Good morning, I'm Bonjour location the fellow PUA avec la press avec lectuality or museum Ojo du Vander de Ventnor, September journalist present on a Sal duplex area visit Labia museum at Akata Matan.
We have lots of topics to discuss as you've probably seen.
So from the Karabakh region to the Sahel to the migrant response in Europe.
We have from the Horn of Africa, Margaret Harris from the World Health Organisation and Ian Slaker from OCHER, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on level of aid worker security in Sudan and South Sudan, OHCHR, the Human Rights Office of the United Nations.
We'll also be here talking about environmental human rights defenders in Vietnam and from the Global Fund and Vason will be telling us about to Prep bring ushers ushering in a new era for women in HIV prevention in South Africa, which is very welcome news given the agenda that we have today.
And last but not least, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.
We'll be discussing tomorrow's International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, which probably hasn't escaped your notice.
But before that, we will go straight to Pascal SIM for a quick update from the third week of the Human Rights Council meeting here in Geneva.
The United Nations Human Rights Council is about to conclude its interactive dialogue on the Secretary General's report on reprisals with those who cooperate with the United Nations.
And we're about to hear the briefing of the President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, Ambassador Paula Narvaez.
Following this briefing, the Council will start its general debate under Item 5, which relates to human rights bodies and mechanism.
And this afternoon, the Human Rights Council will begin its item on the Universal Periodic Reviews.
You may remember that last May, 14 countries had their human rights record examined during the Universal Periodic Reviews.
And so this afternoon, we'll start with the UPR adoption of France, Tonga and Botswana.
We will continue on Monday morning with the UPR adoptions of Romania, Mali and Montenegro.
In the afternoon we'll go to the reports of Bahamas, Burundi and Luxembourg.
And on Tuesday morning we'll consider the UPR report's adoption of Barbados, the United Arab Emirates and Israel.
And in case you missed it, the expert mechanism on the rights of Indigenous people that you heard on Wednesday and yesterday will begin this coming Sunday, a 10 day mission to Australia, most specifically in the state of WA Details on these missions were shared this morning in a media advisory sent to you by e-mail.
If you didn't receive it, please let me know.
Thank you very much, Pascal.
And now quickly to David Hirsch from the ITU Telecommunications Union on the Radio Communication Assembly, which is happening mid November.
Yes, thank you Daniel for that.
Media registration has indeed been open for the World Radio Communication Conference 2023 and the Radio Communication Assembly.
Both events will take place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
I'll read out the dates for For folks.
Radio Communication Assembly will be 13 to 17 November and following that World Radio Communication World Radio Communication Conference will be from 20N through 15 December.
The World Radio Communication Conferences are held by ITU every three to four years to review and if necessary, to revise the Radio Regulations, the international treaty governing the use of the radio frequency spectrum as well as geostationary and non geostationary satellite satellite orbits.
Radio Communications Assemblies are responsible for establishing the structure, working methods and programme of the ITU radio communications sector and approving ITU recommendation.
A media advisory was sent out yesterday.
If anyone did not receive it, please let us know through press info@itu.in.
TI will remark that the UN accredited reporters will just need to notify our office if they intend to cover the event from Dubai and they will be automatically approved for registration.
But we do ask that you let us know in advance so that we can prepare that and please also to note any sort of visa requirements that might be there in for that event.
Thank you very much, David, for that heads up.
It seems like it's a long way off, but actually November is isn't that far off at all, is it?
So registrations, registrations now if you are interested in following the 2023 IT Radio Communication Assembly.
So now let's move on to the Karabakh region and the crisis there, the humanitarian crisis, and hopefully on the line we have from the UN Refugee Agency.
Kavita Balani, you are the Unhcr's representative in Armenia calling us from Yerevan.
So thank you very much for being with us.
And if you'd like to give a few quick opening statements, if you could, because we have a long list of speakers.
So maybe just limit it to a couple of minutes, if you don't mind.
And then journalists will, I'm sure, want to ask questions.
So thank you for the flow reporting from UNHCR Armenia.
Here we would like to provide an update on the current situation of the of over 88,000 refugees who have arrived so far with over 63,000 currently already registered by the government of Armenia.
The numbers are increasing as we speak and and their needs are also really increasing.
The registration and the reception process is quite well managed by the government and of course there are huge crowds at the registration centres, there's congestion simply because the sheer numbers are very ****.
The humanitarian community, including the Armenian Red Cross and UNHCR, is working very closely with the government at the registration centres and other UN agencies and NGOs are also rallying around to provide any support they can't.
The government has also established registration centres at the humanitarian centres in the various regions, almost 10 of them.
And the and these registration centres will ensure that those who did not register earlier either because of the congestion or or because they they just drove past Gori's registration centre would be would be supported there.
UNACR has also supported the government with technical equipment for registration and so have other UN agencies in terms of mattresses, foldable beds and foldable beds and other NFI items at the registration centres.
Various organisations, UN agencies and the Red Cross are setting up tents to support the communities with hot meals, play area information, information on where to go for accommodation etcetera.
In terms of what are the most urgent needs, psychosocial support because people are arriving very tired.
People are also in need of some medicines, especially those who are chronically I'll shelter needs.
And the sheer number of people arriving has really constrained the current government ability to provide temporary shelter to everybody.
And schools have also been turned into shelters.
I was there from day one and you could see it was very overcrowded with lots of, lots of people.
Also in Goris, you know, there were journalists, there were the international community, the local and used hotels had no rooms anymore.
So the government also started opening up one or two schools and and therefore NFI core relief items such as bed mattresses, they became very important in order to set up some temporary accommodation.
Also support to the extremely vulnerable persons such as the single headed households, elderly women, separated children.
The the needs are just increasing.
In terms of Unhcr's response, we are leading the interagency refugee response and coordination to complement the Government of Armenia's efforts.
The response plan is being finalised and will be released soon and an appeal will will will follow the the response plan covers 5 sectors essentially health, food protection and FI shelter and also a resilience component the humanitarian development access.
Now we have to remember that that given the response plans is only for six months, the UN is already thinking of medium and long term plans together with our partners, our humanitarian and development partners to support the government in the long term integration of these of these people.
The government of Armenia I must say is really doing all she can to support the current situation and she's working closely with the national and the international community as well.
The preparedness of the government in terms of registration and the associated support to those who are arriving is really commendable.
However, they are also challenged with meeting the extensive and increasing needs of the very **** number of arrivals.
