The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
Good afternoon, everyone.
**Briefings
At 1 p.m., there will be a briefing here by Ambassador Christina Markus Lassen, Permanent Representative of Denmark to the United Nations and President of the Security Council for the month of August.
She will brief on the Council’s programme of work for the month. And you will want to stay seated, as this is an in-person only briefing.
Then, tomorrow, we will have as our guest, Olga Cherevko, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Afghanistan. She will join us virtually to brief on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.
**Myanmar
Today, we took note of the announcement by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that a delegate has visited State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi in detention today in Myanmar, in accordance with the ICRC’s standards and procedures for visiting people deprived of liberty.
Previously, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar, Ms. Julie Bishop, had called for independent verifiable reports on State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi’s circumstances, including during her May visit to Myanmar.
We welcome this development and reiterate our call for the swift and unconditional release of all those arbitrarily detained as a fundamental step towards conditions conducive to a credible and transparent political process.
The UN has consistently stressed that a viable political solution must be founded on an immediate cessation of violence and a genuine commitment to inclusive dialogue.
The Secretary-General has stressed the importance of continued dialogue between all relevant Myanmar stakeholders and his Special Envoy on how the United Nations and its partners, in particular ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), 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.
**Lebanon
The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) continues to observe daily Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace. Between Thursday and Sunday, peacekeepers recorded 125 air violations, with the combined total overflight time exceeding 418 hours. Surveillance and armed drones were observed near or above UNIFIL positions in both sectors.
Peacekeepers also report extensive military activity on the ground in south Lebanon, including significant engineering works and active troop movements.
Over the weekend, peacekeepers reported multiple Israel Defense Force (IDF) artillery firing events across both sectors, as well as in areas north of the Litani River.
Separately, peacekeepers observed IDF activities in Lebanese territorial waters on both Saturday and Sunday.
Peacekeepers continue to face obstructions to their freedom of movement in south Lebanon. On Friday, UNIFIL patrols encountered temporary IDF roadblocks in both sectors, restricting movement in Sector East and along the coastal road in Naqoura in Sector West before access was restored. Separately, in Sector West, peacekeeping patrols were subjected to stone-throwing incidents over the weekend.
Yesterday, peacekeepers discovered unexploded ordnance and improvised explosive devices in Sector East. The items were safely destroyed on-site.
At the request of the Lebanese Army and following deconfliction with the IDF, a UNIFIL helicopter and personnel participated in efforts to extinguish a bushfire in the general areas of Shwayya and Ain Jerfa, outside the mission’s area of operations, yesterday afternoon.
On the humanitarian front, UNIFIL facilitated, in coordination with OCHA, seven humanitarian missions in both sectors on Thursday and Friday.
**Occupied Palestinian Territory
Turning to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that daily air strikes, shelling and shooting continued across Gaza over the weekend, reportedly killing dozens of people, including children and other civilians.
On Saturday, one strike hit the area of Al Aqsa hospital, damaging an adjacent medical storage facility. The World Health Organization (WHO) tells us that this caused the destruction of essential medical supplies, including some that they had delivered. Due to the proximity of the attack, the hospital building also sustained minor damage.
The Ministry of Health reported that more than 150 fatalities, including dozens of civilians, were documented in July — the highest reported monthly death toll since the beginning of the year.
Most strikes are being reported in western Gaza, within the less than half of the Strip where virtually all 2.1 million people are concentrated.
OCHA stresses that under international humanitarian law, civilians and civilian infrastructure must beprotected and should not be targeted. Healthcare facilities must never be attacked or militarized.
Further on health, our humanitarian partners warn that funding constraints continue to drive shortages of essential medical supplies, including insulin for patients with Type 1 diabetes and medicines for cardiovascular diseases. Stocks of basic critical diagnostic and monitoring equipment — such as glucometers, blood glucose test strips, blood pressure monitors, and monofilaments — are also low, affecting the quality of screening, follow-up and disease management services.
Hemodialysis services are short on key supplies, particularly vascular access supplies, while scarce quantities of cardiac catheterization materials are affecting cardiac services, squeezing treatments to a small number of priority cases.
More supplies required to prevent and control infections are pending Israeli approval to bring into Gaza. Alcohol-based disinfectants, which are essential for hand hygiene and routine infection prevention, are largely unavailable.
