UN Peacekeepers Day/ UNIFIL/ Lebanon & other topics - Daily Press Briefing

All right. Good afternoon. I think you heard Jean-Pierre speak extensively about Unifil, but I just want to give you a bit of an update on the status quo of our two peacekeepers who'd be who were injured on Wednesday. And I can tell you that they are continuing to receive treatment at a Unifil medical facility in South Lebanon. And we, of course, continue to wish them a quick and swift recovery, full recovery. Their colleagues, meanwhile, continue to do their work and they're continuing to observe intensive offensive idea of activity across Unifil's area of operations including sustained airstrikes and helicopter fire in both sectors, that is east and west. Yesterday, Unifil peacekeepers reported total of seven hundred and seventy three firing incidents originating from IDF positions south of the blue line within its area of operations. In addition, fifteen trajectories of projectiles were detected from north to south, and one crossing the blue line. While ground forces observed 29 projectiles interceptions by Israel over in that area. Peacekeepers also observed IDF personnel and vehicles establishing two roadblocks near a UNIFIL position in sector west. As we have said repeatedly here, a full freedom of movement for UNIFIL throughout its area of operations is essential for it to carry out its mandate. Also yesterday, UNIFIL observed two armed drones flying over or near a UNIFIL position just north of Bayada. One of these drones dropped a grenade in the vicinity before turning back. Incidents of this nature are of concern to say the least, and we reiterate that all parties must avoid any action that puts in danger the lives of UN peacekeepers or threatens UN peacekeeping property. In coordination with our humanitarian colleague, I think, as Jean-Pierre mentioned, the mission facilitated three humanitarian missions to tire. in Sector West yesterday and on the humanitarian front our colleague Imran Riza, the Resident Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, launched with the Lebanese government the revised flash appeal for Lebanon that is calling for an additional 331.5 million dollars to cover the period from June to August. This brings the overall ask for the flash appeal running from March through August to nearly six hundred and forty million. in United States dollars, and this is to sustain life-saving efforts to uh for one point four million human beings. As you'll recall, the Secretary General announced uh the initial flash appeal in person three months ago um donors, and that was done in Beirut. Donors have up till now provided about $186 million to bolster the humanitarian response. We and our partners have so far reached some 680,000 people. However, humanitarian needs are rising as we've been telling you. Essential services including health care and water system continue to be severely impacted very negatively, emphasizing that some 1 million people remain. remained displaced because of the conflict. Mr. Riza called for sustained international support to enable the delivery of a broad range of life-saving assistance, uh protect civilians and help restore critical services in affected areas. Turning to the occupied Palestinian territory, our d um Deputy Special uh Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator there, Rames Al-Abqarov today highlighted the impact of the conflict on the environment. in Palestine and the importance of integrating environmental considerations into humanitarian recovery and development efforts. The statement issued for World Environment Day, Dr. El-Abkarov who is the said that environmental damage has affected people's health, livelihoods and well-being and placed additional pressure on vulnerable ecosystems and natural resources. He warned that damage to essential infrastructure including water and sanitation sanitation systems as well as pollution and the accumulation of debris has immediate consequences for communities and may have long-term implications. Meanwhile, our colleagues working on sanitation in Gaza report that solid waste management continues to rely on temporary dump sites that are near or where displaced people live and therefore has an immediate negative impact on public health. Over the past three months, our partners have transferred about 100 100,000 cubic meters of waste from the Fieris market in Gaza to a newly identified dump site in Abu Jirad, but the new site cannot be fully developed or effectively utilized without specific fabrics, also called geotextiles, that have now only now been approved uh to be brought into Gaza and are in the procurement phase. There's a need to secure Gaza's access to landfills close to the eastern perimeter. We also need approval to bring in equipment and other inputs to It's to clear explosive ordnance and remove water uh