UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING

1 November 2024

Rising hunger in South Sudan

Shaun Hughes, Deputy Country Director for the World Food Programme (WFP) in South Sudan, speaking from Juba, stressed criticality of advanced planning and funding for the WFP and the wider humanitarian response for 2025. South Sudan was quite unique in that over 60 percent of the country became inaccessible for over 60 percent of the year when rains made most roads impassable. Humanitarian actors therefore relied on a narrow dry season window – from about end December to early April, depending on the rains, to preposition the assistance needed for the wet season, which was also the hungry season. As of now, there was no food in the country to kick start the 2025 prepositioning exercise. Mr. Hughes appealed to donors really to maximize the value of their contributions by making early donations in time for the WFP to capitalize on the prepositioning window.

The war in Sudan was having multiple impacts on South Sudan: 850,000 people had crossed the border fleeing the conflict and in need of humanitarian assistance. Most of these were South Sudanese returning home, but often to a home they had never been before. A cholera outbreak had recently been confirmed in the transit camps at the border. The conflict was also decimating commercial food supplies to northern markets, which normally depended on production and imports from Sudan that had all but dried up. Damage to the oil pipelines that ran from South Sudan through Sudan had massively reduced government revenue and exacerbated the devaluation of the South Sudanese pound. This was all happening amidst some of the worst flooding in decades, said Mr. Hughes. In addition to rains in country, the Nile River wetlands were essentially expanding due to record high water levels in Lake Victoria. Over 1.3 million people had been impacted and the WFP had so far reached about 400,000 with relief assistance. Mr. Hughes emphasized that, in order to preposition the required assistance, WFP needed USD 400 million before the end of the year. While there were indications of contributions that were coming, without receiving more and early, there was a risk of missing the prepositioning window and needing even more money later in the year.

Rolando Gómez, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), quoted from the previous day’s statement of Nicholas Haysom, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for South Sudan, in which he had stressed that a realistic, harmonized timeline for holding elections were not forthcoming for the time being.

Responding to a question, Mr. Hughes said that the extension of the peace agreement had alleviated the prospect of a renewed conflict, but uncertainty at the political level had been prolonged, without elections on the horizon.

Lebanon humanitarian update

Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that another wave of displacement was being observed in Beirut after the IDF had issued another series of displacement orders in the city’s southern suburbs. In the previous days, there had also been displacement orders in and around Tyre and Baalbek, reminded Mr. Laerke. Many people were now spending days and nights in their vehicles. Over half of the internally displaced persons were women and girls. Between October 2023 and this week, over 2,800 Lebanese had been killed and 13,000 wounded, most of them in the course of October 2024. It was particularly disturbing to hear about entire families being killed in their homes. To date, 15 humanitarian aid convoys had been successfully organized to reach southern towns and Baalbek. Two convoys to Baalbek had been cancelled due to the security situation. Of the humanitarian appeal of Lebanon, which stood at USD 426 million, said Mr. Laerke, only 17 percent was currently funded. The French Government was thanked for hosting a donor conference at which some USD 800 million had been pledged. The needs were rising by the minute, and a rapid disbursement of these pledges was needed without delay to buy food and medicine for the most vulnerable people.

Rolando Gómez, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), said that the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, UNIFIL, was working to support humanitarian convoys in the south of the country and to help reach communities across southern villages.

Answering questions from the media, Jens Laerke, for OCHA, said that an estimated 50,000 people had left Baalbek in recent days. The humanitarian notification system was in place and covered the entire country. The system was working, including in the south and with help of UNIFIL. Over 460,000 people had fled Lebanon to Syria, while 25,000 had fled to Iraq. The overall number of internally displaced people, most of whom were from south Lebanon, was currently estimated at 842,000. Mr. Laerke reemphasized the importance of donors acting on their pledges as soon as possible. He repeated that only 17 percent of the Lebanon appeal was funded thus far; these funds primarily came from Italy, the USA, the Central Emergency Response Fund, Sweden, France, the UK, and Germany. All sides to conflict were urged to recommit to UNSCR 1701 (2006), said Mr. Gómez, for UNIS. Protection of civilians and UN staff were the priorities, he stressed. While some UNIFIL civilian staff had been evacuated, the mission continued to work and was delivering its mandate, despite the difficult circumstances.

