UN Geneva Press Briefing - 17 June 2025
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Press Conferences | HRC , WHO , UNWOMEN , WMO , ICRC , UNCTAD

UN Geneva Press Briefing - 17 June 2025

UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING

17 June 2025

Gaza Health System at a Breaking Point

Dr Rik Peeperkorn, World Health Organization (WHO) representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, said global attention had shifted to escalating tensions between Iran and Israel, but the world needed to continue to focus on Gaza, which had been decimated, and its health system, which was at breaking point.

Currently, only 17 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals were partially functional. Of these, just four, including Nasser Medical Complex, were major referral facilities. The 17 hospitals had a total of around 1,500 beds - around 45 per cent less hospital beds available in the Gaza Strip than before the start of the conflict - for the entire population of two million people. None of these hospitals were fully functional. In the north of Gaza, the situation was even more concerning. All hospitals and primary care centres were out of service, with only one partly functioning medical point in Rafah.

Nasser Medical Complex, the largest referral hospital in Gaza, was the only remaining main hospital in Khan Younis, and was the most important hospital in southern Gaza. The hospital was within the evacuation zone announced on 12 June. This put Nasser at high risk of becoming nonfunctional. The health system simply could not afford the loss of Nasser hospital, which was currently the sole provider of intensive care and neurosurgery services in Khan Younis. The haemodialysis unit at the hospital, equipped with 26 functioning machines, was currently serving more than 200 patients. Nasser hospital needed to be protected.

WHO had just received reports of another mass casualty incident this morning. The hundreds of reported casualties were completely overwhelming Nasser Medical Complex. In Gaza City, Al-Shifa Hospital was at 200 per cent bed occupancy rate, putting it under immense stress.

Some 80 per cent of Gaza was under evacuation orders. Between 22 May and 12 June 2025, nine displacement orders were issued, impacting areas across the North Gaza, Gaza, Deir Al-Balah, and Khan Younis governorates. Within the designated displacement zones were Al-Amal and Al-Ahli Arab hospitals, seven primary health centres, and 26 medical points. An additional 68 health service points lay within a one-kilometre radius of these zones, further jeopardising access to healthcare across the Gaza Strip.

While the load on hospitals was immense, there was no end to the injured pouring in, further overwhelming hospitals and depleting supplies fast. Yesterday, on 16 June, over 200 cases arrived at the Red Cross Field Hospital in Al Mawasi, marking the highest number received by the facility in one single mass casualty incident. A total of 28 patients were reportedly declared dead. On 15 June, the same hospital had received over 170 patients, who reportedly had been trying to access a so-called “food distribution site”.

Medical supplies were critically low – more than 50 per cent of WHO’s medical stocks in Gaza were depleted. As the largest medicine and medical supplies provider, WHO needed to be supported to move supplies into Gaza in a cost-effective manner via all possible routes, otherwise many medical services would shut down. Some 33 WHO trucks were currently waiting at Al Arish and 10 in the West Bank. Discussions with Israeli authorities were ongoing, and the goalposts were constantly shifting, but it was hoped that trucks from the West Bank could be allowed to enter Gaza later this week and early next week.

The Palestine Ministry of Health had reported severe shortages in essential medications and supplies in May 2025, with zero stock levels at 47 per cent and 65 per cent, respectively. There were shortages of IV fluids, masks, gauze gowns, drugs for diabetes, and specific antibiotics.

Without fuel, no services could be provided. For over 100 days, no fuel had entered Gaza and attempts to retrieve stocks from evacuation zones had been denied. Combined with critical supply shortages, this was pushing the health system closer to the brink of collapse. WHO, emergency teams, and partners were forced to ration the last remaining fuel reserves, already disrupting essential services. Seventeen hospitals, seven field hospitals, and 43 primary health centres - barely running on minimum daily fuel - would soon have none left. Without fuel, all levels of care would cease, leading to more preventable deaths and suffering.

Hospitals were already being forced to reduce services. To stretch fuel, health workers were switching between generators and batteries to power ventilators, dialysis machines, anaesthesia equipment, and incubators. If fuel ran out, intensive care units, emergency rooms, dialysis units, and oxygen plants would shut down, cutting off critical care. Vaccination efforts were also at risk. Without electricity, cold chain systems in hospitals and WHO warehouses could fail, jeopardising thousands of vaccine doses. Field hospitals—entirely reliant on generators—were struggling to function. Ambulance services were already reduced and could come to a full stop, preventing timely referral and stabilization of patients.

As fuel ran out, WHO’s ability to sustain operations was also at risk. No fuel meant emergency medical teams could not be supported to run services, medicine and supplies could not be delivered to hospitals, partners could not be supported to run facilities, and no medical evacuation or patient transfers could take place. Restoring fuel supply was a top priority.

In response to questions, Dr Peeperkorn said hospitals in Gaza were completely overwhelmed, dealing with hundreds of casualties. Yesterday, over 200 cases arrived at the Red Cross field hospital in Al-Mawasi, the highest number received by the facility in a single incident. A total of 28 patients were declared dead. On 15 June, the same hospital received over 170 patients, who were injured while trying to access the food distribution site.

WHO was continuing its activities, delivering supplies to hospitals and continuing with medivacs. WHO and partners had kept many hospitals at a partly functional level through various measures. But the number of operational facilities was now shrinking – for example, European Hospital and Rafah Hospital were now non-functional – and hospitals such as Nasser were difficult to access, even for WHO. Hospitals with appropriate services were needed to deal with patients’ needs. The lack of supplies and fuel were major challenges. There were several hospitals and medical points that were partly functional. WHO hoped that they would receive the supplies they needed to keep functioning.

Mass starvation was looming, as Integrated Food Security Phase Classification reports clearly showed. Very little food had come into Gaza. During the ceasefire, almost 600 aid trucks came into Gaza each day, but now, only around 10 to 20 trucks were coming in. People were desperate. There had been an increase in malnutrition. In Kamal Adwan, 200 to 300 children were being assessed every day, between 10 and 20 per cent of whom had malnutrition.

Medivacs remained extremely limited. From the start of the crisis, WHO had evacuated more than 7,400 patients, including more than 5,000 children. However, since 18 March, there had only been six medivacs, transporting 294 patients, with the latest evacuation last week transporting around 34 child patients to Jordan and Italy. An estimated 10,000 people needed to be evacuated. More countries needed to step forward to accept patients and referral routes to the West Bank and East Jerusalem needed to be restored.

Dr Thanos Gargavanis, trauma surgeon and emergency officer, World Health Organization (WHO) said the situation in Gaza was worsening. There was a continuously shrinking operational space for the WHO and the entire UN in Gaza. WHO was not being allowed to deliver at its full capacity.

WHO knew how to deliver health care, support health actors and act as a multiplier factor on the field, so that health actors on the field were able to deliver the best of their capacity. However, operational space was continuously shrinking. The capacity of inpatient services in the entire Gaza Strip had been decreased in a way that had never been seen before.

Concerning the capacity to perform operations on causalities, there was limited access to a fixed operation theatres in Nasser Medical Complex and Al-Amal Hospital, which were both located in Khan Younis. These hospitals were located where the evacuation zones had been expanded. In Gaza City, Shifa Hospital was continuously at more than 200 per cent of its maximum capacity. This continuous pressure on the entire Gaza health system led to a situation where people had to be operated on in field hospitals. These were suboptimal conditions that would have an impact on the overall morbidity and mortality rates in ways that could not be predicted.

