UN Geneva - Multimedia Newsroom : IOM - Press Briefing: Amy Pope, IOM Director General

Very good morning and thank you for joining us here at this regular press briefing.

This is actually a prequel to the regular press briefing, which will start start at 10:30.

But I'm very pleased to announce that we have Miss Amy Pope, the IOM Director General who's joining us from Port Sudan.

Miss Pope is in Sudan for a three day visit which commenced yesterday.

Again, we're very pleased to have you here with us, Miss Pope.

So we'll turn immediately over to you for some opening remarks and then we'll turn to our colleagues here in Geneva in the room and on the platform for questions.

Miss Pope, over to you.

We don't have sound, sorry.

Let's try this again.

[Other language spoken]

Right do.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, if we can start your statement now.

[Other language spoken]

So good morning to all of you.

I'm here live in Port Sudan.

[Other language spoken]

I'm here for a four day visit.

And it's a deteriorating security situation and we're hearing alarming reports and new atrocities.

Our team is sharing stressing details from the conditions that ordinary Sudanese people are facing, those whose lives have been thrown into turmoil by the conflict.

The situation here is simply catastrophic.

There's no other way to put it.

We're seeing hunger, disease, sexual violence.

They're rampant.

And for the people of Sudan, they're telling us it's really just a living nightmare.

It's an underreported conflict, and we just have to pay more attention.

Millions are suffering.

There's now this serious possibility of the conflict igniting regional instability from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa to the Red Sea.

Yesterday, the US Secretary General Antonio Gutierrez spoke about the suffering, calling it an utter humanitarian catastrophe.

18 months have passed since the biting started between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, and outside forces are now fueling the fire which is intensifying the conflict.

The suffering is growing by the day.

The secretary general yesterday reported that almost 25 million people are now requiring assistance.

And in recent days, we've heard just absolutely shocking reports of mass killings and sexual violence, particularly in the villages in Al Jazeera state, which is in the east of the country.

Throughout this year, Sudan has been the world's largest displacement crisis.

Today, unfortunately, I have news that that we're going to release new figures this week showing that the displacement number has now hit 11,000,000.

That's up 200,000 just since September.

Another 3.1 million have crossed borders to flee the fighting.

About 30% of the population here has been displaced and more than half of those displaced are women.

More than 1/4 of those displaced for children under the age of five.

Just a huge number of extremely vulnerable people, children who are on the move.

Unfortunately, many of them have been forced to flee repeatedly.

They have little access to shelter, they have little access to livelihoods and getting their basic needs met has been very, very difficult.

The scale of the displacement, the humanitarian needs are growing every day.

Frankly, half of the population now needs help.

People don't have access to shelter, they don't have access to clean drinking water, they don't have access to healthcare, and as a result, disease is spreading fast.

One in every two seater needs is struggling to get even the minimal amount of food to survive and famine conditions have taken hold in North Star 4.

Frankly, millions are struggling to feed themselves every day.

Yesterday, I had the chance to speak directly to some of the people who were impacted.

I went to the Arbot Dam area.

[Other language spoken]

And in August, there were heavy rains, unexpected causing a spillway that the flood killed at least 148 people.

It devastated homes, livestock and infrastructure.

The dam basically just fell apart.

And the devastation would be bad already no matter what.

But it's coming on top of a conflict that is continuing to rage and becoming worse by the day, and it's impacting our ability to deliver humanitarian assistance.

We also know that the safety of aid workers, our staff, others are, is often threatened.

Access restrictions, bureaucratic impediments are continuing to be imposed and people are frankly dying because we cannot get access to them.

So the parties to the conflict have to do what they pledge to do and what international humanitarian law requires.

They need to protect civilians.

They need to ensure safe, swift and unimpeded access to life saving assistance.

But what we also need most desperately is the help of the international community.

This is easily the most neglected crisis in the world today, and the failure to act across the board means that the devastation is spilling over into neighbouring countries and it risks getting worse.

At a conference in Paris this last April, the international community made very, very generous pledges.

But that appeals only funded 52%.

And though we've been help, able to help about 3 million people since the war started, our part of the response plan is only 20% funded.

With the proper funding, there's so much more we can do to alleviate the suffering, to help people get shelter and sanitation, to help feed and protect them.

But our progress is going to be limited as long as this war continues.

All wars are brutal, but the toll of this one is particularly horrifying.

