Stockholm Agreement on Yemen & Other Topics - Daily Briefing (19 February 2019)

Noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
Daily Noon Briefing:
- Secretary-General's travels
- Yemen
- Humanitarian Appeal, Syria
- Civil Society Advisory Board
- Central African Republic
- UNMOGIP
- Refugees
SECRETARY-GENERAL’S TRAVELS
The Secretary-General will travel next week to Geneva, where, on Monday, he will speak at the opening of the 40th session of the Human Rights Council. He will also speak at a special session of the Conference of Disarmament on that day. Later in the afternoon, the Secretary-General and the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer, will deliver a joint statement on sexual and gender-based violence against in conflict. In the evening, the Secretary-General will address the Geneva Association of the UN Correspondents (ACANU) on “Press Freedom and Journalists under Attack”. On Tuesday, he will convene a high-level pledging conference for the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, co-hosted by Sweden and Switzerland, which you heard quite a bit about today. This event is an important opportunity for the international community to make clear its continuing commitment to save the lives of starving and vulnerable people in Yemen.
YEMEN
The Special Envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, briefed the Security Council by video conference this morning on what he called the significant progress made in implementing the agreements reached in Stockholm. He welcomed the agreement on the redeployment of the parties -- first from Saleef and Ras Issa and then from the port of Hudaydah -- as a first step. Mr. Griffiths said that despite deadlines being missed, the parties have constantly showed their commitment to the agreement.He added that he has continued to work on the release of prisoners by the parties, saying that the watchword for the process is a release of “all for all”. He expressed hope that the release of the first batch of prisoners could take place soon. Mark Lowcock, the Emergency Relief Coordinator, for his part said that about 80 percent of the Yemeni population – that’s about 24 million people - need humanitarian assistance and protection. Some 20 million people need help securing food, including 10 million who are just a step away from famine. In sum, he said, things are very bad; and unfortunately, aid agencies are running out of money.
Mr. Lowcock said that we expect current resources to be used by the end of March, just six weeks from now. He noted next week’s meeting in Geneva on funding for Yemen and urged Member States to attend the meeting at a senior level and, of course, to pledge generously. Together, he said, we can save millions more lives in Yemen, but only if we have the resources that we need.
YEMEN HUMANITARIAN APPEAL
The UN and our humanitarian partners today issued a call for $4.2 billion to help up to 19 million people in need in Yemen. After four years of conflict, the humanitarian crisis in Yemen is the world’s worst, with 10 million people being one step away from famine. Since 2015, nearly 15 percent of the people in Yemen have been forced to flee their homes, the vast majority of whom are still displaced.
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