Climate, Plastic Pollution & other topics - Daily Press Briefing (23 April 2024)

Noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Highlights:
- Briefings Tomorrow
- Climate
- Plastic Pollution
- Occupied Palestinian Territory
- Security Council
- South Sudan
- Somalia
- Ethiopia
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Ukraine
- Haiti
- Migrants
- UK-Rwanda Asylum Law
- International Days
- Financial Contribution

CLIMATE
This afternoon, the Secretary-General will speak at the launch of the UN Development Programme’s Climate Promise 2025.
The event will showcase leadership and collective action to tackle the climate crisis on the road to the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement in 2025.
The Secretary-General will underscore that in the climate battle, it’s not all doom and gloom, as many actors are mobilizing to create plans aligned with the 1.5-degree limit.
He will also encourage countries to make the most of this new initiative, and donors to provide it with the finance it needs for maximum impact.

PLASTIC POLLUTION
I just wanted to flag to you that the fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, is taking place this week in Ottawa, in Canada, and is scheduled to go through next Monday.
In a tweet, the Secretary-General said that every living being, and every part of the planet, are harmed by plastics and their production and said we need a strong plastics treaty that upholds human rights and addresses the full life cycle of plastics.
We’ll be updating you on the status of the talks later in the week.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
In addition to what Mr. Lazzarini said on Gaza, I wanted to tell you that we and our partners are providing nutrition support at nearly 300 sites, including more than 20 health facilities, nearly 240 formal and informal shelters, and more than three dozen sites in host communities.
UNICEF has expanded outpatient treatment for acutely malnourished children to 95 different sites in Gaza – including 36 in the north and 46 in Rafah. These outpatient therapeutic programmes are being supported by more than a dozen humanitarian partners working on nutrition.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported yesterday that the agency and its partners managed to evacuate four patients and their caregivers from Kamal Adwan hospital, in northern Gaza, over the weekend – that includes a nine-year-old boy.
Also in a social media post, WHO’s Director-General Dr. Tedros said that the team could only partially complete their mission to that facility and to Al-Awda hospital due to ongoing hostilities, as well as severe delays at checkpoints. As a result, fuel and medical supplies were unable to reach Kamal Adwan and partners could not assess the needs at Al-Awda to support the restoration of services there.
Dr. Tedros said that humanitarian aid and missions in Gaza urgently need safe, sustained and smooth passage across Gaza to serve people in critical need of life-saving care.
We continue to contend with major obstacles that are limiting the scale of the humanitarian response in Gaza, including active hostilities, impassable roads, unexploded ordnance, fuel shortages, delays at checkpoints, and Israeli restrictions that prevent us from bringing in items essential for enabling aid deliveries.

Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=23%20April%202024