Challenges remain in providing accommodation for all, meeting their their medical needs and also following up on the identification of vulnerabilities and their associated support.
I'll stop that for now, if that's all right.
Thank you very much indeed.
We have a couple of questions that I see Jamie Keaton from AP Jamie, can you hear me?
Thank you for that presentation.
Could you just clarify the figure that you gave on the number of refugees coming out of Karabakh across the border because we heard 84,000, so you, you said 88, I believe.
Could you just tell us where you're getting that?
OK, as at 10 AM this morning, the figure of people arriving is 88,780.
These are government statistics that we get from there from from them.
But the number of registration done as of 10 AM this morning is 63,483.
There's a, there's a long line of waiting for registration as well.
So because of congestion, not everybody's been registered in Goris, Some prefer to drive on to the second region, which is Wyatt's or there's another registration centre in Wyatt or others can also start, start approaching the the humanitarian centres in the different municipalities.
There are 63 of them to facilitate their registration and assistance.
Hope that answers your question.
Jamie Antonio from SA, thank you.
So these 88,000 means that like 2/3 of population of Nagorno Karabakh is already living.
Do you agree with the the comments of the Armenian government that that territory is empty?
You know of of Armenians?
What are the consequences of that?
And do you agree with the definition of this Assad as an ethnic cleansing, as the president of Armenia said?
This, no, this is a refugee situation to to UNHCR with a clear mandate for UNHCR to support the Armenian government to coordinate the the response.
And in terms of whether it's an ethnic cleansing or not, I think OHCHR is best placed to answer that that question really.
Jeremy is on the line due to speak later, but a few more questions first.
Lisa Shrine, Voice of America.
Thank you and thank you, Miss Delania.
I'd like you to perhaps humanise this situation a bit more by describing the condition of the people who are actually arriving.
But what what is the situation that they have encountered in, in fleeing, I guess spontaneously and momentarily from there?
Have you come across unaccompanied children as well?
Are there separated families?
And what is happening in that score in terms of trying to reconcile them with their families?
I can give you the picture.
I was on ground from day one when the first group arrived.
I'll give you an example.
I was the first person to receive an old grandma who came in with a daughter and her three children.
If they were exhausted, they were tired, they were frightened, they did not know what to expect.
You know, they were hungry and they were in need of warm clothes and you know, when they were taken to the government registration centre, they were very well received Armenian Red Cross, Ozone Brown together with UNACR, they were offered psychosocial counselling and, and you know, some, some, some snacks and some drinks.
And you know, they and, and also later on what what I saw was, for example, there are separated children who are coming.
We have received reports and UNICEF is closely following up on the number of separated children who have arrived.
And many of them have also been united with their families.
This is a situation where they've lived under nine months of blockade.
It's not something that has just happened where you pick up and you go, they've suffered nine months of blockade already.
And when they come in, they're full of anxiety.
They are scared, they're frightened and they want answers.
They want answers as to what's going to happen next.
I'm in a temporary shelter like this, like this elderly woman asked me.
I will be given a house temporarily.
Can we stay here for some time?
There are also questions that are being asked about compensation for the houses that they've left behind, including whether they would be able to return to, to their, to their houses and, you know, at least to pick up their, their, their, their, their, their goods, because many also arrived with very little luggage.
People are also worried about the education of their children.
How will they be integrated?
They understand that the, that the current schools in, in, in Armenia, you know, may be, may be really impacted.
There may be not enough chairs and maybe not enough tables and, and, and facilities, whether it's medicines, whether it's schoolbooks.
So therefore the need for the humanitarian community to support the our interventions and the donor community to support is really essential.
People are really worried.
I mean, my colleague from the, from the Red Cross, I think Hisham is online.
He would also be able to tell you of his experience.
Armenian Red Cross was right there.
People are unsure about what to expect now.
Many did not want to talk.
Many did not want to talk about what happened to them in NK or if they were, you know, you know, they were just, they just wanted to settle down.
They were afraid and you know, not knowing what the future would bring.
I mean a normal 2-3 hours journey took them 8 hours on the first day itself.
So they were really tired.
So I think this is the time where you know, the human, where the donor community must come together, international solidarity and burden sharing and help the government of Armenia in this, and not just for the short acute term, but for medium and long term as well.
Hope that answers your question, Emma.
Thank you very much indeed.
And there was mention of genocide in one of the questions.
And so I'll just flag quickly that the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide yesterday reiterated her strong concern over the ongoing situation in the region, where she said that images of people leaving owing to a fear of identity based violence were very alarming indeed.
Called on all efforts to be made to ensure that the protection of people and their rights of the, in particular of the ethnic Armenian population who remain in the area and also for those who've been left.
She stressed that the protection and equal rights of minorities were a cornerstone of international human rights law and must be insured.
You mentioned how many had already come.
How many are you expecting and planning for?
Do you expect all of the Armenians to enter Armenia?
It's very difficult to to say how many would come.
I mean, when you know, our planning figures as the as the UN and the humanitarian community here is from 70,000 to up to 90,000 if more rights we are ready to serve.
I mean, obviously right now we are dealing with over 80,000.
So definitely that figure needs to be adjusted as well.
But we are ready to cope for up to 120,000.
It's very hard to predict how many will come at this juncture.
The situation is evolving so quickly as well.
Thank you very much indeed.
I'm going to pass the the microphone now to Hitcham Diab, who is from the IFIC and also joining us from Yorvan.
So Mr Diab, if you're with us, yes, can you hear me?
If I could ask you to be brief in your opening comments so that the journalists and have a good **** at asking you some questions.
And I'm going to try also to to share some of the observations on the situation.
So first of all, the International Federation of Red Cross and its member national society, the Armenian Red Cross, who are on the front line and with the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement partners have activated the contingency plans related to the scenario of escalation of facilities.
As an expected reaction, more than 150 Armenian Red Cross staff and volunteers were mobilised and positioned at the registration point established by the relevant authorities, even before people started to be on the move or crossing into Armenia.
10s of thousands have recently arrived in Armenia as we all know, many of them women, children and elderly.
They are tired, cold, hungry.
For many, our teams are some of the first they are they see at reception points.
I mean Red Cross have been working around the clock providing food, water, first aid and mental support as well as linking lost loved ones.
Just on the observation, so I want to take a moment and share an observation from also very early field visits on the to the to one of the registration point at least.
And mainly the condition of the people after severe hardship days following the recent developments and their old journey that is full of risks, fear, anxiety.
It was so evident on everyone, children, men, women, elderly.
