The United Nations Office at Geneva
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UN Geneva Press Briefing - 17 May 2024
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1:47:10
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MP4
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6.3 GB
UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING
17 May 2024
Deteriorating situation in Sudan
Ravina Shamdasani, for the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR), stated that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, was horrified by the escalating violence in El-Fasher, where hostilities between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces were having a deeply devastating toll on civilians. At least 58 civilians were reported to have been killed and 213 others injured in El-Fasher since fighting had dramatically escalated in the North Darfur town previous week.
He urged both leading generals [Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces, and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces] to act immediately – and publicly – to de-escalate the situation. He also called on them to put aside entrenched positions and take specific, concrete steps to cease hostilities and to ensure the effective protection of civilians, as was their obligation under international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and consistent with their commitments under the Jeddah Declaration, agreed in May 2023. The High Commissioner warned both commanders that fighting in El-Fasher, where more than 1.8 million residents and internally displaced people were currently encircled and at imminent risk of famine, would have a catastrophic impact on civilians, and would deepen intercommunal conflict with disastrous humanitarian consequences. He reminded the commanders of their obligations under international humanitarian law to ensure strict compliance with the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution and to put an end to any ongoing violations,
Full OHCHR statement can be read here.
Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), stressed that in Sudan, half of the population, or 25 million people, needed humanitarian aid. Famine was closing in; diseases were closing in; the fighting was closing in on civilians, especially in Darfur. Collectively, the humanitarians asked for USD 2.7 billion, but as of today, they had received just 12 per cent of that. This was a catastrophically underfunded appeal. Without more resources coming in fast, humanitarian organizations would not be able to scale up in time to stave off famine and prevent further deprivation. Now was the time for donors to make good on pledges made, step up and help us help Sudan and be part of changing the current trajectory that's leading toward the cliff's edge.
Dr. Shible Sahbani, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative in Sudan, speaking from Port Sudan, said that some 17 per cent of the population were now displaced in what was the largest displacement crisis in the world. Close to 16,000 people had died due to the ongoing war, 33,000 had been injured, but the real toll of the war was probably much higher. The recent escalation of violence in Darfur, and particularly in Al Fasher, was alarming and causing more deaths and injuries among civilians as access to health facilities was hampered by the ensuing insecurity.
Both the displaced and those that had remained in their localities lacked access to necessities like food, water, healthcare, and medicines while disease outbreaks like cholera, measles, dengue fever and malaria are spreading. Currently, two-thirds of Sudan’s 18 states were experiencing multiple outbreaks. WHO was particularly concerned over the lack of treatment for people suffering from chronic conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and kidney failure. The lack of access to basic healthcare and medicines is putting their lives at risk in a country where there was a high burden of non-communicable diseases. On top of that, famine was looming, warned Dr. Sahbani, especially in parts of Darfur and in Khartoum, with more than one-third of the population facing acute hunger.
Attacks on healthcare and humanitarian workers worsened the lack of access to health services, said Dr. Sahbani, and put patients, health workers, humanitarian workers, and humanitarian assets at grave risk. WHO had thus far recorded 62 verified attacks on healthcare. Despite the challenges, the resolve WHO to respond to the health emergency remained intact. WHO had delivered into Sudan over 1,200 metric tons of medical supplies to health facilities across Sudan’s states by air and through cross-border and cross-line mechanisms, provided key equipment to sustain laboratory services, improve ICU care and enhance infection prevention and control, supported vaccination campaigns to respond to outbreaks of cholera, measles and polio, and trained health workers in case management of epidemic-prone diseases in a crisis setting, and in management of severe malnutrition. WHO called on parties to the conflict to silence the guns and give the people of Sudan respite. Health could not be ensured in the absence of peace.
Rolando Gómez, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), reminded that in his address to the Summit of the League of Arab States the previous day, the Secretary-General had urged the international community to intensify its push for peace, and call on the warring parties to agree on a lasting ceasefire. This should be followed by a political process that includes women’s and youth groups. He pledged the full support of the United Nations.
Answering questions from the media, Mr. Laerke, for OCHA, said that the scale of needs in Sudan and Gaza were uniquely high for those two places. Both contexts seemed to be in the worst situation in decades. Looking at the absolute number of people in needs, Sudan was larger and there were more people in need there. Humanitarians had the determination to keep pushing for what was right; donors pledged for what they believed was right, but the pledged money for Sudan had not yet arrived, and people of Sudan were staring in the face of famine. If there was an opportunity for access, UN humanitarians stood ready to use it, but it was very difficult to plan if there was no minimal guarantee. Dr. Sahbani, for the WHO, said that there had been 4,668 recorded cases of measles, with over 100 deaths; over 11,000 cases of cholera with some 300 deaths; and 1.27 million cases of malaria. With the upcoming rainy season, there was an increased risk of water-borne diseases, he warned. Surveillance ought to be increased, which could be done through increased access and increasing capacities of the partners of the ground. More proactive, preventive actions needed to be taken.
On another question, Ms. Shamdasani, for the OHCHR, said that the High Commissioner for Human Rights had had phone calls with both generals, appealing to them to put the needs of their people first, not block humanitarian assistance, and respect international humanitarian and human rights law. Both generals had then committed to respecting the international norms. It was very important for the UN Human Rights Chief to speak to the two leaders and remind them of their obligations. Matthew Saltmarsh, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that aid was currently not able to cross from Chad into Darfur, where assistance was desperately needed. The pressure on Chad was acute, especially in the border areas which hosted numerous arrivals from Darfur. Dr. Sahbani, for the WHO, said it was difficult to know how many people had died of malnutrition, but some 37 per cent of the population were currently in Integrated Food Security Phase Classification category 3 or above. Due to the lack of access to food and lack of resources, it would be difficult to provide adequate nutritional support to the people in need.
Refugee arrivals in Uganda
Matthew Crentsil, United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Representative in Uganda, said that Uganda hosted 1.67 million refugees, the highest number in Africa and third in the world. Uganda had one of the best refugee systems in the world, with refugees enjoying freedom of movement and access to labour to market. This year, some 19,000 refugees had arrived from Sudan; an average of 2,500 were arriving every week. The funding shortfall was severe, warned Mr. Crentsil; in 2022, some 35 per cent of the USD 836 million funding requirement for refugees had been funded. Despite the increasing numbers of refugees, funding was going down, he said. In 2023, for example, the World Food Programme had had to cut food supplies for refugees due to the funding shortfalls. Because Uganda had been hosting refugees for decades, it was assumed that many of them had been there for decades, which was not the case: only ten per cent had been in the country for ten years or longer, while all others were more recent arrivals. Suicide rates among refugee were high, with this year only more than 100 recorded cases. UNHCR had signed an agreement with private sector actors in Uganda in order to increase support for the refugees in need.
Responding to questions, Mr. Crentsil specified that the United States was by far the biggest contributor for the Uganda response, followed by the European Union and a number of other European countries and Japan. This year, USD 858 million was needed, and only 13 per cent of it was funded. If 50 to 70 per cent of the requirements were funded, UNHCR would be able to implement a meaningful response. Cooperation with local implementing actors was one of the ways to lower the costs. He explained that there had been a significant decrease in US funding, which affected the overall situation, with the US being the largest donor.
Increased targeting of migrants in Tunisia
Ravina Shamdasani, for the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR), said that the OHCHR was concerned by the increased targeting in Tunisia of migrants, mostly from south of the Sahara, and individuals and organisations working to assist them. At the same time, there was a rise in the use of dehumanising and racist rhetoric against black migrants and black Tunisians. OHCHR had recorded incidents of arbitrary arrest and detention of human rights defenders, lawyers, and journalists critical of the Government, as well as its migration policies. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights urged the authorities to respect and safeguard freedoms of expression, association, and peaceful assembly, as guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Tunisia is a party. The human rights of all migrants had to be protected, and xenophobic hate speech must stop.
Full statement is available here.
Situation in Gaza
Responding to questions from the media, Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that the latest number of people fleeing from Rafah, provided by UNRWA, stood at 600,000. People were moving north and northwest, where they had been told to go, but there were no safe routes out of Rafah, or safe destinations in Gaza. Any and all aid into Gaza, by any route, was welcome, he explained. Land crossings remained the most important route for getting aid into Gaza. UN was making preparations for handling aid that was about to start arriving through the maritime corridor and the floating dock. However, assisting people of Gaza through a faraway floating dock on its own was far from adequate.
Tarik Jašarević, for the World Health Organization (WHO), stressed that the biggest issue right now was fuel. Only 13 out of 36 hospitals were now partially functioning in Gaza, he reminded, emphasizing the indispensable importance of fuel for running life-saving activities on health facilities. WHO once again appealed for access; it was trying to do best it could, under the impossible circumstances. It was hoped that the humanitarian appeals would be heard sooner rather than later. Bringing supplies into Gaza was part of the process, but freedom od movement for humanitarians and a ceasefire were also very much needed.
Missing persons in Sri Lanka
Answering a question on the latest report on enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka, Ravina Shamdasani, for the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR), said that there were tens of thousands of forcibly disappeared persons between the 1970s and 2009, but there was no single authoritative data on the total number. There appeared to be a general lack of political will by the Government to deal with this issue decisively and comprehensively. People deserved to know what had happened to their loved ones, she stressed.
Afghanistan in the aftermath of the floods
Responding to questions, Matthew Saltmarsh, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said the joint assessment teams were deploying to affected areas to determine the impact of the floods. Over 3,000 people had been assessed and 845 homes were determined to have been fully damaged. UNHCR and partners were distributing tents, clothes, and other necessities. Most urgent cases needing interventions were being identified so they could be prioritized. Tarik Jašarević, for the World Health Organization (WHO), had delivered seven metric tons of medicine and medical supplies in the immediate aftermath of the floods. Seven mobile teams had been deployed to the most affected areas by the WHO and health cluster partners.
