Thank you for joining us here at the UN office at Geneva for this press briefing today, 8th of March, which is International Women's Day.
Happy Women's Day to everybody.
We have a very packed agenda.
We'll start off immediately as usual with Pascal SIM, who has an update on the ongoing session of the Human Rights Council.
And first of all, I would like to remind you that the independent International Fact Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran issued today its first report as mandated by the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The Human Rights Council established a Fact Finding Mission and mandated it to investigate alleged human rights violation in Iran related to the protest that began on September 16th, 2022, especially with respect to women and children, and to present a comprehensive report on its finding during the 55th session.
In this first report, the Fact Finding Mission says that the violent repression of peaceful protests and pervasive institutional discrimination against women and girls has led to serious human rights violations by the Government of Iran, many amounting to crimes against humanity.
Members of the Fact Finding Missions are scheduled to present this report to the Human Rights Council on Friday, March 15.
They will also hold a press conference in this room on Monday, March 18 at midday.
The full report of the Fact Finding Mission is published online on the Council's Investigative Bodies page.
And For more information on this report and questions about the Fact Finding Mission, please contact my colleague Ahmad Azadi, whose contact information is in the press release that we shared with you earlier today.
Today, the UN Human Rights Council is holding 2 panel discussion, the first one this morning on countering religious hatred, constituting incitement to discrimination, hostility of violence.
**** Commissioner Volcker Turk is participating in this panel, as well as Iran can the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.
And this afternoon, we'll have another panel discussion, starting at 4:15, this time on the right to Social Security.
At noon, you will hear from Alice Edwards, the Special Rapporteur on torture, who will present you 2 reports, one on current issues and good practises in prison management, and the second one on the recent visit to Ukraine.
Miss Edwards will also give a press conference in this room at 1:15 PM.
And just to remind you that on Monday we'll continue our programme of work with automatic experts.
We will hear from Miss ABBA Agras, the new special reporter on the rights of person with disability in the morning.
And in the afternoon, you will hear from Atti Awaris, the independent experts on foreign depth.
And on the practical note, I just want to remind you that the Human Rights Council yesterday decided to adjust its working hours during the period of Ramadan.
Starting Monday, March 11, the Council will begin its morning meetings at 9:30 and conclude at 12:30 PM.
In the afternoon, the meeting will run from 2:30 PM to 5:30 PM.
So these adjusted hours will be maintained until the end of this session, which is scheduled on April 5th.
Thanks to you, Pascal, for that information and for the practical information about the working hours.
We do have a question for you from Jeremy of Radio France International.
Thank you very much, Pascal.
We'll now shift gears to the situation in Gaza and actually the OPT and general occupied Palestinian territory.
We have Jeremy Lawrence of the Office of the **** Commissioner for Human Rights with us, who will provide an update, an overall update on Gaza.
Then we'll turn to a colleague from OHHR who's joining us from East Jerusalem, Ajit Sungai, who has addressed you here before.
Today we are entering the 6th month of a brutal conflict that has destroyed the lives and homes of countless Palestinians as well as Israelis.
We fear that this already catastrophic situation may slide deeper into the abyss as many Palestinians mark the holy month of Ramadan, a period that is meant to honour peace and tolerance.
Should Israel launch its threatened military offensive into Rafa, where one and a half million people have been displaced in deplorable subhuman conditions, any ground ******* on Rafa would incur massive loss of life and would heighten the risk of further atrocity crimes.
This must not be allowed to happen.
We also fear that further Israeli restrictions on access by Palestinians to East Jerusalem and the AL Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan could further inflamed tensions.
The UN **** Commissioner for Human Rights repeats that there must be an immediate end to this conflict and that the killing and destruction must stop.
The hostages who have now endured over 150 days of suffering and torment, must be released unconditionally and returned to their distraught families.
Israel, as the occupying power, must, we repeat, fully comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law to provide the increasingly desperate civilian population of Gaza with the necessary food and medical supplies or, if it is unable to do so, ensure that the population has access to critical, life saving humanitarian assistance commensurate with their needs.
Border crossings and corridors must be fully opened and steps must be taken to ensure the free and secure movement of aid convoys to civilians wherever they are located within the Gaza Strip, if wider starvation and needless suffering are to be averted.
Since the 7th of October, parties to this conflict have paid little heed to international law that protects human rights and governs the conduct of hostilities.
This has been a stain on the collective conscience of humanity.
The laws of war are clear and must be respected at all times and in all circumstances.
Those who violate them must be held to account.
The **** Commissioner reminds all States Parties that under Article 1, common to the four Geneva Conventions, they have the obligation to respect and ensure respect for the rules laid down by those Conventions.
This obligation includes not only taking all available steps to ensure full compliance by the parties engaged in hostilities, but also means that states must not, through their own policies or actions, facilitate the Commission of violations of humanitarian law.
