Negative humanitarian, security and political developments in Gaza outweigh any positive news concerning the search for peace in the Middle East, the United Nations negotiator for the process has said, urging the international community to help restore hope that a solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict can be found.

“The urgency of the situation that we face on the ground is really desperate – Gaza can explode any minute,” underscored UN Special Coordinator Nikolay Mladenov, briefing the Security Council.

“We have a humanitarian responsibility to react but we must understand that it cannot be solved only on the basis of humanitarian action…It must be solved with a political perspective to resolving Israeli-Palestinian conflict and we have a responsibility to support the parties.”

In his briefing, Mr. Mladenov spoke of Israel’s continued military occupation of Palestinian territory; uncertainties about the future of the peace process and the two-state solution; Hamas’ continuing hold on Gaza and its militant activity, as developments which continue to complicate the situation on the ground.

“No steps have been taken during the reporting period to cease settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem,” he said, reiterating that settlement activities are “a violation of international law and a major obstacle to peace.”

We must overcome the current impasse and refocus our efforts on ultimately returning to meaningful negotiations to end the occupation and bring a just, lasting and comprehensive resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – Nikolay Mladenov

Violence, acts of provocation and inflammatory rhetoric – both by Hamas and Israel – also continued during the reporting period, he added, noting that on at least three occasions the situation “escalated dramatically” and calm was restored only after Egypt and the UN intervened to de-escalate tensions.

On the humanitarian side, of most concern is the power crisis in Gaza and, with the UN running out of funds for emergency fuel, critical health, water and sanitation facilities are at “immediate risk” of shutting down. Levels of critical medicines are also running dangerously low.

The crisis is being further exacerbated by the serious cash shortfall – due to the withdrawal of US funding – confronting UNRWA, the Organization’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, he said, calling for urgent funding to allow it to continue its vital services.

Concluding his briefing, Mr. Mladenov reminded the Security Council that twenty-five years have passed since the Oslo Accords were signed in the US capital, Washington D.C.

“It was a historic moment that captured the world’s attention and filled Palestinians, Israelis and the region with hope that a genuine peace could be realized. Sadly, that courageous vision of a lasting peace now lies in tatters,” he said.

“We must restore that hope – the alternative is perpetual cycles of violence. We must overcome the current impasse and refocus our efforts on ultimately returning to meaningful negotiations to end the occupation and bring a just, lasting and comprehensive resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

Ahead of the Security Council meeting, France, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom (EU member countries with a seat on the Council); Belgium and Germany (incoming Council members in 2019) and Italy (a Council member until last year) issued a joint statement urging Israeli authorities to reconsider its decision to demolish Khan al-Ahmar, a Palestinian village in the West Bank, as well as highlighting the importance of a negotiated two-State solution.

Amidst an increase in criminal activity in the Abyei area, which is contested by Sudan and South Sudan, the United Nations top peacekeeping official on Thursday called for deployment of additional police units, to enhance the UN’s focus on maintaining law and order there, and furthering peace between local communities.
 

The proposed additional personnel – both formed police units and individual officers – are within the current troop ceiling authorized for the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, told the Security Council.

UNISFA was established by the Security Council in 2011, amid deteriorating tensions in the Abyei region – a resource-rich area contested by the two neighbouring countries – shortly before South Sudan became independent. It is tasked with monitoring the flashpoint border, facilitating delivery of humanitarian aid, and is also authorized to use force to protect civilians and humanitarian workers in the region.

In his briefing to the 15-member Security Council, Mr. Lacroix presented a set of recommendations to adjust UNISFA to the current situation on the ground to allow it to best support the Governments of Sudan and South Sudan in their efforts to reach agreement over the region and it’s future.

The “modest adjustments” would enable the UN peacekeeping mission to better support border demarcation efforts by the African Union Border Programme, including the “much-needed” sensitization of border communities, said the senior UN official.

