UN Geneva - Multimedia Newsroom : UN Geneva Press Briefing

[Other language spoken]

Thank you for joining us here at the UN Office of Geneva for this press briefing hosted by the UN Information Service.

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We have a very busy agenda, very important agenda as always here in Geneva.

We have Sudan, we have situation in the West Bank, we have the situation in Ukraine.

And we also have an update from colleagues from UNDP on Melissa, the hurricane.

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We also have an announcement from our friends at the ECE.

So let's start off right away.

I'm going to throw to our colleague who's joining us from Port Sudan from Unmasked, the UN Mine Action Service of Mohammed Siddiq Rashid.

And I'm very grateful to you, Sir, for joining us.

So over to you for an update on specifically on the explosive remnants of war in in the country.

So over to you.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much and very good morning.

Good afternoon, distinguished journalist colleagues and friends.

I would like to draw your attention to one of the critical in often overlooked protection dimension in that is the actually even perceived presence of explosive hazards in Sudan.

This is becoming a major issue for civilians, particularly for those who are displaced and those who are returning to their homes.

Sudan has experienced armed conflict since 1955.

Each of these wars, including the current one that is taking place largely in urban areas, has left behind explosive hazards, explosive ordinance, abandoned ammunitions, anti personal mines, anti vehicle land mines.

And this is a reality that we must confront.

Allow me to address 1 of the questions.

You know why UXO is left behind.

Just a few words on this unexploded in abandoned explosive ordinance remain on battlefields for several reasons.

First of all, weapons often fail to detain 8 as intended.

Many munitions malfunction because of manufacturing defects, ageing and poor storage impact with soft ground or damage from the heat, humidity, corrosion.

As a result, bombs, shells, martyrs, submunitions remain on the ground as deadly hazards.

So second, the use of indiscriminate weapons, which is sadly the case in Sudan, you know, artillery rockets for with this conflict so far we haven't heard about the cluster munitions, but previous conflicts in PS conflict, the cluster missions have been used, air delivered bombs are are being used, you know, and and these are spreading explosives over wider areas.

Many of these fail to detonate and create contamination across entire neighbourhoods in farm lands.

Third very important point that the armed groups often lack records or oversight.

They do not track filing positions, they do not record ammunition usage.

This is creating a lot of challenges for the for the mine action sectors to quickly address the problem and then this new contamination in Sudan due to the ongoing war.

This is coming on top of the 34 square kilometres of legacy explosive ordinance which were remained from the earlier conflicts.

Sudan now facing it's is facing faces an extremely complex contamination landscape, unexploded in abandoned ammunitions, anti vehicle mines and more recently confirmed anti personal mines within Khartoum itself.

These hazards affect both urban centres, mainly urban centres such as Khartoum and Al Fasher in many other towns and also rural areas.

Many households are returning to states like Khartoum, Jazeera and Sonar due to improved security, but they are returning to areas where explosive ordinance remains a daily threat.

Displaced families often settle in unfamiliar locations without any awareness of past conflicts or contamination, and I would like to highlight that children are especially vulnerable.

As more people return to the contaminated areas, civilian casualties continue to rise.

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And we know that the cases that are being reported represent only a fraction of the true scale of the harm.

So let me talk a little bit about the impact on services, aid delivery and recovery operations.

Explosive contamination around critical infrastructure prevents access to essential services livelihoods in markets.

It also poses major challenges for humanitarian recovery operations.

Without clearance, humanitarian access will remain constrained.

Staff are exposed to unacceptable risks in ammunitions in need, in communities in need, may remain cut off from assistance.

So I would like to conclude with the way forward what need to be done.

So Sudan now faces an urgent need to scale up my action.

You know, the large scale survey and clearance operations are required to identify, markedly move explosive hazards that endanger civilians and restrict humanitarian space.

We need age and gender responsive rescue education to ensure that communities including children and humanitarian workers know how to recognise, avoid and report explosive hazards.

I would like to highlight that now the contamination is in urban areas and the previous managing services did not target people living in urban areas.

So so many of the people living in urban areas remain unaware of the risks.

And we also, I would like to also highlight that victim assistance must also be strengthened.

We need to provide survivors with medical care and other support supports so that they could rebuild their lives with dignity.

