Secretary-General/Spain, Yemen, Palestine & other topics - Daily Press Briefing

Oh, everything in Zim? There's a lot happening in Zimbabwe.

I liked that country when I was there many, many years ago. On my way to the RR as they called it in Kenya, the racist republic.

Oh, Kenya.

No, I lived in Kenya and I would go down East Africa. I always go to Zimbabwe.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a good country, but I think right now it's going to be heavily affected by the El Nino. So it's one of the 11 countries.

You have to speak a bit louder because I can't hear anything. My ear things aren't working. I feel I'm deaf.

No, no, you're not. Yeah, so I was saying, I feel that Zimbabwe is one of the countries that's going to be affected by the El Nino.

Affected by the what?

By the El Nino. You know, the climate change thing.

Yes, no? Yeah, yeah.

So it's one of the leading countries. That's likely to be affected between now and January.

How does that show? Does it knock down houses or what?

No, in our case, no. What's that?

Can you?

Oh, your phone.

Thank you.

Yeah, so it's gonna be the heat. Right now, it's very hot. It's hot. Very high temperatures, yes.

Really.

Yeah. Above 100 degrees every day.

Oh my goodness.

Sometimes 110, sometimes 115, 120. So it's very hot. But the difference now is that in East Africa, like Kenya and Uganda, it's going to be raining.

It's raining.

Yeah, it's going to be raining. They're expecting heavy rainfall. to the southern part of Africa.

Oh my. Yes. Oh my, my Kenya. It's been so long since I've been anywhere near there. Who's that coming in? Oh no, I'm not sure. Do I look okay? I can't even remember if I combed my hair today.

You look fine.

Yeah, it's nice. first time I've been here in two weeks.

Yeah, I was worried. That's why I was always emailing you.

Yeah, I know. It's terrible because... Let me see if I can turn up my ear thing. Hey. Hi. Oh, you look good. That's easy. Getting my legs to move is another.

Oh my gosh.

What? No, just walking.

Moving the background.

Yeah. Yeah, no. Oh, this is the 17th. This is also 17th. Oh, you got the small one, yeah.

I like a big one.

I'll leave during that.

