A very good morning to you, colleagues.
Thank you for joining us here at the UN office at Geneva today, the 31st of October.
I'm wearing my international civil servant costume, as you can see.
So I'd like to thank you very much again for joining.
We have an immense, immensely busy agenda, I would say, so obviously appeal to you and, and to briefers to try to move along as quickly as possible because lots of very, very important newsy subjects today.
We're going to start off immediately with Ravina, who's going to speak about the US attacks on boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
We also have Tanzania, we have Sudan, the situation in in Darfur and in the entire country.
In fact, we have updates from colleagues who will be joining us remotely to speak to the situation of Hurricane Melissa, the aftermath.
And we also have a colleague from the UNDP joining us on the Great Lakes Conference, which concluded yesterday in Paris.
So lots, lots on the agenda.
So without further ado, hand over to Ravina who will speak to the first issue.
Good morning, colleagues.
You will receive a very shortly a press release from the High Commissioner on this.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volcker Turk, has said that air strikes by the United States of America on boats in the Caribbean and in the Pacific violate international human rights law.
Over 60 people have reportedly been killed in a continuing series of attacks carried out by US armed forces against boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific since early September, in circumstances that the UN human rights chief says find no justification in international law.
These attacks, and they're mounting human cost, are unacceptable.
the US must halt such attacks and take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats, whatever the criminal conduct alleged against them.
The US has argued that these actions are part of a necessary anti drug and counterterrorism operation and the amount to actions governed by international humanitarian law.
But as has long been agreed among states, countering illicit trafficking of drugs across international borders is a law enforcement matter governed by the careful limits lethal force that are placed on lethal force under international human rights law.
Under international human rights law, the intentional use of lethal force is only permissible as a last resort against individuals who pose an imminent threat to life.
Based on the very sparse information provided publicly by the US authorities, none of the individuals on the targeted boats appeared to pose an imminent threat to the lives of others or otherwise justified the use of lethal armed force against them under international law.
The High Commissioner calls for prompt, independent and transparent investigations into these attacks.
While recognising the challenges involved in combating drug trafficking.
The High Commissioner urges the US government to adhere to international law, including a set out in counter narcotics treaties to which the US is party.
Turk calls on the authorities to maintain use of well established law enforcement methods to respond to alleged illicit trafficking, including those lawfully, including through lawfully intercepting boats and detaining suspects.
Under the applicable rules of criminal law, the United States shouldn't, should investigate and, if necessary, prosecute and punish individuals accused of serious crimes in accordance with the fundamental rule of law, principles of due process and fair trial for which the US has long stood.
Colleagues, over to you for questions.
Thank you, Ravina, for this.
SO you're calling for the US to avoid extrajudicial killings.
Are you saying that the killings that have happened so far, would you characterise those as extrajudicial judicial killings?
As I said, it is the international human rights law that is applicable in these situations.
It is not a context of armed conflict where international humanitarian law would be applicable.
So given that these strikes are taking place outside the context of an armed conflict and active hostilities, the use of force by the United States against boats and individuals allegedly involved in illicit drug trafficking is governed by international human rights norms and standards that are applicable to the use of force and firearms by law enforcement officials.
Therefore, the intentional use of lethal force is only permissible as a measure of last resort against an individual representing an imminent threat to life.
Otherwise, it would amount to a violation of the right of life and constitute extrajudicial killings.
Thank you very much for the questions in the room.
OK, we have one online from Nick, New York Times.
Thank you for taking my question.
The administration, US administration has called this a non international armed conflict.
Can you just explain why it isn't so?
And could you also perhaps go into a little bit into the legal liability of the authorities who have ordered these attacks?
So in order for a situation to amount to a, an armed conflict and for international humanitarian law to apply, you need to look at the facts of the situation and you need to analyse it in, in relation to, to the applicable law.
These attacks, these strikes are taking place outside the context of an armed conflict and outside the context of active hostilities.
So the applicable law is international human rights law in this context and not international humanitarian law.
You speak about the response.
I mean, we, we are urging prompt, independent, transparent investigations into these attacks where people are killed, a large number of people is killed across multiple strikes.
It is crucial that these deaths are investigated transparently.
And then one of the key problems that we're facing is the lack of transparency.
We don't know who these people are who were killed.
We only have claims that are not backed up by evidence.
Sorry, just one other question, you, you're talking about independent investigations.
Who are you, Who do you think should carry out these investigations?
So as we always say, the onus is on the state.
It is the obligation and responsibility of the state concerned to carry out investigations.
That is, that has to be the first step.
But these investigations have to be prompt, thorough and transparent.
Again, online questions, I don't see any in the room.
Well, I'm sorry, now a couple of hands are popping up.
So Nick, maybe that's a follow up and then Jamie afterwards.
I mean, I'd just like to press on this case of of the legal liability.
You're calling for investigation.
Are you calling for prosecutions and given that these have been ordered?
By head of state and by the Pentagon chief of these people who you think should be subject to some form of prosecution.
So, Nick, as I said, there need to be first investigations.
And again, these need to be transparent, prompt, effective, thorough investigations.
The High Commissioner has also communicated his concerns directly to the administration, to the authorities on this.
So we are raising our concerns, we're raising the alarm, we are putting out the legal analysis because some of these, well, these strikes are being justified by invoking international law.
And we are making it clear that the applicable international law here is international human rights law.
So we call for these investigations and again the onus is on the state to carry them out.
Could you basically you're condemning, I mean, it's a simple way to put it, you're condemning these strikes.
And is this the first time we've heard this from any UN organisation?