World Summit on the Information Society and AI for Good Global Summit
Gitanjali Sah, Strategy and Policy Coordinator at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), informed that the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)+20 Forum High-Level Event would be held in hybrid format from 27 to 30 May. Stakeholders included governments, media, non-governmental organizations, regulatory bodies, UN agencies, and academia. The agenda had been formulated through a wide consultative, bottom-up approach. The Summit would look into a number of issues such as connecting remote villages; importance of communications in disaster aftermaths; protection of journalists; digital health; protection of indigenous languages, etc. This inclusive process of digital governance had stood the test of time, stressed Ms. Sah, and every voice counted. All details can be found here.
Frederic Werner, Head, Strategic Engagement at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), said that during the same week, the ITU would be hosting the AI for Good Global Summit 2024, including AI Governance Day, from 29 to 31 May. Among questions to be addressed was how AI would work differently for people of different backgrounds; if AI would bridge or divide the digital divide. AI for Good aimed to help the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals by harnessing the power of AI as best as possible; more than 40 sister UN agencies were part of the process. Great efforts were being made to bring different voices to the table, including private actors, academia, and civil sector. Some 3,000 participants were expected at the Summit, including 300 speakers; over 90 demos would also take place during the Summit. The theme of this year’s AI Governance Day would be “From Principles to Implementation”, informed Mr. Werner. The morning session of the Governance Day would be by invitation-only, and the afternoon would be open for the media. More information about the Summit is available here.
Media accreditations were open for both events, and one accreditation would suffice. A press conference with lunch would be organized on 31 May at 1 pm.
Responding to a question, Ms. Sah said that WSIS discussions would be summarized and shared with the facilitators of the drafting process of the Global Digital Compact. Mr. Werner, on another question, said that deepfakes and misinformation were among the biggest challenges anywhere in the world. Developing international standards to combat these two was on the agenda of the AI for Good Global Summit. Solutions and standards ought to be made with ethics in mind, be sustainable and long-term, be aligned with the SDGs and human rights principles. Switzerland was a co-host of the event, informed Mr. Werner.
Announcements
David Hirsch, for the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), said that today was World Telecommunication and Information Society Day commemorating the anniversary of ITU’s founding in 1865. This year’s theme was digital innovation for sustainable development. ITU would host a video event from its studios at ITU headquarters beginning at 4 pm today and would be webcast live.
Rolando Gómez, for the for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), said that the Secretary-General’s message on the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day had been shared with the media.
Peggy Walters, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), informed that the IOM would host its flagship event, the International Dialogue on Migration (IDM), in New York on 21-22 May. The IDM was IOM’s main forum for migration policy dialogue, which brought together all migration stakeholders, at a global level, for open discussions on the opportunities and challenges which migration presents. It was held twice year, with one session in New York and another in Geneva. “Facilitating regular pathways for a better future – harnessing the power of migration” was the theme of the upcoming event.
Rolando Gómez, for the for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), informed that the Committee on the Rights of the Child was concluding this morning its review of the report of Paraguay.
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women was reviewing today the report of Estonia.
An event to mark the International Day for Biological Diversity would take place at the Palais des Nations on 22 May, informed Mr. Gómez.
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Teleprompter
[Other language spoken]
Thank you for joining us here at the UN office at Geneva today, the 17th of May for this press briefing.
Another busy agenda for you.
We have Tunisia, we have several briefers on the situation in Sudan.
We also have announcements in a topic update from the International Telecommunications Union.
And lastly, actually two more than somebody, somebody will speak for the trade and development upcoming event next month as well as an announcement from the IOM.
So we'll start off immediately with Ravina of the Office for the **** Commissioner for Human Rights on Tunisia and then we'll go immediately over to Sudan.
[Other language spoken]
Good morning everyone.
[Other language spoken]
We're very concerned by the increased targeting in Tunisia of migrants, mostly from the South of the Sahara, and individuals and organisations working to assist them.
At the same time, we're witnessing a rise in the use of dehumanising and racist rhetoric against black migrants and black Tunisians.
Our office has recorded incidents of arbitrary arrest and detention of human rights defenders, lawyers and journalists who are critical of the government, as well as the government's migration policies.
Reported raids in the past week on the Tunisia Bar Association.
Undermine the rule of law and violate international standards on the protection of the independence and function of lawyers.
Such actions clearly constitute forms of intimidation and harassment.
The UN **** Commissioner for Human Rights, Volcker Turk, urges the authorities to respect and safeguard the freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly as guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Tunisia is a party.
The rule of law must be upheld and those arbitrarily detained, including for defending the rights of migrants and for combating racial discrimination, released.
The human rights of all migrants must be protected and xenophobic hate speech must stop.
Thank you very much.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Jamie, you had your hand up before we even started.
So is this a housekeeping or is this something on Tunisia for Ravina?
[Other language spoken]
Hi, Rolando.
[Other language spoken]
And I see that it's not on the schedule, so I wanted to bring it up from the start unless I don't know when the time to bring it up.
I, I really would like to get to the other items before we can take Gaza after Sudan because we really have quite a number of briefers, including those joining us online.
[Other language spoken]
I appreciate that there are probably other questions as well on the situation in Gaza, which continues to dominate these agendas.
[Other language spoken]
No, I don't see that's the case.
So let's turn right away then to Sudan, staying with Ravina on the human rights situation in El Fascher, in particular Ravina on Sudan.
The UN **** Commissioner for Human Rights, Wolka Turk is horrified by the escalating violence in Al Fasher in Darfur, where hostilities between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, backed by their respective allied armed groups, are having a deeply devastating toll on civilians.
At least 58 civilians are reported to have been killed and 213 others injured in Al Fasher since fighting dramatically escalated last week, and these figures are certainly an underestimate.
Concerned by the escalation in Al Fasher and the continued impact of wider fighting across Sudan, the **** Commissioner on Tuesday this week held separate phone calls with Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, the President of the Transitional Sovereignty Council and Commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces, as well as with General Muhammad Hamdan de Gallo, the commander of the Rapid Support Forces.
In these separate phone calls that the **** Commissioner had with the two commanders, he urged them both to act immediately and publicly to de escalate the situation.
He also called on them to put aside entrenched positions and take specific concrete steps to seize hostilities and to ensure the effective protection of civilians, as is their obligation under international human rights law and humanitarian law.
This is also consistent with their commitments under the Jeddah Declaration agreed in May 2023.
We warn both commanders that fighting in El Fasher, where more than 1.8 million residents and internally displaced people are currently encircled and at imminent risk of famine, would have a catastrophic impact on civilians, and it would deepen into communal conflict with disastrous humanitarian consequences.
The **** Commissioner reminded the commanders of their obligations under international humanitarian law to ensure strict compliance with the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution, and to put an end to any ongoing violations, as well as to ensure accountability for violations of international law committed by their respective forces and their allies.
He also urged the Commanders to redouble efforts towards reaching A negotiated solution, including by promptly resuming ceasefire negotiations, and to facilitate comprehensive access to humanitarian aid in areas under the forces respective control.
The **** Commissioner for Human Rights had last spoken directly in person to the two Commanders in November 2022 during an official visit to Sudan.
Thank you, Ravine and colleagues, just to remind you, we'll take all questions, all opening statements on Sudan and take questions at the end.
Turning now to Matt of the UN Refugee Agency, who has a guest he's going to introduce.
Yeah, good morning, Rolando.
Good morning, everyone.
It's my pleasure to introduce our representative in Uganda, Matthew Krenzel, who's going to brief you on the situation in Uganda with a particular emphasis on the recent arrivals of refugees from Sudan.
Matthew, over to you.
Thank you and good morning to you all.
Yes, we would like to start by saying Uganda, who's the highest number of refugees in Africa, that is 1.67 million and still counting over the past 2 1/2 years, about €300,000 arrivals have entered and been registered in the country.
Uganda therefore, I mean is the highest refugee hosting nation in Africa and then the third in the world which is very significant.
Besides that, Uganda has probably one of the best if not the best asylum regime in the world where refugees are not encamped, Refugees are hosted in settlements and live side by side the host communities.
Refugees have got freedom of movement, access to the labour market and all rights that Ugandans enjoy except for the right to vote.
But this said like I said, as I said earlier on that there is what I can term a silent emergency happening in in Uganda where 300,000 have come over the past 2 1/2 years, most of whom have come from South Sudan and and DRC.
We have had recent arrivals from Sudan as well.
This year alone, about 19,000 refugees have come from Sudan and with a total of about 33,000 registered in in Uganda.
[Other language spoken]
Uganda has an average of about 2500 new arrivals every week, so there is a silent emergency.
Despite this, funding is taking a downward trend.
Just to illustrate how severe the funding shortfall has been, in 2022, the total response in Uganda was budgeted at about 846,000,000.
By the end of the year, only 294.3 million had been received, amounting to about 3035% of the total requirements and this represented about 120 million lower than what was received in 2022.
[Other language spoken]
Despite the increasing numbers, funding is going down.
So I I I've recently been with a team of **** government officials.
Ministers to tour a few European capitals have been too alert that the widely acclaimed and praised refugee response in Uganda is at the risk of crumbling because losing 120 million U.S.
dollars from one year to the next is like falling off a Cliff.
There is only a minimum threshold of funding that we can kind of accommodate.
Below that, the refugee response and Uganda will be meaningless.
And who knows what will happen to the 1.7, nearly 1.7 million refugees who are there.
They may end up anywhere.
Last year, as a result of the funding shortfall, WFP had to cut food ratio to to refugees and only was able to provide 30% of the required food relation for 80% of the of the refugee population.
That is of the one point, nearly one point, 7,000,091% of them live in the settlement.
Those are the ones that require food assistance.
And I would also want to_the fact that because Uganda Has been hosting refugees for decades often, many people think that the refugee situation in Uganda Is protracted which, is not the case of.
The nearly 1.7 million refugees who are in the country now only, 179,000 have been in the country 10 years or longer the.
Rest are all new arrivals and then they keep coming 81%.
Of these refugees are women and children.
So you can just imagine a shortage of food and the consequences it has on these refugees.
