Good morning, colleagues.
Welcome to this press briefing today, the 11th of July, here at the UN office at Geneva.
We have a couple of items on the agenda plus an announcement.
I'll turn immediately to our colleague and friend Babar from the UN Refugee Agency, who has an update on the situation of of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
An update from Bangladesh UNHCR with our partners, we are mobilising to respond to the needs of up to 150,000 Rohingya refugees who have arrived in Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh.
Over the last 18 months, targeted violence and prosecution in Rakhine State and ongoing conflict in Myanmar have continued to force thousands of Rohingya to seek protection in Bangladesh.
This movement of Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh spreads over month, and this is the largest from Myanmar into Bangladesh since 2017, when some 750,000 Rohingya fled the deadly violence in their native Rakhine state in Myanmar.
Bangladesh has generously hosted Rohingya refugees for generations.
In Cox's Bazaar, these new arrivals join another nearly 1,000,000 Rohingya refugees crammed into just 24 square metres, making Excuse me, just 24 square kilometres, making the camps one of the world's most densely populated places.
Among the new arrivals, nearly 121,000 have been biometrically identified by end of June, with more believed to be residing informally in the already overcrowded refugee camps.
An overwhelming majority are women and children.
More humanitarian support is urgently required as the new arrivals are largely dependent on the solidarity of those living in the camps or stretching severely diminished resources.
Biometric identification has allowed humanitarian partners in Bangladesh to provide the new arrivals with basic services, including food, medical care, education and essential relief items.
However, this will soon dry up without an immediate injection of funds.
Access to shelter and other key necessities are also insufficient in the face of limited resources.
The border between Bangladesh and Myanmar remains officially closed and under surveillance from Bangladesh.
Border guards, UNICIA and humanitarian partners are grateful that Government of Bangladesh has authorised A newly arrived Rohingya refugees to access emergency assistance and key services in the camps in Cox's Bazaar at the conflict.
As the conflict in Myanmar continues unabated, however, we are advocating with the Bangladeshi authorities to provide managed access to safety and asylum for civilians fleeing the the conflict.
Just to give you an idea of on the funding situation, with acute global funding crisis, the critical needs of both newly arrived refugees and those already present will be unmet and essential services for the whole Rohingya refugee population are at risk of collapsing unless additional funds are secured.
Health services will be severely disrupted by September and essential cooking fuel LPG will run out by December.
Food assistance will stop education for some 230,000 trihinga children, including 63,000 new arrivals, is in danger of being discontinued.
Thank, Thank you very much, Babar, for that update on the situation of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
This is very short question on the figures.
You say that the 150,000 is the largest influence since the 750,000 at that moment.
That was for a year as well or for 18 months.
In 2017, some 750,000 Rohingya refugees arrived into Bangladesh from Myanmar in just that year.
This new arrivals, the number of new arrivals is spread over 18 months.
So it's not an an influx in one go, but this has been people have been arriving.
As being mentioned, the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar is strictly managed, so we're really grateful to the Bangladeshi authorities that they have allowed one for these Rohingya refugees to be allowed into the camps and other allow the humanitarian agencies to step, step forward and support.
What we don't have is the resources to take care of the new arrivals and also those who own Rohingya refugees that were there before them.
Thank you very much for this briefing.
I just want to get a sense of the picture in recent months.
You helpfully kind of outlined what the situation has been over the past year in 18 months.
But has there been any particular uptick in in recent months or are you still seeing kind of a steady, a steady flow?
And just describing kind of if you could have spit out for us, I mean, just how important these services are and what kind of what strain you're already seeing on the ground from these funding cuts?
It has continued over the last 18 months.
We unit CR and the humanitarian community inside Bangladesh and in the Cox Bazar, we have been in touch with the Bangladeshi authorities advocating for access for for these people inside Myanmar's Rakhine State and inside Myanmar broadly, conflict has intensified.
So it has been uprooting and continues to uproot many, many people.
And as we know also inside Myanmar, there are millions of people who remain internally.
This displaced the impact of of the funding for our operation in Bangladesh.
These were estimates at the beginning of the year, we needed 255,000,000 U.S.
dollars to support more than 1,000,000 Rohingya refugees that were already in in in the camps in Cox's Bazar.
That appeal has just been 35% funded.
So there is a huge gap in terms of what we need and what resources are available.
As mentioned, these funding gaps are going to affect the well-being, the daily living of Rohingya refugees.
They as they depend on humanitarian support on a day-to-day basis from food to health services and education.
