The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Press Conferences | OCHA , OHCHR , UNCTAD , UNOG , WFP , WHO
Bi-Weekly Press Briefing 14 June 2022
Food security crisis in Latin America and the Caribbean
Lola Castro, World Food Programme Regional Director in Latin America and the Caribbean, spoke about the looming food crisis in the region. The climate crisis had been compounded by COVID-19, and most recently by the war in Ukraine. The region was experiencing a very high food inflation; the poorest of the poor could not access food. Many countries were importing more cereals than they were producing locally, she said. The cost of moving one ton of food had also gone significantly up because of the price of fuel, which was particularly affecting small island states in the Caribbean. Most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean were experiencing the shrinking fiscal space, which limited the possibility of social transfers. Migrant caravans were now active across the whole South American continent, with people taking perilous paths aiming to reach the United States. In Latin America some 15 per cent of the people had expressed intention to migrate, while in Central America that number went up to 43 per cent.
Unless the root causes were addressed, an even larger mass migration would be seen, stressed Ms. Castro. WFP was working with the governments to increase shock preparedness and responsiveness and cooperating with smallholder farmers to increase local production. Bringing back some traditional cereal crops to the region would also help and decrease the overdependence on the three globally leading cereals.
Responding to questions, Ms. Castro confirmed that the WFP was present in Brazil, but its activities there were different from the rest of the region. She explained that the whole region would also be affected by the lack of fertilizers and their price increase. WFP aimed to provide assistance – food or cash – to some eight million people in the 13 countries of the region where it was working. WFP was increasing the percentage of food it was buying from small local farmers. While Latin America was not importing that much food directly from Ukraine, the region was being affected by the global availability and prices of food.
Food assistance in South Sudan suspended
Adeyinka Badejo-Sanogo, World Food Programme Acting Country Director in South Sudan, speaking from Juba, stated that the WFP was extremely worried about having to suspend food distributions to some families and communities because of the funding gaps it was experiencing. The current dire situation was caused by the continuing subnational conflict, the climate crisis, and the severe economic shocks compounded by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. An estimated 8.3 million people, including internally displaced persons and refugees, would endure acute severe hunger during the lean season this year. Acute malnutrition was noted across the country; it was the highest recorded malnutrition level in last five years. Since mid-April, the WFP had taken a painful step to suspend food assistance to 1.7 million people; the Programme currently had resources to support 4.4 million people. WFP was “taking away from the hungry to feed the starving,” explained Ms. Badejo-Sanogo.
Acute levels of hunger were likely to increase as the lean season proceeded. School meal programmes were also being affected by the WFP cuts. Many families were using extreme copying strategies such as selling off productive assets or child labour. Ms. Badejo-Sanogo said that 200,000 people had been newly displaced this year. Moreover, some 600,000 people were estimated to be in the path of flood waters and would be potentially displaced. WFP urgently needed USD 426 million for the next six months to avert the bad situation becoming even worse; donors were urged to keep South Sudan on their radar amidst other crises in the world.
More information is available here.
Launch of public fundraising campaign for the SAFER tanker
Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, David Gressly, was today launching a social media campaign to raise funds to respond to the stranded Safer tanker off the coast of Yemen. The tanker was holding four times the amount of oil spilled during the 1989 Exxon disaster. The UN had raised three-quarters of the money needed to start the operation, and was now trying to raise the remaining money from individuals and private companies.
Human Rights Council
Rolando Gomez, for the Human Rights Council (HRC), stated that the 50th session of the Council had begun on 13 June with the global update by the High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet. Today, the Council was holding an interactive discussion with the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel. Around 11 a.m. today, Ms. Bachelet would provide an oral update on Myanmar, and around 12 noon, an interactive dialogue on the global update by the High Commissioner would continue. On 15 June in the morning, a panel discussion would be held on the situation of the Rohingya, while at noon a commemorative meeting would mark the 50th regular session of the HRC; the President of the General Assembly and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights would speak, among others.
Mr. Gomez stated that today at 1:30 p.m., there would be a presentation of the report of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel. Speakers would be Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission of Inquiry; and Commission Members Miloon Kothari and Chris Sidoti.
The Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine would hold a press conference in Kyiv on 15 June, following their first visit to the country. The Commission would provide an oral update to the Council in September.
In response to a question about Michelle Bachelet’s successor, Mr. LeBlanc said that the recruitment process was underway, and the Secretary-General would submit the next UN High-Commissioner for Human Rights for approval by the General Assembly, once a suitable candidate was identified. An announcement would be made in due time.
Red Cross Red Crescent statutory meetings in Geneva
Benoit Carpentier, for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), informed that the statutory meetings of the Movement would commence at Palexpo in Geneva on 19 June. The General Assembly and the Council of Delegates would bring together more than 180 national societies. A new IFRC President would be elected on 19 June. The meetings would be closed to media, but the media were welcome to come and interview participating delegations. A press conference with the newly elected President would be held in Palexpo on 20 June at 11 a.m.