Last year, as a result of the the reduction of the food ration, many refugees left Uganda and went to Kenya hoping to have better services there.
By the way, the food ration in Uganda is the lowest in the region.
So many of them left hoping to to be accepted.
[Other language spoken]
They were not accepted.
They had to come back in all sorts of dire conditions.
They keep going back and forth.
Suicide rate is on the ****.
This year alone about 103 cases of of suicide have been reported.
And we are we have not even ended May 22 of which were successful that that is unfortunate.
But we are trying to do things differently in Uganda because we don't expect to achieve a different resolve doing the same thing over the over the years.
So we are working more and more with refugee LED organisations and last year for the first time in Uganda, UNAC are signed a partnership agreement with the private Private Sector Foundation of Uganda to encourage its members to invest in refugee hosting areas, refugee settlements.
And by the way, refugees are held in about 31 different locations, settlements all covering an area of about 1162 square kilometres and it is about two times the size of Nairobi and four times New York.
So you can just imagine the enormity and the general generous nature of the response in Uganda.
So more or less this is this, I guess, a snapshot, snapshot of the refugee response in Uganda.
[Other language spoken]
Thank you very much, Mr Kritzel.
I'm going to throw it now to Jens, who will stick stay on the funding issue in Sudan.
Jens, over to you.
Thank you, Rolando.
Good morning, everyone.
Those were very dire statistics.
We heard there from, from, from Uganda, that suicide rate that is very bleak.
I, I want to make the, the link to where people come from, namely Sudan, where the situation of course is very dire as well.
We speak a lot about funding and underfunding, but this time we're, we're really serious.
So let me read my note.
In Sudan, half of the population, 25 million people, need humanitarian aid.
Famine is closing in, diseases are closing in, the fighting is closing in on civilians, especially in Darfur.
The overall response plan aims to reach and support 15,000,000 of the worst affected people.
Collectively, we ask for 2.7 billion American dollars.
As of today, 4 1/2 months into the year, we have received 12% of that.
This is not just an underfunded appeal, it is a catastrophically underfunded appeal.
Without more resources coming in fast, humanitarian organisations won't be able to scale up in time to stave off famine and prevent further deprivation.
We urgently need support to bring in more food, health services, shelter, water and sanitation, but also for the prevention of sexual and gender based violence, help to the victims and support for the reopening of schools for out of school children.
Now is the time for donors to make good on pledges made, step up and help us help Sudan and be part of changing the current trajectory that's leading towards the cliff's edge.
Don't be missing in action.
[Other language spoken]
Thank you very much, Jan.
So I'm going to now introduce on behalf of WHO.
We have a guest and Tarek is also in the room.
We have a guest from WHO, Doctor Shibli Shabani, who is WH OS representative in Sudan, who's joining us from Port Sudan.
Doctor Overtillo, thank you.
We sorry you'll have to unmute yourself again.
Doctor, can you hear me now?
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Thank you very much.
Good morning and greetings from Port Sudan, ladies and gentlemen.
13 months of war in Sudan, 9 million people displaced, which represents around 17% of the population and the largest internal displacement crisis in the world today.
This conflict has caused hunger, as that was mentioned by my colleagues, but it has also caused insecurity and nearly destroyed the health system, which is almost collapsed now.
Close to 16,000 people have died and 33,000 have been injured by the top, but the toll of the war is probably much higher.
The recent escalation of violence in Khartoum, in Al Jazeera, in Gadarif and particularly in in Darfur in Al fascia.
This is a particularly alarming and causing more injuries and deaths among civilians as access to health facilities and health services.
Healthcare is Hanford by the subsequent insecurity both the displaced and those who have remained in their localities.
They lack access to basic necessities like food, water, shelter but also healthcare and medicines.
While disease like cholera, measles, dengue fever, malaria, they are all spreading as we speak now, two third of the 18 states in Sudan, they are experiencing multiple outbreaks, at least three ongoing outbreaks in those states.
With the approaching rainy season, this risk will be even higher.
While trauma care and disease outbreak surveillance are among the top priorities, WHO is also concerned over the lack of treatment for people suffering from chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and kidney failure.
The lack of access to basic healthcare and medicines is putting their lives at risk in a country where there is a **** burden of non communicable diseases.
Even before the escalation of the conflict, non communicable diseases appointed for more than 51% of mortality in Sudan.
Around 1.4 million Sudanese people living with diabetes continue to be at **** risk of disability and death without the proper healthcare services, and those living with kidney failure will die if they don't receive dialysis sessions now and at least twice a week.
On top of that.
Famine is looming, especially in parts of Darfur and in Harto, with more than 1/3 of the population facing acute hunger.
The number of under five children and pregnant and breastfeeding women suffering from acute malnutrition has increased from 3.9 million in 2023 to around 4.9 million in 2024.
Attacks on healthcare and humanitarian workers worsen the lack of access to health services and put patients, health workers, humanitarian workers and humanitarian assets at grave risk.
And here I would like to commend the great work which is done by the Sudanese health workforce.
I had the opportunity and the chance to meet with them on the field.
While they are providing services to the vulnerable populations, they are working 24/7 and the big part of them, they didn't even receive their salaries for the last 12 months.
They need our support and they need our protection.
WHO has recorded 62 verified attacks on healthcare.
Worth noting that many other international humanitarian law violations as it was mentioned by my colleague, but also attacks are not reported reported due to communication challenges.
Only recently 2 ICRC national staff and one IFRC volunteer were killed in attacks in Central Darfur and N Kordofan.
And recently, two children being cared for intensive care unit of a hospital in Al Fashir died due to impacts of an explosion near the facility.
Such insecurity, in addition to bureaucratic hurdles, continue to block humanitarian access, leading to long waits for movement of supplies and personnel where they are urgently needed.
But despite these challenges, W it shows determination to respond to the health emergency remains intact.
We've increased our footprints in the country.
And we continue to actively engage with Sudan Ministry of Health and Health partners to provide technical expertise, training for provision of supplies and equipments to where they are needed, including in hard to reach areas.
We have delivered into Sudan over 1200 metric tonnes of medical supplies to health facilities across Sudan states by air and through cross-border and cross line modalities.
We've provided key equipments to sustain laboratory services, improve the ICU care and enhance infection prevention and control.
We supported vaccination campaigns and stabilisation centres for malnutrition.
We responded to outbreaks of cholera, measles and polio and trained health workers in case management of epidemic prone diseases in a crisis setting and in management of severe malnutrition.
WHO stand ready to do more and utilise all available avenues to reach the most vulnerable populations across Sudan.
But we need assurances of security for our staff, for all health staff and supplies.
We also call on our partners and donors to continue to stand with us to meet the needs of people of Sudan.
Above all, we call on parties to the conflict to silence the guns and give the people of Sudan a respite.
Health cannot be unsure in the absence of peace.
[Other language spoken]
Thank you very much, Doctor.
Before we go to questions, just to note that through his remarks to the summit of the League of Arab States yesterday, the Secretary General, Antonio Guterres did raise the situation in Sudan at that event and urged the international community to intense its push for peace.
And he called on the warring parties to agree on a lasting ceasefire, which would need to be followed by political process that includes women's and youth groups.
That statement we shared with you yesterday.
We have a wealth of expertise of peer colleagues.
So if you could kindly point your question to A1 or or two different speakers here.
We'll start off online.
Catherine of Franz Foncat, online question to you.
Thank you, Orlando.
Thank you for the speakers.
And my question is for Mr Matthew Crenzel who spoke about Uganda.
Sir, could you please tell us who are the main donors, who have been the main donors until now?
And you told us about a minimum of amount needed in order to keep your actions going.
Could you tell us how much it should be as you, you are missing or you already missing 120 million if I'm not wrong, compared to 2022 and and and and that's it for the moment.
[Other language spoken]
OK, connects Catherine.
Thank you for your questions.
the US is by far the biggest donor to the refugee operation in Uganda and followed by the EU.
We have several European countries also are contributing the Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, the EU Commission, echo the Japan and so on and so forth.
So we have we have quite a long list of of donors and we have some private donors as well contributing to the refugee response in Uganda.
Talking about the the minimum budget, like I said, 2022 we needed for the entire refugee response that is not unit CR alone.
The Uganda country refugee response needed 846,000,000.
We only got 35% of it this year.
We would need 858,000,000 as the numbers go up.
As we speak now only 13% of that is funded.
So to talk of a critical minimum to give a figure now at a time when the numbers are going up, I will be quite misleading.
But just wanted to illustrate to you that if we're able to get about 5070% of the requirements, I will be able to implement a more meaningful refugee response in Uganda even though it not cover all the needs.
We are also trying to address the funding shortfall by doing things differently, working more and more with refugee LED organisations who are much cheaper than other partners as well as encouraging the private sector to invest in refugee hosting areas and also stepping up livelihood and self-reliance activities for refugees.
Was that is that is that will be a huge plus.
The more self reliant they are, the more they will be able to cover many of their needs and the less and less they would have to depend on humanitarian assistance.
[Other language spoken]
Thank you very much.
OK Catherine, is that follow up?
Your hand is still up there.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Thank you, Orlando, Sir, who in fact you, you said that there is a decrease of of donations, but is it due to the fact that the US did decrease the amount or which main donor did decrease his donations?
Yes, there has been a reduction of donation from the US and being the biggest donor means if we have a significant reduction from the US, it affects the entire budget.
We've had other reductions also from from many of the other donors.
But let me also quickly add that in 2022, when we had the peak of arrivals, there was a spike in donations.
And that is why I mentioned that because since then 300,000 have come in elsewhere.
This will be big deals.
We are even contemplating launching an appeal for that because straw trickles add up.
So more or less, I hope this satisfies your question.
Otherwise, we can still go into more details.
[Other language spoken]
Thank you very much.
OK, we'll take a question from Jeremy of Radio France International.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
One for Yance and one for the first Spani.
The one for Yance is, of course, we're talking about Sudan.