If we don't get enough resources, everything will be impacted.
Thank you so much for the questions in the room.
I wanted to follow up on Olivia's question.
I guess I was just wondering if you could give us a clearer idea of if, if these exits or entries into Bangladesh have have speed up and and also like over this 18 month period, if they're speeding up now.
And if you could say a little bit more about what's driving this, You know, why, why is, is this massive exodus happening right now?
I have another question on another subject afterwards.
Since last year and a half, we have seen the situation inside Myanmar.
As the conflict increase, the humanitarian situation has remained dire inside.
And as we see more and more people have been fleeing, among them Rohingyas as well from from the Rakhine state.
We have been hearing about the conflict intensifying inside the Rakhine State.
And the closest option for safety for the Rohingya is in Bangladesh, as we have seen in the past.
And that continues as far as I understand our efforts in terms of taking, taking care of the existing Rohingya population and those who are arriving or have arrived recently.
The main adequacy point with the Bangladeshi authorities, which we are thankful to them, is to allow access to to those Rohingya who are fleeing for their life.
As you may have seen in the news quite often that the border has been strictly managed.
The border has remained closed Despite that Bangladesh has allowed refugees to come and seek safety in Cox's Bazaar.
That's a commendable job.
And maybe colleagues, just to remind you of for further background and context, Tom Andrews, a special rapporteur and Myanmar outlined various factors which led to this, the recent displacements.
And of course, there were displacements which have been taking place for months and months and in fact since 2017.
So maybe you want to take a look at that for further context.
We have, I know you have another question, but we have another issue on Bangladesh, Myanmar and we'll come back to you, Nina Nick of New York Times.
Thanks for taking my question.
For quite a while now, we've heard that most of our client state is controlled by Arakan Army.
I'm just wondering, are you seeing most of the new arrivals or the arrivals over recent months coming from Arakan Army controlled areas or from areas of controlled by the Myanmar junta?
And the second question is what is the population of Rohingya in camps in Bangladesh, sorry, in Myanmar at the moment?
I don't have a detailed breakdown in terms of which areas Rohingyas are fleeing.
But we have seen in the past month and and last year, if I remember it correctly, when the conflict was intensifying, there were more and more reports of Rohingyas or the population movement towards the Bangladeshi border then.
And as far as I understand, that continues to to be the case.
Since the intensifying of the conflict inside Myanmar, some 1.4 or nearly 1.5 million refugees have fled Myanmar to other countries.
And the largest chunk as we know are the Rohingya refugees of the Rohingya who were inside in Myanmar.
In terms of the population numbers of Rohingya who still are inside Myanmar, the number I have is from the 31st of December last year and then the estimates were that some 619,000 were still inside Myanmar.
Thank you very much again, Bobard, do we have further questions on this issue?
No, I don't think that's the case.
Well, maybe if you can stay here for a minute.
I think, yeah, Nina has a question for you on another subject.
I was hoping you could say something more about the US decision to send migrants to third, third countries.
If you have any more thoughts on the legality of of doing that.
I can check with colleagues and then we can get back to you.
Further questions for Babar.
No, thank you so much as always to for joining us here.
Then I'll call Ravina up for an update on the situation in Haiti and particularly the intensification of, of violence in that country.
Thank you as always for joining us and and to you, Babar.
We in fact have a report that our office, together with Binu, our presence in Haiti, we'll be putting out a little bit later today.
It is on escalating gang violence outside of Port-au-Prince in Haiti.
So you should be receiving that I think in the next hour or so.
Escalating gang violence outside Port-au-Prince, where the presence of the state is extremely limited, has claimed over 1000 lives and forced hundreds of thousands to flee since October 2024.
The mass killing in Poncende in the lower Artibonite region of Haiti in October 2024 marked a major turning point in the cycle of violence between gangs and the so-called self defence groups.
Several other mass killings followed causing mass displacement including in the town of Mir Ballet in the Centre department.
The Centre Department which earlier this year saw all its 100,000 residents flee.
Between the 1st of October 2024 and the 30th of June this year, the total number of killings across Haiti was 4864.
Of these, at least 1018 people have been killed in Artibonita and Santra areas, as well as in Gontier and Fort Berisier in the West of the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.
The expansion of gang territorial control poses a major risk of spreading violence and increasing transnational trafficking in arms and people.
A report we will issue today, along with the UN Integrated Office in Haiti, details the evolution of violent gang incidents since October 2024 up to June 2025.
It also shows how violence has increased sharply in recent months, especially in the lower Artibonite and Centre departments.
