Welcome to the press briefing of the UN Information Service here in Geneva.
Today is Friday, sorry, Tuesday, 1st of July.
And I would like to immediately start with our topics.
Just just one point on what we have been sending you.
As you know, the Secretary General is in Sevilla, where we are holding the third plenary today of the Fourth International Conference of Financing for Development.
Just you have received a number of his statement and the press conference that he held yesterday afternoon with Pedro Sanchez, the President of the Government of Spain.
We will keep you informed on other meetings that you may have.
And now I the great pleasure to connect with Tehran where we have the honour to have the UN Resident Coordinator in Iran, Stephen Prishner.
Stephen, thank you so much for being with us this morning with the journalist in Geneva.
You are going to give us a brief on the UN development and humanitarian assistance in Iran and then we will open the floor to question.
I'd like to say upfront to our journalist that Stefan is responsible for this kind of mandates in in Iran.
So please keep the the questions on this on this subject and we will hear from him first.
Stefan, you have the floor.
Thank you very much for being with us.
And can I check whether you can hear me?
We can hear you and see you.
I'm I'm not sure whether.
Yeah, yes, we can see you very well and we can hear you very well.
So first of all, very warm greetings from Tehran.
I thought I kind of focus on three issues in my short briefing today.
A little bit on how we have experienced as the United Nations development humanitarian system the the conflict and then a bit on the mandate, you know of the development humanitarian system in Iran.
And finally, how we adapt towards programmatically basically the new challenges.
So just as a way of context, as you all know, in the early morning hours of June 13th, a number of attacks took place in Tehran and other parts of Iran.
And then over the next 12 days, there were multiple attacks by either side as per government estimates.
We know that there have been 627 people killed and almost 5000 injured.
So really very unfortunate human toll.
Many of them were civilians reportedly.
Now, this was a unprecedented adversity of for the people of Iran, as one would expect.
But what we also saw on the ground is that at the same time, the people in the city, and not only Tehran but those in other cities displayed a spirit of resilience.
In Tehran, we could very clearly observe that, of course, from the 1st morning hours of that Friday, millions, you know, left the city, mostly towards the north.
But there are also many stories of solidarity where we hear that, you know, people were sharing totally overcrowded apartments in those villages and towns outside Tehran's, sharing food and so on.
So it's important to basically, you know, say that the people of Iran stood together.
And amazingly also the essential services in Tehran itself continued throughout the crisis.
Now, how did we react to that?
We immediately underlined our concern and condemnation of reported civilian casualties.
We emphasised that civilians must never be the target and that respect for international humanitarian law must always prevail.
But at the same time we are trying, we are trying to adapt our programmes to deliver on the most critical ones.
Now we had to make a quick decision at the beginning.
We temporarily relocated us, our dependence families and some of our very few of our non critical personnel from the country.
But it's important to really state that the UN team in Iran stayed put, we stayed to deliver.
And I believe that this conflict was a test for the United Nations system and its ability to adapt and programme in challenging circumstances.
And, and we stayed and delivered also the work in our field offices.
We have 4 field offices, you know, in, in different cities, other cities of Iran.
They also kept on on working.
This was, of course, not easy.
Like the population at large, our national staff, you know, needed to take care of the families.
So we adopted flexible working hours.
And we, you know, kind of worked as a network of, of staff inside and outside Tehran.
And it's amazing that the people, despite their primary responsibility of, you know, taking care of their families, kept on working.
And when Internet after a few days was kind of more and more difficult, we used other means of staying connected.
Now a little bit about the mandate of the United Nations in in in Iran.
We are covering here the issues of development and Humanitarian Affairs.
Humanitarian is heavily focused on the issue of refugee support, given that the country is one of the, you know, countries in the world that has the biggest, you know, number of refugees in the country.
And in terms of development, we have, you know, agreed in 2022 with the government on a five year programme framework programme of on five pillars, which consists of public health of socio economic resilience, Environmental Protection, disaster reduction and management and drug control.
And of course, you know, it has to be said that in the context of Iran, the UN and Iran offers a unique comparative advantage, serving as a convener and as a knowledge provider and knowledge broker between the countries and the the our host country and the international community on key fronts.
Now a little bit on the humanitarian pillar because this is in terms of volume at the biggest one we have to I would like to kind of be very clear that the, you know, we appreciate the host countries, you know, hosting of a large number of refugees and you know, Afghan population.
I think it's significant that the vast majority of this group lives in urban settings together with host country communities, and only a very small share of the population is in, you know, lives in settlements, nearly 1% of the African population.
Now, Iran has been providing for a long time access, inclusive access to healthcare and to education.
Families over the last years have come, especially, you know, with girl children to ensure education in Iran as well as receiving other support.
And you know, the, the, the support base from the United Nations in Iran is quite large.
We are working, you know, through 11 UN entities under the leadership of UNHCR.
Also a number of international NGOs that provide humanitarian assistance throughout, you know, different segments such as health, education, shelter, food and water and sanitation.
Now, my Third Point that I would wanted to make is the impact on the conflict of the on the UN presence and operations.
As mentioned, we, you know, stayed here throughout the conflict and are now in discussions with the government how to adapt the programme to meet, you know, emerging needs that are only kind of becoming clear, you know, in these days.
It's only a few days since the conflict basically has stopped and the ceasefire was agreed upon.
We, we have to note that the institutional structure, you know, seemed to be quite strong and essential in public services, you know, were functioning throughout the war, throughout the conflict.
And I also mentioned already earlier that the resilience of Iranian people was really inspiring.
And despite the trauma and uncertainty that everybody faced in the past weeks, there was a sense of community that has prevailed.
So we we kind of are in, in the face of reprogramming and you know, kind of adopting new priorities in addition to our ongoing development programmes, which are about 160 this this year.
But we also have immediately provided, you know, emergency support, such as on the health front, where, you know, emergency surgery kits were provided, were diagnostic kits were supported, were provided to support national diagnostic capacity and where there was a focus on mental health and psychosocial needs as a priority.
