Myanmar, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Ukraine & other topics - Daily Press Briefing

Okay. Good afternoon, everyone. And now for part two of our program. Earlier today, we issued the following statement on Myanmar. The Secretary General has taken note of the transfer of State Councillor Dong San SUU Kyi to a designated residence. The Secretary General appeals for the swift and unconditional release of all those arbitrarily detained as a fundamental step towards conditions conducive to a credible political process. The Secretary General reiterates that a viable political solution must be founded on an immediate cessation of violence and a genuine commitment to inclusive dialogue. He stresses the importance of continued dialogue between all relevant Myanmar stakeholders and a special envoy on how the United nations and its partners, in particular asean, can help support efforts towards a peaceful solution in the interests of the people of Myanmar, as called for by the Security Council and the General Assembly. Turning to the occupied Palestinian Territory, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs warns that we continue to receive reports of gunfire and strikes hitting residential areas across Gaza, causing civilian casualties. Yesterday in Jibalya camp, a UN school sheltering displaced families was hit by gunfire and and two people were injured. OSHA reiterates that under international humanitarian law, civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected. Meanwhile, humanitarians working on sanitation tell us that four in every five sewage pumping stations are not functioning. As a result, every day about 40,000 cubic meters of untreated sewage are flowing into the sea and areas where families are staying. Restrictions on the entry of essential items like generators and spare parts must be lifted so that water can be properly pumped and prevent the further collapse of these systems. On food security, the Food and Agriculture Organization said yesterday that it has now provided cash assistance to every herding household with at least one sheep or goat that survived the hostilities. That's more than 2,000 herding households reached, one quarter of them headed by women. This has supported the production of milk and protein locally, which are a powerful way to combat malnutrition, especially among children in the West Bank. Last week, the Israeli authorities delivered final eviction notices by mid May to seven more families in the Batan Al Hawa area of East Jerusalem. That's to make way for settlers to take over the building, placing more than 40 people, half of them children, at risk of imminent displacement. So far in 2026, 17 families, including 30 children, have been forcibly evicted from their homes in that neighborhood. OCHA calls once again for the protection of civilians. Evictions, demolitions and violence have grave physical, social, economic and emotional impacts, and they deepen humanitarian needs. From Ukraine, OCHA tells us that between Monday and the early hours of today, we and our humanitarian partners reached frontline communities in eastern and southern Ukraine through six aid convoys delivering urgently needed assistance in the regions of Dnipro, Donetsk, Kharkiv and Kherson. The convoys reached 4,000 people with food, hygiene items, dignity kits, generators, clothing and first aid kits. Meanwhile, over the past day, attacks and hostilities across Ukraine reportedly killed at least two civilians and injured 58 others. With the regions of Dnipro, Sumy, Kherson, Kharkiv and Odesa among the hardest hit. Homes, a school, railway infrastructure and shops were damaged. Our humanitarian partners responded quickly in Odessa and Dnipro, providing shelter, psychosocial support, legal aid, hot meals, hygiene kits and material for emergency repairs. At Dnipro, drone strikes also damaged or destroyed humanitarian vehicles, though thankfully no injuries were reported. Yesterday and today, local authorities, with support from our humanitarian partners, evacuated nearly 370 people, including 25 children from frontline areas of Donetsk. Turning to Cuba, Bocha reports that the humanitarian situation continues to worsen as the energy crisis deepens. Healthcare waste collection, water deliveries to remote areas, food distribution and other essential services are being heavily disrupted. Health officials say more than 96,000 patients, including 11,000 children, have had surgeries postponed because of power shortages. People who need dialysis and newborns who rely on incubators are also struggling to get timely treatment or transport to care. We and our partners are working to support people with the World Food Program, providing food and nutrition assistance. WFP also continues to respond to humanitarian needs resulting from Hurricane Melissa, having reached more than 900,000 people since the storm struck Cuba late last year. As we have mentioned here, the UN has a plan of action to deliver life saving aid to 2 million people, for which we need $94 million. But so far, only about a quarter of the funding has been secured. The Secretary General calls on Member States to facilitate the timely and unimpeded delivery of life saving aid, including fuel, for humanitarian purposes and to increase their financial contributions to the plan of action. Turning to Venezuela, the Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, has allocated $2 million from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund to support the humanitarian response following the collapse of a water system in the northern state of Sucre. As we mentioned a few weeks ago, an earthquake in late February triggered a landslide that blocked a major water system tunnel, leaving nearly 640,000 people without reliable access to clean water. Over the past month, the lack of safe water has sharply increased public health risks, especially