The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING
26 July 2024
Rolando Gómez, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section at the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid briefing, which was attended by the spokespersons of the United Nations Refugee Agency and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Response to landslides in Ethiopia
Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that OCHA staff were leading rapid assessment teams on the ground in Gofa Zone, South Ethiopia Region, which had been devastated by deadly landslides and heavy rainfall earlier in the week. At least 257 people had died, according to local authorities who warned that the death toll could rise to up to 500 people. Search and rescue operations were ongoing, led by local authorities with the support from the Ethiopian Red Cross Society and community. UN agencies and non-governmental partners were dispatching assistance, including food, nutrition, health, and other critical supplies. Authorities said that more than 15,500 people had been affected and those people they remained at high risk of further landslides and needed to be evacuated to safe zones immediately.
Rolando Gómez, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), reminded of the Secretary-General’s statement, in which he said he was deeply saddened by the loss of more than 200 lives and extended his sincere condolences to the families of the victims and to the people and Government of Ethiopia.
Typhoon in the Philippines
Replying to a question on the typhoon in the Philippines, Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), informed that a second flash update had been issued. Super Typhoon Gaemi had been downgraded to a typhoon as it had crossed Taiwan and exited the Philippine Area of Responsibility on 25 July. The storm, combined with the effects of the southwest monsoon, had brought heavy rainfall to the western section of Luzon, including Metro Manila. Flooding incidents had been reported in Metro Manila and nearby provinces. As of previous night, 13 casualties had been reported. UN stood ready to support the response by the national authorities, concluded Mr. Laerke.
UNHCR urges action after tragic shipwreck off Mauritania
Shabia Mantoo, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that the UNHCR was deeply saddened by the tragic shipwreck reported on 22 July that had resulted in the deaths and disappearances of numerous people off the coast of Mauritania. The vessel, which had been following the West Atlantic route, capsized near Nouakchott, claiming the lives of at least 15 individuals, with many others still missing. According to reports, approximately 300 people had been on board the vessel, which had departed from Gambia. The Mauritanian Coast Guard had rescued 120 survivors, most originally from Senegal and Gambia, while search and rescue operations continued to locate missing people. Around 165 people remained unaccounted for. This was the second deadly shipwreck in the region this month, with another reported at the start of July.
Ms. Mantoo stressed that these tragic incidents underscore the extreme perils faced by desperate individuals who resorted to risky sea journeys, in the absence of safer pathways, to reunite with family, seek better opportunities, or to escape extreme violence, human rights violations, and dire conditions in their home countries. According to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), between 1 January and 15 July 2024, over 19,700 refugees and migrants had disembarked in the Canary Islands, compared to 7,590 during the same period in 2023, a 160 per cent increase. The West Atlantic route was one of the deadliest routes in the world with thousands of migrants and refugees drowning in recent years after departing the coast of West Africa for Spain’s Canary Islands. Ms. Mantoo said that concrete, routes-based protection responses were needed to save lives and reduce suffering, in addition to addressing the root causes of displacement and the drivers of irregular movements.
Responding to questions from the media, Ms. Mantoo said that information on the incident was still coming in. There had been some 300 people on board, of whom 15 had died, 120 had been rescued, and over 160 had been unaccounted for, but those numbers were still fluid. Most people on board were reportedly from Senegal and Gambia. Such movements were usually taken by extremely vulnerable people, who undertook those journeys out of desperation. The boat had departed from Gambia and the survivors had been rescued off the Mauritania coast, informed Ms. Mantoo.
Full statement is available here.
Seventy-three years of the Refugee Convention
Shabia Mantoo, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), informed that 28 July would mark the 73rd anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention, the cornerstone of refugee protection which had saved and protected the lives of millions of people around the world fleeing war, violence, persecution, and human rights violations. The Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol established the internationally recognized definition of a refugee and the rights and assistance they were entitled to while displaced. Millions of people around the world continued to receive protection owing to the principles these treaties enshrine.
Ms. Mantoo said that, to date, 149 States worldwide had acceded to the Refugee Convention and/or its 1967 Protocol. They were set out in a new Refugee Treaty and Legislation Dashboard (RTLD), recently launched by the UNHCR, which captured developments on international and regional refugee instruments and national legislation. Ahead of the anniversary, UNHCR, as the guardian of the Refugee Convention, was urging the remaining 46 UN Member and Observer States to accede to it. With 43.4 million refugees currently protected in countries across the world, today’s global displacement situation was testament to the enduring relevance of the Refugee Convention and regional refugee law. As long as new conflicts continued to erupt, prolonged ones failed to end, and people continued to be persecuted, there would be a need for these legal instruments. In addition to promoting universal accession of the Refugee Convention, the UNHCR was calling on all States to give effect to the principles of refugee law, including to protect the fundamental right of all people to seek and enjoy asylum, and to uphold and protect the human rights of those forced to flee.
Full statement can be found here.
Answering questions, Ms. Mantoo stressed that the millions of people who had managed to find safety in other countries were a testament to the enduring value of the Refugee Convention, which continued to save so many lives. While there had been attempts by some to evade some of the responsibilities, international reaction by both States and civil society had been very vocal. Many of the world’s refugees were hosted in the poorest regions in the world; it was fair for this burden to be shared, said Ms. Mantoo.
Announcements
Rolando Gómez, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), informed that the Secretary-General would attend the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris tonight. His video message had been shared. The Secretary-General would hold several bilateral meetings, including with Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee.
Mr. Gómez reminded that in his press conference the previous day the Secretary-General had issued a call to action regarding extreme heat, following the ILO report on heat and the world of work, and the three warmest days ever recorded. The Call for Action called for an urgent and concerted effort to enhance international cooperation to address extreme heat in four critical areas: caring for the vulnerable; protecting workers; boosting resilience of economies and societies using data and science; and limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C by phasing out fossil fuels and scaling up investment in renewable energy.
Committee against Torture had closed today its eightieth session during it had reviewed the reports of Ecuador, Republic of Korea, Côte d’Ivoire, and Türkiye. The Committee would issue its concluding observations on the four reports the following week.
The Conference on Disarmament would start the third and last part of its session on 29 July under the presidency of Ireland. The date of the first public plenary had not been announced yet.
***
The webcast for this briefing is available here:
https://www.unognewsroom.org/story/en/2278 /un-geneva-press-briefing-26-july-2024/0/WjnegYbwZ1
The audio for this briefing is available here: https://www.unognewsroom.org/share/oQeZVnvepZ
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