As gangs continue to extend their influence along key routes in the north and centre of the country towards the Dominican Republic, the Haitian authorities have deployed specialised police units supported by the multinational security support known as the MSS Mission, to some extent slowing the gangs advances.
Ultimately, however, given their lack of resources, they have been unable to reassert control over the affected areas.
Against this backdrop, human rights abuses by self defence groups have increased.
Summary executions involving Haitian security forces have also been committed against individuals accused of supporting gangs.
Caught in the middle of this unending Horror Story are the Haitian people who are at the mercy of horrific violence by gangs and exposed to human rights violations from the security forces as well as abuses by the so-called self defence groups.
The human rights violations and abuses that we have documented are further evidence of why Haiti and the international community urgently need to step up to end this violence.
We call on the Haitian authorities to ensure police have the necessary resources to tackle the gangs with full respect for international human rights law.
Specialised judicial units are needed to combat corruption and mass crimes, including sexual violence.
It is crucial that the international community strengthens its support to the authorities who bear the primary responsibility for protecting the Haitian population.
The international community also needs to ensure and maintain Binu's full operational capacity so that the Office can continue to advise and support the Haitian government in its efforts to strengthen good governance and ensure respect for and promotion of human rights.
The strengthening of the MSS mission and the full implementation of the arms embargo will be equally essential to restore security and the rule of law in Haiti.
Ravina, do you have also an overview of how many people?
I, I know this is outside of Port-au-Prince, but I've been killed since the beginning.
And I was wondering, given the very horrific details you're describing, what your thoughts are on the fact that the United States, among others, has now lifted the protected status of Haitians and is sending Haitians back to, to this country.
I have figures so far this year.
So I it's just to explain the, the report itself when it comes out, it covers the period from October 1st of October to the 30th of June this year.
And this is because there was a major massacre in Haiti outside of the Port-au-Prince region in October.
So the figures cover that.
We do have the overall figure for this year.
So far this year, from the 1st of January to the 30th of June, at least 3141 people were killed across Haiti.
On the protection status for for Haitians, it is clear, given what I have just described, we're talking about more than 3000 people who have been killed so far this year.
And this doesn't take into account the number of people who have been injured, who've been abducted, subject to sexual violence, who've been displaced, who have not been able to attend schools, who are, you know, cowing in fear of their lives every day, not able to to get on with their lives.
It is not appropriate to return people to Haiti at this time.
Maybe just if I may, Ravina, just for a bit further broader context and this is from an update from our colleagues at OCHA earlier this week.
Redressing that in the last week alone, so roughly 10 days to up to now, 16,000 people have been displaced, which is, you know, a result of the continuing deteriorating security situation, whereas 1.3 million people have already been internally displaced.
In this small half island nation, so over 6 million people in Haiti are in need of humanitarian assistance amid the persistent insecurity and the collapse of essential services.
So this is from the update that you would have received earlier this week, just to give a broader context.
So for the questions in the room, OK, we have a couple online for you, Ravina.
We'll start with Musa of Almaydin.
Musa, we bonjour concerned.
Francis Calvin is a parity baton.
OK, OK, let's finish with Haiti first.
Hello, thanks for your question.
Indeed, it is crucial that the multinational security support mission is adequately resourced.
What we have been hearing is that unfortunately they don't have the resources that they need in, in terms of numbers, in terms of the vehicles, the logistics support and the other resources, you know, intelligence arms, etcetera, that they need to be able to carry out their mission properly.
Which is why we are emphasising to the international community the importance of keeping this force, the importance of keeping BINU and ensuring that everyone is adequately resourced to be able to, to tackle the magnitude of the problem that we're facing.
I don't know if Rolando, you want not not much really, other than just to say Jean Edwal, the, you know, the SG, of course, is extremely concerned about the, the, the foothold gained by these gangs as we've just heard about.
And then he's been calling on states to to heed his recommendations in his letter to the Security Council earlier this year in February to enable the the multinational security support mission BINU, the proper logistical and operational support.
And of course, Haiti, CARICOM, the OAS and, and member states from the region and beyond fully support the secretary's proposals.
But we need obviously to step that up.
On that note, do we have further questions on Haiti?
I know we have a question on another subject, but just checking to see that.
So maybe I'll just ask Moussa to poses question on Francesca Albanese and colleagues just to there were statements that were issued yesterday, which of course you all saw including a statement uttered by the spokesperson in New York yesterday, which which you will have seen or heard.
So maybe Moussa back to you unless if I may ask Olivia, is this on Haiti?
