Suriname, Road Safety, Pooled Funds & other topics

Source from The United Nations

Media www.rajawalisiber.com – Daily Noon Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Highlights: – Secretary-General – Road Safety – Pooled Funds – Ukraine/Humanitarian – Ukraine/Human Rights – Libya – Iran – Syria – Democratic Republic of the Congo – Afghanistan – Malaysia – Climate – International Days –

Financial Contributions SECRETARY-GENERAL As we had announced to you, I think last week, following his visit to Portugal, the Secretary-General is now heading to Suriname. He will be in the country from 2 July to 4 July, on a trip that, as he did in Lisbon, will focus on the environment and biodiversity and how they are impacted by climate change.

The Secretary-General is scheduled to fly over a rainforest region in Suriname and visit an indigenous community, to learn more about harnessing indigenous knowledge to help adapt to the climate impacts.

He will also underscore the importance of nature-based climate solutions during a visit to a coastal mangrove programme site, where he will witness Suriname coastline’s susceptibility to flooding, which has been heightened by sea level rise and extreme weather events resulting from the current climate crisis.

On Sunday, the Secretary-General will address the opening ceremony of the Caribbean Community, of CARICOM’s 43rd Regular Meeting. He is expected to stress that the Caribbean is ground zero for the global climate emergency and the need to gather around bold solutions.

In Suriname, the Secretary-General is also scheduled to hold a meeting with President Santokhi, the President of the Republic of Suriname and we’ll keep you posted on all those declarations during the weekend ROAD SAFETY This morning, the Secretary-General spoke at the High-Level meeting of the General Assembly on Improving Road Safety.

He said that road accidents are a silent moving epidemic, with 1.3 million people dying on the road and 50 million getting seriously injured every year.

Today, road accidents are the leading cause of death in the world among young people aged 5 to 29, and nine out of ten victims live in middle-income or low-income countries.

He added that this is unacceptable and called on countries to take urgent action to reduce the biggest threats to road safety such as speeding; driving under the influence of alcohol or any psychoactive substance or drug; failure to use seatbelts, helmets and child restraints; unsafe road infrastructure and unsafe vehicles.

POOLED FUNDS This morning, the Secretary-General also spoke by pre-recorded video message at a virtual event on pooled funds.

He said that today, over 300 million people in the world are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and protection – a fact that he called “a grim record.” The Secretary-General noted that the UN is working on reaching the vulnerable, and this takes financial resources.

He stressed the importance of the Central Emergency Response Fund and the Country-Based Pooled Funds, noting they are fast, flexible, impartial and independent.

Those remarks are online. Also speaking was Martin Griffiths, our Emergency Relief Coordinator who said that we have reached more than 50 million people in the last year, with the pooled funds having supported people’s health, food security, water and sanitation, hygiene and protection.