United Nations published this video item, entitled “Pakistan, Afghanistan, Ukraine & other topics – Daily Press Briefing (30 August 2022)” – below is their description.
Noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Highlights:
Trip Announcement
Pakistan
Afghanistan
Black Sea Grain Initiative
Ukraine
Ethiopia
South Sudan
Mali
Security Council
International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances
TRIP ANNOUNCEMENT
With the tragic situation facing millions of men, women and children impacted by the historic floods in Pakistan, the Secretary-General will travel to the country next week for a solidarity visit.
He is expected to arrive in Islamabad on Friday, 9 September. He will then travel to the areas most impacted by this unprecedented climate catastrophe.
The Secretary-General will meet with displaced families and will also witness how we are working, in collaboration with our humanitarian partners, to support the Government’s relief efforts and provide assistance to millions of people.
The Secretary-General will be back in New York on 11 September.
PAKISTAN
You will also have seen that, this morning, the Secretary-General, in a video message, addressed the Flash Appeal for the Pakistan Floods Response Plan, where he made the link between what’s going on with extreme weather due to climate change.
The Secretary-General said it is outrageous that climate action is being put on the back burner as global emissions of greenhouse gases are still rising, putting all of us – everywhere – in growing danger.
That message was shared with you.
AFGHANISTAN
Next door, in Afghanistan, the country is also being impacted by the same torrential rains that have hit Pakistan. In Afghanistan, more than 250 people have been killed and more than 100,000 have been impacted by heavy rains and flash floods across the country just this year.
We, along with our humanitarian partners, are conducting assessments and delivering humanitarian assistance simultaneously. To date, 85,000 people have received some kind of aid, including food, tents, health care services, water, sanitation and hygiene kits, and other critical supplies.
As of end of June, almost 23 million people had received at least one type of humanitarian assistance across the country. Afghanistan’s Humanitarian Response Plan aims to reach 22.1 million people with life-saving assistance this year. At the moment, it is 42 per cent funded only out of the required $4.4 billion.
BLACK SEA GRAIN INITIATIVE
Turning to the general situation in and around Ukraine, we are happy report that, earlier today, the first ship carrying humanitarian food assistance under the Black Sea Grain Initiative reached the port of Djibouti.
The MV Brave Commander left Ukraine’s Yuzhny (Pivdennyi) port on 16 August, carrying some 23,000 metric tonnes of Ukrainian wheat after being inspected in Istanbul.
The vessel docked in Djibouti today and the wheat is in the process of being transported to the World Food Programme’s (WFP) operations in Ethiopia.
The food on the Brave Commander will reach 1.5 million people for one month in Ethiopia.
Also today, another vessel chartered by the World Food Programme departed the same Black Sea port with wheat destined for the agency’s humanitarian operations in Yemen.
This is the second maritime shipment of WFP food assistance to leave Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict in February. This vessel, the MV Karteria, is carrying 37,000 metric tons of wheat grain. It will first stop in Turkey, of course to be inspected, but also the grain will be milled into flour. It will then be packaged and repacked on the ship and go off to Yemen, where over 17 million people are struggling with acute hunger.
The grain that WFP is carrying will provide a 50 kg bag of wheat flour to nearly 4 million people for one month.
UKRAINE
On the ground in Ukraine, our humanitarian colleagues say that a convoy, organized by the United Nations and our partners, recently reached Toretsk in eastern Donetska oblast on August 26th.
This convoy delivered 56 tons of food and other items for 2,000 people living close to the front line and who are under shelling.
We and our partners have also delivered six truckloads of humanitarian assistance for 3,000 people in the city of Mykolaiv, which is entirely cut off from the centralized water supply and has also been impacted by ongoing missiles and shelling.
These latest deliveries to Mykolaiv will ensure that aid workers on the ground can reach people with food, household items and other critical supplies.
They also brought medical supplies to hospitals in the city.
However, our partners have still been unable to deliver aid to non-Government-controlled areas, despite numerous attempts.
We urge all relevant parties to allow for life-saving aid to reach the hardest-hit locations, including non-Government-controlled areas.
Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=30%20August%202022
United Nations YouTube Channel
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