for children, pregnant women, older people and those living with chronic illnesses, cases of hepatitis B, acute diarrhea and amoebiasis. A serious intestinal infection have already been reported. With the risk of further disease outbreaks growing by the day, the new funding will help nearly 80,000 of the most vulnerable people in Sucre to meet their water, sanitation and health needs. In addition to this allocation, the UN Managed Humanitarian Fund in the country has also allocated another $1 million to bolster the response as efforts to repair the water system continue. Our humanitarian partners together with the authorities, have reached 11,000 people across 32 communities with water purification tablets, sanitation kits and other assistance. This year's humanitarian response plan for Venezuela has received only 14%, or $90 million of the $632 million that we need. The Under Secretary General for Peace Operations, Jean Pierre Lacroix, will travel to Italy and Turkey from the 4th to the 7th of May. During his time in Rome on the 4th and 5th of May, Mr. Lacroix will have a number of bilateral meetings with Italian government officials to discuss peacekeeping related issues. He will then head south to Brindisi to participate in the Police Standing Capacity Conference. The United Nations Standing Police Capacity, which marks its 20th anniversary this year, is a rapidly deployable police capability of the UN designed to strengthen the early policing response in peace operations and other mission settings. The conference will focus on the evolving global context, UN80 priorities and the work of United nations police, including how the standing police capacity can be further strengthened to support peace operations. Mr. Lacroix will then travel to Ankara on the 7th of May where he will meet with Turkish officials to discuss Turkey's support to United nations peacekeeping, including as a police contributing country. Vanessa Fraser, our Special Representative for Children Armed Conflict, has now concluded her mission to the Russian Federation. During her visit, she engaged with government officials and other stakeholders on the protection of children affected by the conflict in Ukraine. In Moscow, Ms. Fraser had constructive discussions on the implementation of the Children in Armed Conflict mandate, as well as on the 2025 mandate from the General assembly resolution on the return of Ukrainian children. She also traveled to Belgorod, met with Russian officials there and visited damaged sites in the city. Throughout her visit, Ms. Fraser reiterated our commitment to supporting all efforts aimed at strengthening the protection of children. A full press release is available online. The UN refugee agency UNHCR says that spikes in transport costs and freight disruptions caused by the Middle east crisis is forcing it to adapt its delivery strategy to mitigate disruptions. UNHCR has adapted quickly by rerouting sea cargo, for example, around Aqaba, and by increasing reliance on alternative land quarters, including trucking across the Arabian Peninsula and Turkey. From Dubai, UNHCR says that the closure of key maritime routes has forced greater use of longer and more expensive alternatives, leading to increased transit times and operational complexity. Freight rates from key sourcing countries have risen by nearly 18% since the start of hostilities, while the capacity of global transport providers has dropped from 97 to 77% since the start of 2026. Amid the challenges, UNHCR has so far maintained the continuity of life saving assistance thanks to its strong preparedness systems and global supply network. This includes seven global stockpiles in Dubai, Termez, Copenhagen, Accra, Douala, Nairobi and Panama City, capable of supporting up to 1 million displaced people at any given moment, along with more than 160 country level warehouses and standby arrangements for local procurement and financial assistance. There are more details in the UNHCR press release. The Secretary General's Peace Building Fund has approved $3 million for an initiative in Mauritania in support of peaceful coexistence between migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and local communities in both Mauritania's capital, Nuakshat, and the town of Nouudibo. Over the next 24 months, the UN refugee agency and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights will partner with national stakeholders to increase protection measures for these groups. Promote coordination of relevant local authorities, security forces and education facilities. Establish an information point for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers Today is the day of Nasak. On this day, Buddhists around the world commemorate the birth and enlightenment and passing of the Buddha. In his message, the Secretary General says that guided by the Buddha's example, we must summon our shared humanity and build the more peaceful and sustainable world that all people need and deserve. Tomorrow is World Tuna Day. It highlights the importance of continued global cooperation in achieving truly sustainable tuna fisheries. And then on Sunday, we mark World Press Freedom Day. Recent years have seen a sharp rise in the number of journalists killed, often deliberately targeted in war zones. 85% of the crimes committed against journalists go uninvestigated and unpunished. In a message for the day, the Secretary General says that across the globe media workers risk censorship, surveillance, legal harassment and even death. He reiterates that all freedom depends on press freedom. Without it, he says, there can be no human rights, no sustainable development and no peace. And last, we thank our friends in Phnom Penh and Bogota for their full payments to the regular budget. The payments from Cambodia and Colombia bring the number of fully paid up member states to 106. With that, time for questions.