The expressions of on the faces of those who walk into the registration points speaks speak volumes.
Each face tells a story of hardship but also of hope knowing they are in a place where they can receive eight.
People coming in are so fatigued they don't have actually the words to express themselves.
But when they see our Red Cross volunteers, their eyes say it all.
Here they feel safe and here they feel trust.
Our Red Cross volunteers are trained to work under challenging conditions and our volunteers cater to nearly hundreds of individuals daily.
Since the population movement started offering both aid and emotional support, so many volunteers are absorbing an overwhelming experience while providing first hand assistance.
The situation is that families arriving with children that are so weak and even faded in the hands of their parents or sort of some of them are dropped straight away in the hands of the Armenian Red Cross staff or a volunteer, which requires a lot of strength to bear.
Such a recurring situation with every other family arriving and we are actually very much looking closely to this healthcare related to our people on the ground because they are as important as any other beneficiary to continue serve.
It feels like people actually affected reach the finish line of a marathon and and really like crushing on the spot when they reach a registration point, which I personally have not seen really before in in many other places.
One more observation, but more about the host community.
They, they really spared no time and joined forces.
I'm talking about the host community especially that are within the proximity of the registration points.
They, they assembled tents, they brought what food they had at home.
Grocery owners relocated their stock to to A to a tent for free distribution just next to the registration point to supplement ready to eat food or water for people to drink, in addition to providing fuel for vehicles of the population on the move to be able to drive the next few miles to a designated shelter.
This is really true of humanity and it's local and where the Red Cross comes from.
Let's not forget that those who are really still in the affected regions face severe challenges.
Unfortunately, the conflict has exhibited existing vulnerabilities.
Essential goods and services are scarce and theoretical services like hospitals are stretched thin.
The resilience of these communities is being tested.
There is a massive need for mental health and psychosocial support, which is an essential part of our response.
Armenian Red Cross volunteers have been trained to comfort people and help them cope with traumatic events.
As the weather is, as the weather is getting colder, shelter is becoming I think the most critical need for vulnerable families.
Most are saying an emergency is staying in emergency shelters or with host families possibly, but more long term solutions are needed.
Armenian Red Cross teams are helping with the registrations and preparing to distribute essential household items among those staying at temporary shelters.
As thousands more continue to cross into Armenia, IFRCICRC and the Armenian Red Cross continue to scale up the response to support people right now.
But the humanitarian needs are going are only growing and we cannot do it alone.
For sure, the next steps for many people who are displaced are daunting.
Once people leave our immediate care, they will need further support as they navigate the many questions of settling somewhere new.
As I ever see, we already planning for the future, aligning our resources for an extended response so we can offer more sustained support for communities.
We don't really come and go and, and this is one of our really motto our our volunteers, the the operating national society similar to Armenian Red Cross, they are part of the society.
So, so we stay because our volunteers are the very fabric of these communities.
We call upon governments, international organisations and each of you in the media to help us amplify the situation and mobilise the resources required.
And lastly to stay to say is that we, we really stand committed to address these urgent needs.
We have already allocated disaster relief emergency funds for approximately half a million Swiss franc to to be able to really do the necessary rapid response as we speak and launching already an emergency appeal for 20 million Swiss franc, which is equivalent to 21 million U.S.
dollars to support the response.
This will facilitate us in providing immediate relief, but also offer support in the long term, the longer term for these communities and to the resilient people affected, to the many people I met at the centre who are looking for the loved ones, the Red Cross and Red Crescent community is here with you and for you.
I see a question in the room.
Would you like to put your mic on and introduce yourself, please?
My question will be about for UNHCR.
I was going to ask that before.
If she's still online, I can answer my question.
Yeah, I think Miss Balani is still on the line.
As you said, many Armenians ****** to their country, many people ****** to Armenia.
Has any mistreatment recorded against these people while they are moving?
Sorry, if I understood the question you're asking me is if we are collecting information on mistreatment or of what people faced in Nagorno Karabakh.
Sorry, I think the question was when, when, when they were on the move.
I know there so far there are no, there are no recorded incidents.
There's no reported incidences of any mistreatment.
Of course, I mean the, the long journey and the tired journey and the congestion, it's difficult for people.
But no, there have been no reported cases of any mistreatment by the Azeris.
Maybe, maybe others who have experienced that could, could share, but not to us.
And we also have protection monitoring being conducted at the Goris Registration Centre, also in Courtney, Zor when people first arrived.
And we did ask the question about how people's journey was and everybody said that they were allowed to leave at the Latin corridor.
They were allowed to leave quite freely and nobody shared instances of being of being harassed.
I think that answers your question.
I can't see any other questions in the room for, for you, Mr Diab.
But could I ask both speakers in Yerevan to share their notes, please with the journalists via via Eunice?
That would be very helpful.
We do have from the Red Cross next to me Carlos Morazani, Operations Manager with an update on the ICRC response in the region.
Yes, hello, thank you so much.
I, I lead the ICRC or the International Committee of the Red Cross operations across the region, notably through the latching corridor and most recently I was in in the city that most of the some people call it Stepanakar and other people call others call Hank Ending.
The priority of the International Committee of the Red Cross in recent days has been on life saving activities, including the transfer of the wounded to hospitals into Armenia for treatment, bringing in medical supplies.
Over the past week we have transferred around 130 people for medical care and after the explosion, not all of you.
So we increase our engagement with all regional authorities with the aim to to ensuring medical evacuation that could take place to reduce the suffering and increase care as much as possible.
Another important element of our work right now is working to ensure the dignified management of the dead.
The local infrastructure didn't have the capacity to have such large influx of of bodies in that we have seen in the recent dates.
So just yesterday we transferred nearly 200 bodies, people who died from either the accident this week or the recent fighting.
We do this in our capacity as a neutral intermediary this week, working on humanitarian grounds.
We've been negotiating constantly to ensure this kind of work happens because ensuring that families can bury their their dead, their loved ones, their relatives know in the end what happened to them so they aren't left wondering, waiting and hoping is an important part of our emotional closure or this emotional closure in in this type of situations.
Going forward, a big part of our work will be for ensuring that people left behind our care of we had been planning for evacuations to be a longer process.
The evacuations this week have have gone very, very fast, very **** numbers of people.
But as a result of that many people becoming stranded.
So we're working to ensure that those people have the basics, food hygiene items, ensuring that those who want to travel can do so safely.
We are distributing food in urban areas, but also we are moving into the more rural areas, to the rural villages to check on residents, people who also stay there.
