Welcome to the press briefing of the Information Service here at the UN in Geneva today with Friday 19 September.
And I would like to immediately start, but with a little change in in our agenda by giving the floor immediately to our colleague in Kabul.
We have the pleasure to have with us this morning Susan Ferguson, who is the UN Women's Special Representative in Afghanistan, connecting from Kabul, as I said, to tell us about the situation of women and girls in the aftermath of the earthquake that has struck the country.
So, Susan, if you wish to start with your introductory remarks and then we will open the floor to questions.
And thanks for being with us.
I know it has been complicated to organise this briefing, but we are very happy to have you here.
Thank you so much for having me today.
Women and girls continue to bear the brunt of the Afghanistan earthquake, one of the deadliest in the country's recent history.
While the major aftershocks have passed or mostly passed, women in affected areas are facing a long term disaster without more urgent assistance.
Tragically, women and girls account for over half of those killed and injured and 60% of those still missing.
Now, on top of their grief and loss, survivors are facing new threats, including heightened risks of violence and exploitation and a lack of access to support and services.
As I saw when I visited a village in Kunal province last week, many families remain in tents or out in the open.
Sanitation and water infrastructure has been destroyed and there are not enough latrines for women and girls in villages or informal settlements.
This means they're having to walk further to go to the bathroom or gather water, exposing them to the risk of violence and land mines.
The increased risk of violence carries into households as well.
Too often there are spikes in gender based violence following disasters triggered by the intense pressure on communities through displacement, loss of livelihoods and more.
In the earthquake, one of the most impacted groups are women headed households and we know of at least 463 of these families in the affected areas in everyday life.
In this cultural context, these women already face an uphill battle every day to survive and support their families.
Now, in the disruption and chaos following the earthquake, these women will find it exponentially harder to feed their children and find a safe place to stay.
Pregnant and breastfeeding women are also affected.
They and all women and girls will need access to health services due to the bans on women working for NGOs and studying at university, mobility restrictions imposed by the de facto authorities and systemic discrimination.
There's a serious shortage of women health workers across Afghanistan, as highlighted in our recent gender alert issued by the Gender and Humanitarian Action Working Group in Afghanistan, of which UN Women is a Co lead.
The impact on women's livelihoods has also been devastating, with large numbers of livestock killed or injured.
Many women have have lost their income and can't afford food or other basics.
It's crucial that early recovery measures include livelihood support.
Women are also disproportionately impacted by the earthquake when it comes to accessing humanitarian assistance.
As highlighted in a new humanitarian update released this week by UN Women, many women are still struggling to access support.
This is partly due to conservative norms, which can make it hard for them to move around independently or to find out about the services available.
But it also shows the crucial importance of women humanitarians who can speak to other women about the help available and provide services, including mental health and psychosocial support, in a culturally appropriate way.
Before I speak to that, I do want to take a moment to acknowledge that Afghan women have been present and working tirelessly on the front lines since day one.
For example, with the support of UN Women and other UN agencies, women make up 40% now of all the joint assessment teams, which have reached 134 out of 411 affected villages.
They can speak directly with affected women and girls and hear what support they need.
These teams have been going to extraordinary lengths to reach those in need, trekking for hours on foot as many roads were damaged or blocked by landslides.
One of the women we supported on these teams described scrambling along the sides of mountains, dodging falling rocks every time there was an aftershock.
Another woman who joined these teams, again with our support, said there was no other channel for women to share their needs and concerns as they're restricted from speaking to men.
Some women are also being deployed with mobile teams bringing health care, psychosocial support and other critical services directly to women.
And they're helping to to distribute aid from the UN and NGOs, including cash, blankets and through emergency hubs.
They've played a remarkable role to date, but we need more of them.
There is still not enough women humanitarian workers in the response and there are many reasons for this, including an ongoing lack of investment in women's staff as part of existing aid budgets and the previous banned by the de facto authorities on women working for NGOs announced in 2022 and then on the UN announced in 2023.
At the time, UN Women committed it would not replace its women's staff with male staff, and we stand firmly by that commitment.
Throughout all these increasing restrictions, UN Women has remained on the ground working with partners to find localised solutions to support women and girls.
And we continue to demand that Afghan women working with the United Nations can continue their work without prohibitions or restrictions.
The latest DFA edict on Afghan women colleagues entering UN compounds puts at serious risk the delivery of life saving humanitarian assistance and other essential services to women and girls affected by the earthquake.
Having women in humanitarian roles is especially vital to ensure women and girls can safely access the support they need, which must be delivered by women.
For women, there is no other option to provide principled assistance.
Without women aid workers, we simply will not be able to meet the needs of women and girls in the weeks and months ahead.
While it's still warm in the earthquake affected areas, winter is fast approaching.
Living conditions and humanitarian access will become even more difficult.
Which is why UN Women is appealing for two and a half million U.S.
dollars to expand a 6 to 12 month emergency response and recovery plan.
Under this plan, we will scale up women's participation in the response and increase access to services in partnership with women's organisations.
We're partnering with five women lead and women focused organisations at the moment to address the immediate needs of women and girls across Kunar Province, including by providing items such as blankets, clothing and cooking utensils and supplies to cope with the winter cold.
We're also providing cash assistance and protection services including mental health and psychosocial support.
And we're also establishing safe spaces where women and girls can meet and access humanitarian support.
But we need to do more to target 30,000 individuals, primarily women and girls.
It's important to remember that many of the women and girls currently traumatised after this earthquake have already been through significant upheaval in their lives after returning from Iran or Pakistan.
This disaster will only compound the distress and economic pressures they were already facing.
