G20 Bali Summit, Haiti, Ukraine & other topics - Daily Press Briefing (15 November 2022)

Noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General. Highlights: - Secretary-General/Travels  - Black Sea Grain Initiative  - Ukraine  - Libya  - Haiti - Democratic Republic of the Congo  - Central African Republic  - Latin America and the Caribbean  SECRETARY-GENERAL/TRAVELS Today, at the G20 Summit in Bali, the Secretary-General spoke at the Food and Energy Crises session. He told G20 members that without coordinated action, this year’s crisis of affordability may become next year’s global food shortage. He underscored that the Black Sea Grain Initiative, and the agreement to facilitate the supplies of Russian fertilizers - including ammonia - to global markets, are essential, and underscored that the UN is working nonstop to resolve all issues to renew the Initiative. The Secretary-General also reiterated his call for an SDG Stimulus to provide countries in the global south with adequate liquidity, through a wider reallocation of Special Drawing Rights, concessional financing to Middle Income Countries in distress, and effective mechanisms of debt relief and restructuring. “We need unity, solidarity and multilateral solutions to address the food and energy crises, and to eliminate the trust deficit that is undermining global action across the board,” he said. In the afternoon, the Secretary-General met with the Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov, and he also attended the welcome dinner for all leaders. And tomorrow, he will take part in the Working Session on Digital Transformation and in the leaders’ visit to a mangrove forest. UKRAINE Today, Matilda Bogner, the head of the Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, said that over the past several months, the Monitoring Mission interviewed 159 prisoners of war held by the Russian Federation, and 175 prisoners of war held by Ukraine. Speaking of former Ukrainian prisoners of war who had been in the hands of the Russian Federation, Ms. Bogner said that the vast majority of those the Mission interviewed said that during their internment they had been tortured and ill-treated. Regarding the treatment of prisoners of war interned by the Government of Ukraine, Ms. Bogner said that the Mission received credible allegations of summary executions of persons hors de combat and several cases of torture and ill-treatment, reportedly committed by members of the Ukrainian armed forces. Ms. Bogner emphasized the fundamental obligation of states to treat all prisoners of war humanely from the moment they were captured until their release and repatriation, and to allocate sufficient resources to ensure implementation of this obligation. HAITI In Port-au-Prince, the UN and the government are currently launching a $145 million appeal to continue supporting the cholera response, as well as the broader humanitarian response in the country. At the beginning of October, new cholera cases were detected in Haiti after more than three and a half years without a case of the disease. In recent days, there has been an increase in the number and geographical spread of suspected cases. According to figures from the Ministry of Health released last night, there were 8,700 suspected and 800 confirmed cases. So far 161 people have died from the disease. It is the most vulnerable people, particularly, women, children, the elderly and disabled who have been hit hardest by the outbreak. They were already severely impacted by a lack of access to health, food and clean water, malnutrition, poverty and displacement caused by insecurity, as well as ongoing gang violence. The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Ulrika Richardson, reiterated that cholera is a preventable and treatable disease and that the UN and its partners have worked since Day 1 of the outbreak alongside the Ministry of Health. She added that cholera is one of many challenges in Haiti and that the funds raised would also tackle other urgent humanitarian needs as well as more deep-rooted structural problems, including human rights violations. She appealed to the international community to increase its support to the response in order to help save more lives and reach the shared goal of a cholera-free Haiti. Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=15%20November%202022


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