The recent killings, the appalling human rights violations in Al Jazeera state were just one more example just last year.

Since this last year, reports of ****, of torture, of ethnically motivated violence are far too common and indiscriminate attacks are killing civilians, including young children.

Some of the areas of most of your need are cut off entirely with no access to humanitarian aid.

The potential long term impact of this catastrophic crisis is to staggering.

Education is going to be set back decades.

The health and well-being of children will be stunted.

Livelihoods will be ruined.

A generation is going to live in the shadow of trauma.

And the immense tragedy about all of it is that a peaceful Sudan has the capacity to care for itself.

Its people are resilient and their natural resources are immense.

So I'm here today to raise awareness of the needs, to highlight the cost of the displacement crisis.

But what we really want, what every person in the world should want, is for the guns in Sudan to fall silent.

The humanitarian response has to be scaled up, and we're calling on the donor community to support this effort.

I also just want to echo what the secretary General called for yesterday, an end hostilities, protection for civilians and access for humanitarian agencies so that aid can flow.

We can't allow Sudan to be forgotten, but its people really need peace and they need it now.

So thank you very much for offering me this opportunity and I'm happy to take any questions you might have.

Thanks to you, Miss Pope.

We're very grateful for your intervention.

It's a very dire situation indeed and shocking statistics.

And and thank you also for echoing the comments of the Secretary General and colleagues.

As you know, we shared the statement of the Secretary General that he made to the Security Council yesterday.

Indeed, cessation of hostilities, civilians must be protected and priority for the flow of humanitarian age of the three main points that he made in that statement, which you have.

And we will hear from colleagues from the Human Rights Office later on to speak to some of the human rights violations which were alluded to.

But we'll now take questions, starting with Christian from the German News.

Hello, Miss Pope, Thank you for being here with us.

Could you just spell out what exactly the IOM mandate is in Sudan or was before the crisis and is now what exactly?

Because all the the things you mentioned are UNHCRWHO, UNICEF and all the other agencies.

I was wondering what the specific IOM mandate is in Sudan.

[Other language spoken]

I mean, actually the role of IOM in providing support to displaced people is one of our most important missions.

Most of our work around the world is supporting people who've been displaced by a whole host of issues, whether it's in Sudan, whether it's in Ukraine, whether it's anywhere around the world.

And so that is what we're continuing to do.

Before the conflict, much of our work was supporting communities who are vulnerable, who are at risk, helping them to have access to livelihoods.

Quite simply, since the conflict began, we have been providing support to the millions of people who are displaced internally within the country.

We're also providing support to those third country nationals who have left the country to go back home.

Now, of course, we work closely with UNHCR.

UNHCR, as the refugee agency, is primarily responsible for providing support for those who cross borders.

But as I said, we'd have 11 million people who've been displaced in the country.

The needs are enormous.

So we work very closely with our UN partners to provide that life saving support and ultimately help people to find a way forward even in the most dire of circumstances.

[Other language spoken]

Yes and yes.

From Azure France Press.

[Other language spoken]

Question I would like to to ask you if you could be more specified of what kind of access exactly IOM has to displacement camps inside Sudan.

If you could tell us more about that.

And what can you tell us about the level of famine that you have been able to to to seen in those displacement camps and how it's evolving, if you have specific figures on that.

And if I may, I would like to ask you a quick comment as several UN agencies have reacted after a Israeli ban decision to ban UNRWA.

If you think that IOM could step up and add more the Palestinians in Gaza as most of them are displaced people, internally displaced people, which is your IOM role.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

So on the question of access to those who are displaced in the country and getting access to support their needs, frankly, the the success varies.

In some parts of the country, we are able to provide direct support.

I just came from a community here in Port Sudan with many, many families who've been displaced, many from Khartoum, many from other parts of the country who are now living in Port Sudan.

We're working with them to help get access to livelihood.

They had opportunities teach many of the women there who are leading their households how to find ways to support their families.

And in the context of this crisis, we're also supporting families in many other parts of the country.

But our ability to access those communities really depends on whether we are able to cross lines.

We have set up some cross-border facilities, some cross-border operations so that we're able to bring in life saving support from surrounding countries.

And we're working very closely with the authorities here to be able to access those communities who are most in need.

But it very much depends on those relationships.

In terms of the funding needs, as I said, about 20% of IO Ms call for support has been funded.

As you can imagine, the total call is not even sufficient really to meet the needs of everybody in the country.