So only to through these integrated man action efforts, clearance, rescue, education and victim assistance, Sudan can reduce the immediate threat to life, enable safe and dignified return and support the broader humanitarian, recovery and construction efforts across the country.

Just to finalise my statement on what resources are available currently.

Ladies and gentlemen, the looking at the scale of the problem, the available resources are very few, very few.

We are, we as I speak now we have only 5 survey and clearance teams which are made-up of five operators, only four operators in in each team.

And increasingly every day we are getting more and more requests.

There are minefields, there are people living and, and walking in the contaminated areas.

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You know, we received requests for clearing offices.

So we are quite overwhelmed and, and most of the resources are in Khartoum because majority of contamination is there.

But also, you know, many, there are many areas that people have returned, but there are there are no Mal action services.

That is a sad reality I wanted to conclude, but I also wanted to say that, you know, the this problem can be addressed, there is expertise, there are knowledge, there are experience and and the basic infrastructure exists and we can address this problem.

So with this, I would like to conclude back to you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Mr Rashid.

And I should note that Mister Rashid was kind enough to share with us fact sheets, which we are, if we haven't already, we'll soon share these fact sheets with you, which complement this very, very important briefing.

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So we're going to stay on Sudan colleagues.

I'm going to throw it to Eugene from UNHCR, who is going to introduce her guest, Jacqueline Parlevilit, who you know, who will talk about the displaced civilians in the country.

Over to Eugene.

Thank you very much.

As you remember, Jacqueline briefed you 2 weeks ago after the fall of Airfasher and then now that she's joining from poor Sudan to explain the current situation as the Sudan continue to stay as the world's largest displacement crisis with the 12 million people displaced inside and then outside of Sudan.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Eugene, and also thank you colleagues for the opportunity to brief you for the second time on the situation in Sudan.

I will start with my focus on their form.

As you know, we, we, we continue to see people who escape on their extremely difficult conditions, Al Pasha.

And by the time they reach Tabila, they account many, many of the atrocities that they have not only faced in Al Pasha before, but also during their flights.

We we see, we hear more and more people that are stranded on different, in different villages along the dangerous route from Al Fascia to Terwilliam.

And we hear that very frequently as people are stranded, they they are robbed of their belongings.

Gender based violence is reported, child separation is reported, arrest and detention but also killing in particularly for those who cannot afford to pay the the amount of money which is necessary to take them to to the next station or alternatively, you know, to pay ransom in order to be released.

These situations that people are describing, they remind me very much of, you know, the stories that we also hear when people are being smuggled or trafficked across the territory.

Here they are, you know, facing these extreme challenges when they pass a stretch of about 50 kilometre Rd from Alfasher to to Dublin.

Unfortunately, due to the very yeah, violence and the insecure roads, it is very difficult for humanitarian actors that are based in Terbila to reach out and to provide support, humanitarian aid and and of course also healthcare amongst the people that are on the route.

It's very recent that humanitarian agencies have been able to reach a place called Korma and we sincerely hope that, you know, with the visit of the emergency relief coordinator, including to that area that, you know, it triggers further opening up access to people that are very vulnerable people, excuse me, that are being stranded along the route.

What we hear from people along the route in in addition to the extreme violations they report is obviously as well, you know the the need for urgent humanitarian aid.

Again, we hear a lot of a lot of unaccompanied and separated children that have arrived to Tabila care arrangements are being looked into together with UNICEF other.

We also unfortunately keep on hearing about many cases of gender based violence and although you know, we have provided some support to the Ministry of Health in Towila and provided them with medical kits to, to treat the survivors of GBV, this is by no means enough to respond to the scale of of the crisis.

And now what we also see the last week is sort of a new pattern in the sense that people are not only moving to Tahwelen, which is as I said that 50 kilometre distance and a very insecure route, but people are also moving further afield.

And for instance, for now we have seen about 2000 individuals arriving to a place called Adoba, which is in the northern state.

Why are people going so far, one would wonder?

But what we hear from from the new arrivals there is that they really want to, to, to go as far away from therefore as possible.

They believe that moving in the direction of Khartoum or Port Sudan are the safer areas for them.

And obviously some people also have family members in these locations and they try to join them.

