Syria, Iran & other topics - Daily Briefing (2 July 2019)

Briefing by Stephane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Highlights
- Syria
- Sudan
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Zika
- U.N.E.S.C.O.
- Contributions
SYRIA
The United Nations remains deeply alarmed about the humanitarian impact of hostilities in and around the de-escalation zone in the north-west part of the country, which has resulted in hundreds of deaths and injuries in just over two months, as well as repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure and an increased level of displacement.
Hostilities, including air strikes, artillery shelling and clashes, are largely concentrated in areas controlled by non-State armed groups in Idlib, but also in Government-controlled areas.
An estimated 3 million civilians, among them 1 million children, are in imminent danger due to the violence.
Since May, 330,000 women, children and men have fled their homes. Most have sought safety in overcrowded areas where services are overstretched.
Despite ongoing hostilities and limited access, the humanitarian response by the UN and partner organisations is continuing. Critical life-saving food, protection, nutrition, shelter, education and clean water is being provided to hundreds of thousands of civilians in the north-west.
Every month, nearly 1 million people across the north-west receive food baskets. The deployment of mobile healthcare units has been fast-tracked to provide services in areas where most of the newly-displaced are settling.

SUDAN
Our colleagues in Sudan tell us that the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, are supplying medicine, nutrition supplies and trauma kits to the State Ministry of Health in East Darfur region.
This is in response to a serious shortage of medicine and health supplies in that area.
WHO has also provided health kits to some of its partners in North Darfur to help 150,000 patients over the next three months. WHO is helping the State Ministry of Health in running the Kebkabiya rural hospital and will support four additional facilities in El Fasher and Kutum localities until the end of September.
Sudan is facing shortages of medicine and health supplies due to the ongoing economic crisis which has been exacerbated by the current political situation.
The Humanitarian Response Plan for Sudan, which is calling for $1.1 billion, is only 29 per cent funded.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
The World Food Programme (WFP) announced that it is scaling up its relief operation for conflict-displaced people in the northeast Democratic Republic of the Congo. 
The renewed inter-ethnic violence has forced tens of thousands or more from their homes and increased the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance.
The DRC is the world’s second largest hunger crisis after Yemen, according to the World Food Programme, with 13 million people food insecure, 5 million of whom are malnourished children.
In Ebola-afflicted Ituri province, where the spike in clashes between ethnic groups has claimed at least 160 lives in recent weeks, the World Food Programme intends to triple life-saving food and cash assistance to 300,000 internally displaced people. The organization is planning to assist 5.2 million Congolese this year alone.
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UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the Iran nuclear deal was “a major milestone in multilateral diplomacy,” and serves a “very important purpose both in term of regional stability and in terms of non-proliferation, and we encourage the parties to preserve it.”
In response to questions by reporters today (02 Jul), Dujarric said that “the IAEA is very much in the lead on dealing with the issue of uranium and verification.”
He said the Secretary-General continues to “feel that everything should be done by all parties to preserve the JCPOA.”
According to reports on Monday, Iran had surpassed the limits on its low enriched uranium stockpile set in the nuclear agreement reached in 2015 known as the JCPOA.
The UN nuclear watchdog (IAEA) had also verified that Iran’s total enriched uranium stockpile exceeded 300kg of UF6 enriched up to 3.67% U-235, or the equivalent in different chemical forms.
The JCPOA was reached in 2015 between Iran, the European Union, China, France, Russia, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States over Iran’s nuclear programme. The United States has since withdrawn from the agreement.
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