Announcements
Catherine Huissoud, for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), informed that on 15 June UNCTAD would hold a hybrid meeting in Room XXIV to present its contribution to the 2022 Financing for Sustainable Development Report, issued by the Secretary-General's Inter-Agency Task Force on Financing for Development. Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General of UNCTAD, and Liu Zhenmin, Head of UN DESA, would make opening remarks, followed by presentations from panelists.
Ms. Huissoud also informed that the Trade and Development Board would welcome UNCTAD’s member states and partners from 20 June until 1 July, in hybrid form in Room XIX. UNCTAD Secretary General would open the session at around 10 a.m. updating member states on the work of the organization. The programme would be accessible online.
Finally, Ms. Huissoud reminded that the UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet had issued an open letter to Ministers attending MC12 at WTO urging them to align their policies and actions to achieve food security.
Benoit Carpentier, for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), stated that, working together with a network of big cities from across the world, the IFRC was launching the Heat Action Day at 2:30 p.m. today.
Christian Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO), informed that on 16 June at 2 p.m., there would be a hybrid press conference by the World Health Organization to launch the World Mental Health Report: Transforming Mental Health for All, which was WHO’s largest analysis of world mental health since the turn of the century. The report, under embargo until 17 June, would be presented by Dévora Kestel, Director, Mental Health and Substance Use, WHO; and Mark Van Ommeren, Head, Mental Health Unit, WHO.
Today’s press briefing by the WHO Director-General on COVID-19, monkeypox and other health issues would be held at 3 p.m., informed Mr. Lindmeier.
A briefing on explosive weapons in populated areas would be held on 16 June at 11 am, informed Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
At the end, Mr. LeBlanc stated that the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), now in its 82nd session, was beginning this morning its review of the report of Portugal and would begin this afternoon the review of the report of Türkiye.
The Conference on Disarmament was having this morning a public plenary meeting, still under of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Today at 5:30 p.m., there would be a Ciné-ONU screening of the documentary “In the Shadow of the Sun” on the plight of people living with albinism in Tanzania. The screening would be followed by a panel discussion.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Press Conferences | IOM , OHCHR , UN WOMEN , UNFPA , UNHCR , UNOPS , WHO
UN Geneva briefing: Yemen crisis worsens, urgent aid needed across multiple sectors.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | HRC
Press conference on the latest report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the UN Human Rights Council
1
1
1
Press Conferences | OHCHR
Victims Still Waiting: A Global Briefing on Transitional Justice Around the World
2
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences | WMO
As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
ends
1
1
1
Press Conferences | WMO , OCHA , WHO , UNICEF , UN WOMEN , OHCHR , IOM , UNHCR
Update on Ebola from WHO and OCHA, update on the situation of children with the beginning of school in Ukraine from UNICEF, UN Women on the impact of the settlers and restrictions on women and girls in West Bank, OHCHR on the recovery of extensive human remains in Gaza, IOM and UNHCR on the new wave of displacement in Yemen
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | WFP
‘Super El Niño’ and converging crises worsen hunger in South Sudan and across the region - WFP
South Sudan’s hunger crisis is becoming increasingly catastrophic as violence, extreme weather and dwindling aid leave millions without enough food, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | HRC
Update on the human rights situation in Belarus by the UN Group of Independent Experts on the Human Rights Situation in Belarus
1
1
1
Press Conferences | HRC , OHCHR
Update on the human rights situation in Syria by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic
1
1
1
Press Conferences | UNOG , IOM , UN WOMEN , UNCTAD , WHO , UNECE
IOM Yemen's Western Coast displacement; UN WOMEN on Gaza; UNCTAD Strait of Hormuz disruptions impacts; WHO Ebola logistics in DRC; WHO smoking and infertility; UNECE Data centres and energy.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | UNITAR , WMO
UNITAR: GA resolution on the merger of the United Nations System Staff College into the United Nations Institute for Training and Research; WMO: Air Quality and Climate Bulletin released; WHO: Ukraine update
2
2
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | WMO
Powerful El Niño heightens extreme-weather risks through 2027, as countries brace for impact - WMO
Fuelled by extraordinarily warm waters across the tropical Pacific Ocean, the El Niño climate pattern is expected to intensify in the coming months. Forecasters are almost certain that it will persist through February next year, with unusually warm conditions expected across the globe.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | IFRC , UN WOMEN , WFP , WHO , WMO , OCHA
UN WOMEN/IFRC: Update on the impact of the floods in Nepal, WFP: Food assistance in the West Bank, WHO: Gaza’s rehabilitation needs and continued spread of diseases