UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing 03 April 2020

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UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing 03 April 2020

1:42:41

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03-04-2020

Press Conferences | OHCHR , UNHCR , OCHA , WHO , UNOG , WFP , UNCTAD , WMO

UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing 03 April 2020

ENG

COVID-19: potential impact on the world’s poorest people

Arif Husain, Chief Economist for the World Food Programme (WFP), spoke about the new WFP analysis of the economic and food security implications of the ongoing pandemic. The study aimed to identify which countries and which groups of people would be most affected by COVID-19. Countries which heavily relied on the import of fuel and food, especially land-locked countries, were particularly vulnerable. Furthermore, countries dependent on tourism, exports of raw materials or remittances were also to be gravely affected. WFP assisted between 80 and 90 million food insecure people every year, informed Mr. Husain, and those were the people the WFP would need to continue to assist. In addition, the WFP would have to start helping those who lost their livelihoods because of the pandemic and the connected lockdowns.

Responding to a question, Mr. Husain reiterated that the WFP’s current role was twofold: continuing to help those who were already getting WFP’s assistance, mostly in poor countries; and then providing help to those most affected by the current COVID-19 pandemics. No single humanitarian agency could solve those problems on its own; governments also needed to expand their safety nets and humanitarian programs.

COVID-19: detention and prisoner releases

Rupert Colville, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said that the OHCHR was encouraged to note that a number of countries had been taking action to reduce overcrowding in prisons, following an appeal by the High Commissioner the previous week. Iran, for example, had increased the number it is releasing, at least on a temporary basis, to around 100,000 prisoners – some 40 percent of the entire prison population. Indonesia announced it would be releasing some 30,000 prisoners convicted of minor crimes, including drug use, and Turkey was similarly considering releasing a large number of inmates.

In Syria, where the risk of mass infections in government-run prisons was extremely high, the situation in prisons and detention facilities was alarming. Even before the onset of COVID-19, there had been reports of deaths in those facilities because of torture and denial of care. Similar concerns, even if to a lesser degree, existed for those detained in facilities run by non-state armed groups. Syria was invited to release a number of detainees to the degree possible, and all parties were called on to allow access of humanitarian actors to places of detention. Those sanctions currently impeding access of medicine and other equipment to Syria should be eased, said Mr. Colville. More information is available here.

In Egypt, the OHCHR was concerned about the overcrowding of prisons, where there were more than 114,000 inmates. OHCHR was calling for the release of administrative detainees and those detained for their political work, as well as children, older people and those with serious underlying medical conditions. OHCHR was concerned about the reports that the Government was silencing critical voices on social media and journalists allegedly spreading “fake news” about COVID-19. The authorities should instead engage the population to fight the common threat together. More information is available here.

Responding to a question, Mr. Colville urged the authorities around the world not to silence the critical voices of journalists. Respectable media organizations played an absolutely essential role in informing the public during the current crisis.

COVID-19: field hospital in Al Hol, Syria

Ruth Hetherington, for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said that, as the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic picked up pace, the ICRC urged all not to overlook people in places of detention and refugee and displacement camps around the world. There were an estimated 100,000 people living in camps across northeast Syria, as well as tens of thousands of detainees in crowded and unhealthy conditions. The Al Hol camp was a striking example of the humanitarian challenges - around 66,000 people living there in dire conditions, the majority of them children and women. Preventative measures included fencing to avoid overcrowding, additional hand-washing points, extra protective equipment for triage staff, no relatives allowed to accompany patients and screening before entry in the event of suspected cases.

Speaking about the conflict situations around the world, Ms. Hetherington stressed that an immediate and concerted response by states and humanitarian organizations was vital. COVID-19 did not have to be catastrophic for war-torn countries with weakened healthcare systems. Plans to prevent and respond to the virus had to urgently move forward before it gained a foothold in conflict zones. ICRC’s press release on urgent action needed to counter COVID-19 threat in conflict zones can be found here.

ICRC will be publishing new footage from Al Hol on our ICRC Newsroom later today www.icrcnewsroom.org

COVID-19: humanitarian situation in Libya

Babar Baloch, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), stated that one year since the launch of a military offensive in Tripoli, Libya, fighting was further worsening with COVID-19 now bringing new threats. More than 300 civilians had been killed and 150,000 others displaced from their homes since last April. Despite the tentative agreement on a humanitarian truce, fighting had escalated significantly in the previous week. The deteriorating security had also undermined the ability of the tens of thousands of formerly displaced persons to safely return to their areas of origin. Meanwhile, the authorities had confirmed ten cases of COVID-19 and one death in Libya, raising new fears about the ability of the country’s weakened health services to respond. UNHCR echoed the appeal of UN Secretary-General urging warring parties across the world to cease their fighting in support of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Currently there were no reported cases of refugees and asylum sectors infected with COVID-19, said Mr. Baloch in a response to a question.

Full press release is available here.

COVID-19: Sudan

Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Sudan were having an impact on humanitarian access, deliveries and services. Seven COVID-19 cases had been confirmed in Sudan. There was a 6 pm-to-6 am curfew in place, closure of schools and reduction of staff in many government offices. There were 9.2 million people in Sudan who needed assistance, a third of whom were refugees and internally displaced people. Humanitarian partners were planning to organize advance food distribution of two to three months of rations at one time, which would limit the frequency of gatherings of people and the associated potential of spreading the coronavirus. New guidelines were being developed for health workers so that they could carry on immunizations and other critical tasks. In the Blue Nile State, humanitarian organizations

were raising awareness on how to identify and isolate suspect cases. In South Darfur, the State Ministry of Health had identified two isolation centres and was procuring thermal detectors and protective equipment.

In a response to a question, Mr. Laerke stressed the importance of increasing awareness of the need to avoid gatherings and to maintain physical distancing. Gender-based violence confidential services were continuing, respecting the necessary distancing and hygiene measures. Gender-based violence remained a problem in Sudan, as in most other humanitarian crises, said Mr. Laerke.

COVID-19: fruits and vegetables markets in Europe

Jean Rodriguez, for the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), stated that closure of hotels, restaurants and caterings, cafés, canteens had a big impact, especially on fresh produce as well as some other produce and smaller specialized companies that supplied catering. The ban on open farmers’ markets in several countries was mostly affecting smaller farmers in the areas concerned. The sales in supermarkets were still good and pulling the market; however, after an initial peak in demand, the market for fresh fruit and vegetables had weakened now and prices might start falling because customers go shopping less frequently than before. Mr. Rodriguez further said that this sector was heavily dependent on foreign seasonal agricultural workforce, and many seasonal workers had returned to their respective home countries or were affected by travel bans and border closures. The growing shortage of labour deriving from the travel restrictions implemented by most countries to curb the spread of COVID-19, would soon be a major problem. While today there were still enough fruits and vegetables in shops and supermarkets, one could expect increased difficulties and price increases. UNECE reiterated its call to all countries to facilitate the cross-border flow of goods, in particular food, to the maximum extent possible during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to make full use of existing trade facilitation standards.

COVID-19: global employment figures

Rosalind Yarde, for the International Labour Organization (ILO), informed that the ILO would be releasing updated employment figures on 7 April. The report would particularly analyze the sectors and workers most affected by the pandemics and would call for a set of alleviating measures to be taken. A virtual press conference with Guy Ryder, ILO Director-General, would take place at 2 pm on 7 April. The ILO report would be sent out on 6 April and would be under embargo until 4 pm on 7 April.

COVID-19: briefing by the UN Secretary-General

Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), informed that the United Nations Secretary-General would release a report on the impact of his Call for a Global Ceasefire at a virtual press briefing today, Friday, 3 April at 10 AM New York time (4 PM Geneva time). The direct links to the live streaming coverage would be distributed by UNIS.

COVID-19: next briefing by the World Health Organization

Tarik Jasarevic, for the World Health Organization (WHO), informed that Kristalina Georgieva, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund would be joining the regular press briefing by the World Health Organization at 5:30 pm today.

Mr. Jasarevic also informed that, given that 2020 was the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, and 7 April was the World Health Day, a virtual press conference presenting the latest report on nurses would take place at 2 pm on 6 April. The majority of all health workers around the world were nurses, and they were on the front lines of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemics. There was a dearth of some 5.9 million nurses around the world. The report would be shared today, to be under embargo until 7 April night.

Violent death of a youth offender in Iran

Rupert Colville, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), stated that the OHCHR was horrified by the death of a juvenile offender after he had reportedly been badly beaten by security officers. According to information received by the OHCHR, Daniel Zeinolabedini had been put in solitary confinement and beaten by security officers in Mahabad prison in Orumiyeh city in West Azerbaijan Province after a riot on 28 March. Prisoners had been protesting at prison conditions and the failure of the authorities to temporarily release them amid the COVID-19 pandemic. OHCHR was particularly shocked as Zeinolabedini had been on death row for a crime he had allegedly committed in September 2017 at the age of 17. The imposition of the death penalty for crimes committed by people below the age of 18 at the time of the offence was strictly prohibited under international human rights law. OHCHR called on the Iranian authorities to immediately conduct an independent and impartial investigation into Zeinolabedini’s death and hold those responsible to account. Press briefing note is available here.