**Ukraine
Turning to Ukraine: The Humanitarian Coordinator in the country, ad interim, Auke Lootsma, today warned of escalating risks to civilians as attacks on urban areas intensify. Our colleagues from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) tell us that over the weekend, large-scale attacks on urban centres and front-line regions killed and injured many civilians and caused widespread damage to civilian infrastructure.
In the capital, Kyiv, an attack on 1 August killed at least 9 people and injured more than 30 others. The regions of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Donetsk, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy were also heavily impacted. This is according to what authorities are telling our colleagues on the ground.
Humanitarian facilities were also not spared. An attack on 31 July in the city of Pavlohrad, in the Dnipro region, struck a warehouse and facilities belonging to the national NGO (non-governmental organization) Mission Proliska. Emergency shelter materials, clothing and other humanitarian supplies were destroyed, including relief items supported by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund.
In July alone, four humanitarian warehouses were hit across the country.
UN agencies and partners, along with local authorities and first responders, provided emergency shelter materials, psychosocial support and cash assistance.
**Sudan
This past week, the Office of the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Sudan, together with its partners in the Quintet, the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the League of Arab States and the European Union, continued its consultations with Sudanese political stakeholders in support of an inclusive, Sudanese-led and Sudanese-owned political process.
Building on the exploratory consultations held in Addis Ababa in June, the Quintet engaged Sudanese civilian political leaders in recent days. They continued discussing proposals and perspectives on how to advance the political process including through the establishment of confidence-building.
Pekka Haavisto, the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Sudan, continues to engage all parties and has urged them to make concrete commitments to de-escalation and to engage in genuine dialogue towards a cessation of hostilities.
Mr. Haavisto spoke yesterday with Sudan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Muhieddine Salem, to discuss recent developments in Sudan and preparations for the Personal Envoy’s upcoming visit to Khartoum. They discussed, amongst others, efforts to facilitate the holding of Sudanese national examinations for Sudanese students in Chad, building on the Personal Envoy’s recent visit to the country.
Personal Envoy Haavisto also continues to engage with General Hemedti to discuss practical measures to de-escalate the conflict. Mr. Haavisto is travelling to Türkiye this week, where he will meet with Turkish authorities as well as with Sudanese stakeholders in the country there, including youth and women representatives.
Meanwhile, our colleagues from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs are alarmed by the deadly risk that drone strikes are posing to civilians in Sudan.
The UN Human Rights Office tells us that yesterday, a drone strike in North Darfur [reportedly] caused dozens of casualties. Our colleagues also note that renewed drone attacks in recent days in El Obeid in North Kordofan have put civilians, critical infrastructure and humanitarian operations at risk.
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Tom Fletcher, stressed that humanitarians are scaling-up efforts to reach the families hit by conflict in North Kordofan and will seize every opening to expand life-saving aid in and around El Obeid. He called on the parties to de-escalate, protect civilians and ensure humanitarian access.
We urge donors to increase their support for the humanitarian response. This year’s appeal for Sudan is just over 40 per cent funded, with about $1.2 billion received against the nearly $2.9 billion required.
**Democratic Republic of the Congo
From the Democratic Republic of the Congo, our colleagues at OCHA tell us that fighting in the highlands of the province of South Kivu continues to drive people from their homes and disrupt their access to essential services.
According to our humanitarian partners, clashes in the territories of Uvira, Fizi and Mwenga have displaced more than 48,000 people since mid-July. Civilian casualties and damage to critical infrastructure were also reported.
OCHA notes that insecurity, road closures, damaged infrastructure and disruptions to telecommunications are hampering humanitarian access, medical evacuations and the delivery of aid.
Access to healthcare has been particularly impacted, with damage to health facilities and the departure of medical personnel limiting the availability of medical care in affected areas. These developments come as efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak continue in the province. As of 1 August, national health authorities have reported 3,748 confirmed Ebola cases across Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Haut-Uele and Tshopo provinces.
We reiterate our call on all parties to protect civilians, facilitate safe and sustained humanitarian access, and restore telecommunications, which remain critical for civilian protection, public health efforts and humanitarian operations.
**Rwanda
Also on Ebola, in Rwanda, we, along with our humanitarian partners, continue to support Government-led efforts to strengthen preparedness against the virus.
Our humanitarian colleagues tell us that more than 100 personnel have been deployed to key land border crossings and airports. At points of entry, including the Rubavu and Kagitumba crossings, as well as in high-risk districts, we and our partners are helping to improve handwashing facilities, access to safe water, sanitation systems and wastewater management.