And another important aspect of our work always, but most especially now with this or with such big some movement of people will be working to reunite separated families.
When mass movements of people take place, people get separated, leading to real emotional distress.
So the International Committee of the Red Cross is committed to remaining in this region to ensure humanitarian needs are being met.
We are the only humanitarian organisation that has been operating in this region, notably through the latching corridor area and overall we have a long standing presence of 30 plus years moving from 1 area to another in the region wherever the highest needs are and will continue to be there in the coming months.
Thanks very much, Mr Martyni.
I'm just looking for questions in the room.
I think, I think we've exhausted all questions today, but thank you very much for being here.
And please again, do share your notes so that we can disband online.
So we're going to move on to our next Daniel online.
So were there any questions online?
Ah, Lisa, would you just stay with me for a second?
And I see John Zaracostas as well.
James, since I see you, could you speak about what?
UNICEF maybe, maybe you were planning to do this and I'm jumping the gun.
But what is the situation with children and women, those who have have fled to to Armenia and perhaps those who are still left behind in Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh?
If you would just talk about what their condition is and what you're doing for them.
Not jumping the gun at all.
And very opportune timing because on my left, because on my left, Lisa is UNICEF's Regional Director for Central Asia and Eastern Europe.
She's going to brief after this on migration and the Central Mediterranean route, but has of course been working tirelessly on this issue.
Thank you very much, Lisa, for the question.
So we know that the arrival, we have heard the number from the colleague of UNSCR, approximately 30% of those are children and the major, major concern for us is the many of them have been separated by their family.
So we are working in providing first of all psychosocial support and working with the ministry ministries and local authority as well to make sure that family tracing is done immediately and family care reunite.
We have set up already a child friendly space in Goris.
We have presence as the COREG from UNICR.
We were there since the first day.
Mobile paediatric units are being mobilised across the country as per needs, as the colleague again of UNICIA.
As mentioned on education, we are already mobilising.
The Ministry of Education of Armenia has already opened the school to the children arriving, but of course there will be an issue or linked to space.
So we are also providing supplies in that respect and looking with the ministry.
And what could be the plan to accommodate the highest number?
Where is the from the other side?
Also, the Azerbaijani UNICEF team is working very closely with the rest of the UN country team.
And of course, we don't have direct access in the area, but, you know, there are developments that are, you know, like a positive on which we are working with the government of Azerbaijan.
And ICRC is, as was mentioned before, one of the key partner that has been able to have access.
So we confront our notes and we are ready also on that side with supplies.
Thank you very much indeed.
John Zaracostas, France Francate Yes, good morning.
My question is to the gentleman from the ICRCI, was wondering, so you just mentioned the 200 bodies that you've recovered.
Do you have any signs whether they were signs of war crimes in some of these bodies?
Were they civilians or combatants?
And also what is the situation in the enclave given the nine months blockade?
What are the conditions for hospitals, schools, etcetera in that region?
Yeah, thank you so much for this.
On the question of the bodies, they they were coming from basically from these are dead bodies from the fighting, also from the accident.
There were a lot of people also on the hundreds that died from from from the accident as well.
So then I would focus it's on on, on a dignify management of the dead that also these are human beings, they are properly respected, they are well managed with all the dignity and that can then be transferred and then turning back to their family.
So they can have also a proper burial and a proper culture.
So our activities, our engagement with focus in this day has been in in that sense.
And as you know, our focus here is, is on the humanitarian side.
Then in terms of right of if you see any atrocities of war crimes or so on, this is are the task more for human rights bodies or is a more political nature part that we are not focusing on, it's a purely humanitarian focus which is what is created right now.
Then on the situation inside, well have been a complete change because until the the the, let's say this latest military escalation that is starting on the 18th of September, as you just said, there were a lot of restrictions and life.
Basically the availability of the very basic things, elements that you need for your life like access to medical service, access to proper treatments, access to, to, to a complete range of, of food and of the basic, other basic service for your life.
Like it's, it was something that has been basically being affected progressively in, in the latest month.
And then all of the sudden it changed after the military escalation, you had a heightened impact because those restrictions were already there.
And then you have the immediate consequences of the fighting.
You have death, you have injury.
And then it's a challenge then how to care for the wounded when you are in such conditions.
And basically we very, from the very beginning, even in the day of the fighting, our teens were out there and they delivered medical kits to the hospitals.
And in order to ensure that the wounded that were already flowing into the hospital were basically careful.
And very quickly from the next day, we started to evacuating wounded also from rural areas to, to, to the city to the rural urban areas in order to continue treatment.
And very quickly as well, we're starting working to facilitate the the transfer of those wounded who needed critical, also life saving treatment back into Armenia.
So this was a very much focus.
And as you just said is thank you for putting that because you have to see what happened after the 18th of September, even if it was one day of fighting that had a heightened component given the the already dire humanitarian situation that was already on the ground.
And you just mentioned we, we were ready and we were starting to flow in foot.
Probably you have seen in the news, we started to, to bring around 70 tonnes of food, very basic components to bring to prepare bread.
This is a basic staple and then massive equations starting to happen.
So all of the sudden the, the, the focus shifted in, in, in not the need to to to food or to feed thousands of peoples inside these urban and rural areas.
Where is how to ensure that these people are moving, moving if they want to do so in a freeway in a respective way.
And then we can also all along the process, you have seen how, how many hours it takes to, to, to take that road that also during that time they are also they can have access to the very best because it's as I will call you for the federation said it's a, it's a lot of hardship there in a, in an environment that was already very much affected by by the situation.
And so this has been kind of a heightened focus that we have been working on inside and along the road.
And then also with with our colleagues of the International Committee of the crossing in Armenia.
I don't see any other questions.
I hope that's answered your question, John.
To move back to Regina de Dominicis, who is the regional director for the UN Children's Fund for Europe and Central Asia.
You're also the special coordinator for the refugee and migrant response in Europe, which is obviously in the news all the time, but particularly at the moment.
So next week we'll mark a decade since a tragic shipwreck off the coast of Lampedusa killed 100 of people, including children.
The tragedy should have been a watershed moment, an opportunity to put in place policies to prevent such a horrific event from happening again in the Europe, on the European shores, he said.
Unfortunately, the Mediterranean has become a cemetery for children and for their future.
Policies today prevent an effective and coordinated search and rescue at sea.
Policies today unfortunately have left many countries and communities in managing migration and asylum alone and no country could manage this alone and nor should they.
