OK, let's start this press briefing here in Geneva.
The United Nations today is Tuesday, 5th of August and I'd like to start immediately by welcoming our guests from UNICEF.
AUN women that are here to brief you on the situation in Sudan.
We have first James Salder with Sheldon yet who's the UNICEF representative in Sudan, who's calling in from Port Sudan.
Thank you very much for being with us.
And we have Salvatore Uncurred Sita, who is the UN women representative for Sudan, also from Port Sudan to tell us about the situation of male headed households.
We also have with us Sophia Caltrop from the Geneva office in case there are questions.
So I like to start immediately by giving them the floor and then we will open the floor to questions.
So let's start directly with UNICEF.
James, you want to start or we go straight to Sheldon.
I'm sorry you're still muted.
You have to unmute yourself.
Let me look at my colleagues there.
OK There, there, there we are.
No, look, it should go straight to Sheldon just to say he's been to some frontline areas where that have been cut off for a long, long time.
So I think it's a very important briefing to get a sense of just what needs to be done, what we are doing, but most importantly, just the situation of these children in areas that have been cut off from support for a long, long time.
So Sheldon's literally just back.
I'll throw to him now that he's in Port Sudan.
Thank you colleagues and good to be there.
Let me just cut to the chase to over the past week, I travelled from Port Sudan to Al Jazeera and to Khartoum states, witnessing the impact of this crisis, the world's largest humanitarian crisis is having on children and on families.
During the mission, I saw homes and houses and buildings destroyed.
I saw our warehouse in cartoon looted and reduced to rubble.
I saw our humanitarian supplies in that warehouse that had been destroyed.
I saw communities uprooted and children who had been forced to flee and living now in overcrowded neighbourhoods.
I met mothers who walked for very long distances to find safety and health workers who cared for the sick and non nourished despite the risks.
I also saw our teams of partners work tirelessly, often in perilous and uncertain conditions, continuing to deliver life saving aid.
I visited Jabu Olia, one of the two localities in Khartoum state identified as of being at extreme risk of famine.
Jabululia and Khartoum localities carry 37% of the state's non nutrition burden.
These localities are also the most impacted by the ongoing violence and access constraints.
I witnessed first hand how children have limited but growing access to safe water, to food, to healthcare and to learning.
Malnutrition is wife and meaning the children are reduced to just skin and bones.
Children and families in the neighbourhood are sheltered, often in small, damaged or unfinished buildings.
The roads are narrow, muddy and often impassable and getting more impassable by the day as the rains continue.
Cholera spread rapidly in this neighbourhood.
The few functioning health centres, nutrition treatment centres in the area are highly congested and crammed with people.
With our partners, we're doing everything we can.
Security remains precarious, but it is improving.
After months of effort, we finally have access to the community, and we continue to support health and nutrition services, water and sanitation, and reposition critical supplies where they are most needed.
We're also creating safe spaces for children to learn, to play and to heal.
But the scale of this need is just staggering, and along with our partners, we're being stretched to the limit.
Across the country, with the situation deteriorating rapidly, children are dying from hunger, they're dying from disease, and they're dying from direct violence.
They're being cut off in the very services that could save lives.
This is not just hypothetical, it is a looming catastrophe.
We're on the verge of irreversible damage to an entire generation of children, not because we lack the knowledge or the tools to save them, but because we are collectively failing to act with urgency and scale as crisis demands.
We need access to these children.
With recent funding cuts, many of our partners in Khartoum and elsewhere in Sudan have been forced to scale back, and we're stepping up.
We need resources and sustain access to be rapidly scaled up in the areas we can now reach.
The record high admission rates of children receiving treatment for severe account malnutrition in places like Jabulia and large parts of Al Jazeera State are clear signs the needs of staggering the newly accessible areas.
We must rapidly scale up life saving services for children and we need safe and sustained access to do whatever we must for children.
This is particularly critical in areas in the front lines and currently cut off from aid such as Al Fasher, Eleng and Kadugli.
Every day we're going to access to these places puts children's lives at higher risk, as one of the displaced mothers told us.
Since this war started, my daughter has fallen into a state of silence and I can feel her heart racing with fair.
Her words are a chilling reminder of invisible wounds this war is inflicting on children in Sudan.
During this mission and a year later in Sudan, I've seen the worst of what war can do and the best of what humanity humanity can offer in response.
Children in Sudan are resilient.
They have endured war now for over 2 years.
They've endured displacement, hunger and disease.
But they cannot survive without help.
We continue to call for sustained diplomatic efforts for peace.
And while the conflict endures, we must collectively do everything in our power to support children.
We cannot let them pay the ultimate price for it.
Thank you very much, Sheldon.
Thanks for this incredibly important reminder of the situation of children there.