Yes, to be clear, the High Commissioner is saying that these air strikes by the US on boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific violate international human rights law.
On whether this is the first time, well, maybe I'll leave that to Orlando.
There were questions posed at the noon briefing.
Yeah, Jamie, I believe this could be, but I would need to make absolute certain that is the case.
But I'll check and get back to you.
Yeah, I believe it could very well be the first time, but we'll we'll get back to you just to verify that for the questions online or in the room.
I just on the investigation call for investigation, if the USI mean they're the ones carrying out the strikes, you're asking them to investigate themselves, basically, it sounds like if they fail to do so, I mean, would you think an international investigation would be merited?
You know that that would be speculative at this point in time.
There are many mechanisms that do exist in the national context to be able to conduct oversight and to push for further transparency for investigations, for a halt to these killings and eventually for accountability.
So it would be premature for us to go beyond that at this point.
Again, the onus, the responsibility, the obligation is on the state concerned to carry out investigations and to account for each of these killings.
I think that does it for this item.
So at last, once again, thank you very much for joining us.
OK, we're going to stay with our colleagues from human rights.
We're moving over to our safe, who you know well who's joining us from Magang Safe Magango from Nairobi.
He's going to brief on two issues, but we'll start with Tanzania, specifically on the deaths and injuries amid the ongoing election related protests from where we will move on to Sudan.
And we have a guest in the room who's going to join us to speak to that important salary.
Yes, good morning everyone.
We are alarmed by the deaths and injuries that have occurred in the ongoing election related protests in Tanzania.
Credible reports we have received indicate that at least 10 people were killed in Dar, Aslam, Shinyanga and Morogoro as the as the security forces used firearms and tear gas to disperse protesters.
A nationwide curfew is in place and access to the Internet appears to have been widely restricted since the 29 October general election.
Without any official reason being given on the security forces to refrain from using unnecessary or disproportionate force, including lethal weapons, against protesters and to make every effort to de escalate tensions, protesters should demonstrate peacefully.
We urge the author, the security forces to refrain from using SSF force.
We urge the authorities to fully uphold Tanzania's obligations and the international human rights law.
They must promptly reinstate access to the Internet and facilitate citizens full enjoyment of the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.
Curtailment of communication will only further undermine public trust in the electoral process.
The violent post election scenes come in the aftermath of electoral campaigns marred by allegations of arbitrary arrests and detentions of opposition figures, including the opposition Chadema party leader and his deputy, and reported enforced disappearing of people expressing dissenting views, including the country's former ambassador to Cuba.
All those in arbitrary detention must be immediately and unconditionally released and those held legally must be accorded all due process and fair to Europe.
We asked the authorities to ensure prompt, impartial, effective investigations into all cases of election related violence and ensure those responsible are brought to justice.
How were these people killed, where and where they all hit by bullets and and how strong is your evidence for this?
So we're getting this information from our credible partners on the ground.
As you know, there is Internet access challenges as the Internet has been restricted.
But we, we've, we've received information from our trusted sources that these, these killings took place in the context of security forces using live ammunition.
They took place in the Slam in Morogoro.
And as I said in yeah there, there are three places where they took place in in Shinyanga, Morogoro and the Slam to be exact.
Thank you very much, Saif.
OK, I don't see that's the case.
So in that case, we'll move on to the next subject and we'll start again with you Safe.
We also have, I'm very pleased to introduce Doctor Teresa Zakaria, who's a unit Head of Humanitarian Operations at WHO and Christian is here as well.
Of course, we'll be speaking to the situation in Sudan, but we'll start off again with Safe.
More details are emerging of atrocities committed during and after the fall of Alfasher to the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan.
Since the RSF made a major incursion into the city on the 23rd of February of October, we have received horrendous accounts of summary executions, mass killings, rapes, attacks against metallian workers, looting, abductions and Air Force displacement.
Our office has received testimonies from those who fled Al Faisal terrified and who survived the frightening journey to Tawela, approximately 70 kilometres away.
That three to four day of that makes up three to three to four day walk.
We have received shocking videos as well others other images depicting serious violations of international military and law and gross violations of human rights law.
Telecommunications are cut and the situation is chaotic on the ground, making it difficult to obtain direct information from inside the city.
We estimate the death toll of civilians and those placed off the Komba during the RSF attack on the city and its exit routes, as well as in the days after the takeover, could amount to hundreds.
Our office has received distressing reports of the killing of sick and wounded individuals inside a Saudi maternity hospital and that various premises located in the Daraja, Ola and Almatyrs neighbourhoods, which were temporarily serving as medical centres.
These extremely grave allegations raised urgent questions as to the circumstances of these killings in what should be places of safety for anyone in need of medical help.
We have also received a of sexual violence humanitarian Humanitarian partners reported that at least 25 women were gun raped when RSF forces entered a shelter for displaced people near Elfash University.
Witnesses confirmed RSF personnel selected women and girls and raped them at gunpoint, forcing the remaining displaced persons, around 100 families to leave the location amid shooting and intimidation of older residents.
In addition, our colleagues have documented the killing of humanitarian workers and local volunteers supporting vulnerable communities in Alfasia.
At least 2 two local humanitarian responders were killed inside Alfasia on the 27th of October.
As of the 29th of October, we have recorded at least 4 incidents in which material personnel and local volunteers were assaulted.
We have also confirmed that three doctors are being retained by the RSF in Alfasia.
Reports are also emerging of serious violations in the context of the ISF capture of borough in North, called the Fund State.
Including the alleged summary execution of 500% volunteers.
