Haiti, Yemen, South Sudan, & Other Topics - Daily Press Briefing (14 March 2024)

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

Highlights:
-Briefings
-Haiti
-OPT
-U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees
-Yemen
-South Sudan
-Mozambique
-Senior Personnel Appointment
-Financial Contributions

BRIEFINGS
Tomorrow, we will have a guest and that will be Dominic Allen, who is UNFPA’s Representative for Palestine. He will be joining us from Jerusalem after his recent trip to Rafah.

HAITI
I will start with an update for you on Haiti, where our colleagues and partners are continuing to work to deliver life-saving assistance to people in need, despite the limited access and despite obviously the very concerning security situation.
Yesterday, the World Food Programme was able to provide hot meals to about 13,000 displaced people. But the World Food Programme tells us that this service in Port-au-Prince might be shut down next week if new funding is not secured. WFP urgently needs $10 million to be able to sustain this life-saving program.
Overall funding this year for the humanitarian response plan is inching up - very slowly but it is inching up - it is now 3.2 per cent funded with about $21.6 million in the bank. Needless to say, much more is needed to meet Haiti’s humanitarian needs for this coming year.
On the health front, our medical partners remain concerned about the overall health situation and particularly about major shortages in the supply of blood.
The Pan American Health Organization, UNICEF and the International Organization for Migration, through their national partners, are providing medical assistance via mobile clinics at several sites for displaced people, as well as other key assistance such as water and [psychosocial] assistance.
As you heard, we are reconfiguring our presence in the country, while remaining fully committed to delivering life-saving assistance to the people of Haiti.
The United Nations has authorized the temporary relocation of some internationally recruited personnel from Haiti, while others, who are crisis specialists and humanitarian personnel will be coming in to help with the operations on the ground.
We are continuing to monitor and review measures that we take as the situation develops.

OPT
Moving on to Gaza, as we told you, just to give you a sense of the scope of the rebuilding efforts that will be necessary once this conflict ends, our humanitarian partners are warning us that it will take years to clear the nearly 23 million metric tonnes of debris generated by the destruction of residential units and other properties across the Gaza Strip – and to clear up unexploded ordnances.

U.N. RELIEF AND WORKS AGENCY FOR PALESTINIAN REFUGEES
Also wanted to give you and update on Catherine Colonna, who is leading, as you know, the Independent Review into whether or not UNRWA is doing everything within its power to ensure neutrality and to respond to the allegations of serious breaches when they are made. She’s wrapped up her visit to the region.
Today, she met Jordan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in Amman, as well as the Commissioner General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, and she also met with Sigrid Kaag who is our Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator.
In addition to meeting officials in Israel and in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, she also went to the Shufat Refugees Camp in the West Bank, where she was able to look and observe UNRWA’s operations and premises for herself. She also met with UNRWA staff in Amman and had conversations by phone with UNRWA staff in Gaza.

Full highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/ossg/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=14%20March%202024