Last week when I was in Kunal province, one of the worst affected areas, I sat with a group of women in an earthquake affected village.
We met in a stiflingly hot tent with a dirt floor, and soon that ground will freeze as winter approaches.
These women had fled their village in the middle of the night when the earthquake struck, walking for hours to find temporary shelter.
They told me they'd lost their relatives, many still buried in the rubble.
They lost their livelihoods and their source of income.
As long as there are women humanitarians on the ground, there is hope that women like this woman will be able to access support and services.
And to quote one of these aid workers, I asked if I could be deployed there because I wanted to support women and girls.
And we must invest more in the commitment, courage and sense of community shown by Afghan women humanitarians during this disaster.
I call again on the international community to provide more urgent support through women's organisations to ensure more women humanitarians are on the front lines.
It's the only way women and girls will get the care they need and slowly begin to rebuild their lives.
Thank you very much, Susan, for this very comprehensive briefing.
I'll open now the floor to questions.
Jeremy is going to add something on OHCHR site.
Listen, I would just like to speak to what the words of our colleague has just said regarding the the decision on September 7 where the de facto security forces prevented female staff members and contractors of the UN from entering UN compounds in Kabul through a written or verbal notification.
The restriction was in fact expanded to UN field officers countrywide on the 8th and 9th of September.
This ban and its reinforcement are part of a series of ongoing restrictions in Afghanistan affecting women and girls enjoyment to their rights, effectively excluding them from public life and confining them to their homes.
It is unlawful under international human rights law, given its fundamental discrimination of women, per the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women that seed all that you all know.
It is also an overt contravention of international rules on the privileges and immunities of the United Nations, including those extended to all UN personnel, including Afghan female staff members.
The UNUN in Afghanistan is engaging the de facto authorities at the highest levels to protest the actions of the de facto authorities.
And we would like to reiterate their call for the immediate lifting of the restrictions so humanitarian access assistance and critical services are delivered to the Afghan people.
I'll open the floor to question now.
Yeah, thank you very much for the briefing.
I was hoping you could say a little bit about what impact this the ban has had.
I mean, there is a mention that 40% of the teams have have women on them.
Are you seeing the ban play out?
And then also there has been, there have been reports that during the rescue work, women were not rescued because men could not access them.
Do you have any information about that or any numbers about how this has impacted rescue of women and girls?
Thank you very much, Nina.
Yes, thank you very much for the questions.
So the band, the band is impacting us because our women's staff are not allowed to come to the office to work.
However, women's staff are and women in the humanitarian response are still able to operate in the earthquake affected sites.
And this is really essential and has been recognised actually as essential by the DFA authorities as well.
So women continue to be a part of that response.
And but it's also why it's so important that we are able to provide funding for our women LED organisations on the ground, because they also are being mobilised through humanitarian support that comes to UN women.
And on the on the situation for and the reports about women being left behind.
When I was in in the earthquake affected area, I met with a number of women health workers and also women themselves who were affected by the earthquake.
And in I also met and went to the hospital, the Regional Hospital, which had 44% women patients and 56% men.
So I think that indicates that there hasn't been a systemic discrimination against providing support to either women or men.
And what I heard from health workers and from some women was that there was a particular area in the earthquake affected zone where there were cultural norms that meant that women themselves didn't want men to touch them and that men also didn't want to touch women as they were trying to rescue them.
But this was actually much more a reflection of the social norms from that particular area than from DFA particular discrimination.
I don't see other hands up online or in the room.
So thank you very much, Susan for for this briefing and answers and thanks to Jeremy for adding on the human rights side.
Please keep us informed on on how things will be going and, and stay safe and good luck.
All the best for your very important work.
So let's go now to lunch.
Thank you for being with us.
So let's go now to the second subject of our briefing of today, which is Sudan.
We have several colleagues here to brief you on the situation in Sudan.
On my left, Jeremy is accompanied by Lyfung, who's the representative of OHCHR in Sudan.
They have a new report coming out on Sudan.
And to my right, I've got the pleasure to have Patrick Youssef, and I don't need to introduce you to him, the ICRC Regional Director for Africa.
And he was accompanied by Jean Eve Clemenzo, the head of Sector Communication Africa, also from ICRC.
They're all going to tell you about their activities in Sudan.
Another terrible crisis of our time.
Maybe I'll start with OHCHRI.
This morning our office published a report on the human rights situation in Sudan covering the first half of this year.
Our report finds that the conflict driven crisis has intensified, pointing to a rise in civilian killings, including summary executions amid growing ethnic violence and a worsening humanitarian situation.
Most of the civilian killings occurred in Darfur, Kodafan and Khartoum.
Overall, the number of killings documented in the first half of this year represents about 80% of the total documented in the whole of last year.
Several major offensives and mass casual incidents were particularly deadly.
In April, an offensive by the Rapid Support Forces in Al Fascia and other areas in North Darfur resulted in at least 527 deaths, including over 270 in Zamzam and Abu Shuk camps for displaced people.
In March, air strikes by the the Sudan Armed Forces on Torah Market in North Darfur killed at least 350 civilians, including thirteen members of one family.
The report also documents the unlawful killing of at least 990 civilians outside the conduct of hostilities, including through summary executions.
Between February, February and April, the number of such killings tripled, due in a large part to a surge in summary executions, primarily in Khartoum, after the Sudanese Armed Forces and allied fighters recaptured territory previously controlled by the Rapid Support Forces in late March and campaigns of apparent reprisals against alleged collaborators ensued.
One witness who observed SAF search operations in civilian neighbourhoods in East Nile, Khartoum, between March and April said that he saw children as young as 14 and 15 years of age accused of being RSF members summarily killed.