You just put your hand up.
OK, so let's go back to Moussa then on your question concerning Moussa.
And then I think Rolando might want to add as well, given what the Secretary General spokesperson has also said on this issue.
The High Commissioner was very clear in his call yesterday.
He is calling on the United States to promptly reverse the sanctions that they have imposed against the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Miss Francesca Albanese.
UN Special Rapporteurs are part, an essential part of the human rights ecosystem.
They address very sensitive, often divisive issues and this is part of their mandate and This is why they were given this mandate by Member states themselves.
In the face of fierce disagreement, it is crucial that Member States engage substantively, constructively, rather than resort to punitive measures like this.
The High Commissioner is very clear that attacks and threats, any attacks and threats against UN special procedures mandate holders, other UN experts, any part of the UN human rights ecosystem, as well as the International Criminal Court and its officials must stop.
The solution is not less, but more debate and dialogue on the very real human rights concerns that they address.
I mean, I, I won't, I mean, I'll echo, of course, what, what Ravina just said.
And the president of the Human Rights Council also spoke out instantly upon the, the news of these sanctions.
And, and as, as our spokesperson in New York said, you know, the imposition of sanctions on special rapporteurs is a dangerous precedent.
And you know, we need to preserve the integrity of the human rights system.
There may be differences, but rapper, Tories, independent experts, they don't, I should remind you, they don't report to the Secretary General, but they're carrying out immensely important work and that work should be protected.
They're doing work which you know cannot be done otherwise.
So the idea is obviously to impose sanctions and not allow that work to carry out is obviously a very dangerous president precedent.
And of course, as a general comment, again, the use of your unilateral sanctions against special rapporteurs or any UN expert is absolutely unacceptable.
Olivia, a different subject, I believe or no.
Let's go before we do that.
OK, Sorry, Olivia, put a pin in that.
We're going back to Nina on on Albinis.
I, I was just wondering if you can confirm that this is the first time that anyone with any special mandate holders or has been sanctioned by a country and how fearful you are.
I mean, it's talking about a dangerous precedent, you know, what will it do to the human rights system, I guess, if, if these special rapporteurs or experts have to fear that they're going to to be sanctioned.
And last question, do you have any details on the sanctions that have been imposed on her?
Do you know if they're they've been communicated?
Basically there, I mean, there have been rapporteurs as you know, you know, I, I've worked with the Council before and I, I've experienced several attacks, threats against rapporteurs, states refusing to cooperate with rapporteurs.
I, I rather not cite to those examples, but these are definitely, you know, very negative sort of reactions.
You know, we may not subscribe to every single recommendation or observation that they put forth, but they're doing immensely important work.
And any, any infringement upon that is absolutely a very, very negative precedent in terms of sanctions, specific sanctions.
I believe this is the first time that they have been imposed on a rapporteur in such a, you know, such a manner.
I would maybe encourage you to speak with maybe colleagues at the Human Rights Council who may be able to give a bit more context on that.
But, and in terms of the overall, as I won't repeat what I just said, but indeed this is something that needs to be preserved.
No, exactly echoing what what Rolando said, as you all know, I think more than many journalists around the world, the the rapporteurs do extremely important work.
Is that the work that is sometimes not done by anyone else in the level of detail that they go into on specific thematic issues and country situations.
On pushback, as you know, our office, the rapporteurs are constantly facing pushback.
We're accused of violating sovereignty, we're accused of bias, selectivity, false information, etcetera.
There has been very misogynistic and toxic language used against rapporteurs in the past as well as far as sanctions are concerned.
Indeed, to our knowledge as well, this is the first time that sanctions have been imposed.
And again I encourage you to contact the the council team on that, the impact that this has on their work.
You know, the rapporteurs are constantly engaged with victims of human rights violations and they need to be able to speak out, to give a voice to these victims.
They need to be able to analyse the information and present it without fear, without fear that they will have to be personally targeted or or punished as a result of of their work.
This has a real detrimental impact on their ability to do their work properly.
OK, I think we could move on to another subject.
Olivia has a question, I believe for you.
Yeah, this is for across the board, but mainly for the World Health Organisation representative.
And Christian is on the call.
Disregarding Gaza, my colleagues and I have been reporting out a story about babies being crammed into incubators due to intense fuel shortages.
I was just wondering what the latest situation is today from the Who's perspective.
Are there any more plans or attempts to get fuel in?
I believe that who was successful recently in getting some fuel to, but the concern is, is namely for Al Shifa.
