Climate Report/Overshoot, Iran, Occupied Palestinian Territory & other topics - Daily Press Briefing

All right, good afternoon. Thank you for your patience. In a short while, we'll be joined virtually by our guest, Inger Andersen, who as you know, is the executive director of the UN Environment Program. She will brief you on the launch of the latest UNEP report called Limiting Overshoot, Navigating Exceedance of 1.5 Degrees Centigrade and Pathways Towards Return. The report finds that as global temperatures rise, the world must strive to return to below 1.5 degrees as soon as possible and simultaneously reduce the vulnerabilities of societies, communities and economies to climate impact. In a video message on the launch, the Secretary-General noted that humanity is speeding past the limit to avoid a climate catastrophe, pointing out it is we set to breach the 1.5 degree limit within the next few years and this summer's scorching heat, raging wildfires and deadly floods are warning what lies ahead. The Secretary-General warned that every fraction of a degree will cost lives, will destroy livelihoods and will deepen inequality and push ecosystems closer to irreversible damage. He stressed that we must take the overshoot as small and short as possible, limiting how high temperatures rise and how long they remain above 1.5 degrees, and that the fight for 1.5 degrees is the fight for humanity. So we'll get to Inger very soon, and Inger, I ask for your patience. Just to remind also tomorrow, 11:15, there'll be a hybrid press briefing by Annalena Baerbock, the outgoing president of the General Assembly. Then after the noon briefing at 12:45, there'll be another briefing here by the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The guests will include Dylan Winder, the permanent representative of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and also director of humanitarian diplomacy. and Shion Proctor, a geoscientist and astronaut, and Isabelle Granger, the IFRC global lead on disaster law. They'll brief you on the IFRC's latest disaster research and campaign launch, putting astronauts at the heart of push for the world's first international disaster treaty. Thank you. These are turning to the situation in the Gulf. I can tell you the Secretary General is gravely concerned by the renewed exchange of fire overnight between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Secretary General is deeply alarmed by reports of civilian casualties, including a strike that reportedly hit a wedding ceremony in Iran. The Secretary General condemns all attacks against civilians. He recalls that all parties must respect their obligations under international humanitarian law including the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution. As we have seen, few countries in the region are immune from this escalation, with airspace and critical shipping routes continuing to be heavily impacted. The Secretary-General reiterates his call for an immediate cessation of military action and urges all concerned to exercise restraint and refrain from action and rhetoric that could further escalate already high tensions. Further escalations, as you can imagine, would have devastating consequences for civilians and the wider region and beyond. The Middle East escalation has had devastating impact on civilians and added further pressure on humanitarian needs and operations across the region and beyond. In a region already facing many humanitarian crises, this risk of further deterioration at a time when humanitarian operations are already overstretched and underfunded, as we tell you repeatedly. Despite these challenges, we and our humanitarian partners continue to respond with lifesaving assistance wherever we can and whenever we can. The Secretary-General urges the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran to return urgently to diplomacy. A comprehensive and durable settlement can be achieved only through dialogue and negotiations. Turning to the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, our OCHA colleagues tell us they remain deeply concerned over the safety and welfare of Palestinian civilians in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. UNICEF said today that in Gaza, three boys and girls aged three to 13 had reportedly been killed in the preceding 24 hours, with at least five other children injured. UNICEF said that to protect children, the use of explosive weapons and indiscriminate fire must be avoided. Yesterday in Gaza City, three guards contracted by one of our humanitarian partners were slightly injured during armed clashes happening in their vicinity. And in Deir al-Bala, the outer wall of two guest houses used by our colleagues sustained some damage after being struck by a projectile. An Israeli quadcopter was observed nearby. All civilians, including aid workers, as well as the facilities they use and civilian infrastructure must always be protected. This morning, for the second day, about a million people in Gaza who depend on the Israeli water grid were affected by reduced water supplies, with the distribution of water from other sources by truck only partially compensating for the reduction of what was coming in through the pipes. Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, our humanitarian colleagues continue to be very concerned by reports that entire community, the entire community of Kirbat at Taban was destroyed today by Israeli forces, home to dozens of people. This is one of 13 herding community in the Masafra Yata area of Hebron, home to over a thousand people who are all within the 18% of the West Bank that Israeli authorities have declared as firing zones allocated for military training. communities face longstanding demolition orders issued against all structures for being unlicensed, although Israeli authorities do not issue the necessary permits for Palestinians in that area. A dozen Israeli settler outposts have been established within the same area over the past two years, with settler violence adding to pressure on this and other Palestinian communities. pushing them to leave. Our humanitarian partners are now mobilizing response efforts in support of those newly displaced while also supporting vulnerable communities who are under pressure to leave across the West Bank in sustaining their livelihoods. In this context, our colleagues at the Food and Agriculture Organization tell us that herders in the West Bank have received 3.3 million vaccine doses from the FAO and cooperation with the Palestine Ministry of Agriculture, all this to safeguard livestock and their income over the past two years. And turning to Syria, our humanitarian colleagues and partners tell us they've reached an average of 2.5 million people each month between January and July of this year with food, health care, water, sanitation support, shelter assistance, and other life-saving aid across more than 4,700 communities. In July alone, our partners provide food to more than 