An estimated 50 civilians were killed on and around the 26th of October, some of them during hostilities, while others were summarily executed on accusations of being supporters of the Sudan Armed Forces.
The number of victims is likely higher.
We are continuing to monitor the situation extremely.
We're beginning to monitor the extremely grave situation.
This latest reports of serious violations potentially amount to numerous crimes and international law in and around the fascial and in Bara.
There must be independent, prompt, transparent and thorough investigations into all such breaches of international law and for those responsible to be brought to account.
The rights of victims and their families to truth, justice and depressions must be assured.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, World Qatar, repeats his call on states with influence over the parties to the conflict to act urgently to put an end to the violence, hold the flow of arms that are fuelling the violation of the continue to witness and to ensure meaningful protection of civilians.
Thank you very much, Saif.
OK, now we're going to move to the health sector of this horrific crisis here, firstly to Christian and then Doctor Zakaria.
Happy to have with me today Doctor Teresa Zakaria, who's the Unit Head for Humanitarian Operations here at WTO headquarters, and to have some more background on this horrific scenario.
There, thank you and, and thank you for this opportunity to speak.
We're of course extremely alarmed by the attacks on healthcare in Sudan, the latest being in Al Fashir.
But we have been documenting hundreds of attacks on healthcare throughout this year.
And sadly, the the the incident that happened on Tuesday resulted in more than 460 patients and their families who were in the hospital seeking care and shelter.
And the Saudi Maternity Hospital is the only hospital in Al Fasher still offering limited service as of the end of October.
Following the capture of Al Fasher, there is no longer any humanitarian health presence in the city and access has remained blocked.
So we're unable to also assist those who have been impacted, the injuries that have occurred from the multiple attacks against civilians.
So that same day, six health workers were abducted, 4 doctors, a nurse and a pharmacist, and the maternity hospital has been attacked five times this month alone.
189 attacks have BeenVerified in Sudan this year, which led to 1670 deaths and 419 injuries.
86% of all of these attacks related deaths have occurred this year alone and this indicates that attacks are getting deadlier.
The Bridger condemns this Highness attacks in the strongest terms and calls for the respect of the sanctity of healthcare as mandated by the International Humanitarian Law.
No patient or family member should ever fear for their lives as they seek healthcare and health workers should never have to risk injury or death while saving lives.
The attacks on hospitals, health centres and ambulances in El Fasher, everywhere else in the Darfur and the Cordovan States and also the rest of Sudan have deprived millions of people in urgent need of medical care.
We have a system that monitors service availability across the country and it's called HIRAMS.
And as per our latest data, we know as well that less than 50% of health facilities across the country are providing to serve in the entire service package that they used to.
12% of facilities are only partially functional and 40% are non functional.
And if we actually break down this data into the Cordova and States and therefore we see that the situation is much worse.
We see insecurity and the lack of supplies as being the main driver of cessation of service provision.
We also know that particularly in the Darfur states, the heavy, extremely heavy dependency on partners in the provision of health services where they are still available, and the current humanitarian outlook, the current financial crisis is only going to aggravate the ability, the availability of the services moving forwards as our partners need to leave and cease operation because of the lack of resources.
People are dying from a lack of access to basic healthcare and medication, and this has gone on for too long.
W2 continues to call for an immediate end to hostilities in Al Fashar, as well as all of Sudan for the protection of civilians, humanitarian workers and healthcare, and for the safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access.
We're working around the clock to keep health services running along with our many partners, many of whom are national Sudanese NGOs who are also directly impacted by the ongoing violence.
This includes in areas like Tawila where people are fleeing from Al Fasher continue to arrive.
We're moving medicines and emergency supplies, including for the treatment of cholera and many other disease outbreaks, for maternal and child health services to continue to be provided for the treatment of acute malnutrition and the list goes on.
WTO trucks are on standby as part of UN convoy carrying food, medicine and life saving health supplies into Al Fashir as soon as access is actually open.
So we're ready, but we need all of these conditions to be present in order to effectively work and reach our goals, which is to reduce human suffering, to reduce preventable death and illness among the people of Sudan.
And of course, we call on everyone across the world, the international community, to not abandon the people of Sudan in these very dark hours.
Much Thank you, Doctor Zakaria and to SAFE as well colleague.
You will have seen the statements that we've been sharing with you, including one press statement from the Security Council which we shared with you yesterday, through which the Council expressed its grave concern over the escalating violence in and around Al Fasher, as well as condemning atrocities being perpetrated by the RSF against the civilian population.
So these include the summary executions, arbitrary detentions and expressed grave concern at the heightened risk of large scale atrocities, including the ethically motivated atrocities.
This is a statement that we shared with you yesterday, colleagues.
I also remind you we have colleagues available from agencies who may take your questions should you have specific questions for them.
So we'll start in the room.
So a question for WHO on the killings at the hospital, at the maternity, at the Saudi maternity hospital.
I was wondering if you could say due to the, I mean, there's lacking access as you were mentioning, how were you able to verify these, these deaths?
And it looks, it sounded like there weren't a lot of injuries or did I, I don't know, does that mean that they just killed everyone who was there?
If you could give a few more details on, on that.
Thank you for that question.
So we do have a strict method actually in documenting and reporting attacks on healthcare.
It requires A triangulation process of available information, pictures being shared and multiple sources of information actually feeding into the report itself.
And so this attack is registered in our surveillance platform.
So we keep the sources of information anonymous for the safety of those who continue reporting.
But rest assured that this information has actually BeenVerified through multiple sources.
And so the information that was shared actually from our side is the information that we currently have.