People often asked when Gaza was going to run out of fuel, but Gaza was already out of fuel. Hospitals were rationing their usage, transitioning from generator batteries, converters and then again to generators.

Recent food distribution initiatives by non-UN actors had resulted in mass casualty incidents every time. Another food distribution attempt today had resulted in numerous fatalities and even more casualties ended up in Nasser, which was in limited operational capacity because of its position in the evacuation zone.

The United Nations knew what needed to be done in Gaza, how to deliver care, support partners, and do its job. But to make the very best of its presence on the ground, its work needed to be facilitated. It was facing issues each mission that made it difficult to operate, which was increasingly frustrating. The UN had repeatedly requested access to the evacuation zones for a specific number of health facilities, but this had never been granted. Whenever a mission went forward, it was invariably delayed by authorities with the excuse of “operation priorities on the ground”.

The civilian population was the priority for the UN and WHO. Patients needed to receive the care that they deserved.

Responding to questions, Dr Gargavanis said the breakdown in communications prevented WHO from obtaining specific information on the number of casualties, but there were unconfirmed reports of more than 20 fatalities and more than 30 casualties today as a result of another food distribution initiative by a non-UN actor.

WHO was walking a fine line between operational capacity and total disaster every day. The health system was underperforming due to several factors linked to the war. It was difficult to say when the health system would collapse. The shrinking humanitarian space made work more difficult each day.

There were correlations between the four non-UN food distribution points established and the casualties and fatalities being seen daily. WHO was not a forensic agency and could not identify who caused the injuries but was seeing gunshot and shrapnel injuries.

There had not been a change in the pattern or number of security incidents in Gaza since the escalation of tensions between Israel and Iran.

WHO was working to set up two stabilisation centres for malnutrition, but did not think this would be enough. Its main concern was that patients in need were not in a position to obtain medical care.

Figures on diarrhoea in Gaza were not clear, as WHO’s monitoring mechanisms were in peril. The situation was worsened by the fact that internet connections were completely down for more than 48 hours before the attack on Iran. Water quality was getting worse and worse, with an increase in faecal contamination, which increased the risk of acute watery diarrhoea. There had been no detection of cases of cholera in Gaza. It was important for health workers from countries where cholera was present to quarantine before entering Gaza.

Rolando Gómez, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section at the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, said that the UN had been saying repeatedly that the non-UN food distribution scheme in place was not a safe way to deliver aid. No one should be put in a position where they were risking their lives to get lifesaving aid. The world had seen what was happening. The fighting needed to stop immediately.

Mr. Gómez quoted an X post by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, in which he wrote that “Restrictions on bringing in aid from the UN, including UNRWA, continue despite an abundance of assistance ready to be moved into Gaza.”

 

DRC: Health System in Crisis in North and South Kivu

François Moreillon, Head of Delegation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said east Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) had been affected for many years now by a double crisis. The region had experienced more than 30 years of armed conflict, which had led to a collapse of the main basic services to the population. There had also been a weakening of institutions, which made it extremely difficult to provide care to the populations facing this crisis, but also to prevent and respond to violations of international humanitarian law against the civilian populations in these regions, including increased sexual violence and recruitment of minors.

One extremely worrying figure was the increase in the number of civilian injuries, especially in the first quarter of 2025. The ICRC had provided care for nearly 2,350 wounded civilians and armed forces personnel in the north and south during this first quarter. In the space of three months, there had been as many injuries as in the whole of 2024, which already had a higher casualty number than in 2023. Some 60 per cent of the victims were civilian victims. The violence and indiscriminate fighting had a dramatic effect on civilian populations.

In the context of the structural crisis, certain basic services, and particularly those of the health sector, were today at risk of collapse. This is why the ICRC conducted a study of 109 health facilities in North and South Kivu in regions where the ICRC was operational.

The study revealed a health system at the end of its tether, with structures struggling to treat the most common pathologies, from malaria and respiratory infections to diarrhoea.  More than 70 per cent of these health structures suffered from stock shortages, and 40 per cent of them had been looted at different times during the crisis. Even painkillers such as paracetamol and ibuprofen were in short supply. More serious was the total absence of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) kits, which were used to treat victims of sexual violence but needed to be administered within 48 hours after the act to be perfectly effective.

Compared to the same period last year, the number of consultations among children between zero and five years old had been halved, which was extremely worrying. Even more serious was the four-fold increase in the number of stillborn children. This needed to be further studied, but this was challenging due to technical limitations, the departure of some staff due to the insecurity, the lack of media, medicines and difficulties in accessing certain structures.

The number of mental health and psychosocial consultations provided in ICRC-supported facilities, including for victims of sexual violence, had increased by a factor of seven, which demonstrated the gravity of the situation and the need to resolve it quickly.

The DRC was one of the countries that was most affected by funding cuts, which were compounding the crisis. Investment in humanitarian aid for the year 2024 was around 1.4 billion United States dollars. This was projected to drop to around 500 million for the year 2025, although the situation required more resources. This was extremely worrying.

Basic humanitarian services were becoming the main line of defence for populations in the country against the challenges they were facing. Humanitarian actors were no longer in a position to be able to say that they could, on their own, respond to the needs, which were once again increasing day by day. This is why the ICRC was calling on the Government of the DRC and development partners to strengthen their engagement in fragile areas, to compensate for humanitarian actors’ lack of resources.

UN Women Releases 2024 Afghanistan Gender Index

Sophia Calltorp for United Nations Women (UN Women) said UN Women stood with every woman and girl whose life had been shattered by violence in Iran, in Israel, in Palestine, in Ukraine, in Sudan– and even in their homes. It was deeply alarmed by the rising civilian toll. No conflict, no ideology, and no line of defence could ever justify the killing of civilians.

It had been nearly four years since the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan. Since then, there had been a deliberate and unprecedented assault on the rights, dignity and very existence of Afghan women and girls. Yet, despite near-total restrictions on their lives, Afghan women were persevering. They continued to find ways to run businesses and advocate for their rights – and the rights of all Afghans. They served on the frontlines as humanitarians, journalists and community leaders. Their courage and resilience spanned generations. But we also needed to confront the devastating cost of the daily constraints they faced.

Today, UN Women was releasing the 2024 Afghanistan Gender Index – the most comprehensive assessment of women’s empowerment and gender equality in Afghanistan in the country since August 2021. The Index assessed Afghanistan’s progress against eight Sustainable Development Goals.

The report’s findings were stark. They revealed that Afghanistan now had the second-widest gender gap in the world, with a 76 per cent disparity between women’s and men’s achievements in health, education, financial inclusion, and decision-making. On average, Afghan women were realising only 17 per cent of their full potential to make choices and access opportunities - less than one-third of the global average for women. Nearly eight out of 10 young Afghan women were now excluded from education, employment, and training - almost four times the rate for young men.

The report also examined women’s participation in the workforce. It showed that Afghanistan had one of the largest gender gaps in labour force participation anywhere in the world. Just 24 per cent of women were participating in the workforce, compared to 89 per cent of men. Women’s employment fell by 25 per cent in the 18 months to the end of 2022 alone, according to data from other UN agencies. By comparison, men’s employment fell by seven per cent in the same period.