700,000 people supported by over 1.2 million medical procedures and reach two million people with water sanitation and various hygiene services they also provided protection assistance to more than 250,000 people including through mine action gender-based violence prevention response and child protection we'll continue to support the humanitarian response wherever the needs persist in Syria but funding remains a major challenge as it always is the humanitarian needs and response plan for Syria is just over 30 30% funded with $889 million received against the $2.9 billion, that's billion with a B, that is actually needed. Turning to Nepal, and just a week after the floods, we and our partners continue to support the government-led relief efforts with a flash appeal that we expect to be launched in the next few days. We and our humanitarian partners are delivering food, clean water, hygiene kits, medical supplies alongside UNICEF, therapeutic food and nutrition experts. The FAO has provided veterinary care for about 300 injured animals and is assessing agricultural losses. The UN Office for Project Services is conducting rapid infrastructure assessment, mapping isolated communities, identifying logistics bottlenecks, and sharing real-time data with various coordination teams. Meanwhile, WHO tells us that seven health facilities have been damaged, with four completely destroyed and two hospitals remaining very difficult to reach. Moving to the African continent to Sudan, our colleagues warned that continued fighting is forcing thousands of people from their homes and disrupting humanitarian operations, especially in the Kordofan region. In a statement today, the World Food Program strongly condemned an aerial attack that hit two marked trucks carrying its food assistance in South Kordofan on Sunday. More than 50 metric tons of food were destroyed, which is enough to assist 5,800 people for a month. The trucks were heading to the state capital, where WFP is supporting nearly 58,000 people facing severe food insecurity. The needs are growing. Local authorities in South Kordofan note that more than 9,800 people have arrived in Abassiya with food and essential household items as part of their more urgent needs. And in neighboring North Kordofan, 8,700 families arrived in Sheikhan in the past three weeks, putting more pressure on already overcrowded shelters and on the basic services, which are stretched extremely thin. Despite all of this, we and our partners are stepping up the efforts to curb the spread of cholera in North Darfur and other affected areas. The World Health Organization and UNICEF are supporting Sudanese health authorities with vaccination campaigns, which launched this week in North Darfur, South Darfur and West Kordofan. It aims to protect 928,000 people. We also once again call on the parties to protect civilians, to protect civilian infrastructure, humanitarians, humanitarian and to allow for the free and unfettered access for humanitarian goods. Turning to the Democratic Republic of the Congo over the past week, our second... Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Head of the Peacekeeping Mission in the DRC, James Swan, together with the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Great Lakes, Huang Xia, visited Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda as part of our ongoing efforts to support a durable peace in the eastern part of the DRC and coordinate the various regional efforts. During the visit, Mr. Swan briefed senior government officials on the peacekeeping mission's support for ceasefire monitoring and verification, That being done under the Doha process, as well as for the disarmament, demobilization, repatriation of… FDLR forces in relation to the Washington process. Mr. Swan and Mr. Shear reiterated our support for the African Union led mediation efforts in the Great Lakes and called on the parties to comply with resolution 2773 and implement their commitments under the ongoing peace processes. Meanwhile, our humanitarian colleagues tell us that schools have reopened in areas of the DRC impacted by the Ebola outbreak, a critical step for communities already grappling with conflict, displacement and disease. To help ensure that children can return to school safely, we and our partners continue to support infection prevention, water, sanitation activities and school-based awareness campaigns. A first group of trainers has completed training and will now roll out Ebola prevention sessions for more than 18,000 teachers and students and personnel. However, significant challenges remain. More than 490,000 children in the area are out of school due to conflict-related disruptions. Education is the least funded sector of the humanitarian response, having received less than a quarter of the funding required. We urge donors to give to that sector and all other sectors. And from Ukraine, our colleagues at OCHA tell us over the past two days, attacks across the country have caused significant casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure, including in large urban centers such as Kiev and Odessa, which are farther from the front lines. Matthias Schmale, our humanitarian coordinator, underlined the growing toll of attacks on civilians and the pattern of strikes on shopping malls, warehouses, railway and energy infrastructure has expanded, stressing that such attacks should never be normalized. OCHA says humanitarians have not been spared. In recent days, a missile struck and damaged the humanitarian warehouses and vehicles of an NGO partner in Sumy, while a drone strike damaged an evacuation bus operated by another local NGO in the Donetsk region. Our partners continue to provide medical and psychological aid, hot meals, as well as shelter materials to support the humanitarian response. And I was asked earlier by one of your colleagues who's not here about Secretary's reaction to the latest political developments in Nicaragua. I can tell you that the Secretary General is closely following developments in Nicaragua and concerned about the continuing erosion of civic and political space in that country. He recalls that authorities have a responsibility to uphold human rights, the rule of law, and ensure that all citizens can participate freely and can participate safely in public life, including by exercising their right to vote in elections that allow for the guarantee of free expression and the will of the electorate. Chris, we have a quiz today. This country's railway lines could loop around the world twice. It spans, the country is in its width more than 5,000 kilometers, yet it operates on just one time zone. Yes. Thank you. We thank our friends in Beijing for their latest payment, which has them paid now in full to the regular budget. China's payment brings the number of fully paid member states to 133. China's share of the regular budget is $641,361,387. And we thank them. for that money, which will come in handy if I may say so myself. Please.