Insecurity in Burkina Faso

Babar Baloch, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), stated that the UNHCR was extremely alarmed at growing insecurity in Burkina Faso, which was driving thousands of people out of their homes every day. As violence had spread across the Sahel region, Burkina Faso had witnessed a massive displacement of more than 838,000 people since January 2019, a figure which kept climbing with each passing day. The arrival of COVID-19 had added a new element of insecurity into the mix. UNHCR, working with the Malian authorities, had registered nearly 3,000 refugees in Gao, Mopti and Timbuktu regions. Panicked returnees, many with horror stories, were arriving on rented trucks or camel backs with their families. UNHCR worked with the authorities and partners on the ground, providing returning refugees with shelter, relief items and cash to support their initial needs. Full press release can be read here.

Postponement of COP26

Clare Nullis, for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said that, as it had already been announced, the COP26 UN climate change conference set to take place in Glasgow in November had been postponed for 2021. At the same time, she stressed that the economic and industrial downturn as a result of the coronavirus pandemic was not a substitute for concerted and coordinated climate action. Failure to reduce greenhouse gases and tackle climate change would have a negative impact on global economies, human living conditions and marine and land ecosystems, which might last up to centuries.

Ms. Nullis also informed that the WMO’s Hurricane Committee, which usually held a week-long meeting in the spring, had been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Considerations for 2019 storm name retirements had not been completed and would be addressed at the 2021 meeting, as the 2019 names would not be used again until 2025. The 2025 name list would not be updated until the 2021 meeting had been completed; the name Dorian would not yet be retired.

UNCTAD reports

Catherine Huissoud, for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), informed that UNCTAD’s latest Investment Policy Monitor showed that investment policy responses to the coronavirus pandemic varied from country to country. They included measures supporting investors and domestic economies in general and policies to protect critical domestic infrastructure and industries, particularly in the health sector. UNCTAD would publish today on its website a mapping of digital challenges crucial in analyzing the COVID 19 crisis.

Ms. Huissoud further said that, in addition to the sanitary crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic was disrupting economic and social life in multiple ways and dimensions. This crisis was unfolding at a time characterized by rapid digitalization, which was helping in the decision-making process regarding response and adaptations to the situation by governments, businesses and consumers. However, differences in digital readiness hampered the ability of large parts of the world to take advantage of those technologies.

Geneva announcements

Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), informed that 4 April would be the International Mine Awareness Day, and the Secretary-General’s message had been shared with the media.

* * *

The webcast for this briefing is available here: https://bit.ly/unog030420

Teleprompter

Good morning, everybody.

Thank you very much for being with us this morning for the regular press briefing, virtual press briefing of the UN Information Service in Geneva.

We have a long list of speakers today and an even longer list of colleagues who are connected and ready to answer the journalist questions.

You should have received that list, but just for you to know how we are going to organise this, we're going to have a first group of interventions around the COVID-19 pandemics, followed by other issues and then from followed by announcements.

So today to brief on COVID-19, we have Archa WFPOHCHRUNHCRICRC&UNECE and then we will have other issues by OHCHRUNHCR announcement by WMO ILO and anked it.

And I would like to remind you that we have on the line listening and available to answer questions the Human Rights Council, Rolando Gomez, IOM with Paul Dillon, OSE with Jennifer Fountain, UNICEF, Marix Mercado and WHO with Tariq Jasarevic.

So now without further ado, I would like to start this briefing by giving the floor to Jens Leerke, who is going to give us a round up and speak more specifically about Sudan.

[Other language spoken]

I give you the floor.

Yes, thank.

[Other language spoken]

Alessandra, do do you mind pushing me a bit further down the the the run because I have some camera issues.

I'm trying to fix that.

[Other language spoken]

Absolutely no problem with that as long but I can see that we have our second speaker who's actually a host a guest.

Sorry, we are having on the line Mr Arif Hussain, who is the WFP Chief Economist.

I understand, Sir, you are connected from Rome to tell us about the new WFP report on COVID-19 potential impact on the world's poorest people.

And I see that we also have Elizabeth, your spokesperson here in Geneva.

So I don't know if Elizabeth want to speak first or we give straight the floor to Mr Hussain.

Mr Hussain, you have the flu.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

All right, Very well.

[Other language spoken]

First of all, I hope everybody's OK.

We are here in Italy.

I mean, things are still quite rough.

We are been in locked, locked down for about coming up to about 3 weeks.

[Other language spoken]

So it's pretty close and it's close to home what I want to.

So, so as you mentioned, I mean, we have been doing several studies in, in terms of finding out the impact of, of COVID in different parts of the world.

And what we see is that generally we are used to do dealing with, with let's say a supply side shock like let's say a drought or a demand side shock like a recession.

But here it's both, it's both at the same time and at a global level.

This makes it truly, truly unprecedented with which we are dealing.

And in time is of the essence.

What we see in this study, what we have tried to do is 2 things.

One is to, to talk about which countries are most likely to be affected or are affected by COVID and which are the people who are most likely and are affected by COVID.

And in terms of looking at the, at the countries, our, our framework essentially is designed by on two things on, on let's say on the on the supply side, we're like, we're looking at things like countries which which rely on heavily rely on imports of food and fuel.

Obviously, you know, if they're landlocked, it's even worse.

Think about Zambia, for example, countries which then use things like tourism or exports of raw materials or rely heavily on remittances to get foreign exchange, for example, even to buy that food and fuel are also at, at at much, much bigger risk because one, because of the recession, but also because of the of the disruption to global supply chains.

Then so, so, so we are able to to look at those countries and make a list of those countries in terms of where there is very limited fiscal space, but also where to begin with, there are many, many, many food insecure people.

Now according to SWFP, we assist about, you know, 87 million people last year, but between 80 to 90 million people each year, which are, which are, which are highly food insecure, which are hungry.

I mean think of people in Yemen, in South Sudan, in Northeast Nigeria, places like that.

So that's what we already have the people we we have to continue to assist.

The second part which we are seeing is the the increase in new people who are becoming vulnerable because of the of the COVID.

Think about all these job losses, Think about urban populations, middle class, daily wage and earners, informal economy people, whichever you know which generally are hand to mouth to begin with.

And now because of the lockdowns and other just disruptions to the economy cannot are not at work and their governments are poor in the sense of providing big safety Nets, big social protection programmes.

These are the people which we think are the essentially the new caseload, if you can, if you will, if I can say it that way.

And we as WFP together with our partners are trying to make sure that we are there for both of them.

One, the people we need to assist to the new caseloads which are starting to build.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

Mr Hussein, if you don't mind to stay on the line, I will give the floor to the other colleagues who need to brief about the coronavirus and then we will open the floor to questions.

And I know Elizabeth is also on the line from WFP.

So I see that now Yance has recuperated his camera and it works.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, thank you very much and good morning everyone.

Measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Sudan are having an impact on humanitarian access, deliveries and services.

7 COVID-19 cases, including two deaths, have been confirmed.

All cases arrived from abroad and are receiving medical treatment in isolation centres.

In Katul, the measures include a 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM curfew, the closure of schools for one month from mid March and the reduction of staff in some key government offices.

the United Nations and our NGO partners are now putting in place alternative plans to ensure the continuity of essential humanitarian assistance and to reduce the impact on already vulnerable people.

There are 9.2 million people in Sudan who need assistance, including nearly 3,000,000 refugees and internally displaced people.

Starting this month, April partners are, for example, planning to organise advanced food distribution of two to three months of rations at one time.

This will limit the frequency of gatherings of people and the associated potential of spreading the coronavirus.

To reduce possible risks of exposing malnourished children, there will be an increase in the supply of ready to use therapeutic food which will reduce the frequency of visits by health staff in nutrition centres.

Also, new guidelines and procedures are being developed to make sure that health workers can continue to deliver immunisation nutritional supplements and maintain infant and young child feeding programmes.

In this new reality, activities which involve gatherings of people including trainings, workshops, meetings and awareness sessions on gender based violence have been suspended.

However, individual case management, counselling, referrals and confidential services to survivors of gender based violence continues.

In Blue Nile State, Humanitarian organisations have developed a plan to scale up knowledge and skills of health workers to deal with COVID-19.

They will also raise community awareness of self prevention, monitor arrivals of at entry points into Blue Nile State to help identify and isolate suspected cases.

In South the four, the State Minister of Health has identified 2 isolation centres and is procuring thermal detectors and protective equipment.

Awareness raising campaigns are ongoing in South the Four also with plenty of posters and messages for radio and TV.

There's more in In the Situation report that I have received overnight from Sudan and I will share that in my notes.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Jens for this briefing.

And now I will continue with Rupert if he's online.

Rupert for OHCHR, I see you are online, can be can he be unmuted please?

Rupert, I think you are on good.

[Other language spoken]

We have two items today, three items actually on Syria, Egypt and Iran.

Would you mind to start with those who are related to COVID, please?

And then we will do the the one they're all related to COVID.

Oh, OK, then, then go ahead, please.

So overall, after the **** Commissioner for Human Rights, Michel Bachelet's last week urged governments to reduce overcrowding in prisons in order to prevent catastrophic rates of COVID-19 infection, we're encouraged to note that a number of countries have indeed been taken action on this front.