And from children, we go to women with Salvador and Kurutiza and Sofia.
Good morning, colleagues and members of the press.
Thank you for joining us today for this briefing on a deepening severe food insecurity crisis in Sudan, a crisis that is not only humanitarian but profoundly gendered.
Sudan is on the brink of family conflict.
Displacement and economic collapse have pushed over 30 million people into acute food insecurity.
But behind these numbers lies a stark and diversity truth.
Women and girls are hungriest face of this crisis.
Since the conflict started in mid-april 2023, women and girls has been disproportionately affected by escalating food crisis and do the conditions now near farming threshold in several regions in the country.
It's not just for the crisis, but gender emergencies caused by failure of gender responsive action.
Women and girls are bearing the brunt of severe food insecurity with fewer resources, less access to aid in the greater exposure to risks.
According to the latest gender snapshot by the Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group, 75% of female how headed households in Sudan are now food insecure.
The proportion facing severe food security has nearly doubled in just one year, from 14% in 2024 to nearly 26 in 2025.
Today, female headed households are three times more likely to be food insecure than those led by men.
This is the result of systematic inequalities compounded by conflict and the displacement.
Women are increasingly left to hate households alone due to the death, displacement disappears disappearance or forced displacement of male family members.
And yet they face the greatest barriers to food, income and aid.
Nearly half of the all female headed households report poor food consumption.
Only one third have access to an acceptable diet in the more than 70% of women nationally do not means immediate dietary diversity, putting maternal and the child have to grave risks.
Women are not only victims of conflict, they are also powerful agent of change.
Women LED organisations are reaching last mile communities in the saving lives, yet remain underfunded and excluded from key decision making.
By supporting women LED organisations we are strengthening the resilience of entire community.
They are running food kitchens in the delivering meals yet remain under recognised.
One women LED organisations operating across IT state was recently forced to shut down more than half of food kit, not because they need they need the diminished but because the funding gate.
We must act and we must act now.
You and the women call for the following urgent actions.
First, prioritise female headed households and at least groups including pregnant and breastfeeding women and adolescent girls in all food assistance.
2 Food and elevates Fund and elevate to women LED food support initiatives with the flexible, direct and predictable financing.
2-3 Integrate women LED organisations into decision making at all levels of humanitarian response.
4 Link food assistance to protection and recovery, including gender based violence mitigation at the Women's Livelihood.
5 Track gender outcomes, not just output, because tonnage alone does not tell the full story in the closet.
Let us not waiting for famine to be declared before we act.
Let us listen to women find their leadership and they put to gender equality at the heart of the response.
Things are getting worse, but with bold coordinated in the gender responsive action, we can turn the tide.
Thank you very much, Senator, for this, for this briefing.
And before I open the floor to question, I just would like to remind you that Ocha's Director of Operations, Adam Wozorno, is in Sudan this week to assess the humanitarian situation.
She will also meet with local officials, humanitarian partners and people affected by the crisis.
And Yance is with us if you have any question for him.
So let me open now the floor to question.
First in the room, Robin.
Robin is our correspondent of AFP.
Thank you, Salvatore and and Sheldon, if, if you could both send your notes around that would be greatly appreciated.
A couple of questions for Sheldon.
Why can't you get the access that you need?
And, and secondly, can you say a little bit more about what living through years of war has, has already done to the children of Sudan?
We answer each question one after the other.
You're asking what is blocking things?
We're on the cusp of of the rainy season.
Many roads are inaccessible already.
We have to negotiate our each delivery with parties to the conflict of the government.
We can't just fill up a pickup truck or or a 610 truck or a 10/10 truck with supplies and send it down the road.
Of course we need to get permission to do that.
All these issues and of course some areas have been under siege and we have, despite months of trying, we have not been able to get supplies to those areas.
We've had our convoys have been hit by by drones, they've been destroyed.
The second question on and if I what else paraphrase your second question, please.
Yeah, I was asking if you could say a little bit more about the the impact that living through years of war has already had on the children of Sudan.
I mean, the scar tissue, the emotional scar tissue is massive.
The fact that children don't know exactly where they're going next.
I met children who've been displaced four or five times.
As the front lines have changed, they've had to go and stay with one host community to another host community to another host community, always feeling like, despite the welcoming atmosphere, often feeling like aliens in their own land.
They've had to be integrated into other schools, to other services.
They've had often not received the nutritional support they require, not support, received the educational support.
We know that some 80% of children in this country are not in school.
Most schools are not functioning.
That's going to have an impact for generation after generation.
Other questions in the room.
Thank you for this briefing.
A few questions from me for both of you.
First of all, if you could just outline what your funding shortfall actually is you're saying about funding cuts, it'd be great just to have some figures to to illustrate that both for UNICEF and UN women.
