Noon Briefings

The UN refugee agency is helping survivors of two incidents over the weekend involving boats carrying refugees and migrants between Turkey and Greece that left some 40 people dead or missing.  Europe has seen more than 442,400 arrivals by sea so far this year – 82 per cent from the top 10 refugee-producing countries, led by Syria.

The UN refugee agency says this week’s dramatic situation on the Hungarian border and on the Serbian border with Croatia demonstrates the chaos resulting from the lack of a coherent and united response to Europe’s refugee situation.  More than 440,000 refugees and migrants have arrived via the Mediterranean so far this year.

The Secretary-General condemns in the strongest terms the coup d’état in Burkina Faso.  He reiterates the call for the release of all Burkinabé officials under detention and demands the resumption of the country's political transition.  He deplores the violence and calls on the defence and security forces for restraint.

The Secretary-General laid a wreath today in memory of former Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld, who died 54 years ago.  Speaking at the ceremony, he said that the Organization remains inspired every day by Mr. Hammarskjöld’s integrity, intelligence and idealism.

The Secretary-General, speaking at the award ceremony for the United Nations Energy Grant, said that energy underpins common efforts to achieve development objectives — from reducing extreme poverty to enhancing food security, powering essential health services and providing electricity for education.

The United Nations Refugee Agency welcomed European Commission proposals to address the current crisis, urging their full and swift implementation.  The proposed scheme to relocate 160,000 refugees could only succeed if accompanied by a large-scale emergency response in most-affected States, such as Greece, Hungary and Italy.

United Nations aid agencies and their partners warned that the number of people struggling to cope with food insecurity in Afghanistan doubled in the last year.  Today, more than 1.5 million people are considered severely food insecure.  Meanwhile, the Food and Agriculture Organization announced that its Food Price Index registered its sharpest fall since December 2008.

In South Sudan, the World Food Programme and UNICEF today launched a joint plan to reach more than 2 million people to help reverse the dire malnutrition situation.  In Yemen, where global acute malnutrition nearly doubled since 2014, the World Health Organization and partners set up mobile centres serving 23,000.

The Secretary-General, in recent phone calls, appealed to European leaders to quickly find a joint approach to address refugees’ basic needs.  He emphasized the importance of their stand against increasing xenophobia, discrimination and violence against migrants and refugees, stressing that many were fleeing war.

Following the decision by President Otto Pérez Molina of Guatemala to resign, the Secretary-General trusts that the authorities will abide by the Constitution and ensure an orderly democratic transition.  He appeals to the authorities and all sectors of society to work to strengthen institutions and the rule of law.