Let's start this briefing.
Today is Tuesday, 21st of October here in Geneva, the UN.
And I would like to start by giving the floor to Shoko Arakaki, who is the Director of UNFP's Humanitarian Response Division here in Geneva and who would brief us on the situation of women and girls in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
And then dear colleagues, good morning.
I have just returned from Democratic Republic of Congo or we call DRC where I visited the Kinshasa and Goma to witness first hand the reality facing women and girls.
Cut in one of the worst were the worst neglected humanitarian crisis sometime or often characterised as displacement protection and health and food nutrition crisis.
Throughout the visit, I also deformed our collective commitment to their health, rights and protection in in their situation humanitarian situation.
On the DRC, I met the extraordinary women and girls living through unimaginable hardship.
I spoke with midwives who continue to deliver babies under extremely difficult conditions.
I listened to mothers who had lost everything to young girls who still carry the scars of violence.
I also met local partners including women LED organisations and the frontline health workers who continue to serve their communities with the courage and compassion.
I was indeed devastated to listen to a story of 14 years old girl who was raped several times.
She was repairing A fistula caused by the rapes at one of the UNPA supported hospitals.
She told me that she still dreams to go back to a school after recovery.
This is the story the present many that I heard.
Congolese women and the girls endure the tremendous suffering but never give up on their hope.
Even before current escalation of the conflict, three women died every hour from pregnancy and the birth dated complications in DRC women and the girls are also being raped, exploited and then abused in a camps, in transit and within their own communities.
Other recent girls among those most at risk accounting for the third third of reported gender based violence cases.
In the meantime, access to life saving sexual reproductive health services has been significantly impacted by security situation and then access and the funding issues.
UNFPA has designated DRC as an internal L3 Level 3 emergencies, our highest classification in terms of severity and the needs.
It's deflect both the magnitude of the crisis and our organisational wide humanitarian response and a commitment to the suffering.
We are actively indeed responding to the raise in the conflict related sexual violence, which has increased around more than 33% compared to the similar timing of last year.
We ensure that the survivors receive medical treatment and psychosocial support.
Our team are providing life saving supplies, supporting health facilities to deliver post rape care and they're helping women and girls de build their lives through cash assistance, vocational training and a community resilient programming.
The need are growing but resources are not.
In 2025, UNFPA is targeting 1.4 million people with humanitarian assistance in DRC.
As we near the end of the year, just half of UNFPA appeal has been funded.
We must remember that without access to sexual reproductive health and gender based violence services, women and girls will die, and women and the girls in the DRC need us more than ever.
Thank you for interest and looking forward to your question.
Thank you very much, Shoko.
And let me just add that the 2.5 billion Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for the Democratic Republic of the Congo is currently just 16% funded, with 410 millions received so far.
Our HealthPartners urgently need 6,000,000 to procure essential supplies and maintain life saving services.
Urgent measures are needed to ensure the continued functioning of healthcare facilities in all area affected by crises, especially in the eastern part of the DRC.
Additional funding is required to prevent a greater tragedy.
We also call on all parties to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians, protect civilian infrastructure, including health facilities, and to ensure safe and unimpeded access of humanitarian aid wherever it's needed.
And I'll open the floor to questions now.
The the, the scale of rape and abuse and and exploitation that you that you just detailed there.
What is the the government in the DRC doing about this situation?
I actually met Minister of Social Affairs and humanitarian actions in the DRC and then she was, she was really passionate that she was really, really emotional.
I must say, you know, knowing what happening in the East side and government of DRC is always supportive about protection of women and girls and then responding to responding to the the conflict related sexual violence, including of course gender based violence.
But the new situation right now, they cannot go in.
So while government is ready care, but also asking our help because we are the one who can really go to the territory.
But I just, yeah, I just want to highlight that we get good support from the government for this, for this issue.
Other question in the room, I don't see any.
Let me see from the platform, we have anybody who has comments or questions for you.
So thank you very much for coming and telling us about this important mission and also putting the spotlight on this other terrible situation which we've been seeing for such a long time in DRC.
So I'd like to ask now Eber to join us on the podium.
Building is complicated these days.
So I think you have already met Abir Etefa, the senior Regional Communications Officer and spokesperson for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe of the World Food Programme.
I think you briefed already the journalist at last briefing and you are here to give us a further update on the situation in Gaza.