Sorry, on the injured that I mentioned, it sounded at least in your on your platform, it looks like there are no injured that are verified.
So I'm just wondering if there's there were no survivors or if it's, I think we cannot exclude that as of yet because again, it's, it's, it's a very recent incident.
And we also know that information update information is constantly updated as on the platform.
So perhaps if you log in and again in a week's time, you may actually see different information based on, you know, new elements coming in.
So the information shared is what we currently have, but it doesn't exclude additional data coming in.
And of course, colleagues will make sure to update you on these developments.
You didn't mention that who has committed these violations, which party in in the fasher?
I know that WTR is often requested to actually respond to these type of questions, but it is not our mandate to actually attribute.
We report on the nature of the attack, the impact of the attacks on health personnel on patients, death and injuries resulting and also what the physical structure of the facility looks like after the attack.
However, we are not involved in the investigation of who has committed the attack itself.
Now I, I do want to highlight though that this is a very important issue and we absolutely encourage anyone and everyone who can actually investigate to also utilise the data that we have and to collaborate with us.
Because it's true that since the inception of these platform, so surveillance system for attacks on healthcare in 2018 / 9000, attacks have been reported and no conviction so far has been made.
So and which is also why these attacks are also continuing because of the impunity.
But it's a very important area to address, yet it is outside of our mandate for which we collaborate with other agencies and entities.
Absolutely, accountability, impunity, the climate of impunity, obviously a very important issue to address.
And of course, we do refer back to the statement that safe, our colleague from human rights just mentioned as well on this point, Emma Reuters.
Or maybe for the human rights office, just on the hospital incident, I'm wondering, do do these killings that you mentioned, hundreds of killings, were they actually executions, would you say, or would the human rights office say that?
And is this developing as kind of a new feature of the war?
Obviously, these are not people caught in crossfire.
It's something seems to me something different.
And could you explain just the circumstances of this attack a little bit?
I don't think doctors and medics were killed had had they then fled and the patients were just abandoned then in hospital.
Could you just explain a bit more what happened?
Maybe this the first part of your question may be more directed to safe our colleagues of human rights, but maybe if Doctor Zachary wanted to add something on the second point.
But let's let's start off with safe on on the executions.
Well, thanks for the question.
We're, we're aware of the events that took place at Sellwood Hospital.
As I mentioned in my statement, all attacks on hospitals must be fully investigated and the truth found and those responsible brought to justice.
I think we, we, these attacks are taking place in a context of the takeover of Al Fashir by the RSF.
And we've seen the track record, a track record of summary executions, sometimes ethnically targeted, sometimes politically motivated.
And it will be important for an investigation to be conducted to really establish the facts.
One must remember that there are also different actors operating beyond beside forces that are allied to the RSF.
But yeah, an investigation is definitely needed to get the bottom of this and for accountability to be done.
Thank you very much indeed, Doctor Zachary, anything to add?
So on the on the nature, although again it is difficult, the way we have it reported is that there were several waves, so to say.
And the first wave doctors and nurses were abducted, up to six colleagues still being abducted and some killings took place.
And then the the groups were the same other groups is that's I think not 100% verified, but.
Came back and and started killing.
Came back a third time and then basically hard to say, but finished off what was still standing, including other people sheltering in the hospital.
Yeah, hard to hard to hear as well.
Thank you very much for that, Christian.
Let's make no further questions in the room, so we'll go online then.
John Zaracostas, Francois Cott in The Lancet.
Theresa, I was wondering if you could elaborate a little bit more on you said about a lot of dependence on health in Sudan from partners.
How much of the Sudan appeal has been funded to date and compared with last year and how much of the cutbacks from major donors and what is the impact on the ground especially in the conflict areas?
A very important question indeed.
So the way we monitor service availability through our monitoring system, it's called HIRAMS, I'm, I'm quite sure you're familiar with it, is that we also attribute how much of involvement or contribution from partners is actually involved.
So we can actually categorise and analyse whether services would be completely disrupted if partners had to pull away.
This is the situation in the Darfur state of Sudan and more, much more like significantly higher compared to the rest of the country.
So if we actually look globally at service availability and dependence on partners for the entire country, it doesn't look too alarming.
But we actually, if we break down that information to just, you know, looking specifically at the Darfur states but also the Korlevan states, then we can actually see this total dependency on partners.
It means that services are only available because of additional of the support, significant support that partners are providing.
And therefore, in case that these partners had to cease operations, they need to pull out or shut down their their operations altogether, then services will no longer be available.
And that is the situation in Sudan now.
I will need to actually look closer at how funding cuts have impacted a health service provision in Sudan specifically, but across the world, the decrease in humanitarian financing as of last month, we know that over 5600 health facilities have been impacted, of which over 2000 have already been forced to shut down.
This has directly impacted access to healthcare for over 53 million people, and that is just because of the funding cuts.
Very, very important point.
We'll take a question now from Mohammed from Anadolu.
My question is for safe for human rights safe.
You said the investigation is needed about in in Al Fashir all around it.
My question is, is the United Nations or human rights office is planning to start an investigations all about that about all?
So if we can't hear you, I think maybe to unmute again.
Yes, No, thanks for the question.
First, first and foremost, we are calling on the authorities to investigate as the duty bearer in, in.
In the first instance, they have to investigate and in the case of failure to do so, then investigations can be conducted from without.
We have we have received information that the RSF has has pledged to investigate.
We just want to stress that the investigation conducted into these atrocities must be independent, transparent and prompt so that justice can be done as as possible.
But to really answer your question is, is that the onus is on on the authorities in Sudan to issue an investigation in the first instance?
