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Briefing by Spokesperson for Secretary-General
The Secretary-General wrapped up a trip to the Pacific trip and issued a message, in which he praised small islands for their determination to tackle the global climate emergency and their actions to increase their resilience and capacity to adapt. However, he stressed that climate change cannot be stopped by small island countries alone. It needs to be done with the rest of the world. He said this requires political will to transform the energy, industry, agriculture and mobility sectors, and he reiterated his three messages for world leaders: to tax pollution and not people; to stop subsidizing fossil fuels; and to stop building new coal plants by 2020.
International Peacekeepers Day will take place on 29 May, but, in New York, we will honor that Day this Friday.
A message from the Secretary-General has already been issued, in which he says that the Day is intended to honor more than one million men and women who have served as United Nations peacekeepers since our first mission in 1948.
The UN peacekeeping department has announced the awarding of the Captain Mbaye Diagne Medal for Exceptional Courage to the late Private Chancy Chitete of Malawi. He will be given the award as part of International Day of Peacekeeping commemoration on this Friday, which I just mentioned.
Our colleagues at the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali reported today that six Chadian peacekeepers are recovering from their wounds after their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in Tessalit over the weekend.
We are following with great concern recent incidents and hardening rhetoric in Yemen over the past days.
Recalling the initial positive steps taken in the implementation of the Hudaydah Agreement, we are encouraged by the firm commitment reiterated by President Hadi and his Government to implement the Agreement.
On Syria, I can tell you that we continue to follow with great concern the continuing reports of airstrikes in greater Idlib, most recently on 19 May, yesterday, when eight civilians including two children were reportedly killed and tens wounded in airstrikes on the obstetric hospital in Kafr Nobol.
Yesterday, an armed group stormed Tripoli’s main water distribution station and has reportedly closed the water valves supplying Tripoli and other cities in the north-west of the country, including Gharyan and Al Zawayih, potentially affecting some 2 million people and their access to water.
The UN and our humanitarian partners in Somalia today launched a Drought Response Plan seeking $710 million for assistance for 4.5 million drought-affected people in the most severely affected areas of the country between now and the end of December.
From Afghanistan, a new United Nations report has found that continued focus and efforts are needed to advance the country’s anti-corruption reforms.
The High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, began a five-day visit to Myanmar today. This is the first visit by the head of UNHCR to the country since August 2017.
f there is a certain buzz in the air today, it is because it is World Bee Day. This morning the Deputy Secretary-General spoke in celebration of bees. Bees are amongst the hardest working creatures on the planet, Amina Mohammed said, much like the UN peacekeeping and humanitarian staff in the field.