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Source: United Nations (video statements)

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

Highlights:
Sudan
Occupied Palestinian Territory
Syria
Sri Lanka
Guest tomorrow

SUDAN
One year ago, in August 2024, famine was confirmed in Zamzam camp and has since spread to areas in Darfur and Kordofan. Currently, 17 areas are classified as ‘at risk of famine’ including parts of Darfur, the Nuba Mountains, Khartoum, and Gezira.
Since then the situation, especially in El Fasher, has only gotten worse.
Our colleagues at the World Food Programme today called for humanitarian access to El Fasher that is facing starvation and remains cut off from humanitarian assistance.
WFP says that, as a coping mechanism, some residents are reportedly surviving on animal fodder and food waste.
WFP continues to provide digital cash support to roughly a quarter-million people in the city, allowing them to buy the dwindling food left in the markets. However, the escalating needs make it imperative to address hunger at scale.
We reiterate our concern about the ongoing conflict and renew our calls for all parties to end the violence, and resolve to dialogue and to put the interest of their people first.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
Turning to Gaza, we continue our efforts to bring in goods and fuel into the Strip. Updates from today’s movements are yet to come to us. But I can tell you that yesterday our teams collected food and fuel from the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings. While more than half of 15 missions coordinated with the Israeli authorities were facilitated, the remaining ones were either denied, impeded or cancelled.
Meanwhile, the entry of goods has improved the market situation in terms of both prices and availability. For example, after peaking at 600 shekels per bag, that’s equivalent to about $175, in the past two weeks, the price of sugar has dropped to an average of 40 shekels, or $12. However, severe cash shortages are preventing families from being able to buy food, water and medicine.
As a reminder, the amount of aid and goods that can be brought into Gaza does not meet the minimum requirements of people who are starving. A ceasefire is critically needed to reach all those in need, along with a sustained and scaled-up flow of aid.
Today, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that eight people, including three children, died due to malnutrition and starvation over the past 24 hours. Such reports have become a daily occurrence, reflecting the deepening humanitarian crisis and the urgent need for sustained assistance.
Today, the World Health Organization conducted a refresher training at the Rantissi Children’s Hospital help staff members stay current with new information, focusing on the inpatient management of malnutrition. Rantissi is one of the five nutrition stabilization centres in Gaza, and one of only two located in Gaza city.
The recent surge in malnutrition cases among children has necessitated the establishment and scaling-up of these centres.
So far this year, more than 340 children have been admitted for malnutrition treatment at these centres in Gaza – and this year, as of August 5th, 49 validated child deaths from malnutrition have been reported, including 39 children under the age of 5.
Data collected by ourselves and our partners from over 900 households across Gaza in July indicated continuous trauma leading to mental health issues, including anxiety and depression. Many people are living in informal shelters that are overcrowded, unsafe and lack space and privacy, especially for women and children.
Care staff themselves are traumatized, and today, partners working on protection started providing mental health and psychosocial support for their teams in Gaza.
OCHA reminds us that shelter items are a priority, as supplies have run out, leaving people exposed to the summer heat and with nothing to protect them when winter comes. Many tents and tarpaulins need to be replaced, as they will not be able to withstand the elements.
Meanwhile, households continue to report poor sanitation and lack of clean water. In southern Gaza, the Israeli-supplied water pipeline has been damaged for almost a week now, impacting water supply for thousands of people in the area.

full Highlihts: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=13%20August%202025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBbaj7Bh_Ig

Source: United Nations (video statements)

The United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Haiti, Ulrika Richardson, today (12 Aug) told reporters in New York that the situation is “strikingly horrific” in the country’s capital Port-au-Price with “3,000 people having been killed in gang related incidents since the beginning of the year.”

Briefing correspondents for the last time as the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti, Richardson said, “I often feel that I can’t even find words any longer to describe the situation. Is it alarming? Is it acute? Is it urgent? It’s all of that, and even more.”

She said, “we have 1.3 million people displaced currently, as a result of the gang violence, as the gangs have sort of rummaged the city. And half of them are children,” noting that 2 million people are in IPC four, meaning at an emergency level of food insecurity.

Richardson said, “all of that is just figures, in a way. And behind every figure there is, a woman, a mother, a child, a father, a young person.”

She said, “obviously children are particularly affected, particularly we have a malnutrition that is striking. We have children being recruited by the armed gangs. And of course, they fare really poorly, many of them also in terms of education. You can imagine, broken school years. We have generations that have not fulfilled an entire year of schooling.”

Richardson said, “we have a humanitarian response plan. It’s only funded 9 percent. It’s the lowest level of funding for any response plan in the world. And it’s 900 million. We are not talking about the biggest response plan either. So, that is of course a big frustration. But also, we have other; we have a sanctions regime that was introduced in 2022. We have an arms embargo, similarly, introduced in 2022. We have, the Multinational Security Support Mission that has been on the ground for a year but not given the tools or the sights needed to actually perform its role. So that is actually very frustrating. We have tools, but the response from the international community, is just not at par with the gravity on the ground.”

Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Richardson as his new Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and Resident Coordinator in Libya. She succeeds Aeneas Chuma of Zimbabwe.

She has been the Deputy Special Representative for the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Haiti since 2022, and was previously the Development Coordinator in Kosovo, working closely with the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) (2018-2022). Her earlier assignments include serving as the United Nations Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Cabo Verde (2013-2018), UNDP Resident Representative in Gabon (2012-2013), and Deputy Resident Representative in Türkiye (2007-2012) and in Cuba (2004-2007).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsns3jY45yc

Source: United Nations (video statements)

Since 2020, large parts of Bentiu in South Sudan have been submerged, leaving 300,000 people stranded on a narrow stretch of land.

To prevent further flooding, peacekeepers from the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) are working tirelessly to raise the dikes and monitor water levels weekly, providing early warnings to communities at risk.

As the climate crisis continues, peacekeepers, local authorities, and communities are joining forces to mitigate the impact and protect lives.

#ClimateChange

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxhY3KLHro8