RSF also carried out summary executions in Khartoum as SAF and Allied fighters closed in on their positions on the 27th of April.
Video footage obtained by our office shows the summary execution by RSF fighters of at least 30 males in civilian dress, including some who appeared to be children in Al Salah in Omdeman after they were accused of affiliation with SAF.
This violence, in all of its vile forms must end.
Impunity continues to drive cycles of violations and abuses.
To stop this accountability is critical to hold those responsible to account.
Sudan's conflict is a forgotten one and we hope that this report puts the spotlight on the disastrous situation where atrocity crimes, including war crimes.
The conflict has also led to the world's largest humanitarian crisis.
Millions face acute food insecurity and lack access to safe water and sanitation, and cholera is on the rise.
Yet still attacks continue on health facilities, markets, energy infrastructure, water sources and humanitarian convoys.
At least 30 humanitarian and health workers and seven media workers have been killed in the six month period.
The report also documents widespread arbitrary detention, often targeting individuals accused of being collaborators and involving ethnic profiling.
States must collectively face up to the grim reality of what has now evolved into a wider and alarming protection crisis, and to use their influence to end this conflict.
Many more lives will be lost without urgent action to protect civilians and without the rapid and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid.
You should have all received a full version of the news release along with the the report.
My colleague Lee Fang here, who heads out Sudan operation and was only in Port Sudan last week is here with us today.
She can take your questions on the report itself and give you the latest upgrade update on the on the ground.
Thank you very much, Lee.
Since the close of the period covered by our report, we have been alarmed by developments in North Darfur, in particular the situation in in El Fascia which continues to rapidly deteriorate.
Over the past few days we have received further reports of artillery shelling by the Rapid Support Forces and incursions into the Abu Shook IDP camp.
Around 90% of the camps population has been displaced by such violence in recent months.
Since the beginning of August, at least 207 civilians have been killed in El Fascia, including in Abu Shook camp, although the death toll is likely much higher.
This includes 159 killed during hostilities, largely as a result of artillery shelling, and at least 48 summary executions.
Taking into account the dire humanitarian crisis due to the continuing siege and the severe shortages of food, water and medicine, the reality on the ground in and fascia is horrific.
Every day we are receiving more reports of horrors on the ground.
Just this morning, reports have received have reached us of dozens of civilians killed in a mosque during prayer time, likely due to bombardment.
We continue to receive reports of civilians being killed, abducted or subjected to sexual violence while attempting to leave El Fascia.
There are no safe exit routes out of the city and civilians are trapped in a situation of impossible choice.
Either stay in El Fascia and risk bombardment, starvation, and atrocities if the RSF overrun the city or flee and face the risk of summary execution, sexual violence, and abduction.
We are witnessing a recurrence of similar patterns when the RSFC Zamzam IDP camp near Al Fascia in April during a mission arc offers conducted to eastern Chad in July.
In early July, we interviewed over 150 victims and witnesses who had fled Zamzam and Al Fascia.
They describe systematic violations and abuses, often ethnically motivated, including summary executions, targeting of health workers, abductions and targeted sexual violence against women and girls based on their ethnic identity and perceived affiliation with the Sudanese Armed Forces and joint forces.
One survivor described her escape from Zamzam camp, saying I realised that RSF soldiers were everywhere on the road to Towila and that I was going to be raped no matter what.
Based on these patterns, we fear recurrence of ethnically motivated violence in Abu Shuk camp in a Lafaccia city.
This adds to the grim picture of the first six months of 2025, as documented in our report released today.
As you heard, the report documents widespread arbitrary detention across the country, often targeting individuals accused of collaborating with the opposing side.
We have documented horrific conditions and abuses in places of detention, including torture and I'll treatment, and deprivation of food, water and medical care leading to deaths in custody.
Civic space has been increasingly constrained as civil society figures, including local humanitarian volunteers, have been subjected to arbitrary detention restrictions and attacks and we have documented numerous instance involving hate speech and incitement to violence.
This raises concerns about the ethnicisation of the conflict, drawing upon long standing discrimination and inequalities and the long lasting impacts this will have on society and social cohesion.
In Sudan, the conflict continues to have wide-ranging impacts on daily life.
During my recent visits to Port Sudan, I have had the opportunity to engage with women LED organisations, with persons with disabilities and with displaced women and children.
They have recounted the impacts of the conflict and of the displacement crisis on health, water and sanitation, housing, education and work.
Our office continues to work with civil society organisations, including those representing marginalised groups, to ensure their voices are heard and their needs are addressed.
It is clear that civilians continue to bear the brunt of violence in this conflict, which has continued for too long.
Once again, we call for an end to the conflict, for the protection of civilians, for unimpeded humanitarian access, and ultimately for international humanitarian law and human rights law to be upheld.
Thank you thank you very much Riffung and I'll now give the floor to our colleagues over the ICRCI don't know Patrick, you want to say yes, thank you so much and just before we start it's just to confirm or else congratulate also my colleagues on the clarity of the reporting and the and the accounts that in many ways we and our teams indeed witness underground.
And I think if we have to carry one message to the ahead of the United Nations General Assembly is that violence against civilians must stop.
As simple as this account may sound, it is extremely, extremely complicated for humanitarian organisations to ensure that the 33,400 people that were killed again in the human rights report that are occur constantly and eventually become the norm in a country like Sudan.
So I wanted to say I wish I was here to tell you how many schools have reopened or how many kids have been vaccinated or even how, you know, how human humanitarian services have been increased either by local actors or international actors.
