Sexual Exploitation, Gender Parity, Ukraine & other topics - Daily Press Briefing (15 March 2022)

The United Nations of Earth reporting on this issue: "Sexual Exploitation, Gender Parity, Ukraine & other topics - Daily Press Briefing (15 March 2022)"
The topics: Noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General. Highlights - Sexual Abuse and Exploitation - Gender Parity - Ukraine - Yemen - Deputy-Secretary General - Iraq - Chad - Afghanistan - Somalia - Senior Personnel Appointment - Zambia - Noon Briefing Guest Tomorrow SEXUAL ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION The Secretary-General’s report on “Special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and abuse” is out today as a document. As you know, this is the annual update, looking back at 2021, on our efforts to prevent and respond to sexual exploitation and abuse, in line with the Secretary-General’s strategy on this. Just to give you a quick update: The report this year looks at the progress made over the past five years, since the Secretary-General took office, and explores the areas for improvement. Despite clear gains, allegations implicating United Nations personnel continue to emerge. As you know, in 2021, allegations relating to UN peacekeeping personnel in the Central African Republic led to the repatriation of a military contingent and, in addition, an independent commission, established by the World Health Organization, reported on cases concerning personnel responding to the tenth Ebola virus epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. No one, including the Secretary-General, is pleased with the fact that we still have these cases. The report notes that while we have not succeeded in ending sexual exploitation and abuse, we have not let our guard down and we continue working to end impunity and ensure justice for victims. Some of the progress includes the fact that we’ve strengthened policies and protocols, implemented mandatory trainings, risk assessments and institutionalized action plans, as well as accountability measures. We continue to report on allegations publicly on a regular basis. Our approach – centered on victims’ rights – also continues through the work of Victims’ Rights Officers in various countries where they are increasingly effective in keeping track of victims and investigations and offering them support. GENDER PARITY This morning, the Secretary-General spoke to the Group of Friends of Gender Parity. He told the group that, while the UN has achieved gender parity among senior leadership two years ahead of the stated goal, there’s still much to do. The Secretary-General said that he is committed to increasing the percentage of women in our leadership in the field, improving parity at all levels across the Organization, and taking steps to identify qualified women candidates to replace many of the almost 4,000 international staff who are retiring in the next nine years, the majority of whom are men. He asked the group for their support by supporting female candidates and working to identify and attract women from all backgrounds to work at the United Nations. His full remarks are online. UKRAINE Moving to Ukraine: Our humanitarian colleagues tell us that civilians continue to bear the brunt of the war in Ukraine where intense fighting is reported in the north, east, and south of the country. Airstrikes and shelling have continued with significant damage reported in cities including Donetsk, Luhansk, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Sumy, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, and Zhytomyr oblast. Our humanitarian colleagues warn that conditions, especially in Mariupol, continue to worsen, and people urgently need humanitarian assistance, including food, water, and medicine. Today, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that three million people have now crossed international borders out of Ukraine. Every day for the past 20 days, 70,000 children in Ukraine have become refugees. That is equivalent to 55 children fleeing the country every minute, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) – nearly one every second. The Education Cluster in Ukraine, which is led by UNICEF and Save the Children, says that access to education has affected about 5.7 million children and adolescents between 3 and 17 years of age. In terms of response, the UNHCR has delivered 16,000 tarpaulins and blankets, mattresses, and jerry cans to 5,400 people impacted by ongoing hostilities in Luhanska oblast in the east. UNICEF and non-governmental organization People in Need have delivered safe water to thousands of people in Donetska and Luhanska oblasts, also in the east. On funding, the Ukraine Flash Appeal for 2022 has received $224 million so far, which represents 20 per cent. Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=15%20March%202022


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