Edie

thank you Farhan. A couple of questions on Aung San SUU Kyi does the United nations know exactly where she is? And are you expecting Julie Bishop to now try again to visit her since she's under house arrest now?

At this stage, there's no travel from personal envoy Julie Bishop to announce. We'll let you know when something like that is being organized. We are going to try to get as much information we can on the particulars of where she is. Obviously, if there's any greater access that she will have, we would try to avail ourselves of that. But at this stage, it's still early in the process in terms of getting information about what her new conditions are. Joe?

Yes. The UN General Convention confers judicial status on the un, including the capacity to sue. So I'm wondering, in connection with the UNRWA employees, I think there were nine of them that were fired because of their involvement in the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and Israeli civilians. Has the UN taken any further steps to hold those employees accountable, either criminally or civilly in court?

I believe the situation is that they did in fact dismiss those people in which there was credible evidence linking them to Hamas. As you know, the UN stands ready to waive immunity of staff or former staff as needed in the prosecution of criminal investigations by national authorities.

Well, what I'm talking about in this case is whether the UN itself, because it does have this legal capacity to itself bring the suit, whether it has been the UN has been proactive in seeking legal accountability for what those fired employees did, and if not, why not?

You seem to misunderstand. The UN does not have capacity to have its own criminal trials. Those are conducted by national jurisdictions or we cooperate with those national jurisdictions by waiving immunity as needed.

I think you're misunderstanding my question. The UN has the legal capacity to be a plaintiff to bring this lawsuit in a court, international court. And I'm wondering whether it has exercised that authority proactively in the name of the United nations against these fired employees who acted recklessly and outside the scope of their authority and in some cases created some damage to the reputation of the un.

What the UN has done, as I've stated, is that it took action in terms of firing the employees and then cooperating with national authorities in terms of investigation into them. Yes, Stefano. And then Abdul Hamid,

thank you.

Farhan, you mentioned the LACRA is going to Italy and will have encounter. Is this related with what Also, Ambassador? The Chinese ambassador just told us that the Secretary General is working on plan on a proposal to postpone the UNIFIL departure from Lebanon. That should happen by 31st December. So is this the mission Delacroix is doing and especially in Italy, because Italy has at the moment also the command of the mission.

Well, Mr. Lacroix will talk with Italian officials obviously while he's there, but the point of his travel, beyond talking with Italian government officials about peacekeeping related issues, is also to participate in the police standing capacity conference in Bradisi. And I just gave the details of that conference.

Yeah, but just a quick follow up then. Can you confirm what Ambassador Fu Cong told us that Secretary General Guterres because the circumstance of what's happening in Lebanon is thinking with of course, several powers. Ambassador Foucault told us that the majority of the members of the Security Council agree on the extension of the presence of the UNIFIL in Lebanon when there is a Security Council already, the decision that the resolution that they should leave by 31st December, we of course are

complying with that Security Council resolution. But we've also made clear what the needs on the ground are. And the Secretary General has made clear that we are exploring with the member states what kind of potential successor will be in place to fulfill the needs on the ground in Lebanon once we have complied with the resolution concerning UNIFIL's end. Yes, Abdel Hamid.