And allow me please to say that this is not just neglected, forgotten, but mostly ignored because from the accounts of many journalists here in the room, but also all humanitarian organisations are screaming and shouting for attention on Sudan.
And I hope this becomes now more and more of a trend to, yes, focus on the Middle East and Ukraine.
But do not forget that these crises don't have impacts only on Sudan, but they destabilise, as you see now the whole of the Horn of Africa.
Allow me to focus on three things.
And I'm not going to bore you with the details that you know, specifically on the numbers of displaced and, and, and people that took refuge in other countries.
Allow me to speak first about the conflict, which was mentioned.
And it's that intensification means that the parties to the conflict have more capacities, have more capacities, be that military or human.
And that is indeed a mean to see that unfortunately, the armed conflict in different parts of the country are not stopping.
On the contrary, new front lines are being perceived.
And one indeed around Al Fashir, which is one of the worst humanity crisis I've seen, with, you know, Al Fashir being under siege since a couple of months now, blocking humanitarian aid and exacerbating the crisis.
Those who managed to run away, 500,000 of those have reached Towila.
And again, reaching Tawila means you are getting into a place where no shelters, no adequate living spaces, people are living in open fields.
That's what the ICRC and the Sudanese Red Crescent colleagues give as accounts and many have walked barefoot for days in extreme heat.
And therefore I think it is a humanitarian imperative today to put and shed light on the situation at Al Fashir and the whole of the north of Darfur.
And especially for those who are running away to get to places like in a Chad, not to be able to be received by humanitarian organisations for different reasons, namely budget cuts or budget provisions that haven't considered a mass influx of refugees from Al Fashir into other places.
And again, Tawela is another case in point.
I think the second, the second piece of information I wanted to share is again on the cholera outbreak.
You've seen our public communication about the cholera being a symptom, that epidemic is simply a symptom of, of destruction of the health facilities.
The water pumping stations that we would count on for people to receive fresh and clean water are simply unoperable.
And hence these that signals that the critical infrastructure during armed conflict needs to be preserved.
And that the Geneva Conventions are not just letters on paper, but if implemented could truly save lives, could could have truly saved the 2500 people that were killed because in the 21st century, we were not able to provide medical services to these people or provide them with clean water.
And it's exactly the same reason why so many Sudanese, I would say 100% of them, and those living in Sudan are unfortunately affected by this crisis, which has unfortunately again reached many levels.
Doctors and nurses in Al Jazeera East Hospital in Albasharga or Al Jazeera State are simply busy treating patients who have cholera rather than fixing the wounds of those who are affected by the armed conflict.
And we have seen that our teams and thankfully there are some people still left in the country, like an Adbara reference hospital where our teams have managed to treat 18,000 people, have delivered medicines and medical aid to Al Saudi Hospital in Al Fashir or to other places, especially in Khartoum.
But again, these are a small drop in the sea of needs.
We're obviously focusing on delivering assistance, water, food, maintaining the kitchens, the community kitchens that we've erected with the Sudanese Crescent, but also supporting the only working hospital now in Al Fashir.
Our teams have managed to provide cash for 4045 thousand people in Tawila, mainly again displaced from Al Fashir, but then trying to help and treat the cholera patience with everything we can.
And that response is clearly led by the humanitarian organisations with the support of the local authorities.
I think there we need to focus not just on Darfur, also on Kordofan and again, on the clear situation in in Khartoum, but we also have to see that the rainy season will obviously increase the risk of outbreaks.
The rainy season will certainly increase the difficulty of mobility for those trying to flee war zones.
And I think we need to clearly put it out there.
And maybe the last point I wanted to mention and again, happy to take more questions.
I hope that everyone in the room knows exactly what's happening in Sudan or has the sound bites and the images to come with that.
The last one is our team visited Khartoum quite quickly after the seizure of the Sudanese Armed Forces and found that literally in every, if not every, but in many locations, namely around hospitals or around other social services and structures, we found a lot of dead bodies, a lot of mortal remains being buried hastily because of the war.
And today, with the help of the authorities and the Sudanese Crescent, we're trying to be part of all the exhumations so that we identify those people and notify their families that they they were found and that they indeed receive a dignified burial with a clear identification.
Again, the war is not about only saving lives with food and water, but is also about those who remain behind waiting for news from their families.
Colleagues mentioned the detention question.
People have been detained and it's exactly why we keep on calling for both parties to allow for verifications and visits to these places of detention.
Again, if the intention is to go to peace, then the courageous thing to do is to respect the Geneva Conventions during war in order to pave the way for a peaceful resolution of this crisis.
Otherwise, we're going to pile up humanitarian crises that have become irreversible in nature and in volume.
And in that we will be screaming and shouting after the cessation of hostilities to find one dollar or one Swiss franc to support those infrastructure that could have been saved during the war, which we see now are systematically attacked.
And again, it is not an exaggeration to say 80% of the hospitals have ceased to exist, completely destroyed as we've seen in Khartoum, or have been run with very limited capacities, unfortunately because of this crisis.
And the last but not least, again, there are hundreds of cause of action that we can indeed get out there.
But again, if the war consists and continues, then the parties are asked to honour what they signed in Jeddah in the form of the Jeddah Declaration, which is full of recommendations for the troops, for the soldiers on the ground, to respect the civilians, to respect the hospitals and the infrastructure and allow unimpeded humanitarian access for ourselves and the list of humanitarian organisations that can indeed make a difference.
We're not in a conundrum here.
We're able to save lives and change the unfortunate reality that every Sudanese is haunted by.
But again, we are unable to do so except with the small things that we managed still to do.
War surgery in Adwara, dead body management in many parts of Sudan, assisting here and there.