Just dovetailing on what Robin was asking about access.
Are you able just to, to, to name a few of the areas that are still under siege where you cannot access currently?
And, and just a final question to get a better sense of the main issue in terms of malnutrition and, and treating that is the issue that you're facing, is it, is it because, for example, you have shortages of like life saving therapeutic foods?
Or is the issue more on the health centre side?
You said they were overwhelmed so and is that due to cuts or is that was that already a kind of previous legacy issue?
But just a bit more detail explaining why you're concerned there and what's actually make hampering or efforts to to treat children.
Maybe I'll give you both the floor and then we'll also have Yens who might have more on the funding issue if you want to come to the podium.
Yens, Sheldon and then Salvatore and then Yens.
We only have roughly 1/4 of the funds that we require.
This is a massive emergency, one of the largest, if not the largest humanitarian emergencies in the world.
And of course, there are children elsewhere are also on page one or two rather than page 36 over the world's newspapers.
So funding has not come at the degree that that is required given the extent over this crisis.
You asked about malnutrition, why it's there.
I think it's for a variety of reasons.
Obviously in some cases, it's complete lack of access.
We have not had access to the horrible situation unfolding enough fascia, for example, despite trying for months and months and months, we have not been able to get supplies there.
In other places, also in the port of France, access has remained very, very difficult because of growing insecurity in the region.
We just can't get our trucks in at the volume and and the level that is required given the needs there.
We also have the compounding effects of of poor water and sanitation, of cholera, of acute watery diarrhoea.
These things also contribute to malnutrition.
We have markets that are not functioning and we have children not being able to to go to the health centres to get the screening.
And I believe in in Jebelia for example, we've seen a massive increase in in children now going to the centres.
Huge lines, huge demand because it's been pent up demand.
The problem is malnutrition.
We need to get children on a regular basis, on a consistent basis, on a predictable basis to the screening that they require.
Children die if they're cut off from supplies from months and months and end saboteur.
You want to add something to that on your side, on the funds especially.
Yeah, no, I mean I think my my colleague showed them mentioned it access particularly in the in the northern, southern, in the western region you have to be looking at that is still under siege.
The conflict they were still outgoing, particularly in the Kodafang and the Airfa shell that is still has been for quite a long time under siege.
This is of course have impact on access to not only the humanitarian assistance but also access to social services like health education that my colleague mentioned.
So this is as I mentioned women and girls are the most disproportionately affected by the conflict which again impact also the the the residue capability to to access food in addition to the environmental and the climate change issues that actually lead to to food insecurity.
Most of the households are now female headed household as I mentioned with very less support.
The only fault line workers as a women LED organisations that unfortunately are less funded in terms of support, which making the the capacity their compass to respond in support to the women women households very, very difficult.
You may you ask a question about the the financial cut.
Obviously the humanitarian assistance funding is still less than 25% as we speak, which which in many cases related to the financial cut.
But the cut also impact the the UN agencies and the humanitarian organisations capacities in terms of personnel, staff, humanitarian workers to actually be deployed and access where needs is is required.
Just to to your question, Olivia, the the global humanitarian response plan with all the UN agencies and NGOs coordinated by ORCHA is asking 4.16 billion for this year.
We're up to now receive 23%.
But when I talk about funding, we always have to talk about access as well because funding without access or access without funding, none of that makes sense.
And that's why we also hear from from our briefers today from Port Sudan.
Access is, is really key.
And if I could just mention one thing it, it was briefly mentioned, but the epicentre of this is still in Darfur and around in fascia.
It is now one year since famine was confirmed in the Samsung camp just outside of El Fascia and no transport of food or other commodities by Rd has reached that area for for one year so that El Fascia remains on the siege.
That is the ultimate no access statement.
So of course we engage at all levels and discussions continue to get this access and we cannot wait for another year.
If there are another question in the room and let me go to the platform.
Jimmy Keaton, Associated Press.
Thank you, Alessandra, and thank you for the the presentations.
I'm glad that Yens came up to the tape, the dais because I think this question may also be up his alley.
The 1st is about about Alfasher.
As you just mentioned, some people there are impact who have been impacted by starvation, have been pleading for air drops to happen in Sudan along the way that they've been happening in Gaza, for example.
Do do aid groups see this as a feasible option and what would be the challenges in achieving that?
Second question is maybe for Salvatore or for Mr.
Yet the what is the latest estimate of women and children that are impacted by food secured insecurity in North Darfur and Kordofan, where, of course, the fighting has has intensified in the last few months.
And if I could just slide in the third one.
Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesman in New York yesterday said that the heavy fighting in North Darfur has left civilian casualties in recent days.
Do you have any estimate of the number of people and killed and how many of those are women and children?