Now, overlapping economic, political, and humanitarian crises - all with women’s rights at their core - had pushed many households to the brink. In response – often out of sheer necessity - more women were entering the workforce. Many had no choice but to take whatever work they could find – even on the margins – just to help put food on the table. For those who did manage to work, it was often in lower-paid, less-secure, and informal roles. Women also took on an exponentially greater share of unpaid domestic work.

The findings were equally grim for women’s participation in decision-making. No women held positions in the de facto Cabinet or in sub-national governance structures – silencing their voices in decisions that directly shaped their lives. Yet, Afghan women continued to push forward. Some still found ways to raise their concerns with the de facto authorities, both nationally and at the local level - often at great personal cost.

UN Women – as part of the wider UN commitment in Afghanistan – stood alongside them. It continued to engage with the de facto authorities to negotiate exemptions and find ways to safeguard, support and empower Afghan women and women-led organizations.

This report would be a vital tool in those efforts - helping us to advocate for change, end harmful practices, and uphold and advance the rights of women and girls. It noted that the issue of gender inequality in Afghanistan did not start with the Taliban. Their institutionalised discrimination was layered on top of deep-rooted barriers that also held women back. The international community needed to respond with a long-term vision - addressing the current crisis while also tackling the systemic drivers of inequality.

Today, UN Women called on global partners to commit to strengthening women-led civil society organizations in Afghanistan, including through long-term, flexible funding; ensure that at least 30 per cent of all funding for Afghanistan supported initiatives that directly advanced gender equality and women’s rights; and facilitate the meaningful participation of Afghan women and girls in discussions that impacted their lives and the future of their country.

The choices made now would reveal what the global community stood for. If the world tolerated the erasure of Afghan women and girls, it sent a message that the rights of women and girls everywhere were fragile and expendable. This dangerous precedent should not be accepted. Afghan women and girls had not given up and UN Women would not give up on them.

In response to questions, Ms. Calltorp said Yemen scored worse than Afghanistan in UN Women’s gender index - these were the two worst countries for women in the world today, according to the index.

The index was the first comprehensive assessment of the situation for women and girls since 2021. UN Women hoped that the assessment would trigger engagement from the international community to address the situation. Civil society was pushing forward with its response and UN Women hoped that the report would encourage further support for its efforts.

Announcements

Pascal Sim for the Human Rights Council said the Human Rights Council opened its fifty-ninth session yesterday, hearing a global update from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. This morning, the Council was holding an interactive dialogue today with United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on his annual report. More than 115 States and 10 regional groups had registered to speak in the dialogue.

This afternoon, the Council would hold a dialogue with the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel on its latest report, to be followed by an oral presentation by the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan.

Today, Tuesday 17 June 2025 at 2 p.m., the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan would hold a press briefing to provide an update on the situation in Sudan. Speaking would be Mohamed Chande Othman, Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission, as well as Joy Ngozi Ezeilo and Mona Rishmawi, Expert Members of the Mission.

On Wednesday, 18 June at 1 p.m., the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel would hold a press briefing to launch its latest report. Speaking would be Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission of Inquiry, and Commissioner Chris Sidoti.

Catherine Huissoud for United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said UNCTAD would publish on Thursday, 19 June at 10:30 a.m. (embargo until 12:30 a.m. Geneva time) its annual World Investment Report. Secretary General Rebeca Grynspan and Nan Li Collins would present the report’s analysis and recommendations related to investment in the digital economy.

Globally, foreign direct investment (FDI) fell by more than 10 per cent globally for the second consecutive year in 2024. The report would be published ahead of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FFC4), to be held in Spain at the end of the month, where world leaders would address the growing gap between capital flows and development needs. The findings underscore the urgency of reshaping investment and financing systems to support inclusive and sustainable growth.

One main press release and three regional ones on Asia, Africa and Latin America were being prepared and would be shared today. Translations into French, Spanish and Chinese were in the pipeline and would be posted in the virtual newsroom. UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan would be available after the press conference to provide additional comments.

Clare Nullis for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said the WMO Executive Council was currently meeting this week for its annual session. A press release on the start of the session was sent late yesterday. A key part of the session was fine-tuning a WMO policy on artificial intelligence. WMO had standards for global weather forecasting models, many of which used artificial intelligence. It needed to ensure that artificial intelligence was used in a reliable, sustainable way. Yesterday, a forum was held on the topic with representatives from the private sector, including Google and Microsoft, and academia. A report on the forum would be released soon. This was technical work but was vital for the global economy and society.

Rolando Gómez, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section at the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, said the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres was currently in Canada for the G7 leaders’ summit. Whilst in Canada, he would hold a series of bilateral meetings on the margins and attend various events at the summit, including a session on energy security, diversification, technology and investment, and access and affordability in a changing world. He would meet with the Prime Minister of Canada, among other leaders, and read-outs of the meetings would be shared.

The Secretary-General issued an important statement yesterday expressing grave concerns about the decision of several Member States to withdraw from the Anti-Personnel Mine Convention, an indispensable safety mechanism, and calling on these States to reengage.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women started its 91st session yesterday (Palais des Nations, Room XXIII). The Committee would review the report of Mexico this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon. Other country reports to be reviewed his week were Thailand (19 June) and Ireland (20 June).

The Conference on Disarmament was holding a public meeting this morning (Tempus, 10 a.m.).

Today, the Security Council would be discussing the situation in the Middle East and Syria. The Deputy Special Envoy for Syria Ms. Najat Rochdi would brief the Security Council today at 10 a.m. New York/4 p.m. Geneva time. Her remarks would be circulated when she concluded.

Today was the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. In his message for the day, the Secretary-General said that humanity was degrading land at an alarming rate, costing the global economy nearly 880 billion United States dollars every year — far more than the investments needed to tackle the problem. He urged the international community to accelerate global action on shared global commitments for sustainable land use.

 