And of course, our ongoing support for refugees has continued.
Food was provided to some of the settlements and, you know, other targeted support for the refugee communities, especially the most vulnerable ones.
You know, we're continuing.
So in conclusion, I would say that, you know, quoting the Secretary General in his various public messages, it's very clear to us that only diplomacy can offer viable and sustainable path.
We believe that the escalation and dialogue grounded in international law and in the UN Charter are the surest way to protect lives and preserve much needed peace in the region.
But as a development of humanitarian arm, we have stayed if we are adjusting our programme.
And we believe that this is the time when the United Nations is most needed immediately, you know, after the ending of the conflict.
And of course, we we count on the support of the international community for the United Nations to be able to provide useful, timely and effective support in this very difficult times.
So with this, I would like to like to leave it and open and give it back to the moderator.
Stefan, thank you very much.
This was extremely interesting and useful.
And as I said, I mean, our journalists really wanted to to talk with the UN in Iran.
So thanks for being with us.
I'll open now the floor to question and I'll start here in the room.
Let me see if there are any hands up.
I'll start with Agnes Pederreiro from the French news agency FP and yes, yes, thank you for taking my, my question.
I wanted to, to ask you if you could give us some figures about how the humanitarian situation has evolved through last days of since the, the conflict, how much the humanitarian situation has deteriorated.
What are the needs exactly?
If you could give us, yes, more figures, indications on that, What are the specific needs?
Yeah, the, the, the, the needs are definitely the kind of needs assessment is evolving.
The, we know that the health sector has very specific needs because of, you know, the kind of hits on, on several hospitals, on health equipment such as ambulances, you know, so the, the health sector is of course overstretched with, you know, several 1000 of injured and we are seeing this as a focus.
The next issue is at this point, of course, the refugee situation, how the conflict impacts the refugee situation.
It's a bit early to basically already assess this, but what we have seen is that the returns, you know, from Iran to Afghanistan have increased badly, probably through self of equation, but also through deportation.
And you know, and the team is in in touch with with, you know, the government authorities at different levels to ensure that this, you know, returns are done in a planned in a, in a, in a gradual and in a dignified manner.
Other questions in the room before I go to the platform, I'm looking at our journalist.
OK, so let me go to the platform.
Thanks very much for this briefing.
Interesting to to have you.
I'd like to know, I mean, two things if you can't describe.
You talked about dead and the people who have been killed and the people who have been injured.
What about the destruction after the attack?
Can you describe, give more concrete examples the the impact or the destruction, the people who are injured, what kind of injuries are we talking about?
If you could perhaps also describe a bit the mood among Iranians day and their thoughts about the ceasefire or worries about the ceasefire.
And the last question I have is the reports about internal crackdowns and wave of arrests and so forth.
I'm not sure what you can say about this, but perhaps you can elaborate.
The last question is about the reports about internal crackdowns, wave of arrests.
I am not sure what you can say about this, but if you could somehow, you know, address this, these reports.
Thank you, Gunla, as as I said, Stefan is really concentrating on on on the UN work.
But I let him answer, of course.
Yeah, I can just kind of quote a few, you know, kind of statistics that we see from, you know, from the the official sources.
In Tehran alone, 332 buildings have been destroyed, 3500 housing units have been destroyed.
I think what is very significant is, is the psychosocial impact.
The Red Crescent Society reports that there are some more than 70,000 calls, you know, where they provided a telephone based psychological counselling services to to some 10,000 citizens.
Very difficult to assess the mood.
What I can say is that Tehran is again populated.
It was, you know, a few few days is during the war.
It was really completely empty, eerily empty almost.
And now, you know, people are back and which means that even in normal days we suffer traffic jams.
But, but I would say what is what is amazing is these two, two observations that I wanted to make is that the services, you know, were, were functioning throughout.
And secondly, that people were resilient.
I, I see this as a foreigner.
People are kind as always.
And you know, we know that Iranian people are famous for that very, very kind cultured people.
Thank you very much, Alessandra.
Thank you for this briefing.
I have two or three questions.
Just a clarification, if you can tell us how many refugees are we talking about?
That's that's the first question.
The second questions is if if you think that this situation in Iran could help to visibilize the situation of women and children in the country.
And also a third questions is if you are safe, how do you feel there?
So in terms of refugees, we have, you know, more than 3.5 million refugees and people living in refugee like situations.
Why we call it this like this?
Because we don't have, you know, everybody has not been recognised as refugees.
But you know, we, we, we include them in, in the group of people in refugee like situations.
So this is a huge number.
The total number of Afghans is up to 6 million people.
And, you know, some of them have working permits, some of them have no documents and others basically have refugee status or, you know, and are registered with the government.
So this is the significant number of of, of Afghan population in the country in terms of women and children.
I'd very much like to focus on, on, you know, our kind of support to, to women's rights, which obviously you know, are human rights.
There is a ongoing dialogue of the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights with the government on, you know, enhancing basically and progressively realising women's rights.
And the development part, you know, of the system is focusing on economic empowerment, but also maternal health.
So they are in all of our programmes.
You know, women and children are kind of mainstream.
And our focus area is vulnerable to because I can confidently say that our whole programme in Iran is focused on vulnerable groups and women and children are one of these groups that we are considering a vulnerable deal.
I don't know if you also want to add how you personally feel as the if you feel safe if you are I as a, as a manager and, and and kind of leader of the UN system, I was honestly more worried about my people than about myself.
So, so there were definitely moments of anxiety.
Currently, you know, the situation is, is, is stable.
The ceasefire has held, but it's still very volatile.
And we are, I would say we, we have very exaggerated senses these days that every noise in the in the night kind of in a sense, you know, is, is, is, is waking you up.
But currently we feel, we, we feel safe.
Thank you very much, Stefan.
Thank you very much for this briefing.
I just wanted to check in on UN staffing.
I know that there had been some temporary removal of UN staff staffing due to the security situation.
Have have those people now returned?
And in terms of you, you mentioned there about healthcare being stretched, I mean what is the situation now?