Yeah, thank you for having me one more time and happy to provide further updates on the situation in Gaza on behalf of the World Food Programme.
I think on Friday we had some developments on access on deliveries.
Over the weekend, we've seen also some further developments.
So let me walk you through the latest on our operations on Gaza.
So I think since the ceasefire started on the 11th of October, we've now have over 100 and over 530 trucks into Gaza supporting bakeries, nutrition programmes, general food distributions.
So far we've had over 6700 tonnes of food.
That's enough for close to half a million people for two weeks.
Daily deliveries continue and they are now averaging around 750 tonnes.
That's that's much better than what we had before the ceasefire, but it's still well below our target, which is around 2000 tonnes every day.
We plan to restore regular food distribution networks, expanding to 145 distribution points across Gaza.
When I briefed on Friday, I mentioned that we've had now 5 distribution points over the weekend.
This is now up to 26 distribution points operating, with more reopening as the conditions permit.
Most of these distribution points are in the South.
In the South and centre of Gaza, they're Al Balahanu, Sairat Khan Yunis, Al Muhazy, Al Breji.
And the response has been really overwhelming.
People are showing up in large numbers, grateful for the efficiency of the delivery of food assistance as well as the, you know, dignified way of people standing in line, quickly getting their food rations and especially impacting the most vulnerable, the women, female headed households, the elderly.
These are our top priority at the moment as we stand.
Also there's still the delivery of fresh bread on daily basis, 9 bakeries, but we still need more to go.
We need to be up to 30 bakeries across Gaza.
But for this to happen, we need large quantities of wheat flour.
We need to up the game in terms of the delivery of more food supplies and specifically wheat flour to be able to get the 30 bakeries.
As we speak, half a million people are benefiting from these, from the fresh bread distributing around, you know, 100,000 bundles, 2 kilogrammes each to help families.
So as I mentioned, the, the, the, the, the break, the good thing is that we're getting to the most vulnerable, the women and the assistance include the general food distributions, the bread as well as the, you know, cash, some cash to a number of the most vulnerable families.
Over the next three months, we would like to get to 1.6 million people.
We we're also scaling up the nutrition support for the pregnant and nursing mothers and very important that we get into the north to north Gaza.
We've managed to get some distributions in Gaza City, but not at the scale that we would like to see.
It's very important that we get all the food, all the, all the border crossing points open at the moment since Friday.
And you know, since we spoke, we had, we still have only Karam, Shalom and Zicam only open for the deliveries, which does not really serve the north.
So it's very important that we get into, you know, this, these border crossing points sustaining the ceasefire is vital.
It's, it's, it's release, it's the only way we can save lives and, and push back on the famine in the north of Gaza.
Full implementation will allow WFP to operate at the scale required for this crisis and effectively support all the partners and the distributions on the ground.
So my colleagues have been able to travel to different parts of Gaza over the over the weekend.
So we have, you know, I can give you some, you know, description of what people are telling them.
I think that my colleagues, I spoke to them this morning, they said that the some of the women showing up in the distribution centres are saying that they are.
Before the bread distribution began, they relied heavily on neighbours and friends.
There were days that she had two Russian food because the children because she doesn't know what comes next.
So the children would have to skip meals and eat every other day.
Now with the fresh bread in hand, they feel that they can at least there's something that they can count on instead of the, you know, and she can go herself because she is a priority for the World Food Programme.
I think the the other element is that people are hopeful, there is cautious optimism, but they are the food that they are receiving, receiving.
They eat part of it and they ration and keep some of the supplies for emergency because they are not very confident how long the ceasefire will last and and what will happen next.
So they are unable to really consume because they are extremely worried, consume the food supplies because they're extremely worried that they have it today, but they might not have it.
They might not have the same level of assistance in another few days.
The it's a fragile peace.
Some of the people are saying 2 days ago there were air strikes.
We were told it's a a ceasefire.
Should we move back home or stay here?
We're still eating less, spending less, hoping more.
But that's basically the mood among the families that my colleagues are saying are are seeing in the different food distributions where they have been, where they have seen we really the most important thing for us.
The ceasefire needs to hold.
WFP and other humanitarian agencies are scaling up operations.
They are starting to, you know, push for more clean water, food supplies.