But with 20% we are failing to get the most basic access.

Things like protection from sexual violence is very, very, very highly unmet need and we've had the opportunity to speak to to many people who are suffering as a result.

Things like access to shelter is still remains very unsatisfactory and people are living in the in the most dangerous of circumstances.

In terms of the situation in Gaza, we'd echo the the comments of of others within the UN.

This, this situation could not be the needs of the Palestinian people cannot be made without met without the support of UNRAG, which has been providing support to the Palestinian community for many, many years.

Of course, we in the international humanitarian community with others are providing humanitarian assistance, do stand ready to provide more to those who are in need.

It's really a question of being able to access those who need us most.

Thank you very much, Miss Pope and colleagues, we will be addressing the situation, the announcement on UNRWA later on.

Later in this briefing, we have a few more questions for you, Miss Pope.

We have Laurent Ciro of the Swiss News Agency online.

[Other language spoken]

Yeah, thanks, Miss Pope, for the.

Briefing so you.

Mentioned the 200,000 additional displaced people since September.

Do you observe a change in terms of displacement routes within the country since the beginning of of of the?

[Other language spoken]

The displacement routes, as you can imagine, are entirely dependent on where the fighting is happening.

So what we are seeing is that people have been displaced more than once.

People move to one community and then there's fighting there.

They're forced to move again.

[Other language spoken]

They all try to go back and find that it's unsafe, we'll have to leave again.

We're seeing increasing numbers of people who are choosing to leave the country altogether.

So it's a very, very quickly evolving situation and one that as an international community, we need to be prepared to respond to quickly.

Now, within IOM, we have the what we call the displacement tracking matrix.

This is the way that we measure the movement of people all over the country.

The entire humanitarian community relies on this information.

That's how we know, for example, that there are now 3 million people or 11 million people total who have been displaced and over 3,000,000 who have left the country.

So through the use of our engagement on the ground with communities all over, we're able to get a sense of what's happening here.

And I can tell you it's a very, very quickly evolving situation.

Indeed, thank you for that.

John Zaracostas, Francois and Cat in The Lancet.

[Other language spoken]

I was wondering if you could perhaps we have the opportunity to, since we have you in the briefing to bring us up to speed on what I am is doing with the countries in crisis in the Sahel, which is devastating and also another very neglected crisis area of the world.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you for raising the issue.

Now the situation in the Sahel is one that is compounded by a number of factors.

First and foremost, there's conflict, there's insecurity, there is questions about governance in some parts of the country.

There is the impact of climate change on communities.

And we've seen some really interesting where we're we're seeing communities who are being displaced as a result of climate, pastoral communities who then move into communities that are agricultural that fuels conflict.

It's the kind of a situation where we're seeing a range of factors, fragility that has compounded by a whole whole host of different factors that could go that need to be addressed.

So we at IOM are working very closely with communities in the Sahel.

We have a range of actions, but frankly, it is very, very underfunded.

There's very little attention that's being paid to it.

It's a place where without more engagement, without more funding, will only continue to deteriorate, particularly as communities are facing the impacts of climate.

It's one of the issues that we will be highlighting when I go to COP 29 and where we very much hope that governments will start to support engagement that is much more proactive and strategic rather than just reacting until people move and until conflict begins.

Thank you very much.

Jamie Keaton, Associated Press Hello, Director General, nice to see you again.

Thank you for coming to see us.

I have two strains of questions.

The 1st is about sedan you.

You mentioned 11,000,000 displaced plus 3 outside of the country.

Are those cumulative numbers?

In other words, is it 14,000,000 total or just if we can get some clarity on that?

And then you also mentioned that your sliver of the appeal funding is only at 20%, but OCHA tells us that 56% of its appeal has been funded.

So how do you explain why you're getting such a small percentage of that And, and should more of that money be given to to Iowa?

And then on another issue, I'd like you to address the fact that as, as you're a former advisor to President Biden, how concerned are you that a return of President Trump could dismantle accomplishments by the current administration over the last four years and even impact your own work at IOM?

How much responsibility do you take for the flood of migrants across the Mexico border border until earlier this year, which became a political liability for President Biden and gave Trump, Trump's team a, an issue to campaign on?

[Other language spoken]

It's great to see you even if it's virtual.

So in terms of the numbers, what I can tell you is that the 11,000,000 is internally displaced within the country, the 3.1 millionaire, those who have crossed border.

