Secretary-General Travels, Afghanistan, Syria…

Tomorrow, the Secretary-General will head to Brussels to attend a session with the members of the European Council, which will include a working lunch.  Among the topics to be discussed are Ukraine, climate change and the Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals, notably the global economic and financial situation, as well as reform of the international financial architecture. 

Turning to Afghanistan. In a tweet, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan noted that as the new Afghan school year starts this week, more than a million Afghan girls will be barred from attending classes. 

On Syria, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, is in Damascus today, where he met with President Bashar Al-Assad and Foreign Minister Fayssal Mekdad. 

Turning to Ukraine. Our humanitarian colleagues are again sounding the alarm about the heavy toll the escalation of hostilities in the Donetsk region is taking on civilians, particularly in the areas of Avdiivka and Bakhmut. 

UNICEF says that six months after catastrophic floods struck Pakistan, more than 10 million people, including children, living in flood-affected areas remain deprived of safe drinking water. 

Tomorrow afternoon, the UN and the African Union will hold a joint high-level meeting on financing for the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia, or ATMIS, and resourcing for the Somali security transition.

We have an update from our peacekeeping colleagues in the Central African Republic, where a joint operation with the country’s internal security forces led to the arrest of Hussein Damboucha, regional commander of the armed group FPRC (Front populaire pour la renaissance de la Centrafrique) and member of the CPC (Coalition des Patriotes pour le Changement).

Turning to Mozambique, our colleagues there tell us that the number of people impacted by Tropical Cyclone Freddy has risen to more than 886,000. 

Today we mark a few international days: In his remarks to the General Assembly event marking the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination a short while ago, the Secretary-General said that racial discrimination is a deeply damaging and pervasive abuse of human rights and human dignity that affects every country. 

I’d also like to point out in terms of briefings that tomorrow is World Water Day. 

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