Category: MIL-OSI

Source: United Nations (video statements)

Noon Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Highlights:
World Humanitarian Day
Occupied Palestinian Territory
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Security Council
Mauritania / Peacebuilding Fund’s Peacebuilding and Recovery Facility

WORLD HUMANITARIAN DAY
Today is 19th of August, and since 2009 it has been marked as the day we observed as World Humanitarian Day. August 19th was chosen because it is also the day back on 19th August 2003 when 22 of our United Nations colleagues were murdered by the terrorists who attacked the UN headquarters at the Canal Hotel in Baghdad.
Earlier today, on behalf of the Secretary-General, the Under-Secretary-General for Operational Support Atul Khare, accompanied by survivors of the bombing, led a remembrance ceremony here at the UN Headquarters.
In a Message for the Day, the Secretary-General notes that humanitarian workers are the lifeline for over 300 million people caught in conflict or disaster. Yet, he says, funding for that lifeline is drying up, and those who provide humanitarian aid are increasingly under attack.
The Secretary-General points out that last year, at least 390 aid workers, a record high, were killed across the world, from Gaza to Sudan to Myanmar and beyond. On this World Humanitarian Day, he called on all to honour the fallen with action. Together, he adds, let us say in one voice: An attack on humanitarians is an attack against humanity.
For its part, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is calling for urgent action as attacks on aid workers hit another record.
OCHA points out that the 31 per cent surge in aid worker deaths in 2024 compared to the previous year was driven by the relentless conflicts going on in Gaza, where 181 humanitarian workers were killed, and in Sudan, where 60 lost their lives.
In Gaza, 520 aid workers – mostly staff from the the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) – have been killed since October 2023. It is the deadliest place for humanitarians.
Speaking a short while ago, Tom Fletcher, our Emergency Relief Coordinator, said that this is more than just a statistical spike. It is a stain – the normalization of violence against this community. He added that each attack on a colleague is an attack on all of us and we do not accept it.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
Every day and every night, aid workers in Gaza courageously put themselves in harm’s way to keep others alive. At the same time, they also struggle to feed themselves and feed their own families. The world cannot look away while attacks on aid workers and on the very people they try to help have become routine.
The UN once again calls on leaders to find the political will to end this conflict and to end the suffering of the people.
Over the past 24 hours, the UN has received more reports of casualties in shooting incidents that occurred along routes designated for our convoys, where crowds often wait to take supplies from the back of trucks. Such shooting incidents have been reported in Israeli-militarized areas in North Gaza, Deir al Balah and Khan Younis.
Meanwhile, the UN team on the ground also reports intense hostilities between Israeli military and Palestinian armed groups. Over the past 24 hours, this has included air strikes and shelling across five neighbourhoods of Gaza city, with reports of tanks and ground troops advancing.
Yesterday, the United Nations and NGOs officials working in the Occupied Palestinian Territory warned in a joint statement of the impact of the intensified offensive in Gaza city announced by Israeli authorities, which will result in mass displacement of human beings. They said that it will have a horrific impact on people already exhausted, already malnourished, already bereaved and displaced, and deprived of basics needed for their bare survival. Forcing hundreds of thousands to move south is a recipe for further disaster and could amount to forcible transfer.
The UN and NGOs stressed that their teams will remain in Gaza city to provide life-saving support as part of their commitment to serve people wherever they are. And they reminded parties of their obligation to protect civilians – including humanitarian workers and those who cannot or choose not to move – and safeguard humanitarian facilities and other civilian infrastructure.

Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=19%20August%202025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjjGGlGk_fI

Source: United Nations (video statements)

On this World Humanitarian Day, aid workers and their supporters commemorate those killed and stand in solidarity with those serving people in need, demanding urgent protection for civilians and aid operations.

Attacks on humanitarian workers, assets and operations violate international humanitarian law and undermine the lifelines that sustain millions of people trapped in war and disaster zones.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qc-JtigtcFM

Source: United Nations (video statements)

Video message by António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, on World Humanitarian Day 2025.

