The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News | UNHCR , WHO , UNOG , UNITED NATIONS
UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing: Tigray Update - UNHCR - WHO
Hospitals barely functioning, famine still looming in Ethiopia’s Tigray region
UN humanitarians expressed concern on Tuesday at the uncertain situation in Ethiopia's conflict-ravaged Tigray region despite a ceasefire call from the Government, highlighting the ongoing famine-like conditions there and the potential for disease outbreaks.
The development follows Monday’s reported entry into regional capital, Mekelle, of forces loyal to the opposition, after nearly eight months of heavy fighting.
In response to the pillaging of video equipment in Mekelle, UN Children’s Fund UNICEF on Monday issued a statement denouncing those responsible, citing Members of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces.
Earlier this month, the agency warned that 140,000 children are acutely malnourished and at risk of dying, unless aid access is forthcoming.
“We have seen reports that have come in and UNHCR is extremely worried about the latest developments inside Tigray, particularly in the capital Mekelle,” said Boris Cheshirkov, spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). “Although we are thankful that our staff are all safe and accounted for, we are concerned about the lack of communication, as both electrical power and phone networks are not functioning.”
This made it “even more difficult for our staff to work and deliver humanitarian assistance”, Mr. Cheshirkov explained.
“We call for calm and restraint and appeal to all parties to the conflict to abide by international law to protect civilians, including people who have been displaced and to ensure that humanitarian workers can continue to exercise their duties and reach as many people as they can…in need of vital assistance right now.”
Echoing those concerns, World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said that the UN agency was “taking measures to reinforce the security and wellbeing of our staff, but at the same time we are continuing to deliver activities where it is possible to do so”.
This includes camps for internally displaced people, access to essential health care and increasing the number of mobile health clinics operating in hard-to-access communities.
“We are obviously concerned about (the) potential for cholera, measles and malaria outbreaks in the region,” the WHO spokesperson said. “In addition, Tigray region is also located in the meningitis belt and it is at risk of yellow fever outbreaks.”
After eight months of conflict between Ethiopian Government troops and those loyal to the dominant regional force, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), hospitals “are barely functioning”, people continue to be displaced and famine is “looming”, Mr. Jasarevic insisted.
There is also a serious danger of communicable and vaccine-preventable diseases spreading owing to a lack of food, clean water, safe shelter and access to health care. This risk is “very real”, the WHO official said. “All these factors combine - are literally a recipe - for larger epidemics.”
ends
STORY: Tigray Update – UNHCR, WHO
TRT: 02 min 26s
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 29 June 2021 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exterior wide shot, Palais des Nations flag alley, nations’ flags flying, a bright day.
- Wide shot, TV camera on tripod, podium with speakers in a near-empty Room XIV in line with COVID-19 distancing measures, Palais des Nations
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Boris Cheshirkov, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “We have seen reports that have come in and UNHCR is extremely worried about the latest developments inside Tigray, particularly in the capital Mekelle. Although we are thankful that our staff are all safe and accounted for we are concerned about the lack of communication, as both electrical power and phone networks are not functioning.”
- Medium shot, large screen TV displaying image of podium participants, with podium to rear.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Boris Cheshirkov, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “This is making it even more difficult for our staff to work and deliver humanitarian assistance. We call for calm and restraint and appeal to all parties to the conflict to abide by international law to protect civilians, including people who have been displaced and to ensure that humanitarian workers can continue to exercise their duties and reach as many people as they can which are in need of vital assistance right now.”
- Close-up, podium speaker.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Tarik Jasarevic, World Health Organization (WHO): “We on our side from WHO, we are taking measures to reinforce the security and wellbeing of our staff, but at the same time we are continuing to deliver activities where it is possible to do so and these include activities in IDP camps around surveillance and access to essential health care and increasing the number of mobile health clinics.”
- Medium shot, UN staff member sitting in front of laptop.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Tarik Jasarevic, World Health Organization (WHO): “We are obviously concerned about (the) potential for cholera, measles and malaria outbreaks in the region. In addition, Tigray region is also located in the meningitis belt and it is at risk of yellow fever outbreaks.”
- Close up, line of conference microphones in profile with participant to rear, checking mobile phone.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Tarik Jasarevic, World Health Organization (WHO): “With hospitals that are barely functioning, people being displaced and a looming famine, the risk of communicable and vaccine-preventable diseases spreading due to the lack of food, clean water, safe shelter and access to health care is very real. All these factors combine, are literally a recipe for larger epidemics.”
- Medium shot, large screen TV displaying podium speakers with podium to rear.
- Close-up, hand with a ring on one finger hovering over laptop keyboard.
14. Medium shot, participant checking Zoom profiles on laptop.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , WHO , UNMAS
Urgent help is needed to halt a deadly cholera outbreak that is sweeping across Sudan, UN agencies said on Friday, while warning that communities continue to be terrorized by parties to the conflict even as they flee violence.
2
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News , Images | UNEP
Negotiations got under way at UN Geneva on Tuesday to agree on a legally binding treaty to curb plastic pollution, with delegates from nearly 180 countries attending.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF
Gaza: Hundreds of trucks per day of free aid needed “for months”, in addition to commercial supplies - OCHA
Despite the tactical pauses Israel introduced last week to allow some safe passage for humanitarian convoys, the amount of aid that has entered Gaza remains by far insufficient for the starving population, and UN trucks continue to face impediments on their way to delivering aid.
1
1
1
Edited News | UN WOMEN
Aid agencies echoed wider warnings of growing signs of widespread starvation in Gaza on Tuesday, as UN-partnered international food security experts released their most dire assessment yet of the situation in the wartorn enclave.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , UNDP , UNHCR
Sudan: urgent help needed as more than 1.3 million war-displaced people begin to return home
As conflict rages on across parts of Sudan, pockets of relative safety have emerged in the past four month, spurring more than one million internally displaced Sudanese to make their way home, says the International Organization for Migration (IOM). A further 320,000 cross-border refugees have come back to Sudan since last year, mainly from Egypt and South Sudan, to assess the current situation before deciding to return to their country for good.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , WHO
Gaza: SOS messages describe people fainting from hunger; UN health worker detained
Worrying alerts from United Nations staff in Gaza who have been fainting from hunger and exhaustion over the past 48 hours have increased fears for people’s survival in the devastated enclave, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , UNOG
Over 11.6 million refugees risk losing aid access due to funding cuts, says UNHCR
Approximately one in three refugees and other vulnerable individuals normally supported by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) are expected to lose out from funding cuts, it said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, made the following announcement on the Office’s opening of a new mission in Bangladesh.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
“The surge in the number of Afghans forced or compelled to return to Afghanistan this year is creating a multi-layered human rights crisis requiring the urgent attention of the international community,” UN Human Rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday called for accountability and justice for the killings and other gross human rights violations and abuses in the southern city of Suweida.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNHCR
Syria: hundreds killed in Sweida, ‘widespread’ violations as civilians flee for their lives
Amid violent clashes in southern Syria’s Sweida governorate, a picture of grave human rights abuses and rising humanitarian needs is emerging by the hour, the UN said on Friday.
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva the UN Human Rights Spokesperson Liz Throssell made the following statement on the latest number of civilian casualties in Ukraine.