So everybody also, you know, is concerned about the access to to the displaced in in Darfur and in particularly in Tarweela where the numbers are so high that in any case, not everybody currently benefits from one or the other support.

Yeah, provision of humanitarian aid or support.

So and your nature is again, the reinforcing it's response in inter Wheeler and to the extent possible also in other areas, including in other bar.

We are sending currently rope holes for communal shelter or at least for initial reception of newly arrived ID PS as they wait for other supplies, other support, including tents, blankets, sleeping mats, cooking, cooking items, etcetera.

You know, the winter is coming and people really need to have urgent support in order to safely rest in the areas where they are displaced now.

So on that note, I would like to hand back to my colleague Eugene.

Eugene, over to you.

Thank you very much, Jacqueline.

Appreciate that that very thoughtful brief and colleagues will take questions.

Now if you could kindly indicate who you're directing your query to, we'll start in the room.

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FA Alicia Gar from the Spanish News Agency.

I wanted to ask Mr Rashid about some questions.

I wanted to ask if there are weapons there are not allowed by the international humanitarian law that are being used in Sudan and if maybe this is related to the explosive remnants also.

Is this the remnants, the explosive remnants, is it especially critical in Sudan compared to other conflicts?

And how do they prevent people?

And is there a way to prevent this during a war?

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

Mr Rashid, do you get those two questions?

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

Thank you for reading this question.

Allow me to 1st address your question in relation to comparing the explosive hazard contamination in Sudan with some of the other, you know, areas, countries that are affected.

Yeah, there are many, many other countries.

There are many other countries that are affected by explosive remnants of war in land mines.

But this time, yeah, Sudan is very, very different.

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Because the war is mainly happening in in urban areas, for example, Khartoum remained the epicentre of the conflict, which is a city of, you know, 6 to 8 million people used to be, you know, 8 million people used to live there.

And then almost almost two years there was non-stop very serious war going on with all types of weapons being used.

So there is definitely a lot of unexploded ordnance what is very limited teams that we have and all those team was just just finding unexploded ordnance everywhere.

Like around more than 16,000 of them have been found in a in a limited period of time.

That gives you an idea that how many more unexploded ordnance are, are, are laying there.

So, so I was there last week in, in Khartoum for in the, if you look at it, you know, there is, there is no doubt that those areas needs to be cleared first to make it safe.

So there are a lot of evidence that are showing the presence of explosive ordinance in minefield.

[Other language spoken]

You know, it's, it's, it's, it's residential areas and we are trying to, you know, block people, but we will be in a time that blocking people will be difficult because when return is accelerated, people go, go to those areas and, and tragedies are going to happen.

For example, in the Syria programme, just in a, in a less, less than, you know, around in nine months or 10 months time, there were 1500 people, almost 1500 people were reported either killed or injured with 800 explosions that happened.

So our, our Syria programme is a little bit organised.

They have the reporting system.

I'm sure the same is happening here.

But we are not getting all the reports.

Media is not interested in reflecting those reports because there are many other, I know political news that are focused on.

So definitely people are at risk and they are going to be increasingly at risk.

And in relation to the IHL and the use of some of the weapons, yeah, Sudan is state parties to the anti personal mind ban convention.

So, so in the unfortunately Sudan is not state party to the convention on certain conventional weapons, which has provisions of, you know, dealing preventing in dealing with the unexploded ordinance.

So I think I would say you know the generally, I'm not a legal expert, but generally IHL international humanitarian laws are violated.

The weapons I can say that, which are used in urban areas are not designed for urban areas.

They are very indiscriminate.

The in the they leave a lot of unexploded ordnance, a lot of distractions in the.

In addition, you know I.

Some someone will ask that how long this unexploded ordinance will last.

If you, if you look at it then listen to the experts, it's quite concerning worrying because these explosive ordinance last very long.

Even the explosive ordinance that are left behind in the 60s and 70s in the countries like Vietnam and their, you know, surrounding countries there those who exhausted, kill and injured people.

So, so this last very long, long.

And if they are not addressed, it will not only affect the current generation, it will be a problem for future generations.

It will become a silent killer.

[Other language spoken]

I hope I answered some of your questions about all I, I think yes, indeed you satisfy the questions and maybe just colleagues.

I, I on this issue.