What? Evelyn, nice to see you. What? Just, I'm just old and tired, that's all. All right. Good afternoon. Just a reminder, at 1:00 PM, we will have Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the Undersecretary General for Peace Operations. He'll be here to brief you about his recent trips to the Middle East and other peacekeeping matters. And then tomorrow, our guest will be Leela Peters-Yaya, the UN Resident Coordinator in Nepal. She'll be here to speak to you about the situation in Nepal. Very good. Thank you for paying attention. I know, this is, can't get anything past anybody in this room. It's great. Okay, I do have a geography quiz for you today, so better brush up. The Secretary General arrived in Madrid, Spain, this morning to attend the 30th Ibero-American Summit earlier today. He met with Antonio Costa, the President of the European Council. They discussed the cooperation between the United Nations and the European Union, as well as the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine. While in Madrid, the Secretary-General also visited the new headquarters of UN Tourism, where he was welcomed by its Secretary-General, Sheikha Al Nuwais. Following their meeting, the Secretary-General met with the staff from UN Tourism, as well as colleagues from other UN agencies based in Spain. In his address, to the staff, the Secretary-General highlighted the essential role of tourism as an instrument for peace and the implementation of the values of the UN Charter around the world. Tourism is not only industry, he said, but a powerful way to connect people. This afternoon, he will attend the official opening of the Ibero-American Summit, and tomorrow morning, he will deliver remarks at the plenary session and opening session of the plenary session of this summit. I wanted to flag to you issue that has been on our agenda for a bit of time. The Secretary General has transmitted to the President of the General Assembly the latest report by the former Chief Justice of Tanzania, Mohammed Chande Othman, who, as you know, is the eminent person. And the letter concerns the investigation into the conditions and circumstances resulting in the tragic death of the former Secretary General, Dag Hammarskjöld, as well as the members of the party that were accompanying The Secretary-General's letter to the President of the General Assembly is accompanied by the Eminent Persons Report and is publicly available as a General Assembly document. I encourage you to read the report because it makes for absolutely fascinating reading, and it will still, as you will hear, a lot of unanswered questions. The Secretary General expressed his renewed gratitude to Judge Othman for his excellent work as the eminent person, as well as for his perseverance in the pursuit of the full truth in the wake of the tragic events. The Secretary General has encouraged that in the years following the reopening of the investigation by the General Assembly back in 2014, significant advancements in the body of knowledge have been made. The Secretary-General is also encouraged by the assessment of the eminent person that significant advancements could continue to have been made under his recent mandate, including in relation to the possible involvement of mercenary pilots or other agents in a deliberate act against the flight carrying Doug Hamerschild, also the possible type of aircraft used in any such act, the presence and role of foreign actors, information relating to search and rescue, and expert aviation analysis. The Secretary General notes the eminent person's assessment remains plausible that an external attack or threat was the cause of the crash, the alternative feasible hypotheses are sabotage or unintentional human error. The Secretary General notes that the eminent person's assessment that it is almost certain that material information exists that has not been disclosed by Member States, and the Secretary-General calls on Member States to provide that relevant information and to ensure comprehensive access to their archive 65 years after the crash that killed our Secretary General and the members of his party accompanying him. The Secretary General supports the eminent person's recommendation that the United Nations appoint an independent person to continue the work undertaken pursuant to the most recent mandates of the eminent persons, which concluded at the end of the 80th session of the General Assembly back in September. Again, I really encourage you to read those SG's letter, but more importantly, the report. Turning to more contemporary matters and distressing one as the situation in Yemen continues to deteriorate for the people of Yemen. Our OCHA colleagues tell us that now almost 310,000 people have been forced to leave their homes since the beginning of August in Yemen. Taiz city is running out of basic goods. Cargo transporters carrying flour and other staple foods on which Taiz markets depends have pulled their trucks back to the Al Farq area where these trucks sit stranded. Prices of essential items in Taiz city, we are told, have risen as much as fivefold. The collection of waste has also ground to a halt, with trucks preventing from reaching dumping sites. As you can imagine, with piles of rubbish piling up across the city, it dramatically increases the potential of disease. On the health front also, UNICEF said it is alarmed by the Al-Sukya Health Center in Laj Governorate was attacked, resulting in the reported killings of five people, including health workers. Our UNICEF-supported facility serves more than 1,700 people. Our partners continue to reach people in need across Yemen despite the ongoing challenges. Since August, nearly 190,000 people have received food aid and nearly 140,000 have received emergency cash assistance. Our partners working in health have now reached more than 9,000 displaced people through 60 mobile teams in health points have supported some 72 hospitals. UN refugee agency tells us that nearly 5,400 newly displaced families have been registered for humanitarian cash assistance and that 4,200 have actually received UNHCR is also providing cash for shelter to more than 2,100 families in cities like Aden, Abyan, and Lajj, and has some 3,000 relief kits en route to the city of Aden. Shelter remains a pressing need. As you can well imagine, approximately 37,000 families are still waiting for shelter support, while 32,000 are waiting for the most basic household items. Once again, we call for the protection of civilians. We call for safe, sustained, and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid, and particularly to communities increasingly isolated by ongoing hostilities. Turning to the occupied Palestinian territory, the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs tells us that yesterday they report small arms fire near a UN contracted facility in Deir al-Balah and a convoy we organized in Rafah. Thankfully, no injuries to UN staff or damage have been reported. Also yesterday, gunfire hit and damaged multiple tents in a displacement site in northern Rafah, reportedly causing injuries and forcing one of our humanitarian partners to leave the area where it was working on flood control, and that is ahead of the winter rainy season. These incidents come amid continued reports of strikes hitting populated areas and causing civilian casualties across the Gaza Strip. Civilians, including humanitarian workers, must always be protected. Civilian objects, including humanitarian facilities and vehicles, must always be spared. Over the last week of October, we and our partners supported more than 70 households affected by incidents ranging from airstrikes to domestic fires in which they lost shelter and their belongings. During that same week, our partners reached nearly 4,500 boys and girls. more than and more than 2,000 caregivers with mental health and psychosocial support. They identified almost 200 children who require individually tailored support, including 20 unaccompanied or separated children, and 17 who are report who are injured. Follow-up support continues to more than 2,000 children identified earlier the week as requiring such help. Also during the last week of October, our partners provided vouchers by to by autumn clothes for more than 1,000 children who do not have any parental care. Meanwhile, in the West Bank, the olive harvest continues to be disrupted by Israeli settler violence and restrictions on access to Palestinian groves. Our food security partners have provided harvesting tools and machinery across nearly 80% of all identified hotspots, while others are leading on protection, supported volunteer harvesting campaigns for Palestinian farmers, and a protective presence. Turning to Sudan, Denise Brown, our humanitarian coordinator in that country, warns that stepped up drone strikes on civilian infrastructure are severely disrupting essential services and deepening civilian suffering across the country. Miss Brown said that power stations and fuel facilities appear to be systematically targeted, causing widespread electricity outages, water supply disruption, and fuel shortages. Hospitals are directly