Margaret Harris, for the World Health Organization (WHO), replying to questions, said that accessing health care was a real struggle for everyone in Lebanon, but particularly in the areas where hospitals had been attacked. A rise in infectious diseases was observed, including a cholera case. WHO data showed 102 deaths and 83 injuries among health workers; 55 attacks against health care had been verified so far. Health workers were being lost at the time when they were needed the most. WHO was deeply concerned about the rising attacks against health care and health workers in Lebanon, who were not a target. A similar pattern was being seen to what had been observed in Gaza. Regarding Gaza, Ms. Harris said that a malnutrition stabilization centre used to be at the Kamal Adwan Hospital, before it had to be closed due to the attacks. Currently, there was no malnutrition treatment centre in the north of Gaza. Capability to care for those who were in the most critical need was no longer there.

Questions on UNRWA

Responding to questions from the media, Jens Laerke, for the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), stated that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was the indispensable backbone of the UN’s work for Palestinian refugees. Without UNRWA, the humanitarian operations in the region would be decimated. It was difficult to find a comparable situation anywhere in the world.

Rolando Gómez, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), reminded of a unanimous statement of the 15 members of the Security Council this week, which had stressed the indispensable role of UNRWA.

Devastating floods in Spain

Clare Nullis, for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said that record-breaking rainfall and flash floods had hit Spain, causing many dozens of casualties and massive disruption and economic losses, were just the latest of a series of flooding disasters that had hit communities around the world. They underlined why the top priority of the WMO community was to save lives as climate change was turbo-charging extreme weather. More devastation like in Valencia this week was likely to be seen. At least 150 lives had been lost in Spain this week. The images of people being swept away in cars and raging torrents of deadly water were shocking. AEMET, the Spanish meteorological service, had been issuing numerous warnings under the Common Alerting Protocol, with a standardized message format designed for all media, all hazards, and all communication channels. A top-level red alert was in place for 1 November for the province of Huelva, on the south-west tip of Spain, which had also been hit by torrential rain. Ms. Nullis reminded that other parts of Europe had also been badly hit by floods this year. In mid-September 2024 a very large region in Central Europe had experienced very heavy rainfall, breaking local and national rainfall records. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, extreme weather events causing highly impactful floods and droughts had become more likely and more severe due to anthropogenic climate change. “As a result of rising temperatures, the hydrological cycle has accelerated. It has also become more erratic and unpredictable, and we are facing growing problems of either too much or too little water. A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture which is conducive to heavy rainfall," said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.

Ms. Nullis informed that WMO’s State of the Global Climate 2024 Update, which would be published at the UN Climate Change Negotiations COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, would present details of some of the worst extreme events this year and their impacts.

Omar Baddour, Chief of climate monitoring at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said that the Mediterranean basin was prone to severe storms. The phenomenon which hit Spain – known as Isolated Depression at High Levels, or DANA in Spanish – often occurred during the autumn season because the remaining warm surface heat from summer met a sudden cold invasion aloft from the polar regions. This led to what meteorologists used to call '''a cut-off system'' with low-pressure values that persisted over a few days and rotating over the concerned region. The phenomenon could last up to a week, said Mr. Baddour. The phenomenon was very common in the Mediterranean, it happened almost every year, and it had affected both sides of the basin, north and south. Spanish meteorological services were issuing regular alerts, but given the extreme severity of the storm, there were over 150 casualties. Climate change was expected to make these systems more intense and frequent because of warmer sea waters and increasing moisture in the atmosphere. Every additional fraction of warming increased the atmospheric moisture content which in turn increased the risk of extreme precipitation events.