Iran, for example, has increased the number it is releasing, at least on a temporary basis, to around 100,000 prisoners, some 40% of the entire prison population in the country.

Yesterday, Indonesia announced it would be releasing 30,000 prisoners convicted of minor crimes, including drug use, and we understand Turkey is similarly considering to release a large number of inmates.

Other countries have also been announcing prisoner releases of varying numbers, including of specific at risk groups such as pregnant women, people with disabilities, elderly prisoners, those who are sick, minor and low risk prisoners, people nearing the end of their sentences and others who can safely be reintegrated into society.

We urge states to release every person detained without sufficient legal basis, including political prisoners and those detained for critical dissenting views.

And we stress that with respect to people fairly convicted of serious crimes recognised under international law or prisoners who might pose serious risk to others, such people should only be exceptionally considered for temporary release from custody during the course of the pandemic.

And we continue to urge all countries to review who is being held and to take measures as soon as possible to ensure the physical distancing necessary to prevent the spread of COVID-19, that the distancing actually becomes feasible within the prisons.

Moving on specifically to Syria, this is one of the countries where the risk of mass infections in prisons is extremely **** and which is yet to take any such action.

The situation in all prisons and makeshift detention facilities in Syria is alarming, and particularly so in the overcrowded central prisons and in the detention facilities run by the four government security branches and in the Sednaia military prison.

Even before the onset of COVID-19, we've received a significant number of reports of deaths in the facilities run by the four security branches and in Sednaia, including as a result of torture and denial of medical care.

Vulnerable groups in Syria include elderly people, women and children and many people with underlying health conditions, some of them directly as a result of the ill treatment and neglect they have experienced while in detention.

Although smaller in scale, we've similar concerns about the risk to people detained in overcrowded and unhygienic facilities run by non state armed groups in the northwest, north and east of the country.

We do take note of the recent legislative amnesty decree issued by the Government of Syria on the 22nd of March, which was granting an amnesty for some crimes and for military deserters as well as sentence reductions for juveniles and other detainees.

We urge the Syrian government and the armed groups to take urgent action, following the example of other countries, to release sufficient number of detainees to prevent COVID-19, leading to yet more loss of life and misery after nine years of unrelenting death, destruction of the health system and displacement in Syria.

We also call on all parties to allow humanitarian actors and medical teams unhindered access to prisons and other places of detention to check the conditions under which the detainees are living and to assess their needs.

Also in relation to COVID-19.

We urge that those sanctions which are currently impeding the supply of medicines and medical equipment to any part of Syria be eased or suspended during the course of this pandemic.

If left in place unaltered, they will hamper the quick and effective healthcare response needed to prevent or contain the spread of the coronavirus and could therefore contribute to significant loss of life.

We're also concerned that parties to the conflict in Syria are continuing to use essential services such as access to water and electricity as a weapon and in doing so, endanger the lives of large populations at a time when access to water and sanitation are more important than ever to help people protect themselves against COVID-19.

Would you like me to go straight on to Egypt if it's also COVID related?

[Other language spoken]

While the situation is not any way comparable with Syria, we're nevertheless also very concerned about the overcrowded prisons in Egypt and the risk of the rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus among the countries.

More than 1114, sorry, more than 114,000 inmates.

We therefore also urge the Egyptian government to follow the lead of other states around the world and release those convicted of nonviolent offences and those who are in pretrial detention.

We make up just below 1/3 of all those in gaol in Egypt.

Among those we recommend should also be released are administrative detainees and those who are arbitrarily detained due to their political or human rights work.

We also call for the release of those in particularly vulnerable situations due to their age, for example children and older people in particular, and due to serious underlying medical conditions.

Egypt's prisons and detention facilities are often overcrowded, unsanitary, and suffer from a lack of resources.

Detainees are routinely denied access to adequate medical care and treatment.

We're also concerned by reports the government of Egypt was moved to quash criticism on social media and silenced the work of human rights defenders and journalists focused on the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the 20th of March, for example, there were reports that 15 individuals were arrested for spreading alleged false news about coronavirus.

And recently, we received information of a doctor and a pharmaceutical worker who were arrested for a Facebook video and posts complaining about the lack of masks.

We advise that rather than sanctioning critical voices through a punitive approach, the Egyptian authorities addressed this information by providing clear, reliable and fact based information and seek to engage the population and empower civil society to fight the common ****** of the pandemic.

And finally, this is also related to COVID-19 to some extent.

Returning to Iran, we're horrified at the death of a juvenile offender after he was reportedly beaten by security officers.

According to the information we've received, Daniel Zainal Abedini was put in solitary confinement and beaten by security office at Mahabad Prison in Orumya city in West Azerbaijan province after a riot erupted there on the 28th of March.

The prisoners were protesting at prison conditions and the failure of the authorities to temporarily release them amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

He was then reportedly transferred to Myandua prison, also in West Azerbaijan province, where he suffered further I'll treatment at the hands of prison officials.

His family said he called them on the 31st of March to tell them he'd been badly beaten, could hardly breathe and desperately needed help.

His death was confirmed on the 2nd of April.

We're particularly shocked as Zainala Bedini was on death row for a crime he allegedly committed in September 2017 at the age of 17, and his ****** and conviction and death sentence.

His ****** conviction and death sentence were upheld by Iran's Supreme Court in October 2018.

He continued to press his innocence.

As we've repeatedly said, including at this briefing, the imposition of the death penalty for crimes committed by people below the age of 18 at the time of the offence is strictly prohibited under international human rights law and such sentences should be immediately quashed.

We remind Iran of it's heightened duty to protect the lives of individuals in detention and we call on the Iranian authorities to immediately conduct an independent and impartial investigation into Mr Zangabaddini's death and hold those responsible to account.

We're also confessed turned at the fate of six other people who were also reportedly beaten during the riots on the 28th of March and taken to Meandua Prison.

We urge the Iranian authorities to take all measures to protect their lives.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

As we have three more speakers who would like to speak about COVID-19, I would like to stop here for the moment and just give the opportunity to the journalists who I see are starting to raise hands to ask questions to the first 3 speakers.

So please, I would like to invite you, your correspondent to ask question for the moment to Jens.

To WFPRE or Elizabeth and to Rupert and then we will go to the other 3 speakers I see on my list.

The first one to ask for the question is for the for the floor is Gabriella.

Gabriella, you have the floor.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

I'm it is on an in for Rupert, but not for the subjects that he's raising about Egypt and Syria.

So if you want me to ask or or I ask anyway.

[Other language spoken]

So afterwards we can free Rupert if he needs to go.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, well, the it's regarding freedom of expression and journalists in this the role of journalists in this COVID-19 pandemic and in countries, for example, like Mexico, the government has been very critic about some journalists that are, you know, giving their reports and their opinions.

And that touches me, you know, by the way, by the way.

So he has he he said some names about a journalist who are criticised his dealing with the with the situation.

So my question is, what is your comment on that and an important to protect?

I mean, we are not in the hospitals, but we are in the fire line as well.

So your your comments on that.

Thank you, Rupert.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, I mean, we've said before and say the the importance of information pandemic is paramount and and it needs to be able to reach all sectors of society.

And obviously journalists play a very important role in that respect.

So it's simply not acceptable for journalists to be arrested for that matter, not just journalists, human rights defenders and others for commenting, debating, pointing out issues related to the to the responses COVID-19 pandemic.

So we would request all states to not silence critical voices, whether they be a journalist or anybody else.

With that said, you know, there are, there is of course an issue of disinformation or very dangerous rumours and so on, particularly on social media.

These can be combated in other ways, they can be refuted.

Major efforts can be made to to clarify and to give accurate information.

But respectable media organisations play absolutely vital role in, in, in informing the public.

And I think the data is showing the public all over the world are are going to major media to check up on the information because they are being bombarded with conflicting, conflicting information on social media, on the Internet and so on.

Thank you very much, Rupert.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, good morning to all of you.

This is a question for WFP, particularly to the gentleman that presented the report.

I have a question regarding the first food assistance.

I saw that WFP is trying to maintain the food assistance that they are already giving to vulnerable people across the world, but I would like to know if they already made a study about the countries.

For the moment, Western countries that are starting to suffer about the partial collapse of economy.

We've seen unfortunately in the South of Italy, in Napoli, that families can't feed their children anymore and that there's a big solidarity going on in in Italy.

But we know that it won't be able to go on like that, particularly because these regions are very poor and their incomes are often based on tourism.

So I would like to have the comments on other countries like that, that's like Spain, Portugal and other countries less affected by COVID-19, like Greece, but that will certainly have a problem about their coming incomes.

[Other language spoken]

Mr Hussain, are you still on the line?

[Other language spoken]

If you want to answer, our journalist, Catherine Cianco, is from France.

Vancat OK, No, thank you for the question.

I mean as you know, I was mentioning that we have we have two roles right now.

One is to make sure that the people we are we are assisting, they continue to get assistance.

This is about 87 million people around the around the world, mostly in poor or lower middle income countries which are like conflict affected or affected by climate change or by economic instability.

So, so this is our our as World Food Programme.