Teleprompter
Good morning and thank you for joining us here at the UN Officer at Geneva for this press briefing today, the 17th of June.
As I mentioned, we have a packed agenda.
We'll go right into it with Pascal SIM, who will speak to the Human Rights Council, which opened its 59 session yesterday.
[Other language spoken]
The UN Human Rights Council opened its 59 session yesterday with a global update by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volcker Turk.
This morning the Council is holding an interactive dialogue on the High Commissioner's annual report.
And as I speak, I can confirm that more than 115 States and 10 regional groups have registered to speak in this dialogue with the High Commissioner and also have a few programming notes regarding 2 investigative bodies mandated by the Human Rights Council.
The Independent international Commission of Inquiry on the occupied Palestinian territory, including E Jerusalem and Israel, is holding a dialogue this afternoon on its latest report, the report which was shared with you last week.
And this dialogue with the Commission will be followed by the normal presentation by the Independent International Fact Finding Mission for the Sudan.
These two investigative bodies will also hold press conferences in this room starting this afternoon with the Fact Finding Mission for the Sudan at 1:00 PM.
At 2:00 PM, Sorry.
And the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel will speak to you tomorrow at 1:00 PM Thank you.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
No, I don't see that's the case.
So thank you very much.
Good luck for the remainder of the session.
[Other language spoken]
We're very pleased to connect with Doctor Peppercorn.
Rick, nice to have you with us here, connecting with our colleagues here.
Rick, I think there is a colleague that we're trying to connect with also who's in Gaza.
[Other language spoken]
But if we do manage to connect with Doctor Tanos Gargavanis in Gaza, that would be yes.
I see there's a thumbs up.
So we'll start off with you, Rick, and then we'll go to a Doctor, Gar Gavanis in Gaza.
Rick.
Thank you very much, Rolando and, and, and good morning to all of you.
[Other language spoken]
So just to say, yes, I'm based on Jerusalem plans to be this week in Gaza because of the situation here, the team and everything decided it's currently better to be here and postpone my trip.
My mission doctor, Thomas Gargan Vanas is our team leads in Gaza.
It's really great that he's there.
He's been there for the last for more than four weeks and he will add later and also probably address some of the questions.
So a couple of general points.
We all know that the global attention shifts to the escalating tension between Iran and Israel, but we should continue to focus on Gaza and to a lesser extent to the West Bank.
Gaza continues to be decimated and largely out of sight, but not out of danger.
And when I focus on the health system, the health system is at a breaking point.
We only have 17 out of Gaza, 36 hospitals, they're currently partly to minimal functional of these just four including national complex are major referral facilities.
So the combined that capacity is less than 1500 beds and that is around 45% less, 50% less hospital beds available in Gaza the before the start of this crisis.
That's for a population of 2 million people.
And again, none of these hospitals are fully functional.
They're partly too minimal functional in the north of Gaza, it's even more concerning.
All hospitals and Primary Health care centres are currently out of services and the only very very basic service provided is through 1 partly functional medical points.
What we call in Rafa the same the health services are only provided through ICRC field hospital and two partly functioning medical points.
I want to focus a bit on NASA.
NASA Complex is by far the largest referral hospital in Gaza, functioning, having major major specialisations and major departments and working together hand to hand with a number of emergency medical teams.
Is he only remaining hospital and fine units in the most important hospital for the South of Gaza?
It is currently within this evacuation zone announced in 12U and disputes Nasser at high risk of becoming non functional.
The health system cannot afford to the loss of an ulcer melting complex.
It's the sole provider for ICU, neurosurgery, hemodialysis unit at hospitals equipped with 26 functioning machines currently serving more than 200 patients.
It also is the only hospital in the South where there's some kind of cancer care, so it also must be protected this morning, and I'm sure Thomas will say something about that later, We just received support of another mass casualty incident with hundreds of casualties, completely overwhelming National Complex, now close to National Alamal Hospital.
The PRCS hospital continues to provide services, patients remaining in the hospital, but it is completely inaccessible.
So it is what we call completely minimal functional hospital due to the ongoing military operations in the vicinity, unable to admit any new cases.
Hence, for us non functional in Gaza City in the north, Toshiba hospital is at a 200% better compensate rate, putting it under immense stress.
So 80% of Gaza under evacuation orders and between 2nd, 22nd of May, 12th June 2025, nine displacements, ordinary issues impacted areas all over North Gaza, Del Bala, Khan, Yunus, et cetera, and, and within depths 2 hospitals, Alamal and Al Ahli, 7 primary healthcare centres and 26 medical points all within these evacuation zones.
An additional 68 service point lie within one kilometre radius of the zones.
So further jeopardising access to the struggling near collapse healthcare across Gaza.
Now there's no, with this enormous loads in hospitals, this is immense.
There's no end to injured pouring in.
So we hear it this morning, a new mesh casualty incident with hundreds of casualties.
Over 200 cases arrived on 16th of June in the Red Cross Fields Hospital in Omahasi.
The highest number received in the facility for one single mass casualty incident.
Total of 28 patients were reportedly declared death yesterday, 6th of June, 15th of June same hospital received one of the city patients reported trying to access all actually trying to access the so-called food distribution sites.
Now I want to say something about medical supplies.
They're critically low and and WHO there's only some scarce supplies which we constantly after priority.
So more than 50% of all our supplies are depleted and as the largest medicines and medical supply provider, we must be facilitate to move supplies into Gaza in a cost effective manner via all possible routes.
Otherwise many medical services will shut down.
The biggest supply not just from WHO but also for from a UNFPA, UNICEF and other partners is in our reach in Egypt.
We want this route to be opened for medical supplies.
There's currently 33 WHO trucks which are waste, I mean, which would be able to go from Allah reach into Gaza and that's which around 10 in the, in the West Bank.
Now the West Bank we, we had a lot of discussions with the Israeli authorities over the last couple of weeks and goal posts were constantly shifting.
And, and finally we, we may be allowed, we will be allowed to, to get some of these medical supplies from the West Bank into Gaza.
And we hope by later this week and early next week that we will be able to do that.
The Ministry of Health reported the shortages in in medication supplies your stock levels at 47% and 65% overall.
We've mentioned constantly what it is, of course everything related to trauma, IV fluids, but also think of things like masks and and gazes and gowns, drugs for diabetes, specific antibiotics, etcetera.
Last point I want to raise is about fuel.
Without fuel there's no services and over the last 100 days no fuel has entered Gaza.
And also attempts to retrieve stocks from evacuation zones have been denied.
Eunuch is trying to do the level best and taking an enormous risk to get this done and it's denied denial above of denial.
Now it's for health, let's say focus on health.
Combined with the clinical, the critical supply shortages, this is pushing the health system close to the brink of collapse.
So The Who emergency teams are just forced to ration the last remaining fuel reserves.
Reserves already disrupting essential services.
17 hospitals, 7 fields hospitals have 14.
Three Primary Health care centres barely running out on a minimum daily fuel.
And we'll soon have no left.
And let me explain what that means.
Without fuel, all levels of cargo cease, leading to more preventable deaths and serve serves suffering.
So hospitals now they are already being forced to reduce services to stretch fuel.
The the limited amount of fuel.
Health works are switching between generators and batteries to power ventilators, dialysis machines, anaesthesia equipment and incubators.
Fuel runs out IC US neonatal, IC US emergency rooms, dialysis units, oxygen plant will shut down, cutting off critical care.
But also vaccinations are a risk.
Without electricity, cold chain systems and hospitals and WHO warehouses would fail, jeopardising thousands of vaccine doses.
The field hospitals they are entirely reliant on generators, are struggling to function.
Ambulance services, of course already reduced, could come to a full stop and prevent timely referral stabilisation of patients.
The lack of fuel will also impact water and sanitation.
It is everything.
It is currently very much impacted water supply and sanitation.
But water and sanitation don't explain.
How does this relate to health?
Weakening infection prevention, control of health facilities and worsening disease spreads across Gaza.
So as fuel runs out, WHO ability to sustain operations is at risk?
No fuel means EMTs can also not be supported to run services.
Medicines supplies cannot be delivered to hospitals and parts cannot be sports to run facilities.
And no medical evacuation of patient transfers can take place.