Maybe I'll say something about ear drops in Al Fasher.
It does not seem to be a realistic possibility right now.
I'm doing ear drops right there.
Obviously, in order to do that, you need to have you need to ensure the supplies get to specifically the population we need the most and to the children, the women, those who are who are most non nourished and most affected by the crisis, not to those who are are perpetuating the crisis.
You also have to ensure that planes can safely fly and, and, and and can, can drop the supplies and, and can target them.
Those conditions do not seem to be in place right now.
And I'm for sure we continue to work with and to call on the government and all parties of the conflict to let supplies in, to ensure that supplies get need to go, to ensure that innocent women and children and all population in need get the humanitarian support they require.
Salvador or Yens, you want to add anything?
I see Salvatore, you, you wanted to speak, but you have to.
Well, on on the direct question, how many women and girls affected?
There are in total about 3030 point million affect in the need of humanitarian.
Sorry, can you repeat the the the figure we we couldn't hear you well, yeah, there is about more than 30.4 million OK in need of humanitarian assistance.
Out of them, 15.3 million are women and girls, from whom the female house head household are 1525%.
As you indicate of the the need of the need of secure in the situation of severe food insecurity.
Again, Kodafone Darfur lesions are the most affected by the food insecurity, which means that which shows that out of the 5.4 million of ID PS internal displaced populations, 75% female household headed household are actually in the severe food insecurity.
That's to give an idea about how many the proportion of the food insecurity in the most unfortunately accessible difficulties areas in Darfur mainly for Shell and the Codafan in the north and the South other regions.
Now in terms of the the possibility of AI lifting, of course, that can be an option explored by we have to mention also that is a still an area where fighting still continue with the drone shield.
Of course, who knows whether they're even AI lifting will not be intercepted before they even they they, they lift, they lifted the food assistance.
It's a very dire situation that's required non international community.
And of course, you know, press, press, press for peace process to get this lasting peace for this region.
As you and women we we keep advocating for real access to women in the support the women LED organisations that regardless the access of the human tech communities, they remain on the front line providing assistance with the limited unfortunate resources and aid.
And I take the opportunity maybe to ask James and also Ajmal to send out to the journalist the notes and for example, now Salvador has given a lot of figures, so it would be interesting to have them in writing.
Then Jamie has a follow up.
Jamie, we haven't answered all your question.
I didn't, I didn't hear any numbers about the estimates of the number of people killed in and how many of those are women and children in North North Darfur in in racing days.
And just to, to Mr Incorziza, I didn't quite understand the number that you were saying was the latest estimate of women that were impacted by food security.
You said 75% of 5.4 million of of were 75% were female headed households, if I understood that correctly, which would put us at about 4 million.
I mean, could you just basically I'm just looking specifically for the, the estimate of, of women that are affect and and children from from Mr yet of, of, of people impacted by food security in North Darfur and Kordofan.
OK, on the first points of the fighting, but I did, yeah, go ahead.
But you're sorry, I I thought you said you were going to take the photo or Sheldon or Jens.
Anybody has more details on this?
You, you didn't hear the question.
No, I mean, we're, we're seeing reports as well on, on casualties.
We know that we, we, we, we've heard of, of health centres being hit, education centres being hit, markets being hit.
We get reports of casualties on a regular basis.
We don't have verified numbers ourselves just yet.
What we're seeing is the anecdotal information that we're getting from other partners on the ground from and from others there.
But I can't give you specific numbers of exact numbers of women and children particularly.
I can tell you that Northrop Ford is continuously the epicentre of hunger, the epicentre of needs for humanitarian needs, particularly for children.
And that's the area we're most concerned about.
Salvatore, can you clarify your figures please for Jamie?
Well, as also mentioned by my colleague, it's very difficult to have accurate information.
As we speak, we you and women is is collecting information in the data that will be published very recently in a couple of in the coming weeks on the gender alert that focusing mainly on food insecurity and including in the most affected and inaccessible regions in Darfur and Kodafan.
As I mentioned, there's about 15.3 million women and girls in need of assistance.
This is a national figures, however, the majority the population affected by by food insecurity.
They are again unfortunately in the in the gaffe regions, other fund and regions where we estimate that 5.54 billion in IDP comes that are in the northern.
But I will be able to give you a correct quote figure.
We share this with the data and we share also the agenda length that we come with the more accurate figures, particularly concerning the Darfur Asian recorder farm and other most food insecure agents.
Last question from Gabriella Sotomayor, processor.
Thank you very much for this briefing.
My question is for gents, if you have just any information on the migrants that were deported from USA to Sudan.
These were Venezuelan migrants.
So I don't know if the authorities of Sudan, they agreed to receive these people.