This is our biggest focus is 4 countries and, and in within those four countries, we are also now looking at people usually not served by us, but now maybe in, in need of our assistance.

These are like what I was saying, you know, urban populations for urban populations now on, on the side of, of the, of the Western countries, like I'm, I'm based in Italy.

Italy is our donor.

Spain is our, you know, provides us assistance.

Many of the Western countries in fact provide us assistance to help the poorer countries.

We are as well food programme this year, in 2020, we have a plan of work of about $12 billion, which is, which is by far supported by the developed countries, the Western countries from US, from EU, from UK and, and, and elsewhere.

So having said that, what we also do is we work with the with the developing countries, also developed countries also in terms of they know our capacities and we are situated here.

So if they require any kind of assistance, we are always here.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much for this answer, Mr Hussein.

Next person was asked for the floor is Lisa Schlein, both of America.

[Other language spoken]

Unmuted, it says.

[Other language spoken]

I have a question first for Rupert and then afterwards I'd like to ask Yens a question, if I may, please.

Rupert, overall you talk about countries that are Iran, for instance, that are releasing prisoners on a temporary basis and so forth.

Are political prisoners also included in this generally in all countries, specifically about Iran and and Egypt, which have large numbers of political prisoners.

Syria, of course, is a big, big mess.

And then in general about all of these countries are, are these governments aware that that prisoners who are infected with the coronavirus, that this could leak out of the prison system and spread to the general population?

Do they know this or don't they care?

And the people that guard them, they must also be unprotected.

Do you have any information about that, whether many of them are getting sick and whether any precautions are being taken for them or do they simply not care?

And I'm talking specifically about the three countries you mentioned, Iran, Syria and Egypt.

[Other language spoken]

And then I'll ask my question to Yens.

Lisa, it is very difficult on the point of view of the technical part to manage follow-ups.

So please ask your question also to Yens and then we'll I'll give the floor first to Rupert and then to Yens to answer you.

[Other language spoken]

If you could be a little bit more specific about this issue, you were talking about work or help for victims of gender based violence being suspended or at least temporarily suspended, but that somehow rather they're being helped from afar.

Is that, did I get that right or not?

And if so, how does that work?

And how widespread is the problem of gender based violence?

We hear a lot about people who are confined to their homes because of the self isolation where ***** goes up enormously.

And I'm wondering whether that's also a situation in in Sudan, whether that's also occurring there.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Lisa.

So I'll give the floor the floor first to Rupert to answer your first question, Rupert.

[Other language spoken]

There's three questions actually as far as I could.

[Other language spoken]

So yes, both in the countries we've mentioned this morning, but also in a number of others.

The issue of political prisoners is, is 1 we're very concerned with.

We believe this should be among the first to be released.

So in fact we've said very clearly we urge states to release every person detained without sufficient legal basis, including political prisoners and those detained for critical dissenting views, which would include in some journalists, would include some human rights defenders and so on.

And yes, of course, the issue you get in a number of countries that are doing very large prisoner releases have not necessarily been releasing those types of prisoners.

And that includes Iran.

They have released some but not others.

And Egypt as, as we said, you know, hasn't released hardly anyone yet.

So that is a big issue.

And it's obviously these are these are not, you know, ****** murderers, people guilty of serious crimes, indeed under international law, many of them not guilty of any crime at all.

So we believe these should be absolutely among the first prioritised for release.

The other two questions you have to spread from prisons in this.

Well, yes, I mean, there's the spread from society into prisons, which is how it's going to get into prisons initially.

But obviously if you have a have a major explosion of COVID-19 within a given prison, it's likely to rebound back into society in in a big way through the prison borders, through the staff and so on.

We're also as, as you see in Iran and, and in some other countries, seeing riots, prisoners are afraid, prisoners who have distressed at the complete loss of contact from family members and so on.

So there are many, many issues surrounding this.

The, you also mentioned the prison borders and the, and the, yes, there definitely have been cases in prisons of prison staff being infected as well.

Indeed, you know, that's probably the way it would come into a prison in most cases, once the family visits are stopped.

And I believe they've been cases in in New York, for example, of not only prisoners coming down with COVID-19, but also prison, prison staff.

Rupert, thank you.

Is that are, are we, have we lost you or are you finished?

No, I've finished.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

Sorry.

[Other language spoken]

OK, so let's go to Jens now for the answer to Lisa's question.

[Other language spoken]

What is being, what is happening is both with the response to gender based violence, but also to other kinds of responses that we're trying to, of course, follow the instructions of the government and, and the, the guidance that we're having from health professionals about social distancing or physical distancing and avoid any gathering large gatherings of people, because we do know that that is a recipe for, for transmission of, of the virus.

So related to gender based violence, what the, the, what the humanitarian community in, in Sudan is doing is that they're, they are suspending their activities that involve gathering of, of people, of course, mainly women, and that is trainings, workshops, meetings, awareness sessions and other women's centre activities.

So all that has has been suspended for for the time being, however, and that's important, of course, individual case management and individual counselling and referrals, for example, to health facilities and what they call GBV, gender based violence, confidential corner services.

So where women can speak in confidence to to counsellors that continues.

That continues of course respecting all the measures sorry of distancing and and general hygiene around meet people, meeting other people.

The the issue of GBV gender based violence is in Sudan.

It is a problem like in most other unfortunately most other humanitarian crisis that we have.

When crisis tend to to reach a peak, we also see gender based violence see a peak and we know we have seen across the world the the alarm frankly has been raised about increase of gender based violence because of confinement at home.

That is that is an issue.

I will try to take out a little more data from from the Sudan so I can underpin that a bit more and send that to you as well.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Jens.

Next question from Antonio Broto from FA Antonio, you have the floor.

[Other language spoken]

So my question is for Rupert and it's about Philippines where the President Duterte has threatened to ***** the people that violate quarantine.

I want to know if do you know if this is already happening and anyway, if you have any comment on this.

Thank you, Rupert.

Thanks, Antonio.

Yes, of course we are aware of of those comments by President Duterte.

We also noted that the chief of police basically said, no, we're not going to be doing that almost straight afterwards as indeed some other members of the administration.

So hopefully that it was just rhetoric, disturbing rhetoric, but still rhetoric.

But obviously we'll, we'll be keeping an eye on, on whether that translates into any sort of reality.

We obviously it would be reprehensible if anybody was shot simply for having COVID-19.

Thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

Oh, I see now I had a question from a Ben and I was not going to give you the floor, Ben, because you didn't identify yourself.

Now I see who you are and of course you have the floor, but I would like to take this opportunity to, to tell all the colleagues to please identify themselves when they join the the briefing.

We have very strange names on the list and I cannot give the floor to people unless they are clearly identified.

So now you have the floor.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

A question for Mr Hussain on the WFP report issued this morning that he's briefing about.

I have a couple of questions on numbers #1 the report says there are over 300 million people who are either chronically or acutely food insecure in the 49 countries listed in the report.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Second question, how many of those are you already helping?

So in in a sense, can you give a number of, of a very, very rough number of how many people you think might additionally be at risk and in need of assistance that are not already getting it?

[Other language spoken]

Thank you for the question.

Let me just put this in in in bigger numbers and then bring it down.

So we we essentially say that there are about 821 million people in the world who go to bed hungry.

This is what we call chronic hunger.

Regardless of their situation, they go to bed hungry.

There are over 100 million people who are in acute situations, meaning in shocks.

This is your conflict, this is your climate change, economic instability, those reasons.

There are 149 million children who are at this moment in the world stunted.

And there are about 49 million children who are wasted, meaning that they have not their weight is not enough for their height.

So this is the world we are talking about before COVID hit.

So the, the, the scope of the problem, I mean, you know, hunger has been going on going numbers on hunger have been going up since the last three years.

So this is the scope of the problem we are talking about.

We as WFP, we assists about, like I was saying, 87 million people last last year and generally it is between 80 to 90 million people each year.

This time right now, my teams are actually working to answer that question.

How many more people?

I can tell you that they're going to be 1,000,000 more now.

Also, what is important to, to remember is that yes, WFP has to assist a lot of people, but we also need to enable governments through better safety Nets, to scaled up safety Nets through monitoring to be able to, to, to take some of these, these people who were previously not dependent on those safety Nets.

So, so this is a huge, huge, huge problem right now, which no one agency can solve.

So it's well food programme, it's other partners, it's NGOs, it's governments all have to come together to sort this.

This problem out one other last thing I wanted to say was that look, I'm in, in a way, the COVID is, is like a, a disease which is, which is affecting both rich and poor countries, but in quite starkly different ways, if I can say it that way.

Meaning, you know, in, in, in richer countries, you have the, you know, you may have economic stimulus, you may have social distancing, you may have sanitization.

But in some of the places where we work, think about the camps in, in Syria or in northeast Nigeria, I mean, these are there are very, very few of these options available to those people.

So, so for we, for us, we need to do whatever is in our power to make sure that we continue to reach those people who are completely isolated in these camps, for example.

And on top of that means to take care of people who, who we weren't previously assisting.

And here, what is extremely, extremely important is 1.