So fuel top priority, not just for a house for wash, everything related to water and sanitation and of course for food.
That's it from my side, over to you.
Maybe Tanos wants to add something on the latest and outments.
[Other language spoken]
Thanks, Rick.
Let me just introduce Tanos properly.
Just to note that Doctor Tanos Guarda Giovannis is WHO he's with WHO he's a trauma surgeon and emergency officer.
And we're very pleased to connect with you, Tanos.
And of course, I jumped over Christian Linda Meyer, who will you know well, but he's on the call.
Should you have questions specifically for him as well.
But over to you now, Tanos, and thanks again for joining us.
Good morning, dear all, and thank you very much for this opportunity.
The situation in Gaza is becoming more and more difficult.
I know that we have said this numerous times, and I know that words are losing their meaning if you keep repeating and we sound like broken records.
However, there's a continuously shrinking operational space for the World Health Organisation and for the entire UN and Gaza.
What happens right now is that we are not facilitated to deliver at the best of our capacity.
We know how to deliver healthcare, we know how to support health actors, we know how to act as a multiplying factor on the field so that health actors on the field are able to deliver at the best of their capacity.
However, the shrinking space continuously gets smaller and smaller.
Right now, as Doctor Peppercorn has highlighted, the of the the available capacity of inpatients in in the entire Gaza Strip has been decreased in a way that we have never seen before.
Right now, if at this very moment we have casualties that have to be operated in a fixed operation theatre, we have limited access to Nasr Medical Complex, limited access to Alamal Hospital, that they're both located in Hanjunis.
And these is exactly where the evacuation zones have been expanded.
And we have only Alexa Hospital that's closer again in the middle area in Gaza City, we have Shifa Hospital that is continuously delivering at Max at more than two, 100% of their maximum capacity.
And this continuous pressure in the entire Gaza health system takes us to times where people have to be operated in field hospital.
These are suboptimal conditions, uncivilised times.
And this will be having an impact on the overall morbidity and mortality in ways that we cannot predict.
People often ask when is going to be out, when Gaza is going to be out of fuel.
Gaza is already out of fuel.
Doctor Peppercorn was really vocal that right now we're passing through a phase where hospitals to ration their use, they're transitioning from generator batteries, converters and then again to generators again.
So the message is that fuel is already out.
Finally, we have all to be aware that the recent food distribution initiatives by non UN actors every time result in mass casualty incidents.
These very moments that we're popping and now that food distribution has resulted in numerous fatalities and even more casualties ending up in Nasser that it's in limited operational capacity because of its position in the evacuation zone.
the United Nations know what has to be done in Gaza.
We know how to deliver care.
We know how to support partners.
[Other language spoken]
But to make the very best of our presence here, we have to be allowed and facilitated.
Right now, we're facing such issues at every mission of ours that it becomes increasingly frustrating and difficult for us to operate.
We have repeatedly the the requested access to the evacuation zones for a specific number of health facilities and it has never been granted.
Whenever a mission gets forward, it is severely delayed with the excuse of operational priorities on the ground.
Civilian population is a priority.
This is where we we should be focusing upon making sure that patients are having the the care they deserve.
It's what is a priority for us.
Happy to be answering in more questions if they're there.
Thank you very much.
[Other language spoken]
And I see, Christian, I don't know if you want to compliment these powerful interventions, please do so.
I, I think you also dropped in the chat tweet from Doctor Tedros last night, which is very powerful and echoes some of which we've just heard from our colleagues from WHO.
[Other language spoken]
We'll start with Reuters and then then Christian, Go ahead, Emma.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Could you give us more details on the latest mass casualty event?
I wasn't clear if that was today or yesterday.
Run me through the the numbers, please, and any detail of what those scenes were like.
[Other language spoken]
On the casualties, that one you've referred to, I think, yeah, go ahead.
Yeah, I mean, thank you very much for the question.
So Thomasville that probably more specifics what we understand.
So and, and, and that's, that's hundreds of casualties and that's what we get reported to national Complex and that national complex currently.
And I got some pictures to this look really grim, completely overwhelmed.
I mean, like they're, they're emergency wards and, and, and related to that.
So they talk about 100 casualties.
I don't know, you know, what's the scope of mortality and, and this tunnels just referred to related to this food distribution size tunnels.
You might have more details on that please.
Unfortunately, the breakdown of communications that happens and the the lack of being able to follow up in in a time dependent way is not allowing us to be having specific information on the number of casualties.
However, we have unconfirmed reports for more than 20 fatalities and more than 30 casualties.
And this is again the result of another food distribution initiative by a non UN actor over just to clarify if that was today or yesterday please.
[Other language spoken]
If you could clarify if it was today or yesterday, my apologies.
I was not clear.
This is today.
This is the moment we're talking.
This is now.
Thank you very much.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
And just yesterday, yesterday on the 16th of June, over 200 cases I get, I got that arrived at the Red Cross Field Hospital in Almaguashi and that was the highest number received by the facility in one single medical incident.
And a total there from that was yesterday, 16th of June, total of 28 patients were reportedly declared dead.
And on 15th on June, same hospital that received over 170 patients who reported in trying to access the food distribution site over to you.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
And and of course, we'll update you colleagues as this situation is still very fluid, but we'll try to get some more clarity on that.
Christian German news agency.
[Other language spoken]
Doctor Tanos, you basically mentioned the question I was going to ask.
We are talking about breaking point and is on the brink of collapse and that has been the case for a long time.
Can you define what the collapse would be?
What would that mean?
At what point do we reach the point of no return, I guess?
[Other language spoken]
Yeah, you know, I and Thomas will come in as well on this and more specific because he's been intensely involved over the last four weeks.
And maybe he also wants to say something of the ongoing activities WH are still doing.
We still do missions without making sure that our scarce replies prioritise go to hospitals.
We still take emerging medical teams in and out and we still have our continuing with this medevac.
This week it was cancelled, but last week it was a large medevac as well.
You might say something I don't like to you.
I've never used this word because I always got this question.
Oh, health service collapse, collapse.
And I think the and I don't want to call it achievement, but yes, it was a huge achievement in in in an environment as Gaza.
That's because of the health war Gaza health work WHOM part has somehow the health system health services was partly to minimal functional and it constantly shifted and you've heard many times hospitals like she found becoming non functional becoming functional, not a medical complex.
But when was it in in February 24 becoming non functional with siege etcetera.
We had to take out the ODHR, took out the loss, one of the 20 patients, one of the 80 patient, 80 staff and then become functional.
European Gas Hospital, now non functional.
The hospitals in Rafa were already non functional.
What I want to say at the moment, the number of these facilities are shrinking and where you see where the people are like a bit more than a million in the South a bit and a little less maybe a million in the north.
If you look at the cells not a matter of conflict.
By far the most important hospital.
It's even difficult to access for WHO we have really and Thomas can say something about that difficult to access that now you need this hospital with fixed O TS operation theatres and everything is a prop to make sure that you even can can can handle these medical casualties incidents in a little better way.
Now that is slipping away and these hospitals are completely overwhelmed.
And then there's also a combination of the lack of specific supplies and everything related to trauma, IV, FVL takes, etcetera.
While supplies are there, they're not getting in.
And then of course for not just health but very important for health if the fuel and I think we'd be quite specific on that now point of no return.
I want to discuss that because there is there is still a number of hospitals partly functionals, there's field hospitals, etcetera.
[Other language spoken]
But the two, the two areas which should get in fuel 1st and of course those specific medical supplies, what will be of course really helpful that we, we will not have mass casualty incidents anymore and that we move towards a, a ceasefire.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Thanks, Rick.
Let's hope we still have Tanos with us because he did drops a line in the chat saying the connectivity was a bit hot.