impacted, including one outside Khartoum, where 25 patients had their life saving dialysis treatment interrupted by a power outage. Hospitals are also struggling to provide maternity care and to conduct operations when they have no electricity. Our colleagues at the UN Human Rights Office tell us that drone strikes have intensified and spread across Sudan in the last two weeks, with at least 25 strikes on power and fuel infrastructure across 11 states in that country. Yesterday alone, strikes reportedly hit energy infrastructure in residential neighborhoods in Ed Damazin and fuel stations in River Nile and South Kordofan. civilian casualties were reported there, and we condemn all civilian casualties. In South Kordofan, the International Organization for Migration tells us that around 350 people were displaced from villages in Habila over the past two days. OCHA reiterates that civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected, and that international humanitarian law prohibits attacks against civilians and objects indispensable to their survival. Despite the insecurity, we and our partners continue to deliver lifesaving assistance. Last month, food assistance reached more than 20,000 people across localities of Altina, Korno, Umbaru, all in North Darfur State. Nutrition and health care services also continued, while emergency water supply reached more than 3,000 people in Korno and Umbaru. We again urgently call for improved access and additional resources Our OCHA colleagues tell us that with less than two months remaining in the year, Sudan's nearly $2.9 billion humanitarian appeal is only 47% funded, with only $1.34 billion having been received. We thank those who have sent cash, and we ask those who have yet and have the ability to do so to send us the resources we need. Moving south to South Sudan, our peacekeeping colleagues there Tell us that they continue to engage with communities and maintain a protective presence in conflict affected areas of Tonj County in Warap State. Over the past two days, peacekeepers have conducted patrols in Pagol, Aliak, Alabek to help further deter violence and reassure communities. But residents and local authorities continue to report displacement. They continue to report cattle raiding, and they continue to report persistent intercommunal tensions as well. urgent need for more life-saving humanitarian aid. While some stability has returned, the security situation remains fragile, with armed youth present, water shortages, and competition over grazing land posing increased risk. The mission is working with local communities, national police, and communities to strengthen civilian protection, address the underlying grievances, and most importantly, to prevent any further escalation. These efforts built on the peacekeeping mission's rapid response following the the deadly violence we saw in Greater Tonche on October 26, which, as you'll recall, claimed 72 lives and left almost 40 people injured. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, our humanitarian colleagues warn that violence continues to take a heavy toll on civilians in the eastern provinces, driving displacement, disrupting essential services. and increasing humanitarian needs. Our humanitarian colleagues note that in the provinces of Ituri, 50 civilians were released yesterday in Mombasa territory after almost three months in captivity. But the violence continues. According to local civil society organization, at least 24 civilians were killed, 43 abducted by armed groups in October alone. In South Kivu, renewed fighting in Uvira territory since late October has forced 26 primary schools to shutter, depriving nearly 6, thousand kids of education opportunities. Meanwhile, in neighboring North Kivu, clashes in Masisi and Lubero continue to force families from their homes and hamper humanitarian operations. The province accounts for about 60% of newly reported Ebola cases nationwide. As of November 1st, health authorities has reported 10,500 confirmed cases of Ebola, with more than 5,100 deaths across the country. Insecurity, as you can imagine, continues to make our work in support of the Ebola response that much more complicated. Again, this backdrop, an OCHA coordinator interagency mission met with authorities in the territories of Beni and North Kivu earlier this week to discuss humanitarian access, strengthen community engagement, and support efforts to contain the outbreak. Once again, we call on the parties to protect civilians and ensure safe and unhindered and rapid humanitarian access wherever it is needed. fighting should not make it more difficult for humanitarians to do their work in the support of people who so desperately need help. And In Somalia, the country is facing convergence of crises, including famine, conflict, and insecurity, and political tensions, as well as El Nino driven flooding and drought. In southwest, the security situation has deteriorated significantly since last September, particularly in Baidoa and Burha Kaba districts, uprooting civilians, including towards Baidoa town and towards Mogadishu. Humanitarian operations there have also been disrupted when the needs are extremely high. Integrated Food Security Phase Classification system identified the risk of famine in Borha Kaba earlier this year, but this was averted through a concerted humanitarian response in the area. However, the latest IPC analysis published in September warns that famine now threatens displaced communities in Baidoa. Somalia also remains on the front lines of the climate crises, with El Nino compounding the risks at the peak of their rainy, as the rainy season season approaches, the peak of the rainy season approaches. Heavy rains have already triggered flash floods in several areas, impacting thousands of people, and our partners are tracking rising river levels across multiple states in Somalia. In areas of greater risk, they've positioned emergency supplies and boats in advance and have begun distributing cash assistance. Despite the challenges, we and our partners provided 1.7 million people with at least one form of humanitarian aid across the country. Last month, Tom Fletcher, as you recall, approved $16 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund, but funding remains critically short. The $852 million humanitarian response plan for this year is only one-third funding as the needs continue and the end of the year approaches quickly. And new data from Mozambique and the International Organization from Mozambique, from the International Organization for Migration shows that more than 7,000 people have fled their homes in the northern Cabo Delgado province in September, IOM says that they are escaping fresh violence and fear of attacks by non-state actors. Women and children make up almost 80% of the recent arrivals of displaced people. In October, Cabo Delgado, as of October, Cabo Delgado hosts more than 205,000 displaced people across 84 sites, more than half are children. New arrivals add to a crisis that has been going on for years. IOM is supporting the families and host communities in the area, and it works to include emergency shelters, essential items, and camp coordination. Just want to flag, the UN Environment today released its adaptation gap report for this year, warning that efforts to prepare for worsening climate impacts are falling dangerously short with global warming set to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius. The report points out that developing countries will need an estimated $305 billion annually for adaptation by 2035, yet even meeting the COP30 aspiration to triple international public Adaptation finance would cover only 20, 29% of those needs. In a message to the report, the Secretary General noted that for every dollar developing countries needs to adapt, they receive just $0.10. That gap, he adds, is not only measured in money alone, it is measured in lives, it is measured in livelihoods and lost futures. He said what is missing is not only the money, but the political will, underscoring that the choice is simple, invest in adaptation today. pay for the catastrophe tomorrow. The message and the report are online. And just to note that a joint report on Afghanistan published by UNESCO and UNICEF shows that 53% of primary school age children in Afghanistan remain outside of formal education. The report spotlights a continued exclusion of adolescent girls from secondary education, with more than 2.6 2.6 million girls denied access to this most basic human right since 2021. UNESCO and UNICEF note that the community-based education, literacy, and skills development programs, distance and digital learning, and private tutoring remain the few learning pathways for adolescent girls, but it is not sufficient. And lastly, as promised, we have a little quiz for you today. This nation is renowned for its whale watching season, which lasts from June until October. Every year, humpback whales make the 3000 mile journey from the Antarctic, the Antarctic, to this country's warm waters. They do so so they can breed, birth, and rear their young before returning to the Antarctic.