Record number of ID, PS attacks on healthcare's, famine looming.
It rings a bell for everyone here, I guess, but it's hard to imagine that.
How can a place be even worse than than Gaza right now?
But it seems that in terms of scale, Sudan is much, much worse and 2012% only funding.
That's what you said.
How much hope do you have that's in the coming month?
Something will change and and donors will actually jump in to cover the gap because it seems really unlikely as of now.
So, So what can be done?
[Other language spoken]
This is for Jens.
The, the, the next question for Mr Salani is you, you, you, you talked about cholera and, and diseases spreading right now and how it could be worse with the rainy season coming.
I'd like to understand what is maybe the, the, the, the number one disease right now spreading?
Is it measles You talk about Maria, you, you, you talked about cholera.
So can you elaborate a bit more on the, the, the facts and figures on disease spreading and particularly maybe cholera?
Thanks so much, Jeremy.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Thank you very much.
Many of the issues on the humanitarian side are indeed the same.
The scale of, of, of need in both places you, you mentioned Gaza and and hir Sudan, I think are uniquely **** for those two places individually, right.
Of course, if you look at absolute numbers of people in need, Sudan is just a bigger country, more populous country.
So that's where you get these these very **** numbers.
So I think they're both at probably the worst point that they have been at for decades in both these situations.
Secondly, about hope that the funding will come in, of course we have hope.
We don't, we don't think we we have determination.
We have the determination to keep on pushing for what we know is right and what we have frankly heard donors pledge that they also think is right money for the response.
Now the data unfortunately tells me today that that money has not arrived.
We are still at 12% given that we are staring famine, not we.
People in Sudan are staring famine in the face.
That money needs to be released and get into the accounts of eight organisations who can make a different as soon as possible because there is a pipeline before we can get things up and moving.
You can't just do it from one day to the next there.
There's a time.
It needs to be mobilised.
So that's why I mentioned that time is of the essence.
The clock is ticking.
I don't know what other cliches I can put on it, but it really is urgent that that funding comes through.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Doctor Sabani on the cholera and measles, yeah, thank you.
Thank you very much for for the question.
Now actually as I mentioned that the disease outbreaks is a big concern for W2 and for the different HealthPartners.
Just to give you a few figures with regards to the ongoing outbreaks, measles we are we've recorded 4668 cases with 106 deaths for cholera, over 11,000 cases in more than 12 states with the that's 308 for malaria, it's normal.
The the the cases are much higher.
We have 1,000,000.27 cases over 14 states.
Now the issue is that we have actually two issues.
The first one, the rainy season is coming.
So the what we call the vector borne diseases will increase definitely with mosquitoes and the the, the, the quality of water and so on and so forth.
But the second thing is also the lack of access during the rainy season.
So we will not have the same possibility of having access in addition of course to the security concerns and the bureaucratic impediments and so on, access will be limited due to to the rainy season.
So now what has to be done first to to increase the surveillance and this is another challenge that we have on the ground is the access again access and access and access again.
The 2nd is to build the capacity of the different partners to improve our surveillance system, including Minister of Health, but also the other partners who are who are on the ground.
And the the other thing is to be proactive rather than to treat the cases.
But how we can prevent, how we can distribute the mosquito Nets, how we can improve the quality of water to, to prevent cholera spread and so on and so forth.
So I think this will be one of the challenges in the in the coming in the coming.
But WHO is already on that, working with our partners to be ready to prevent and to respond to any disease outbreak.
Over to you.
Thank you very much, Doctor Sabani.
We still have a few hands up, starting with Lisa Shrine, the Voice of America.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Thank you, Ravine.
I first have a question, question for you.
I'd like to know what did the generals say to the **** Commissioner's plea to have them de escalate the conflict in Darfur?
Does he get a sense, do you get a sense that they even care about what happens to their people?
And after we're through with the Sudan, I'd like to ask you a couple of questions on Sri Lanka, if I may.
And then I would like to know perhaps matter your, your a representative can answer this question.
I'm wondering whether any or Archer whether any transfers of assistance is possible from Chad into Darfur or whether that has been completely cut off right now.
And then whoever can answer the question as to do you have any figures as to how many people may have actually starved to death?
You say that famine has hit, so I'm wondering how you're tracking this.
[Other language spoken]
OK, starting with Ravina.
[Other language spoken]
As I always say to you, I am a spokesperson for the **** Commissioner, so I can't speak on behalf of the two generals, but I can share a little bit of, of what the conversation was.
Now the the **** Commissioner has been seeking a conversation with both General Burhan and General de Gallo for a long time now.
He's reached out to them since August last year.
They finally did agree to, to a phone call and he had separate phone calls with with each of them.
He raised, of course, the his deep distress at the situation in Sudan.
As you know, the **** Commissioner was there.
I was with him in November 2022 when the situation looked very different.
There was a lot of hope.
We met with a lot of young people's courageous, articulate, brilliant young people, particularly women who were taking to the streets and fighting for freedom, full of hope and optimism.
And it was a very delicate situation at the time.
So the **** Commissioner expressed his deep distress that it has come to this now, and he appealed to both generals.
To put the interests of the people first, to resume peace negotiations, to ensure that people have access to adequate humanitarian assistance, to not block humanitarian assistance, to ensure that their troops and their allied forces fully respect international humanitarian law and human rights law.
To insist on accountability, to send out messages that there has to be 0.
Tolerance for sexual violence, for attacks against civilians.
In response, each of them acknowledged the importance of of respecting international humanitarian law.
General Burhan also indicated that he would facilitate visas for our staff.
We we currently only have one international staff member in Port Sudan and we are hoping to get visas for more staff to be able to go in and for the **** commissioners designated expert on Sudan to be able to go in as well.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
On the question of cross-border from Chad going into Darfur and Sudan at the moment, the last information that we had from UNHCR was that aid was not able to go across the border.
The situation is, of course, extremely fluid, and with other partners we would hope that the situation would allow for AIDS to pass through, because we know that it's desperately needed inside Darfur.
We've just heard about the incredibly worrying spectre of famine.
We know that people are stuck in El Fascia, and we have.
We believe that many more people would flee if they could.
But already in Chad, on the border, the situation is extremely grim.
The country has already hosted between 500 and 600,000 refugees from Sudan, taking the overall refugee population there to over 1,000,000.
And the pressure is acute on Chad and particularly at those border areas now.
[Other language spoken]
Maybe we'll we'll go to our WHO colleague on the last question, but before.
So I think we really wanted to add one point, just giving Lisa a tip.
General de Gallo has a Twitter account and X account.
So if you want to see what he conveyed to the **** Commissioner, go there.
OK, thanks for that, Ravina.
Dr Sabani, maybe on the issue of famine, Matt just touched upon that, of course, as as did other colleagues, but maybe you want to add a bit more on this.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Just on the Famine 1, actually it's very difficult to say how many people died due to malnutrition, but I can give you some figures regarding the situation that we have now is 37% of the population are in IPC 3 or above and also 3.6% acute malnutrition and 36.4 chronic malnutrition among the population.
So these figures are really ****.
And you know that the UN system as a whole in Sudan developed the famine prevention plan, which we can call now even famine response plan, targeting 7.6 million million people for the coming six months in 167 localities in in Sudan.
So we think that there are here 2 issues.
The first one is due to war.
There is a lack of access to to food, which will worsen the the famine situation.
But the second point is that due to lack of access and lack of enough resources, we will not be able to implement the stabilisation centres for malnutrition in many areas, including, as I said before, the main hotspots, HR Khartoum and the and the dark force over.
Thank you very much, Doctor Sabani.
OK, we still have a couple questions.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Yeah, thanks, Rolando.
Thank you for taking my question.
A follow up to Ravina.
A few months ago, Martin Griffiths had made a suggestion that the two generals might meet in order to try to progress on the humanitarian access that had led to the conference in Paris.
So was there any kind of good offices, discussion also by the **** Commissioner on some steps that he himself to improve the the situation of human rights might, might do with the two generals?
[Other language spoken]
The **** Commissioner appealed to each of them to resume peace negotiations, and he made clear to them what their obligations are under international human rights law and under international humanitarian law.
And he asked them to take specific concrete measures and publicly to commit to to trying to bring this conflict to an end and to prevent it from escalating further.
Thank you very much.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
I actually the question is rather about Afghanistan and since since Yance is there and I don't know if there are any other, yeah, let's let's before we go to Afghanistan, let's finish up with Sudan.
We still have a couple of hands up.
So, Paul, if you wouldn't mind holding off on that and we'll come right back to a promise.
Laurent, I think you had a follow up to the previous question you posed.
[Other language spoken]
Yeah, yeah, yeah, actually, yeah.
The question was also to to see whether there was any kind of proposal for the meeting between the two generals that could happen in Geneva and and that the **** Commissioner could have reiterated the importance of such format.
Hi, if you're asking if the **** Commissioner specifically proposed a joint meeting with the two generals, no, that wasn't part of the conversation.
[Other language spoken]
Thank you very.
And of course, if there are any developments on this, we'll we'll certainly let you all know.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Or is this on Sri Lanka?
It's on Sri Lanka if the situation in Sudan has been exhausted.
Let's, let's see, let's before we go to that subject, let's just make sure of that.
I see that Sudan has been exhausted.
So thank you all very much.
This is an immensely important subject in which deserves a lot of attention.
So thank you colleagues, for reporting on this.
[Other language spoken]
And then over to you afterwards on Afghanistan, Paula.
[Other language spoken]
Ravina, do do you have any kind of a figure on how many people have actually disappeared, still remain disappeared over the past few decades?
I didn't get a sense that there was any kind of a concrete figure in that regard from the report.
And then I have any people been prosecuted and held accountable.
The only thing that I had read, and I certainly don't didn't read it carefully enough, is that one person actually had been prosecuted for crimes that have been committed, but that this person had been pardoned.
Have any is is this correct or has has there been any effort at all to bring any kind of accountability to any of the people that have allegedly committed crimes throughout the decades?
And then let's see.