Shelter is one of the biggest problems facing families as they are returning home to in many of the places.
We've again, I think we, we've seen also on Sunday that we were not able to get food supplies into Gaza through the crossings because of fighting.
But we know it's, it's a fragile ceasefire.
The most important thing is that it lasts and, and, and people continue to hold on to hope as well as our teams on the ground.
Thank you, Javier, and let me join your call for this as we also the UN are encouraged that the parties have reaffirmed their commitment to implementing the ceasefire in Gaza.
And we do our remain concerned as as you said, by all the act of violence in Gaza and the reported attacks and strikes that took place this weekend.
We urge all parties to honour all their commitments, ensure protection of civilians and avoid any action that could lead to a renewal of austerities and undermine humanitarian operations.
We reiterate the Secretary General score for the release of the remains of all the deceased hostages and I'll open the floor to question.
I see Christian German news agency.
Could you explain a bit why are you not able to take 2000 tonnes in every day?
Can you give us a bit more detail what the bottlenecks and obstructions are?
And do you do you see looting of the WFP trucks inside the territory still?
So few things just because I forgot, we have a video news release that will be out today with footage of food distributions of the, you know, movement inside Gaza.
So you'll have a collection of freshly collected content and footage, video footage from the ground in the last two days.
The other thing is that also I on the, when I mentioned the distribution of cash, I meant it's the digital vouchers that we're giving to families so that they can go back to the market and are able to get fresh food and and produce.
And that's mainly for the most very vulnerable families.
And these are the mainly the, the severely malnourished who need complementarity to the food basket that we're providing, which is always, you know, dry food rations.
In terms of your question, first question is on the why we're not seeing the scale up.
To be able to get to this scale up, we have to use every border crossing point.
Right now we're only using Karam, Shalom and Zicam.
So of course, the capacity, the pressure, the movement inside Gaza with the, with the, you know, severe amount of destruction makes it, you know, almost impossible to get to this goal of 2000 tonnes unless you are able to utilise all crossing points.
So we need, we need this to open.
We need, of course, that requires a lot of coordination on the ground.
So we're, we're, you know, we're, we're hopeful that we're going to get to this point, but it is happening slowly.
As I mentioned over the weekend, we've had more distribution points happening and, and, and the team is, you know, pushing everything on the ground so we can get to this to that level.
In terms of looting, we haven't seen looting actually of our convoys since the ceasefire, since the opening of the supplies, I think people.
Are reassured now that, you know, if they wait, that they're going to see more, you know, and they're, you know, seeing that convoys are coming constantly.
You know, people at the bakeries are starting to run and and that's that's an important element psychologically so that people are patient and wait for food supplies to come.
Plus also we are not seeing any, you know, kind of the armed groups on the ground that also, you know, took part of of these looting events at at at a certain point.
So happily to report that convoys are pushing through for this getting to the warehouses and distributions are happening in an organised and dignified manner.
So that these are the two questions.
I'm, I'm and I'm sorry, I'm, I'm really sorry.
Also just, I, I mentioned that it is Karam Shalom and Zikim.
Actually it's Karam Shalom and Kisufim Zikim.
Zikim is in the North and it's not yet operational.
So it is just to reiterate, it's Karam, Shalom and Kisufim that are open at the moment.
Great to have you with us in Geneva.
One on the crossings, have you got any indication when the northern crossings will reopen and why the reluctance on the Israeli side to to open them given the scale of the needs?
And secondly, given that there has been a famine in northern Gaza and there are pockets of people who I imagine who've been isolated and you haven't been able to reach yet, are you concerned at all about refeeding syndrome, people who have been deprived of food for so long, possibly suffering from having too much too quickly?
And if so, how are you planning for that?
Are you seeing any cases?
So on your first question, no, we don't have an indication on when these border crossing point will open on the refeeding.
I'm sorry I didn't get the question.
If people are getting too much to eat after a long time of predation, then.
Should have problems and are you preparing for that?
I think I, I'm not, I'm not sure that we have the enough foods for the whole population to see that we have a refeeding syndrome.
I think people are just like still what they are getting is, you know, is, is enough, but it's not to and as I mentioned, people are nervous about the future of the ceasefire and whether they'll continue to get access to food or not.
But I we have not heard from on the ground that there is a refeeding programme, a problem and we have nutritionists with our teams in Gaza.