I'd now like to pass over to my colleague, Ajit Sungai.
Ajit's the head of our OPT office and he will talk to you about the settlements report that we've just issued.
Today we are publishing a report on this Israeli settlements in occupied West Bank, detailing the drastic acceleration in settlement building alongside oppression, violence and discrimination against Palestinians.
Just this week, there were reports that Israel plans to build a further 3476 settler homes in the illegal settlements of Malaya, Adumim, Efrat and Qatar in further violation of international law.
The report also highlights the dramatic increase in the intensity, severity and regularity of Israeli settler and state violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including E Jerusalem, particularly since 7th October 2023.
This violence is accelerating Palestinians displacement from their land.
The report finds that the policies of the current Israeli government appear aimed at expanding long term Israel control over West Bank, including E Jerusalem, and the steady integration and annexation of occupied territory into the State of Israel.
Once more we remind Israel that the transfer of population of an occupying power into occupied territory, or the forcible transfer of the population within or from occupied territory, or the annexation of territory by use of force are all strictly prohibited.
Officials and others involved in such conduct risk individual criminal liability.
As the **** Commissioner has repeatedly stressed, Israel's unlawful action against the Palestinian population in the West Bank must cease immediately.
Thanks to you, Ajit, and of course, Jeremy.
Just before I turn to questions, just wanted to highlight a couple of messages, in fact, the Secretary General concerning Ramadan.
I should point you, remind you that we shared with you earlier this week a text of a video message on the occasion of the beginning of Ramadan from the Secretary General and beyond.
Extending his warmest wishes to the millions of Muslims around the world observing the holy month of Ramadan, which, as you know, commences on Sunday, he expresses a special message of solidarity and support to all those suffering from the horrors in Gaza.
In these trying times, he says the spirit of Ramadan is a beacon of hope, a reminder of our shared humanity.
That's the message from the Secretary Journal.
And also a second, a statement that I wanted to share with you or draw your attention to rather, was the one which we sent out last night from Torven Salon, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East concerning the advancement of Israeli settlement plans and through which he condemned the yesterday's, yesterday's, actually the day before yesterday's reported advancements of the Israeli authorities of plans for over 3400 housing units and settlements in the occupied West Bank.
This was a statement from Tor Ventilon which we shared with you late last night.
OK, we'll start with questions.
We have Yuri Aprelev from Rio Novosti in the room.
Thank you, Rolando and thank you, Jeremy.
You are talking about the risk of other atrocious crimes.
I think this is a new formulation.
This is the first time from your office I heard atrocious crimes.
I heard about war crimes, but not this formulation.
And you're talking about the risk of others.
So that's means that Israel has already committed atrocious crimes during the war in Gaza.
Maybe that's one for you, Ajit.
We have indeed used at atrocity crimes before.
It is, it is atrocity crimes.
We have mentioned that war crimes may have been committed both in Gaza as well as in Israel.
That's also something that we have pronounced in the past.
I think we have also used in in at least in one or two instances that crimes of crimes against humanity may be committed.
And that is the atrocity crime that we also refer to that there could be further of those if the if the incursions into into Rafa continues.
Thank you very much for the questions.
Thank you very much for doing this.
I just want to ask about the UNUWA internal report the Urdu has produced recently.
The documenting produced a report documenting the condition and treatment of Palestinian who were arrested and detained in Gaza since October 7th.
And I just wondering if you have an access of the report and then if you read it, what is your assessment of the report?
I mean, maybe I just, I don't know if you had any comment on that, but I'll throw it to you then I can just generally say that the report is internal.
It's, it's not published yet.
So we, we certainly haven't commented on it, but maybe I just if you had anything to add.
The report, I have seen the report and and I see some reports in media as well.
What I can say is the report does talk about the treatment and potentially acts that may amount to torture.
The findings of the report resonates or or corresponds to the findings of the information that our office has also gathered in.
In many instances it talks about allegations of use of sleep deprivation because of loud noises, denial of medical treatment, enough quantities of of food, water and and also allegations of of torture and and sexual violence.
I would also draw your attention to past statements that OTHR has made on this issue.
One on the 16th of December, followed by one on the 9th, 19th of January that I made also from Gaza, and also the most recent statement of the **** Commissioner to the Human Rights Council, where he also talks about detention and detention conditions of of Gazans in Israeli detentions.
We'll go to the platform.
I write for various German media outfits.
This is a question to the humanitarians on Gaza.
He announced yesterday that the US military should build a pier at the shores of the Gaza Strip.
And I was wondering, what do you think about this move?
Would this be an effective measure to deliver more humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip?
I don't know if any of our colleagues who are online want to chime in on this.