Yeah, my usual question, and I ask it again, is this is quite a fulsome report.
They have been many in the several in the past.
What has the government's response been to this report?
Has it acknowledged many of the what do you say the, the, the accusations or the information that is implicit inside the report or is there just a sense of denial, denial, denial?
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
I'll, I'll, I hope I can answer them all on the figures.
No, I mean, there are reports that at a minimum 10s of thousands were forcibly disappeared in Sri Lanka from the 1970s until the end of the conflict in 2009.
But there aren't any authoritative figures on the number of enforced disappearances, no.
Or, and anyway what I'm here, what I'm seeing here from colleagues, all the figures that have been shared publicly are likely to represent a significant under representation on the government's response.
Generally, there appears to be a lack of political will to provide accountability for these cases.
There are a lot of recurring obstacles to accountability, frequent unwillingness on the part of the police to receive complaints, delays in the justice system, conflicts of interest at the Attorney General's office.
The reparation programmes have not been developed with sufficient consultation with victims and successive commissions of inquiry have been created by the government.
But only a few of these reports have been made public and even when they are published, access has usually been limited.
We are continuing, of course, to insist that people need to know what happened to their loved ones.
It doesn't matter if a year has passed, 20 years have passed, 30 years have passed you, you still live with that everyday that that uncertainty of what happened, how did it happen?
I'll quote one of the the victims families who said two weeks passed, then two months, then two years, now it has been 32 years and I am still waiting.
And this was regarding an enquiry about his son who disappeared 32 years ago.
We can't forget we're now marking 15 years since the end of the conflict and there's been a lot of activities in Sri Lanka on memorialization of the end of the conflict.
And even there, rather than, you know, facilitating proper memorialisation of of all the pain and the suffering that that occurred during that time.
We are seeing that there are reports of criminalisation of memorialisation efforts as well and restrictions on this.
And this needs to stop and a genuine effort needs to be made to actually address this situation.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
I think maybe to be fair, Paul, if you don't mind waiting, Jamie had his hand up early on and has a question on Gaza.
So let's let's take that question 1st and then we can go back to you on Afghanistan.
Jamie, over to you.
Thanks, Rolando.
Actually, in the mean in the meantime, I actually have a question about Sudan as well for, for Ravina, If I could, Ravina, could you just qualify the response of the **** Commissioner after his phone calls with Tagalo and with Burhan?
Did he, when he hung up the phone after those conversations, did he say, did he think, oh, maybe we're making progress here, that maybe these, these two leaders are receptive to his appeal that he could come away more positively after that?
Is there any sign that he had that maybe they are willing to step away from this violence?
And, and you mentioned the bit about how there's maybe a visa available both to you and staff additional.
But can you be a little bit more sort of sweeping about the overall tenor of these conversations and whether or not there's actually they, they led the HC to have a little more hope that this might, might end?
[Other language spoken]
It would be inappropriate of me to share, of course, the the **** Commissioners feelings and reactions after the call in in great detail.
The visa issue is an important one.
The **** Commissioner did ask for his designated expert to get access to Sudan as well As for more of our staff to get access.
And that was a positive outcome of the call that we we may be able to receive these visas.
And that was, you know, immediately communicated to the **** Commissioner that this would be facilitated.
So that is positive.
As you know, it's very important for us to be be on the ground to be able to cover such important crises more closely.
And beyond that, it was very important for the UN **** Commissioner for Human Rights to directly speak to the parties to the conflict, to remind them of their obligations under international law, to remind them also of command responsibility in relation to the violations that we are documenting both by the Rapid Support Forces and by the Sudanese Armed Forces.
[Other language spoken]
OK, we'll now take your question.
Unless there are further questions on this is what subject?
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Is there any commitment from the General Burhan and Hemeti about humanitarian access?
If so, how can **** Commissioner for Human Rights follow up on this commitment?
Again, it's not for me to convey what they said.
It's for me to convey what the **** Commissioner insisted on.
So, yeah, I'm, I'm afraid I can't convey, you know, a commitment by, by by the generals themselves.
But the **** Commissioner did insist on their responsibility, indeed their obligation under international law to facilitate humanitarian access for all who need it.
Did you, was there a second part to your question?
Sorry.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Let's, let's get Sudan out of the way.
[Other language spoken]
Mr OSHA said that 25,000,000 Sudanese are in need.
Have you been able to reach those who are in need?
Is specifically who are in occupied area by RSF in Jazeera Al Fashir, right?
I mean the, the, the over, we have reached a number of, of, of, of people with various forms of aid.
I will just look up the exact number of, of, of, of, of people that I, that I think I have, but it's far from, far from where, where it should be.
So it is sporadic, it's not sustained and it is difficult to plan for because you need to have insured access before you can even start planning for that.
I, I, we heard an example from the humanitarian coordinator there a couple of days ago where she spoke about a convoy with aid that would probably would have liked to have crossed the border from, from Chad, which would have been much easier into in fascia.
But that's not possible.
So that sit out on the 3rd of April from Port Sudan trying to reach in fascia and six weeks now later it still hasn't reached because of all the impediments and the fighting on the way.
So that goes to to tell you that in a sense the response is opportunistic in the sense that if there is an opportunity for access cross line, cross-border and so on, of course we will.
We will grab it and try to get to people and deliver as much aid as as we possibly can.
But it's very, very difficult to plan if you don't have that kind of minimum guarantee that you at least can, can go there.
And now the tragedy comes in when you do have that access.
And then you look at, oh, where's the aid?
And then you look at a budget that's 12% funded, right.
So we need these things to, to work together.
We know the donors are not going to give us the access.
The generals are going to give us the access if their intentions, as we have heard also from in in the past that they want to live up to international law actually triggers down trickles down the structures to the commanders on the ground because those are the ones who who stop us.
It's not the generals, those commanders, they need to understand this as well.
And then we need the donors to to help us with the resources.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
OK, I think now Sudan, there are no further questions on Sudan.
So we'll we'll go back to you Jamie quickly for your question on Gaza and then to you and yes, Jamie.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
I did want to go back to Gaza and this question is for Jens.
So we had a pretty thorough, if sometimes unclear explanation of the new numbers about that OCHA is using to that is received out of Gaza about the the casualties from in the wake of the operations in the last few months.
And my question really is just about, you know, how OCHA for many months has been talking about roughly 70% of the the casualties have been women and children.
And I'm just wondering if those numbers have now changed, if that percentage has changed based on your latest assessment and if so, to what?
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
OK, let's take another round on that.
The the overall numbers did not change.
First of all, the the amount of people, the number of people who died was the same.
The question of the percentage of people in various categories did change between what was recorded by the Government media Office and the Ministry of Health.
Of course, we use the Ministry of Health as the best available sources source on these kind of of of data.
The Government Media Office was used for a short for a brief period in November, December when the Ministry of Health told us they were unable to provide us with those details for various reasons.
When they came` unquote online, so did we because we provide the best available data at the time of reporting.
The two numbers are not or the two percentages are therefore not mutually exclusive because one pertains to the 35,000 that the government media office is using.
It's not because that they are using a higher death toll because the death toll is is the same.
If you look at the report, that most recent report that we have put out, the percentage as you will see there are those that are provided by the Ministry of Health on the subset of 25,000 people that they have been able to fully identify, verify with date of birth, date of death, gender and ID number.
That's a full identification of the person.
So if you're asking me about what percentages we are using now, then please have a look at that, at that graphic.
You will see there's percentage for women, there's a percentage for children, and then there is because that's how the Ministry of Health provides these numbers.
There's a category of elderly that is not gender disaggregated.
[Other language spoken]
That does not take away from another reporting source, the government media office, which has an indication also that they use about the number of women and children out of the total death toll.
So these two numbers of ways of looking at it can exist simultaneously without contradicting each other.
We as Orcha use the Ministry of Health numbers, as you will see in our most recent reports, because it is, as we also heard from our colleagues in WHO just recently, the the better option.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Thanks to you, Jens, for that clarification.
And yes, yes, thank you.
This is a question to to Jens on on Gaza.
We, we are looking to have some information about the people who are fleeing from Rafa.
If you have any figure about that number of people fleeing Rafa, from which parts of Rafa are they leaving?
Are they fleeing?
It seems that they are fleeing from a number increased number of areas or higher number of areas that Israel has asked to be evacuated And where are they going?
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
The the latest number that that I have total was 600,000.
This, this is sourced to UNWA.
So I, I recommend that you, you check with them for an update on that, on the total displacement from, from Rafa.
We've also seen from the first evacuation orders that were given to today, there's been an an additional set of evacuation orders for more areas in Rafa and people are moving on them as as we've talked about at length here, people are are terrified and and they try to to get away.
They're generally moving north and northwest towards towards the coast where they have been told to go.
This is very hard in the sense that there's no safe routes out of Rafa and there's certainly no safe destination anywhere in Gaza for these people.
We have as a humanitarian operators on the ground been moving as well staff towards the north trying to be where people are because regardless of whether we think this movement is good or bad, when people de facto and in effect move, of course we try to be as close to them as possible to provide them with with assistance.
But for for the latest number, let's I I suggest you, you, you check with UNWA.
It will be in our reporting later, later in the day.
[Other language spoken]
Of course, these, these figures are fluctuating greatly.
So we can also help facilitate that through Anram.
Is that Emma, is that a Gaza related question or OPT?
[Other language spoken]
All right, let's do that.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
I'm hoping for an update on medical supplies into Gaza.
People Corn gave us a briefing saying if Rafa Crossing was closed, that meant no medical supplies into Gaza.
What is the current situation and anything on the hospitals given that there was a key dialysis unit in one of the Rafa hospitals?
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Tarek is joining us on the podium here.
[Other language spoken]
Thank you much for this question.
Indeed, the the closing of Rafa Crossing, closure of that crossing is, is putting as said, a difficult situation when it comes to movement of people, medical workers, rotation of UN staff and emergency medical team staff.
But more importantly also on the supplies.
We didn't have any supplies coming.