Thanks very much for clarifying that, colleagues.
I think that does it for you.
Have one thing, of course, please.
That's just a point of clarification and also I didn't answer on the status of funding.
So the Sudan humanitarian response plan to date is only 27.4% funded.
So a very, very big gap for the health sector itself, it is at 37% funded.
So we are struggling very much with resources and hence why also that call for not abandoning the people of Sudan because indeed, I mean the the main actors are our Sudanese organisations who continue to be present and deliver assistance.
Also another this this time it's a point of clarification.
So 189 attacks on healthcare were reported in Sudan.
That is from April of 202353 attacks took place this year but constitute 86% of the total death across all of the attacks that have been reported since 2023.
Overall this year however, in 2025 / 1000 attacks have been recorded in our system in 16 settings and that is out of the 9000 since 2018.
Very important clarification.
My question for Mr Seif, there is a proof there that says don't beat around the Bush.
I believe that what is going on in Sudan is due to the flow of weapons.
Why don't you condemn the countries?
Arms to fuel the war in Sudan and mention these countries.
Well, no, thanks so much for that question.
If, as you, I can only say that the higher Commissioner actually has multiple times called on Member States with influence to act to urgently prevent the Commission of large scale atrocities, the RSF and its allied fighters and to intensify pressure to end this intolerable conflict.
We are not naming the different countries because we have not yet looked into it in sufficient detail, following our methodology to be able to state categorically that this country or that country is involved in this way or that way.
But we definitely acknowledge that Member States have different levels of influence, and there are those who.
Could bring pressure to bear to end these large scale atrocities.
So thank you very much, Tahoe.
If I may just add, the Secretary General, of course, as we've all been saying, we want to end to the violence.
We want a cessation of hostilities and the Secretary General has expressed his deep alarm that the weapons and and fighters continue to flow into Sudan and further contributing to the already desperate situation in the country.
This is something that we've said since the conflict began several months ago and and we continue to echo these important points.
Cessation of hostilities now.
Sorry, just a small clarification on the on the hospital attack.
I was just wondering it's the Saudi maternity hospital.
Wondering if that's maternity hospital in name only, if it's it's a hospital that treats other people as well or if this was if we can assume that most of the people in there were were women giving birth or if it's other people as well.
It is a maternity hospital but in times of crisis all hospitals will be repurposed to treat many as many conditions as possible.
I can't really say on the other special like specialised treatment that are available, especially if equipments aren't present.
But any health facility will be utilised and people will seek even the very basic health services that are perhaps not related to maternal health, for which essential medicines that are are available in maternity hospitals would be able to care, would be able to be used for for treatment as well.
But I can't tell you the quantification precisely like how what's the proportion of other services are being provided.
It's we don't have that detail and it's very dynamic too.
Thank you very much, doctor.
And I think that does it for questions if I'm not mistaken.
So thank you very, very much immensely important brief and we'll continue to update you colleagues on these details.
We'll provide all the notes to help you and your reporting.
Thanks again, Doctor and thank you very much Safe as well for joining us from Nairobi.
So we're going to move to the Caribbean region where as you well know, Hurricane Melissa touched down earlier this week.
And we're still reaping from from this this hurricane.
So we have colleagues, Tomaso and thank you for joining us here.
Our colleague from the IFRC is joining us from Port of Spain.
You heard from Nessa 4 Mcgendi on on Tuesday and we're very pleased to have you again with us, Sir.
We also have joining us from the World Food Programme, Brian Bogart, who's a country director for WF PS multi country office in the Caribbean, who joins us from Kingston, Jamaica.
So we'll start off with you, Nessa for and then over to you, Brian.
But unless did you want to add something that's been OK.
So right over to you Nessa for and thank you again for joining us again.
So good afternoon and thank you for having me here.
Indeed, three days ago I was here as this summer landfall in Jamaica, the strongest ever to hit Jamaica, and it's described as the third strongest ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean.
Then I spoke about the population exposed to extreme winds and rainfall and about how we were preparing, guided by focus, our time, experience and the conviction that preparedness saves lives.
So today I am here to speak about the humanitarian challenges ahead of us.
Rapid assessments by teams on the ground and the authorities and others have showed that the damage is extensive and humanitarian needs are acute.
Our entire communities in the along the coast and style, especially in the western part, were brought by destructing brains and flash floods, torrential rains, storm surge and landslides left a trail of destruction from the centre desert to Saint Mary homes of lightens.
The roads and bridges were washed away and vast areas remain without power or telecommunications even as I stick now.
Even the Jamaica Red Cross headquarters in Saint Catherine has been damaged and continues to operate without electricity or Internet, relying very much on generators and radio to coordinate with the branches across the island.
I could also mention that they have not also our able and as of yesterday it was struggling to contact some of the branches on the western part.
More than 6000 people are sheltering in evacuation centres.
Dozens of these vacation centres are run by the Jamaica Red Cross under extremely difficult conditions.
Our volunteers are providing food, fast aid, psychosocial support to families who have lost everything these families.
For these families, recovery will take years.
The Air Force is deeply concerned about the scale of the damage in Jamaica and the risk it poses to people's longer term recovery and well-being.
Beyond the immediate destruction, the storm has left behind widespread psychological distress, loss of livelihoods and that was the food basket of Jamaica and the tourist area, damage to houses, and increased vulnerability for families who now face future storms with even fewer resources to recover.
I say future storms because only in 2024, Hurricane Barry hit the same region very hard.
Only 16 months later, Melissa has struck with even a greater force.