And also just a an idea as well about the situation facing pregnant women in, in, in light of this concerns about premature births and obviously very difficult health situation for doctors trying to care for them.
Thank you Christian, over to you.
Yeah, thank you very much.
Olivia, you may have seen and I think Orlando can also speak on that.
The SG spokesperson yesterday mentioned that 120,000 litres I think were reached of of fuel reached reached Gaza yesterday.
Let me just quickly see nonetheless, 75,000 apparently he said 75,000 litres of fuel got into Gaza on Wednesday.
That's apparently what the the SG spokesperson said.
I do not yet have an update on how this was distributed or will be distributed.
But what I find important to note is it's as good as this that these, this amount of fuel came finally in.
We should not be relying on special news of special deliveries better it's on fuel, on food or whatever.
It should not even even be a question.
There should be a reoccurring delivery into Gaza to keep the life lines open to, to supply the ambulances to hospitals, the water desalina tion plans, the bakeries, what have you.
Whatever is necessary to keep a little bit of lifeline open there to run the incubators as you mentioned them.
So peace is the best medicine and opening the doors remains the only viable option.
Thanks very much, Christian.
Indeed, it was Wednesday when some 75,000 litres of fuel did manage to get into the Gaza Strip.
Now, this was the first, this marked the first such provision in over 130 days.
Now just to put things in context, colleagues, the UN and it's humanitarian partners need hundreds of thousands of litres of fuel a day to keep essential life sustaining operations going.
So those are the incubators, the the the trucks to deliver fuel to food and and medical supplies and water.
All these things require fuel.
So 75,000 is just not enough.
Indeed, there is still, you know, a very, very limited supply and services will essentially shut down if, if far greater volumes of fuel do not enter the Gaza Strip immediately.
I was wondering if you have comments on the attack that happened yesterday in Daraballa where a number of children queuing for nutritional supplements were killed among a number of other people.
And apparently the Israeli military has said that they were targeting A Hamas militant who had infiltrated Israel on October 7th.
I'm just wondering also for Ravina, but also for Christian.
I mean, if, I mean, there's the rights issue of is it, is it acceptable to, to put so many people and young children and, and women in, in danger and killing them because they're trying to target one person?
And also, Christian, if you have any ideas on what this says about the healthcare situation in Gaza.
Yeah, I mean, I'll, I'll turn to my colleagues in a second, but just to point out that UNICEF's Executive Director, Catherine Russell, did issue a statement on the killing of these 15 Palestinians in Darrell, Darrell Bala, which include nine children and four women.
So maybe turn to Ravina first and then to Christian.
On this specific incident, yes, of course we're aware of it.
We don't have detailed information about it, but we'll get back to you on that.
Overall, though, to your point about women and children being killed, you know, when you're trying to, when you claim to be targeting an individual.
Overall, in the course of this conflict, we have had serious concerns about respect for international humanitarian law principles, essential principles of distinction, proportionality in attack.
We have seen that of the overall death toll in Gaza, a large proportion are women and children.
And again, that raises serious questions about whether these principles are being respected.
We've raised concerns about atrocity crimes having been committed and the risk of further atrocity crimes being committed.
The where people are lining up for essential supplies such as food and medicine and where they are being attacked.
Where again, as my colleagues have said, they have a choice between being shot or being fed.
This is unacceptable and it's continuing.
I actually have updated figures for you as well on the number of deaths that have resulted from people you know, around aid distribution areas where people are trying to access aid.
Up until the 7th of July, we've recorded now 798 killings, including 615 in the vicinity of the GHF sites and 183 presumably on the roots of of aid convoys.
This is nearly 800 people who have been killed while trying to access aid, mostly due to mostly the injuries are are gunshot injuries.
Just that number was from the beginning of the conflict or the no, it's I think it's from the 27th of May.
I believe it's since the the GHF began its operations.
Thank you very much, Ravina, for that update, Christian.
Yeah, not much to add there.
And then also thank you for the question.
It's the 27th May which marks that horrible date.
I'm, I'm, I'm slowly lacking words to describe the scenario.
People being shot at distribution sites, the numbers of scores of women and children and men and boys and girls being killed while either getting food or in what supposedly safe shelters or on the road to to health clinics or inside health clinics.
This is far beyond unacceptable.
It shouldn't even be a question.
Of course, no, no health facility should also not be militarised in case it would be.
But the attacks are horrendous and indiscriminate and, and pushing civilians into, into, into smaller and smaller space is unacceptable.
4094% of the hospitals in Gaza are now damaged or destroyed.