But again, I think we all agree that this is a protection crisis to start with if people do not feel protected.
Even what I heard is that 2 million Sudanese have returned to their country.
Again, not verified, but what would they return to?
Which house will will harbour them?
Which hospital will provide them with healthcare?
And these are basically numbers.
And we should turn these these numbers into positive realities and try and change that narrative from the atrocities that we see into something much more hopeful for a country the size that, you know and the importance that, you know, culturally, religiously and ethnically for the whole of the East Africa, but also for the Middle East.
On cholera, we we have and we will distribute you footage.
We have testimonies of people affected, of our teams responding.
It's the worst cholera outbreak in Sudan for four years.
And I think this is an interesting material for you.
Thanks to all the speaker.
Let me open the floor to question now.
And yes, Pedreiro, AFP yes, thank you.
Some questions to Red Cross and human rights.
So to human rights, the the report mentioned the ethnicisation of the conflict.
Do you think that it it's going in direction of ethnic cleansing?
If you could explain a little bit, what does it mean the ethnicization, sorry and what kind of ethnic are you talking about?
And then on cholera, so you just say that it's the worst since for for some years.
When was the last major crisis?
And you mentioned 12,500 deaths.
Was it for this year or since the beginning of the conflict?
And and if the situation is ongoing like it's now, how many days you you think the the epidemic could do in, in the next month?
I'll start with Lee Fung.
In terms of ethnicisation of the conflict, we're really referring to the ethnic motivations and dimensions in various violations and abuses that we have documented throughout the report.
This includes in summary, killings in arbitrary arrest and detention in sexual violence, that this is a motivating factor, particularly we have witnessed in in North Darfur around Zamzam camp, but also now in Abu Shock that violence is being directed on an ethnic basis based on identity.
And I think that this is very, very worrying in terms of where this leads in terms of social cohesion.
In terms of your question in relation to ethnic cleansing, what our report has found is that we've documented serious violations which may amount to war crimes and other crimes under international law, including atrocity crimes.
We are not drawing any legal conclusions but the facts.
Are there and the testimonies are there.
Thank you very much, Patrick.
And on the cholera outbreak, in fact, in factually cholera occurs in many pockets in Sudan, but also in the neighbouring countries.
So that's a, it's not a, you know, it's not a big, big surprise.
However, when you speak about 110,000 people affected in one chart, that reminds us of the 2019 cholera outbreak.
There was a small one in 2023, but 20/20/19 was 1.
Unfortunately, where indeed it hit, it hit many, many areas.
And we recall that in August 2016 there was also a huge cholera outbreak, namely in Kordofan and in Darfur.
Now I think on the on the question of the spread, I believe that with now a containment measure by the Ministry of Health and a lot of humanitarian organisations, I think we can say that we're lucky that we're in Tawela, otherwise it would have spread across.
But today the figures are on Khartoum and that's why we said we're focusing with the Ministry of Health on specific areas, not everywhere where the acute, acute needs are.
2500 since beginning of June, if I'm not mistaken is a big, big number and therefore that will certainly increase.
But now with the rehydration, with the chlorination, with all the measures that are put in place, we truly hope and with the manpower and the mind power, the intelligent collective intelligence with those who lived that in the past, we really pray that it's contained within within days or weeks, not not more than that.
Because again, if we start with a rainy season and I think in this same room, when we spoke about the water contamination in Khartoum back in end of 2023, we were afraid of exactly the same, the same reason.
And then again today, I hope that the containment becomes much more acute rather than more death.
We would see much more attention on maybe other issues like malnutrition or other forms of instead in inaccuracy in sorry vulnerabilities for the local population, namely in Cordofan, in Tawila, more specifically, because of the double vulnerability these populations have been living.
But my worst nightmare would be this bigger spread in Khartoum.
Obviously, if the populations want to return back to Khartoum.
And that was the message we carried, our team carried to Khartoum with the help of the authorities is to start and quickly work on the infrastructure with the help of the African Development Bank, which I salute from here, that has really pledged a lot of support, not just financial, but manpower and expertise.
And we hope that the Islamic Development Bank and others would really join that that work.
If you've seen also that the Quad, the USUK, sorry, USKSAUAE and Egypt's announcement, I think this is also a measure of political support coming to, to help us and help other organisations increase humanitarian response, especially when we call that an imperative to respond.
Cholera is one of them, obviously.
Sorry for the question, but you are talking about ethnicisation.
Could you spell better what are the different ethnic that are involved?
Sudan's a very diverse nation with many tribes and identities.
And this has really been at the heart of discrimination, division and conflicts for for decades, particularly in in in Darfur in the early 2000s.
So what it is, is we're looking specifically, for example, giving you some examples, certain tribes or ethnic communities are seen as being supportive of certain parties because the parties of the conflict, because the leadership comes from certain tribes.
For example, what we saw in what we have seen in in Zamzam and now in, in Abu Shock is that the Zarawa community is being, is being targeted.
It is because the leadership of, of groups within the the SAFF aligned joint forces are Azarawa.
So they're perceived as being supporters of, of the SAF.
At the same time, we've also seen that in in other parts of the country, there is a mistrust.
There's an assumption that people coming from the West of, of, of Sudan, from the Darfur and Kodafan regions where the RSF has, has has control over large areas with the majority of the area that particularly from certain tribes that they are seen as supporters of the RSF.
So they will then be profiled in terms of arrest and and detention.
So that's it's, it's very complicated.
It's getting much more complicated by the ongoing mobilisation of civilians and recruitment by the parties, which is also from different tribes.
And it, it just, it spirals into this into this broader divisions within society.