So I'm sure that they are looking into that.
But we we haven't gotten into the point that Gaza is flooded with food and families have more than what the needs.
Other questions in the room to a bear Isabel Sacco, Spanish news agency.
Just on the weekend, we all expected Rafa to open.
So were you doing preparations for that at any moment?
Were you already ready to use this crossing point?
And if yes, whether, whether you you are still preparing to, to use Rafa?
At the moment we're using Karam Shalom and we will continue to use Karam Shalom for sending supplies.
I don't, I don't know if Rafa is yet operational for commercial and, and for, you know, for humanitarian cargo.
So I, I, I don't think we have immediate plans to use Rafaq.
We will continue to use Karam Shalom in the South to push supplies into Gaza.
And it's unlikely that it's going to be used for humanitarian cargo given given the level of destruction as well.
What about fresh food, bringing fresh food into Gaza, How much of that have you been able to bring in?
And secondly, food that makes it to to markets, do you have an indication of what sort of prices staple foods on markets are going for because we've heard reports in in the past that things which are available.
Expensive and beyond the reach of a lot of people.
So traditionally our food basket will not include fresh food or produce because of the, you know, fragility and vulnerability of this, you know, food items in terms of spoilage.
But This is why it's very important that we keep the, the, the, the, the voucher programme because that allows people to go to the markets and to get what they need in terms of fresh food supplies, whatever is available.
This is why it's very important and we always advocate for the commercial supplies to get in.
I mean, humanitarian aid and supplies will not be the only solution for, you know, dealing with severe malnutrition and, you know, and, and having a complete food basket.
So it's very important that we see, we see that commercial supplies get in.
Now in terms of the, we've seen reports that, you know, because supplies are getting in, the food prices have dropped, but not to the level that it can be affordable.
There's still a huge problem of access.
People, you know, can find food in the market, but it's out of reach because it's extremely expensive.
I think prices have gone down and, and we're, we're trying to, This is why it's very important to get to the most vulnerable 200 two, 100,000 people should be getting these voucher programmes to be able to access food in the market.
So I think we, we're, we're, you know, we're hoping to get the, the, the private sector to continue to push and get supplies in the market.
Could you say when this voucher programme will begin if you the recipients when we they will get the electronically or in paper?
I don't know how it works and you mentioned electronically that could be the best.
But in any case, when they will have these to, to, to be able to use them?
We've already start, we've already started.
So 50,000 people have already received these vouchers and, and they, they're able to go to the market markets and redeem them.
And again, the plan is to get to 200,000 people.
That's 10% of the population in Gaza, the most vulnerable.
One more question for you on the platform.
Thanks for taking the question.
Abby, I wasn't quite clear what access you have had to the north.
Have you had any convoys into the North since the ceasefire?
And if so, when, how many and when and what's your assessment of, of the number of people who, who are living there and the kind of conditions there that your, your staff on the ground are finding?
So we in terms of access to the North, we've had one distribution of nutrition supplements for the pregnant and nursing mothers we've had and, and children who are suffering from malnutrition.
We've also had some nutrition snacks that are important to provide some, you know, nutrition items that you don't get from, you know, the regular food supplies, which is being distributed in these temporary learning spaces for children.
But we haven't had large scale convoys into the, you know, the, the Gaza City or to the north of Gaza.
We've cleared the roads at scale into the north, but we need these crossings to open so that we're able to get large scale convoys.
Think the team has worked since the 11th of October on making sure that all the roads from the border crossing points, you know, are cleared.
So, so that we facilitate this quickly.
We hope we're we're just hoping that it's it doesn't take too long before these crossing points are open.
And he was asking if you have any idea how many people are still living there, in which conditions.
I, I don't really have the exact number of how many people are still inside in the North, but you know, the, the IPC on, on that was published on the 22nd of August has put the number of people in famine or risk of famine at around 500,000.
So half a million people are facing famine conditions in in the north of Gaza.
It's a very dire situation.
We've lost access, you know, to to the north of Gaza for a month now.
So it's the situation is extremely dire and it's a priority to get of course to the northern parts of Gaza and to Gaza City.
Thank you very much for doing this.
Does the WFP have inside Gaza?
And secondly, are you able to work with the staff of UNWA for the distribution of your supplies inside of Gaza?