But I can tell you, I can echo what our spokesperson in New York said as well as Sigrid Cog in that we welcome of course, any effort to scale up the much needed humanitarian assistance to Gaza.
However, air and and sea deliveries are, are not a substitute for, for land deliveries.
And of course, our focus has been the focus of the international community has should continue to be on the increasing large scale distribution and entry of aid, buy land and it's it's cost effective, it's volume effective.
And that's why we've been saying that from the very beginning.
But of course, any effort to increase the much needed desperate situation to alleviate the desperate situation in Gaza is certainly welcomed.
If there are colleagues who want to jump in, just throw up your hand.
We do have a couple of colleagues online, but again, Jens is not connected.
So maybe you can liaise with him if you have further questions on that.
OK, let's turn to John Zaracostas then.
I was wondering in your analysis and reporting from your national staff on the ground, if you've collected our evidence or testimonies of medical doctors having been tortured while being interrogate in in captivity or being arrested in Gaza and in the West Bank?
And secondly, if you have any information on the number of amputees and how many of these have been able to leave Gaza for special treatment outside of Gaza, I think it's around 1500, the last figure we were given by The Who on number of amputees.
I mean, maybe I should note that we do have Tarek from WHO online, but I don't know if Ajit, if you wanted to make any comment before we turn to our colleague from WHO?
I, I wouldn't reveal the source, whether it is national staff or international staff or if it's other UN agencies.
I think it's less relevant at this point in time.
But what we do know is that yes, indeed medical officials, doctors, those who work in hospitals have also been detained.
They have also been subject of the treatment.
I can say that with a fair amount of confidence.
I I don't know if you have any lines that you can share with us.
Hi, thanks for the text, John.
John, on amputations, I don't have anything more than what Doctor Peeperkorn has has said on, on Tuesday on numbers that have been reported by the by the Ministry of Health.
If we get more information, I'll come back to you on that.
On the on the detention, well, I will definitely refer to our colleagues from the Human Rights Office.
What we know is that 118 health workers remain in detention and that we are concerned obviously and we are calling for their release.
And just to go back to the question on the access, Rolando, you already answered the question of of efficacy of different means of delivery.
I would just like to add that what is really important for us as well is to be able to access hospitals.
Once humanitarian in this, in this case, medical supplies come into Gaza.
Really the problem was to reach hospitals because of the delays, because of security experiences not be given and because infrastructure being so, so, so badly destroyed.
So I just think that we have to really keep in mind that getting aid within Gaza, it's also a big issue.
Thanks very much for for adding that very, very crucial point.
Hi, good morning everyone.
As Hollando mentioned, ready today is the International Women Day and the UN woman has already said that this war in Gaza is also a war on women.
So if someone could elaborate on that, what are the main concerns regarding women during this conflict in in Gaza?
What message would you like to send in this symbolic day?
Actually I believe we have a colleague from UN Women who is connected.
I think it's Helen, if I'm not mistaken, is online, as you partly point out and as I mentioned at the onset, and today is indeed International Women's Day and it's it's a, it's a reminder to highlight the plight to that women and girls face around the globe.
Of course, there is a message that I was going to pronounce towards the end of this briefing, if I could put my finger on it, from the secretary General.
Of course, specifically on Gaza.
There may be other colleagues who want to talk about this, but his message is rather just to talk about how of course, it's necessary to demolish bound barriers and dismantle stereotypes and Dr progress towards a more just and equal war for women around the globe.
And the highlights of many, many obstacles, including in conflict areas that women face.
Marginalisation, injustice, discrimination and persistent epidemic violence against women disgraces humanity.
This is a statement of the Secretary General which we shared with you earlier in multiple languages, by the way.
I know that Jeremy has something he wanted to add from the human rights point of view.
And if other colleagues want to chime in on this important point, please, please raise your hand, Jeremy.
So the the **** Commissioner has just delivered an address, a statement on this at the Human Rights Council.
I'd like to read out a couple of paragraphs from that.
Without women at the tables of power, there can be no peace, no justice, no democracy.
In times of conflict, women keep families and entire communities together, bearing witness to their incredible resilience and strength.
At the grassroots level, courageous women, human rights defenders, peace builders and women's organisations have powerfully LED efforts to build peace and spur social transformation.
Yet at the negotiating tables, making the peace and reconciliation decisions that matter today, the voices of women and girls remain marginal at best.
Enduring peace will only be built with women at the table.
The international community must urgently make this a reality.
That is from the **** Commissioner's statement this morning.
I'm not sure if other colleagues wanted to add in, but of course, we'll be addressing this theme later on in this briefing.
But thanks for the question, Bianca, further questions on Gaza for you.
The Ajith or Jeremy before we move to our next subject.
So thank you very, very much.
Jeremy and Ajith, as always for joining us.
You're always welcome to join us at this press briefing.
We'll now move to the situation in Mozambique.