These policies are driven by a lack of collaboration, cooperation as well as political leadership and the impact of which is a tragedy for children.
This summer we saw a tripling number of children and adults dying on the Central Mediterranean Sea migration route compared to the last summer, but places of departure.
Unfortunate children are placed on overcrowded dinghies, iron barges and shoddy fishing boats wildly unsuitable for navigating the poor weather conditions.
Some are placed on in the hold of the ship and they suffer unfortunately unimaginable consequences when boats are capsized and leaving no chance of survival.
But we must be clear, children are not dying just because the both are unseaworthy.
They are dying because of policy choices and it is government hands now to prevent these deaths.
The European Union is currently rewriting the way migration and asylum is managed in Europe, and they have choices Member states ongoing debate on the European Union Pact on migration and Asylum present an immediate opportunity to affirm and uphold key child protection principles.
Together we must develop policies that address violation of children rights in countries of departure.
In France, it and other rival UNICEF is calling for children best interest to the central to be the central consideration in asylum procedures and decision about their care and their protection.
More social worker are needed in the reception centre, more support is needed at disembarkation areas to identify children who need specialised care, and safer and legal pathways are needed for children to seek asylum and safety in Europe.
This year more than 11,600 children have crossed the Central Mediterranean Sea to Italy without their parents or legal guardians, and this is an increase of 60% compared to this time last year.
Thousand more children alone.
It is a matter of policy choice to protect them and honour them.
And all children will seek asylum and safety in Europe in the future.
Yes, I think that is a clear message.
I don't see how you could argue with that.
So let's see if there are any questions online.
John from France Vancat, would you like to ask your question?
Thanks for this briefing.
You said that the number of children has increased by 60%.
From what countries do you know that these children are coming?
If you can elaborate on that.
Thank you very much indeed.
The majority of children are coming from from this summer, at least registration that is still ongoing from Western Africa and Eastern Africa in particular.
When we think about the number of children that are already hosted in reception centre in Italy, the number is 21,700 that are in reception centre right now.
The first nationality is Egyptian and then in reception centre, of course, we have children that come from other route.
But if we focus on the Mediterranean, Egyptian, Tunisian and Guinean in reception centre and arrival registered during this summer mainly from Western Africa.
I think that answers your question, Peter.
The first one is on the on the children themselves.
Do you have any more details on the age, average age that they are?
What's the youngest inner compound children that, that, that you, that you registered And, and I would like to know also the EU yesterday agreed.
It seems that the EU members agreed yesterday to, to put migrants even more longer in the detention centres in case of a, of a, of a crisis.
That's what been agreed yesterday in Brussels.
I would like to know, according to UNICEF, do you think that's the the way forward?
Thank you for the question.
There are children of different age group depending if accompanied or known accompanied that the smaller children age comes with, usually with mothers.
And unfortunately again, I would like to underline that this summer we have registered only between June and August.
Of course, government register, but we monitor and work closely with them.
An estimate of 11 deaths of children per week when it comes to the average of age of unaccompanied mire is between the 14 and 17 of age when it comes to the detention.
Of course, the UNICEF sticks to his mandate.
And for us, the tension for minor, it's definitely something that doesn't align with the how we see the standard on migration dealing with minor.
And even in reception centre, we like to see the reception centre open and in some of the cases it is not.
The youngest unaccompanied child we saw to Lampedusa was three years old.
Not much to say about that.
So that's a shocking to take in, but thank you very much indeed for coming to tell us about the policy recommendations.
Yes, thank you very much.
Regina, I'm a bit puzzled with the numbers.
Are you saying that totally there are 21,000 miners in Italian reception centres from this year, last year and I don't know how long they usually stay?
And are you saying that out of the 21,000 the biggest group is Egyptians?
And then did you just say that you only register in June and from June to August and that normally it's the the local authorities that register?
Would you then have a figure of so does the 21,000 refer only to the ones registered by UNICEF or is that the total number of minors in Italian reception centres?
Thank you for the question.
So more than 21,700 unaccompanied children across Italy, unaccompanied children across Italy are now a reception facility?
So last year unaccompanied children across Italy, a reception facility, were 17,700 a year ago and this year 21,700.
Those are the official statistics of the Ministry of Interior and if you look at the Ministry of Interior latest statistic on nationality in reception centre, Egyptian rank amongst the higher.
We will be happy to share with you the detail of the breakdown and without.
So yeah, I think I, I reply to this main question to clarify the 21,700 unaccompanied.
We have that breakdown by statistics and of course I mean the government registers, we are in the field and we work together with them.
But what I'm using our official statistics from the Ministry of Interior.
I hope I I clarified, but we are ready to share with you all the detail and break breakdown of data.
Thank you very much indeed.
I, I believe that does give us a pretty comprehensive answer.
Thank you very much for joining us today.
Thank you James for coming in as well.
OK, so moving on now to the World Health Organisation.
The UN health agency is issuing an alert about the situation in South Sudan.
And to tell us about it, I have online Doctor Margaret Harris and also Doctor Elizabeth Albrecht from Nairobi.
I don't know, Margaret, if you'd like to introduce your guest or indeed if Doctor Albrecht, if you're there, then why not?
Why don't you pick up the the baton over to you?
If you want to go first, oh, well, apologies, I was having a struggle with the unmute.
But I just want to say Doctor Elizabeth Albrecht is our incident manager for the Horn of Africa, has been dealing with the dire situation down there and has just come back from South Sudan.
And over to you, Elizabeth.
Good morning to you all in Geneva.
And so greetings from Nairobi, where indeed I've just come back from a mission to South Sudan.
South Sudan, definitely a country where you see the overlap of conflict, climate crisis, hunger crisis, disease outbreaks and, and how they they compound these impacts compound been going on for several years.
3 in 4 S Sudanese need humanitarian assistance.
2 out of 3 S Sudanese are facing crisis levels of hunger.
We have just heard from our colleagues and thanks for that.
The hardship of of that people face when they have to leave their home, when they're forced to leave their home in South Sudan, out of the 12 million people, 2 million people are displaced, one and a half million within the country.
They had to flee from conflict, from flooding.
The country hosts more than 300,000 refugees from neighbouring countries and and has seen many return from having been refugees for years abroad.
And these numbers are only getting worse.
For example, this year 500,000 more S Sudanese needed humanitarian systems compared to last year.
But what what I also would like to mention as representing who is that this year we have seen some of the highest number of children who are severely malnourished and and so need medical attention arriving to the facilities.
These these are the highest numbers in the last four years.