On your first question, I'd need to get, I would need to get in touch with the team on the ground to know exactly how many stuff we have on the ground.
On your second question, we're working, I mean we'll continue to work with all our partners on the ground and we coordinate with UNRWA like any all other UN agencies, UNICEF, you know WHO every there is coordination happening on the ground.
And we're also working with the logistic clusters with the, you know, facilitating the movement of of supply on behalf of the UN partners and NGO partners inside Gaza.
So we're working with all agencies on the ground.
Maybe just to add that I think it was yesterday when UNRWA said that with the ceasefire in place and as more areas become accessible or has has been spending the number of temporary learning spaces set up in community shelters for displaced people.
It's just going back to the the access to the north.
Just to clarify, you said you had cleared the roads.
You mean you have cleared the roads from the northern crossings to the places in the north you might like to reach?
And then secondly, to, to expand on that, are we to understand that you really to, to get from Sekhar Shalom to the north is just impossible at the moment?
Is that because the roads are blocked or mined or you're prevented?
Just could you just clarify that exactly please?
So on your first question, when I, when we say clear the roads, it means that we've removed the debris from the border crossing points to be able to connect to Gaza City.
So that's on the first question.
On the second one, it's I, I, it is the, the level of destruction and, and you know, access from the South to the north is, is going to be extremely difficult.
So This is why we need, you know, areas we need Zika, we need these border crossing points to be to, to open so that we can easily access with these large convoys into Gaza City and the north of Gaza.
Is there any other question for Abeer?
I don't see any, any other platform.
So thank you so much for for this update.
I, I hope you continue coming and briefing the journalist.
So that brings me to my final announcements.
First of all, I have an important announcement for you for the trip of the Secretary General that has been announced yesterday in New York.
Let me remind you that tomorrow morning the Secretary General Antonio Guterres will arrive in Geneva to participate in a special session of the World Meteorological Congress commemorating the 75th anniversary of WMO.
The session will spotlight the Early Warnings for All initiative where the Secretary General is expected to reiterate this urgent call for universal access to life saving alert systems.
Immediately after this event, the Secretary General will proceed to our palette to attend the 16th session of the UN Conference on Trade and Development.
I understand this morning you had a briefing from Maria Navarro on the developments of the conference, which as you know will last until Thursday.
Following this session, we will have the Secretary General in this room.
He will be joined by Carlos Cuerpo, who's the Spain's Minister for Economy, Trade and Business, and they will officially launch the Sevilla Forum on that.
I think you have received yesterday evening the invitation to this press conference.
The forum is a key milestone in advancing commitments made during the 4th International Conference for Financing for Development, which did take place in Sevilla in Spain.
And so we will have the Secretary General and then he will leave on Thursday to go to Hanoi and following that to the ASEAN meeting in Kuala Lumpur.
I also wanted to announce you an invitation that I think you have also received.
On the 24th of October we are going to mark the official 80th anniversary.
We'll be speaking a lot about that.
But on the 24th of October we will officially commemorate the 80th anniversary of our organisation.
We will do so in a little ceremony in the South de Papurdue, where we will also open the photo exhibition UN at 80.
Shared lives, Shared future.
It will be, as I said, on Friday at 12 noon.
So just after the briefing, you're invited to attend this ceremony, which will be held with the Director General of the UN Office at Geneva, Mrs Tatiana Valovaria.
The exhibition that you will see will present 27 powerful stories showing how the UN makes a tangible difference in People's Daily lives, from advancing peace and security to providing humanitarian aid, as we have just heard, fostering sustainable development and promoting human rights.
Two of the individuals that are featured in the exhibition will also be there to deliver remarks together with the Secretary General.
Just to inform you that this is part, this is the Geneva leg of a global initiative organised by our Department of Global Communications in collaboration with the UN Information Centres and the permanent missions of Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland in New York.
The full online version is much bigger.
It's about 200 stories from 193 countries.
They will be featured on the UN80 web page and there will be there additional information about all the events in the world and also about the individuals that are featured in this images.
Let me see if I I have another press conference.
This is on Monday 27th of October at 10:30.
The Minamata Convention on Mercury.
Will colleague will brief you on what to expect at the 6th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to this convention which will take place in Geneva from the 3rd to the 7th of November.