Any other question on Sudan in the room or online?
I was wondering if the panel of experts on have any update on the food situation and the risk of famine in some of the ID PS in the country.
I'd like to say a word yes on that.
It's well the risk of severe malnutrition is always there.
Because the delivery of food assistance on one side is not steady, we are unable to ensure that every three months we be able to deliver.
We have the three community kitchens in Al Fashir, but again, that's for 80,000 people, That's not enough.
So the risk of famine is always high in a country like Sudan.
And I think the reason why, and we spelled it out very clearly in 2024 when Al Jazeera state was was taken over by the Sudanese Armed Forces.
But the main question is how to ensure that food systems and agriculture can become the norm rather than food distributions in Sudan.
And we even called upon a number of actors to work with WFP and others so that we can create together.
And that's why the the African Development Bank was very interested in trying to sustain the livelihoods of people and redress their own situation by themselves rather than come and create dependency with our humanitarian citizens.
But even there, we're not able to deliver everywhere.
And especially and I think the worst nightmare for us is still Zamzam camp and Al Fashir.
Wait, I have a question for the ICRC.
You said Sudan was not a forgotten crisis, but an ignore one.
I'm just wondering, you know, what is the main impact of this on the humanitarian response?
Is it just the resources?
What are the top challenges basically of of the humanitarians there?
You know when, when a crisis is ignored, states tend to put the humanitarian cart to pull indeed a political process behind.
And the other way should happen, in fact, And that's what we see on Sudan.
We need much more voices, much more attention, but also some actions and concrete resolute actions by states to influence basically the parties.
Can you imagine then since April 2023 there was not a single ceasefire acted upon since the beginning of this war?
That's exactly what we need.
It's not just the you know how much we invade the communication space and use the word Sudan and start being happy by the number of likes and retweets.
It's really about carrying the Sudan crisis, offering alternatives or incentives to the parties to look at peace rather than the war as the only mean to solve their differences.
But again, that's not the ICRC nor the UN, by the way, could do that.
It's really a coalition of states, it's the African Union, it's what the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia tried to do.
And hence that's why I allowed myself to speak of the Quad and the promise to meet at the margins of the United Nations General Assembly, because that would certainly bring an impetus to the peace process or to the cessation of hostilities process.
Let's not call it peace because we're far from that.
So that we allow humanitarian corridors or an invasion with the right generosity by humanitarian actors, which are not lacking only funds, but we're lacking more space to act, more security for our staff to be able to respond.
Don't forget we lost 4 colleagues.
The Sudanese Red Crescent lost over 20 colleagues only in two years.
And that is just more than enough to explain the dire situation of humanitarians trying to cross every front line in Sudan.
And in this sense, I'd like to recall the work that Ramtan Namara, the special, sorry, the personal envoy of the secretary general for Sultan has been doing all along this crisis.
But I think you are absolutely right, Patrick.
And we really hope that your coverage will help putting the spotlight on the on this crisis.
It's on another subject for human rights to whom?
Thank our colleagues who have been briefing on Sudan.
It's very important that we continue speaking about that.
Thanks to our colleagues of ICRC, Thanks to the Fung.
Can you stay on the podium one second?
And I'm seeing on the chats request for the B roll.
So I'll, I'll connect the Internet with you afterwards.
Jeremy, I was wondering if you could say something about the, if you have any reflections on the firing of Jimmy Kimmel in the United States, which is being seen as as clear censorship from the country that has been at the forefront of freedom of expression for for a very long time.
So if you had any comments on that?
And also along the same, in the same vein, there's the issue of the General Assembly, which is starting next week, and Palestinians will not be there.
President Abbas will not be there because he's not been granted a visa.
If you have any comments on sort of the rights implications of that.
So listen, CC Kirk's killing us has triggered an important wider debate in the US and beyond about freedom, freedom of expression and its core relevance to a healthy, democratic and pluralistic society.
Now I think it's important to state right that the the the murder of Charlie Kirk last week quite rightly led to a broad condemnation across US society.
Violence against the person is never justified as a response to expression of political views, however strongly disagreement may be in international that back to the the the Jimmy Kimmel thing.
So in international human rights law, restrictions on freedom of expression must be in pursuit of a legitimate aim and necessary and proportionate to achieve that aim.
Allstate entities and officials are bound to this standard.
I think I can leave it there.
Sorry, my second question on Abbas not being in the ban on these that listen, that's not really wouldn't be really for me to the to speak on.
Maybe it's more from well, as we have said that in the spokesperson of the Secretary General has said this various occasions, especially the noon briefing that we really hope that the host country will buy to its obligations under the host country agreement and the headquarters agreement.
So and I know that I mean they can't continue to see if this decision can be reversed, but we, we do hope that the host country will abide to it's to it's obligations under these two agreements.
My question again is about freedom of expression.
And this time I'm talking about India, where Internet independent channels have been severely curtailed on false grounds.
There is a fear of of the errors as well as cancellation of licences on account of, you know, independent assessments and opinions.
How dire is the situation in India according to you?
I can't speak specifically to the India situation until I get some more specific details with which you're referring to, but suffice to say, tapping into what I was saying earlier, freedom of expression is one of the core components of the human rights.
What a human is their rights they are entitled to, whether it be freedom of expression, freedom of opinion, freedom of assembly and these must be treasured, must be protected.
OK, No, yes, put down his OK.
So if there are no other questions to Jeremy, I let him go.
Jeremy, thank you very much for for this multiple answers and now let me turn to act.
That's Catherine you have an announcement.
Don't sit nouvelle like you said, for the recommendation.
Stabilisation, the politic.
