COP27, Ukraine, Haiti, & other topics - Daily Press Briefing (8 November 2022) | United Nations

Noon briefing by Stephanie Tremblay, Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Highlights:
Secretary-General at COP27
Ukraine
Haiti
Syria
Sri Lanka
Fashion Award


SECRETARY-GENERAL AT COP27
This morning, the Secretary-General spoke at the launch of the report of the High-Level Expert Group on Net-Zero Commitment of Non-State Actors.
You will remember that the Secretary-General announced the establishment of the Group during last year’s COP. Today’s report proposes recommendations to businesses, financial institutions, cities and regions so they can ensure high credible and accountable net-zero pledges. The report focuses on four key areas: environmental integrity, credibility, accountability and the role of governments.
In his response to the report, the Secretary-General was very clear: “Let’s tell it like it is,” he said. “Using bogus ‘net-zero’ pledges to cover up massive fossil fuel expansion is reprehensible. This toxic cover-up could push our world over the climate cliff. The sham must end,” he said.
He called on all non-state actors to review their pledges and align them with his and the report’s guidelines. He also called on leaders to provide non-state entities with a level playing field to transition to a just, net-zero future. Those remarks have been shared with you.
And also earlier today, the Secretary-General also spoke at the event on Accelerating Adaptation in Africa and he met with regional groupings and leaders on the sidelines of the conference.


UKRAINE
Moving on to Ukraine, Denise Brown, the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator there, was in the city of Zaporizhzhia today, where she heard the stories of people whose lives have been torn apart by the war and have seen how humanitarians are working tirelessly to help them.
Zaporizhzhia, which has been targeted several times in recent weeks with missile strikes, is now home to 160,000 people who fled from other parts of the country.
Today, Ms. Brown visited a centre established by authorities of the city of Melitopol, currently under the control of Russian forces, to help people who fled that city.
Ms. Brown said that, in this centre, the UN, the humanitarian community, authorities and volunteers have come together and they are doing remarkable work to provide the Melitopol people with the support they need. Every day at this centre, more than 200 people receive essential services and supplies.
On Kherson, our humanitarian colleagues say they continue to receive reports of attacks impacting civilian infrastructure, adding to an already complex situation on the ground. Yesterday, for example, a school was destroyed in Zolota Balka village.
The UN and our partners are working to support people in the areas we can access, which are the ones under the control of the Ukrainian Government. In the past eight months, we have reached nearly 100,000 people with critical assistance in the Kherson region, with most of them having received cash assistance.
Last month, the World Food Programme and its partners distributed food to 57,000 people in retaken areas of Kherson. Just a few days ago, UNICEF delivered nearly 30 generators to clinics and pumping stations. This will ensure that medical facilities in the towns that are back under Ukraine’s control can have electricity, and that water and heating systems serving over 12,000 people will be up and running again. Our work to support people in the Kherson region will continue in the days ahead.

HAITI
To Haiti now, where our UN colleagues and partners continue to scale up their response to the cholera outbreak which as you know, as we mentioned a few days ago, has now spread beyond the metropolitan area of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
The UN’s Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) continues to support the Ministry of Health in epidemiological surveillance. It is also procuring and distributing medical equipment and therapeutics to the 20 cholera centres (CTC) that operate throughout the country.
UNICEF and PAHO have recently been supported by USAID, which has transported approximately 14 metric tonnes of critical supplies from Panama City, in Panama, to Port-au-Prince to be used by PAHO and UNICEF in their cholera response.
Also, since mid-September, the World Food Programme has reached over 71,000 people with different types of assistance, distributing close to US $600,000 in cash and also 530 metric tonnes of food. Over 43,000 hot meals have also been delivered to internally displaced people who are hosted in sites as well as in cholera treatment centres in Port-au-Prince.
Meanwhile, the World Food Programme (WFP) has supported 24 of its partners with fuel and the humanitarian air service, UNHAS, has undertaken over 20 flights as part of the response effort.

Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon...