Syria, Ethiopia, G20 & other topics - Daily Press Briefing (9 July 2021)

The United Nations of Earth reporting on this issue: "Syria, Ethiopia, G20 & other topics - Daily Press Briefing (9 July 2021)"
The topics: Noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General. Highlights: - Syria - Ethiopia - G20 - Haiti - Haiti/ Humanitarian - Haiti/Children - Afghanistan - Bolivia - Occupied Palestinian Territory - Brazil - ECOSOC - Security Council/GERD - Guests Monday SYRIA The Secretary-General welcomes the Security Council’s decision to extend the UN cross-border mechanism in north-west Syria via the Bab al-Hawa border crossing. Cross-border humanitarian assistance remains a lifeline for millions of people in the area and beyond. The reauthorization will ensure humanitarian assistance continues for over 3.4 million people in need, including 1 million children. However, needs continue to outstrip the response. As the Secretary-General has highlighted to the Council, with additional crossings and expanded funding, the United Nations could do more to help the rising number of people in need. The UN continues to engage with all parties to also facilitate crossline convoys. They are critical for the expansion of the overall response as humanitarian needs continue to grow. The Secretary-General reiterates his call on all parties to the conflict to ensure humanitarian access to all people in need in accordance with international humanitarian law. ETHIOPIA The Secretary-General and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed spoke yesterday to discuss the extremely concerning humanitarian situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. The Secretary-General welcomed the Prime Minister’s assurances that the Government of Ethiopia will facilitate immediate access to Tigray for humanitarian organizations, as well as the Prime Minister’s commitment that essential basic services, including power and communications, will resume swiftly. The Secretary-General also acknowledged the Government’s pledge to use the ceasefire to facilitate urgent humanitarian assistance, including regular United Nations humanitarian flights into Tigray, as well as support for agricultural activities. The Secretary-General reiterates his call that all parties must meet their obligations to protect civilians, provide unimpeded humanitarian access and to observe international humanitarian law. G20 This morning, the Secretary-General spoke virtually to the third G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors which is being held in Venice in Italy. He told ministers that to restore trust in multilateralism, we need to deliver on vaccines, economic recovery and climate finance. On the pandemic, the Secretary-General reiterated his call for a Global Vaccine Plan to at least double production of vaccines and to ensure equitable distribution, using COVAX as the platform. On economic recovery, the Secretary-General said that many developing countries are teetering on the verge of debt default. He called on the G20 to expand the Debt Service Suspension Initiative and Common Framework for Debt Treatment to include vulnerable middle-income countries and small island developing states. And on climate change, he said that he was deeply concerned over the lack of progress on public climate financing and once again called on the G20 to mobilize $100 billion annually as agreed to in 2009. Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=09%20July%202021


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