We and our partners are also supporting training at 11 health centres in the locality of Mibilizi, near the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Nearly 400 frontline personnel are receiving training in early detection, triage, infection prevention and control, waste management, safe and dignified burials, and public health messaging.
**World Health Organization
Starting today until 13 September, the World Health Organization (WHO) is running a global competition that calls on students and young professionals to develop videos that highlight the importance of influenza and/or COVID-19 prevention and control. The videos are encouraged to be innovative, address misinformation and myths, and encourage their community to protect themselves from seasonal influenza and COVID-19.
The winning videos will be featured by WHO on the competition webpage.
You can find more information on the WHO website.
**World Breastfeeding Week
I just want to flag that the World Breastfeeding Week started on Saturday and will continue until Friday. This year’s theme, “Breastfeeding for a sustainable start in life: strengthen what works”, calls on Governments, health systems and communities to continue to invest in interventions that have been proven to enhance breastfeeding outcomes.
**Financial Contribution
We have a quiz today, which of course means money.
This country was the first country to ban smoking in your own home. Smokers must always stand about two metres, or six feet, away from non-smokers.
The national bird of this country is the brightly coloured Scarlet Macaw. Any guesses? […] If you give up, the answer is Honduras.
We say thank you to our friends inTegucigalpa for their full payment to the Regular Budget.
Honduras’s payment brings the number of fully paid-up Member States to 123.
And with that, we’ll have some questions before we turn to the to the Council presidency at 1:00. Yes?
**Questions and Answers
Question: Thank you, Farhan. In light of the delegate from the International Committee of the Red Cross meeting Aung San Suu Kyi and Julie Bishop’s comments, is she planning to make another request to meet Aung San Suu Kyi?
Deputy Spokesman: At this stage, we don’t have any travel by Julie Bishop to Myanmar to announce. When we do, of course, whenever she has travel, she would ask for access to Aung San Suu Kyi and others — as part of our continued request, of course, for the swift and unconditional release of all those who have been arbitrarily detained by the authorities.
Question: And on a completely different topic, I know you were just giving us the latest update on Sudan. The UN envoy from the Secretary-General has, as you have said, been trying to get all of the key players together so that they’re all on one page and trying to help bring an end to this war. How successful has he been?
Deputy Spokesman: Well, as you know, he has been able to meet with representatives, both of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Obviously, we’re not where we want to be. We want the parties to actually engage in talks with each other, but he has been dealing with them. As I mentioned just now, he did meet with General Hemedti and he is continuing to make some progress, as I just mentioned, with some of the confidence-building measures that he suggested for the parties.
Question: And what about… Can you check on whether all of the competing efforts to end this war, has he had any success in bringing them all together so that they have one message?
Deputy Spokesman: Yeah, as you can tell, the very fact that all of the parties, along with Mr. Haavisto, have continued consultations over the past week with the parties, tells you that all of them are moving together, and that includes the African Union, IGAD, the European Union, and the League of Arab States. So they are all coordinating along with Mr. Haavisto, and we’re trying to move as one. One of the things we try to avoid is having efforts that are not in sync, because that, of course, can hurt the diplomatic efforts with the parties. Yes, Abdelhamid?
Question: Thank you, Farhan. Nineteen people were killed in Gaza, including an unborn baby. Do you condemn that outright?
Deputy Spokesman: We condemn all killings of civilians, as we have done. As you noticed, I pointed out at the start the various strikes that happened over the weekend, including on Al-Aqsa Hospital.
Question: Thank you. A few settlers stopped in front of the Armenian church in Jerusalem, and as a group, spit on that church. If these things pass without condemnation, it will be repeated again. Why don’t you condemn that, also?
Deputy Spokesman: We have repeatedly called for all the holy sites throughout the territories to be respected, and certainly we do that for churches, just as much as we do for synagogues and for mosques.
Question: And last, the village of Tel, where there were four Palestinians killed last week and one Israeli, a settler appeared on BBC, threatening to annihilate everyone in the village. Have you seen that, and what do you say to this?
Deputy Spokesman: We, of course, deplore any rhetoric directed against any of the communities, and we ask for all to avoid violent threats against any of the communities in the area. And on the screen, I believe we have a question from Mike Wagenheim.