Our ability to monitor places in real time using all the technologies that we have and to making sure that there are no disruptions or as little disruptions as possible to trade, you know, things like export bans and, and things like, you know, so we need to make sure that the trade flows and as restrictive as unrestrictive it is, the better it is because without that, we won't be able to reach many of these people.

And all of this has to happen till there is affordable treatment available to the poor people across the world, because that's what where we need to go.

And in the meantime, till we get to that point, we need to make sure that we keep people alive and healthy as much as we can.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

So that concludes our first round of questions.

[Other language spoken]

So we'll start with UNHCR to give us the briefing and then we will go to a second round of questions reminding everybody that you need to identify yourself and also that there are other colleagues including WHO who are available for answering questions.

So I'll start with Babar and then we'll go to Ruth and Jean.

Babar, you have the floor.

Thank you, Alexandra.

Good morning there all.

Unit CR The UN Refugee agency is today warning that one year on, since the launch of a military offensive in Tripoli, Libya, fighting it over worsening with Kuwait 19 now bringing new threats.

More than 300 civilians have been killed and 150 thousand others displaced from their homes since last April.

The exact start day of the offensive was 4th of April in 2019.

Despite the tentative agreement on humanitarian truce, fighting escalated significantly in the past week.

The worsening security has also undermined the ability of 10s of thousands of formerly displaced people to safely return to their areas of region.

Meanwhile, the authorities have now confirmed 10 cases of COVID-19 and one death in Libya, raising new fears about the ability of the country's weakened health services to respond.

The ongoing conflict has severely impacted the country's health system and medical services, which have limited financial resources and face shortages of basic equipment and medicines.

Many hospitals and health or health facilities located in the areas close to the conflict have also been damaged or closed.

UNICR and partners are providing generators, ambulances, prefab containers and tented clinics in support of local healthcare services.

We are also raising public health awareness amongst refugees, asylum seekers and Libyans through posters, text messages and social media aimed at mitigating the risks of exposure of COVID-19.

Together with other humanitarian agencies, UNICIA is calling on Libyan authorities to ensure the access and inclusion of all populations in Libya to health surveillance, preparedness and response plans and activities.

We're also repeating our calls for orderly release of those held in detention to the community.

Asylum seekers and refugees held in detention because they do not have legal documentation are particularly vulnerable and exposed given often poor sanitation facilities, limited health services and overcrowded conditions.

Many detention centres are also located in areas close to the fighting front lines.

Daily life is becoming increasingly difficult for people across conflict from Libya.

Civilians as well as refugees and asylum seekers face tough challenges in accessing basic goods and services, accessing their basic and also serious difficulties in accessing their basic needs.

UNCI is particularly concerned the growing lake of affordable housing and rise in the rental prices as more displaced or secondarily displaced Libyans have been forced to leave their homes and are seeking new places to rent.

This has particularly impacted refugees and asylum seekers who are unable to find regular work.

Refugees have told UNHCR.

The trends for single room accommodation has gone up as much as six fold with gentle cost for house has also gone up many fold.

Many people are living in crowded unfinished buildings or garage units which is as many as 10 people sharing a single room.

There are some other details in the note that you may have already received.

[Other language spoken]

I think yes, everybody received that note.

So now I will go to Ruth.

[Other language spoken]

For those who might not know you, Ruth Hetherington is a spokesperson for the ICRC.

And I understand you're going to talk about your work in the Middle East.

Yes, We have an update on the field hospital in alcohol.

So as the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic picks up pace, the International Committee of the Red Cross is urging all not to overlook people in places of detention and refugee and displacement camps around the world.

There are an estimated 100,000 people living in camps across NE Syria as well as 10s of thousands of detainees in crowded and unhealthy conditions.

Alcohol camp is a striking example of the humanitarian challenges.

Around 66,000 people are living there in dire conditions.

The majority are women and children.

In Alcohol camp, the field hospital run by the ICRC with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent remains open, offering services that are much needed by the camp population, including life saving care.

In order to ensure that the hospital can remain open and functioning to capacity, our team is taking all the necessary preventative measures to protect the patients and themselves against any spread of the virus.

Right now, we have 16 health staff working in the hospital, surgeons, nurses and physiotherapists among them.

Our team is conducting around 200 consultations per week and around 20 surgical procedures.

They are receiving around 24 patients per week and have around 44 physiotherapy sessions.

Preventative measures include fencing to avoid overcrowding, additional hand washing points, extra protective equipment for triage staff, no relatives allowed to accompany patients and screening before entry in the event of suspected cases.

The ICSE also continues to provide water trucking and garbage collection in the camp through contractors.

And we have changed the way we operate our collective kitchen.

We now deliver meals daily to tents individually to avoid gathering and queuing, and we still provide around 50,000 meals per week.

As usual for people living in war zones, COVID-19 is one more deadly ****** on top of many others.

For almost a decade, Syrians have lived with constant immediate threats to life such as gunfire, shelling, bombing and lack of life saving healthcare.

Some of the existing challenges and humanitarian needs across the country that we are still trying to meet.

Half of all health facilities are out of service or partially functioning.

Large scale displacement has led to a degradation in access to healthcare and essential services across the country.

Areas of active hostilities are hit hard and this leads to a serious reduction of health services which forces people who are wounded or sick to travel and increases their vulnerability.

In many places where the ICRC works, clean water is a luxury and soap may be non existent.

Physical distancing is a privilege simply not available to many people in these places.

The implementation of basic infection prevention and control measures can be challenging due to the scarcity of resources.

These conditions are ideal for the virus to spread fast and that's why global response is so needed.

An immediate and concerted response by States and humanitarian organisations is vital.

COVID-19 does not have to be catastrophic for war-torn countries with weakened healthcare systems.

Plans to prevent it and respond to the virus must urgently move forward before it gains a foothold in conflict sounds.

Thank you very much, Ruth.

And then I'll round up with Jean Jean Rodriguez for UNECE.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, very well, go ahead.

[Other language spoken]

UNEC wants to share some updates on the situation of the fruit and vegetable markets in Europe that we are gathering from government and industry sources through our working party on agricultural equality standards and I will divide that into subsections.

So starting with the market infrastructure impacts, the closure of the Horica sector, which is hotels, restaurants, cafes, caterings, etcetera, canteens, is that me or we have lost him?

[Other language spoken]

So in this case, why shouldn't I?

I give the floor to Rosalind and maybe then Claire.

[Other language spoken]

We try to retrieve Jean.

I'm there now.

Oh, you're there.

Sorry.

[Other language spoken]

No, we've lost you completely.

So I don't know what happened to start the day.

The sentence again.

Should should I start again from the beginning?

No, no, just you spoke about the two sections.

Just starting with the first section.

I was I was talking about the the market infrastructure.

So the the closure of the hotels, restaurant caterings, canteens etcetera is having a big impact on some particular produce like fresh produce and other not so fresh like potatoes, fat food joints and other canteens are the big uses of potatoes for French fries and other types of dishes.

So clearly that has a big impact on the market and it also effects some smaller companies which are specialised in catering.

The ban on open farmers markets in several towns and countries is mostly affecting smaller farmers in the in those areas, the market produce is not always likely to be transferred to the retail sector because of different purchasing agreements.

Even if, even if we're even if we're seeing some measures taken by some countries, notably in France.

Well, supermarkets have announced they want to source more locally.

The sales in supermarkets for the time being are still good and pulling the the market.

However, after an initial peak in demand, the market for fresh fruit and vegetables has weakened now and prices must stop falling because customers go shopping only once or twice a week instead of much more regularly before.

This effects already the sales of the very perishable produced like strawberries for instance.

Turning to a selected examples of particular products which are affected, problems are very real for several typical products such as aragula, rocket cresses, other types of lettuces and sprouts.

The price for asparagus which is which is beginning it's peak season now is already 50% down compared to the last year.

The situation is rather stable for other types of products like table fruit, apples and pears with no big effects on prices so far.

Floriculture has come to a complete standstill because of the closure of all shops and garden centres.

Regarding potatoes, I've mentioned the the impact of fast foods and and and other big collective restaurants.

The Fresh Market for potatoes is as seen some rises in sales due to hoarding behaviours by private customers in supermarkets.

For frozen fries, the market in Europe is divided by 2/3 internal and 1/3 which is exports.

Exports today continue to go, but some logistical problems, higher container costs, closure of some national markets, etcetera are likely to emerge.

If we look now at the impact on the workforce, which is obviously a very big, a very big concern, the sector is heavily dependent on foreign and foreign seasonal agricultural, agricultural workforce.

Many seasonal workers have returned to their home countries or are affected by travel bans and border closures.

The growing shortage of labour deriving from those travel restrictions it will soon be a major concern.

Due to labour shortages, some fruits and vegetables are left unharvested and tailing significant financial loss for growers.

This will be particularly the case for asparagus and strawberries, which I mentioned already.

The harvest for Peaches and nectarines in Spain in particular will start soon and there are doubts about the labour the labour availability in the country.

Keeping a safe distance in the fields is however, easier than in packing houses and grading lines, so absenteeism and lack of labour will probably be felt more in the processing and logistical sector than directly in the fields.

The processing industry already reports.

[Other language spoken]

Abstents absentees, I'm sorry of about 10%.