wastewater and we remove waste and rubble. Finally um our mine action colleagues tell us in the last two weeks of May they've raised awareness and the risk linked to explosive ordnance among more than sixteen thousand children and adults. But they still lack approval to take into Gaza the necessary equipment to dispose of the actual explosive devices. And you saw that yesterday we issued another An update on the activities of our colleague Jean Arnaud, who, since the start of his assignment as the Secretary General's Personal Envoy for the Middle East conflict and the consequences, has been conducting extensive consultations with countries of the Middle East affected by the conflict, members of the Security Council and other member states, including with counterparts at Headquarters and in the region. In his engagements, Mr. Arnaud has amplified the Secretary General's call for an urgent urgent de-escalation and the consolidation of the ceasefire, as well as comprehensive and durable settlement. and the need to avert the devastating consequences of a resumption of hostilities and to restore the freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz as it as an urgent matter. As he prepares to undertake further consultations, Mr. Ahno is encouraged by the broad regional convergence on the need to bring the current conflict to a quick and definitive end and among other stets steps to undertake the difficult but necessary work of restoring t restoring trust and cooperation that has been broken by this conflict. This emerging consensus can make a powerful contribution to the settlement of the conflict and long-term regional stability. Um and also in terms of travel, an update on Miss Mary Ange Angela Holgen, who is you know is the personal envoy of the Secretary General um and she will be in Cyprus on the seventh to the fourteenth of June, meeting with Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders separate separately on June 8th to discuss a way forward. From Cyprus, she will travel to Ankara and Athens for further meetings and consultations. Turning to Libya, as I've been asked, I can tell you that we are deeply concerned by the violent protests that took place yesterday outside the UNHCR and UNSMIL headquarters in Tripoli. The UN strongly condemns any attack or threats against personnel or premises. We are concerned by the spread of misinformation and... And this information regarding the work of the United Nations in Libya, we want to clarify that our UNHCR works closely with the Libyan authorities to identify and support solutions outside of Libya for people fleeing war and persecution and in need of international protection, including through third countries such as resettlement and voluntary returns when feasible. The UN appreciates the support of the Libyan authorities in maintaining public order. Public order and ensuring the safety of protesters and U.N. personnel and facilities. Uh update for you on uh the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where our humanitarian colleagues warn of intensifying violence, claiming civilian lives and severely restricting humanitarian access in the provinces and of North and South Kivu. In North Kivu province, an armed attack in Beni territory on the night of June second reportedly killed at least twenty four civilians. triggered fresh displacement according to local authorities. Neighbouring Masisi territory, heavy clashes on June 3rd caused further displacement, compounding a crisis that had already displaced some 270,000 people as of May. The renewed violence has compelled humanitarian organisation to restrict movements in several areas, further limiting access to affected populations. And in South Kivu, hostilities on June 3rd in Fizi and Mwinga territories, reportedly involving the use of drones, sparked new displacement, according to local civil society. Over the past two years, persistent insecurity in that area has cut off more than 165,000 men, women and children from regular assistance. Our OCHA colleagues say they are very concerned about the ongoing violence in the two eastern provinces and that it could hinder the response. the response to the Ebola epidemic as well as ongoing humanitarian work. Despite these challenges, provision of life-saving assistance continues wherever possible. Since April, humanitarian partners have provided cash assistance to more than 8,000 people in Benin territory, and we call on all parties yet again to respect international humanitarian law and provide unimpeded, safe and sustained humanitarian access. And earlier today on Ebola, the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention, along with the World Health Organization, launched a joint continental preparedness and response plan for the ongoing Ebola outbreak. The plan aims to raise 518 million U.S. dollars to support countries together with