And what we are particularly concerned about is that now with the onset of El Nino, which is a fact, South Sudan is actually going to get the worst of both.
You know, El Nino can cause excess rains or can cause also drought like conditions.
And in South Sudan, they're likely in different areas of the country to see both and, and for sure, flooding and hunger and, and drought will increase hunger even further, but it's also very likely to increase the risk of mosquito borne diseases, especially malaria and dengue and VOSA borne diseases.
And I would just like to remind you that in in South Sudan, malaria is already one of the main killers.
It's it's among the five main causes of death.
And according to the world malaria report, they say that in South Sudan, 20 people still die every day of malaria.
I visited been to the the the capital of Unity state in in the north, an area which was strongly hit by by floods in over the past few years and which actually where the water has just not receded.
And I also visited with my colleagues on facilities in Juba.
And I wanted to share with you when I walked into one of these stabilisation centres, the stabilisation centre is basically a medical facilities or a ward of a hospital with, with medical staff where non mothers and fathers, by the way, will bring their severely malnourished children when they are also sick when at the same time they have measles or diarrhoea or malaria.
And so we, we walked through the ward and we saw all these these mums sitting on the beds with their kids.
And I saw commotion in one of the corners of that ward where mum was, was holding her baby and the doctors were, were trying to resuscitate the baby and, and the baby passed away in front of our eyes.
And the reason why I'm, I'm sharing that with you today is to, to just remind us that, you know, I've, I've, I've quote figures, I, I give you percentages, but that behind all these, these figures, there are, there are these faces.
And standing there as a, as a bystander and, and watching this child die of hunger and of preventable diseases, even after doing medical humanitarian work for 25 years now, it does remain one of the most difficult things to do.
And I want to also insist this is not anecdotal.
It didn't just happen to be a coincidence that I was there and a child died in, I was told in that facility alone, two children still die every day.
We don't have to be bystanders.
And, and that's also what I wanted to to share with you.
We can do something about it and we are doing something.
I saw amazing work being done by by the people on the ground, especially by those health workers that have gone through crisis after crisis.
I also want to highlight the work that WHO is doing.
We are supporting the Ministry of Health and more than 100 partners, local partners, international partners, for example, with medical supplies.
This year alone, we we have distributed 125 metric tonnes of of these health emergency kids.
We train the health workers to make sure they can, they know how to treat the severely malnourished kids with their illnesses.
And at the same time as W2, we also provide Technical Support to work on nutrition guidelines and, and, and policies.
And another important fact I want to mention is that ever since the Sudan conflict began, we have seen a large inflow of refugees and returnees into South Sudan.
In fact a one out of four of all the people who have fled Sudan, the 1.2 million people have fled Sudan, are hosted now back into South Sudan.
And with the refugees, many of of whom had had missed out on immunisation, we saw quite an increase in measles cases.
Actually by early July, the measles cases that had jumped by 400%.
And this outbreak is on track of being actually one of the largest in South Sudan in the past decade.
And, and, and measles vaccination was immediately integrated into the emergency response upon arrival of these refugees and returnees.
And actually, it allowed us to stem the outbreak and to prevent more, more deaths and more cases.
W2 has supported the implementation of these kind of reactive vaccination outbreaks, but also national measles outbreaks in the country.
And so far in 2023 alone, I think like I know more than 3.6 million people have been vaccinated.
Dr Albrecht, can I, can I just ask, can I just jump in there?
It's just that we have some questions.
And I'm, I'm anxious that the journalists stay with us.
John, your hand has been up for a while.
And if you have a question, we also have Jens who, who will also, I hope, jump in about levels of funding for South Sudan and Sudan.
So please, if you have a question that's related to to either the UN health agency or the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, please ask it.
Can you hear me there, Daniel?
I was wondering if you could tell us, you mentioned the severe acute malnutrition is very dire in South Sudan.
How many children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition at the moment and how much has this been an increase from last year and how many children are being treated in the health centres that you've been helping personnel being trained?
So this year accumulated that's as as of the end of June, you know there's also this of course difficulties to get up to date figures.
So almost 150,000 children were admitted for management of severe acute malnutrition.
And so the highest number recorded was in in one month alone was in May 2023 when 31,000 children were admitted.
I hope that answers your question.
So I'm going to just pass over to Jens, Jens Laca from the from OCHA.
There's an acronym for you go Jens.
Thank you very much, Danielle, and good morning, everyone.
I, I wanted to say just a little bit of, of context to what we've just heard from South Sudan, but also on Sudan itself, neighbouring country, which is a, a crisis that I think it's fair to say it's probably the most underserved crisis in the world today.
Why we are currently reaching 3 and a half million people with aid, but there are 18 million people in need of aid and there are so many struggles getting them that aid.
So I, I wanted to include that I have a note the quite a number of numbers in there and I will send it to you immediately after the briefing.
So let me start with the situation for for our colleagues working out there, namely aid worker security.
South Sudan and Sudan are the world's most dangerous countries for aid workers.
Today, of 71 aid workers aid worker deaths recorded so far this year, 22 were working in South Sudan and 19 in Sudan, according to the Aid Worker Security Database, which is a a network of data collectors.
So almost 6 out of 10 deaths among aid workers are in those two countries alone.
The victims are overwhelmingly local humanitarians working on the front lines of the response.
Attacks on aid workers and aid facilities are violations of international humanitarian law and we insist that perpetrators must be held accountable.
Part is true, conflict such as the one we are seeing in Sudan have an obligation to respect the laws of war without exceptions.
I also want to say a word on the funding levels of Sudan and South Sudan, both struggling with on the funding.
So just on the numbers, the 2023 Humanitarian Response plan for Sudan requires 2.6 billion dollars in funding.
As of today, we have received 813 million or 32% of the total.
Just to the South in South Sudan, the response plan there this year requires $1.7 billion in funding.
As of today, it's slightly better funded at 53%.
Now the top donors of both response plans accounting for 75% of the funding we have gotten for those are three, three donors, the United States, the European Union and the Central Emergency Response Fund, which is a multi donor fund but considered as one funder.
Now we know that historically we will likely reach half of the annual amount that we're asking for this year, which currently stands at 56 billion.
We're currently have currently received 17 billion.
So about 1/3 or so we hope to reach half.
But that is frankly a sad projection, isn't it, that we're asking for this much.
There's so many people who need aid and we are just getting half of the money.
Now we fear that next year will be even worse.
