Secretary-General Travel, Ukraine, Yemen & Other Topics - Daily Press Briefing

SECRETARY-GENERAL TRAVEL The Secretary-General will leave tonight for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. On Wednesday he will deliver a special address on the “State of the World.” He will also hold a number of bilateral meetings with world leaders and other delegates to the World Economic Forum. And on Thursday, he is scheduled to take part in the Seventeenth Seminar of his current Special and Personal Representatives and Envoys, and that will take place in Yverdon-les-Bains. UKRAINE In Ukraine, The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) notes that civilians across the country faced a grim weekend, with air strikes having killed and injured dozens of civilians. Homes, schools and hospitals were also damaged in different parts of the country. A strike hit a residential building in Dnipro on Saturday evening, in one of the deadliest attacks in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion last February. The Secretary-General condemned the attack saying that was another example of a suspected violation of the laws of war. The Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine, Denise Brown, condemned the immense civilian toll of the attack by the Russian Federation Armed Forces and called for an effective investigation of suspected war crimes and appropriate prosecution of suspects. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, said at least 40 civilians, including 3 children, were killed. At least 75 people, 15 of them children, were injured, while in their homes. These numbers are expected to rise even further, as search and rescue operations continue by local authorities right now. More than 1,000 people have been made homeless as a result of the attack. On the response side, UN agencies and NGOs have acted quickly to support the families. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and others are providing psychosocial support to the families, as well as winter clothes, blankets, hygiene kits and other critical household items. The UN is helping families relocate to temporary accommodations in the city. The World Health Organization (WHO) is supplying medicines and other supplies. This was not the only attack impacting civilians in Ukraine over the weekend. In Kherson, the premises hosting the Ukrainian Red Cross Society were hit during shelling in the city on 15 January. Although no one was injured, the organization lost critical supplies. International humanitarian law is clear: humanitarian workers and facilities are protected and constant efforts must be made to spare them. A hospital, also protected under international humanitarian law, was hit in the city. In Kryviy Rih, in the Dnipro region, local authorities informed that more than 50 homes, three schools, two kindergartens were damaged yesterday alone. Further east, the situation remains critical, with scores of civilians killed and injured on both sides of the front line in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. In the parts of Donetsk under the temporary control of the Russian Federation, dozens of homes were damaged, and at least two health centres and several ambulances were also hit during shelling reported over the weekend, according to Russian-installed authorities. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO In a statement issued yesterday, the Secretary-General strongly condemned the deadly attack that took place yesterday at a church in Kasindi, this is in the North Kivu province, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) today said that the casualty toll has increased now to 13 civilians killed and 76 injured, of whom 19 are reportedly in critical condition. MONUSCO is providing medical evacuation by air and road to the injured, in coordination of course with Congolese authorities. The UN mission’s ambulances and medical teams are also on standby to reinforce national capacities if required. The Secretary-General stressed the need to hold the perpetrators of this attack to account and notes that the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) is supporting the Congolese authorities in conducting the investigation into the circumstances of the incident. Full highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=16%20January%202023


For more information or to watch video on YouTube, click here!