Is that still still still the case in terms of, you know, healthcare being overstretched and treating current patients?
I mean, overall, do you, how would you assess Iran's ability to, to in terms of coping with, with what happened and, and have things improved or do you still have some, some concerns going forward about how Iran might recover from, from what happened?
So the first question, the, some of the staff has not yet returned and also our families have not yet returned.
But we do have, you know, a good contingent of, of heads of agencies and international staff here, about 21 here in Tehran of us.
And of course, like everywhere, the United Nations system also relies on the national staff and the national staff basically is back in the around and we and also in the field offices.
And we have, you know, restarted our operations, normal operations in the office day before yesterday, very difficult to see.
The health system is very robust, but I think it's about, you know, certain, you know, certain certain things that may, may be needed, which we are currently assessing under the leadership of the of WTO.
You're just basically preparing, you know, and, and, and, and, and needs assessment in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and other, you know, partners to, to be able to roll out, you know, very focused support.
So this would be my 2 questions, 222 answers to this question.
Still many questions, Stefan, please let me know how much time you have.
If you have to leave, tell us, But I the next one is Nicamine Bruce, New York Times.
Thank you for the briefing.
Yes, you mentioned that the UN wanted to see a kind of measures and dignified return of of refugees that seems to be sort of conspicuously absent at the moment given the huge numbers that are going across the border to Afghanistan.
I wondered if you could say why is this happening now?
I mean those refugees have been there a long time.
Is there as a response to the 12 day war, a desire suddenly to reduce dramatically the number of refugees in the country?
Is there a target for the number of people they want to get rid of or the number of people they're prepared to keep?
And which agencies really are directing this, this exodus?
So the, the, the discussion on basically reducing the number of refugees is, is has started long before the, the, the 12 day conflict and it was announced at the Iranian New Year.
And since then basically, you know, there was the, the returns were, were happening.
Of course they have been increasing in terms of numbers, you know, in the in the recent days with I think the 26 being 26th of June being the day where the single biggest number of refugees cross the border.
Now it's the we have many of, of those are also voluntary returns, you know, moving away from, from the war.
But we are aware that of course, also a lot of deportations.
But as I said, there's, it's not directly related to the war because the, the, the the, the efforts of the authorities started long before the war.
Thank you very much, Laurence Sierra, Swiss News agency.
Thank you for the briefing.
So what is the, the relationship you are currently with the authorities?
Because we could see that the authorities are are quite tense with the IAEA and they were quite also vocal against the High Commissioner Falkirk Church, because they they, they considered that the critics were not so high against the Israeli Reds.
So all that ecosystem does that does does it have any impact on the relationship you have currently with the authorities and the way you you can work on the in the country?
So the, the, at this point in time, we don't see any impact.
I think the, the, the relationship with the authorities is quite constructive.
We have seen this, for example, you know, with our counterpart, Minister of Foreign Affairs was very helpful in terms of the relocation of, of, of our, you know, some of our staff and, and families.
And we are in daily touch with authorities to assess the needs.
We always have to to remember that IEA is a separate part of the system and you know has has very little to do with the operations of the United Nations country team in the country.
We have a question now from Christian Erich.
The German news agency couldn't talk here please.
Now my question is on, on the figures again.
Can you tell us how many international and local staff work for the UN system in Iran and what is your budget?
How are you affected or or are you affected by cuts?
Are you meeting the budgets that you need or is there a problem?
Maybe you can give us some figures.
Can you, can you, can you restate your question regarding the budget, how it's?
Could you tell us what your budget is and whether you have the funds to pay for what you need to pay?
Or are you affected by budget cuts and maybe not enough money coming in either through donations?
So the the staffing is, is, is that we have 18 agencies 1414 on the ground for basically working from abroad with projects in the country.
And in total we have a staffing of about 50 nationals in sorry 50 international and 500 nationals in the the largest agencies UNHCR and you know there are some very small agencies as well.
This very much depends on the work programme of different agencies.
And because the refugee issue is, is, is is so huge, you know, there is some of the agencies basically that deal with the refugee issues are also quite, quite large.
Regarding funding, you know, there has been funding the crisis for quite a while.
This has to do with, you know, certain geopolitical relationships.
Our budget last year that we delivered was about 75 million U.S.
dollars fifty 50 million for the refugee crisis, which is we are always calling for increased burden sharing of the international community to enable us to support, you know, this this issue more and about 25,000,000 development programme.
And also there we have you know, especially in environmental issues, this is common public goods and there were a lot more would be needed to address climate change issues, adaptation and mitigation.
And we are we are really putting you under the spot.
I've got three more questions if it's OK with you and then we'll close and let you continue with your work.
So Satoko Adachi Yumiyuri Shimbun, yes, thank you very much for doing this.
I just want to follow up the the funding, the funding, how much do you expect that you need in the remaining 2025 given the new development on the ground?
We are now doing the budgeting.
We you know, bit early to say basically how we how, how much we we exactly need, but we we certainly would expect, you know a doubling of the funding.
OK, so we take the last two follow-ups from Gunila and Christian Gunila.
I just wanted to ask you also about the prison, the Evin prison, the attack on the Evin prison.
What can you tell us about the destruction and what happened to the prisoners?
Among those prisoners, there's also Swedish citizens.
So that's why it would be good to know, you know, it's a little bit outside my kind of mandate.
I think what has been reported in the media, you know, I cannot, I cannot say anything more of this.
Of course, it's tragic that civilians have been been hit and, and, and you know, especially vulnerable civilians.
Gunila, later on, we will have Tomaso de la Lunga from IFRC together with his colleague who's the regional director for Region Pacific, calling in from Kabul to speak about the Afghan side of the refugees.
And maybe you can ask that question to them afterwards.
Christian, you have the follow up.
You're expecting that the needs to be doubled last year.
So I guess 150 million, how much of that has come in or where do you think that money should come from?
