UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING

26 April 2024

Rolando Gómez of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), chaired the hybrid briefing, attended by the spokespersons and representatives of the United Nations Mine Action Service, the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, the International Federation of the Red Cross, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the World Health Organization.

27th International Meeting of Mine Action National Directors and United Nations Advisers

Christelle Loupforest, Officer in Charge of the Geneva Office for the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), said the 27^th International Meeting of Mine Action National Directors and UN Advisors was taking place in Geneva next week. The meeting would be held on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at the International Conference Centre Geneva. It was being organised with the Geneva International Conference Centre for Humanitarian Demining, with the support of the Swiss Government. 800 mine action leaders would gather from all around the world, along with non-governmental organisations, representatives from the private sector and United Nations advisors and humanitarian organisations. Journalists were welcome to attend the opening and closing ceremonies. The opening ceremony began on Monday April 29, from 9:30 am until 10:30 am, and the closing ceremony was on Wednesday May 1, from 4:15 pm until 4:45 pm. Interviews could be facilitated with mine action programme managers who were attending the conference from around the world. Lee Woodyear and Laura Collier of UNMAS and could arrange interviews.

Stefano Toscano, Director of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, emphasised the excellent cooperation with UNMAS in organising the meeting. In a world where conflicts were on the rise, mine action was a necessary response. Today, 60 million people were affected by the threat of land mines, ammunition, and explosive devices every day. This danger persisted for decades after conflicts and showed that mine action transcended what was typically considered a humanitarian task. Land mines and other explosive ordinances were a barrier to human rights and development. The National Director meeting was the largest gathering in the sector and was a technical event. It was hoped that participants would leave the meetings with ideas on how to address the practical challenges on mine action. The theme this year was “Protecting life and building peace,” with sessions covering topics including the role of mine action in food security, among others.

Responding to questions, Mr. Gómez said with a UNOG pass, additional credentials were not required to enter the Conference Centre. Lee Woodyear had more information on this and could answer other questions.

Responding to questions, Pehr Lodhammar, Chief of Mine Action Programme, for UNMAS, said it was impossible to relay specific numbers of landmines and unexploded ordnance in Gaza. There was a failure rate of 10 per cent of land service ammunition; ammunition which was being fired but failed to function. It was estimated that there were 37 million tonnes of debris, amounting to 300 kilos per sqm of surface. 65 per cent of buildings destroyed were residential buildings. A workshop had been held two weeks ago in Amman, looking at explosive management, focusing on Gaza. Mr. Lodhammar said the situation in Gaza was extremely complicated. UNMAS had worked in Gaza for several years and were familiar with the types of ammunition. With 100 trucks it was estimated it would take 14 years to remove all the debris.

Responding to questions, Mr. Toscano said he had been in Kyiv last week. It was important to stress that the figure of 174,000 sqm being contaminated was a starting point. The hard point was determining which surfaces were contaminated. For example, in recent months, Ukrainian authorities had been able to release 18,000 sqm back to productive use.

Responding to further questions, Ms. Loupforest said programmes were operating in Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Mali, Somalia, and Yemen, among others. These were crisis which were exacerbated by the use of explosive ordinances by non-State groups. The international media often forgot these stories despite the deaths which occurred and UNMAS was therefore appealing to the media to put a spotlight on these conflicts, to help these countries overcome their landmine challenges, and to help fund UNMAS in that regard.

Mr. Toscano said some countries had been working towards getting rid of all anti-personnel mines and cluster ammunition. Zimbabwe, Lebanon, and Sri Lanka were three countries who would be able to totally eliminate this problem with a bit of support.

Ms. Loupforest said 300 million was needed to replenish its voluntary trust fund. The conference was not a pledging conference but would be a technical meeting to share best practice and strengthen partnerships. However, along the margins, there would be a meeting with the Mine Action Support group, a group of 30 donors, to present the dire situation of the voluntary trust fund. Some crises were well funded, but others were forgotten, and this needed to be addressed. There also needed to be investors from the private sector.

Responding to further questions, Ms. Loupforest said it was difficult to determine the “top three crisis situations”. Syria was clearly a country which should be on top of the list, due to the huge number of casualties. Yemen also had a huge number of casualties. The third was West Africa and the Sahel, including Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.

Mr. Toscano said the most contaminated countries were those with more than 100,000 sqm of contaminated land including Afghanistan and Ukraine. It was difficult to pick one country over another; for some countries money was flowing, whereas others needed more support.

Ms. Loupforest said UNMAS had had a programme in Sudan for many years which had been incredibly successful; it was therefore very distressing to see a whole new contamination in Sudan, many of which were now in urban areas, where risk education had never been conducted. This week, there was an important conference being held in Oslo, to implement the political declaration on preventing the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. In Sudan, parties to the conflict were using explosive weapons in populated areas, which had devastating consequences.