I should mention that is recent as a couple of days ago our Secretary General, Antonio Guterres at a press encounter explicitly talked about the need to stop the flow of weapons and and fighters from external parties, noting they must be cut off.

So this was from a press encounter we shared with you.

OK, let's take the next question starting in the room first.

[Other language spoken]

I should also mention that Christian of WHO is connected and I think maybe after your question, Emma, Christian if you want to jump in and address human rights or rather a health angle in Sudan.

But let's take your first the question from Emma first.

[Other language spoken]

Presumably the artillery and rockets and unexploded bombs you're finding don't have made in *** on the back of them, but can you tell us anything about their origins?

And then for UNHCR please, are people still barricaded inside El Fascia?

Have you been able to extrapolate based on the size of the population and the number of displaced people turning up, sort of how many are missing and might still be trapped inside the city?

And could you elaborate a bit more on the situation in Cordofan, please?

Is displacement happening there?

Are people starting to run away?

And are you afraid that what happened in Al Fashir in terms of the scale of the displacement is about to happen in Kodofan as well?

[Other language spoken]

I'll start off with Mr Rashid.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Emma for the for the question.

In terms of the the unexploded ordinance that we have so far found, I don't think we have looked at, you know, it's coming from which country.

And yeah, maybe maybe I should, I should be able to, to answer your question later.

But now I don't have that information with me that maybe we have not.

Our colleagues are not focusing on those things now.

So they are so overwhelmed, you know, the teams are tasked here and there.

You know, currently one of our team is working on the Khartoum airport.

They own house terminal is under clearance and in, in, in the minefield.

And we know what type of the mines are there in.

But yeah, I, I think I would, I can answer your question later on this after consulting with my colleagues over.

Thanks very much.

Over to you, Jacqueline on the other questions.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Emma for asking your question.

[Other language spoken]

How many people are still in Alphasha?

[Other language spoken]

I mean the most recent sort of estimate I've heard this around 50,000 civilians may be left in Al fascia.

But frankly speaking you also hear much higher numbers and and you also hear lower numbers.

What we have seen though, and that is of concern is that although the DTM mechanism reports that approximately 90,000 people have left Al fascia, what we have seen so far arriving in Tawila at the main hub is less than 8000 people and what we have seen arriving in Adeba is 2000 people.

[Other language spoken]

The distance is very long, so it may take more time and definitely authorities in Adeba expect more new arrivals.

But it still looks like, you know, there are there are the significant number of people remaining remaining in Alpaca and a significant number of people that are on the move, stranded somewhere not able to move further because of the danger or because they risk being sent back into a fashion or because there are very vulnerable people amongst the group, such as persons with disability as Sadiq also referred to.

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The situation in Kodafan is also very tense and we are monitoring this carefully together with, of course, OCHA and other colleagues.

Yes, we are concerned that in Kodafan also the escalation, the further escalation of the conflict may also lead to further displacement.

So together with colleagues from OCHA, we are drafting currently a response plan.

We have seen already a large number of people leaving Baratan, which is not far from Alibait.

We hear similar concerning stories about huge violations of human rights in IHL.

And what we are also really worried about is the road between Alibait and Kosti, which is sort of the only Safeway out now.

But due to the conflict due to fighting, we're very worried that also Hello Bite eventually may be in a besieged like situation where it will be very difficult for people to move out and further impossible for people to to deliver humanitarian aid.

So I think I've responded to your questions indeed.

Thank you very much, Jacqueline.

Emma, I think you have a follow up just quickly.

Yeah, so on Alfasher you're talking about then 10s of thousands of people unaccounted for really is that right?

That is if we look at the estimations.

But again you know we are not able to to certify this with precision as we are looking at you know the people that are stranded.

We think given you know the data people that have left of Prussia which are approximately 90,000 people.

But then in terms of arrivals to other locations, we don't see that number reflected.

So they are stranded somewhere and one of the locations where people were stranded, where there is now a limited humanitarian access is a place called Burma.

And we know that about 10,000 people are stranded there waiting for transport or for other support to to move to Tabia.

I hope that explains.

[Other language spoken]

It's a very difficult situation indeed.

OK, let's let's maybe before we take further questions, let's maybe first hear from Christian of who who wanted to chime in on the health aspects of the crisis.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much Rolando And thanks Jacqueline from your nature to to raise the topic and to come up with the health situation because to remind you again, people are dying from a lack of access to basic essential healthcare and medication.