The last medical supplies that we got in in Gaza was before May 6th.
The biggest real issue right now is, is fuel.
WTO health facilities, HealthPartners need some somewhere between 1.4 to 1.8 million litres of fuel per month to have hospitals functioning.
There was only 159, 1000 litres of fuel that entered Rafa for all humanitarian partners and that's clearly not sufficient.
And I don't have to remind you, what does it mean of not having fuel in hospitals?
There is only 13 out of 36 hospitals that are partially functioning right now in Gaza.
If you don't have fuel, you can't really run generators and if you don't have electricity, people who are on a critical support in intensive care units are at risk.
You can't perform C sections on pregnant women.
You can't really you can't really do surgeries and you can't really maintain in life the the new bones as well.
Just to tell you that, for example, that Kamal Adwan and Al Adwa hospital in in north Gaza also difficult to access WHO and health partners from emerged medical teams had to suspend the movements to the north.
So obviously this is again getting really critical.
Hospitals are still functioning running out of fuel and that puts so many lives at a danger.
So we again appeal for for access, first of all, and then obviously our appeal that that current military operations in in Rafa are putting countless lives at risk.
Thank you very much, Tarek.
OK, lots of hands are popping up now.
Emma, let's just go back to you to see if this is a quick follow up because we have a few other really quick follow up.
Najjar Hospital in Rafa where there's that key dialysis unit and there was a warning of people dying if it was abandoned, which I understand it has been.
What's the update on that please?
Look, it's as I said, there is a, there is a risk really that there are, there are hospitals that fall within blocks of what's under evacuation order.
And that's five hospitals, 2IN Rafa and three in north of Gaza, 9 Primary Health centres, including four in Rafa and five in Nordgas.
So if these hospitals are to stop functioning then then obviously people are we will lose more lives.
MSF had to had to leave the Indonesian field hospital a few days ago.
So we are in a situation first, we don't have medical supplies, we don't have a few.
We have hospitals that are under evacuation order.
We have a situation where we cannot move physically WHO but also emergency medical team.
And let me just remind you, there is 18 emergency medical teams from different countries that, that are doing great work in trying to help health workers of Gaza and these health workers from emergency medical teams, from international NGOs.
We also need to, to do a rotations and we need to rotate stuff.
But let's not forget the, the people of Gaza who have nowhere to go.
So, so, so, so we are really in a critical situation trying to do the best we can.
But, but obviously, if there are military operations, if there is no access, we will just see more suffering.
We will have more lives being lost.
And we will be sitting here again in a few days time and next week and just producing again our appeals.
But but we hope really that one day it is and sooner than better these appeals will be heard.
Indeed.
That's the hope.
Still a couple of hands up perhaps on Gaza.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Thank you, Rolando.
And I do have a follow up Yens for Yens the the United States, the the floating pier has, I know we've been talking about it for some time, but it's actually getting operational today.
So I'd like to update the question about the United Nations response to the fact that there is going to be aid flowing across that pier as many as 150 trucks per day.
Is that a help?
Do you welcome that?
And then just a second quick question on that.
Is it your understanding that fuel, as Tarek just mentioned, fuel will also possibly be flowing through that route as well to get to Gaza?
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Jamie gives me an opportunity to read you the lines that I have on that.
First of all, it is, it is welcome and I think everyone in the operation has said it.
Any and all aid into Gaza is welcomed by any by any route, but it is an addition and it doesn't take away from the fact that land crossings will be more important.
But let let me let me just tell you what what I have on this floating dock that we read about in the news.
We, as the UN are finalising our operational plans to make sure that we are ready to handle aid once the floating dock is properly functioning while ensuring the safety of our staff.
Community awareness and acceptance is paramount to ensure the safety and security of this operation.
We are grateful for the efforts of Cyprus, supported by other Member States, to sustain this maritime corridor as an additional route for aid to Gaza.
However, getting aid to people they need into and across Gaza cannot and should not depend on a floating dock far from where needs are most acute.
Land roots are the most viable, effective and efficient aid delivery method, which is why we need all crossing points to be opened.
I also, if I may, just convey a few points from WFP.
The plan is for logistics cluster managed by WFP on behalf of the UN and the humanitarian community to facilitate the flow of humanitarian assistance coming from the floating dock.
This in this will involve the coordination of the arrival of empty trucks, overseeing the loading and transfer of commodities coming through the loading dock to the trucks and the dispatch to warehouses across Gaza and finally hand over to humanitarian partners.
[Other language spoken]
Thank you very much.
I think, Tarek, you wanted to add 1 point on the previous question.
[Other language spoken]
So that truly falls Najar Hospital and you, United Arab Emirate Hospital, field Hospital are also within this evacuation order territory.
And that's 352 beds in total, so 220 Al Najar and 96 in, in a, in AUAA and 36 beds in a Kuwaiti hospital.
So all these beds and capacity would be lost if if health workers and teams have to leave that.
And obviously patients would then pay the heaviest price.
Indeed.
[Other language spoken]
I haven't forgot about you, Paula and Afghanistan, Muhammad of Andalou.
Is this on Gaza?
[Other language spoken]
Thank you, Orlando.
My question for Atari is about an hospital in Gaza.
Atari Yesterday it was reported that a European Gaza hospital in Hanunis was out of service due to lack of fluid.
Many official have repeatedly state that this is is a hospital a lifeline for civilians?
My question is, what will happened to this hospital and it and it's patients?
Is there a plan for them?
[Other language spoken]
Thanks, Mohammed.
Well, I, I think, I think it's what what I said earlier applies to every hospital.
Basically hospitals, they need fuel.
If they don't have a fuel, there is no electricity.
If there's no electricity, then the, the, the, the machines that are used to, to to to to save lives cannot function.
So what is happening now?
The hospitals are running out of fuel rationing to try to keep some minimal, minimal services.
But but if if we don't get access to bring this fuel, then obviously people who need dialysis, as I said, people in intensive care units, newborns in incubators, surgeries that are needed will not be able to be performed.
So, so we really need fuel and we need a Dead Space within Gaza to be able to move.
[Other language spoken]
And we've been keeping saying this, that bringing supplies inside Gaza is just part of the process.
The other part of the process is to to be able to freely move and not be delayed at checkpoints, not having our missions within Gaza being denied.
So we need this humanitarian space and above all we need we need a ceasefire.
So this this horror finally ends.
[Other language spoken]
Thank you very much, Tarek.
OK, I think now we have exhausted questions on Gaza.
So we'll turn back to you, Paul.
And thank you for your patience.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
So my question is really to know which organisations are currently on the ground in Afghanistan following the flooding in the north and who are able to access those, those victims and where?
[Other language spoken]
I think I'm nodding to Yens who might have information.
In the meantime, I'm looking for some notes.
But Yens, I don't know if you have some information.
I mean, unsurprisingly, I don't know off the top of my head, but I will be happy to either get you in touch with our people in Afghanistan or look it up for you.
[Other language spoken]
Of course, we we could certainly get that information.
And thanks again for your patience.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Yeah, thanks for your question.
I have a brief update that I can give.
Joint assessment teams are deploying at the moment to the affected areas in Pakistan, to sorry in Afghanistan to determine the impact of the floods, the humanitarian needs of course and to identify families in need.
Today over 3000 people have been assessed revealing 845 homes have been fully damaged and over 1000 severely damaged.
With partners, UNHCR has been bringing in clothes for many households, tents of course as well and the distribution started on the 15th of May with the delivery of emergency tents and non food item kits.
With our protection partners in the country, we've mobilised to identify the most urgent cases that need interventions and we have followed up and we will follow up more with those partners where the needs are most acute.
I think that's the main update that we have for now.
But obviously, we're keeping a very close eye on the situation and working as hard as we can to identify the most acute needs and intervene where we can.
Thank you very much, Matt Tarek, go ahead.
No, just, I know that my colleague Christian did mention what WHO is is is doing in Afghanistan right now.
So I'll just maybe repeat few lines on that.
That WHO has delivered 7 metric tonnes of essential medicines and medical supplies and immediately deployed surveillance support teams and other experts to the flood response activities.
Prior to that, WHO had already provided enough medication for pneumonia, acute watery diarrhoea and malnutrition to treat about 20,000 people plus supplies for 500 trauma cases.
17 mobile health teams were deployed by WHO and health cluster to support delivery of healthcare and to aid in rescue and response operations in affected villages and districts.
I will send notes and there will be all these, all these details would be much appreciated.
Thank you very much to you both.
Paula, is that a quick follow up on Afghanistan?
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
So just just wondering a question for for anyone who can answer how complicated it is to actually get licences to deliver those aids.
You know, I've heard that, you know, that's been some a bit of a stumbling point in this, you know, latest emergency.
I don't have any, any information on difficulties with licences.
The only details I have are the ones that I've provided and we have been able to get access so far with partners.
And obviously, we're hoping to bring in much more assistance as soon as we can.
[Other language spoken]
OK, I don't see further comments.
So thank you again for addressing the situation in Afghanistan, which continues to be dire.
[Other language spoken]
We're going to signal our colleagues from the ITU to join us.
Join me here on the podium.
And while you're making your way up here, I should mention that indeed this is the announcements we'll hear from our colleagues, from the ITU is in connection with World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, which is today.
And maybe just really quickly to start this part of the segment off is to draw your attention to the Secretary General's message, which we did share with you earlier.
And of course, this day is an opportunity to celebrate the power of communication tools to change lives for the better.
This year's theme highlights the key role of digital innovation in promoting sustainable development and achieving the SD GS.
That statement was shared with you.
That message, rather was shared with you.
So happy to turn over to David of ITU, who will announce our guests.
Certainly only add a relative to your statement that at 4:00 today in the afternoon, there will be a virtual video event from taking place at IT studios that's available online.
Information on that is available on the IT website and connected with the theme of digital technologies and sustainable development.
We have two guests with us today to discuss events taking place the week after next.
While the 2 events are distinct, there is that common thread of using digital technology to support sustainable development.
