accountability, which he believes is essential for genuine reconciliation between all ethnic groups and is a prerequisite for regional security and stability.
Earlier this morning, the Secretary-General met with actress and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett, who will also speak at this afternoon’s Council meeting.
Having each visited Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh this year, they agreed on the need to persist in seeking an end to the horrific suffering and to maintain international attention on the crisis.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that armed conflict continues in Yemen’s Hodeidah Governorate, where more than 500,000 people have been displaced since 1 June.
Aid partners have provided emergency relief kits containing food rations, hygiene supplies and items to preserve dignity to nearly all of the recently displaced.
Additional assistance, including cash, shelter kits and essential household items are also being provided based on assessed needs.
Regular humanitarian programmes also continue in parallel across Yemen and have reached 8.1 million people with direct assistance so far this year.
For its part, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) today said that it is ramping up its response to help civilians fleeing the fighting in Hodeidah and is calling on all parties to ensure the physical safety of civilians and their freedom of movement and to guarantee safe routes for people to leave conflict areas.
Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed is in Copenhagen, Denmark, today, where she is holding discussions with senior Government officials and other stakeholders on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the repositioning of the UN development system and other issues of mutual interest.
She will be having similar discussions in Oslo, Norway, tomorrow.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today that it is taking measures to ensure a smooth and safe start to the new school year in Ebola-affected regions in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. UNICEF said there are some 250 schools in the Ebola-affected zones, with some 82,500 pupils.
The measures to be taken included training of school principals and of more than 1,750 teachers about Ebola and about protective measures against the virus, setting up procedures for early detection, isolation and referral to health services of children with Ebola-like symptoms, distributing laser thermometers, installing hand washing units and distributing megaphones and providing prevention posters to every school.
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that the outbreak of African Swine Fever threatens to spread from China to other Asian countries. Currently, there is no effective vaccine to protect swine from this disease, and its outbreaks can be devastating.
Chinese authorities have taken some measures to control the spread of the virus, and FAO is communicating with them closely and monitoring the situation. FAO also urged regional collaboration to respond more effectively to the threat of further spread of the disease.
In a note in response to questions on the Secretary-General’s meeting with the Nicaraguan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Denis Moncada, the Spokesman said that the Secretary-General insisted on the need for full respect of the population’s human rights, and the importance of a truly inclusive National Dialogue. He also the United Nations’ readiness to support this process.