Answering questions from the journalists, Ms. Nullis said that reducing global greenhouse emissions would be an important step in the right direction. Early warning systems would also need to be further developed and ensure that they led to early action. Mr. Baddour said that it was not only the meteorological factor that led to disasters, but also the way cities were built and run, as well as the level of forecasting and early warning systems. Asked whether the early warning system had worked in Spain this time, Ms. Nullis said that information was out there and that numerous alerts had been issued throughout the week. A procedure was in place globally to ensure that critical information reached everyone in a timely manner. AEMET was the Authoritative Source in Spain. Ms. Nullis noted that it was up to the Spanish authorities to evaluate whether the system had worked properly in this case.

Response to Mpox outbreak in Africa

Dr. Michel Yao, incident manager for the Mpox emergency at the World Health Organization (WHO), speaking from Montreux, reminded that Mpox was a viral disease, spread mostly through close contact. It was a painful and sometimes disfiguring and debilitating disease, and Mpox patients could face stigma and discrimination. On 14 August this year, said Mr. Yao, the WHO had declared the Mpox outbreak, and the spread of a new strain in east and central Africa, to be a public health emergency of international concern, the highest level of global alert under international health law. In September 2024, 47 countries had reported confirmed cases of Mpox. In addition, countries had been on high alert for clade Ib, the new strain, and together with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 10 countries had so far reported outbreaks or imported cases of mpox linked to clade Ib.

In Africa, informed Dr. Yao, some targeted vaccination had begun in affected countries, to protect health workers and others at risk. Larger scale vaccination would also be possible as more doses became available. Intensive efforts were underway to scale up community engagement, diagnosis, clinical care, and sanitation, hygiene and other infection prevention and control measures. The epidemiological situation was complex and continued to evolve, generating new risks. All viral strains (clades) of the virus were known to transmit from person to person, but two sub-clades Ib and IIb had been found to transmit efficiently through sexual contact. Mpox, which had originated as a zoonotic disease, with recurrent spillovers from animals to humans and lengthening chains of transmission in communities, was now repeatedly showing its capacity for sustained transmission in humans. Dr. Yao explained that the more Mpox transmitted between people, the more opportunities the virus had to change. Most of the global population did not currently have protection against this family of viruses. WHO was working with national health authorities and partners to map hot spots, where the response must be intensified. WHO needed more data, more field presence, and more funds to stop Mpox. WHO had to date received a third of the USD 87 million from its first appeal and was looking forward to further pledges of support.

Further information can be found here.

Replying to questions, Dr. Yao stated that the Mpox situation underlined the importance of having an effective pandemic treaty in place. When a virus like this struck, there should be an established global mechanism in place to respond effectively and comprehensively.

Announcements

Rolando Gómez, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), informed that on 4 November at 12 pm noon, UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) would hold a hybrid press conference to present the Least Developed Countries Report 2024: Leveraging Carbon Markets for Development, under embargo until 5:30 pm that day. Speakers would be Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary General, and Rolf Traeger, Chief, LDC Section Policy Analysis and Research Branch.

Mr. Gómez also informed that the 47^th session of the Universal Periodic Review would begin on 4 November at 9 am with the review of Norway. In the afternoon at 2:30 pm, Albania would be reviewed. The following states would be reviewed over two weeks: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Portugal, Bhutan, Dominica, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Brunei Darussalam, Costa Rica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Qatar, and Nicaragua.

The UN International Media Seminar on the Peace in the Middle East was taking place at the Palais des Nations today, reminded Mr. Gómez.

2 November would be the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists.

The Human Rights Committee would hold on 4 November a public meeting devoted to the views adopted under the Optional Protocol on communications.

The Committee Against Torture would begin on 5 November at 10 am its review of the report of Thailand.

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