Do you know anything about them?
I come to the podium, so maybe more than Jens, he can say something.
I leave him in one moment.
The question was good morning, dears.
I would need to check with colleagues and get back and maybe Gabriella asked the question also to our colleagues to IO Ed IOM.
If there are no other questions on Sudan for our colleagues and I don't see other hands up.
And I really I count on IHML and James to send you the, the the notes.
Thanks so much, Salvatore, and good luck with your important work and come back and update us as soon as you can.
So I'll turn now to Babar for UNHCR.
And Babar is also on displaced people, but we're speaking here about Pakistan and Afghan refugees, please.
We bring you another worrying update, this time from Pakistan and this is linked with registered of 1 refugees that have been living in Pakistan for decades.
Uniciar, the UN refugee agency, expresses its concern or Pakistan's intention to forcibly return Avan refugees or registered Avan refugees holding proof of registration cards which are known as POR cards.
This is the legal name of the document.
On July 31st, Pakistan confirmed that Avan refugees would be repatriated under its ongoing Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan.
Over the past days, UNICR has received reports of arrest and detention of Avans across the country, including those of registered refugees who hold POR cards and the number of registered refugees at this point in Pakistan is 1.3 million.
They're part of more than two million Avans who are currently in Pakistan.
Unit Chair acknowledges and appreciates Pakistan's generosity in hosting refugees for over 40 years amidst its own challenges.
However, given those holding registered refugee cards have been recognised as refugees for decades, their forced return is contrary to Pakistan's long standing humanitarian approach to this group and would constitute a violation of the principle of non rifle.
More Unisia remains particularly concerned about women and girls forced to return to a country where their human rights are at risk, as well as other groups who might be in dangers if they were forced to return.
We call on the authorities in Pakistan to ensure that any return of Afghans back to Afghanistan is voluntary, safe and dignified.
Unit CR has continued to seek an extension of validity of the POR cards, which are the registered cards for refugees and welcomes the additional one month grace period that Pakistan has granted.
As we understand today, UNICR strongly urges the Government of Pakistan to apply measures to exempt Afghans with continued international protection needs from involuntary return.
We also appeal to Pakistan's established goodwill to allow legal stay for Afghans with medical needs, those currently pursuing higher education or in mixed marriages.
UCL has expressed its readiness to support Pakistan to establish necessary mechanisms.
The large scale return of Afghans this year from neighbouring countries has put immense pressure on basic services, housing and livelihoods and the host communities themselves.
Worsening and already dire humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
Mass and hasty returns significantly heightened protection needs and risks instability in Afghanistan and in the wider region, including the risk of onward movement.
This year alone, over 2.1 million Afghans have already returned or have been forced to return to Afghanistan.
This includes 352,000 from Pakistan.
The figure of 2.1 million from both in Iran and Pakistan also include a large number that have been deported back to Afghanistan.
Thank you very much, Babar.
Any question to your NHCR in the room?
Morning Baba, is the the government in Pakistan fully aware of of your concerns about the principle of of non refoulement and what what's the sort of state of the discussions that you're having with the government of Pakistan?
We are in continuous contact with the authorities both in Pakistan and government and trying to highlight the dire humanitarian and human rights situation inside Afghanistan.
There's other ones could face if they're forced to return back, the worry at this stage in Pakistan, because this is a really new development.
Pakistan has been pushing pressure on undocumented Avrans, and this plan that we refer to has been in place since 2023, but mostly aimed for illegal or undocumented Avran.
This is a registered refugee population.
They are well documented and they have been there for decades.
I remember being part of the registration exercise in 2006 in in Pakistan when we did this exercise and it meant to provide the required protection that Afghans needed.
And over the decades the situation sadly in Afghanistan has not improved.
It just every turn makes it more worse for for Afghanistan, not only inside their own country but in the in the region as well.
So the appeal is for compassion, the appeal for continued protection for all those that require it.
And I think colleagues have been bringing issues that are ones who return back to the country are facing today there are more than 23 million of ones that need humanitarian support inside the country.
Only this year we have seen 2.1 million more return from the two neighbouring countries.
It's a huge pressure on the the structures inside the country, but also on the ability of humanitarian organisations to to keep supporting those who are returning.
And also on top of this is no resources available as as well.
So the funding cuts and drops are also immensely affecting us and our ones.
Thank you, Babar, for this clarification.
Any other question, Nick?
Thanks for the briefing and thanks for taking the question.
I just wanted to check what the what's happened to the people who've gone back already, how many are now actually in camps?
Quite a lot have been absorbed back into the community as I understand it, but presumably there is a huge overflow population in camps.
And is that if you're, if you're facing a return of another million or two people, what how do you see that inflow being dealt with?