People are in smallest space.
And apparently the this, the relocation continues unnecessary.
And we hope that the peace talks continue, the ceasefire and then maybe finally peace talks.
Thank you so much, Christian, for that.
And of course, Ravina, do we have further questions on this subject or any other for Ravine?
Yep, sorry, it was just for Christian.
I didn't hear the percentage you said of the hospitals that have been destroyed or damaged.
94% of the hospitals in Gaza are now damaged or destroyed.
Thanks again for that, Christian, for the questions on PT, any other issue for Ravenna perhaps?
OK, Well, thank you so very much as always, Ravenna.
Colleagues, I think we're nearly done with this press briefing.
Just a couple of announcements, one on behalf of the Human Rights Council just to announce that the UN expert mechanism.
Sorry, did you have a OK, let me hold off on that.
Go ahead And yes, sorry, sorry Ravina, it's about the comment that was posted today by the UNS office or Nix about those findings in Australia.
I wanted to ask you if you could elaborate on that, on the what are your thoughts on the findings and and what should be the the next steps forward for the authorities?
Sure, thanks for asking and yes indeed this is it's a tweet that we had issued which perhaps the others are not aware of.
Coroner's inquiry into police shooting death of a teenager Kumanjai Walker has uncovered disturbing allegations of institutional racism in NT policing and the use of excessive force in Australia.
The findings by the coroner reinforced the urgent need for comprehensive reforms to address injustice suffered by First Nations peoples.
This is something that we've posted on Twitter today on X today in the high commissioner's name.
Did you did you want further information about it?
You could elaborate on what should be the next steps that that the authorities should be taken, you know, more concrete actions.
If you could elaborate on that.
The So what this inquiry has uncovered is that it's confirmed disturbing allegations of systemic racism within the NT police and a culture of the use of excessive force.
This of course should lead to quite a bit of soul searching by the authorities to take measures to.
I mean, the first step is always to assess the scale of the problem, to identify that there is a problem, to acknowledge that there is a problem, to assess the scale of the problem and then to take steps to ensure that this doesn't happen again.
Now what needs to happen there?
Does there need to be further independent oversight of these operations?
There needs to be obviously awareness raising among police officers of the dangers of of profiling, the dangers of unconscious bias as well making its way into policing operations.
And then steps need to be taken to ensure that this doesn't happen again, to ensure that the victims also received the support, the justice and the reparations to which they are due.
Thank you so much for Ravina.
OK, OK, then thanks once again as always, Ravina, let me recite that again.
So on behalf of the Human Rights Council, we do have this meeting of the UN expert mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, otherwise known as MRIP.
It's holding its 18th session from the 14th to the 18th of July.
That's next week in room 19 here at the Palais de Nation.
And during its four days in half session, the expert mechanism will discuss wide-ranging themes including the right of Indigenous peoples to data.
The Human Rights Committee is also still in session and will next Tuesday hold a public meeting, progress report of its rapporteur and concluding observations before concluding its session the a week from today, next Friday, That is the 18th of of July, where they will issue its concluding observations on countries reviewed during the session, namely Kazakhstan, Guinea Bissau, N Macedonia, Latvia, Spain, Haiti and Vietnam.
And colleagues, just to remind you that the Conference on Disarmament will officially begin the third and last part of its 2025 session on the 28th of July.
Today is World Population Day, and the Secretary General issued a message to mark this important observation.
It's the theme for this year's Population Days, empowering young people to create the families they want in a fair and hopeful world.
The SG outlines how many young people today face economic uncertainty, gender equality, health challenges, the climate crisis and conflict.
And he urges countries to invest in policies that ensure education, healthcare, decent work and the full protection of their reproductive rights.
So that's in the message we shared with you.
And today is also, it's a rather sombre occasion, colleagues and and many of you will recall it was 30 years ago, the massacre in Srebrenica.
I mentioned earlier this week the Secretary General statement that we issued on Tuesday.
But today actually marks the 30th anniversary of the genocide in in Srebrenica, which is as you know, the worst atrocity on on European soil since the Second World War.
It was in July 1995 where 8000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were systematically murdered and and thousands of women and children and older persons were forcibly displaced in their lives, so were forever shattered.
So today is not only a moment of reflection, it is a call to vigilance in action.
The SG mentions in his statement, just to highlight that USG De Carlo will be, we'll represent the Secretary General at a commemoration in Srebrenica today and I believe that is all I have.
Do you have any questions for me?
I wish you a nice weekend and see you here on Tuesday.