As per our latest emergency reports in that direction, only 48% or less than half of the health facilities across all of Sudan's 18 states are fully functioning and 12% of the facilities are partially function and 40 are non functional.

So half based, nearly half not accessible.

And Sudan is one of the world's largest food crisis with over 21 million people facing high levels of acute food insecurity as of September this year.

And the famine as you know was confirmed in El Fascia and Khaluli town on 20 areas across Greater Darfur and Greater Koroban area are at risk of famine and famine and malnutrition especially always brings with it disease outbreaks and infection.

So just some of the highest numbers.

Right now the reports of cholera, dengue, malaria and measles are are being received from several states.

Cholera we have about, we have already reports about over 120,000 cases and about 3500 associated deaths.

That's reported from 151 localities in all Sudans 18 states by 1N just very recent.

That is a case fatality of 3%, nearly 3%, which is triple The Who threshold of 1%.

Dengue nearly 45,000 cases and 115 associated.

That's also reported from nearly 70 localities and 13 out of the 18 States and that's also from one September.

So that just hints of a completely a complete breakdown of the, the wash system, the water, the sanitation, hygiene, and especially with people fleeing from one corner to the other being crammed together in camps or in, in housings.

That just estimates the the situation and the risk for any disease outbreaks.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much Christian and and thanks in advance for sharing these vital statistics with us.

Very important angle, of course for the questions on Sudan colleagues looking at you in the room online.

I don't want anything further to add no.

So in that note, I'd like to thank you very much, Sadiq, Jacqueline and Christian as well.

Good luck with this immensely important work you're doing in country.

And of course, feel free to jump in on this at this briefing at any point in time.

Thank you very much.

Once again, thank you, Eugene.

OK, Tamin from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

We're going to hear about the situation now in the occupied West Bank as Tamin makes his way up here.

And then we still have on the agenda to remind you Ukraine and an update on Hurricane Melissa as well as an update.

So when you're settled in and maybe while, while you're settling in, maybe want while I, if you allow me just to highlight something we shared with you, I believe it was last night, it was a statement from Commissioner General Philippe Lazarini of UNRWA, as you well know, to the 4th Committee at the General Assembly.

He highlighted many important aspects of the work of his agency in the statement that we shared with you.

He's basically told the GA that safeguarding Unrwa's mandate and operations is vital to the survival of millions of Palestinians, essential for a much needed solution, specifically on the West Bank, which we'll just hear from Tamim about.

He noted that in the occupied West Bank, the loss of the agency's service services to nearly 1,000,000 Palestinian refugees would intensify the immense pressure on the Palestinian authorities.

It would exacerbate A volatile situation in which more than 30,000 Palestinians have been displaced by Israeli security operations in settler vines.

Violence is at an unprecedented levels.

So this is an excerpt from Mr Lazzarini's statement delivered yesterday to the GA.

Now, I'll throw over to you, Tammy.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Rolando.

Good morning everyone.

Images of mobs of masked Israeli settlers carrying out arson attacks in the occupied West Bank this week are abhorrent and reflect A wider pattern of increased violence against Palestinians.

Several people were injured in the attacks, which included the raid on a dairy factory and the torching of delivery trucks and homes.

The surge in violence comes as Israeli authorities have ramped up home demolitions, the seizure of property, arrests and movement restrictions alongside the unabated building of settlements and outposts, and the forcible displacement and transfer of thousands of Palestinians by Israeli settlers and the military.

Permanently displacing the Palestinian population within occupied territory amounts to unlawful transfer, which is a war crime.

The transfer by Israel of parts of its own civilian population into territory it occupies also amounts to a war crime.

We reiterate that the Israeli government's assertion of sovereignty over the occupied West Bank and it's annexation of parts of it are in breach of international law.

As the International Court of Justice has confirmed, they also violate the Palestinian people's right to self determination.

More settler attacks were recorded in October than in any month since 2006, and that is over 260 attacks since the 7th of October 2023 and up until the 13th of November 2025, Israeli security forces and settlers have killed at least 1017 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including E Jerusalem.

Among the victims were 221 children.