James Elder of UNICEF is on the line.
I think maybe, James, if you'd like to introduce your colleague who joins us, I believe from Maputo.
Guy is the chief of communication in Mozambique, speaking on a fairly critical situation now that has been unfolding for quite some time in Cabo Delgado.
So in the past month, attacks and fear of attacks in Cabo Delgado in northern Mozambique have triggered the displacement of almost 100,000 people, including more than 60,000 children.
Children separated from their families are at risk of violence and exploitation, including recruitment and use by armed groups.
More than 100 schools in Cabo Delgado and the neighbouring Nampula province have had to close due to insecurity and this is affecting the learning of more than 50,000 children.
Children and families are being cut off from essential services including health, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene and child protection services, and many of those forced to flee.
More than 45,000 people have fled to Irati district in Nampula, the province immediately South of Capitalgado, and this is an area that's experiencing A cholera outbreak, putting them at serious risk.
In the chaos created by displacement, many children have become separated from their families.
UNICEF has so far registered 182 cases of separated children since the latest attacks in Chura district on February 24th.
Working with partners and the Government of Mozambique, we've managed to reunify 57 families and we're following up and providing care for those who have not yet been reunited with parents without access to nutrition services, displaced children experiencing severe acute malnutrition are at serious risk.
The psychological impact on children and families is also tremendous.
Our teams on the ground in capital Gado report that children are traumatised, they're having difficulty coping with the hardships that they're experiencing.
UNICEF is working closely with our UN partners and civil society in supporting the operation of cholera treatment centres.
We're deploying mobile health brigades to deliver immunisation and other at central health services.
We're bringing clean water to those displaced through water trucking and provision of water treatment supplies.
Constructing emergency latrines and sanitation infrastructure, Setting up child friendly spaces where children can play and receive psychosocial support.
We're registering displaced children for school children, distributing teaching and learning materials and setting up temporary learning spaces.
And we're sharing information via megaphone, mobile media units, theatre groups, religious leaders and community radio.
But the need is substantial.
UNICEF estimates that 5 million U.S.
dollars is urgently needed to meet the immediate needs of 90,000 people over the next 90 days.
No additional resources have been mobilised so far, leaving the response under capacity and overstretched.
Thank you very much, Guy.
In fact, maybe let's just stay quickly on the subject of Mozambique.
We have actually William Spindler of the Refugee Agency who also wanted to address the situation in Mozambique.
And then we'll go to questions for both of you.
Yes, this is related to what UNICEF was briefing about because our **** Commissioner, UN **** Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, has just been to Mozambique, to the area where the displacement has happened, northern province of Cabo Delgado.
And he was also he was accompanied by the UN Secretary General Special Advisor on Solutions to Internal Displacement, Mr Robert Piper and and that we have a joint press release that you will be receiving very shortly.
On their joint trip to Cabo Delgado and where they saw the dramatic situation faced by people who have been recently displaced by the violence, but also the over 700,000 people who have been internally displaced by previous violence and also by the impact of climate change.
The press release should be arriving shortly in your inboxes.
Maybe I'll I'll just mention a couple of the the main points.
Mozambique has faced significant challenges linked to violence from non state armed groups since 2017, as well as the adverse impacts of the climate emergency, with over 1.2 million internally displaced as a result.
However, more than 600 thousand of those internally displaced have now returned to their areas of origin.
Several of those in 2023.
And as I said earlier, over 700,000 people still remain displaced in addition to those that were recently displaced by this latest bout of of violence.
So you'll you'll have more information on the press release that you will be getting shortly.
Many thanks, William, and of course to you guys.
So questions for UNICEF or UNHCR on Mozambique.
I don't see any hands going up.
I think you've been very, very comprehensive in your briefing.
So I'd like to thank you both very much, particularly to Guy for joining us from Maputo.
You're welcome anytime to join us here at this briefing.
Thanks to you, William as well.
Let's let's move if William, if you can stay with us.
I know you have another item on Myanmar and Rohingya, but we're going to shift now.
We'll stay on the African continent.
We have Thomas de Lelonga of IFRC who is introducing a guest who will speak to the Democrat Republic of the Congo.
But before that, I think you wanted to mention something about Women's Day as well.
Thank you very much, Rolando.
Yes, I just would like to read the part of the message of our Secretary General Jagan Chap again, he said today, International Women's Day in 2024, it's all about investing in women and accelerating progress.
As the world is grappling with multiple crises, achieving gender equality is more vital than ever.
The this year theme resonates closely with the IFR CS ambition of promoting an inclusive and equitable world where diversity is champion and where everyone is treated with dignity and fairness.
From our volunteers on the front lines to our to our dedicated staff behind the scenes, women play a vital role in shaping the future of humanitarian action.