Question: Farhan, long time. Hope you’re doing okay. A couple topics for you. There was a hearing concluded recently in the High Court of Justice in Israel today. Some petitioners receiving UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) related services petitioned the High Court against the so-called UNRWA laws implemented, I guess, very early this year. I know the UN and UNRWA were not a petitioner themselves, but the lawyer representing the petitioners said, when asked by the High Court whether the State of Israel had an obligation to specifically utilize UNRWA services, as opposed to just providing the services that UNRWA otherwise offers, does the State have to use UNRWA? And the lawyer for the petitioners said, no, it can be another UN agency. Is that the UN’s position, as well?
Deputy Spokesman: Our position has always been that the work of the UN Relief and Works Agency is vital to our humanitarian efforts and our efforts in terms of dealing with the local population throughout the occupied Palestinian territory, as well as in neighbouring countries. And we have called for all to respect that. And of course, you will have noticed the recent ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which also calls for respect for UNRWA’s work.
Question: I know you feel it’s the best avenue. I get that. It’s been repeated ad nauseum by UN officials. Legally, does somebody, specifically here, obviously Israel, have to utilize UNRWA as opposed to utilizing the services of another UN agency to provide for Palestinians in the region?
Deputy Spokesman: Well, in terms of legally, I would just refer you again to the decision made by the International Court of Justice.
Question: Second topic for you. Secretary-General [António] Guterres was in the region, being Israel and the Mediterranean, last week in Syria. A tale of two tweets here that I’d like to get some clarification on. In Syria, the Secretary-General tweeted out: “Syria’s sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity must be fully respected. Violations by Israel of the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement are unacceptable and must stop.” Pretty consistent from the Secretary-General. He then lands in Cyprus, also under occupation by Turkey since 1974. The message is very different. Quote, “I have just landed in Cyprus to express my commitment to support for Cypriot communities in the search for a comprehensive and sustainable settlement of the Cyprus issue.” Doesn’t specify what the issue is. “The UN cannot impose peace. Only Cypriots, through their leaders, can build it.” Can you explain how he takes two regions that the UN says are occupied, one in which the occupier has to get the heck out of there, and the other one in which the occupier is not even mentioned at all, and just to hope that the two communities can kind of dance around the campfire?
Deputy Spokesman: Mike, it would take hours, possibly days, for me to explain to you fully the differences between the situation in Cyprus and the situation in the Golan Heights. But I would refer you to the relevant Security Council resolutions, [and] of the relevant meetings that happened in the United Nations in the 1970s during each of those crises. Each one has its own dynamic, and the Secretary-General’s positions that he articulated are consistent with the policies that the UN has had, basically, for the past 50 years in each of those cases.
Question: Can’t mention Turkey, though? Turkey’s off-limits?
Deputy Spokesman: The Secretary-General has frequently mentioned all the various parties involved in Cyprus. He does that when it’s helpful to do those, but in this case, he was visiting Cyprus in an effort, again, to move forward with the efforts with both the Greek Cypriot community and the Turkish Cypriot community. Evelyn?
Question: Thank you.
Question: On Myanmar, can Julie Bishop get anywhere without getting help from neighbouring countries? And has the SG intervened there?
Deputy Spokesman: The Secretary-General and his Personal Envoy, Julie Bishop, have worked with neighbouring countries, and specifically with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, and will continue to work with them in terms of our efforts to make progress on Myanmar.
Question: Are they doing anything, ASEAN?
Deputy Spokesman: Yes. I mean, I would refer you to their recent meetings concerning the question of Myanmar. But certainly, we hope that we can build on what happened today with the meeting with the ICRC.
Question: And secondly, in Ukraine, you didn’t say who did the damage. Was it the Russians? And if it was, why wasn’t it mentioned?
Deputy Spokesman: In recent days, both Russian forces and Ukrainian forces have struck at the facilities of the other side, and we’re concerned about both things. Namo?
Question: Thank you for that.
Question: One question. According to media reports, the United States and other coalition forces are withdrawing their troops from the Kurdistan Region in Iraq. And as you know, the region has come under a lot of drone attacks from Iran-backed militias. They’re also withdrawing their defence systems, defence batteries, the Patriot defence systems. So my question is, as this will leave civilians in vulnerable situations without those defence systems, who do you think will be responsible for protecting civilians in a region like Kurdistan? Thank you.
Deputy Spokesman: Well, in Kurdistan, as well as throughout the various regions in the Middle East, we want all of the fighting that’s involved US and Iranian forces to stop. We don’t want any of the neighbouring countries or neighbouring regions to have to face the sort of firing that’s been happening. And we welcome all efforts, including by Pakistan, by Qatar, and others, to mediate. And with that, I wish you all a good afternoon.