This does not include Palestinians who have died in Israeli detention.

During the same.

59 Israelis were killed in Palestinian attacks or alleged attacks or armed clashes.

Among the latest fatalities in the West Bank was a 13 year old boy Palestinian boy Isam Jihad Labib Nasser.

He died on Tuesday, a month after inhaling tear gas fired by Israeli security forces towards him and his family as settlers attacked them while they were trying to harvest all olives in their land in Beta near Nablus.

Just last week on the 6th of November, 216 year old boys, Palestinian boys Muhammad Abdullah Muhammad Time and Muhammad Rashid Fadh Al Qasim were shot and killed by Israeli forces in Al Judeira village in East Jerusalem.

The Israeli authorities allege that they were throwing Molotov cocktails.

2 days later a 26 year old Palestinian man was killed in a raid on Al Farah refugee camp, West of Dubas.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volcker Turk reiterates that attacks against Palestinians and the property must stop and those responsible must be held to account.

Israel must end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including by seizing immediately all new settlement activities and evacuating all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian territory.

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Palestinians right to self determination must be realised.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Tamim.

OK, let's take questions in the room first for Tamim, if any.

No, and I I think I believe Gabby, that was a mistake of mine.

I think your question might still be for Mr Rashid who but let's first see if we have questions for for Tamim.

[Other language spoken]

Is this indeed on Sudan?

And it's again, my, my apologies.

It's on.

[Other language spoken]

OK, over to you then.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, thank you so much.

My question is if, if sending a Molotovs bombs are A cause to kill someone because I mean, maybe you can detain those boys or something, but killing them?

Can you talk about this, please?

[Other language spoken]

So I imagine the question was on the West Bank, not on Gaza.

If it's in reference to the boys that I mentioned in the statement, yeah, Basically the law that applies in the West Bank, we're talking about the situation of law enforcement.

So it's international human rights law that applies.

And security forces must not use lethal force unless they are, unless there is a danger for their an imminent danger or imminent threat to their lives.

So basically any use of lethal force must be done with that condition.

And security forces must do all they can in order to avoid the use of lethal force against the against anyone in the, in the context of the, the, the law enforcement in the West Bank.

Of course, we're talking about children as well.

And as you can imagine, Israeli security forces are more heavily armed than two boys who would have Molotov cocktails.

[Other language spoken]

Indeed.

Thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

Is this a follow up on on OPT?

Yes, just a clarification.

So Israelis again violating the human rights law.

This can go to an international court or something or something like that.

Is, is that correct?

[Other language spoken]

Of course, we are calling for accountability here for all the actions that are being taken by Israeli security forces and by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank.

So of course, there has to be there have to be investigations and there must be accountability.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, Alicia FA, yes, Alisa from the Spanish News Agency.

I wanted to ask if there is some kind of recognition from the Israeli authorities of these attacks, of the increasing of this increasing attacks or they are hiding them or how they are talking about them.

Thank you for that, Alicia.

We are not seeing enough investigations, enough serious investigations in these attacks.

There is impunity that is prevailing in this situation.

For example, when it comes to the attacks that I mentioned, the arson attacks by different groups of settlers in the West Bank, we know that the Israeli forces reportedly arrested 4 Israeli settlers in connection to the attacks and handed them over to the police, but only one remained in custody.

We are yet to see genuine accountability.

[Other language spoken]

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It had Wilson responsibility.

[Other language spoken]

OK, we take a question online from Amen, Kuwait News Agency.

[Other language spoken]

The first one about the report of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights regarding the report of, regarding actually testimony of systematic rape and sexual torture against Palestinian hostages in the Israeli prison.

Are you thinking to open an investigation into this finding of the the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights?

And the second one is for famine.

And Ricardo, if he's connected from UNICEF about this law approved by the Israelicness permitting the execution of the Palestinian detainees, including children, do you have any comment on that?

[Other language spoken]

Thank you for that, Iman.

So as I've said, the conditions of detention in Israeli prisons for Palestinian detainees are very difficult.

They are horrible, and we have alerted on that on multiple occasions, including in a very detailed report last year that talked about the cases of torture, inhumane treatment and even cases of sexual violence against Palestinian detainees.

We reiterate our call for accountability for all these actions.