With us is Geetanjali Shah, who's a strategy and policy coordinator at ITU to discuss the World Summit on the Information Society with this Plus 20 Forum **** level event which takes place the full week of 27th to 31st of May and it's split in location between the International Conference Centre, Geneva and ITU headquarters.
We also have Frederick Werner, who's the head of strategic engagement at IT US Telecommunications and Standardisation Bureau to talk about the AI for Good Global Summit, including AI Government's Governance Day that's taking place on the 29th through the 31st of May At CICG.
We sent out a release yesterday on AI Governance Day and on IT U.S.
media Centre, you'll have releases as well on With This and AI for Good that have been put out earlier.
Media accreditation is open and urged for both events.
I would note that one credential is going to be sufficient to enter both events.
So if you register for one of the other event that that accreditation will be accepted for, for both events or for all three events that are taking place.
With that, I'll turn it over to get Gitanjali Shah on with us.
[Other language spoken]
Thank you for your interest in the WSIS Plus 20 Forum **** level event.
This is an existing United Nations multi stakeholder digital cooperation process in action.
The participation will be hybrid.
We have around more than 3000 participants who will be joining here in Geneva.
All regions of the United Nations will be represented.
Stakeholders include civil society, governments, UN agencies, technical community, private sector, academia and of course the media.
A very important part of the with this process, more than 50 UN agencies will be joining us and more than 80 head of regulatory bodies and ministers ranging from countries like Burkina Faso, Belize, United Kingdom, Denmark, India, Turkey and so on and so forth.
The agenda and the programme of this event is built through an open and inclusive consultative process.
It's in bottom up approach.
We are focusing on 20 years of achievements on the Geneva plan of action, enabling regulatory environment, digital health and of course we will be awarding 18 versus surprises which account for action on the ground.
Why is it important?
It aligns with other UN processes.
That are happening in New York, like the Commission on the Status of Women, the process on the 2030 Agenda for for development, the SDGS and so on.
Why you should be there.
It's because every voice counts.
We will be looking at issues at a policy and implementation level on how children and women are being protected and made aware of the dangers online.
How remote areas and villages are being connected to bring the benefits of digital to the poorest in the world when disaster strikes.
How clear communications become a lifeline.
How persons with disabilities, older persons, vulnerable populations are being provided with opportunities through tech.
Our action line on media covers the whole range of issues around journalism and media, protection of journalism and so on, so forth, which we work with very closely with our colleagues in UNESCO.
And also things like a digital health, comprehensive mobile applications for detection of breast cancer and other health issues and issues like protection of Indigenous languages through technology in the in alignment with the Decade of Indigenous Languages.
So we hope that all of you and interested participants will join us.
It's an inclusive process on digital governance.
It stood the test of time.
It's evolved with the development of technology.
It's a part of international Geneva.
We bring huge crowds to Geneva who are discussing digital governance and every voice counts.
We are working together to build and maintain a trusted, connected world.
Back to you, Fred.
[Other language spoken]
Good, good time to leave very much looking forward to to wish this During the same week, we will be hosting the AI for Good Global Summit and also a new AI Governance day, which would be the day before the summit.
Now AI for Good was created by ITU in 2017.
[Other language spoken]
That's an internity in terms of AI yours and it was built on the premise that we now have less than 10 years to achieve the sustainable development Goals.
And AI holds great promise to advance many of those goals and targets.
So from climate change to affordable healthcare, to education for all, to agriculture, natural disaster management and more **** tech solutions like brain machine interfaces and robotics, I think you you can see that the use cases are undoubtedly there.
But how do we know a **** potential use case works equally well on men or women or on children or the elderly, or on persons with different skin colours or persons with disabilities, or in low resource settings where basic things like electricity and connectivity are taken for granted?
And very importantly for a for ITU, is AI going to help to bridge the digital divide or further deepen the digital divide?
Now, these are not things that occur naturally to the fast moving tech industry.
I think the approach has been more, let's build it, build it fast and we'll fix it later.
But these are things that we think deeply about at AI for Good.
So what is AI for good?
Simply put, the goal of AI for Good is to advance the Sustainable Development goals using practical applications of AI and figure out how to scale those solutions for global impact.
Now, how do we do this?
Well, first of all, we can't do this alone.
That's why we have over 40 sister agencies as partners of AI for Good.
And in fact, during the global summit, we're going to be launching the annual report on AI activities in the UN system.
And we have almost 400 AIAI projects across 47 agencies in the UN system, which is amazing.
That's pretty much double where we were two years ago.
And also the experts, the AI experts would say that AI is too important to leave to the experts alone.
So great efforts have been made to bring as many different voices to the table.
So we have our UN industry partners, we have industry, we have our member states, we, we have academia, we have NGOs, civil society, and even the artists, athletes and the creatives at the table.
Now what's what's new for this year?
So we're basically expecting about 3000 people.
I think the same numbers with this 300 speakers, some top names you might know.
So for example, the CEO of Open AI, Sam Altman, we have Jeffrey Hinton, one of the godfathers of AI, just like Stuart Russell.
We have Tristan Harris who basically did the documentary on Netflix, The Social Dilemma, who will now be presenting The AI Dilemma, The Princess Beatrice of York, and about 300 other speakers from all over the world.
There'll also be a dynamic exhibit area with over 90 demos on robotics for good brain machine interfaces, showing AI for the arts and always trying to use the summit to show the the the state-of-the-art, but also the limitations and capabilities of these new technologies.
So what's new this year is AI Governance Day.
And the theme of AI Governance Day is from Principles to implementation.
And basically we're going to be bringing 70 plus ministers and regulators, about 40% of those are from developing countries married with our UN sister agencies.
I believe we have 8 number ones of a UN agencies coming with industry, with academia, with civil society.
And it really, I believe, is the most inclusive platform on AI governance today that brings together this unique combination of of stakeholders.
So what we're not trying to do is come up with yet another set of texts or reinvent the wheel or try and figure out what needs to be done for AI governance.
What we're trying to do is look, what are the existing governance processes out there?
And the encouraging news is that governance governments have been moving very fast on this issue.
So whether you're looking at the EU or the US or China or Japan or Korea, you know, there's a lot of governance processes that are accelerating at full speed.
And what we're trying to do at the summit is look at what do all of these processes have in common.
We believe that they have more in common than they have different.
Try and figure out which of these commonalities basically have domestic aspects and which of them have international aspects.
And when you're looking at it internationally, how can we move from principles to implementation?
Because there's a big gap between the words and ambitions in these new policies and governance frameworks and regulations and what needs to be done practically.
How can you actually implement these regulations in a way?
And of course, standards is one of the main tools for the implementation of policy, regulation and governance frameworks.
And of course, ITU being a standard setting body, I think it's fitting that way.
We are there.
So ITU has 220 standards developed on AI, either published or in development.
So we're very much looking forward to to this conversation, this development.
The morning of governance Day is invitation only, but the afternoon is is open to media.
And of course all of Thursday and Friday is open to media as well.
And I'd just like to highlight one last activity for media.
We will be having a press conference on Friday at 1:00 PM.
And basically it will be a press conference showing how brain machine interfaces and AI can be used to basically help people with disabilities and to help with accessibility.
So for example, you'll see like a brain powered prosthetic arm.
You'll see someone who's able to communicate just by using his thoughts alone.
You'll be seeing different solutions to to help with mobility, for example, robot powered exoskeleton.
So some of you were there last year.
[Other language spoken]
So I think this is something not to miss.
And I would invite you all to see really the state of the state-of-the-art of AI in action.
[Other language spoken]
Thank you very much, both of you.
We have a few hands up, so we'll start with Maya Plants you in brief.
[Other language spoken]
Yes, good morning, everyone.
Thank you very much for taking my question.
Rolando and I would like to congratulate both Fred and Jitanjali for this wonderful event because they are a lot of work to put together and you have a wonderful roster of speakers.
So, but I have a couple of questions.
How does the, the, how does the World Summit on the Information Society supports the United Nations Secretary General Global Digital Compact and how it will help inform discussions at the summit of the future?
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Maya, really nice to hear you here.
So yes, the UN Secretary General is also involved in the versus process.
We will have his video message as we have it every year and with reference to the summit of the future and its potential GDC.
We are working very closely with the Co facilitators.
They were here last year, if you recall, Maya at the Wisys, where we provide them with a platform to interact with the civil society, technical community and the private sector.
So this interaction was really, really useful and many of the comments at the Wisys Forum here in Geneva were inputted to, you know, were submitted to the Co facilitators of the Global Digital Compact.
We will have, if you look at the agenda, there are several discussions, **** level working level focused on the GDC and towards the summit of the future.
So we welcome all of you in those discussions.
Those discussions will all obviously be summarised and will be submitted to the Co facilitators of the GDC as well.
Thank you very much, Maya, and see you soon at the event.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
My question is to Mr Werner from the ITUI.
Was wondering, Sir, do you have some examples where artificial intelligence is used for bad purposes and what standards or regulations are you targeting to prevent the use of artificial intelligence for harming people in conflict, non conflict settings and to protect consumers?
Can you give us some examples as the flip side of the good II?
What is some examples of the bad II in use today?
Absolutely and that's a very good question.
[Other language spoken]
So one of the things we're going to be doing at AI Governance Day is looking at how standards can be in support of AI governance policy and regulations that exist or will emerge in the future.
And I think regardless of if you're, you know, north-south, East or West, I think one of the biggest pain points for the world is deepfakes and misinformation.
And I think you as members of the press would probably relate to that more than anyone.
So at the summit itself, we're going to have a big focus on, on how we can basically create standards to combat deep takes and misinformation.
And there are many techniques for that.
So we, we have a workshop on multimedia authenticity, sorry, authenticity using AI watermarking.
And there are standards that already exist.
So for example, the CTUPA from the US and they're all, all these experts are coming to the summit from Adobe, from JPG, from from Meta, from Google, you know, IEEE, they're different standard setting bodies.
Of course, our partners IEC and ITU and ISO.