We know most storms like these will come and time is sharp to ensure that communities face them from a position of preparedness and resilience, not vulnerability and loss.
With this focus on immediate relief and medium term recovery, the IFRC has launched an emergency appeal.
We're seeking 90 million Swiss farm to deliver a 280,000 people.
The operation will expand the distributions we've started before landfall and also to ensure that we support restoration of access to safe water, support families whose homes and sources of income have been destroyed.
We also scale up mental health and psychosocial support and support people to establish their livelihoods in a manner that also protects dignity and restores hope.
While Jamaica faces the brunt of the damage, the Hurricane Melissa also struck Cuba, entering through Grandma, the Cuba provinces and affecting communities across 8 eastern provinces.
The Cuban Red Cross has been on the frontline since the landfall, even before the landfall, carrying out preventive evacuation, rescues and psychosocial support.
Now our teams are ready to start distributing hygiene and cleaning kits that were already dispatched from Havana to the warehouses in the east, ensuring that immediately if reaches doors in most needs in Cuba.
First Health is now facing.
The community is already coping with a widening about virus outbreak.
To respond to this double emergency, the IFRC has launched a second emergency appeal of Cuba.
We are asking for 15,000,000 Swiss funds to assist 100,000 people with shelter, healthcare, water, sanitation and disease prevention.
This includes healthcare, most access to the water, campaigns to come, vector bond diseases such as Delhi and chipping women in both islands.
The destruction is immense, a stark reminder that the climate crisis is reshaping our reality.
Storms are intensifying faster, striking harder and giving families less time to recover between disasters.
But it also approves that early action works, that when local capacity is strong, lives are saved.
And we can see in Jamaica, at least for now, the number of casualties reported is something which is beyond what we'd have expected in terms of when you look at stop that intensity and when it is positioned, the response is faster and more effective.
We call on all partners, the international community, to join our efforts and those of other humanitarian actors to help families rebuild their lives and their livelihoods, protect their health and prepare for the next inevitable stand.
Thank you so very much, Nessa, for moving now to our colleague from WFP, Brian Bogart, Country Director for WF PS Multi Country Office in the Caribbean.
He's going to speak to his agency's response in the region, specifically on on Jamaica.
Thank you very much and good morning, everyone.
Well, it's it's 5:00 AM here in Kingston and I've returned from Black River in Saint Elizabeth.
I was there on mission with colleagues for the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, our NGO partner, Food for the Poor and, and it's all very fresh in my mind.
And the situation on the ground is what can only be described as apocalyptic.
It, it appears as if a bomb has gone off in that community and people are still in shock.
There are people sleeping in the streets.
There were, there were, there was a church, Anglican church in the centre of town, 300 years old.
The walls have completely crumbled.
The roof is gone and, and it really stands out as a, as a symbol of the power of this storm.
It's, it's really incredible.
I also visited the Black River Hospital where staff have been working around the clock to take care of patients who were affected directly by the storm.
The roof of the hospital was damaged, water flooded in, and you still see nurses coming into work.
They may have lost their homes, but they're driving cars with windows that have been shattered to serve people in that hospital.
There are houses underwater.
Most of the roofs of the homes in Saint Elizabeth and particularly around Black River have been damaged or destroyed.
And the work right now is all about clearing the roads that we can get access to these communities.
The community of Westmoreland to the West of Black River is still very difficult to access.
I think it's only accessible by helicopter.
And there are grave concerns about what the consequences of Hurricane Melissa would be in Westmoreland.
And then there are many other communities across western Jamaica who are who are also really trying to to recover.
And where access is is critical.
And supply of humanitarian assistance will be essential for the weeks and months to come, as as a colleague from IFRC has just explained, the communities that we're talking about, we're also the ones that bore the brunt of Category 4 hurricane barrel only a year ago.
I was in Saint Elizabeth last September, meeting with government counterparts at the parish council level.
Some of these same people are the ones who are leading the response in the ground, and they're people who've also suffered through the storm, lost their homes, concerned about their loved ones, but really doing their very best to to get the response moving.
And I wanted to just highlight that I think one of the points for all of us in the humanitarian community right now is to support the government on coordination as well as driving the scale up of the response.
There is going to be a large number of responders.
That generosity is of course welcome and critical, but we need to be able to work together and, and WFP is working very closely with the government to help coordinate the provision of emergency telecommunications support, logistics, food assistance, and eventually cash so that we can really play a a coherent and cohesive role in supporting the population of Jamaica together with with the government.
Right now we're focused on upstream and downstream logistics coordination.
That's our first priority.
We're loading vessels from our regional logistics hub in Barbados with food kits.
5000 will be on the way, enough to feed 15,000 people for a week.
We're also loading relief supplies from IOMUSEF shelter box and coordinating, coordinating with CARICOM Member States so that they can also contribute to this response.
Critical partners of all CARICOM countries affected by disasters are neighbouring member states.
I think we also are seeing a lot of generosity from our partners.
The European Union, Canada and the United States are really stepping up and WHO who are already funding our presence in the Caribbean that makes it possible for us to be here on the ground and delivering assistance from day one.
I think the response right now in Jamaica is really an outcome of a lot of the preparedness work that the government of Jamaica does and the work that we do with governments across the Caribbean to prepare for these situations.
It makes it much easier for us to immediately begin working with institutions that are on the front line, making it possible for us to to scale up and, and make sure that all the needs of the population of Jamaica are met at this very critical time.
I think it's just perhaps useful to conclude with the a point that, you know, the people of Jamaica are incredibly resilient.