We, yeah, I'm seeing that we may have lost him if he is able to reconnect, of course, we'll we still have a couple of questions so we can go back to him.
[Other language spoken]
Who's next?
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Thank you, Rick, on on those mass casualties, can you say who is causing these mass casualties of people trying to access aid the patients that come in, what injuries specifically are they?
Coming in with.
And do you know where these incidents are taking place?
Are they happening outside the distribution points or are they happening inside the distribution points?
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
So I need to get more details on that.
And I think Tano's already within the Arbada and a team when I ask you more specifics on what's happening in, in, in NASA, he struggles to, to, to get the full details.
[Other language spoken]
I don't want to answer something and then you know, like I'm correct if this is outside or within or outside or or somewhere around that what we have seen happening that that's around those distribution points for whatever reasons, there is a lot of turmoil and a lot of violence and we get a lot of casualties and, and, and I think there has been all kinds of types of trauma coming into the hospitals, but I need to get more specific.
So if Donos would be back, he might be able to address that, but I don't have to complete details on that one.
My apologies, my internal connectivity is really bad.
Can I please have the question again over?
Yeah, it's a tonne of, it's about good if you're there about two, two things, you know, when is it beyond breaking point, I try to address that.
So don't spend too much.
But the second one is on the on the on the casualties which we see in relation to this food distribution.
Where does it happen within the sites, outside the site and what kind of what type of injuries is is being seen?
OK, so regarding the collapse of the of the health system, we are walking the the the fine grey line between operational capacity and pool disaster every day.
This means that services are barely available and this means that health workers, supplies, fuel, All these assets that are very necessary for a health system to be fully operational and be able to support the needs of the most vulnerable ones.
Now is underperforming.
It's underperforming for a series of factors.
Not for just one thing.
The war brings along other other other other worsening factors.
It's really difficult to be saying that the system is on the brink of collapse now before and link it to a specific time frame.
But I want all of us to understand that we are walking already the fine line that separates disaster from saving lives right now.
The shrinking humanitarian space makes every health activity way more difficult than the previous day.
Now regarding the mass casualty incidents linked to the food distribution, there's a constant correlation with the compositions of the four announced food distribution spots all along the Strip and the mass casualty incidents.
ICRC Phil Hospital in Rafa receives the major bulk of casualties and fatalities from the food distribution that takes place in Rafa.
Nasser Medical Complex is receiving the major bulk bulk of fatalities and casualties that from the food distribution that happens in Andhunes.
And when it comes to Netzarin Corridor food distribution, both North and South health facilities are receiving casualties and fatalities.
I'm not sure whether I have addressed the questions appropriately, but happy to be coming back with more details and figures over a number of casualties and fatalities.
Thank you, Robin.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
If would you be able to say what injuries people are coming in with?
What are the sort of traumas that you are that you're seeing and can you say who is causing?
These casualties, do you know who's causing them?
[Other language spoken]
Thank you very much.
As we often say, WJ is not a forensic agency, which means that we're not in position to clearly identify from the nature of the injury who's causing them.
What we can say though is that we're talking of gunshot wound injuries and we're talking of very few incidents of shrapnel injuries over.
I mean, let me just jump in and say, I mean, of course we've been saying since the beginning of this scheme that it is, this is not working.
It's it's a not a Safeway to deliver aid.
We've been saying this repeatedly.
No one should be put in a position where they're trying to get life saving aid to be putting their lives at risk to do so.
And this is what's happening.
So this is something which we've said at the beginning, before the scheme began, this is what we say now and the evidence is there.
I think the world has seen what is happening, so this is something that must stop and must stop now.
The fighting must stop.
So thank you very much, colleagues.
And of course, if you provide any more information from your points of view on the ground, we'd be very grateful to receive that from you.
We still have some questions.
Let's go to Jeremy Launchrance, Radio France International.
Yeah, a question on the on the casualties, it seems like there's still like the GHFGHF distribution still leads to casualties.
But I would like to know if you have seen any difference since last Friday regarding combats and bombardments in, in, in, in Gaza, meaning like since the start of the war between Israel and Iran, have you seen less fighting and less bombardments?
If I can take it, Thomas, please.
No, unfortunately we have not seen a change in the pattern and we have not seen a change in the in the number of incidents, security incidents.
So yeah, not major change other.
All right, thank you for that.
Further questions in the room, we have a couple of online before going there.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
In that case, we have John Zaracosta.
So France Vankatz in The Lancet.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
I've got a question concerning if you can bring us up to speed on what you're doing with therapeutic feeding for children, especially under 5 suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
And if you can bring us up to speed on the number of fatalities from a combination of factors including diarrhoea, etcetera, that is fuelling a lot of this.
Thank you very much.
Yeah, I mean Tanos might you might say something about if we still have those supplies.
And I think John, I think I, I reported a couple of weeks ago already on this.
I mean like we what we of course seen is is looming mass starvation.
I think it has been reported, I see reported being widely discussed, not just by WHO, by our colleagues from WFP and other ones.
I mean you've, you've, you've seen all the data on, on that.
So let's not very little food and everything has come, come in and, and most of that have what we, we thought would be self distributed and accept what come in through the other sites.
And, and, and, and we should not forget that when we weren't having the ceasefire, we talked about on average of almost 600 trucks a day, 5 to 600 trucks today, yes, and, and now we're talking about 1020 trucks.
I mean over the last time it's a minimal amount.
So we get all we get all the the information and that might be more specific that people really become desperate.
And and I think that's of course what the IXC reports were clearly clearly described that a looming starvation.
And, and when I was there the last time we went through this so-called therapeutic feeding centres in then still operation command and one now not any more operational then still operation one other place, I think Fish friendly Hospital, not sure that's still operational and in and in the South.
And we already raised the point that The Who supplies for the therapeutic feeding centres that's we're running out.
And so time as you might have some specifics on this, where this is now and what do you get for for feedback.
We also described then that we saw an increase in malnutrition and and after when I was there come out at 1 and and his patient friendly 2 to 300 kits per day were checked and and between 10 and 20% were that were one way one form of malnutrition.
And yeah, I saw some severely malnourished kids as well then, which I think we've widely discussed.
I cannot believe that.
I'm afraid that these trends is only worsened over the last month.
Tom is over to you.
Thank you very much.
So right now we are the World Health Organisation is supporting partners to set up two stabilisation centres for malnutrition.
Unfortunately, we don't think that this is enough.
We are running excessively low in therapeutic feeding formulas and we're trying to rationalise its use.
And our main concern is that the intensification of the conflict and the increase in the military activity is hampering patients and cases to be reaching out to us or to partners for the continuum of their care.
Our main concern is that patients in need are actually not in a position to reach out to us.
This is what's this is what happens right now with the shrinking humanitarian space.
Now when it comes to to the the mortality and morbidity related to diarrhoea, unfortunately figures are not clear.
And figures are not clear because again, the emissification of morbidity and mortality is putting all our monitoring, monitoring mechanism in peril.
Partners have a very hard time to report back.
And we have to add to this the fact that Internet was completely down for more than 48 hours on the night before the attack to run.
This means that right now the operational challenges exceed what we're used to be working with.
However, what we do know is that the water quality is getting worse and worse.
We are having more and more samples where we have faecal contamination in water and we all know that there's a direct correlation between faecal contamination of drinking water and between the increase in numbers of acute watery and non watery diarrhoea over.
[Other language spoken]