Well, we'll, we'll, we'll hope that, you know, the issue of humanitarian and development is stealing from other issues and that the current crisis is a trigger for the international community to kind of increase bourbon sharing.
We'll close here this session of question and answer.
I really thank you very, very much because you've been answering a request from our journalists to brief them on the situation the UN work in Iran.
Thank you so much for being with us.
Good luck with your very important work.
And again, thanks for briefing us and anytime you're welcome back.
It was real pleasure to meet you all.
So let me go now to another continent, another, another country, another crisis.
The World Food Programme has brought us Sean Hughes, who is the WF PS Emergency Coordinator for the Sudan regional crisis and who's joining in from Nairobi to tell us about the refugees escaping Sudan facing escalating hunger and malnutrition as food aid risk major reductions.
So I give you the floor now.
Sean, thank you for being with us.
Francesca, can I check that you can hear me?
Thanks to the members of the media and thank you for this opportunity to brief you on the alarming situation facing millions of Sudanese refugees who have fled to neighbouring countries to escape a brutal civil war at home.
Simply put, severe funding shortfalls mean that WFP will be unable to sustain food assistance at current levels, and we fear that hunger and malnutrition among those vulnerable refugees will rise as a result.
Since the war began in Sudan more than two years ago, over 4 million people have fled into neighbouring countries.
Many arrive hungry and malnourished, having endured months of trauma and deprivation before making the decision or finally finding the opportunity to flee.
Most of them are women and children.
When the conflict in Sudan first erupted, WFP moved quickly to provide emergency assistance to refugees fleeing to 7 neighbouring countries, namely the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan and Uganda.
This often meant rapidly expanding our operational footprint in remote border areas.
In Chad, WFP quadrupled warehouse capacity near Adre to strengthen food pipelines to support the influx of refugees crossing from Darfur and to sustain cross-border operations into Sudan.
In Egypt and South Sudan, just after the war started in April 2023, WFP scaled up cash assistance at borders and reception centres, enrolling eligible Sudanese families and returnees within hours of arrival to provide immediate support.
Over the past two years, WFP has provided food, cash assistance, hot meals, nutrition, support for the treatment and prevention of acute malnutrition in women and children to thousands of people fleeing daily into remote border communities with nothing more than they can carry.
But at the same time, WFP expanded support to host communities who have generously welcomed refugees, despite often grappling with their own food and other needs.
This support has been a lifeline for millions, but now WFP can no longer sustain this level of support.
Unless new funding is secured, all refugees will face assistance cuts in the coming months.
In the case of four countries, that's the Central African Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia and Libya.
WFP's operations are now so severely underfunded that all support could cease in the coming months as resources run dry.
In the other three host countries, South Sudan, Uganda and Chad, the new arrivals are facing reduced rations.
In South Sudan and Uganda, these reductions have already taken place.
In Chad, which hosts nearly one in four of the refugees playing from Sudan, Food rations will be reduced in the coming months unless new contributions are received soon.
This is a full blown regional crisis that's playing out in countries that already have extreme levels of food insecurity and high levels of conflict.
It will leave vulnerable families, especially children, at even greater risk of hunger and malnutrition.
Children are particularly vulnerable to sustained periods of food insecurity.
Global acute malnutrition rates among refugee children in reception centres in Uganda and South Sudan have already breached emergency thresholds as people are severely malnourished even before arriving in bordering countries to receive assistance.
WFP is calling on the international community to mobilise urgent resources to sustain food and Nutrition Assistance for Sudan's refugees and the host community supporting them.
Additional support is also urgently needed inside Sudan, where WFP is now consistently reaching over 4 million people per month, four times more than at the beginning of 2024.
Last month alone, WFP reached a record 5 million people in Sudan.
WFP remains committed to doing all we can, but we need the resources to save lives.
Just over $200 million is needed to sustain support for refugees and others fleeing the war in Sudan over the next six months, and 575,000,000 is required for life saving operations inside Sudan.
Ultimately, however, humanitarian support alone can never put an end to conflict and force displacement.
Political and global diplomatic action is what's urgently needed to end the fighting so that the people of Sudan may again experience peace and return home to build their livelihoods.
Thank you very much for this update.
And our colleagues from our colleague from the UN refugee agency has also asked to take the floor for a small update on their side.
Babar, you have the floor.
I can hear you loud and clear.
So just to add and compliment what our colleague Shaun was saying from WFP.
I mean, as we know, Sudan is now the world's largest and the worst protection crisis.
I mean, with the refugees, you also have millions of people who are displaced inside Sudan.
Sudan is now among the countries in the world with the highest prevalence of global acute malnutrition.
Evidence that we continue to see among the new arrivals in the neighbouring countries.
These are refugees who are fleeing Sudan.
Notably, our teams observed that newly arrived children in places like Chad and Uganda arrive with above acceptable levels of malnutrition.
Critical malnutrition levels are also observed at some of the main settlement in transit centres hosting Sudanese refugees, like in the Central African Republic, Uganda's other settlements where nearly 1/3 of children screened are malnourished, and in South Sudan's Rank transit centre where malnutrition rates among children under 5 has exceeded 15%, the 15% emergency threshold.
This is not just a nutrition crisis, it also bears grave protection concerns for millions of people who have fled Sudan, now the world's worst protection crisis.
As mentioned also, ongoing funding cuts are also worsening the situation with reduced food rations and we heard reduced malnutrition screening and nutrition support and limited medical follow-ups due to reduced community health workers.
The impact of these cuts also means the loss of key nutrition experts and staff.
Without additional and urgent financial support, the food and nutrition crisis is expected to quickly get worse.
Beyond food and nutrition support, critical funding shortfalls continue to hinder Uni CR response efforts.
Back to you, dear Alexandra.
In fact, thanks to both of you for putting the spotlight on this incredibly serious crisis.
We have not been speaking about it for a while, so I will open now the floor to questions.
I was hoping you could give us a little bit more context on on the funding shortages.
Has it been a gradual tapering off for you of support from donors or is it more linked to decisions to cut from the Trump administration or both?