Because two of the three top donors that I, I, I've just mentioned, namely the United States and the European Union, has both warned us that they expect funding cuts to that next year.
In actual fact, most of the funding on, on a global level comes from just five donors.
65% of the funding we receive is just from 5 donors.
That is of course a problem.
It's a problem that the that the donor base is too narrow.
So if one donor just drops a few percent, it has a huge impact across all our plants.
I mentioned that with the purpose of sending an appeal to all donors, countries or other donors to please help step up.
It's it's about fair sharing of of the burden and we really need your support.
Thank you very much, Jens.
Just looking for other questions for South Sudan and indeed the Sudan crisis, which is ongoing and is jostling for space among the headlines at the moment, isn't it?
But it's not forgotten by any means.
I'd see no other questions.
Yes, it's a question what you comment at the beginning of the the fact that those countries are the most dangerous for aid workers this year.
Was it the case last year's, if you could give us a details about what has happened the recent years, if it was also in these countries or other countries?
It is for for South Sudan.
South Sudan has been very, very dangerous country for many years.
As I said up till today in South Sudan, 22 aid worker fatalities last year, Hall of 2022 there was 23 deaths and in 2021 there was a kind of a three-year average made and that was 2588 worker fatalities over that 3P3 year.
In Sudan as I mentioned, 19 this year, 10 last year and five the year before.
Obviously with the hostilities that exploded in in April this year, we saw this spike in fatalities.
I hope that answers your question.
And yes, so I'll say thank you very much to Jens and also to Doctor Albrecht for your moving personal testimony.
It really is important to have that.
Thank you for A, doing it and B sharing it.
So I hope that we will get some follow up and thank you Margaret for organising it.
And we'll speak to you again soon, I hope.
OK, so now moving on to our next speaker, Jeremy Lawrence from the Office for the Office of the **** Commissioner for Human Rights.
And today we're going to be talking about or you're going to be talking about human rights defenders in Vietnam.
So please over to you, Jeremy.
The the arrest, detention and sent sentencing of human rights defenders in Vietnam who advocate for the environment and the country's transition to clean energy use raises serious concerns not only with respect to the charges levelled against them, but also the conduct of the trials themselves.
Yesterday, Huang Qi Min Hong became the 5th of 6 environmental human rights defenders arrested from 2021 to 2023 to be sentenced.
She has been prosecuted on tax evasion charges which appear to be politically motivated, according to UN independent experts.
After a trial lasting just three hours, Hong was sentenced to three years imprisonment and fined 4100 U.S.
Her access to a defence council and her family has been limited throughout her detention.
Four other environmental rights advocates have been prosecuted on similar charges and sentenced to up to five years imprisonment in what seems to be a wider crackdown on environmental rights defenders and against civic space in Vietnam.
The charges levelled against the 6th person are still unknown.
Arrests of environmental human rights defenders are taking place amid Vietnam's S implementation of the Just Energy Transition Partnership.
We reiterate that to achieve the goal of a just and sustainable transition to green energy, human rights defenders and environmental organisations must be able to participate freely and actively in shaping climate and environmental policies and decision making.
The these prosecutions and the arbitrary application of restrictive legislation are having a chilling effect on the critically important work of environmental defenders and that of other human rights defenders in Vietnam.
This issue has also been highlighted in the 2023 Secretary General's report on intimidation and reprisals, as well as by UN human rights mechanisms such as special procedures, the UN Human Rights Council treaty bodies and the Universal Periodic Review.
We call to the Government of Vietnam to refrain from using criminal charges to curtail the exercise of fundamental freedoms and to release unconditionally all those who have been detained in such cases.
We also remind the authorities of their obligations under international law to respect the rule of law, the right to a fair trial and ensuring judicial independence.
And an important update, but I don't see any questions at the moment for you on this topic or any other unless I am mistaken.
Thank you 2 for coming and we'll see you again soon, next Tuesday, no doubt.
John, is it on this topic?
No, it's on the situation and with the fleeing Armenian nationals from Azerbaijan, the minority.
Jeremy, I was wondering what are the initial assessments of the Office of the **** Commissioner?
Are you looking into the allegations that this might amount to ethnic cleansing or are you still in the process of evaluating and do you have officials on the ground in both Azerbaijan and Armenia or not?
So we are not present on the ground.
However, we have been following the situation very closely and monitoring it remotely.
What I can say and what is abundantly clear is that there are large number of people on the move and it is crucial that they receive the assistance needed.
Any that furthermore to that their humanitarian needs must be respected and their right to return in safety and in dignity must also be respected.
If I can just say one more thing, the rights of internally displaced people and those in a refugee like situation must be fully upheld, including ensuring they are able to exercise their right to return in safety and dignity.
I see no follow up there.
So Jeremy, I think this time you're good to go.
So moving on to our next speaker, who's joining us via Zoom from the Global Fund and Wesson will be telling us about the funds support for the new Prep ring, which we're told is, is, and I, I hope it, hope it's the case, ushering in a new era for women and HIV prevention in South Africa.
Anna, are you with us still?
I think you're coming online now.
I know it's a long 1 today but your message is important so please share it.
And we don't see you, not hear you, you appear to be frozen there.
And so, and while you are trying to rejoin us, I'm going to ask the Food and Agriculture Organisation to come and join us.
Dominique Belgian, he's the director of FAO's liaison office here in Geneva, and he's joining us now.
And while he does and gets ready, I'll tell you quickly that FAO are going to be telling us, I guess, about the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, which is tomorrow, followed by on Sunday, International Translation Day.
And next week, Monday is World Tuesday is World Habitat Day, as is the International Day of Non Violence.
So with that, I'm thanks, Dominic.
If I can just put your mic down a little bit and just keep a little bit of distance between you and the mic while still pointing out at you nonetheless.
Well, it's very complicated, but nonetheless, I think we'll get there.
Well, thank you very much, Danielle, indeed to talk about the fourth observance of the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste.
Food loss and waste is indeed a global issue that is negative economic, social and environmental impacts and needs indeed to receive more global attention.
As you know, in July, we launched the 2023 edition of the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World Report, which highlighted that up to 783 million people were basically facing chronic food insecurity in 2023 under nourishment hunger, while in the meantime, millions were not having access to healthy diet.
As a matter of fact, 3.1 billion people do not have access to healthy diet.
In that context, indeed, food waste and loss are very concerning.
And, and when I'm talking of these big numbers, it's important to know that at the same time, 13.2% of food is lost in the supply chain after harvest and prior to reaching store shelves.