Sorry it's on another side.
I was just wondering if Tariq is still online.
I had a question for let me see if there are questions for Catherine 1st and we still have an announcement.
I don't see any Catherine.
So good luck with the press conference and thanks for this announcement.
Nina, if you allow me before I, I, I give the for for Tariq, I just would like to hear from the ILO.
Zaina has an announcement for you.
Thank you very much, Alessandra and good morning, colleagues.
You have probably received by e-mail from us the embargoed material for our upcoming State of Social Justice report.
Now this is a major report, a new flagship report from the ILO, where we look at the state of social justice in the world, including key indicators such as poverty reduction, education and productivity.
And the report really has quite important information, some new data and some new analysis on where we are at in our pursuit of social justice and some of the key indicators, some of which are related to the SDGS.
The report itself will launch in New York at during the UN General Assembly on the 23rd of September, but it is of course available under embargo and the embargo lifts at 1915 local time, 1715 GMT on the 23rd of September.
We also have a number of experts and spokespersons who are available should you be interested in conducting any interviews For, for, for, for your coverage.
I encourage you to take a look at the report.
It's, it's quite an interesting one and ties directly to some of the issues that are going to be on the agenda at UNGA in New York.
And please do not hesitate to reach out to US, newsroom@ilo.org, if you would like to speak to any of our experts or spokespeople.
Ravi, is that a question for Zaina?
You need to unmute yourself.
I see your hand, but we can't hear you.
Yeah, OK, Thanks for this social justice report, the information.
But what I want to know is that the Trump administration has not paid its dues to the ILO.
It ILO is appointing White House official as deputy secretary general.
Does it actually add credibility to what ILO is doing?
I was saying thank you very much for the question.
There is no confirmation of of any new appointment so far for the ILO.
Happy to answer any other questions you may have if you'd like to reach out by e-mail.
Don't see other questions for you, Zaina.
So thank you very much for this announcement.
So I'll go to Nina now and Tariq's on the line to answer you.
I just wanted to ask about the decision yesterday by the vaccine panel that's been appointed by the Health Secretary in the US, which has decided to remove the advice against kids receiving the MMRV vaccine up to the age of 4.
Is there does The Who have any thoughts on that?
In in fact what we recommend when it comes to measles, rubella, mumps and and varicella.
So we recommend that all should receive 2 doses of measles vaccine either alone or in measles rubella which is called Mr or three violent measles, mumps, rubella or quadri violent measles, mumps, rubella and varicella combination.
So this should be a standard for all national immunisation programmes.
So to get that now we recommend that the use of varicella vaccine for the prevention of varicella in children population where varicella is considered an important public health problem and and that really it depends on on countries.
Now we use recommend recommend of either single antigen varicella or MMRV combination.
Now countries need to be aware of the observed increased risk for febrile seizures following the first dose of MMR recombination vaccine compared with using MMMMR vaccines, all MMRR plus varicella separately.
So basically this is the what we understand that the committee has been raising and it's the same what we state in our measles position paper of of risk.
So that's why the, the US was, was was giving the parents the choice to use either quadrivalent MNRV in one or to use MMR and varicella separate.
I can send you all this because there's lots of little combinations there.
So I can I can send you all this by e-mail.
My understanding is that the US was already giving this option to to do it separately.
So I'm, I'm wondering if the this high profile decision, if you're worried that it, it might undermine the even further the confidence in vaccines that there, there are all these decisions coming out that are saying that seem to be saying that vaccines are dangerous.
So I don't know if you have any thoughts on that.
Well, I'll explain you on this specific point that, that, that this is not something that we should be worried about because there is slight increase and more of, of a mild and short lived the reaction to MMRV comparing to MMR and virus are given separately.
We have to see what else will come out.
But we definitely stand at the position that vaccines are saved.
They are saving millions of life every year of children and and and we continue to to monitor the safety of vaccines by but it's you know, we know that vaccines are the best public health product that that we have.
I don't see other hands up.
So I have quite a few announcements today for you.
Let me start with the usual information about the human right treaty bodies.
As you know, we are still, we still have the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which is concluding this morning the review of the report of Lao PDR.
This is the last country that they had on their calendar.
The Committee on Enforced Disappearances will open next Monday at 10 AM.
It's 29th session which will go on until the 2nd of October at Bally Wilson during which it will hold dialogues on the end of the Article 29.
Four of the convention with Montenegro, Benin, Sri Lanka and the Committee will also hold its annual meeting with States and civil society organisation on 26th of September.
This is about the meetings of the treaty bodies on the press conferences.
Let me remind you on Monday 22nd of September, the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation.
This is by OCHR with Mariana Katsarova, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation.
The issue is we had announced it at 9:30.
We don't have final confirmation about the hour.
We think he will be at 11:30, so not at 9:30, but probably at 9 at 11:30 to be confirmed.
Solange will send you the revised announcement as soon as possible.
Yeah, that's on Monday, Monday 22nd.
So we will try to give you the exact hour today already.
We're waiting for colleagues to confirm, but Solange will inform you the Monday other press conferences at 1:00 PM.
It's the independent international funding mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
With the three members of the mission.
They will launch their latest reports to the Human Rights Council.
They presented to you on Tuesday, 23rd of September at 2:00 PM.
The group of human rights expert on Nicaragua will launch their latest report.
And this is also with the three members of the group.
And Katrina's already told you about the press conference of Ankhtad on Wednesday.
And this is about the pressure.
Now a few announcements on next week that as you know, we'll see the world looking at New York, where our colleagues will be holding the the the main week of the high level week of the session of the new session of the of the General Assembly.