And you mentioned that all support could cease for four of the refugee receiving countries.
How, how quickly could that happen?
What's the outlook on that?
Yeah, thank you very much.
I mean on the overall funding situation, I mean, I think it's clear that globally the humanitarian system is is being severely impacted by by reduced funding at the same time as as global needs are rising.
In terms of attribution to the US, I'd like to say clearly that the US has in very generous and long term supporter of both WFP globally but also in Sudan and continues to remain to remain committed and is still the largest donor for WFP in Sudan.
But what we see is the culmination of reductions in humanitarian commitments from from a number of donors at the same time as, as as needs are continue to increase.
And of course, this is a sustained crisis and therefore it requires sustained commitment unless and until diplomatic solutions provide the ability for for for Sudanese to to prosper and to go home and to live in peace and to and to resume livelihoods, the fallout will be will be of humanitarian nature.
And that will require sustained humanitarian financing.
And it's that level of requirement that we are not currently receiving just in terms.
So the the the different countries and and the way they're received.
So it, it, it varies between the different countries.
So for example, you know, in the Central African Republic, you know, it's a relatively low number of Sudanese refugees, WFPS assisting about 25,000 Sudanese refugees in in the North East.
And we're in the last month or two of being able to stretch out those resources.
Similarly for the for the 45,000 refugees that WFPS assisting in Libya where there are closer to 350,000 refugees that have arrived, that funding will end within the next couple couple of months and the ability to provide assistance is there where there are the bigger caseloads particularly in South Sudan and in Chad, the pipeline may last just a little bit longer, but already decisions are being taken to reduce the level of of assistance.
And again it varies from different countries.
In Uganda, there's and my colleague from, from UNHCR can provide further detail, but there's, there's nearly 2,000,000 refugees in Uganda now perhaps only 80,000 or so of those refugees would be new arrivals from from Sudan.
Many others are from, from the DRC and elsewhere.
But it's, it's one large refugee operation.
And what we're seeing in, in that refugee operation is already the number of refugees that receive assistance has been vastly reduced to something like 600,000 from, from, from well over 1,000,000 in in recent months.
And the amount that refugees are receiving has also been reduced so that those that are receiving many are receiving 25% of what a daily normal diet or or minimum requirement diet would be.
So it's playing out differently in in different countries with, with different characteristics.
But the sustained financing across that operation for for seven different refugee operations is required under the banner of that the Sudan crisis.
Barbara, would you like to add something to this?
Just on on the funding situation for the regional refugee response, the needs are and it has already been communicated, I mean we require for this year 1.8 billion U.S.
The funding gap there is 85%.
So it means only 15% of the funds are available as it was mentioned, you know it differs in many different countries, but the largest chunk as Sean was mentioning needed for Chad where we needed 700 million U.S.
It's just 18% funded and Uganda has mentioned is that 4%.
So really it's also an appeal as, as as the humanitarian situation in Sudan and in the region is getting more dire for, for more resources to support the desperate and and the vulnerable population who have been displaced within Sudan and also in the neighbouring countries.
Thank you, Alessandro, thank you very much.
And is if there's another other question in the room.
So I go to the platform, I see Gabriela Sotomayor, processor.
Alessandra, thank you for for this information.
I have one question or two.
What is the, if you have an estimate of how much the funding coming from Russia or China to fund the Sudan situation, if you have any estimate on that?
And the second question is for Babar, if you can confirm of you having more information about migrants deported from USA to South Sudan, how many are they?
Some, some people say that they are in prison.
If you can talk about this.
I thought we'd shown and then bye bye.
Thank you very much for the for the question on, on the funding, I, I'm afraid I don't today have figures for, for WFP on exactly how much Russia and China are, are providing to operations in Sudan or in in neighbouring countries.
But we can, we can certainly follow up on that.
You know, what I would say more more broadly is that obviously the United Nations agency that's undergoing essentially 40% cuts in, in funding levels from one year to the next.
It's incumbent and it has been for years.
But now it is, is even more urgent that the funding sources are diversified and that, you know, member states that perhaps do not traditionally see themselves as major financiers of, of humanitarian aid globally are, are certainly being encouraged to, to, to come to the fore and to and to make contributions.
Not just Russia and China, also those in the Middle East and, and and elsewhere.
Thank you, dear Alexandra, and thank you for the question.
Just to step a little bit back on Uganda as we were mentioning about the funding levels, but let's not forget Uganda is also Africa's largest refugee hosting countries with refugees from many other countries in the in that are being hosted there on on Gabriella, your question, I don't have any information right now, but I can check if if that's something that we can help you with.
Nick, I'm in Bruce, New York Times.
Thank you for the briefing.
Question for Sean, you mentioned a total, I think of requirement of 575,000,000 for both the seven countries and for support inside Sudan.
Do you have a number for how much you've received with that already?
And then a second question is, given the funding cuts, are you also already losing staff to deliver the support that you would normally provide?
You want to thank you, Nick.
So just clear on the numbers, it's 575,000,000 is the requirement for operations inside Sudan and an additional 200 million is the requirement for refugee operations, particularly relating to the Sudan crisis in those seven neighbouring countries.
Even though in those countries, refugee operations may also be for other, other groups of refugees as well.
But this is the proportion that's directly related to that because these are, this is now 8 different operations that we are that we're talking about.
I can, I think it's probably easier if we provide separately the exact, if you like, funding percentage and totals that is required for each of those 8 operations.
But Needless to say that all of them at, at this stage are, are severely underfunded in terms of sustaining those operations WFP.
In response to the element of your question about losing staff and that impacting on operations, WFP globally is undergoing a, a downsizing the the, the proportions of which have been reported, reported elsewhere.
That is placing huge pressure on the organisation and its operations more globally for now.
Particularly I would say, you know, Sudan is, is such, you know, as a country that is the only country to have a a confirmed famine currently ongoing and making absolutely all efforts to ensure that sufficient capacity is dedicated there.
But we do need to look more broadly than WFP and across the humanitarian system because WFP does not does not work alone.