Their compassion, dedication and unwavering commitment and a search of inspiration to us all.
This International Women's Day, let's come together and work towards creating a brighter future for all.
And for the journalist interested in the room of course connected.
Since yesterday, we're profiling the stories of different across Crescent women volunteers and staff from, just to give you an example, from Nepal to Palestine, Montenegro and other countries.
So if you're interested in covering it and follow up questions, you can find all these profiled on our social media account.
And now moving to our two speakers, we'll have our regional Deputy Director for Africa, Mr Pierre Creme, who is connected from Nairobi and he's just back from a mission in Democratic Republic of Congo in Goma and or Kibo.
And he will speak about the humanitarian needs and what he saw.
And then afterwards we have Sami Alfaqouri, who is a guerdo regulation in Morocco.
We are marking today the another sad anniversary, the six month mark after the earthquake with Morocco.
OK, Mr Chrome, we'll start with you on DRC.
So today I'm here to highlight a crisis of immense scale that is taking place in Democratic Republic of the Congo, a crisis that definitely has not captured the global attention as it should.
And, and it's a country that has been struck, we know that by crises, upon crises, from health emergencies to ongoing conflicts, which has been eroding the coping mechanisms of its people for the last two decades.
I would say from last week when I was in Congo, I saw the harsh realities and faced by thousands of people displaced.
That has happened with different waves.
But the last wave was only a few weeks ago.
So the camps I had a chance to visit, especially the one in Kashakam was a very recent set up.
And then you could see the the situation of the people you know, in makeshift shelters made from plastic bags, clothes, rags and whatever materials they could find.
And, and that's a start to reminder of definitely of their desperation.
In one camp, now home to 10s of thousands, the scarcity of basic amenities was alarming.
We found it for toilets for thousands of people, raising the risk of course of gender based violence, privacy breaches or health risks like cholera.
Actually it's more than a risk.
In other camps cholera has been already observed and and it's all over the place potentially if nothing is done time in a timely manner.
But among those I met was maybe one example was a elderly woman, a grandmother basically she lost her son and her daughter-in-law and she found herself alone with 7 grandchildren, leaving everything behind.
Basically, she was the one managing on a daily basis.
You know, the the situation of these seven children in appalling condition, struggle for basic needs everyday such as food, water and shelter.
So it's quite a heart wrenching reminder of the realities that people face them.
And yet, amid this, we can see signs of resilience within the camp.
A semblance of self organisation emerges as people establish mini shops, striving to maintain a semblance of normalcy and dignity amongst chaos, suffering and pain.
So that's spirit of community, self help.
Self organisation is definitely one element to take into account when we design our response and try to bolster this inherent strength as well.
So So in DRC we know that there is an alarming escalation in North Kibo but also affecting S Kibo province and together with the DRC Red Cross, the IFRC has launched an appeal of CHF 50 million to urgently assist 500,000 people internally displaced but also the the house communities.
So since March 2022, the conflict has displaced over 1.6 million people, with recent escalation exacerbating the situation and even frightening Goma and with increasing risk of diseases.
So despite these challenges, the DSC Red Cross, with a significant presence and operational footprint in the area, has been at the forefront of the humanitarian response.
It's definitely the first local responder across the lines actually of conflicts, but the first responder with over 50,000 volunteers in North Kiru and S Kiru.
And, and it's a national society that is uniquely positioned to reach areas beyond the reach of other humanitarian organisation.
So they have this remarkable network access acceptance across the conflict line and, and they play again, they have been playing a critical role in this crisis response with impressive dedication.
You know, some of the volunteers we we met, you know, have been themselves displaced.
They've been themselves affected by the conflict and they were the one leading basically the, the, the response and, and the, and the solidarity being organised within the camp.
So as I mentioned, you know, people are living in extremely precarious conditions, really at the brink of mental, physical and material collapse.
And most aid reaches those in camp around Goma.
But definitely it falls short against the magnitude of the need to due to the inefficient, insufficient funding.
That's what's all organisation operating I would say in Goma.
Will will tell you as well.
So our appeal will is meant to enable the DRC records to scale up their efforts really to to rise to the challenge and the scale of this of this crisis and to extend their reach among displaced families and host communities.
So in closing, it's again a call to partners, international community, of course, donors and of course the media in this room to stand in solidarity with the people in DRC just to ensure that it's not a silent crisis, neglected crisis that is taking place and and ready to to ensure that we can at least provide, you know, the lethal support.
For which is a lifeline now for the, for the people in the camp and, and maybe one thought to finish, which I came, I came with, I must say, from from the visit in Goma, when you see the nightfall, you know, the situation for those this place definitely worsen casting, casting a shadow over their safety, particularly for women and children and bringing the mental scars, scars of conflict to the forefront.
Let's not forget these people come there with trauma, but deep trauma as well.