The speakers will be Monica Stanevich, executive secretary of the convention, and Brenda Cook Cook, the senior coordination officer of the convention.
And I think I have told you everything we have, Emma.
Is it possible to ask a couple of questions on Gaza to WHO and Archer?
And of course, I also had a question for Claire, if possible.
Jens is in the room, so I will invite him to the podium.
And we also have other colleagues ready to answer question on Gaza, including WHOI think Tareq is there.
OK, so Emma, do you mind if I listen to that first?
And then while we are opening the connections with I don't stay that Taric yet, but yeah, go ahead.
But can you use the mic please?
Mr Guterres will also make a speech in double in that conference.
Secondly, I didn't get really the e-mail on the event with the Spanish minister.
So I don't know what time is that.
And finally, if given the fact that we will have we have rarely the Secretary General here, will we be able also to to ask few questions of news about.
The programme of the Secretary General, Yes, absolutely.
As I said, the Secretary General will speak 1st at the WMO Congress and they will have some interactions with the participants in the Congress and then he will move here and he will speak to the ANTI 16.
He will also be accompanied by a number of representatives of the regional groups.
Then we will have a family photo opportunity and then they will all come here for the press conference.
The press conference invitation.
I have sent it to you all.
Yesterday evening, it was pretty late.
Yeah, I remember perfectly the time because it was late.
But definitely, yes, the speakers to the conference will be, as I said, the Secretary General, Carlos Cuerpo, the Minister of Economy, Trade and Business of Spain, and Rebecca Greenspan, the Secretary General of UN Trade and Development, and Li Junoire, the Under Secretary General, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs will be there on, will be here on this podium to, to, to launch the civilian forum on debt.
The Secretary General will have to depart after the opening statement.
So I don't think we will have an occasion to ask him questions.
However, Mrs Ginsmann and Mr.
Lee Junior will be staying over together with the Minister of Economy, Trade and Business of Spain to answer your question.
So it will be a proper press conference only.
He will have the time only to do the opening statements, but then he will have to leave.
But you will hear from him definitely on this occasion.
I don't think anybody who's not accredited to the UN is listening to me now.
But I tell you, in case you have colleagues that have been accredited to Anktad in particular, if you don't have, if these colleagues don't have the permanent accreditation to UNOG, they will have to register for the conference as explained in the advisory that I've sent out yesterday night.
And it's about no worries, even if you haven't received it, I definitely send it again.
You had a third question.
And then I know you have a question for Claire, but and she's on online, but let me first start by giving the floor to Emma who has a question for Yentz and for Tariq.
Yentz it's actually on the West Bank.
I know that in a humanitarian update recently you gave some details of incidents of violence by Israeli settlers against farmers in the olive harvest.
BBC runs some footage of a Palestinian woman being clubbed in the West Bank as she was picking olives.
Can you tell us anything about how bad it has been this season compared to to previous years and how concerned you are about attacks on Palestinians during the harvest?
Emma, sorry, I I see Tariq is connected.
Do you want to also ask his question?
Ask your question to him.
It was actually on Rafa and medical evacuations.
Do you have any indication when that corridor will be reopened and how big a difference will that make to the enormous backlog?
Need to read into that West Bank thing so if.
Of course, we're always concerned about settler violence, and we have seen an.
Optic in in that, but I'll have to look into the exact numbers in there in our.
So I, I can't really tell you when it, it will open, but we, as I said, we need all these referral pathways to, to, to open as soon as possible.
So we can, as you rightly mentioned, clear this backlog and try to get as many people as possible.
Over 15,000 people need to be medically evacuated, including more than 3000 children.
We will as we have done in the past, we have been informing about the evacuations.
So, so just just to stay tuned, we will, we'll provide the information.
And also you have seen the, the 60 day plan that we, that we issued on Friday and, and one of the things that is a priority in next 60 days is to scale up, scale up medical evocations to get to 50 patients and an accompanying person per day.
So basically to match what was, what was the number of people getting out to get medical care before, before the escalation of, of, of, of hostilities.
So we'll, we'll keep you posted on that.
Who had the question for Claire?
I hope it's going well over there.
I understand that you're going to be discussing a little bit this week the financial situation of the WMO and I, I profess ignorance on this.
I'm just wondering, has the US also cut contributions to the WMO and can you give us any details if so?
And are you also affected by the overall retrenchment of European donors given security priorities?