Maybe I'll take this opportunity just to cite one line from a quote of Philip Lazarina Lazzarini of Commissioner General of ANRA, who says the restrictions on bringing in aid from the UN, including on RAH continue despite an abundance of assistance ready to be moved into Gaza.
So this is excerpt of his tweet last night.
OK, John, is that a quick follow up before we go to Nick of the New York Times?
That's correct.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Thanos, can you elaborate if you're getting cases of cholera, what you just mentioned, if you're also tracking and getting cases of cholera?
[Other language spoken]
Thank you very much.
This is negative.
There's no detection of cases of cholera.
And right now we're reaching out to partners, making sure that everybody understands that for cholera, there should be somebody who brings it in Gaza.
And until now, we are lucky enough not to be having it in Gaza.
We are trying to stress again the importance of quarantining before reaching out to Gaza for international health workers and non health workers that are to be coming from countries where cholera is endemic.
And until now, the system is working and nothing, nothing alarming has been detected regarding cholera.
So our position is very, very clear when it comes to cholera.
There's no cholera currently in Gaza over.
Thanks for that, Donos.
I think we'll now take the last question.
And are there any last ones in the room?
OK, Nick Coming, Bruce, with the New York Times.
[Other language spoken]
Thank you for taking my question.
Sorry to push you on today's mass casualty events.
There's some reporting that says around several hundred 300 I think casualties have been received at NASA and they're attributing casualties to tank fire, specifically to tank fire.
[Other language spoken]
If.
You could confirm or elaborate on any of that.
And a question for Rick, could you also just give a few details of the evacuation, the medical evacuation that you alluded to earlier, How many patients came out and what sort of ages we're talking about and what kind of illnesses and treatment they needed?
[Other language spoken]
Thank you very much.
Unfortunately, we're not in a position to confirm any use of specific weapons.
Regarding the number of casualties and fatalities that are referred to are reported today.
More time is needed.
Connection with the field is always challenging and I know that we're living in a world where communication is easier done than the years before.
However, we have to cross check all incoming information before saying anything.
Having said that, again, I want to stress that WTO is not a forensic agency.
So we're having a hard time to be very specific on the kind of ammunition that was used.
However, if it is gunshot with injuries, this is something that we can report to and we strictly follow it.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Rick.
Did you want to add anything before we wrap up any last comments?
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Well, let me just take this opportunity to thank you profoundly both of you for joining us in and please do continue to update.
This can I can I just add on this?
[Other language spoken]
Yeah, Yeah, Rick, absolutely.
It's over to you.
And then we'll wrap up afterwards.
[Other language spoken]
I just want to stress again what Thomas says.
So Nick, we get similar reports, but as as I said, we cannot verify that and and the way they should never attributing this.
I mean even if the attack on healthcare etcetera, that's not our role.
We try to report, we get similar reports.
[Other language spoken]
And on Medevac, just because that was your questions, in our view, they remain extremely limited.
I mean like from the start of this crisis, we've been facilitating, supporting more than 7400 patients, including more than 5000 children were evacuated for medical treatment.
However, since 18 March, we only have seen six medical evacuation, 294 patients and 458 companion.
The last was last week.
I think there were 3334 child patients to Jordan and Italy mainly.
And, and, and, and something like 70 companions.
That was the last Wednesday.
So there's still an immense needs.
We still estimate over 10,000 people need medical evacuation and, and we have called to face more countries to step forward to accept patients.
We need more countries to step forward and of course, an immediate resumption of medical evacuations through all possible routes.
And we really want to be constantly focused on there's a need to restore the routes for medical referrals to the West Bank and E Jerusalem.
That's it for me.
Over to you.
Thank you very much for that, that extra comment, Rick.
And, and thanks to you again and to Tano Sefaristopoli, to you colleagues for your interest and for your reporting.
So and of course, Christian, if there's anything that's lacking, please do furnish that information to our journalists.
Here to thank you once again, Rick Antonis.
Well, we're going to switch now to the DRC Merci Provolta present CC the participation de Messier.
Francois Morillion is ICRC head of delegation in the DRC Who is going to speak speak to the situation of a health staking on the situation of health in the region of Kivu in the DRC.
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[Other language spoken]
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[Other language spoken]
I think you are extremely clear.
So OK, we will move now to our colleague from UN Women.
Sophia Kaltorp, Kaltorp, who is going to speak to the situation in Afghanistan and I think you have, there's a gender index for 2024 that you're going to speak to, if I'm not mistaken.
So over to you, Sophia.
Thank you, Rolando.
Good morning to everybody.
Yes, we are going to launch our Afghanistan 2024 Gender Index today.
But first, let me just reiterate that UN women's stance with every woman and girl whose life has been shattered by violence in Iran, in Palestine, in Ukraine, in Sudan and even in their homes, we are deeply alarmed by the rising civilian toll.
No conflict, no ideology and no line of defence can ever justify the killing of civilians.
So over to Afghanistan.
It has now been four years since the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, and since then we have witnessed A deliberate and unprecedented assault on the rights, dignity and very existence of Afghan women and girls.
And yet, despite near total restrictions on their lives, Afghan women persevere.
They continue to find ways to run businesses and to advocate for their rights and the rights of all Afghans.
They serve on the front lines as humanitarians, as journalists, and as community leaders.
Their courage and resilience span generations.
But we must also confront the devastating cost of the daily constraints that they face.
So today UN Women released the 2024 Afghanistan Gender Index, which is the most comprehensive assessment of women's empowerment and gender equality in Afghanistan since August 2021.
This index assesses Afghanistan's progress against 8 Sustainable Development Goals, and the findings are extremely stark.
This report reveals that Afghanistan now has the second widest gender gap in the world, with a 76% disparity between women's and men's achievements in health, education, financial inclusion and in decision making.
On average, Afghan women are realising only 17% of their full potential to make choices and access opportunities.
That's less than 1/3 of the global average for women.
Nearly 8 out of 10 young Afghan women are now excluded from education, from employment and from training, almost four times the rate for young men.
We also in this index examined women's participation in the workforce, and our analysis shows that Afghanistan has one of the largest gender gaps in labour force participation anywhere in the world.
Just 24% of women are participating in the workforce, compared to 89% of men.
Women's employment fell by 25% in the last 18 months, according to data from other UN agencies, and by comparison, men's employment fell by 7% in the same.
So now what we see is overlapping economic, political and humanitarian crises, all with women's rights at the core, that have pushed many households in Afghanistan to the brink.
And in response, often out of sheer necessity, more women are entering the workforce, but many have no choice but to take whatever work they find, even on the margins, just to help to put food on the table.
And for those who do manage to work, it is often in lower paid, less secured and informal roles.
Women also take on an exponentially greater share of unpaid domestic work.
The finding in this report are equally grim when it comes to women's participation in decision making.
No women hold any positions in the de facto cabinet or in sub national governance structures, silencing their voices in decisions that directly shape their lives.
And yet again, Afghan women, they continue to push forward.
Some still find ways to raise the concerns with the de facto authorities, both nationally and at the local level, but often as A at a great personal cost.
UN Women as part of the wider UN commitment and community in Afghanistan, we stand alongside them and we continue to engage with the de facto of artists to negotiate exemptions and find ways to safeguard, support and empower Afghan women and women LED organisations.
This report that we launched today will be a vital tool in those efforts, helping us to advocate for change and harmful practises and to uphold and advance the rights of women and girls.
It notes that the issue of gender inequality in Afghanistan didn't start with the Taliban.
Their institutionalised discrimination is layered on top of deep rooted barriers that also hold women back.
The international community must respond with a long term vision, addressing the current crisis while also tackling the systemic drivers of inequality.
So today, we as human women, we call on global partners to take three urgent steps.
First, to commit to strengthening women LED civil society organisations in Afghanistan, including through long term flexible funding.