And the mental health is definitely a, a, a widespread health issues, I would say across the this camp.
The resilience of the Congolese is remarkable, but they need swift international support to navigate this crisis.
Thank you very much, Mr Kerman.
Deed, there's much needed assistance and attention to this very big crisis.
I should just mention that our peacekeeping colleagues also mentioned, what have you just shared with us, that the situation in North Kivu and the fighting between the members of the M23 and the Congolese forces has led to large displacements of civilians.
I should also just mention that we, as mentioned at our noon briefing yesterday, WFP Executive Head Cindy McCain also is in the DRC and she issued an appeal to the international community for urgent resources to stop the deepening hunger.
So I just wanted to highlight that aspect as well.
No, I don't see any questions for you, Mr Clemers.
If you could of course, share the notes, that would be most helpful.
Thank you again and to colleagues, please, spotlighting this very, very dire situation.
We'll stay with Tommaso, as mentioned, we have.
He's going to introduce the guest now to talk about the six months.
It's a devastating earthquake in Morocco.
Yeah, Sami Fukudi, our head of delegation in Morocco.
Thank you, Tommaso and colleagues.
Just to start by by wishing all our colleagues a happy International Women's Day today.
As we stand at the six month mark following the the devastating earthquake that struck Moroccan mountains on the 8th of September, I am reminded of the resilience and unshakable spirit of the Moroccan people and the solidarity that followed the earthquake.
Yet among amidst this resilience, the scars that fateful day remain deep, with thousands of people still grappling with the loss of their homes, the scarcity of clean water, and the absence of some sanitation facilities in some areas.
It was just a while ago, a month after the quake, that I first stood before you, sharing the initial impacts of the strategy tragedy and our collective response effort.
Since then, the challenges have persisted, and the journey towards recovery has unfolded with both strides and stumbles.
Before I delve deeper into our progress and the hurdles that lie ahead, I wish to revisit the personal stories that remain at the heart of our mission, stories that have grown both in depth and significance, reflecting the evolving landscape of the needs and the resilience.
One of the colleagues from the Moroccan Red Crescent, our member of course, operating in Morocco, is Aisha.
She's based in the city of Taroudant and she frequently visits the affected villages around the the city of Taroudant.
The dedication of her and the other volunteers transformed them into a source of hope for affected populations.
She was recalling with emotion when a woman had fallen into her arms and burst in tears as she recalled the traumatic events from the day of the earthquake.
The woman told her that she appreciated immensely the support from the Red Crescent just to visit them and listen to them and provided this humanity and solidarity which she was craving.
Volunteers like Aisha are the heartbeat of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, coming from and working tirelessly for their communities.
And while walking through the remnants of what's used to be bustling communities in the Atlas Mountains, I've seen on many occasions families living in tents facing shortages, sometimes of winterized shelter.
These stories, they paint the picture of the ongoing struggles that we see, including on the financial support that they rely on from family members and from the programmes of the authorities.
The need to access clean water, food, shelter and hygiene are identified as the top priorities and they_the community preference for cash assistance allowing, them to prioritise their most pressing needs these.
Stories are just a glimpse of the vast array of challenges that confront us and confront the wider humanitarian community in Morocco The.
Moroccan Red Crescent, With their fantastic 8000 plus Volunteers have been at the forefront of addressing these challenges.
From rehabilitating water points to distributing hygiene kits and ensuring access to emergency shelter, they've been working tirelessly since September last year to reach over 60,000 people in need and counting.
Yet we must acknowledge that the road to recovery is still along with obstacles.
The Moroccan authorities have done a lot in support of the affected people and we are closely coordinating our efforts with them.
Reflecting on my statement one month after the earthquake, it's clear that the landscape has evolved for the needs.
The critical need for ongoing support has never been more apparent.
The IFRC Emergency Peel is still ongoing, seeking 75,000,000 Swiss Franc and is currently covered at 35%.
The needs for winterise and waterproof shelters, access to clean water and sanitation remain a concern.
In closing, I appeal to each of you, our partners, donor, the international community and most importantly to you, the media colleagues, to stand in solidarity with the people of Morocco and remember them, even if it's still.
If it's six months onward, your continued support is crucial to enable us to rebuild their lives and restore their hopes.
The people of Morocco remember the earthquake devastation every day.
It is incumbent upon us to remember to enact.
Thank you very much for listening.
Thank you very much, Sammy.
Indeed, it's important to highlight that these catastrophes don't just happen in a day.
They often linger for weeks, months, years.
So thank you so very much for for highlighting that.
Do we have any questions for Sammy?
I don't see that's the case.
So once again, thank you very, very much for joining us.
And to you, Tommaso, as always.
And of course, we, we're sorry, apologies.
We do have one question, John, is that for Sammy or Tommaso?