We work in partnership with non government organisations in Sudan with organisations like the mutual aid groups and the emergency response rooms.
And if funding is not available for those organisations as well, then the overall operational efficiency is is further compromised.
And, and I would say that yes, we are seeing that in Sudan and and elsewhere.
Then if Babar wants to add anything, no, I don't see send up.
So, yeah, sorry, Emma, you have a follow up.
Sean, I wanted to ask about the situation inside Sudan.
Maybe you or UNHCR has some information about that.
There was an attempt to get food supplies into Al Fashir about a month ago and that humanitarian convoy was attacked.
Has any food aid got to that area since and what is the situation there now?
Thank you very much for the question.
Your recollection is, is correct.
It was the evening or early morning of the of the 3rd of June when a WFPUNICF convoy was attacked in a place called Alcoma.
It was on its way to deliver life saving assistance in in Alfascia.
In that attack five people were killed.
Since then, there has not been further success in managing to access Alfascia, where the conditions are extremely concerning.
We understand in the region of 300,000 civilians that remain in there in a in a city that has essentially been under siege for a year or more, negotiations are ongoing to secure safe passage and assurances of safety for urgent humanitarian assistance to to reach that area as soon as possible.
WFP is fully engaged in that.
We stand ready and we are striving and actively participating in, in establishing a safe means of providing humanitarian assistance as soon as possible in that area.
Thank you very much the questions.
I don't see any hand up on both platform and in the room.
Sean, thank you so much for for this update.
It's important that we continue briefing on Sudan and thanks to Babar for the additional information.
I have to inform you that unfortunately we have had a timing problem with Alexander Matteo from the IFRC.
Tomas, we're still connected.
So if there's any question that you wanted to ask specifically to IFRC, of course Tomaso is there.
And Tomaso, you are going to put the press release in the chart.
We will try to connect you with Alexander.
Maybe Tomaso was telling me during the day if there are requests from your side.
And so that brings us to our last but definitely not least speaker.
It was Claire, newest from WMO.
Claire, this heat waves that we have outside our door here.
I know you get to hear more before I start on the heat waves.
Before I forget, the 12th of July is the International Day Against Combating Sand and Dust Storms.
WMO will be issuing its annual Airborne Dust Bulletin, which talks about, you know, the problems, the challenges, solutions in sand and dust storms.
We're getting quite a bit of interest from journalists in it.
So my question to you is, would you be interested in a technical level briefing ahead of the 12th of July with one of our experts?
If so, just just let me know and I can, I can organise, I can organise something because there's some people nodding, but we can't really see.
Well, just to just to sort of let you know that it's that it is out there and I can set something up.
So today is the 1st of July, which is traditionally the hottest month of the year, certainly in the Northern Hemisphere, also at global level.
So it's a good moment to remind you of why the World Meteorological Organisation, our members, our partners are ramping up action against extreme heat to protect lives from what is widely called the silent killer.
You know, unlike tropical cyclones, extreme heat, it creeps up on you and quite often, you know, the the death toll is under reflected in in official statistics As a result of human induced climate change, extreme heat is becoming more frequent, more intense.
It's something we have to learn to live with.
So warnings from national meteorological and hydrological services and coordinated teeth health, heat, heat health action plans are really, really, really important to protect public safety and well-being.
If you've been looking at what's happening in, in, in Switzerland, you'll see, you know, the various recommendations that are being issued on, you know, what we can do to stay cool, to stay, to stay safe.
This is reflected in many countries in, in Europe right now.
Just to give you a snapshot and I will send you the briefing notes afterwards.
So heat conditions, well above average temperatures are impacting many, many parts of the Northern Hemisphere, parts of North America, North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia.
Today I want to focus on Western Europe because we are currently under the influence of a strong high pressure system.
This is trapping hot air from Northern Africa over the region.
And as we can see, it's, it's having a pretty, pretty big impact on the way we feel and the way we are.
We are acting Western Southwestern Europe both overnight temperatures, which are the minimum temperatures and daytime temperatures, the maximum temperatures.
We have seen a few monthly station records in June.
We are the first day of July.
So obviously we'll be monitoring the situation as it evolves.
What is exceptional and I would stress exceptional but not unprecedented is the time of year.
You know, we are the 1st, 1st of July and we are seeing episodes of extreme heat, which normally we would see later on in, in, in, in summer.
One of them is that sea surface temperatures in the Mediterranean are exceptionally high for this time of year.
It's the equivalent of a land land heat wave.
The, you know, the Mediterranean Sea is, is, is suffering a pretty extreme marine heat wave right right now.
And that tends to reinforce the extreme temperatures over land areas, just to give you a few examples, and they will be in the briefing notes.
So Spain, according to the National Meteorological and Hydrological Service of Spain, AMET, as I said, there was a temperature of 46°C at the weekend in southern Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece saw temperatures well into the 40s.
Meteo France has issued a top level red alert, which is danger to life for today and tomorrow, the 2nd of July for 16 departments and 68 departments have an Amber Alert, which is the third level.
And Matthew Suisse also has an Amber Alert for most regions including including Geneva.
And as I mentioned, the heat is coming up from the African continent.
Morocco reported widespread temperatures of above 45°C during an extended heat wave in in June.
That seems to be subsiding this week.
But the heat is, is coming, is coming to us.
And additionally some very low cloud cover.
If you look out, you see blue skies, no clouds.
So low cloud cover means that solar radiation freely reaches the surface contributing to higher, higher temperatures.
So what are what are the impacts and where and who do they affect most?
As we all know from the World Health Organisation, you know the vulnerable, the poor, the elderly, the infirm suffer the most.
They are the most vulnerable but everybody is at risk.
If you go out without water in the middle of the day to do jogging, have an have a bike ride, you will probably have see health problems or even die.
So everybody is at risk, People in towns and cities more so because of what we call the urban heat island effect.
This is in rural areas, you've got more greenery, more trees which absorb the heat.
Urban areas, you know, you've got concrete surfaces which which reflects it makes makes the problem worse.