2nd, to ensure that at least 30% of all funding for Afghanistan supports initiatives that directly advance gender equality and women rights.
And 3rd, facilitate the meaningful participation of Afghan women and girls in discussions that impact their lives and the future of the country.
The choices that we make now will reveal what we stand for as a global community.
If the world tolerates the ratio of of Afghan women and girls, it sends a message that the rights of women and girls everywhere are fragile and expendable.
We cannot accept this dangerous precedent.
Afghan women and girls, they haven't given up and we will not give up on them.
Thank you very much.
[Other language spoken]
Thank you very much.
Supremely important messages there.
So we'll turn for any questions we have.
[Other language spoken]
Could you say a bit more about how Afghanistan compares to other countries?
Is there any country in the world which is doing worse than Afghanistan on this index?
[Other language spoken]
Yes, thank you very much.
[Other language spoken]
Yes, so Afghanistan is is as as I have shown extremely, extremely, extremely worse off.
But actually there is one country that that sort of scores less and that is Yemen where we see even even even lower numbers.
But of course, this is the this is an index.
And I think in in both countries, the situation is extremely grim for women and girls.
So Yemen and Afghanistan are the two worst countries for women today according to this index.
Thanks for that clarification for the questions.
[Other language spoken]
What sort of engagement do you get from countries with regards to this, to this index?
Do they, do they look at this index governments, I mean, do they look at the index and think and, you know, realise areas where they could be doing better?
How much interaction is there?
Thank you very much.
So, so we launched index today and it has been, you know, it's, it's, as I said, it's the first, first comprehensive assessment the situation for women and girls since 2021.
So this is very much the launch of that type of engagement.
We do hope that those dark figures will trigger engagement from, from the wide international community and, and to see how we as UN women can work with a number of partners to, to support the women and girls and their rights in Afghanistan in, in different ways.
And I think that obviously they are, as I also shared work going on and, and civil society organisations, women in Afghanistan are really pushing forward and, and, and they, they need all the support they they can get.
And we hope that with those, those figures, this index, that that will also trigger response and, and action from a number of partners.
[Other language spoken]
Indeed, hopefully.
And of course, colleagues, you're aware that yesterday there was a segment at the Human Rights Council which spoke to this very point.
We had presentations from the rapporteur as well as from the Office of the High Commissioner, where gender equality in Afghanistan was central message in those in court discourses.
Do we have further questions for Sophia?
No, online, I don't see that's the case.
So thank you very much for joining us here, as always, Sophia.
[Other language spoken]
We have Catherine of the UNCTAD, the UN Trade and Development, who's going to speak to a World Investment Report 2025.
Rebecca Greenspan and Nanikolinskil, A novel directories de la division navestismo, the concern of a particular model economy.
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OK, thank you very much.
Male C Uncle Kathleen OK, the last speaker is certainly last but not least, Claire of World Meteorological Organisation is online and has an announcement for us about the WMO Executive Council.
So over to you, Claire.
Yes, so good morning everybody.
The World Meteorological Organisation Executive Council is currently meeting this week.
It's for its annual session.
A lot of the work is.
Is is is quite technical and obviously we've got very.
Busy agendas with human rights and Gaza and Iran at the moment, but.
If anybody is interested in following up in any of the topics please.
Please get in touch with me.
We sent out a press release late yesterday afternoon and a key part of this EC meeting is is.
Sort of fine tuning A WMO policy on artificial intelligence.
We, as you know, WMO has, has standards, you know, common standards.
For, you know, global weather forecasting models, AI is now being used in a lot of these models and a lot of weather forecasts.
So we need to make sure that that you know, this is done in a way which is equitable, which is done in a way which is sustainable and above all, which is which is reliable.
Yesterday we had a public private sector forum on AI which was addressed by representatives.
Of the WMO community, but also representatives of the private sector, Microsoft and Google, and representative of academia from from Shanghai will be sending out.
A more detailed write up of that in in due course and then the actual technical resolutions on AI they're they're they're being debated debated as we as we speak.
So I'll be issuing a number of sort of news updates and press releases on on this.
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In her opening remarks, you know, what we do is really, really vital for the global economy and for global society.
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Thank you very much, Claire.
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And thanks in advance for all the material you'll be sharing.
And thanks for joining us here, Claire, as always.
OK, we're nearly done colleagues.
Just a couple of announcements as usual from here on behalf of the Secretary General.
Just to mention that he is currently in Canada.
He's in Kananaskisk, the province in Alberta for the G7 Leaders Summit.
Whilst in Canada, the SG will hold a series of bilateral meetings on the margin of the summit, and he'll be attending, of course, the different events surrounding the G7 Leader Summit meeting, including a session on energy security, diversification, technology and investment, and access and affordability in a changing world.
That's the title of this event that he's attending today.
Of course, colleagues will share with you any information we receive on bilaterals.
He is meeting with Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney.
Presumably he'll meet with others and if we get readouts, we'll share those with you as well as any statements should they be made public at this important gathering on the other side of the pond, the SG issued last night an important statement which you all have in your inbox on concerning the Anti Personal Mine Ban Convention.
And in that message he expresses his grave concern by the recent announcements of steps taken by several member states to withdraw from the Anti Personal Mine Ban Convention, which as you know has ushered in many safety mechanisms.
It's it's a indispensable tool in the international community, which sadly is with these withdrawals, there is a need for great concern and for people to re engage.
So the SGS echoed that in the message we shared with you last night.
We have the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, otherwise known as CEDAR, which kicked off its 91st session yesterday, colleagues.
And today and tomorrow the committee will be reviewing the report of Mexico.
And then later in this, this week, we have Thailand being reviewed on Thursday and then Ireland on Friday.
And also to note that the Conference on disarmament has maybe it's over now, but was scheduled to start a public meeting this morning at 10 AM in The Tempest building down down the road.
So we can keep you updated on those activities.
You heard from Pascal and the Human Rights Council.
I also wanted to flag that the Security Council today will be discussing the situation in the Middle East, as we've heard from our colleagues on the situation there, in particular on Syria as well.
And I wanted to announce on behalf of the office of the Special envoy that the deputy Special envoy, Envoy for Syria, Miss Najat Rushdie will brief at 4:00 PM Geneva time.
That's 10 AM New York time will brief the the Security Council in her marks will be circulated after she concludes that that statement.
You've already heard about this the press conferences we're having here.
But just to remind you in this room at 2:00 PM today we have the independent international fact finding mission for the Sudan.
We have the three members of this fact finding mission who will be joining will be sitting at this podium briefing you at 2:00 PM.
And then tomorrow, as mentioned, we have the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
We have Navi Pillai, who you know is former High Commissioner for Human Rights, who's now a member of this Commission, and Chris Sidoti, another member of this Commission of Inquiry, who will be briefing you tomorrow at 1:00 PM in this room.
And then as Catherine just mentioned, on Thursday the 19th at 10:30, in this room, we have Rebecca Greenspan, Secretary General of UN Trade and Development, and Natalie Collins, who's Oncate Director for Investment in Enterprise, who will be speaking to the World Investment Report, which you just heard about.
And just to mention lastly today is world data combat desertification in drought.
There is a Secretary General's message on this observance, which, among other things, notes that humanity is degrading land, but humanity is degrading land at an alarming rate, costing the global economy nearly $880 billion every year, far more than the investments needed to tackle the problem.
So among other things, the secretary general urges governments, businesses and communities to answer to accelerate action on our shared global commitments on sustainable land use.
So that's the message of the secretary general on this important observance.
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In that case, have a good afternoon.
See you here Friday.
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