partners to prepare, detect and respond to the outbreak. The six-month plan will cover the period from now until November and bring together governments, partners, and communities under a unified one-response approach to strengthen outbreak response measures, including emergency coordination, disease surveillance, lab testing, infection control, and many other aspects. The plan complements the National Response Plans launched by the governments of the Democratic Republic of the Congo as well as Uganda. And on behalf of our... Our friends at UNOPS in Copenhagen we wanted to flag their new annual report that was issued today in which it outlines how the agency provided technical, operational, logistical support through more than 1,100 projects across 130 countries and territories. In those projects it delivered around $2.7 billion worth of support in terms of humanitarian response, sustainable development and peace and security initiatives. The majority of the projects were in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the COVID-19 pandemic and the COVID-19 pandemic and the COVID-19 pandemic. As to conflicts and crises, including in high-risk areas, two-thirds of UNOPS' work was in complex situation, in line with the continued focus to operate in some of the world's most challenging places. Through its projects, the report says its organization created around 26 million days of paid work for local communities, among them the poorest, including 10 million days of work for women. And the global food price index for those of you who may have put some money on the global food price index on Polymarket. Global food prices were largely unchanged in May according to data released today by the Food and Agricultural Organization. The food price index which tracks international prices for major food commodities averaged 130.8 points in May. The index was down 0.2% from May. from April but remained 2.9 percent higher than a year ago. FAO says that while global food commodity markets have remained broadly resilient, disruptions to key trade routes, including the Strait of Hormuz of course, could reduce fertilizer use and place additional pressure on food prices, underscoring the need for international cooperation. And today is World Environment Day in a message the Secretary-General said that warning signals are everywhere. He noted the past 11 years have been The 11 hardest on records and that damage goes far beyond rising temperatures. He pointed out the world is heading for a temporary overshoot of 1.5 degrees and every fraction of a degree brings greater harm, especially to the most vulnerable. He stressed that our task is to make that overshoot as small and as short and as safe as possible, rapidly bringing temperatures back down. The Secretary General stressed this means slashing emissions, accelerating a just transition away from away from fossil fuels and towards renewables, cutting methane, protecting forest, land, sea, and helping communities adapt to already devastating impacts. His message was shared with you and also today Volker Turk, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in his own message stressed that over the past three years his office has recorded nearly 600 environmental and land defenders killed or disappeared worldwide in at least 55 countries. Um... environmental defenders have been detained for just defending the environment. Mr Turk urged all governments to ensure the safety of environmental defenders and accountability for all abuses. His message is shared with you. Today is also the International Day for the Fight against Illegal, Underreported and Unregulated Fishing. According to FAO, over a third of fish stocks globally are being overexploited. It's estimated that one in every five fish fish caught comes from illegal underreported or unregulated fishing. I have a little mini quiz for you today. A well-known poet was born on June 6th. Who is that? And we are celebrating the language of that poet tomorrow. Excuse me? Yes, it's Alexander Pushkin was born on June 6th, and that is, we mark that because it will mark the annual Russian Language Day. And if you're in Paris next week, UNESCO will open its doors for an official ceremony to celebrate the day, followed by a concert. Sunday is World Food Safety Day. Food safety helps to ensure that we remain safe. to state the obvious and just a programming note on Monday we will joined by a number of guests leading that list is Stephen Hill our new assistant secretary general for legal affairs he will be joined by Ms. Baya Tasib deputy permanent representative of the Netherlands to the UN, Rafael Gonzalez Queroz director of oceanographic centre of Gijón and Fabian Cousteau the The oceanographer, explorer and founder of the Fabien Cousteau Ocean's Learning Center, they will be here briefly on the World Ocean Assessment. E.D., then Ibtissam.