"Humanitarian workers are the last lifeline for over 300 million people caught in conflict or disaster.
Yet, funding for that lifeline is drying up.

And those who provide humanitarian aid are increasingly under attack.
Last year, at least 390 aid workers – a record high – were killed across the world.

From Gaza to Sudan to Myanmar and beyond.
International law is clear: humanitarians must be respected and protected. They can never be targeted.

This rule is non-negotiable and is binding on all parties to conflict, always and everywhere.
Yet red lines are crossed with impunity.

Governments have pledged action – and the Security Council has laid out a path to protect
humanitarians and their lifesaving work.

The rules and tools exist. What is missing is political will – and moral courage.

On this World Humanitarian Day, let’s honour the fallen with action:

To protect every aid worker – and invest in their safety.
To stop the lies that cost lives.

To strengthen accountability and bring perpetrators to justice.
To end arms flows to parties that violate international law.

Together, let us say in one voice: An attack on humanitarians is an attack on humanity.
And let’s #ActForHumanity".

More info: https://www.un.org/en/observances/humanitarian-day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z6BFb3saQU

Source: United Nations (video statements)

The Assistant Secretary-General for Africa Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee today (18 Aug) told the Security Council that there has been “a continued erosion of the gains previously made in the peace process” in South Sudan, including “an escalation of political and subnational violence and stagnation in the implementation of the Peace Agreement.”

Pobee said the international community has “repeatedly called for a cessation of hostilities, de-escalation and return to dialogue. However, she added, they “have not yielded any concrete response” and instead, “a pattern of violations and unilateral actions persists, which continues to undermine the ability of the Government of national unity to implement the Agreement.”

If this trend continues, she said, “it will likely lead to a shift in conflict dynamics, from subnational and community-based violence to a more complex landscape shaped by ethnic divisions involving signatory parties and other actors, including those from neighbouring countries.”

Pobee called on the parties “to unblock the current political deadlock by fully recommitting to the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, releasing the political detainees, engaging in direct high-level dialogue, and recommit implementing an inclusive peace process, particularly on key issues such as transitional security arrangements, transitional justice, constitution-making, and elections.”

The Interim Chairperson of the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC) George Aggrey Owinow, briefing remotely from Juba, said, “the current situation and trajectory of the country, if not urgently addressed, risks to reverse all that has been gained and may lead to a collapse” of the peace agreement, “which could return the country back to an armed conflict.”

The RJMEC and its partners, Aggrey Owinow said, “have repeatedly called for constructive dialog, de-escalation of tensions, addressed the issues of detainees and returned to full and implementation” of the agreement.

For his part, South Sudan’s Ambassador Sabino Edward Nyawella Amaikweytold the Council that “South Sudan remains committed to ensuring that any obstacles – real or perceived – to and UNMISS operations are addressed in good faith and without delay.”

Nyawella Amaikweytold confirmed that “any such situations could either be attributed to our efforts to ensuring safety of the mission’s assets and or personnel, or they are merely due to lack of information sharing, or the capacity of the individuals involved. It is never a policy of the government of the Republic of South Sudan to hinder UNMISS mandate.”

The Agreement on the Roadmap to a Peaceful and Democratic End of the Transitional Period of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) was concluded and signed on 12 September 2018 and was scheduled to end after a period of 44 months.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDOjr8KSXi8

Source: United Nations (video statements)

Informal comments to the media by Dmitry Polyanskiy, the First Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the United Nations, on the situation in Georgia.

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Responding, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, pointed to economic and people-to-people ties.

“Our trade turnover with Georgia is $2.5 billion – we’re the second trade partner of Georgia. We also had 1.5 million Russian tourists who visited Georgia last year,” he said, calling it evidence of a “clear desire of both our nations to re-establish mutual ties and to normalize our relations.”

Polyanskiy said some states sought to make Georgia “a pawn of their geopolitical interests,” and added that Moscow supported “the creation of a favorable security climate in the South Caucasus,” including treaties on non-aggression among Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0fn3jDInHk