Responding to a question, Mr. Gómez said the Director’s Meeting would not be available on zoom, and therefore in person participation was encouraged.

Mr. Lodhammar said UNMAS was supporting humanitarian convoys in Gaza ensuring they were safe. So far, they had supported 97 convoys. They were also assessing critical infrastructure from an explosive management perspective, conducting explosive management awareness for humanitarian agencies, and working closely with the Humanitarian Coordinator, planning for what would come.  

Mr. Gómez said due to the high level of interest, UNIS would look into organising a separate press conference on this topic next week.

Current compounding humanitarian needs, the impact of funding cuts and the longer-term humanitarian-development strategy in Afghanistan

Alexander Matheou, Regional Director, Asia Pacific Region for the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), speaking from Doha, said he had concluded his fifth visit to Afghanistan since 2021, each time meeting with the leadership of the Afghan Red Crescent, ministers from the authorities, Afghan colleagues and communities, and visiting disaster zones, and service facilities. Over the last week, he was in Kandahar and Kabul, visiting the transit stations for returnees from Pakistan and health and mental health facilities. His visit culminated this week in Doha, with a round table event with the Afghan Red Crescent and the diplomatic community, and a partnership meeting on Sunday in support of the Afghan Red Crescent.

First, it was important to note some of the positive developments. While there were still plenty of security instances going on in Afghanistan, security was better than it had been for decades, and on the surface it was peaceful. There was a clear commitment to reduce theft and corruption and an openness to work with international stakeholders to support Afghanistan. However, if one peeled back a layer the severity of the humanitarian crisis became apparent. Over half a million returnees had crossed the border in recent months, with more expected in coming months. The humanitarian efforts had largely concentrated in transit centres. But the real challenges started when people moved away from those centres. Clinics in the city had reported a spike in malnutrition, and children were wasting and stunting. Interviewing the returnees themselves, most had no idea how they would settle in their point of destination and build a livelihood with nothing.

Mr. Matheou had two recommendations; to focus not on just the transit centres, but to also boost the capacity of health centres in areas where people were arriving. Secondly it was important to work with the Government of Pakistan in 2024, to stagger refugee returns in more manageable numbers. While hunger was an important issue, there was an invisible crisis of hopelessness, depression, and desperation, which was aggravated by decades of conflict. Mr. Matheou had seen two yards full of men, former prisoners of war, who were traumatised due to the violence they had witnessed and were unable to cope. The doctors in the facilities were doing heroic work, but it was a reminder of the pain behind the bustling cities. It was vital to support Afghan institutions working with the most vulnerable people. It was important to think long term and focus on economic regeneration. Short-term aid had a place, but it was the wrong tool to deal with chronic poverty. A shift needed to happen towards job creation. It was important not to forget Afghanistan; it was off the headlines and funding was low, but the needs were as great as ever.

Responding to questions, Mr. Matheou said there it was true that there was mass exclusion. During his visit he had spoken to many women, and women were employed for all IFRC health services. It was not true to say there was no participation in humanitarian services, or in the workforce of women. The safer security situation was welcomed by all. However, this did not mean that there were not other things causing the terrible mental health crisis, including women and girls’ exclusion from public life.

The IFRC did not have a large team; there were staff in two to three of the provinces of Afghanistan. A team of around 40 were in Kabul. Work was done through the Afghan Red Crescent. Countries needed to take responsibility for managing their own crisis and needed strong institutions to do this. It was inadequate to continue to deliver food or cash to populations who needed to resume their livelihoods and become independent. This placed more pressure to use a reduced amount of financing for longer term impact. It was possible to get funding into the country, but smaller organisations were still struggling. The future looked extremely bleak. Some things had improved, including people feeling safer. But the future, in terms of where the future female doctors, teachers and nurses would come from, and where employment would be generated for families, was looking grim. It was important to reflect on the last three years, to determine which kind of investment would be best for the people of Afghanistan.

Iran: Crackdown on hijab law

Jeremy Laurence, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said the Office had received information that uniformed and plainclothes police in Iran were enforcing a violent crackdown throughout the country against women and girls under the country’s strict hijab laws, as well as the men supporting them. On 21 April, the Tehran head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced the creation of a new body to enforce existing mandatory hijab laws. The Office was also concerned that a draft bill on "Supporting the Family by Promoting the Culture of Chastity and Hijab" was nearing final approval by the Guardian Council. While the latest draft of the bill had not been made public, an earlier version stipulated that those found guilty of violating the mandatory dress code could face up to 10 years’ imprisonment, flogging, and fines. The bill must be shelved. The UN High Commissioner called on the Iranian Government to eliminate all forms of gender-based discrimination and violence.