Thank you, Steph. In these intensifying attacks in North and South Kivu, are those areas that have been affected by Ebola?

Ebola cases reported there, and as we mentioned, I mean, already the humanitarian work that we do there is extremely challenging. When you add Ebola to it, it makes our work even more complicated, and it makes the response to the disease, the insecurity makes the response to the disease that much more complicated.

And in these protests against The UN Refugee Agency in Libya, it sounds like... An issue of poor communications and messaging with the local population, what is the UN going to do to try

Well,

and rectify

I mean, we

that?

are trying to communicate either through here or locally obviously in Arabic and in Libya. But in this case, as in many others, the fight against disinformation and misinformation online is extremely... uh challenging. And for that we also need the assistance of the platforms um the social media platforms uh to help combat this information. Merci pour votre attention.

Thank you. Um so the new humanitarian uh reporting that uh cyb I'm quoting cyber attack on May fourteenth on the uh World Food Programme exposed sensitive data from the from its Gaza self registration app, a mm a people's portal affecting six hundred thousand households. It may be the largest known breach of humanitarian uh beneficiary data. uh to the date. The data included um names, I_D_s, mobile numbers and neighbourhoods information. Uh end of quote. Any Comments.

Yeah, I mean the comment is like I said we've been in touch with our colleagues uh at WFP. They were the holders of this uh of this database. Uh they're very much aware of the um of the situation. Um they took once they detected the breach uh they took immediate action to shut down the platform uh to try to contain uh the um the intrusion. No other um uh WFP's system was uh was impacted and cash assistance, food delivery, all of that uh thankfully remains in place in uh in Gaza. They're ch they're working to try to restore the and and secure it and trying to to to investigate it. And I can tell you uh you know whether it's WFP or any other organisation uh we all have to try to stay one step ahead of uh of hackers, but it remains a challenge. challenge, but I know it is something they take extremely uh seriously.

Uh I mean the same report by the h his new uh humanitarian also raising some uh questions regarding uh unresolved issue issues that remain uh when it comes to uh the U.N. or the W_F_P_ um um handling the issue. And one of the question is uh they are raising is whether the uh the wider digital strategy uh including in palantir linked systems, um uh creates unacceptable data protection uh risks giving the fact that uh back then when the U_N_ in twenty nine ten uh contracted with uh palantir, there were also a lot of critics saying that the connection between palantir and C_I_A_ is um a problematic issue. So

Mm.

Uh

I can't comment on the actual on the actual contract, but I know that uh you know W_F_P_ has been this business for a long time. They take uh the fact that people trust them with individual data very seriously uh and they're trying to do whatever they can to remedy the situation. Okay, yes please go ahead. It's been a pleasure.

Thank you, Steph. Here are all from the China Central Television. Uh the Ukrainian President Zelensky has publicly called for direct talks with Russian President Putin and President Putin has responded publicly yesterday. And the U.S. President Trump has also weighed in, encouraging direct engagement between the two leaders. Does the Secretary General view this exchange as a potentially meaningful opening for diplomacy? And that's the S_G_B_D_ the condition now exists for a direct meeting between the two leaders.

I I think in any context, uh in any conflict, uh direct negotiations on uh within the right the right basis and on equal basis is critical to resolving the conflict and we will always be there to support uh to support the parties in order to reach a just and comprehensive of an sustainable ceasefire and an end to the conflict within the parameters that we always state.

If such talks uh were to move forward, would the United Nations be prepared to support in any

Look, we are we are and have always been prepared to do whatever we can to bring this conflict to an end.

question. However today Russian President Putin called the open the open letter as rude and disrespectful while he is speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. And he also said that there was currently no point in holding a meeting with President Zelensky.

I mean, I'm not here to provide colour commentary as the volleys go back and forth. I mean, my answer to you was what our general position is, and it remains the same. Uh Thank Abu you. Sufian.

Uh thank you, sir. First of all I want to know, uh do you have any update about my yesterday's question, I asked about Bangladesh and India p India's border. India is pushing uh Bangladesh a Muslim people to Bangladesh and they are violating Vienna Convention.

No, I do not have anything for you as of yet. Yes, Eric.

Hi, so uh it came John Newen was I hope it's working fine. Is it? Okay. Uh came John Newen was uh recently photographed visiting a nuclear enrichment facility. A new nuclear enrichment facility uh do you have any comment?

Look, uh our our stand on the the need for full complete verifiable denuclearization of the Korean peninsula remains unchanged. What remains unchanged is my quest to have lunch. Have a good weekend.