Thank you, Farhan. I have few questions, so please be patient with me. First, Today is the 200 day after the ceasefire. Situation in Gaza is getting worse, as you know, lines of people for food, shortages of medicine, everything is going worse. So do you see that the genocidal war is continuing, but with different maybe means?

Well, you'll have seen that the Secretary General refers to what's happening not always as a ceasefire, but as what he called a lesser fire. And this has been a true disappointment for us. We want all parties to abide fully by the ceasefire and we want especially to be able to get in all the aid that's been needed. You heard me just read out some of the facts in terms of the continuing violence as well as the continuing problems getting aid in, and we want those to stop.

Thank you. My second question, in your statement, the SG statement on the Press Freedom Day, there are two points missing that the largest number of journalists killed were Palestinians, that's one. And second also, the killer was also missing, which is Israel. Such a statement on this occasion, talking about so many journalists killed, wasn't fair to mention that the majority of whom were Palestinians.

Well, in all fairness, Abdul Hamid, we've said repeatedly the number of journalists killed in Palestine. We've said it from this podium. And we've also pointed out the responsibilities of Israel in this matter. The Secretary General on this commemorative day is trying to draw attention to the larger problem, which is that reporters all over the world are being harassed, are being threatened and are being killed. But certainly we've made clear what the facts are regarding the situation in Israel and in Gaza.

Thank you. My last question.

Yeah, okay. But there are other questions now last. Let me go around and then we can go back to you. Yes.

Okay. Good afternoon and happy Friday. Mr. Farhan, I have a question on. You said the Chief of Peacekeeping is going to Italy to meet in Rome with the Italian on peacekeeping. Now, if you can tell us, besides the logistic base in Brindisi and some military observer for Italy and peacekeeping, what Italy is contributing to the peacekeeping and if you have the number of how much money they contribute to peacekeeping, this is one.

Well, all those figures are available on the website. So if you go onto the website of UN peacekeeping, it shows you by country what each country contributes in terms of peacekeeping personnel.

This is you. You said when you're an official, which is very high official, Mr. Lacroix is going to Italy to discuss with the Italian some issues related to peacekeeping.

Yeah.

So what those issues? If you can tell us the way

diplomatic agencies like the United nations work is, we can give you some of the details, but further information has to await actual meetings.

My second question on do you have a statistic? How many Onorwa staff were killed by Israel since October 7th? And how many international staff in Gaza were killed since October 7th? And how many Palestinian prisoners as of today in Israel jails? If you have these numbers, three numbers.

Well, for the Palestinian prisoners, you'd need to get the information from the Palestinian authorities. We don't provide that as a firsthand report. Regarding the members of the UN Relief and Works Agency, more than 370 of them have been killed in Gaza since October 2023. There were also two other international UN staff not belonging to UNRWA who have died during that conflict. Yes, please.

Thank you. Farhan. This is Tao Xu with China Center Television. So, as China is set to assume the Security Council presidency this month, so what are the Secretary General's main concerns for the Council's work, especially regarding the upcoming high level debate on upholding the UN Charter?

Well, certainly the Secretary General believes it's valuable for, for the member states to discuss the value of the UN Charter and the importance of upholding it. So he looks forward to this thematic debate and he encourages member states to participate. Have a great, great week. Oh yes, one more.

Thank you so much. Anne. Appointment from the German press agency dpa. There was a German journalist arrested in Syria at the end of January. The Syrian government said she claimed to have UN affiliations. And I wanted to ask, do you have any knowledge about this? Her name is Michiel Man.

Her name is what?

Michelle Man. Her last name is Michelle Man.

I'm not aware of a UN affiliation of that particular journalist. Obviously we want all journalists going about their work to be released and that's the case in this. But I have no firsthand knowledge of any such connection. Thanks.

An Israeli, a Jewish extremist attacked a French woman priest. And there was word condemnation to that. And before that, an Israeli soldier smashed the statue of Jesus Christ in South Lebanon. And these incidents passes without mentioning in the un. Why is that?

That's not the case. I believe Stephan mentioned the desecration of the religious symbol. We want all religions to be treated with respect everywhere. And when anything is desecrated, we speak out against it. Thank. You.