This is equivalent to approximately 931,000,000 metric tonnes of food that is lost, or 120 kilogrammes per capita.
If your recent estimates indicate that sub-Saharan Africa records the highest level of food loss at 20%, while North America and Europe record the lowest at 9.2% of of.
On top of these food losses, according to the UN to UN Environment, 17% of food is wasted in consumer households, in food services and in retail.
Consumer households actually account for the highest level of food wasted across the globe.
On average, each each consumer wasted waste around 74 kilogrammes of food every year.
Food loss and waste actually account also for 8 to 10% of greenhouse gas emission and food loss and waste therefore imply an urgent risk for climate change, agricultural sustainability, human livelihood, biodiversity and food supplies.
Reducing food loss and waste is actually enshrined in Sustainable Development Goal 12 Target three that seeks by 20-30 to half per capita food waste and reduce food losses along supply chains including post harvest losses.
Reducing food loss and waste plays a central role in transforming Agri food system and it is obviously key to the transformation to more resilient, inclusive, sustainable and efficient food system.
As I said at the beginning, the 4th International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste will be observed today with hybrid even convened by FAO and UNIT at the 16 hours CET.
And on this occasion, a call to action will be made for public and private entities to take action to reduce food loss and waste towards transforming angry food system to contribute to the achievement of the 2030 agenda.
Of course, everyone is welcome to this.
Dominic, could you just turn off your mic?
I'm looking for questions and I see none, but I think the message is clear.
Don't waste food and solutions obviously very welcome.
So thank you for coming today.
I see that we have online and and Vason from the Global Fund and if you can hear me give me a thumbs up and we'll we'll patch you in right now.
So you are going to give us a message of of hope on HIV prevention in South Africa over to you.
I'm sorry about the connection earlier.
I don't know what happened.
I don't know how much you've heard.
Yes, everything is, is fine.
So I was with you in the studio exactly 2 weeks ago to present our flagship results reports and I was announcing unprecedented programmatic achievements surpassing pre COVID-19 numbers.
I also told you about the multiple challenges that we face, climate change, conflicts, inflation, eroding human rights and gender equality.
That was only to mention a few and a solution we offer, namely boost innovations and accelerate access to innovation.
Today we're proud to announce that we have an innovative tool to that we are delivering to South Africa and that three key organisations in the fight against HIV in South South Africa have purchased with global funds, partnership support and this new tool is the Dapavirin vaginal ring 16,000.
Such rings will now be rolled out in South Africa and tested to see how people prefer to be granted those rings.
A bit more about the ring, it's we're talking about pre exposure prophylaxis and it's a silicone ring with an antiretroviral drug called dapavirin.
It's inserted in the vagina every month and it delivers long acting topical and localised HIV prevention.
To date, the vaginal ring with depavirin is the only Prep ring approved by regulatory agencies for HIV prevention.
The introduction of the Prep ring ring in South Africa will expand options for women beyond oral Prep and that's very important.
It offers women a method of HIV prevention that is private and it belongs to them.
It also eliminates the need to carry pills, which may pose privacy challenges in connection with HIV related stigma, and doesn't require daily pill taking, which some find difficult.
The Global Fund's partnership has a vision for prevention programmes where people have a range of options available to them which they can use effectively during periods of need and which they can switch as their lives evolve.
Increasing HIV prevention options like this preparing is a key demand of advocacy groups and a core component to the HIV Prevention Choice Manifesto for Women and Girls in Africa published earlier this month.
We're convinced that this new Prep ring can have a revolutionary impact on HIV prevention, and we hope that many other countries in South Africa will follow.
Thank you for your attention.
The press release is in the chats and you should also have received it in your mailboxes around 11:00 this morning.
And as always, you know where to find us if you have more questions.
And I can't let you go just yet because Peter Kenney is online and he has a question for you, I believe.
Thanks for taking my question.
And I would just like you to put in context the situation in South Africa as regards HIVI know it was at one time the country with the highest number of known HIV positive people.
Can you elaborate on what the situation is today?
Sure, Peter, yes, I'm here.
Sorry, I was muted and trying to unmute myself.
So yes Peter, it is still the case.
South Africa has the largest HIV epidemic in the world with nearly 8 million people living with HIV and new infections.
Infections have been declining, but the country still has the largest number of new HIV infections globally and that's over 160,000 in 2022.
But South Africa is making progress towards finding diagnosing HIV with 94% of people live living with HIV knowing their status in 2022 and 75% of people living living with HIV receiving ARV treatments.
So I can share these figures with you, of course, Peter by e-mail if you want to know more, but this is basically the gist of it.
Does that answer your question, Peter?
I'm looking to see if Peter Kenny is interested in a follow up.
I think we're, I think we're fine.
And from the Global Fund, thanks for sharing that.
That's really good to have that story to end this briefing, but not before we've heard from the UNS Conference on trade and development.
Katherine, are you with us to tell us about the launch of a report next week Trade and Development Report 2023.
I see you and I can hear can you hear me now?
Just to just very quickly the Trade and Development Report 2023, giving a analyst of the whole the global economy, where the the weaknesses, where we seems to go and what are the the problems and how to solve them will be held on Wednesday the 4th of October at 10:30 Geneva time.
I will send you the press kit beginning of next week.
I don't have any document ready so far, but we can plan this press conference with the Secretary General Greenspan and Richard Kozarite on the project.
So that's just this clarification I wanted to make.
So something to do fill the week in the middle of next week Wednesday press conference at 10:30 in this room and you'll get the details from the UN information service as usual.
So I really am going to wrap this up very quickly just to say that I think I, I made a mistake by saying that the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste was tomorrow.
It's actually today, of course, the 29th of September.
And finally, meetings updates for you.
The Committee on Enforced Disappearances closes this afternoon with concluding observations on the four countries under review, Mauritania, Mexico, Netherlands and Nigeria.
And then the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights concludes this afternoon.
And next week, other countries under review include France, Qatar and Armenia.
And that's happening next week.
But you know that really that the Human Rights Council continues.
Gabriella Sotomayor, I think you have a question for us.
Yes, thank you very much.
Do you know when the Committee of Enforced Disappearances will publish their conclusions, their observations?
Yes, that should happen this afternoon as well.
I'm told they will be issuing concluding observations at the end of the session, so that will be at 5:00 PM or or thereabouts.
I think that's answered your question and I see no others in the room or online.
So thank you very much for attending today's Friday briefing and we look forward to doing it all over again, but not before we've had a weekend.