There must be investigations and those responsible must be held to account.

Of course, any such practises must seize immediately as well, and all Palestinians are bitterly detained, must be released immediately and unconditionally.

On the draft law that you mentioned.

Our position on death penalty in general is very clear is that we are against death penalty anywhere and everywhere in the context of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory.

And what I have just mentioned in terms of the the conditions of detention for Palestinian detainees and the lack of due process and fair trial guarantees, this is even more concerning.

So it is clear for us that this draft law must not go forward.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you, very clear.

Thanks so much to me for the questions.

No, in the room.

Make sure I don't miss any online.

No, that's not the case.

So thank you so very much, Tamin, as always, for joining us here on this very important story.

OK, shifting to Ukraine, Tomaso of the IFRC is with us.

He's going to introduce guests who's joining us from Kiev.

[Other language spoken]

So today we're with us, our IFRC Operations Manager in Ukraine, Victor Niyambala, speaking from Kiev, our original plan and of course, we'll we'll follow up on this was to brief on the winter preparations effort in Ukraine.

But Victor will also update you on the brutal attacks that happened last night in Ukraine.

So Victor, the floor is yours.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Tomaso, and greetings from Kiev to my distinguished colleagues.

After what was another brutal night in Ukraine, there was another large scale attack across the country with more than 400 drones and missiles launched at Ukraine.

In Kiev, the attacks targeted critical infrastructure.

Fires were ignited and I had the explosions throughout the night.

Sadly, people are still being injured and more families are actually losing loved ones.

This morning I talked to some of my colleagues who don't have cooking gas.

The central heating is down and electricity in their homes is actually non existent because we have power cuts after power stations have been hit and we can only hope that water will not be cut off.

Now, in the first seven months of this year, there have been more than 1200 attacks on energy infrastructure, and this is almost as many as in all of 2024, according to official figures.

Damage to the network is widespread and reconstruction efforts cannot keep up with the speed and the scale of destruction.

For many people in Ukraine, winter has become a race for survival, a season when families count the time not until the holidays, rather until the next power cut.

They wonder not about what gifts to buy or family and friends, but how they they will be able to afford the next meal.

Already last winter, 60% of people we surveyed they said that they did not have enough food and 50% did not have stable access to water, electricity and gas.

This winter may even be harder.

Power cuts can leave entire cities in the dark for up to 12 hours a day.

[Other language spoken]

Not all small and medium enterprises can afford to buy generators.

[Other language spoken]

This means no lights and no heating at home, no cooking dinner, and even children cannot do their homework.

Think about the older people who live in high rise buildings and apartments.

They use elevators to move around but when the lights are out, they become trapped in their apartments.

Now this blackouts are affecting many aspects of daily lives.

Shops in particular and restaurants cannot refrigerate their foodstuffs and that means that they incur huge losses.

Farmers are unable to store and process simple products such as milk, which they produce.

Bakeries keep their doors shut because the ovens cannot work and that means that prices continue to rise.

With increasing demand as well as inflation, we are seeing the businesses close day by day and that also means that people are left without jobs or basic livelihoods.

The past four years have eroded people's resources.

Many, many families are entering this winter with almost no financial buffer, and seven in 10 people, which is approximately 70%, have reported that they don't have any savings left.

There is no safety net to fall back on and suddenly no margin to cushion another shock.

In the past four years, IFRC and the Ukrainian Red Cross, as well as partners in the country, have worked side by side to meet humanitarian needs.

This year, we aim to support around half a million people through our winterization plan to help families stay warm and safe.

To strengthen their resilience, our teams are working to restore access to heating, clean water and energy, especially in the most affected areas.

We are distributing a variety of relief items including energy systems, power backup equipment and even rechargeable lighting kits just to help during the blackouts.

We're providing cash assistance to vulnerable people so they can cover their essential needs and this basic needs include heating and also fuel.

We give small grants to rural households to rebuild their livelihoods so they can build their local capacity to respond to emergencies within their communities, to ensure they're resilient and better prepared for the cold months ahead.

We've been providing support to people since the escalation of the conflict, but it's not enough.

The scale of the needs is overwhelming and with each passing day, those needs are growing.

At this critical moment, we call on governments and donors to urgently invest in emergency response as well as the long term recovery of Ukraine.