You can already see that in the days following this disaster, but we need to support and protect that resilience and we plan to accompany them on this journey as they try to get back on their feet after this really terrible disaster.
Thank you very much, Brian.
And as you can see, colleagues, Christian in the World Health Organisation has rejoined us here.
Who's going to address the health sector situation in the Caribbean following the Hurricane Christian?
Just to add a few points on the specific health situation, because in Jamaica specifically our head of.
Office to the representative for the PAN.
American health organisation WHL.
Was able to visit a few hospitals or some of the hospitals.
Already together, either the minister or the the Prime Minister and it's a pretty grim picture.
3 of the major hospitals were severely impacted and severely impacting means in this case the roof caving in, walls caving in so that that that is serious, serious damage.
Only one of the visited hospitals of the four was still slightly damaged only but those those three are amongst the most critical in their respective regions.
But however, these were visits from now 2 days ago or yesterday and this is always just the first.
First news and more information will emerge during the required needs assessment, which of course are ongoing and then continuing to happen whenever possible.
And the damage significantly impacts the health system's capacity to respond to the ongoing emergency and post disaster needs.
Some immediately identified major health system risks were emergency and primary care services that are under strain now with several hospitals operating over capacity as others are destroyed.
18% of the facilities in the Western region report critical generator failures threatening continuity of care under normal circumstances.
15% of the facilities in the Southeast region require larger diesel tanks explosing exposing the vulnerabilities and fuel shortage and backup power.
And then imaging and diagnostic services are compromised in key hospitals due to the lack of generated activity.
Maybe some of the role that WHO takes on there is deployment of emergency medical teams, technical guidance and health facility readiness, the the WASH sector, the water sanitation, health, psychological support and disease surveillance.
And then of course coordination of the health sector assessment and the information management and support to the emergency operations centre.
Important also to know that technical stand specialists are on standby to assist Jamaica with these WASH situation and mental health support.
But the airports are not yet open to my knowledge from the latest moment.
And of course that's key to to deliver help.
2.6 tonnes of medical supplies were sent to Cuba on October 28 and 5.5 tonnes are ready to be sent to Jamaica once that airport is operational.
That's what I have for now.
So thank you so much, Christian.
I have questions for our colleagues from IFRCWFP or WHO on Hurricane Melissa provide you with a lot of details, lots of updates and of course, to consult the updates that have been sent to you from OCHA and elsewhere.
No, I don't see that's the case.
So again, I thank you very much.
Colleagues in the region, SF 4, Brian, I know it's very early there to continue to update us on developments in the wake of this catastrophe.
And thank you, as always, Christian, for joining us here.
Of course, now we have our last item on the agenda.
And thank you very much for joining us.
Mama is Resident Representative for the UN Development Programme for the Democratic Republic of Congo, who is joining us from Paris, where we had the Great Lakes Conference.
So our UNDP colleague will be speaking to us now.
Damian, over to you, and thank you again for joining us.
I'm happy to connect from here.
Paris, where the Paris Conference is about to peace and prosperity in the Great League region took place yesterday with the participation of several heads of state, including President Macron, and also many international organisations and peace actors in the region.
This conference was really an important moment for dialogue, solidarity and action.
And this was a call convened by Togo and France and it was really a powerful demonstration of that diplomacy and cooperation remains powerful tools for peace and share prosperity in the context of multiple crisis crisis across the globe.
You know, the the crisis in the deer in the Great Lakes have been there for decades now.
And the people in Eastern Diasi and their neighbours in Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda continue to live the daily consequences of insecurity, displacement and poverty.
Yet beyond the headlines, there is also a lot of deep strength and determination from the people to rebuild and live in in peace.
This conference that UNDP was really happy to attend yesterday has reaffirmed the simple and but powerful truth that in this region, security and humanitarian responses alone cannot bring and sustain peace.
Because today we're having over 5.9 million internal displays and 27,000,000 Congolese don't have enough to eat.
And those who actually return to their homes find nothing left.
That's the reality of many of the people in Eastern DRC.
When I was recently in in Goma, I met a mother of eight who basically told me that she needed three things.
One, rebuilds her home because when she came back to her community, she had no, she had no access to her home.
Second, get the tools to go back to farming because at least for her, unlike other women, she still had.
And 3rd, get a sewing machine for her daughter because her daughter was a tailor but suddenly lost all her tools because she could not carry everything during the displacement journey.
So you really see that what people are looking for, beyond the immediate needs that need to be satisfied, they're also looking for means to restore their dignity, restart their lives and be able to take care of themselves.
So at the conference here, the message that UNDP brought and put forward was a development must be part of the response from the outset.
Every rebuilt school, every restaurant market, every young woman trained in.
And it's, it's a big investment for, for stability in the long run because development is a path to it.
It's a, it's a path to, to peace.
It's not something that follows peace.
It has to part and parcel of it over the process.
And currently during the discussions in Paris, you know, there was different perspectives, several perspectives which basically reaffirm the need of emergency aid, the need of peace and stability, but also the need of a reconstruction effort to invest from the, from the outset, like from now into people's capacities to re begin their lives.
And you know, the, the, the different participant were there from African Union, the French government, the ARC, the president of DRC was very vocal on the reconstruction plan.
And this resonates profoundly with us with the UNDP, because currently on the ground we are in eastern DRC in North Kivu and S Kivu.
And our crisis response plan is currently supporting the creation of 5500 temporary jobs for people who are directly impacted by the crisis.
We are supporting 2600 micro enterprises.
We are providing holistic head to 4200 survivors of sexual and gender based violence and over 1200 houses have been related to respond basically to the demand of this woman I was talking about earlier, which is basically the story of millions in Eastern DRC.