2 aspects of the question 1 is where our ones are in the two neighbouring countries, Iran and Pakistan, where we have a large Afghan refugee population and other Afghans who are there to seek safety.
Iran is primarily an urban situation for Afghans.
99% of Afghans who are in Iran live in in in cities.
So the profile is very different.
Pakistan is another story.
Currently we have 1.3 million registered refugees and majority of them have been in refugee camps.
These were established in early 1980s which have now become small towns or settlements at at at this point those who have been returning back to Afghanistan this year out of the two point 1,000,001.7 have returned from Iran either pushed or pressured or deported.
So they have come through the western Islam Kala border with Iran which is very close to the western city of Hirat.
And then they have been going mostly to urban centre like Kabul, like Hirat and Kunduz and and other places.
Those returnees or those who have been pushed or pressured back from Pakistan, they may go to more urban areas and Unisia, the UN refugee agency.
We have been with Afghans during this last two decades, but also for the last four decades during different return periods.
And we have literally helped them re establish their lives in their communities where their regions are from.
But it's not an easy job for Afghans to do.
If you have lived all your life in another country and you're just hastily being asked to leave or, or being forced to leave or have been brought to the border to be deported, it's a huge challenge.
It, it, it, it is a humanitarian crisis, an individual crisis for many of those of ones who have been pressured to return back.
So there's very little chance for this population to reintegrate, to re establish themselves on top of it.
I mean, if you're a family with women and girls who were in educational institutions in the neighbouring countries, how do you resume education for your children in an environment like Afghanistan?
And that is what is the inflow from Iran still going on at the previous rate you talked previously, I think of up to 50,000 people a day.
What's what's, how's the flow proceeding now?
When we talked about the 50,000 a day, it was 4th of July if I remember correctly.
Since then it has not slowed down to the levels that we saw earlier in the year, which was an average of 2003 thousand returns each day.
It has still stayed in the range of above 20,000, 220-9000 and 30,000.
So we can still say that thousands of Afghans are still returning from Iran and that figure for this year from Iran stands at 1.7 million.
In the past couple of months, we have at least seen a million of ones returning from Iran are being forced to return and majority of them or those that were deported.
For the 1.4 million Pakistanis who hold the proof of registration cards are sorry, Afghans who hold proof of registration cards from Pakistan.
Now that the cards have expired, might there be any effort by UNHCR to issue a substitute card sort of like the Nansen passport?
So the registration exercise, when this was done with Pakistani authorities, Pakistan has a national database and registration authority which keeps count of its own nationals.
But we then back in 2006 and seven, we worked with them to document all other ones which were on Pakistan's territory.
So this is a recognised legal document which has date of validity.
In this case, the proof of registrations validity was till end of the June and that has been the case.
Pakistan has been revising and renewing it.
So now we are also in touch with the authorities that yes, we welcome the grace period of a month for, for for these Avrans.
But the need for protection, the need for international protection for Avrans who are in Pakistan, that has not gone away.
And and we're willing and ready to work with the Pakistani authorities as in in the past to put in place mechanism, get a new renewal for for for Avalans who who have been documented and legally living in the country.
Thanks for this detailed and important briefing.
That concludes our our topics of today.
I got a few announcements for you.
First of all, I don't think anybody at the pallet this morning can may have missed what's happening in the Assembly Hall.
You all know that we have opened this morning.
The second part of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution was on all your media today.
I remind you that today at 1:15, you'll hear everything about the conference from Inger Anderson, the Executive Director of UNAP, together with Luis Valles Valdiviezo, the chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee, and Karen Sorry.
Katherine Skin comprances Schneeberger, Director of the Federal Office of the Environment of Switzerland and Geotechnater Phillip, who was the secretary of the committee.
And that gives me also the opportunity.
So that will be here in person in in line on the from the press room.
That gives me also the opportunity to say that thanks to our colleagues of security during the time of the conference, if you're working on the conference late or if you're working on the conference in Saturday, you don't need to to write to me or to Rolando to ask to ask permission to stay either longer on on Saturday.
As for the time of the conference, we have an agreement with security that journalist can can stay at the pallet late and can also come on Saturday.
So for these two timings, you don't need to to write to us.
You're welcome to to work from the pallet in conjunction with the conference.
There is also on the web, there is also a a draft schedule that you make it.
You may find it's regularly updated on the live daily schedule web page.
And they also have a mobile app of the conference and the daily schedule is published the night before to the night for the day after.
So that is what I have on the conference.
I'm pretty sure you will hear much more interesting things from our colleagues at lunchtime today.
The fact that tomorrow, the 6th of August, is the International Day of Awareness of the Special Development Needs and Challenges of Landlocked Developing Countries gives me the opportunity to remind you that the Secretary General is currently in Awaza in Turkmenistan, where he's attending the third UN Conference on let locked developing countries, and he has spoken this morning at the opening session.