[Other language spoken]

Today there's still enough fruits and vegetables in shops and supermarkets, but what 1 can expect increased difficulties and price increases as the situation persists.

Transport is becoming more difficult and more expensive.

Until now, for instance, truck drivers delivering fruits and vegetables from Spain or Italy to Northern Europe, we're taking turns by with two drivers in the truck.

This is no longer now feasible and many transporters have to pay extra insurance premiums for their drivers.

Air transport is also becoming more difficult because the fall of passenger flights is affecting cargo on board of those flights.

This is very important for particular products like lychee, passion fruits and other tropical products.

Cargo planes obviously still fly, but they need to be filled and that is that is a problem because of the time and and the cost considerations and the volumes which are needed to fill planes like that.

Regarding sea transport, it's not a problem yet and a lot of incoming fruits have in fact been ordered months ago and are being delivered.

But this could change in coming weeks as more countries adopt restrictions.

The measures adopted already in countries like South Africa or India will affect the availability, for instance, of grapes in the coming months.

Some spillover effects on other countries are to be expected because those countries are usually the ones through which the production of neighbouring countries is exported.

This is the case for many countries in the royal world and many small farmers will be affected as a consequence.

As an example, South Africa is the hub for the export of productions from neighbouring countries like Zimbabwe and Zambia.

In conclusion, UNEC reiterates its call for all countries to facilitate the cross-border of flow of goods, in particular food, to the maximum extent possible during the pandemic and to make full use of existing trade facilitation standards, including the UNE TIER and ECMR systems and other tools that allow the exchange of electronic information about the flow of goods across borders without physical contact.

[Other language spoken]

And just since you were speaking about in question of employment, I would just like to give briefly give the floor to Rosalind who's going to announce you something about updated figures on the employment and coronavirus.

Rosalind, are you there?

I am there.

You want to give just your your announcement, it's quite timely.

And then I go to the yes, can you hear me?

Yes, very well, yes.

So the ILO will be releasing updated figures and a new report on the impacts of COVID-19 on the global and unemployment.

And this will happen on the 7th of April next week.

And this new report analysis the sectors and workers most at risk of losing their jobs or have having their hours severely curtailed, with a breakdown of data by region.

It also calls for a number of urgent policy responses to lessen the potentially catastrophic impact on the global labour market.

We'll be holding a virtual embargoed press briefing with the ILODG Guy Ryder, and that will take place at 1300 GMT.

That's 1400 Geneva time on Tuesday.

And we'll be sending you embargoed copies of the report as soon as it is ready and by Monday latest.

And the report on all its materials will be under strict embargo until Tuesday the 7th at 1600 CET.

So for any media request, you can contact me I have via my my phone or at newsroom@ilo.org.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Rosamine.

[Other language spoken]

So now I will go to the questions and just remind, be reminded that even if you don't see them physically, Rolando, Paul, Jennifer, Marksy and Tariq are there.

The first person asking for the floor is again, Antonio FA Antonio, My question is for Jan this time.

And I want to know if you can give us more examples of price variations of agricultural products because you mentioned asparagus, but I want to know if there is other other products and how much are they increasing price or lowering the price?

And also if you have a specific information of the countries most affected by coronavirus in Europe like Spain or Italy.

[Other language spoken]

Always on the point of view of trade or in general, yes, yes.

And also market for the for the for the normal buyers.

OK, so Jean, yes, thank you Antonio.

No, we don't have more elements to point out at regarding prices because the the situation regarding prices can change very rapidly.

So we don't want to use something which would be very quickly updated.

We will punch you at some sources for the the price of of those types of products that might can be of use and that you you can, you can have a look on.

But I, I don't want to be more specific just because that could that could last time I looked that could have changed already.

To your second question, we do not have at this particular point.

So more specific indications regarding Spain.

What we heard from operators in the sector importing food from Spain is that the the price of deliveries by truck is increasing by up to €1500 because of the impact on the availability of drivers of the virus and because of the the premium insurance that I've I've just mentioned.

So clearly there is a attention on the availability of of drivers and the the queues at some borders are also causing trouble.

Obviously we're talking about fruits and vegetables, which are some particular products are very fragile.

And the more fragile obviously any delay can have a big impact on ruining completely a delivery.

So we'll, we'll try to open a web page on our web, a web page on our website to update this type of information that should be ready hopefully at the beginning of next week.

If you've got some specific questions, some of you, we can point you to our correspondence in the in the sector to try to identify more specific information for some specific products produce or some specific countries.

We can do that.

Please contact, please contact me for for that and we'll look at who could be a good source of information.

That's great.

[Other language spoken]

So next one is Byron.

Byron, you have the floor.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much for taking my question.

My question today for spokeswoman of ICRC, Ruth, Yeah, I don't understand your message on a whole camp.

Are you calling for the release of detainees in this camp because of the COVID-19 pandemic risk or what's your call?

And most importantly, who, who is controlling this camp?

Thank you, Ruth, you have the floor.

Byram I, I did an announcement, but Byram is our correspondent from Anadolo Ansi in case you you didn't know him.

Ruth, you have the floor.

[Other language spoken]

So our focus is on concrete constructive preventative measures.

At the moment ICOC doesn't run the camp.

We, we run the field hospital along with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and partners.

So, So what we are, what we are doing right now is to protect staff and patients in the hospital and to keep the hospital to keep it open, to keep it functioning along with the other services we provide in the camp.

Thank you very much, Ruth.

[Other language spoken]

Lisa, if you have multiple questions, you used to please tell them now all together.

[Other language spoken]

Yeah, well, you'll be surprised to know that I only have a question for Baba.

How about that?

So Baba is there.

[Other language spoken]

Nice to see you even virtually, but you're not there yet.

[Other language spoken]

Are there is still any refugees and migrants arriving in Libya?

And I'm wondering whether any of them, whether there were any boats going to Italy or has the smuggling network essentially dried up?

And then I, I, I just want to know whether you're planning to talk about Burkina Faso after this as well.

[Other language spoken]

That's my question.

Babar, you have the floor.

Yes, Babar is going to talk about Burkina Faso, Mali at the end of the COVID issue.

Babar, go ahead if you want to answer visa.

Thank you, Lisa, for your question as well.

In terms of the new arrivals numbers and trends, I don't have a number at hand.

And in terms of those who are leaving Libya, we are not aware of any board departures from Libya since 15th of March.

However, we know that smugglers often choose to release multiple boats at the same time in order to increase the likelihood of evading the Libyan coast guards who lack the capacity to respond in multiple incidents simultaneously.

But however the situation is is fluid and may change as as we move forward.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Babar.

And he will finish briefing later on.

So Peter, can he now?

[Other language spoken]

Yes, very well.

[Other language spoken]

This is to Jean Rodriguez.

I was wondering if you have any information concerning trucking in Southern Africa, because you mentioned the lockdown in South Africa and there's one in Zimbabwe as well.

And you mentioned the arrival of grapes in Europe, but in terms of the economies of the Southern African hinterland, do you have any information on the effects of tracking on the new measures?

[Other language spoken]

Sean, you have to wait right now you're unmuted.

[Other language spoken]

I don't have that at hand right now.

We can inquire to see whether we can get something for the tracking impact.

The your best source of information would be anyway the International Rd Union because they are the ones which gather information direct from their members.

But I'll try to, I'll try to see if I can send you something more about the South Africa and neighbouring countries.

[Other language spoken]

Stephanie, yes, for ILO Rosalind, I believe you're referring to the report on Tuesday that would be on the 7th.

So that would be, you said 13 G, which is which is of course now 3:00 here in the afternoon.

The two hour difference now with with GMT, it's getting a bit late in the day, isn't it?

Would that be under an embargo?

You said until when?

Rosalind.

[Other language spoken]

Rosalind had some problems with her Internet line, so I hope we still have her if she's on my screen.

[Other language spoken]

Sorry.

[Other language spoken]

I just got the tail end of your your your question, actually.

[Other language spoken]

Sorry.

[Other language spoken]

You want to repeat?

I think I heard yes.

Well, it was just to point out that this is you're talking about Tuesday then the 7th and it's a 2 hour difference with GMT at the moment.

So it's, it would be at you're right, conference is at then at 3:00 in the afternoon here it will actually be at 2:00, it's at 2:00 in the afternoon and the embargo will lift at 4 Geneva time.

So you what you said before, can you clarify please, Rosalyn, at what time is the press conference exactly?

Yes, the the press conference will be at 2O clock Geneva time.

[Other language spoken]

And embargo will lift at 4 O clock.

[Other language spoken]

Thanks Stephanie.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much for taking my question.

This is for Jan and yeah, John, you, you, you, you just make the a call to allow to allow free trade between borders.

So my question is, which countries are the ones that are putting more obstacles to the trade of food, fruits and vegetables and things like that?

[Other language spoken]

First of all, let me recall that we made that call last week and we, we saw also that 3 heads of agencies were making the same call later on.

We cannot give a ranking of who are the worst and who are the best players.

What we're seeing there's still evidence on in many countries that there's queues at borders and that the seamless flow of goods, even when all the papers are in order, all the procedures are electronic.

Even in that case, they can be extra delays and this is where we call on all countries to to limit the restrictions to the absolute minimum needed to ensure the fight against the virus.