New Zealand? Chile.

You're in the general area. No, use your microphone. You're in the general area.

Australia, New Zealand.

No. Chile? No. That is not, I mean, this is a geography quiz. When I say the general areas, Australia, New Zealand, Canada would not be a good guess, Ephraim. But I don't wanna embarrass you any further. I will give you the name of the capital, which is Nuku'alofa. Yes, Edie Lederer. Not that you would have gotten the first question anyway, but we thank our friends in Nuku'alofa, the capital of Tonga, for their payment to the regular budget. We now have 149 fully paid up member states. Tonga sent us a very nice check for $31,815. Edie.

Thank you, Steph. Does the Secretary General hope that the election of a democratic-controlled Congress in the United States will lead to perhaps the speedier payment of dues and owed to the United Nations.

Good question. We’re not going to speculate, but we will, as we do with major elections, congratulate the American people for participating in large numbers in this democratic exercise.

And a follow-up on the report on Doug Hammerschmidt's death, not having seen the report, does the report actually name the countries that have not disclosed information and put pressure on them to do so?

It does. Pamela Falk.

Thank you, Stefan Dujarik. My question is a follow-up to Edie's first question, which is, is there any plan from the Secretariat or anyone else to now go seek aid that the Democrats in Congress have committed to in the past to see if they can re- re- um, grab some of that money.

No new Congress has been sworn in, uh, yet. So, uh, and again, uh, Our point of contact with the U.S., as it is with every government, is the executive, and the point of contact remains the permanent representative, Mr. Waltz. So I’m not going to go into any sort of speculation.

Secretaries General have gone to Washington.

I'm not saying they haven't. I'm not saying they haven't spoken to members of Congress, but there is no new Congress sitting.

And with the new Congress comes a new SG, and so it wouldn't be this.

And hopefully a new spokesperson. Okay, Linda.

Thank you, Steph. Rick, apropos of the West Bank, can you give us a little more detail in terms of how much damage, has taken place regarding the – by settlers, you know.

Regarding the I don’t have that. I mean, I would encourage you to reach out to our OCHA friends who do monitoring. They will point you to their – to the regular updates, but I don’t have that at the tip of my fingers. Okay. No more questions or more online questions. I would – you have 21 minutes, and then we’ll see you back here for Mr. Lacroix.