And basically the, the challenge is you have these standards tools and techniques to, to combat misinformation and deep fakes.
A lot of them are good.
They're not holistic.
Some are more of a Band-Aid approach, some are more foundational.
But where the summit and ITU can help is, for example, if you have a standard like this developed in North America by all these top media companies.
So that's great, but those don't necessarily mean that's going to work well in Africa or in developing countries.
And also, have they built those standards with the sustainable development goals in mind of those standards built in an inclusive way?
Are they mindful of human rights, you know, RV solutions, sustainable?
So it's a bit like I was saying in the beginning, a lot of the questions that we ask at AI for Good are, are often an afterfall for people who are rushing to create solutions.
And it's great that they're rushing to create solutions.
But by coming to ITU and AI for Good and all our partners, we, we can ensure that we have the SDGS as a kind of guiding framework.
We can ensure that solutions and standards are built with ethics in mind, with, you know, bias and data sets in mind, that solutions are secure, safe, they respect privacy, they're sustainable long term, they're inclusive and they respect human rights and they're, you know, aligned with the SCGS.
So we, we do expect that one of the major outcomes and I, I don't want to preempt anything, but if you, if you do stick around to the end of the summit, I believe that one of the major announcements of the summit would be an announcement to build international standards on AI to combat deepfakes and misinformation, which I think most people would agree is one of the biggest pain points right now.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
We really need to wrap up this press briefing pretty soon.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
I wanted to pick up on what Mr Werner just said.
Thank you very much for that.
This week we had a meeting in Geneva between China and the United States on the issue of AI standard setting systems and, and, and governance.
And I'm just wondering, you mentioned the Internet that one of the outcomes of the AI for good may be an international sort of an arrangement on this.
The the question that I, I, I had was, do you think it's an either or proposition where there are regional or even bilateral discussions about standard setting or does it really need to be done at a United Nations wide international level?
I mean, do you think they're, it's an either or or or can they come them in each other?
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Also very good question.
I mean, ITU and AI figured we, we welcome all efforts to try and advance AI in a meaningful way that benefits all.
Of course, there's different approaches around the world and our perspective has always been to make sure it's aligned with the SDGS and that it basically makes sure that no one is left behind.
So for example, we recently had a survey of our member states on which member states have an AI strategy and basically 55% of countries don't even have a strategy at all.
So very much aligned with our mission of, of bridging, bridging the digital divide and, and capacity development to developing countries.
You know, our concern is making sure that the process is inclusive and they're able to participate.
Now when it comes to the standardisation process, ITU is unique in that it's the only UN agency in the system that has a, a mixed membership model.
So we, we have member states as models, but we have over 1000 members coming from industry and academia.
And the standards making process is contribution driven and it also includes national, regional and and international SD OS, sorry, standards development organisations as part of that standards making process.
So I'm not saying everything has to, you know, start at ITU.
In the case of the C2 PA that was started in the US very much industry led.
And I think the the value we can add is when something is is urgent and mature and also needs that kind of international flavour to it, then ITU in partnership with our our partners from World Standards Cooperation, which is ISO and IEC and also welcoming other SEOSITU can be that convening platform to make sure that you know, these international aspects to set standardisation issue basically happens in a very inclusive way that's international and also mixes member states, UN agencies, academia and industry.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
OK, Maya, please, I'll have to jump over you because let's take somebody who hasn't asked a question yet.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
This is not really a question.
This is about access.
As far as I understand, even for journalists accreditated at the UN, we need to do another accreditation.
And I just want to have a confirmation of that.
And if it's the case, why?
Because we're already accreditated at the UN Yeah, thank you for the question.
There is a with ITU events that happen in at CICG.
So outside of the UN premises, there is this requirement for secondary accreditation, their registrations open.
We promoted it widely.
You can be in touch with us at press info@itu.in T So that's widely seen and we can respond to it.
And we just ask that you, if you were able to provide an image of your valid UN credential and and that goes very smoothly.
So we'll just try to get you through that process very quickly with the with the understanding and that one one secondary badge is good for for all the events that are being talked about here.
OK, thanks for that.
David, Catherine Franz Foncat, Yes, thank you.
Hi and thank you for the briefing.
This is also question regarding access.
As you just mentioned, there will be many people, interesting people that are going to be part of this events.
How can we have access to these people for one to one interviews?
[Other language spoken]
Will we be free to go and attend all the meetings and meet the people?
[Other language spoken]
Well, again, I would say maybe I'll just kick it to Fred real quick, but I would encourage again registration being the 1st and again, we'll try to make that as simple as quick for everybody as possible.
We, if there's an interest of the programme is online and so you can have the speakers of participants that are not ITU participants.
We can provide information for those with whom from whom we have information to make those connections.
We can't coordinate those for you unfortunately could be overwhelmed by that.
We can certainly try to facilitate and I don't know Fred if you want to go beyond that.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
We would certainly encourage you to try and get in touch with our many, many very interesting speakers.
We've basically created a media friendly list and I believe most of the speakers are quite keen to engage on, on media.
We've also created a room, a kind of branded room where you can do stand up interviews, which is separate from our own interview corner.
So that that was a room that was leveraged quite well last year by CNN and, and different outlets.
I would also again remind that the, the exhibit area is extremely dynamic.
I mean, they have cutting edge solutions that you won't see at many events.
And all of them are approachable and they've all been briefed that, you know, media will be approaching them and, and they welcome that too, of course, without forgetting the press conference on Friday at 1.
And I know timing of that press conference might not be ideal.
So we are providing lunch for those who who come.
And I know we're short on time.
But last but not least, I'd also like to thank.
Switzerland for convening and and supporting the 2 events of Wishes and AI for Good Global Summit.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Regarding Wishes, of course, it has a very flat structure.
You can, once accredited and in the building in CICG, you can approach all the **** levels who are present out there.
So please do as Fred said, please interact with all of them as much as possible.
And I'd like to add to what Fred said for Wishes and AI for good.
We have a lot of communication material on our trailer boards.
So you may find all of that very useful for social media as well As for traditional media.
[Other language spoken]
And like Fred said, we are thanking Switzerland who are our Co hosts this time for the event and Co conveners of the AI for good.
Thank you very much.
[Other language spoken]
And you can count on us to certainly amplify from the information service this important event.
Maya, we do have another briefer.
Is this a quick follow up please?
[Other language spoken]
It's a quick follow up it well, you already have answered one of the questions that we will have a separate boot for interviews, right.
And then my question is for potentially what is the economic impact for the City of Geneva.
Do you have numbers like it turns brings to the city 40 million each event, something like that.
You have these numbers from last year or Maya, that's a very difficult question for me to respond to.
Perhaps I can check with my colleagues focal points from Switzerland and get back to you since we know each other.
[Other language spoken]
I'm sure they'll colleagues will get back to you.
On this note, Maya, let's we have to move on to the next subject.
Please liaise with David directly.
We do have and thank you both very much.
[Other language spoken]
I'm only personally, I'm not, I'm not happy because I won't be here.
[Other language spoken]
I would love to have been.
I'll I'll join online from where I'll be.
But thank you and good luck to you.
[Other language spoken]
We have now our colleague from IOM, Peggy Walters, who has a brief announcement for on the international dialogue on migration taking place next week in New York.
Peggy, over to you.
[Other language spoken]
Good morning, everyone.
[Other language spoken]
This is just a quick update that the IOM is hosting its flagship event next week, the International Dialogue on Migration in New York on Wednesday and Thursday next week.
That's the 21st and the 22nd of May.
Now this, the IDM, is our main forum for migration policy dialogue.
It brings together all migration stakeholders at a global level and we open up for discussions on the opportunities and the challenges which migration presents.
It's held twice a year, the first session in New York, the second session in Geneva around October.
Now the key theme for this IDM is facilitating regular pathways to a better future, harnessing the power of migration.
So we'll be providing a space for analysis of current and emerging issues in migration governance and to essentially allow people to exchange experiences, look at policy approaches and best practise around effective practises.
At this IDM, participants and those will be governments and organisations will explore how to create more and better opportunities for people to move in a regular and beneficial way as part of a comprehensive approach to human mobility.
Also at this IDM, our Director General will be announcing our new Global Goodwill Ambassador.
If you'd like further information, please get in touch and we can send you out a package.
[Other language spoken]
Thank you very much, Peggy.
And I'm certain that colleagues will reach out to you for this important event in that announcement you just made.
[Other language spoken]
So thank you for joining us and thanks for your patience.
Importantly, it's been a long briefing, but just before we wrap up very, very briefly from me as usual, I want to highlight a couple of things happening here, starting with the, if I can find my notes.
Yes, the human rights committees, we have the Committee on the Rights of the Child this morning is concluding just around now I suppose is concluding its review of Paduwai and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
CDAW is reviewing today a reports on Estonia.
I already mentioned the statement of the Secretary General that we shared with you his address to the League of Arab States.
There are lots of readouts.
He held meetings with dignitaries from Libya, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and the League of Arab States, which we shared with you.
I have a quick announcement from UNEP, which I'd like to flag on their behalf.
They are inviting you to is an invitation to the Biodiversity Day celebration for 2024 taking place.
Actually, the International Geneva implementing the Biodiversity Plan, which is taking place here at the Paladin in Room 3 just below us on Wednesday, this coming Wednesday, the 22nd of May at 10:00 AM.
So this is to mark International Day for Biodiversity and no press conference to announce.
We had a press conference this morning from the World Health Organisation, as you well know, and I think that's it for me.
I already mentioned the S GS message on World Telecommunication Information Society Day.
So Oh yes, simply just to mention that Catherine from the Trade and Development, UN Trade and Development was to brief you, but to give you some information about the upcoming 60th anniversary events taking place on 12 and 13 and 14 next month of June.
But we're still finalising some registration processes, so we'll make sure to get back to you on how to register for this important event next month.
That's it for me.
[Other language spoken]
So bon appetit, we'll be back here on Tuesday with Alessandra and have a good weekend.