And what can we expect in the future?
More of the same, even worse.
The World Meteorological Organisation, we have a regional association for Europe, Climate Centre, It's operated by I think the German, yes, the German Weather Service, DWT.
And according to their figures, more than 2/3 of the most severe heat waves in Europe since 20, since 1950 have occurred since 2000.
So that is a pretty sizeable proportion.
We still see cold waves in winter.
They are becoming fewer further between.
We still do do see them, but you know, the heat waves now are becoming the real problem.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is Co sponsored by WMO and UNIP, shows how the frequency and intensity of extreme heat events is increasing in Europe.
And by 2050, about half the European population may be exposed to high or very high risk of heat stress during summer and especially during Southern Europe and increasingly in Eastern Europe.
Oh, sorry, in eastern, Western and Central Europe.
And this is all according to the IPCC.
It's important to stress that every single death from heat is is unnecessary.
We have the knowledge, we have the tools, we can save lives.
Extreme heat is one of the priorities of the international early Warnings for All initiative and we are getting much, much better at issuing warnings for extreme heat as we are seeing at the moment.
We're also getting much, much better at coordinating these warnings with with action plans.
So you've got the meteorological organisations will issue the red alert, the Amber Alert, that will then trigger coordinated action across, across the board with the health sector first and foremost, but with, you know, with other sectors as well, with education, with transportation.
It really is very coordinate, coordinated system and it works.
We could do better, but it works.
WHO we work very, very closely with the World Health Organisation through a Joint Office on Climate and Health.
And extreme heat is indeed one of those priorities.
We also work together in the Global Heat Health Information Network.
And as recently as last week, we hosted a workshop in, in, in London to try to strengthen the governance of, you know, risk management of extreme heat.
So sorry, that was a little bit long, but I will send you the the notes with the, you know, with, with various maps just to just to explain.
There was maybe a bit longer.
So thank you very much for this update.
I'll start with Emma one for Claire, please, and later one for Tommaso.
Could you just tell us what we can expect in the coming days, Claire?
How, how's the outlook looking for this heat wave in Europe?
It, it depends, it depends where you live.
So our advice would be, you know, This is why you need to check with the National Metrological and Hydrological service of the country where you where you live.
For Meteo Suisse, their heat wave alert was until Thursday of this of this week, then you know, we'll see a slightly cooler temperatures.
I think it's probably similar scenario for, for, for, for, for Meteo France.
But This is why we say, you know, we, we, we can't really issue a global fork forecast for the whole of Europe for the next two weeks because you know, there are there are big, big variations.
But as I said, you know, we do have this quite intense marine heat wave in the Mediterranean and that, that, that does have an impact.
And as I said, we are, we are the foot, we are the, the 1st of July.
We've still got the whole month of July and August to, to get through.
It's, it's not unprecedented.
You know, we did see extreme heat certainly back in 2019 at the end of June and I think also from memory 2023.
So it's exceptional, but it's not unprecedented.
And I can see the northern part of Europe is going.
The temperatures are going down at the end of the week.
Emma, you you said you had another question, but it was for Tomaso.
You said, yeah, on heat because I have C OK.
I I understand, Tomaso, that you have some teams on on standby to provide aid for people suffering in the heat.
Can you give us more details on what they're doing?
What situations have you intervened?
Do you have any anecdotes or maybe tallies of injuries or deaths?
Thank you Emma for for the question.
Yeah, I mean the I foresee network our across the national society have been mobilising immediately.
I would say that when there is a heat wave coming, we are working together of course with local and national authorities in thermal preparedness.
But then also I mean our national Society of mobilised to provide safety tips, check on the most vulnerable and support efforts to battle wildfires when it's coming through.
Examples from Spain, Italy to the UK Reclose team are sharing health advice and safety tips including on how to stay cool and manage sun exposure, recognise the signs of heat related illnesses, store medication properly and provide care to pets.
Volunteers are giving out water and checking on the most vulnerable population, including people experiencing homelessness, older people and outdoor workers.
Now if you want to have a couple of example 2 from Spain, the first in the southern coast and city of Malaga.
The Spanish Cross has set up a climatic refuge air condition down to low 20s to help residents cope with the eating comfort and with company, avoiding the isolation and loneliness that extreme heat can impose as people are forced to stay indoors.
The second one, again Spanish across volunteers help people with reduced mobility cooled down at the beach, throwing their assisted bathing service.
This seemingly small actor can make a word of difference to help someone cool down in the heat.
Another example in Greece, Lenny Cray Cross activates early action protocol before heat waves heat and volunteers distribute water, isotonic drinks, food and sunscreen and perform Wellness cheques with bike based first aid teams.
And I would say that it's the same in Italy and in other countries going to Turkey again, Greece and Norway across America and teams are supporting responders battling fires, they are providing first aid and they're living in water, food and other essential items to affected the people.
As we said several times, even in the past, extremely doesn't have to be a disaster.
Knowledge and early action make all the difference.
And This is why heat action plan and preparedness planner so critical even at city, municipal, municipal level.
And of course, if you want, we can connect you for follow up interviews with our climate experts, but also with our across the cast and volunteers in the countries that I mentioned.
Thank you very much, Tomaszo.
And just to inform the journalists that you have, as we said, put the press release on Afghanistan in the chat.
So you're absolutely welcome to to to look at it.
Other questions in the room before I go to the platform.
So Gabriella, yes, thank you very much.
My question is that if, if you can explain this phenomenon that I was reading from other people that's they are questioning because in, in the normal places where there is heat, like in the beach or, you know, close to the oceans and you know, it's, it's OK, the temperatures are, are, are very, very heat.
But I mean, they are normal, you know, for this time of the year.
But the cities like Rome, Paris, you know, in Italy is in Madrid.
I heard that in Spain 190 people already die from from the heat wave.
So what is happening in contrast of the of the people who live in the, you know, in the beach close to the sea and the people in the cities that they are collapsing?
