Ukraine, Central African Republic, Yemen & other topics - Daily Press Briefing (25 February 202

Noon briefing by Stephane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Highlights
- Secretary-General
- Ukraine
- Central African Republic
- Yemen
- Afghanistan
- Afghanistan/Children
- Ethiopia
- Syria
- Myanmar
- Viet Nam
- Financial Contribution

SECRETARY-GENERAL
The Secretary-General will be travelling over the weekend. He’ll be going to Geneva where on Monday morning, he will deliver remarks at the opening of the 49th regular session of the Human Rights Council.
Later, he will take part in a press conference to launch the new report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - titled “Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability.”
While in Geneva, the he will also have a series bilateral meetings. We expect him back here on Monday afternoon.

UKRAINE
As announced by the Secretary-General yesterday, the United Nations has allocated $20 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to immediately scale up life-saving humanitarian assistance and protection to civilians in Ukraine following the recent increase in hostilities.
The allocation will support health care, shelter, food, and water and sanitation to the most vulnerable people affected by the conflict, including women and girls, the elderly and the displaced.
The funds will also support the prevention of gender-based violence and other protection-related services, as well as education, logistics and telecommunications.
For its part, today, the UN Human Rights Office said that it is gravely concerned about developments over the course of the day yesterday and overnight in Ukraine, and that it is receiving increasing reports of civilian casualties.
The Human Rights Office is also disturbed by the multiple arbitrary arrests of demonstrators in Russia who were protesting against war yesterday. It understands that more than 1,800 protesters were arrested and said that it is unclear whether some have now been released.
According to the Human Rights Office, there are verified reports of at least 127 civilian casualties, including 25 killed and 102 injured due to shelling and other forms of conflict. Of the 127, 114 were reported in Government-controlled territories in Donetsk, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, and Luhansk regions.
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission remains in Ukraine and will continue to closely monitor and report on the situation.
The UN Refugee Agency said that there are reports of substantial movement in Ukraine, with an estimated 100,000 people displaced inside the country and several thousands who have crossed international borders. UNHCR estimates that up to 4 million people may flee Ukraine to neighboring countries if the situation escalates further.
The UN Refugee Agency is present in both Ukraine and neighboring countries ready to support any efforts to help forcibly displaced people.
The World Health Organization today said that it is concerned for the health of the people of Ukraine and expressed fear that the escalating crisis may impact health systems. WHO is releasing $3.5 million from the contingency fund for emergencies to procure medical supplies for Ukraine.
WHO warned that the Omicron variant of the COVID virus exists in Ukraine and that there are a high number of COVID cases across the country. The World Health Organization is concern about the impact of the conflict on vaccination, as well as the availability of medicine, electricity and water.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the head of our department of our Peacekeeping Operations, is in the Central African Republic today, where he began a four-day visit.
He is expected to meet a number of local leaders, including the President Faustin Archange Touadéra. He will also meet civil society representatives and people directly affected by insecurity in the country.
As you may have seen, four of our peacekeeping colleagues arrested last Friday were released yesterday.
Mankeur Ndiaye, the head of the UN Mission, reiterated that the UN will continue to work to ensure the protection of our personnel and assets in all circumstances. And we’re happy they’ve been released.

Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/conte....nt/noon-briefing-hig