The priority is to prevent the pandemic to spread further.

We are all clear on that.

That being said, within the necessary measures which are taken to limit the spread of the virus, we call that everything else is being really limited to the absolute minimum because the disruptions are affecting the economies, not the economies of those countries, the neighbouring countries and in some cases far away countries as well.

So this is our call.

We do not have a ranking and we will not do a ranking.

We have launched the observatory on our website precisely to give the information that can be filled by all participants.

We have now the participation of our colleagues from all UN regional commissions.

So there is information there on Latin America, on Asia, they will be on Africa soon.

We have other partners internationally.

Some of the examples of the measures taken are there and we call on all countries to exert the to, to, to limit those measures to absolutely the minimum.

That is the the minimum impediment which is needed to safeguard the the health of their populations.

[Other language spoken]

Then we'll go to Paula.

[Other language spoken]

But I'm not sure that Arif Hussain is still there.

I can see his name on the list.

So he might.

[Other language spoken]

So actually, as Jean had mentioned, the issue of drivers, truck drivers having to drive on their own to instead of having a pair of two drivers.

I was wondering what the situation may be for cargo planes and precisely when it comes to the WFP's logistical operations and and the delivery of food, whether there are any issues there with the pilots and Co pilots flying together.

OK, so I see that Mister Hussein is, is not anymore on the line, but Elizabeth is.

So maybe she would have an answer.

But I'll start with the with John and then give the floor to Elizabeth.

I don't, I don't have any information regarding the specific situation of cargo transport, sorry.

Italy and Spain but we cannot confirm further at this at this at this point in time Elizabeth would you like to add something Sorry can can Paula can she repeat your question because I asked Harry to come back oh oh OK I'm not sure he can he can make no I don't see him yet no maybe you can answer that OK Carla it's it's regarding the WFP's cargo shipments as WFP is responsible for logistics not only for food cargo but otherwise as well whether the restrictions Sorry.

Whether the restrictions on proximity of people working together may be affecting the pilots that are driving those those planes that are ferrying the food and other things around the world.

Yes, it is a bit, Yeah.

So far I've no information regarding the health of the pilot.

What I know is that in our hubs, main international hubs or regional hubs, which are now put in place step by step.

For the regional ones, the smaller ones, we have transport, we have planes and we can transport the food or the equipment, the medical equipment with cargo planes we have hired.

And so far the, the, the, the, the system is functioning.

I have no information about any health problem regarding the pilots.

I can give you more information about our flying system.

We also have we, we have to replace when the the shipping is interrupted.

We, we replaced by commercial flights, but we hire those commercial flights, they are hired by the WFP logistic department.

Thank you very much, Elizabeth.

And maybe afterwards, Mr Hussein, you can complete.

[Other language spoken]

So Jan, sorry you've been waiting for a while.

[Other language spoken]

Can you hear me very well?

[Other language spoken]

I've three very short questions.

The 1st is for UNHCR.

Do you, do you have any, do you have an overview on confirmed COVID cases among refugee population, especially in in camps?

The second would be for ECE.

[Other language spoken]

I think 20% or one third of all food is wasted.

Do you have any information on the decrease in food waste during the crisis or are you the appropriate agency or should I ask FAO?

[Other language spoken]

And thirdly, it's for Elizabeth.

Do we get a press release on your report?

[Other language spoken]

OK, So let's take it in the order, Babar.

[Other language spoken]

As far as Libya is concerned, currently Libya has no reported cases or suspected cases of refugees or asylum seekers being infected with COVID-19.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

Let's go to your Jean.

The we don't have, it's there, OK, It we don't have data specifically on food waste.

Now what's that we're seeing certainly is that there will be food which cannot be harvested, which cannot be processed and which cannot be transported because of all the restrictions on availability of workforce in the countries and because of the restrictions on, on on border crossings.

So that will have an impact on food availability and result in losses.

Certainly I don't have data now, but we'll we'll look into it.

[Other language spoken]

Sorry, there is no press release, but the report is very short.

In fact, if you take away the photos and the maps, it's there is the the text itself, it's quite short.

But I will send to all journalists a kind of summary of what's in in the report.

Thank you very much.

OK, so Byram, do you have a follow up otherwise?

Because we're really late.

So if you want to ask a follow up to anybody, I have a follow up.

I asked the oh, follow it OK question.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you for giving me this opportunity.

Yeah, it's, it's very complicated to manage follow-ups.

So it that is why I'm, I'm, I have a real problem with the with the list.

So please try to about that.

But now you have the floor.

I much appreciate for giving.

[Other language spoken]

Who controls the Elhor camp in Syria?

Is ICS operating there?

[Other language spoken]

Oh, you have to be muted.

[Other language spoken]

Sorry.

The question was who controls the camp?

Who controls the Harold camp?

So it's the local administration and we are responsible for the field hospital, the ICS field hospital with the SARC, the Syrian Arabic Crescent and the number of services through contractors and also a collective kitchen that we run.

Thank you very much.

And before we leave complete the the COVID issue, although well we have some announcement on that.

I just wanted to give you the numbers that you have been asking to us.

Up to yesterday, we counted 111 confirmed cases of UN staff being positive to the virus, none of which are here in the UN Secretariat in Geneva.

We've sent you a note correspondent about that.

And I also wanted to let you know that this afternoon, the Secretary General will be giving a virtual press briefing on the global ceasefire report, the report that follows the appeal that the Secretary General had made a few days ago for a global ceasefire in the time of the pandemic.

And this is going to be on the report on the impact of this call.

That will be a 10 AM New York time and we'll send you.

The links in order to follow it at a distance so now I will yes now let's go back to the bar the bar you wanted to brief on Burkina Faso and Mali and then we will finish with the announcement bye bye thank you Alexandra just before that on Lisa's question of arrivals in Libya we are seeing some arrivals though the numbers are smaller Especially from Sudan no exact numbers at this stage to share I move on to Burkina Faso and Mali unicia the UN refugee agency remains extremely alarmed at growing insecurity in Burkina Faso which is driving thousands of people out of their homes every day Especially from Sudan, no exact numbers at this stage to share.

As violence has spread across the Sahel region, Burkina Faso has witnessed a massive displacement of more than 838,000 people since January 2019, a figure which keeps climbing each passing day.

The arrival of COVID has added a new element of insecurity into this mix.

Militant attacks have also affected some 25,000 Malian refugees who live in a remote court camps near the border of Burkina Faso and Mali.

Most of these refugees have now chosen to return home despite still facing insecurity inside Mali as well.

They're judging it was the lesser of two following the attacks and ultimatums by armed groups.

The Godobo refugee camp, recently home to some 9000 refugees, is now effectively empty as they have fled to seek safety elsewhere with the health centre and even the camp security post.

About half of the residents who reached GAO, Mopti and Timbuktu regions in Mali cited insecurity and armed attacks as the reason to leave and felt they had no other option but to return.

They arrived in Mali panicked, many with horror stories and arriving on rented trucks or camelbacks with their families.

The remaining half have moved to locations inside Burkina Faso.

[Other language spoken]

Many displaced Burkina BES in the town of Dori.

Let's not forget that the situation inside Mali remains volatile and does not allow many to return to their places of origin.

There's some more details in the note as well.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

Bear with me because of the technical issue that is very difficult to to manage sometimes.

I would like to also give the floor to Claire and Catherine.

And then we go for the final round of questions.

So, Claire, are you on the line?

Fine, Yes.

[Other language spoken]

You you want to go ahead or?

[Other language spoken]

I've just started my video, so you should be able to see me.

As you've all heard, the COP 26 UN Climate change Conference which had been scheduled for Glasgow at the end of this year has now been rescheduled for 20/21.

We've posted a web news on our website and obviously you've all seen the the official announcements, so which I won't go into into now.

I think our the underlying comment of the World Meteorological Organisation on this is that we need to continue and to step up climate action, even though, you know, obviously there is a big preoccupation with COVID at the moment.

To quote the WMO Secretary general, Petri Tallis, he's repeatedly stressed that the economic and industrial downturn as a result of coronavirus is not a substitute for sustained and sustainable cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

Past experience suggests that after there is a serious economic downturn, there is quite often a rapid upsurge in, you know, in carbon intensive economic activity.

And we need now to change that trajectory.

And to quote Mr Tallis again, COVID-19 has caused the global health and economic crisis, which we hope will be time limited.

Failure to reduce greenhouse gases and tackle climate change will have a negative impact on global economies, human living conditions and marine land and echo and marine and land ecosystems which may last for centuries.

We're talking about centuries here.

We're not talking about months or years.

We're talking about centuries.

As we know, carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for many, many decades.

It stays in the ocean for even longer.

So regardless of any cuts in CO2 emissions as as a result of, of COVID, the concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere is still ****.

So the levels that we're, you know, that we're seeing in key benchmark stations, there's one in Mauna Loa in Hawaii, there's one Cape Grim in in Tasmania, there's another one in in Tenerife.

They are all reporting CO2 levels, concentrations higher this year than last year.

So that's on the climate action.

Obviously, you know, many meetings such as COP have been cancelled.

