Central Emergency Response Fund, Syria & other topics - Daily Press Briefing | United Nations

Noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General. Highlights: Secretary-General/Travels Central Emergency Response Fund Syria - humanitarian Syria Occupied Palestinian Territory Lebanon South Sudan Sudan/South Sudan/Refugees Haiti Champions of the Earth Human Rights Day Guest tomorrow  Secretary-General/Travels This morning, the Secretary-General travelled to South Africa, where he will begin discussions on Wednesday with President Cyril Ramaphosa, as well as other senior officials. Conversations with the leadership in Pretoria will include several topics pertaining to the region and to the African continent. He will also be discussing Financing for Development, Climate Action and the G20 agenda for 2025. As you know, South Africa is now presiding over the G20 for the next year. On Thursday, he will head to Lesotho, where he will meet His Majesty King Letsie III. The solidarity trip to this land-locked country will be an opportunity to shed light on the resilience of this nation. It will also be an opportunity to reaffirm the UN’s continued support to Lesotho and the African continent. Central Emergency Response Fund This morning, in New York, the High-Level Pledging conference for the UN Central Emergency Response Fund got underway. In a video message for the event, the Secretary-General said that the Emergency Response Fund, known to all of us as CERF, is a United Nations success story. It is a first responder in crisis, he said, rooted in rapid analysis, rapid decision and rapid implementation. And it is centred around putting people first – and kick-starting relief as soon as possible. The Secretary-General stressed that the need for a fully funded CERF – at 1 billion dollars – has never been greater. He also thanked those who have already contributed to the Fund while asking those countries to dig deeper and new donors to step forward. Help CERF is to help others, he said. For his part, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, thanked all those who have supported the CERF this year and over the years, and he echoed Mr. Guterres’ call for others to step forward. And our colleagues at OCHA will provide you with the total funding announced at the conference as soon as the bean counters have finished counting. Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon...