United Nations published this video item, entitled “Ukraine, Climate, Yemen & other topics – Daily Press Briefing (21 March 2022)” – below is their description.
Noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Highlights:
– Climate
– Ukraine
– Yemen
– Syria
– Lebanon
– Central African Republic
– Water
– International Days
– Financial Contribution
CLIMATE
This morning, the Secretary-General delivered, via video message, the keynote speech at the Economist’s Sustainability Summit. His addressed focused on “Keeping 1.5 Alive.”
The Secretary-General warned that, while some progress was made at COP26 in Glasgow in November, the main emissions gap problem was not properly addressed.
“We are sleepwalking to climate catastrophe,” the Secretary-General said, quoting the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which says that half of humanity is already living in the danger zone.
The Secretary-General also said the fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine risks upending global food and energy markets, with major implications for the global climate agenda. He warned that countries could become so consumed by the immediate fossil fuel supply gap that they neglect or knee-cap policies to cut fossil fuel use.
This is madness, he said, adding that addiction to fossil fuels is mutually assured destruction.
The Secretary-General urged countries to put the pedal to the metal towards a renewable energy future. His full remarks and video were all shared with you earlier.
UKRAINE
We, along with our partners, remain deeply concerned over the impact of reported fighting on civilians trapped in cities in eastern, northeastern and southern Ukraine, including in Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Izyum, Donetsk, Mykolaiv, and Mariupol.
Since 24 February, more than 10 million people have now been forced from their homes in search of safety and security – nearly a quarter of the population of Ukraine. This includes an estimated 6.5 million men, women and children who are internally displaced, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and nearly 3.5 million people who have crossed international borders out of Ukraine as refugees, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
Humanitarian organizations are concerned about the risk of trafficking and sexual exploitation and IOM has scaled up its trafficking prevention measures, providing verified and safe information to refugees and third-country nationals on the move. IOM has also reinforced its regional hotlines to help people with important safety and resource information.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says it has verified 6 additional reports of attacks on health care in Ukraine yesterday. As of 20 March, WHO has verified 52 attacks on health care in 25 days. WHO notes that this is more than 2 attacks per day, stressing that this, of course, is unacceptable and that health care must always be protected.
For their part, the UN’s Children Fund and UNHCR, in partnership with local governments and civil society organizations, are setting up what they call “Blue Dots” centers. Those are one-stop safe spaces for children and women. “Blue Dots” centers help to identify unaccompanied and separated children and ensure their protection, as well as provide a hub for essential services and information for travelling families.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said that it has reached more than 330,000 crisis-affected people inside Ukraine with food assistance, and that’s since the beginning of the conflict. Food delivery to cooperating partners is also being scaled up, reaching more than 900 metric tons over the last days. In Kharkiv, WFP doubled its bread distribution through partners, reaching nearly 78 metric tons for about 260,000 people. In Kyiv – following the delivery of 26 metric tons of high-energy biscuits – WFP’s partners have delivered about 325 metric tons of vegetable oil and 478 metric tons of wheat flour to nearly 70,000 vulnerable people. In Dnipro, some 2.2 metric tons of mixed canned food was also distributed to the most vulnerable.
Last Friday, the UN Crisis Coordinator for Ukraine, Amin Awad, said that the first UN-organized convoy reached Sumy with emergency supplies for 35,000 people and equipment to repair water systems to help another 50,000 people. This was organized through good cooperation with the Governments of Ukraine and the Russian Federation. We hope that this is the first of many convoys that will make to deliveries to people trapped by the fighting.
Full highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=21%20March%202022
United Nations YouTube Channel
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