This week, the Office had also received reports that the Isfahan Revolution Court sentenced to death rapper, Toomaj Salehi, for “corruption on earth”, over views he expressed in the context of nationwide protests in 2022 following the death of Jina Mahsa Amini. The High Commissioner urged the authorities to overturn this sentence and called for his immediate and unconditional release. All individuals imprisoned for exercising their freedom of opinion and expression needed to be released. Nine men had already been executed in connection with the 2022 protests. The High Commissioner urged the Iranian Government to immediately halt the application of the death penalty and establish a moratorium on its use.

A full summary is available here.

Responding to questions, Mr. Laurence said OHCHR continued to engage with the Iranian authorities, particularly when it came to the issue of the hijab bill and the death penalty. Protests did not appear to still be taking place. In the past months, authorities were increasingly enforcing the hijab bill. The law had been in place since the 1979 revolution, but the Office was concerned at the new form of the bill, which would increase the prison term to 10 years, when it had previously been two months, along with fines and incredible floggings. There was an instance in January where a woman was flogged 74 times under this current legislation. There was only one answer; the bill had to be shelved.

The case of Toomaj Salehi dated back to October 2022, for public statements made in support of the nationwide protest. Subsequently he had been sentenced to death, which was then overruled by the Supreme Court. Now the Revolutionary Court was reimposing the death sentence. There would be an appeal over the next 20 days and hopefully common sense would prevail. There was not a lot more information on the new organization being established. The morality police were already in existence, and they were back out on the streets enforcing the hijab law. The Office would be monitoring the situation closely.

Sudan: El Fasher situation

Seif Magango, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said the UN High Commissioner was gravely concerned by the escalating violence in and around El-Fasher city, North Darfur, where dozens of people had been killed in the past two weeks as hostilities between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had intensified. Reports indicated that both parties had launched indiscriminate attacks using explosive weapons in residential districts. At least 43 people, among them women and children, were killed as fighting was taking place between the SAF and RSF since 14 April, when the RSF began its push into El-Fasher.

Since early April, the RSF had conducted several large-scale attacks on the villages in western El-Fasher and had burned down some of the villages, including Durma, Umoshosh, Sarafaya, and Ozbani. Such attacks raised the spectre of further ethnically motivated violence in Darfur, including mass killings. The High Commissioner called for an immediate de-escalation of the catastrophic situation, and an end to the conflict. He also urged both parties to the conflict to grant civilians safe passage to other areas, ensure the protection of civilians, and facilitate safe and unhindered humanitarian access.

A full summary is available here.

Responding to questions, Mr. Magango said the situation was very bleak. There continued to be significant human rights violations and abuses taking place across the country. OHCHR were calling on efforts to be ramped up and for both parties to engage meaningfully in the conflict politically. One year of fighting had only led to suffering and devastating the countries politics. At the end of the day this could only be comprehensively resolved with the end of the fighting and a return to a civilian government in Sudan.

Widespread overuse of antibiotics during COVID-19

Margaret Harris, for the World Health Organization (WHO), responding to questions relating to the widespread overuse of antibiotics during the COVID-19 pandemic, said the information in the WHO press release came from the database of several materials collected in hospitals. There was a variation in overuse across the Afro, Euro, and Western-Pacific regions. Antibiotics were not being used appropriately. Overuse of antibiotics increased the likelihood of antimicrobial resistance, so when they were needed for a bacterial infection, they were not useful. If someone was given medication they did not need, they were being exposed to an unnecessary risk. Antibiotics had not been recommended as a treatment option during the pandemic. 

Responding to further questions, Ms. Harris said conversations around the Pandemic Treaty were expected to resume on Monday morning and would go all day. The aim was to have it ready for the world Health Assembly at the end of May.

Announcements

Rolando Gómez of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), said the Committee Against Torture would review the report of North Macedonia on Wednesday morning, May 1. The CERD would close its 112^th session this afternoon after having reviewed Mexico, San Marino, Albania, Qatar, and Moldova.

Two press conferences would be held on Tuesday the 30th of April. One at 12 pm with UNRWA’s Commissioner General, Philippe Lazzarini, who would brief on the situation in the Occupied Palestinian territory, and later at 4pm, Bruno Lemarquis, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, would speak on the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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The webcast for this briefing is available here: https://bit.ly/unog26042024

The audio for this briefing is available here: https://bit.ly/UNOG26042024

OHCHR

- Jeremy Laurence (at the press room) - Iran: hiyab law 

- Seif Magango, UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson (Nairobi) - Sudan: El Fasher situation

IFRC

- Alexander Matheou, IFRC Regional Director, Asia Pacific region (From Doha) - Current compounding humanitarian needs, the impact of funding cuts and the longer-term humanitarian-development strategy in Afghanistan.  

UNMAS 

• Stefano Toscano, Director of Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (at the press room) and Christelle Loupforest, OIC UNMAS Geneva (at the press room) - 27th International Meeting of Mine Action National Directors and United Nations Advisers (NDM-UN27)