One of those meetings which was cancelled for WMO was the Hurricane committee that should have been taking place this week in Panama.

Critical measures to prepare for the upcoming season and to review you know the the past season the lessons learnt from that so it's really critical operational issues other items which traditionally would have been on the agenda such as you know which names should be retired that was not considered it's the issue which Critical measures to prepare for the upcoming season and to review, you know, the, the past season, the lessons learnt from that.

It's the issue which grabs most media attention.

But in terms of operational safety, protecting human health, it's not, you know, it's, it's not top of the list.

So the decision is that any, you know, any announcement on which names to retire and obviously Dorian is the, is the main example here that will now be taken next year at the at the committee's meeting next year.

And in any event, those particular names on which the, the list on which Dorian was, they're not scheduled to reappear anyway till 2025.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Claire.

And on your first item, I would also like to remind the journalist that we have distributed a statement that the spokesperson for the Secretary General issued on the 1st of April on the postponement of COP 26, where he was saying that the generous, the Secretary General supports the decision of postponing the COP 26.

But also says, as Claire has just said, that we must continue to release our efforts to fight against this issue.

And if you haven't received it, we can distribute it again.

So now I'll end up with Anktad Catherine, my last speaker on the list.

And then we go to questions.

Catherine, that's latest Investment Policy Monitor shows that investment policy response to the COVID pandemic vary from country to country.

They include measures supporting investors and domestic economies in general and policies to protect critical domestic infrastructure and industries, particularly in the health sector.

For example, the Group of 20 and the Group of Seven, the G7 leading economies, as well as other groupings, have issued statements in support of investments and global value chains.

They are expected to have a lasting impact on future investment policy making.

At the same time, a further increase in measures related to the screening of foreign investment for national security reasons has been also observed.

So this document will be made available.

We, we will, I don't know if it's going to be ready today or Monday morning, but we'll send you a news item related to this, to this document.

Another document will deal with the digital challenges.

It's a, it's a mapping of digital challenges that are crucial in analysing the COVID-19 crisis and ultimately to take political action.

So, and this document will be made available today and we'll send it out through a news item and linking to the to the text.

So not surprisingly, the COVID-19 crisis accentuates the need for bridging the digital divide.

In addition to the sanitary crisis, it is disrupting economic and social life in multiple ways and dimensions.

This crisis is unfolding in a time characterised by rapid digitalization, which is helping the decision making process regarding response and adaptations to the situation by governments, businesses and consumers.

However, differences in digital readiness hamper the ability of large parts of the world to take advantage of these technologies.

The field that that are described are for instance, teleworking.

The increase in this teleworking and online conferences like we do now, the digital information sources, the the medical use of digital digital cure, the shift in consumption behaviour, the digital platforms, not all of them are are benefiting from the from the situation, protecting privacy, of course, and how to build the capacity to leverage digitalisation.

There are some policy lessons in this document too.

And we stay at your disposal, too.

At your disposal, of course, too, to put you in touch with any experts in these two fields to answer your questions.

[Other language spoken]

We go for the questions now.

[Other language spoken]

I've got Lisa on the line.

Lisa, you have the floor.

[Other language spoken]

Do we have you on the line?

I see your mic is unmuted and your hand is raised.

She must have a problem while we see if she comes back.

Anybody else has any questions?

[Other language spoken]

Sorry.

My technical problem on this end as well.

[Other language spoken]

I have a question for Baba, if you're still there.

[Other language spoken]

He is.

OK, Just very quickly, I I gathered that.

Well, let me ask you, is there any monitoring of the return of the Malians to their country to see whether they indeed are safe or do you have any people there able to help them in in any ways?

What information do you get?

And also, are any people from Burkina Faso fleeing to Molly?

I gathered that they are still fleeing their homes and and the number of displaced people internally is growing.

And do you have any information regarding COVID, the numbers in both countries?

[Other language spoken]

In terms of receiving refugees who are returning home in Mali, UNICR is there with the local authorities.

We have registered some 3000 returnees who have gone back to Gau Mukti and Timbuktu regions.

Inside there, we're also working with authorities and partners in providing returning refugees with shelter, relief items and cash to support their initial need.

But we're also working hand in hand with the authorities, also providing with needed health and hygiene equipment as part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As I was mentioning earlier, Mali is not secure as well and many of these returning refugees cannot return to their places of origin.

This was a hard decision for them to return back, and this decision is linked with insecurity inside Burkina Faso.

And in terms of the numbers, as far as I understand, I think our colleagues from the World Health Organisation probably are in a better place to tell about the overall number.

I understand in Burkina Faso we have over 200 cases and and over 30 inside Mali.

No reports of refugees or asylum seekers being affected so far.

But the situation is really fluid.

[Other language spoken]

Before I go to the next question, Tariq, you are on the line, I see.

Do you have anything to add?

Just the time to unmute you.

[Other language spoken]

Hello everyone from from WHO and, and and apologies for not having your camera.

We will try to have it next time.

I think we sent out the, the, the media advisory for today, it's 5:30 and we will have a director of International Monetary Fund with us.

Just give me a second and I'll give you a little bit more on that.

So basically Kristalina Georgieva, who is the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund will join press briefing today and she will be updating about the economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic and International Monetary Fund response.

So that's at 5:30 today.

One other thing I want to mention, you will get another, another media advisory today and just give me a second, OK.

So basically today we will send a media advisory on embargoed press launch of the State of the World's Nursing report.

So today you will get the report under embargo and the virtual press conference will be on Monday at 2O clock.

Basically, the report highlights the current status of nursing around the world with regional and country data.

And, and obviously it's, we know that nurses are on the front line in responding to pandemics such as COVID-19 and that most 59% of all health workers are nurses.

Yet there is an urgent shortage of nurses worldwide and we still need 5.9 million nurses, especially in low and middle income countries.

So today you will receive from Fidela media advisory with with the report under embargo and the, the press conference will take place so on, on the Monday at 2:00 and the embargo will be Monday night.

So that's, that's, that's for today.

But the press conference, regular COVID-19 press conference 5:30 today with a special guest managing director of IMF.

And Tarek, do you have anything to add to Barbara's answer to Lisa?

No, I don't have anything to add.

OK, thank you very much.

I think you also were asked in writing if I am correct about World Health Day on the 7th.

Am I right in the 7th April?

I don't know if there is anything you want to say about that.

Well, this is this is the, this is the year of the of the nurse and the midwife.

So this report is basically launched on the on that occasion.

OK, thank you very much.

Stay on the line please.

I've got two more journalists who want to take the floor, Gabriela and Antonio.

Gabriela, thank you very much.

My question is for Tariq.

We, we heard in a, in a press briefing with Akanu from the Chinese government that they were doing a combined testing in China once the the traditional one with laboratory and the other on antibodies on people who were not presented were presented symptoms, you know, not as symptomatic, but the people that were not presenting symptoms already.

So my question, I was surprised because this was not evident for me.

I mean, I didn't, I didn't know really well that this was happening.

So there are the other countries, for example, UK and another countries that want to, to test that kind of a rapid test, but they are saying that they don't have the, the, the, the real one.

I mean, the, the good one to make it.

So what, what are we not knowing about this rapid test in China?

What, what are they doing?

It's not clear to me.

[Other language spoken]

I think there are two different things that, that, that, that, that, that you are mentioning here.

1 is molecular testing versus serological testing for, for antibodies.

And, and, and that's serological tests is basically as we spoke last time is for the for people who have been who have been sick in the past.

So as I said that there are a number of of those tests that are being developed right now, but we wait for the independent evaluation of those and same goes for different tests.

Right now, the tests that have been have been sort of used around the world and WHO has been sending to more than 120 countries are tests that are using swab and PCR.

So these are not rapid tests.

We understand that there are some rapid tests, but all of these tests that are being produced around the world we think should be evaluated independently and then then will be supported by WHO.

So, so far, the tests that that are being done and that.

Have shown the maximum efficiency and reliability are PCR tests that are done in a laboratory.

Thank you very much.

And I have a last question from Antonio and then we wrap up.

I have a technical question for Tariq, because here in Geneva, of course, we are following the statistics of WHO about the number of COVID cases.

But many media now are using also the Johns Hopkins statistics, especially in the last days, because those statistics already passed the mark of 1,000,000, while WHO still has not reached this million cases.

So I, I want to know if you if W to consider these John Hopkins statistics reliable and if you are in contact with with this university to coordinate a little more the the numbers.

Well, you know, I understand that, that I understand that there are different numbers being published by different people around.

We from our side, what we publish is, is, is what we can verify what comes really from official sources, from the from the, from the countries.

We know that there is a, there is a delay.

But for, for us, it's important that, that, that the, the, the, the, the numbers that we get come from official sources.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

I think that this concludes our briefing.

I just wanted to mention that as you've seen on our list, the 4th of April, that is tomorrow is the International Day for Mine Awareness and assistance in Mine action.

We've sent you the message of the Secretary General in various languages.

And as you know, UNMAS is here in Geneva, has a, a liaison office and they are happy to answer your question if any.

So that is basically what I had for you.

If there are no other questions, which I don't see.

I would like to thank you very much for having been with us for this long briefing and wish you all the best for the weekend.

[Other language spoken]