Actually it's for Tommaso, it's a it's a follow up to a touch base with him a few days ago on the situation of the amputees in in Gaza.
Tomasso, if you have an update on the situation and what is being done by your national chapter on the ground, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.
Yeah, thank you John for for the question.
Yeah, actually I've been following up with our colleagues, but I don't have a lot of updates.
On our side, we had the several, as I've already told you, several issues to the Palisade Crescent facilities on the two hospital, The first one in Gaza City was closed for lack of access, safety and basic, I mean basic items some months ago.
And the second hospital, Alamal in Canyon is is now really working in limited capacity after weeks of again, no access, no medicine entering in and out, no ambulance is able to enter in and out.
So what we heard from colleagues is that there is not really a clear idea of prosthetics work going on.
And so at the moment, what they were telling us, that is very hard to speak about this and also to give information about the situation.
Because the reality is that as we all know, the humanitarian situation is catastrophic and the health part of these, it's absolutely desperate.
When there is no access to an hospital, where there is no possibility for a person to access an hospital, of course it's difficult also to report back on very important situation as the one that you are alighted.
I think we've exhausted questions on on this subject as well.
And again Tommaso and I see our colleague from FAO has joined us, Mitotova.
But before we go to you, we have William, who's still with us, who has an announcement on the situation of the Rohingya.
Just just a brief information to help you with your planning.
Next Wednesday, the 3rd of March, UNACR and other humanitarian partners will launch the 2024 Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis.
This will be a call on the international community to redouble efforts to protect and assist Rohingya refugees and their host communities.
Bangladesh is generously hosting nearly 1,000,000 Rohingya refugees, most of whom fled Myanmar 7 years ago.
This will be a funding appeal to help some 1,000,000 Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar and on the island of Basan Char and 346,000 from host communities with food, shelter, healthcare, access to drinkable water, protection services, education and livelihood opportunities.
There will be a press release on the day and the event will be live streamed so media can follow it live on UNTV.
Unfortunately, there won't be time for a joint press conference.
But if media are interested in meeting Masood bin Momen, the Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh, they should contact the Bangladesh Mission here.
We can facilitate contacts if necessary.
Any questions for William?
I don't see that's the case.
So thank you very much as always, William, for joining us here.
Now we can turn to our colleague in Rome, one of key if you wanted to introduce Miss Totova, otherwise I'm happy to do so.
I think everyone knows the monthly segment of the FAO Food Price Index.
And I'm glad to introduce our FAO Senior Economist, Monica Totova, connecting from so over to you, Monica.
From now This briefing concerns the FAO Food Price Index released this morning.
Following on its 20223 and early 2024 trajectory, the Food price index declined in February by .7%, standing about 10% below its value one year ago and more than 25% below the peak it reached in March 2022.
The decline in the food price index in February was led by decreases in the prices of cereal and vegetable oils, which more than offset increases in the sugar, meat and dairy prices.
If you allow me to focus on individual commodity groups, international prices of all major cereal decline month on month, and the cereal price index stood 22.4% below its February 2023 value.
Maize export prices dropped amid expectation of large harvest in South America and competitive prices offered by Ukraine.
International wheat prices declined as well, mostly due to strong export base from the Russian Federation.
International rice prices also declined, although only slightly.
The vegetable oil price index increased one point decreased, I'm sorry 1.3% to spend 11% below its value one year ago.
Most remarkably, the international soil prices dropped underpinned again by prospects of a being done soybean outputs in South America.
They also remain ample global export availabilities of sunflower and the **** seed oil that are putting prices down.
Palm oil prices increased, but only slightly due to seasonally lower production moving to sugar, which has received a lot of attention recently because of the **** price levels.
In February it rolls again, although only by 3.2% and this increase reflected persistent concerns over Brazil's outcome, upcoming output of the prolonged period of below average rainfall, as well as expectation about production declines in Thailand and India, which are the two leading export supporting countries.
Finally, the meat index rolls again only slightly, it was 1.8%.
The poultry meat quotation increase the most, followed by bovine in the for the bovine meat.
Heavy rains in Australia are disrupting cattle transportation.
Pygmy prices also grows slightly due to higher demands from China and tight supply situation in Western Europe.
And finally, the international Oman prices decline due to record-breaking production following a slog rebuilding in Australia.
Danny price index recorded only a small increase of 1.1%.
Let's buy higher import demand from Asian buyers for butter.
In conclusion, so far in 2024, the food commodity markets continued to sustain their relative calmness despite the presence of external shocks, including shipping disruptions in different parts of the world.
We the Mace export prices declined even further, and they reached the lowest levels in the past two years.
This morning FAO also released monthly cereal supply and demand brief and in this latest one it offered its preliminary forecast of the global reproduction in 2024, ******* it at 797,000,000 tonnes, which is a 1% increase from 2023.