The recommendations envisage the establishment of two further sector headquarters and team sites with the “Safe Demilitarised Border Zone” to make the border region safer and more secure.

“Troops would be transferred from the Abyei area to achieve full operating capability for the border monitoring mechanism,” elaborated Mr. Lacroix, noting that such a move would harmonize the “diminishing military threat with the corresponding-reduction in military need” for the region.

Mr. Lacroix also briefed the Council on progress made by the Governments of Sudan and South Sudan towards implementing the benchmarks outlined in resolution 2412 (2018).

The benchmarks include freedom of movement for UNISFA air and ground patrols, an improved joint border verification and monitoring mechanism, the joint political and security mechanism, border crossing corridors, and border demarcation.

UN chief António Guterres on Thursday called for a “renewed commitment to a rules-based global order” and to the organization he leads, highlighting his key themes for discussion during the High-Level week of the General Assembly, beginning on Monday.

In a press conference for journalists based at UN Headquarters in New York, the Secretary-General said that with 84 Heads of State and 44 Heads of Government taking part next week, it showed the UN was still “the world’s indispensable forum for international cooperation”.

One year on from his launch of a system-wide gender parity strategy, Mr. Guterres told journalists that team leaders in the field are now made up of an equal number of men and women, and that there have never been as many female heads and deputy heads of peace operations in UN history, adding:

“Our aim is to shift the long-standing power imbalances that have held the United Nations back, and to elicit the best contributions from all the staff to take the Organization forward. And such a shift will also help to address sexual harassment.”

He said that the UN’s focus was “on prevention, responding rapidly to allegations, supporting victims through their trauma and ensuring accountability for perpetrators.”

Mr. Guterres told journalists that sexual harassment cases will be fast-tracked and investigated by a new, specialized team within the Office of Internal Oversight Services (five of the six team members are women) and that, since February, a 24-hour hotline has been receiving and responding to calls about sexual harassment and abuses of power, within the UN system.

So far, over 16,000 staff have taken a new mandatory training course on sexual harassment and, in October, the UN will launch a staff survey on this problem, in order to get the best possible understanding of how prevalent it is within the Organization.

The press briefing was also an opportunity for Mr. Guterres to outline three key meetings that he will be convening in the coming days.

The first, on Monday, will be the opportunity for the UN Chief to launch a new strategy called “Youth2030”, as well as an initiative named “Generation Unlimited”, both designed to help young people secure quality education and decent jobs, and contribute to preventing radicalization.

At the second, also on Monday, Mr. Guterres will launch his strategy for financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

A surge in investment for the Sustainable Development Goals is needed, as well as a systemic change in the way the world does business, and a clampdown on illicit capital flows such as money laundering and tax evasion.

Finally, the Secretary-General announced his involvement in Tuesday’s meeting of leaders of Member States and regional organizations to strengthen UN Peacekeeping, as part of the Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) initiative.

The meeting comes at a time of increasing threats against peacekeepers, with peacekeeping fatalities at their highest level in a generation.

Mr. Guterres concluded by sharing his overriding concern that multilateralism is under attack from many directions, precisely when it is most needed.

Half of all people living in poverty are younger than 18 years old, according to estimates from a new report released on Thursday by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and partners.

The new figures in the 2018 global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) show that in 104 primarily low- and middle-income countries, 662 million children are considered poor according to multiple different indicators. In 35 of these countries. Children account for at least 50 per cent of the total.

The 2018 MPI, produced by UNDP and the University of Oxford’s Poverty and Human Development Initiative, provides the most comprehensive view of the many ways in which 1.3 billion people worldwide experience poverty in their daily lives.

The MPI looks beyond income to understand how people experience poverty in multiple and simultaneous ways across the three key dimensions of health, education and living standards; taking in factors such as a lack of clean water, sanitation, adequate nutrition or primary education.