These results prove that, you know, these results are modest, but they prove that investing in people kill women and youth from some communities and reducing the drivers of conflict.
However, our crisis response plan with a modest sum of 24,000,000 has only been able to mobilise 15,000,000 so far to date, thanks to the donors who have provided the support.
But we need additional funding.
The 8,000,010 million because of basically if you look at the stories we hear from the ground, these are stories of vulnerability, but are stories of hope, stories of resilience and stories of need to restart people's lives.
And UNDP stands ready to scale and support.
And we believe that this Paris conference was a good platform for putting the DRC conflict on the map, the agenda on the agenda because there is a risk for protracted crisis like DRC.
The vulnerability of the people, the suffering of the people get forgotten.
Fortunately, with different organisations that were here yesterday, UNDP was really happy to see that some of the key messages were really coherent to what we are doing on the ground and I'm happy to answer more questions.
Thank you very much, Mr Mama and colleagues.
As you will have seen, we shared with you yesterday the Secretary General's remarks he delivered by video message to the conference, which he you know, the needs are massive colleagues for the, the region, the Great Lakes region.
And the Secretary General expressed hope that this conference held yesterday would serve as a turning point to urge this much needed support, financial humanitarian commitments.
He also took the opportunity through this statement to reiterate the UN support for peace efforts, including those of Monusco's.
That's the UN mission in the democratic world with the Congo and, of course, support for the implementation of a permanent ceasefire.
So, Mr Mammoth, thank you very much for joining us on this important event.
Colleagues, do we have questions for our colleague from UNDP starting in the room online?
I think once again, it's a case of you're providing very comprehensive, detailed information, which we thank you for and thank you very much for your patience and joining us to end of this long briefing.
But it's immensely important.
And thanks to Sarah, who's also joining us online from UNDP.
Just wanted to again, we shared with you that statement from the Secretary General at this conference in support of peace and prosperity in the Great Lakes region in Paris yesterday.
In terms of meetings here we have a few to announce.
The social forum that is a subsidiary body of the Human Rights Council started its two day meeting yesterday.
It's discussing the issues of education for socio economic rights, education for political rights, human rights, education for and with children sustaining rather shaping a just and sustainable future.
So lots of very important issues around the the education sector discussed in this important gathering here in Geneva at the Social Forum Coming up next week, colleagues, we have the Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review where the next group of 14 states will have their human rights records examined by by their peers.
We have the following countries to be reviewed in this order, Belarus, Liberia, Malawi, Mongolia, Mongolia, Panama, Maldives, Andorra, Bulgaria, Honduras, the United States of America, the Marshall Islands, Croatia, Jamaica and Libya.
So I recommend that you take a look at the advisory that was sent 2 days ago and and consult the agenda press conferences.
We have one taking place a week this coming week, Wednesday the 5th of November, for the launch of a report on forests of North America, Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia with colleagues from the UNECE and from the University of Hamburg and a President and CEO of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.
This, So this is a UNECE conference, which is to again, this is the launch of the 2025 Forest Profile for Europe and North America, the Caucasus in the Central Asia, which is produced every five years, colleagues.
So this is an important report in in advance.
I should just note that the region is home to this region I just mentioned is home to 1.76 billion hectares of forest, representing 42% of the world's forests and nearly half of the planet's primary forests.
So the issues, as I just mentioned in that of climate change will be addressed in this important encounter this coming Wednesday, the 5th of November at 2:00 PM with the speakers I just referred to.
Last but not least, of course, on the 2nd of November 1 is that 1/2.
So that is Sunday, Sunday the 2nd November is International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, a mentally important day.
Of course, this is the Secretary General's message for the day announced many things.
He notes that worldwide, nearly 9 out of 10 journalists killings remain unresolved.
A staggering 90% of killings against journalists remain unresolved.
He notes how Gaza has been the deadliest place for journalists in any conflict.
Any calls once again for independent impartial investigations, which we've been doing ourselves here for for far too long.
Impunity anywhere is not only an injustice to the victims and their families, it is an assault on press freedom and invitation to further violence and a threat threat to democracy itself, the Secretary General says in his message for the day.
So on that note, I see you there is a question.
Maybe that's for me, Christian.
I, I just saw the Reuters report that 59 UN personnel held by the have to stand trial and I was wondering whether there's any UN response.
If I understand correctly, they are WFP employees.
So the issue has been, have been known, but that they are now facing trial.
I wonder whether anyone has reaction to that.
Not specific to that point.
I can only tell you what our spokesperson in New York said yesterday.
That is at the UN Special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grunberg, who you know, as well as Mr Muin Schleim, who's the UN official who's pointed to lead the lead on the issue of detentions.
We're in Muscat, the Oman capital, on Monday earlier this week, and they met with officials there as part of their ongoing efforts to secure the release of these UN personnel.
You know, as you mentioned, 59 UN personnel are arbitrarily detained and some for several years.
In terms of the sentences, I haven't heard, and I'll certainly inquire and get back to you on that important development.
Sorry, just a question for you on the Uprs.
On the USUPR, do you have any information about how that's going to be handled, given that they're not likely to show up?
The, As you well know, media advisories tailored for each specific review are shared and usually they're in, there's information on heads of delegation who might be representing the states under review, but that one has not been issued just yet.
All I can tell you is that the review of the US is scheduled for next week from today, the 7th of November at 2:30.
But I suppose we'll have the media advisory in the next day or two and, and Pascal would be the best person to contact for that.
I wish you a good afternoon and see you here on Tuesday and thanks for your attention.