So that's actually about 14,000,000 / 14 million people who are on the move right now.

And that's quite significant because as I've said, just since September, those numbers have grown by 200,000.

So to give you a sense of the fact that people are moving, are moving consistently as they respond to the the conflict here.

In terms of the situation in the United States, I mean, this organisation has worked with administrations, whether they're Republican, whether they're Democrats.

And our view is that it is the United States is an important member state of the IOM.

We hope to continue working with them.

As you know, we work across the range of solutions for people on the move, whether it is providing humanitarian support, as we are doing here in Sudan, whether it's driving solutions to displacement.

So building out ways so that people can stay, so they can move with dignity.

And ultimately what we are hope, what we most hope to do, is enable people to move through safe, regular legal channels.

That work is important to all administrations.

That work is important.

Consistently we hear from governments around the world.

So we do hope that no matter who is sitting in the White House, the relationship and the support from the United States government will continue.

Thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you for that.

I just wanted to make as you recognise some of the decisions by the Biden administration to basically have this what some might say a more LAX approach to to migrations across across the Mexico border have become a political liability for him.

So I just want to make sure how much, how concerned are you that some of those decisions that you were?

Taking part in May have become an issue that could put help to put President Trump back in the White House.

So Jamie, what I can tell you is that when it comes to migration, the problem is often that governments too often just focus at the border.

But when we look at the evidence around why people leave in the 1st place, the funding, the support for people to stay home, the, the support for people to find options to move safely, to move legally is just not out there.

So we encourage all governments to invest in addressing what's known as the root causes of migration and then to work with communities where, where migrants are coming from, where migrants are first going to in the first instance, to provide support to help integrate those migrants as they're coming in.

So this is a very, very complex issue.

It requires interventions across the board.

And to narrow it down to just what's happening on the border, it frankly is a mistake.

And it's one that is expensive and then one that is not actually as effective as we know that governments want to see happen.

Thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

We have a couple more questions, if that's OK.

We're going to go to the platform and then back to you on Yes, But Lisa Schlein, Voice of America, she's been waiting, Lisa.

[Other language spoken]

Good morning, Rolando and good morning, Miss Pope.

I would like to ask you a couple of questions and that is how many of the 11 million people that are displaced is IOM actually able to access and or do you have to, do you have to negotiate with the local warlords in order to gain access?

How successful are you?

And of course, Darfur is a particularly difficult area.

Whether you're able to even get in there or not, I don't know.

And that leads to the next question is do you see a full blown famine actually occurring or are we almost there?

And lastly, you started out by expressing your fear about regional instability.

How close are we?

Is Sudan sitting on a powder keg essentially?

[Other language spoken]

And please send us your notes.

[Other language spoken]

So of the 11 million people who have been displaced, of the 25 million people who have needs within the country, the numbers of people we've been able to reach as a result of the funding, as a result of the access have been woefully inadequate.

I think our numbers are about 3 million people who we have been able to support since the conflicts began.

And that is that is support in some cases at a very, very basic level, providing just the most basic support for their needs.

And you can imagine that those who are in places like Darfur are often the most difficult for us to reach.

Now it does mean that we have to work with local communities.

We need to work with the government to make sure that we can get that access.

We were very, very pleased to be able to get cross-border access into some of the most difficult regions to reach within.

Before fairly recently, we were one of the first organisations to be able to provide that support and that was very much thanks to the government who agreed to create humanitarian corridors for aid.

So we urge the government to continue to provide that kind of humanitarian access to people because we know without it, the frankly, people are dying and people are dying of starvation.

They're dying of lack of shelter, they're dying of lack of options.

Now, in terms of famine, I can tell you that the needs of those who the needs for people to have access to food are overwhelming.

Just earlier this week, the head of the World Food Programme, Cindy McCain, was in town to draw awareness to the lack of access to food.

We know that many, many people are on the very edge of famine and do not have access in a way that is quite, quite dangerous in terms of the regional issues that we're seeing.

What we're concerned about is the fact that the fighting is accelerating.

We're concerned about the fighting that's continuing.

We're concerned about the lack of attention that is being paid by the international community.

And we need the international, the international community to stay on as focused on this as they are on any other conflict.

Without their engagement, without the negotiation for peace, without the end to arms to various factions here in the country, we will not see a change to the situation on the ground.

We'll continue to see people who are losing their lives and facing really extremely dire circumstances.

Thank you again, Miss Pope.