So I'd like to start, sorry, because I've got many emails today here.
So I'd like to start by reminding you that the United Nations will resume the High Level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two State Solution which is Co chaired by France and Saudi Arabia in accordance with the General Assembly decision during its 80th session.
The conference will be held on Monday 22nd September at 3:00 PM in the General Assembly Hall.
It will reaffirm international commitments to the two State solution and seek to mobilise support for its implementation.
This is will all live streamed so you will be able to follow it on UN Web TV and let us know.
We have a we have a couple of colleagues from the Department of Global Communication who are working on this and they can inform you if needed if you have questions.
Another thing I wanted to sorry to highlight about the General Assembly is happening today.
The it's sort of a pre UNGA important events happening today, unfortunately late for Geneva, but I really wanted to underline we will have a commemoration of the UN at 80, a living legacy.
This will happen in the General Assembly hall in New York.
The Secretary General will open the meeting with opening remarks and the event will feature A Living Legacy, a short film by award-winning director Mr Singh Lee and producing a creative director, Mrs.
They will bring the story of the United Nations to life, its people, milestones and impact on the world over the past eight decades, building our future together.
The commemoration will also include live performances by Tiwa Savage and the UN Chamber Music Society.
And they will be closing remarks by UN Women Executive Director Mrs Sima Bahos, Under Secretary General for Management, Strategy, Policy and Compliance, Mrs Catherine Pollard and the EU and Deputy Secretary General Mrs Amina Mohammed, who will close the meeting.
As I said, this is a commemoration that will happen quite late in the evening.
There will be at 6:30 in New York, so midnight here, midnight 30, but it will be webcast and it will be possible to watch it later on on UN Web TV.
So that is one other thing I want to announce you.
Yeah, Yesterday we sent you the information about the report of the Secretary General on the work of the organisation in 2025.
The title of the report is for Humanity Report of the Secretary General, the work of the Organisation 2025.
It presents how the United Nations Secretary has translated resources into results over the past year.
The report is available in six languages, in six official languages and in two accessibility formats.
In line with our Disability Inclusion strategy, it presents our work to support Member States in driving the 2030 Agenda, advancing climate action, promoting gender equality, protecting human rights, advancing peace and security, coordinating humanitarian assistance, promoting justice and international law, furthering disarmament, increasing drug control, preventing crime, combating international terrorism and consolidating the UN reforms.
And I really invite you to take time to read the report.
It is available to be downloaded on UN Geneva website in English and in French.
I would also like to come back to a couple of announcement in Geneva of things happening in Geneva.
The first one is that we are two weeks away from building bridges.
Building Bridges 2025 We have distributed to you a press release which announces that Secretary John Kerry and Councillor Martin Fister will be among the featured speakers at the 6th edition of the Building Bridges which will open in Geneva.
With these two speakers, but many, many more, you have a list of the participants.
Following the links in the press releases.
We will have all these people.
It's more than 2000 leaders from finance, government, international organisation, civil society and academia gathering from the 30th of September to the two of October at the CICG here in town.
There is a media programme related to the Building Beaches event.
The first will be on Tuesday 30th of September at 8:15.
There will be a press briefing ahead of the summit and then on Wednesday 1st of October you will have a media workshop greening The Newsroom to build resilience in terms of turbulent and disruptions.
Again at 8:00 for those who wake up early.
On Thursday 2nd of October at 8:15 there will be a morning press briefings at the ground floor of the CICG.
A nice event that we celebrate every year, International Day of Sign Language.
This is on Tuesday 23rd of September here at the Paladinacion.
It's organised by us with the permanent mission of Cuba and the Dominican Republic.
I'll invite you to stop by the Sign Language Pop Up Cafe.
This will be from 1:00 to 3:00 PM in the Salon Swiss, just above our heads to enjoy complimentary coffee, tea and croissant and learn how to order in sign language.
It's always a very nice event.
Last but definitely not least, we were sent to the message of the Secretary General for the International Day of Peace, which we commemorate on the 21st of September.
I will not read this statement because you have it in your frame box and but I will invite you to look at it and of course speak about this very important International Day, especially at the moment.
So sorry for the very long list of of announcements.
Christian, Is sign language universal or is this the Spanish version of sign language?
Is that we are going to learn question and I don't know, I think it's international, but I will have to ask me.
I mean sign language as you know, it's a national language, but there is I understand, but please don't quote me.
I will have to check this.
There is an international sign language and that is what we commemorate.
But I will come back to everyone with a little note on this and maybe a little bit more information on the events so that you will all come there and learn how to order in this language body.
We've got your e-mail for John Kerry in CSCG.
But do we need to require the new accreditation?
No, I don't think this is the case.
Looking at Francois, Francois, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think it's the case for the permanently accredited journalist of EUNOG.
I think you will not need re accreditation.
Any other question online?
Yeah, John, Hi, Alessandra on that comment concerning CICG and no need for extra accreditation.
It's been an incredible problem for you and accredited reporters on most events there.
Can we get it in writing that we will not require any special accreditation to show security when we go there?
Look, in principle, when we have re accreditation of events, they give us this information because as you know, this is a UN Geneva event and we we meaning us really immunis we, we accredit the journalist.
So I will have to ask, but nobody has raised this question, which makes me really think that this should not be a problem.
But you're right, John, better to have it in writing.
Better to check than than not check and then have a problem later on.
So I will do it with pleasure.
So I have two homeworks, sign language and building bridges and maybe I will ask our colleague Edward next week to come and tell you a little bit more about the programme himself so that you can have more information from the horse mouth, so to speak.
So thank you very much to everybody.
Bon appetit and have a nice weekend.
