Welcome to This Week @ UN: UN-Afghan talks; Gaza aid runs low; Rafah on edge. Plus: Wild animals; Lebanon; Venezuela; Navalny.
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We dare you to try our new quiz, on the two-state solution, by Laura Kirkpatrick with the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders; designed by John Penney.
Our most-read story of the week: Next Week’s UN-Led Talks on Afghanistan Must Include All Opposition Parties to Succeed
Most-read story of the month: The World Court Rescues International Law From the Gaza Rubble
• In a brief Whatsapp call with Jamie McGoldrick, a top UN aid official working in occupied Palestine but based in Jerusalem, he said his job was to increase the flow of lifesaving supplies into Gaza despite huge logistical and other hurdles. Several times a week, McGoldrick, who is Irish-born but grew up in Glasgow, Scotland, drives from Israel into Gaza, about a three-hour trip with checkpoints along the way, to assess the supply chain situation and other contingencies for the millions of civilians desperate for sustenance and shelter. Finding “less and less space to operate,” aid workers in Gaza’s south are concentrating mostly on Khan Younis and Rafah, he said, where the Israeli government has announced it will hit next on a large scale. But McGoldrick said there was no capacity for another “contingency plan” by aid agencies or an evacuation agenda from Israel to contend with an assault. Gazans in Rafah are too “despondent” to move again in the four-month war, though some are heading toward the beach near Deir al Balah. What generally happens before a bombardment is Israel drops leaflets warning people to leave, which can mean they pack up their tents and meager belongings while “under fire.” McGoldrick said the cuts to UNRWA (UN Relief and Works agency) by the United States and other countries are not taking effect yet, but by the end of the month, the “systems” and “staff” involved in distribution networks will grind to a halt. Yet an alternative network, such as the World Food Program, he added, can’t substitute for UNRWA’s operations. The WFP has only 10 percent of the staff of UNRWA. Nevertheless, Cindy McCain, head of the WFP, tweeted this week that it has food supplies “at the border” and can feed 2.2 million Gazans if “security guarantees” are provided. McGoldrick is also a distinguished fellow with the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs at Fordham University and host of its Humanitarian Fault Lines podcast. In a follow-up message to PassBlue, he said that the WFP plan would use trucks that UNRWA rents to bring goods from Ashdod, Israel, to the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza. — DULCIE LEIMBACH
From PassBlue this week:
• Next Week’s UN-Led Talks on Afghanistan Must Include Women and All Opposition Parties to Succeed, op-ed by Fawzia Koofi
• UNRWA’s Boss Says Lifesaving Aid to Gazan Civilians Could Stall Soon, interview by Damilola Banjo
• Rafah: A Point of No Return, op-ed by Mona Ali Khalil
Top UN news:
Monday, Feb. 12
• Spokesperson’s briefing: The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) released its first State of the World’s Migratory Species report, revealing that the “extinction risk is growing for migratory species globally, including those not listed under the treaty.” Migratory species include sea turtles, whales and sharks; elephants, wild cats and herds of hooved species; raptors, waterbirds and songbirds; and insects like the monarch butterfly. The report shows that 44 percent of listed migratory species are “undergoing population declines” and 20 percent, including 97 percent of the listed fish, face extinction. Overexploitation is the greatest threat for many migratory species, surpassing habitat loss and fragmentation.
Tuesday, Feb. 13
• Spokesperson’s briefing: Speaking at an open meeting of the UN Security Council on the links between climate and security, Secretary-General António Guterres said a global food crisis, accelerated by climate change, is “creating a hellscape of hunger and heartache for many of the world’s poorest people” and undermines peace. Beth Bechdol, of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said that two-thirds of the 258 million people in 58 countries facing “high levels of acute food insecurity” are directly affected by climate and conflict, while Simon Stiell, of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), called for investments in clean energy to “increase prosperity and food security and help avoid future conflicts,” Dujarric said.
Wednesday, Feb. 14
• Spokesperson’s briefing: The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (Unifil) reported a “concerning shift in the exchanges of fire” between Israeli troops and armed militias in Lebanon (such as Hezbollah) “far from the Blue Line.” Unifil, which is the “custodian” of the demarcation line on the Israeli-Lebanese border, is “fully engaged with the parties to decrease tensions,” Dujarric said. [UPDATE, Feb. 14: Israel launched its “longest and heaviest attack” on Lebanon since the start of the Gaza war, killing at least three Hezbollah fighters and seven civilians and “raising further the specter of war between the two long-standing enemies,” the Washington Post reported]
Thursday, Feb. 15
• Spokesperson’s briefing: Dujarric’s office released a statement regarding reports of the Venezuelan foreign minister’s decision to suspend UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) activities in the country and expel the staff in 72 hours, saying the UN is “evaluating next steps” and continues to “engage with the authorities and other stakeholders.” (Related news on the Venezuelan-Guyana territorial dispute.)
Friday, Feb. 16
• Spokesperson’s briefing: Guterres is holding a conference on Afghanistan in Qatar’s capital, Doha, Feb. 18-19, where envoys from member states and civil society groups will seek “a common understanding” on how to engage with the Taliban on topics ranging from human rights and inclusive governance to counterterrorism and drug trafficking. Asked whether concerns over the Taliban’s ban on women working and girls going to school would be part of the agenda, Dujarric said the “[central] point of our concern and of our work in Afghanistan has been the restoration of the dignity, the human rights of women and girls,” and women’s groups will be attending. But in a PassBlue op-ed this week, Fawzia Koofi, a prominent Afghan activist, pointed out the nominal participation of women in the conference.
• The UN human rights office (OHCHR) on Friday said it was “appalled” by the death announced by Russian authorities of the country’s most prominent opposition leader Alexei Navalny, 47, in prison above the Arctic Circle, and called for an “impartial and transparent independent investigation.”
Arthur Bassas is a researcher and writer who graduated from St. Andrews in Scotland, majoring in international relations and terrorism. He lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., and speaks English and French.
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