Violent Extremism & other topics - Daily Briefing (1 March 2019)

Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Daily Press Briefing:
-Libya
-Violent Extremism
-Syria, Myanmar
-Burkina Faso
-Nigeria
-Measles
-Wildlife
-Zero Discrimination Day
LIBYA
The Secretary-General welcomes the meeting that took place on 27 February in the United Arab Emirates, that was convened by his Special Representative for Libya, Ghassan Salamé. That meeting was between the Prime Minister of Libya and President of the Presidency Council of the Government of National Accord, Faiez Serraj, and the Commander of the Libyan National Army, Khalifa Haftar.
The Secretary-General commends both parties on the progress made, in particular the agreement on the need to end the transitional stages in Libya through the holding of general elections, and also the commitment to maintain stability in the country and unify its institutions.
The Secretary-General hopes further progress can be achieved on the basis of what has already been agreed upon, with the support of the international community.

VIOLENT EXTREMISM
The Secretary-General spoke this morning in a meeting of the Group of Friends on Preventing Violent Extremism and he said that the focus of today’s meeting was on how to defend the rights of women, place their voices and expertise at the centre of our strategies, and work together with them to limit and prevent violent extremism.
He said that groups like Da’esh, Boko Haram and others have systematically subjugated hundreds of thousands of women to slavery, sexual exploitation, kidnapping, trafficking and other horrific ordeals.
The Secretary-General said that many UN entities are integrating gender dynamics into their responses. In Nigeria, the UN has helped establish a gender desk as part of national counter-terrorism and prevention of violent extremism efforts, which recruited additional female investigators. In North Africa, the UN is supporting national institutions to research the gender specific dimensions of violent extremism.
In the next few months, he added, the United Nations will launch a handbook on Gender Dimensions of Criminal Justice Responses to Terrorism, to help countries develop gender-sensitive security measures.

SYRIA
Today, the UN published its 2019 Humanitarian Needs Overview for Syria – which highlights the scale of humanitarian needs in that country.
The overview is a reminder that the crisis is far from over for millions of people in Syria who have lived through eight years of crisis. 11.7 million people remain in need of some form of humanitarian assistance, including food and livelihood assistance, health care, shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene support. Over 2 million boys and girls are currently out of school in Syria. People’s resources are depleting and more than eight in ten people live below the poverty line.
Displacement continues to be a defining feature of the crisis, with an estimated 6.2 million people who are internally displaced. Last year saw a 16 per cent increase in the number of displaced people living in last resorts sites. More than 5.6 million people remain displaced across the borders and in neighbouring countries.
In 2018, the UN and humanitarian partners reached 5.5 million people each month on average with humanitarian assistance. The UN and its partners are appealing for continued donor support to support the critical life-saving, protection and livelihood needs of over 11 million people.
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