Daily Press Briefing by Spokesperson for Secretary-General

Briefing by Stephane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

• Categories: Media / Press Conferences
• Video Length: 00:15:57
• Production Date: 16 October 2020
• Asset Language: English
• Personal Subject: STEPHANE DUJARRIC
• Corporate Name: WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME - WFP
• Subject Topical: CORONAVIRUS DISEASE - COVID 19; FOOD SECURITY; HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE; MIGRATION; POVERTY; UNITED NATIONS BUDGET
• Geographic Subject: AFRICA; KYRGYZSTAN; LEBANON; LIBYA; MALI; SAHEL; SYRIA
• MAMS Id: 2572845
• Parent Id: 2572845

Description

Next Tuesday, on the 20 October, the Secretary-General will send a video message to a ministerial conference on the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Central Sahel, a region that includes Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

Today is World Food Day and this year’s theme is “Grow, nourish, sustain. Together. Our actions are our future”.

According to a study released by WFP today, a basic meal is far beyond the reach of millions of people in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic joins conflict, climate change and economic troubles in pushing up levels of hunger around the world.

An update on the situation in the Kyrgyz Republic: Natalia Gherman, our Special Representative for Central Asia, is in Bishkek and she met today with a range of local and international partners to discuss the current situation and UN engagement going forward.

In answer to a question on the Al Hol camp in Syria: There are around 34,000 children under the age of 12 in Al Hol. More than 120 of them are unaccompanied or separated from their families and living in an interim care centre in the camp.

Earlier this morning, we issued a statement on Mali where the Secretary-General strongly condemned the two attacks perpetrated against the UN Mission yesterday in which an explosive device hit a Mission vehicle, killing one Egyptian peacekeeper and seriously injuring another.

Turning to Lebanon, the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Ján Kubiš, said today on the first anniversary of the start of the popular protests in the country that protestors have planted the seeds for systemic changes and their struggle continues.

Our peacekeeping colleagues in Lebanon continue to implement their mandate and support national and local authorities in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. UN peacekeepers launched a campaign this week in partnership with the Red Cross and community volunteers, to distribute over 30 tonnes of food packages over the coming weeks in five villages.

From Libya, our colleagues at the Mission there welcomed the arrest earlier this week of Abd Al-Rahman Milad, commonly known as ‘al-Bija.’

Our colleagues at the UN Migration Agency and the African Union have launched their first ever report on African migration.

Tomorrow is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. In his message for the Day, the Secretary-General says that the COVID-19 pandemic is a double crisis for the world’s poorest.

And lastly, we say thank you to two countries, Mozambique and Tanzania. Both of them have paid their regular budget dues in full for this year, taking us up to 128.

For further details please see SOURCE below.
Office of the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General