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Noon Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General. Highlights: Syria Occupied Palestinian Territory Pakistan Haiti Water Equal Pay Day SYRIA This morning, the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, briefed the Security Council on the latest developments in that country. He said that the Syrian interim authorities and the Syrian people are attempting a transition in the face of numerous challenges. Mr. Pedersen warned that if these challenges are mishandled, the consequences could be dire. He called on the international community to support Syria and to stand against foreign intervention. For his part, Tom Fletcher, our Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said that more than 70 per cent of the population in Syria needs some form of humanitarian assistance, while 7 million people are internally displaced, and more than 4 million are refugees in neighbouring countries. He called on donors to give and to give generously to our various programmes. The humanitarian appeal for Syria for this year is only 18% funded, which means that we can only reach a fraction of those that we need to reach. PAKISTAN The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs sayd that humanitarian needs persist following this year’s monsoon floods. Since the end of June, nearly seven million people have been affected in the country. Nearly three million people have been evacuated, with 150,000 people sheltering in 1,580 evacuation centres set up by various authorities. We and our humanitarian partners continue to support the Government-led response. To date, UNICEF has provided more than two metric tonnes of essential medicine to the north in the capital of Punjab’s province, Lahore, and over two metric tonnes to the south, in the city of Multan. These medicines are being distributed to local health clinics. UNICEF has also provided nutrition supplies and safe drinking water, relocated school materials, and established temporary learning centres. WFP [World Food Programme], for its part, is delivering food, nutrition services, cash assistance and logistics support across Punjab and Sindh. As people begin to return to their homes, additional funding is needed to provide assistance and rehabilitate basic infrastructure. We have already released $5 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund, with an additional $1.5 million channeled to local NGOs from the Asia Pacific Humanitarian Fund. HAITI Another humanitarian update on the grim situation in Haiti, our humanitarian colleagues tell us that last week’s deadly attack in the commune of Cabaret, in the West [department], forced thousands of people to flee their homes. You will recall the Secretary-General’s statement over the weekend, in which he strongly condemned the reported killing of at least 40 people, including women, children and the elderly in that attack. According to the IOM [International Organization for Migration], the attacks drove more than 4,700 people from their homes. More than two thirds of them sought refuge in the nearby commune of Arcahaie. While the majority of the displaced are being hosted by families, 23 percent of them have taken shelter in four schools. These attacks underscore once again the worsening security and humanitarian situation in Haiti. These attacks also come less than a month before the start of the new school year, further deepening the education crisis as several schools already under strain are being used as displacement sites, which is of course disrupting the lives of both students and teachers. Forced displacements, destruction and attacks against people are driving up humanitarian needs, compounding existing crises in health, nutrition and education. OCHA is coordinating the response to ensure that assistance reaches the most vulnerable, despite extremely challenging conditions. Just to remind you, the humanitarian response in Haiti remains severely underfunded, with only [13] per cent of the $908 million needed in the bank. Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight
