Palestinian Territory, WhatApp Channel & Other Topics - Daily Briefing (20 March) | United Nations

Noon briefing by Florencia Soto Nino, Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Highlights:
-Secretary-General/Brussels
-Security Council
-UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near
-East/Review
-Occupied Palestinian territory
-Haiti
-Haiti/Refugees
-Ukraine
-Myanmar
-Peacebuilding
-International days
-WhatsApp channel
-Briefing guest
-Financial contributions

SECRETARY-GENERAL/BRUSSELS
Today, in Brussels, the Secretary-General attended a working lunch organized by Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission.
Before the lunch, they had a joint press encounter on which the Secretary-General said they are meeting at a particularly dark moment, when Europe’s role on the global stage is more important than ever.
Turning to the situation in Ukraine, the Secretary-General reiterated his call for a just peace – respecting the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine, within its internationally recognized borders.
And turning to Gaza, he said that as more than half of the population – over a million people – are facing catastrophic hunger, he called on the Israeli authorities to ensure complete and unfettered access for humanitarian goods throughout Gaza and for the international community to fully support our humanitarian efforts.
We must keep doing everything to stop the killing, reach an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and secure the unconditional release of the hostages, he added.
Beyond these wars, mistrust and division rule the day, Mr. Guterres said. Multilateralism and solidarity are in the DNA of the European Union. And as we prepare for the UN Summit of the Future in September, he urged the EU and its Member States to keep pushing for a more inclusive, effective, and resilient international system. 
Also today, the Secretary-General had meetings with Hadja Lahbib and Caroline Gennez, respectively the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Development Cooperation of Belgium, as well as with Jutta Urpilainen, the EU Commissioner for International Partnership.
And tomorrow, at the opening of the European Council, the Secretary-General will attend a working lunch with the Heads of State and Government of the European Union. He is also scheduled to meet the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, and others. 

SECURITY COUNCIL
This morning, the Security Council held a briefing in which it heard from Edem Wosornu, the Director of Operations and Advocacy at Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, who warned Council members of a far-reaching and fast-deteriorating situation of food insecurity in Sudan – a situation driven by 11 months of brutal and unremitting conflict. She said that in Khartoum, Darfur, and Kordofan – which are home to 90 per cent of people facing emergency levels of acute food insecurity – there has been no respite from the fierce fighting for 340 days.
Ms. Wosornu noted that our humanitarian partners estimate that in the coming weeks and months, somewhere in the region of around 222,000 children could die from malnutrition.
Also, briefing Council members was Carl Skau, the World Food Programme Deputy Executive Director, and he said that across the region, nearly 28 million people face acute food insecurity, with 18 million in Sudan, 7 million in South Sudan, and nearly 3 million in Chad. Despite the World Food Programme's efforts, he said that the emergency relief operation is being severely hampered by a lack of access and a lack of resources.
For his part, the Deputy Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Maurizio Martina, warned that the spread of conflict to Al Jazirah poses a significant threat to national food production, given that the state accounts for about 50 per cent of wheat and 10 per cent of sorghum, essential crops for the country.
All these remarks were shared with you and of course, our guest will be able to elaborate more on that.

WHATSAPP CHANNEL
And two more things. This is more of a housekeeping note. You will have seen that we emailed all of you details of a new platform our office launched, which is our WhatsApp Channel.
You can now follow us there to get notifications about the noon briefing, including the highlights and transcripts. We will also ping you about what is happening with stakeouts, press encounters and more.
This is just another way to make sure you’re getting information from us as easy and as fast as possible. Make sure you turn on your notifications, because otherwise you won’t know that we have posted new things.

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