Although the level of poverty – particularly in children – is staggering, so is the progress that can be made in tackling it – UNDP chief, Achim Steiner

According to the index, those who are deprived in at least one-third of the MPI’s components are defined as “multidimensionally poor”. The 2018 figures, which are closely aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), cover almost three-quarters of the world’s population.

Some 1.3 billion people live in multidimensional poverty, which is almost a quarter of the population of the 104 countries used to calculate the 2018 MPI. Of these, 46 per cent are thought to be living in severe poverty.

“The Multidimensional Poverty Index gives insights that are vital for understanding the many ways in which people experience poverty, and it provides a new perspective on the scale and nature of global poverty while reminding us that eliminating it in all its forms is far from impossible,” said UNDP chief Achim Steiner.

Progress is possible on poverty, argues UNDP chief

 While the latest figures paint a stark picture of just how many are still left behind, they also demonstrate that progress can happen quickly with the right approach.

 “Although the level of poverty – particularly in children – is staggering, so is the progress that can be made in tackling it,” he added, pointing out that in India alone some 271 million have escaped multidimensional poverty “in just ten years.” 

The poverty rate there has nearly halved, falling from 55 per cent to 28 per cent over the ten-year period.

 Although similar comparisons over time have not yet been calculated for other countries, the latest information from UNDP’s Human Development Index, which was released last week, shows significant development progress in all regions, including many Sub-Saharan African countries.

Between 2006 and 2017, the life expectancy increased over seven years in Sub-Saharan Africa and by almost four in South Asia. Moreover, enrollment rates in primary education are up to 100 per cent.

The data shows that in addition to the 1.3 billion classified as poor, another 879 million risk slipping further into multidimensional poverty due to conflict, sickness, drought, unemployment and other setbacks.

Unrelenting conflict and rapid climate change is continuing to reshape agriculture across the world, and contributing to major food shortages across 39 countries, which continue to rely on help from the United Nations to meet their food needs, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Thursday.

FAO’s  Crop Prospects and Food Situation report, spelled out that 31 countries in Africa, seven in Asia, and Haiti in the Caribbean, remain in need of external food assistance.

According to the report, civil conflicts and population displacement are the key drivers of food insecurity in East Africa and the Near East, whereas dry-weather conditions have led to reduced cereal outputs in Southern Africa.    

Civil conflicts, often coupled with extreme climate events, continue to hamper food access to vulnerable populations in Central African Republic, Nigeria, South Sudan, Syria, Yemen, among others.

Ongoing conflict has left 17.8 million Yemenis in need of humanitarian assistance, and around two million in the Central African Republic, which is also fueled by reduced food production and poorly functioning markets.

Cereals remain key

The global importance of cereal crops to the human diet “cannot be over stated,” according to FAO. Cereals are hugely adaptable, especially in regions that rely mainly on plant sources for protein and calories.

Against this backdrop, unfavourable weather conditions curbed Southern African cereal outputs so far this year, heightening food insecurity, while abundant rains in East Africa boosted production but resulted in localized flooding.

In the continent’s North, favourable spring weather prompted a production upturn, while in the West, harvests are expected to revert back to average levels.

In the Near East and Central Asia’s Commonwealth of Independent States, rainfall deficits have prompted predictions that 2018 cereal harvests will be “below-average levels,” while ongoing conflicts in parts of the Near East continue to impede agricultural activities.

The Far East is forecast to rise slightly, driven by a larger paddy output.

At the same time, weather conditions have impacted cereal production in the Latin America and the Caribbean area.

“Dry weather in South America has lowered 2018 cereal outputs relative to last year’s record,” the report stated, noting maize in particular. In Central America and the Caribbean, it says: “unfavourable rains affected 2018 maize production, except in Mexico.”

The report notes that cereal production in the 52 Low-Income Food-Deficit Countries (LIFDCs) is projected at around 490 million metric tonnes; about 19 million above the past five-year average.

The full list of the 39 countries currently in need

Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Eswatini (former Swaziland), Ethiopia, Guinea, Haiti, Iraq, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zimbabwe.