Yemen, Israel, Occupied Palestinian Territory & other topics - Daily Press Briefing (7 June 2024)

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

Highlights:
-Secretary-General trip announcement
-Yemen
-Israel
-Occupied Palestinian Territory
-Lebanon
-Sudan
-Sudan/displacement
-Sahel
-Haiti
-Ukraine
-Lao PDR
-Price index
-International Days
-Financial contribution

SECRETARY-GENERAL TRIP ANNOUNCEMENT
On Monday, the Secretary-General is expected to be in Jordan, where he will attend a High-Level Conference on Gaza that will take place on Tuesday. The “Call for Action: Urgent Humanitarian Aid for Gaza” conference will be held at the invitation of His Majesty King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, and the Secretary-General.
The conference seeks a collective coordinated response to address the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Heads of state and government, and heads of international humanitarian and relief agencies are expected to participate, and while at the conference, the Secretary-General is expected to hold several bilateral meetings with officials.
The Secretary-General will then be in Geneva on Wednesday, where he is going to join an event to commemorate the 60th anniversary of UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD). After six decades, the Secretary-General will commend UNCTAD’s work as it continues to be “an inspiration for today’s debates and decisions.”
Later during the day, Mr. Guterres will also address the Council of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in Geneva. Reminding the audience that the digital divide is depriving billions of people of opportunities, the Secretary-General will underscore that technology should be put in the service of advancing the greater good.
The Secretary-General will travel to Southern Italy to attend the Group of Seven (G7) leaders' summit in Apulia.
The discussions will be an opportunity to address topics like the reform of global governance, artificial intelligence, climate and energy as well as international peace and security, notably in view of the ongoing preparation of the Summit of the future.
The Secretary-General will also hold bilateral meetings on the margins of the summit.
Prior to the G7 summit, the Secretary-General will be in Brindisi to take part in a ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Global Service Centre, which plays a vital role to support peacekeeping operations and other UN activities around the world.
The Secretary-General is expected to be back in the office in New York on Tuesday 18 June.

YEMEN
The Houthi de facto authorities have detained 11 United Nations national personnel working in Yemen.
The United Nations is very concerned about these developments and is actively seeking clarification from the Houthi de facto authorities regarding the circumstances of these detentions and to ensure immediate access to those UN personnel.
The United Nations is pursuing all available channels to secure the safe and unconditional release of all of them, as rapidly as possible.

ISRAEL
The annual report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in due to go to the security council on 14 June, which is next Friday.
As per usual practice, an advance copy will be delivered to security council members on that day.
The report will be officially published on 18 June, with a press conference by Virginia Gamba, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, happening that day.
It will then be discussed in an open meeting on 26 June.
This report is an initiative of Member States – of the Security Council – who have tasked Secretaries-General to report annually on this based on a well-established methodology.
Earlier today, the UN chief of staff, Courtenay Rattray, called the Permanent Representative of Israel, Gilad Erdan. the call was a courtesy afforded to countries that are newly listed on the annex. It is done to give those countries a heads-up and avoid leaks.
Ambassador Erdan’s video recording of that phone call and the partial release of that recording on twitter, is shocking and unacceptable.

Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=07%20June%202024