OK, just to give, just to give you a personal and practical example in, in Greece, we quite often would go to stay in a simple hotel on the coast.
Our friends would be at their house sort of 5 kilometres away in the local town.
There was probably like a 5°C temperature difference, plus we had the sea breeze and it meant it was much, much more comfortable canal for, you know, for a first to live in that.
As I mentioned, a lot of it is to do with what we call the urban heat island effect.
It's pretty technical, not very user friendly term, but basically, and there have been studies to prove this.
If you're in an area where there's lots of green, lots of trees, lots of vegetation to absorb the heat and also provide a provide shade, temperatures will be slightly lower.
And then then in heavily built up areas where you know, you've only got pavements, you've obviously got traffic pollution in many areas, small apartments, not to not air conditioning.
And that's why in many urban areas, Paris is, is one of them.
You know, there are also in Swiss cities, there is a movement to green cities to, you know, to climate proof urban areas.
Singapore does a great job on on, on this.
So there are Ways and Means of, of doing it in cities.
A lot of people, you know, tend, you know, a lot of people are in small apartments without proper ventilation.
You've got the problem of, of homelessness, homelessness, homelessness.
So it's, it's vulnerability.
The vulnerability is, is higher in urban, in urban areas for workers, manual workers who are on building sites, construction sites in cities, but you know, very vulnerable as our rural workers, agricultural workers.
But you know, ILO can probably do studies on probably have studies on this that, you know, urban workers really are really are, you know, at extreme, extreme risk.
And that's why it has to be an across the board response, you know, involving labour, labour authorities, health authorities, education authorities and and Trump and the transport sector as and the meteorological sector.
Yes, thank you, Alessandra for Tomasso.
Do you have recommendations?
Because this this time of the year is a touristic season.
So thousands of people come to Paris, to Rome, and they are, you know, doing this huge lines to go into the museums and and people are, you know, under the sun.
So if you have any recommendations for museums and places of cultural places, you know, that people are visiting.
I think that it's I mean, I would go back to what I said previously.
Of course the recommendation are the same in every, in every context to be hydrated men understand exposures and so on.
I think that it is an interesting example the cultural city or like Paris, I'm thinking about Haddem's, but even Rome Red Cross teams are exactly in the places where tourists are and they are sharing the same, the same health advices and and and and tools to to support to support people.
So for instance, tents where they can stay in a cooler situation, distribution of water, distribution of rhizotonic drinks.
So this is this is already already happening.
And of course, I would say also all the time referring to the information coming from of course, meteorological organisation, as Craig was saying, but and national and local authorities.
And just in case you wanted to add something, we've got Christian online from WHO, just just in case you want to say something Christian on the health side, just raise your hand.
Hi Claire, thanks for this interesting information briefing.
I just have a question on on the trapping of hot air and what to expect and how countries can be prepared when all these passes.
Will there be high risk for thunderstorms, floods, landslides, etcetera?
How can how can have a big country societies be prepared?
And just I wanted to know what is an Amber Alert?
It is broken up, even if it's just temporarily by violent thunderstorms.
On my Meteo Suis app yesterday, in fact, as I was cycling home, I was, I was receiving, you know, alerts of violent storms, you know, about to hit the region that I was cycle cycling through.
In the end, it didn't happen.
Thunderstorms are very, very difficult to predict.
You know, we call it now casting.
It's, you know, you predict in the next minutes or hours.
They are very difficult to predict and they are very, very localised.
So, you know, a thunderstorm which hit Geneva might not have hit, hit, hit first one.
So they are very localised.
But quite often, yes, you know, the extreme heat is broken by very, very heavy torrential rain.
And it's the same law of physics.
Warmer atmosphere tends to hold more moisture.
So when we do get when we do get rainfall after a period of extreme heat, it tends to be heavier.
Also, extreme heat is quite often, not always but quite often associated with drought.
That means when you've got very dry dried out soil, it's less able to.
Absorb very, very sudden rainfall.
So that's why you can get flash flooding also in urban areas, you know, quite often urban areas because of the the concrete, etcetera, they cannot, you know, they cannot absorb, you know, suddenly vast, vast quantities of of of of rain.
That's why we always stress that we need multi hazard early warnings.
No, so not just for one hazard like heat, you know, we need it for a whole range of things because it does have a cascading effect, whether it's on air quality, whether it's on, you know, the risk of, of heavy rainfall afterwards and and drought.
So in Europe we have 4 levels.
Red alert is the top means danger to life.
And as I said in France today, there is a red alert.
You have red alerts for different things.
It can be for heavy rain, it can be for winds, it can be for cold, it can be for high waves.
In this case, we're seeing it can be for for thunderstorms.
In this case, we're seeing it for for heat.
And then Amber Alert is the next one after that, followed by a yellow alert.
And then in the all clear, it's it's it's green.
There is actually quite a good website, itscalledmeteoalarm.org and that is European wide warnings.
And so that gives you at a glance, you know, all the different alerts currently in place in different parts of Europe.
So thank you very much Tomaso for answering questions from this subject.
And of course, thanks very much Claire, too update us on on this situation.
The I just wanted to also tell you that I think my screen has shared the briefing note by Sean.
So you have it in your mailboxes.
And I also have a couple of announcements on the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which will close it's 91st session next Friday and publish its concluding observation.
Human Rights Committee has been concluding the this morning in the review of the report of North Macedonia, which will be followed by Latvia this afternoon, Spain, IET, Vietnam.
And of course the Human Rights Council is continuing.
And on the Human Rights Council, we have the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, who will present you the latest report of the titled From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide.
And this is with the Special Rapporteur, Frances Galbenez.
And that's going to be on Thursday at 1:00 PM in the press room.
And I think this is our, our.
And you had asked go to in the chat the contact with the information colleague who works in Tehran.
So you can find the the address is Pasha Tabrizian, our colleague from the Department of Global Communication working in Tehran.
And of course, we can also put you in contact with other people there if there are no other questions and I don't see any.
I thank you all very much and I wish you bon appetit and I'll see you in the next briefing.