Thank you, Stefan. So as you said, China has paid its UN assessed contribution for this year, giving the organization severe the liquidate crisis. How significant is this payment for the UN current financial situation? And does the sector general hope other major contributors will now follow by paying their assessments in full And on time.

Yes, yes, yes, and yes. China had already paid partially its budget dues. Today's payment brings them up to date for this year. Obviously, China being the second contributor to the regular budget, as you can imagine, now having the full amount is extremely helpful to the ongoing liquidity crisis. And I think as the Secretary General often said, we've said we encourage all member states to honor their treaty obligations by paying into the regular budget. Edie.

A quick follow up on that. The United States has said that it's going to make a payment to the regular budget, I believe, of more than $700 million. Has that been received?

It is in the pipeline. We're monitoring its position in the pipeline. All indications that it will emerge from the pipeline, and that will be a day that will make us happy. When that money is confirmed in the bank, I will let you know.

Two questions. First, listening every day to these dire situation of UN appeals for countries around the world, really, and some in dire situation, I wonder, when was the last time that a UN appeal was 100% funded or even 90% funded.

That is a very good question. I don't have the answer off the top of my head. I know we've in the past our Ukraine appeals have been the most funded, but we'll get our OCHA colleagues to crunch some numbers for you, Eini.

Okay. question ahead of high level week is the secretary general planning any event focused on artificial intelligence and the guardrails he's been seeking?

He as far as I know he's not participating in any AI events we're still putting together the list of all the side events, but as far as him, I'll check again, I don't believe that he is. Which should not be a signal that he doesn't care about it. As you know, he's had participating events in London and most recently in Geneva and this is something close to his head and his heart.

Thank you, Stefan. On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Zelensky, he warned all airlines, including civilian ones, that the presence of Ukrainian drones could make the skies dangerous in Russia. Any comment on this?

Well, I think we are always concerned about the expansion of this conflict. And it is important that in this conflict as any other, all precautions must be taken not to do harm to civilians or civilian infrastructure.

And another topic on GA, is the Secretary General going to meet American President Trump?

I have no doubt that he will, as he always meets the president of the host country, usually on the first day.

But nothing scheduled yet.

No, but I have no doubt. I mean, we're the, you know, If you have a if you can spare a thought for our colleagues who handle the secretary general schedule, the request for bilaterals and try to please everybody, I would ask you to have a thought for them because it is extremely stressful. But I have no doubt that there will be a bilateral with the president of the United States.

And last question on AI, follow up on ED. What AI programs is the SG using? Is he using ChatGPT, Grok?

Is he using anything? Nothing to share with you on that. Islam.

Thank you, Stefan. A year ago today, the US began striking small boats in the Caribbean. According to the reports, since then the US has conducted nearly 70 strikes, killing 227 people. while labeling them narco-terrorists without any due process. Does the Secretary General have any message on this day? Does he consider the U.S. actions, these strikes violate the international law.

Look, I think this is a situation that may have gone a bit under the radar, but it has continued. As we did in the beginning, we expressed our concern about potential violations of international law. There is a need to combat the traffic and illicit drugs, which is doing great damage in countries of origin, countries of transit, countries of consumption. And often, sometimes the three of one country can be all three. But it should always be done within the framework of international law and existing treaties.

And second question on Gaza. The Israeli Defense Minister Katz said today that Palestinians will ultimately leave Gaza. in quote, there's no real solution for Gaza in the end without migration, the moment will come. He also referred the possibility of the military action. Considering the Israeli officials statement today, the reality also on the ground, does the Secretary General worry about the trajectory there and also will do anything upcoming high level weeks?

Of course, we're worried about their trajectory. And I mean, we speak about it every day in very clear terms in terms of the continuing suffering of the Palestinian people, the lack of security for many Israeli as well. We will still continue to push for a two-state solution, despite the fact that obviously the reality on the ground is what it is. Yes, sir.

Thank you. I'm slow on numbers. The figure you mentioned in the announcement is the overall assessment for China, right? China paid in two batches. Do we have the figure?

Today they paid $126 million. They had paid the bulk of it before, but as you know, we flagged the payments only when we get them. Let me put it this way, there's a quiz only once we get the payments in full. All right, on that note, I don't see any other questions, we will go to our guest, please.