UN Noon Briefing: International Day of Peacekeepers, Middle East Crisis, Sudan, Haiti & More

International Day of UN Peacekeepers

• 🕊️ Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, will brief on the International Day of Peacekeepers.
• 🕯️ The Secretary-General will lay a wreath to honor over 4,400 UN peacekeepers who have died since 1948.
• 🏅 The Dag Hammarskjöld Medals will be awarded posthumously to 57 peacekeepers who lost their lives last year.
• 🏆 Awards for Military Gender Advocate of the Year and UN Woman Police Officer of the Year will be presented.

Middle East Peace Process

• 💔 Sigrid Kaag stated the two-State solution is on "life support" and requires decisive action.
• 🗓️ An international conference in June, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, must launch a concrete path to ending the occupation.
• ⚠️ Gaza faces the risk of famine, with families being starved and denied basic necessities.
• 📈 The West Bank is on a dangerous trajectory with accelerating de facto annexation through settlement expansion and settler violence.

Humanitarian Situation in Gaza

• 📉 Ongoing operations are dismantling the means of survival for 2.1 million Palestinians.
• 🚨 Dozens were reportedly injured trying to access supplies through a new distribution scheme.
• ⛓️ The new distribution model is described as "engineered scarcity," with limited access to only four hubs.
• 🚚 Aid delivery is hampered by Israeli approval processes, limited truck capacity, and insecurity.
• 🏥 Only half of Gaza's hospitals are functioning, with many health centers suspending services.

West Bank and UNRWA Staff Safety

• 🏘️ Diplomatic visits to the southern Hebron Hills highlighted challenges faced by Palestinian communities due to settler violence.
• 💔 The UNRWA staff member Kamal was killed, and his body discovered near a mass grave; teams are not a target, and impunity is unacceptable.

Yemen and Sudan Crises

• ✈️ Attacks on civilian infrastructure, including Sanaa airport, are exacerbating the fragile situation in Yemen.
• 💧 In Sudan, children face a double threat of cholera and malnutrition, with over 7,700 cholera cases reported.
• 🆘 Two localities in Khartoum state are at risk of famine, with over 300,000 acutely malnourished children.

Haiti and Ukraine

• 🦠 In Haiti, cholera remains a major public health emergency, with over 2,100 suspected cases reported.
• 🚧 Security constraints and low funding are jeopardizing cholera response activities.
• 🚚 A humanitarian convoy delivered hygiene kits, medical supplies, and food parcels to Pervomaisk in Ukraine.
• 💔 The town, near the front line, has a reduced population of mostly older people and those with disabilities.

Global Climate and Employment

• 🌡️ Global climate predictions show temperatures are expected to remain at record levels in the next five years, increasing climate risks.
• 📈 There's an 86% chance that at least one year between now and 2029 will be more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
• 📉 The global employment forecast for 2025 has been revised down to 53 million jobs, reflecting a downgraded global economic outlook.
• ⚠️ Elevated trade tensions put millions of jobs tied to US consumer demand at risk.