Can you just tell us what the situation is and what you'll be discussing this week?
So the financial situation will be discussed on Thursday.
So you can, you can, you can access it.
I think it's Thursday morning, probably most, most of Thursday actually.
So you know, please, please tune into to that For more information.
Yes, you know, the US, as with all other UN agencies, the US is a major contributor.
We are still awaiting assessed contributions from, from, from the US, awaiting quite, quite anxiously.
the US delegation is here and is playing, you know, a very active, very constructive role in, in, in, in discussions.
So it's our extra budgetary funding.
We unlike you know, many other agencies we did not rely heavily on, on the United States for, for, for that.
So it's more, you know, it's more the regular budget and we are awaiting the, you know, contributions on that.
In terms of the European situation at yesterday's high level segment on early warnings for all, we did get a couple of pledges including one from Spain for I think it was €5 million.
That was for, you know, specific, specific projects.
But I think you know that that, that is why we are having the, you know, the, the discussions on on Thursday just to assess where we are, you know, where we need, where we need, where we need to be.
So I can't really say much more than that at this stage, but you are welcome to to to tune in this morning while while I'm online, I've got the floor this morning.
We had quite an interesting special panel on artificial intelligence and weather forecasts.
And you know, the main message on that is if we snooze, we'll lose.
So, you know, big, there's a, there's a, there's a lot of momentum happening in AI, in weather forecasters, in all other all, all all other domains.
And we heard this morning really quite interesting presentation from Norway and from Malawi with Norway sort of teaming up with the meteorological service from Malawi to try to help fast track them to more advanced weather forecasting capabilities by, you know, by, by using AI models.
So if you're interested in that, just just let me know.
And 3rd and finally and most importantly, the Secretary General's arrangements tomorrow it his, his interactive dialogue will be broadcast on UN television.
Space is extremely tight.
It's, it's even tight for, you know, for the members of, of, of WMO.
So you know, whilst obviously accredited photographers, TV cameras, you know, you, you are welcome.
Please just confirm your attendance with me for written media, I would recommend it's probably more efficient for you to follow the, the the live stream because you know there will be quite heavy security and space will be very, very tight.
I will send you the WMO Secretary General's written text, Andrew Embargo.
So you will have that ahead of the ahead of the the speech.
Are there questions for any other colleague who is connected?
I can see in the chat you have not received the invitation either.
I have just checked you were all in my message, so this is really strange.
I will send it again with pleasure and but, but please check your mailboxes because I I did send it yesterday night.
But Nikki, maybe you have a question to Claire.
Yes, thank you, Claire, good morning.
Yeah, I just in relation to US funding could do you have some numbers at your fingertips what percentage of the overall assessed contribution comes from the United States?
And when you talk about waiting for the US to pay, how far in arrears are we talking?
Are we, are you waiting for the 2025 contribution or are we going back further than that to 2024 as well?
I need to refresh my memory on the figures.
From what I understand, I think it's 20, what, just over 21% for the assessed contributions.
And yes, 2020, 2020, 2025, we, you know, we haven't heard word either yes or no.
I think probably other agencies may be in a similar, similar position to, to us.
But as I said, you know, the US delegation is here they are, you know, playing a very constructive, very active role in, in, in the discussion.
So, and as the WMO secretary general has said time and time again, you know, where, where the climate, water, no water, no, no national borders.
You know, This is why global collaboration really is the key.
And that is one of the main messages of the WM OS 75th anniversary that, you know, we've been exchanging data, you know, for 75 years now.
We the WM OS worldwide, sorry, the world's world weather weather forecasting programme, you know, world Weather Watch, you know, preceded the World Wide Web.
So we've been, we've been doing this for a long time.
the US has been right at the heart of the action, you know, from from the very beginning.
And they remain, you know, at the heart of action.
They're very, very crucial, very important, very important member.
Thank you very much, Claire Satoko.
I just want to check with what you said since when the United States has not paid their contribution since 2024.
Am I wrong since the Biden administration?
I understand it is also from 2024, but I'll, I'll double check and I'll, I'll get, I'll get back to you on that.
I think I'll see you all for the press conference of the Secretary General and then we will see, of course, each other on Friday and hopefully at the ceremony for the 80th anniversary.
So thank you very much and I'll send again the invitation just now.