You have the remarks in your mailbox where he said that he addressed the challenges facing landlocked developing countries, such as the steep barriers to trade, the high transport cost and the limited access to global market.
And you also spoke about solutions to overcome these obstacles.
I think this is all I had for you.
I don't know if there are any questions in the room.
Alessandra, this is actually for Yents and UNICEF if possible, if I'm able to ask and UNICEF if possible, I think James is on the call still.
Let's see while while Yance is coming to the podium, let me check if he isn't, but I can try to reconnect or maybe I will just bring the question to him.
But Yance, can you can you come please back?
If you could please against and also eventually, James, just outline what if any improvements there have been since Israel introduced new measures to get aid into the Gaza Strip?
And also what your reaction is today to the news that commercial, some commercial supplies will be allowed in?
And just secondly, we've spoken, I know a lot about malnutrition, but just keen to get an update on the water situation as well in Gaza.
What is the current level of concern?
And have you seen any improvements given that some fuel has now got into the strips to the strip?
But also if issues like contamination still continue to be an issue?
And if you have any figures, particularly on the first question, that would be helpful too.
I give the floor to you and I've sent a message, urgent message to James, see if he can reconnect.
I don't feel safe without James, you know, so, but let me let me see what what I can do about these unilateral pauses.
It's important to to mention that aid has gone in, you know, with dozens of trucks per day, right?
The needs inside Gaza is such that there should be hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and more hundreds of trucks, not only every day, not only every week, but for months, possibly years to come.
This has been building up.
We are now on the brink of, of famine as as, as you know, that doesn't, that is not something that happens overnight.
It builds up and to get yourself out of that it takes a long, long time to refeed people Simply put it to put it bluntly and other kinds of aid.
So while we have had some come in, it is it remains far insufficient to to the needs.
I and, and I hope you understand that the magnitude that the difference between this very small amount of aid that has now come in and everybody expect me to clap and say thank you and the massive needs that are there where people are literally dying on a daily basis.
It, it's really, it's, it's out of proportion.
But again, we have welcomed the Porses.
We continue to welcome these Porses.
We will do everything we can to get aid in and get it distributed safely to the commercial supplies.
That is also, I would say welcome news.
That is something we have said for a very long time.
We've always pointed out that aid alone cannot fix the problem.
There needs to be a commercial supply going in as well.
Well, bearing in mind commercial supplies cost money for people, aid is free of charge and we have thousands of tonnes of aid, including food aid standing just outside of Gaza, which has already been paid for by the donors.
And donors expect that to be given free of charge to the people they need.
And it's our job to do so.
But we are not getting the facilitation that we need to do so.
So that is what I can say to that.
On water and fuel, yes, I, I, I also saw that there were, I think 4 trucks that was, that was, that was coming in.
Again, that's great, but it is only four trucks and we need a lot more to get the supplies up so that there can be a continuous flow of of clean and safe water for everybody.
And James is coming to your rescue.
No, just just to say that Olivia was asking whether you could say something about the fact that some of the infant formula are the biscuits for children or other food for children has come in and if it makes any difference and how you see the situation is evolving.
Andrew, I'm sorry about that.
Can you repeat the question?
Just if you could say something about the fact that some infant formula, some food for pregnant women, water has come in into the Gaza Strip.
How do you see the situation for children in, in relation with this few commodities that have made it into the Strip?
I think it would be a mistake because we've seen it so many times.
It would be a mistake to to relax or to, to, to be, to be full of praise or even hope for this drip, drip, drip of humanitarian aid.
Because we've been here before and it's almost like a game that is being played.
And there's such an immense amount of deprivation.
And then some aid comes in and, and you know, the, the, the, there is a sense from through the world's press that things are improving and that therefore people take their eyes off again.
But of course, everyone here knows that it was a limit of 500 trucks a day that really now needs to be probably twice that amount.
So if we've got 80 or 100 trucks a day, it's not nearly, nearly enough.
And yes, there's some input formula.
Yes, there is an improvement in water.
It's still 96% of households have an insufficient amount of water.
So I think we've been here before.
We've been here before or we've talked about a peer, we've talked about a drops, we talked about the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, we counted trucks ad nauseam.
Everyone should now realise that unless there is sustained humanitarian aid by those actors who do this, we just heard from Sudan, by those actors who do this around the world, then we will see horrific results in the next IPC.
We may already see those.
So we need a much greater amount of humanitarian aid allowed in by those actors who do it and have done it around the world.
We need many, many more routes.
We need many, much more safety on the ground.
All this again, I guess points Alessandra to a ceasefire.
