Gaza, Lebanon, Haiti, & Other Topics - Daily Press Briefing (19 March 2024)

Noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Highlights:
-Secretary-General/Trip Announcement
-World Meteorological Organization
-Occupied Palestinian Territory
-Gaza
-Lebanon
-South Sudan
-Haiti
-Myanmar
-Forced Labour

SECRETARY-GENERAL/TRIP ANNOUNCEMENT
Tonight, the Secretary-General will travel to Brussels, Belgium, where he will meet with European leaders. Tomorrow, he is scheduled to attend a working lunch organized by Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission.
The following day, at the invitation of the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, the Secretary-General will attend a working lunch with the Heads of State and Government of the European Union, at the opening of the European Council. On that day, he will also meet the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola.
While in Brussels, the Secretary-General is also scheduled to have a bilateral meeting with Hadja Lahbiband Caroline Gennez, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Development Cooperation of Belgium, respectively.
Further travel will be announced later in the week.

WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION
In Geneva this morning, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) launched its State of the Global Climate report, which confirms that 2023 was the hottest year on record.
In a video message at the launch of the report, the Secretary-General said that the report shows a planet on the brink. “Some records aren’t just chart-topping, they’re chart-busting,” he said, and added that last year we came perilously close to the global temperature temporarily rising 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
The Secretary-General said that the good news is that we can still keep our planet’s long-term temperature rise below that limit, and avoid the worst of climate chaos, but leaders must step up and act – now.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, said that with famine imminent, we must flood Gaza with food and other life-saving aid.
In a social media post issued yesterday, Mr. Griffiths said that the international community should hang its head in shame for failing to stop a situation in which more than one million people are at risk because they have been cut off from life-saving aid, markets have collapsed, and fields have been destroyed.
The Under-Secretary-General said there is no time to lose, and he renewed his call to the Israeli authorities to allow complete and unfettered access for humanitarian goods to Gaza. Mr. Griffiths said we know that once famine is declared, it is way too late – but with action and goodwill, it can be averted.
And today, Volker Türk, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that the alarm bells sounded over the past months by the UN have not been heeded. This catastrophe is human-made and was entirely preventable.
He added that the situation of hunger, starvation and famine is a result of Israel’s extensive restrictions on the entry and distribution of humanitarian aid and commercial goods, displacement of most of the population, as well as the destruction of crucial civilian infrastructure.

Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=19%20March%202024