We colleagues, we have to end this briefing in a few minutes.

We do have two more hands up, but if I could ask you to pose your questions quickly, we have, and yes, from AFP, another question.

And then we have Emma Farage from Reuters who also has a question.

And yes.

[Other language spoken]

On figures, you say that your appeal is only 20% funded.

What is the the amount requested and clarification on figures as well on the displaced and refugees.

It's unclear to us if it's 11 million displaced plus 3.1 million refugees or if the refugees are included in the displaced people because the the refugee portal is is not clear about that and what you say seems to be two separate speakers.

[Other language spoken]

So I can confirm that the amount is 11,000,000 displaced in the country 3.1 who have who are moving across borders in terms of the total amount requested.

Now, of course there's the OCHA funding, which causes various agencies, which is a comprehensive number.

There's the support that IOM is requesting.

That's particularly to support displaced communities in the country to provide access to livelihoods.

But the total amount that has been requested from IOM is 168 million and of that 168,000,000 requested, 20% has been funded.

That's very kind.

Thank you very much for that clarification.

[Other language spoken]

Good morning, Amy, nice to see you again.

One quick clarification and then one broader question.

That number is bigger than I had.

I was just wondering if it also included the displaced from prior to this conflict, the pre war displaced.

And secondly, how much of a difference is this Alps process making in terms of access to Sudan?

Has that really moved the needle for you in terms of your operations there?

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

The to be clear, the total number of displays in the country does include people who were displaced before.

So we're looking at total, would we talk about displacement, we're looking at total numbers of people who are displaced across the country.

That's where the number of 11,000,000 comes from.

So when we talk about Sudan, compared to other crises, Sudan by far has the highest number of people who are internally displaced in the world, more than, for example, the Democratic Republic of Congo where we have about 7 million displaced, and other conflicts where we know that the numbers are quite ****.

So it is a staggeringly **** number, but it does reflect cumulative number of people who have, who no longer have are at home and have continued to be on the move.

And in terms of access, I mean, I will say that we just simply do not have access to all the communities who are in need.

We have seen some marginal improvements, but we need much, much more in order to meet those who who really need our support and those and the support of the rest of the international humanitarian community.

Thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

And we do hope with your intervention that this reporting crisis will be overturned.

Thank you so very much for joining us, Miss Pope.

I'm afraid we really have to cut it here, Jamie.

[Other language spoken]

Really short.

[Other language spoken]

I'm sorry.

[Other language spoken]

I'm sorry.

[Other language spoken]

Call anytime.

I'm sorry, but let me just really quick because I, I for Anias's question about Unruh, is there more that IOM can and should be doing in Gaza?

I mean the, I mean the, the question on everybody's lips right now is going to be if UNRWA does not exist anymore or is not able to function as part previously, what can other UN agencies do to mop up the needs?

And I'm just wondering could you help us with that?

Is there anything what is IOM doing now and what more can be done by IOM in the Gaza?

So there there are a range of different needs here and I think it might be helpful just to elucidate that.

So UNRWA now has provided basically the backbone of infrastructure within places like Gaza.

They provide education, they provide healthcare, they provide some of the most basic needs for people who have been living there for decades.

That's not something that IOM does.

What IOM does well and what IOM is doing and can do more of with the support of the very stakeholders is to provide humanitarian support.

So support to those who are displaced, support to those who need shelters, support to those who need hygiene kits, to support to those who have who do not have sufficient access to protection.

That's where IOM can play a role.

So there's no way for IOM to step in to do what UNRWA has done.

UNRWA is absolutely essential to the people of Gaza and I don't want to leave anyone with a misimpression that IOM can play that role, because we cannot, but we can provide support to those people who are currently in crisis.

That is a role that we are very, very keen to play and one that we will be stepping up with the support of various stakeholders.

[Other language spoken]

Miss Pope, Thank you very, very much once again for joining us here from Port Sudan.

We colleagues, we will stay on the subject of Sudan when we resume our regular briefing.

We'll just take a technical break right now.

Thank you again, Miss Pope.

And I know that Kennedy, you're sharing the statement that was shared or delivered rather at the beginning of the meeting.

So thank you again and good luck with the rest of your mission.

[Other language spoken]

You very much, I appreciate it.

Thanks to you.

Thanks to you, Miss Pope.

OK, colleagues, we're going to take a short technical break and we'll resume this regular briefing in 2 minutes.

[Other language spoken]