But in the absence of that, no, I don't think that we can, we can claim any, any moment of, of, of hope or pause when we see some baby formula getting in, when we see food coming in that supports 30,000 children.
What we really should realise that there's, there's still 970,000 children not getting enough.
So at the moment it is, as we've heard from, from Tom Fletcher, it's a drop in the ocean.
And that's a line we've heard far too frequently.
And it's a line we hear because it's absolutely spot on.
Mohammed, sorry, Olivia has a follow up and I'll come to you after.
Thank you so much both of you.
And James, just a quick follow up, just specifically on water.
I remember recently you warned about a man made drought happening, a risk of happening in in Gaza.
Is that still your assessment?
If you could just outline your level of concern given the current context, what you've seen in the past week in terms of some supplies getting in and some, some fuel.
And also just curious on the point of whether the issue is like access in terms of just water tool and people going thirsty or whether it's kind of a contamination risk or maybe both.
If you could just explain in some detail.
Yeah, if, if I would rather I saw you note, Olivia to to speak this afternoon.
This is literally my first day back after a couple of weeks.
So things changed so quickly in Gaza.
And I do know that there has been a slight change in the last couple of days on the water supply, which again, is all around intent.
That is the intent of Israel, to allow more water in, more drinking water into the civilians in Gaza.
So I'd rather not go into that detail now, but we'll happily do so this afternoon and can do again next Friday.
But I'm just trying to gather that information now.
My question is also for James.
James, Israeli government says there is no fame in, in Gaza and children are not dying, dying because of malnutrition.
And what would you like to say about this topic?
Look, the, the good thing with the United Nations, whether it's UNICEF, Orcher, World Food Programme, WHO, the good thing is that we have two very strong elements in everything we do 1 is the data and that's we'll, we'll see that again from the IPC and you saw the last IPC and how dire that is and we'll see again next week.
So 1 is very, very comprehensive evidence and the other is eyes on the ground.
And both those things speak to a horrific situation.
We've seen a great deal, a spike in the number of children who are fish who are considered to have starved to death.
Now remembering that the vast majority of children who are severely malnourished will die of another 'cause that they are 10 times more likely to to die of pneumonia or measles or something that is happening.
Very hard to record those deaths at the moment.
Most of those children don't get to hospitals.
We've spoken before about say, NASA Hospital in the South, the only fully functioning hospital in the South.
It's also surrounded by evacuation orders.
So families have malnourished children.
It's very, very difficult for them to get through areas that are not deconflicted to a hospital.
So I think UNICEF would like to feel now that after 22 months of this, of an overwhelming amount of evidence, of a whelming amount of testimonials, over overwhelming amount of data, an overwhelming amount of video and footage from the ground that we no longer have to, you know, go TE TE TE when it comes to statements from officials.
We can simply let facts speak on the ground.
And the facts are that we have seen three full CA blockades and now another virtual blockade.
We have a humanitarian populated population in unprecedented levels of malnutrition, lack of water access and remembering A bombardment.
Many, many times we have these conversations.
I think it's very important that there is a increasing amount of pressure now from from many governments because of the deprivations, because of the nutritional situation we see in children and in mothers and in women and in the elderly.
We mustn't forget as well, though, that on average a girl or a boy has been killed in this bombardment every single hour since the horrors of October seven.
So the facts speak for themselves.
And I think it's not helpful to to to take on, you know, to take on statements made from political leaders when, of course, there are so many other statements made equally by political leaders that speak very clearly to what the intents are of the of the of the restrictions in the block aid of humanitarian aid and the continued bombardment of places that civilians seek safety in.
Thank you very much, Nick.
A question for Jens and possibly for James, if you've got some information on this.
But we had, Steve, President Trump special envoy Steve Witkop visiting the GHF operation recently where we hear there's a plan in the works to resolve the humanitarian crisis.
I I just wanted to ask, yeah.
Did Steve Witkoff have any contact with UN officials or any of the UN aid agencies during his visit?
And has there been any kind of active engagement with UN humanitarian agencies on the plan that they're putting together?
I don't know if if there has been at at this point, it's not something that I have confirmed.
There is a continuous dialogue of course with the United States and we wish any attempt to create a ceasefire and create the conditions whereby we can work as as as as welcome.
Let me put it like that now, I think it's it's worth bearing in mind and also to Muhammad question whether we agree with the Israelis or not.
I, I think there's one person I agree with today and he said that a week ago and that was President Trump.
He said there's real starvation in Gaza.
I think that's worth remembering.
So if I get any updates of any meetings that that we can speak about, Nick, I will let you know.
Yeah, no more hands up for anybody.
I think I'll see you all at 1:15 here for the press conference and otherwise on Friday for the first briefing.
Thank you very much for being with us today.