You might recall I mentioned that the prices, the wheat and Mace export prices have been declining and they reached a low level, lowest level in the past two years.
So obviously this has impact on the plantings and in fact, the lower wheat prices have elisited a 6% year on year decline in winter wheat plantings in the United States.
But nevertheless, it is likely that the output is going to increase due to favourable weather conditions.
Favourable weather conditions are also propping up expectations of increased 2024 week production in the Russian Federation as well as China, India and Pakistan.
Finally, FAO always continues to monitor significant development to provide timely analysis of the vulnerability and implications for food security.
Do we have questions for our colleague from FAO?
So thank you very much once again to Key and to you, Monica and of course Key, if you could share the notes, that would be most appreciated.
OK, we'll go back to the theme of the day, International Women's Day.
We have Catherine with us who wants to.
She's referring to a press release, I believe, or an announcement on behalf of Long Ted.
We allocation on the international the farm last secretary general do like new sets.
Rebecca Greenspan sits their new podcast Perspective.
As secretary general opportunity offer to farm development, durable participant construction this economy podcast weekly trade cast.
Staying on International Women's Day, we have a Charlotte sector of UN AIDS who is connected online and I has a statement on behalf of UN AIDS Charlotte.
There you are, Charlotte.
I will make it short because I know this has been a long and arduous with all this news coming from DRC etcetera but as Jeremy was saying from OHCHR on International Women's Day, women and girls do suffer the most.
UN AIDS has come out with a statement.
3100 girls get infected with HIV every week in sub-Saharan Africa.
And as others said, 120, two, 122 million girls are not in school globally.
And if I may, you know, kind of conclude like justice health is not one.
So we are calling you and AIDS is calling to protect women and girls rights so that we can protect women and girls health.
Thank you very much, Charlotte.
And maybe just to add to remind you rather of what Alessandra has been saying for the last two briefings now about this very nice event taking place today at the University of Geneva that the UN office at Geneva is Co organising with UN Women.
It's a lovely installation.
You'll be able to go down there between 1:00 and 2:00 for media engagement.
We'll have a number of important guests there including Peacekeepers, Swiss Peacekeeper Captain Vanessa von Ribierag, who is currently deployed with Unma *** and that is our peacekeep, second oldest peacekeeping mission that is in along the India, Pakistan border in Kashmir, Jammu.
And then we have a a young peace activist from Cyprus and among others who in we also have a colleague from UN Women who is head of UN Women office in Afghanistan, among others.
Marcus Mader, who is the State Secretary for Security Policy will be on the site as well.
So we have a quite a, a nice event.
A panel discussion will be at the end of the day.
But during the day there is this inside out activation which we refer to where you can take your picture and have it projected on the wall of the University of Geneva.
The title of the event again is Peace Begins with Her.
So that's a a very nice event which we encourage you to attend.
And then now we could maybe I can just announce a couple of additional points before we wrap up our briefing.
I just wanted to highlight a statement that we did share with you yesterday from the Secretary General on Sudan.
This was his remarks to the Security Council.
And of course, we encourage you to keep the reporting sharp and spotlighting on this continuing tragedy in in in Sudan with the statement is at your disposal.
We share that with you yesterday.
It goes into quite a number of details in terms of state rather meetings taking place.
Here we have two committees as well as a conference of disarmament.
The Human Rights Committee today is concluding this morning.
It's the review of the report of Somalia.
Also this morning, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is concluding the review of the report of Bahrain.
And this afternoon the Conference on Disarmament.
We'll have starting at 3:00 PM, we'll have a plenary public meeting under the Presidency of Indonesia.
Just as a footnote to the Security Council in New York is holding a meeting this afternoon on Ukraine.
Another subject which we need to highlight, of course, press conferences.
You heard from Pascal that in this room at 1:15 we'll have the Special Rapporteur and torture Miss Alice Edwards, who will be briefing you following her presentation to the Human Rights Council this morning.
And maybe just sticking on the subject of women, I wanted to flag on behalf of UN Women.
There is a report, a new position paper from UN Women titled Placing Gender Equality at the Heart of the Global Digital Compact.
It was released this week to support the preparation of the Summit of the Future taking place later this year in September.
Among other things, the report points that progress towards gender equality in technology and innovation continues to be far too slow.
Across all indicators, women represent only 20% of employees in technical roles in major machine learning companies, 12% of AI researchers, 6% professional software developers, etcetera.
So the paper encourages us to tackle this challenge but also look beyond this numeric presence.
We do have a colleague from you when we went online.
Should you have questions for her, either now or maybe later, we can connect you.
I believe that is all I have as I look at my scattered notes here.
Do you have any questions from for me before we wrap up?
I don't see how that's the case.
So I wish you bon appetit and nice weekend and happy Women's Day once again.