People should not have to choose between whether to eat food, heat their homes or treat their illnesses.

Let's make sure that no one is left behind, not in the dark and not in the cold.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Victor.

Colleagues, over to you.

Yes, Alicia of the Spanish News Agency.

I wanted to ask if you could tell us how many power cuts are in a day or in a week?

And also if Ukrainians are facing more difficulties in winter each year because they have less savings or what are the tendencies you're seeing in this, in this sense?

[Other language spoken]

Thank you for that question and I think I'll speak personally.

Where I stay, I have power cuts for 8 hours a day and lights for four hours a day, and that's in the capital city.

So I can imagine how bad it is in the outskirts, in the rural areas.

And in regards to the complexities, I think we have some compounding aspects when you look at not just the heats against the infrastructure but also economically.

When you have businesses not able to run industries because of lack of electricity, that means that the economy is actually collapsing day by day.

[Other language spoken]

We can see the pressure of inflation.

And in general, as winter comes and the temperatures drop, we also see a rise in terms of acute illnesses such as respiratory illnesses.

So the issues are very compounding and very much interrelated.

And This is why we see people making tough decisions between should they eat or should they heat their homes or are they going to treat their illnesses?

Thank you very much Victor for the questions.

Colleagues in the room online.

No, I don't see that's the case.

So Victor, thank you once again.

And Tomaso, of course, another very important story and and development to keep us informed and and again feel free to join us at any point in time.

Thank you, Victor.

[Other language spoken]

OK, two more items will now shift to the Caribbean hurricane.

Melissa, we have an update from a colleague from UNTP.

Sarah, I think maybe if you want to introduce your colleague, Sarah Bell from UNTP is online and we have a colleague joining us from Jamaica.

[Other language spoken]

Thanks, Rolando.

And I think my colleague is is not online.

[Other language spoken]

I think he had some connectivity issue.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, I'm getting the signal from the booth that he's sadly he's not connected.

[Other language spoken]

Well, if you so let me go ahead, please let me give, let let me give very quickly the top line of what he wanted to share.

And if there is any follow up question and interest, I'll, I'll connect the journalist directly with him and I'll send the, the detailed talking points.

But, but basically we've got new data on the damage, damage and the the government you need for Geo special, special data management as just completed a large scale satellite based assessment and there is about almost 1,000,000 building that were assessed.

And among these it's about about 10% but are totally destroyed, are really highly severely damaged.

I'll share all the details.

And also we, we we're working with drone image acquisition and analysis to validate and refine these, these finding regarding new satellite analysis that we've just conducted.

We can estimate that there there is about over 4.8 million tonnes of debris across Western Jamaica.

This is the equivalent to nearly 480,000 standard truckloads of debris and this is a mixed of building debris, vegetation and personal property debris.

Obviously this data will inform the the recovery plan, but I can also say that there is a preliminary Conservative government estimate about the cost of the reconstruction.

And the the preliminary estimate suggest that it's about 6 and 7 billion in damage, around 28 to 32% of Jamaica GDP.

So the the next phase is going to focus on debris clearance and recovery planning.

As I mentioned, it has to focus also on SM, ES and livelihood stabilisation, solar energy for critical community services.

And yes, we're working with all the parties involved in what we call risk informed rebuilding.

That's all for me and, and again my apologies for our colleagues Ron Jackson, who is the team lead Disaster Risk Reduction and recovery for UNDP who is on site at the moment in Jamaica.

And and unfortunately, I think he he had some connective issue, but happy to to connect with that send you the briefing points and connect you with with Ron whenever possible over.

[Other language spoken]

It's, it's really important to keep the spotlight on, on the recovery plans to this catastrophe which has affected many countries.

And do thank Mr Jackson for trying to connect.

I realise it's also very early in the morning for him in Jamaica.

But thank you very much for that briefing.

If you can share those notes, that would be appreciated.

Do we have any questions for the moment on the subject?

No, that sounds not the case.

So again, I think we'll reach out to you, Sarah, should there be questions afterwards.

[Other language spoken]

Last but not least, Thomas of the UNEC and thank you for your patience has an announcement for us on the Aarhus Convention.

Thank you very much.

Good morning everybody.

So next week, here in the ballet, UNEC will bring together some 300 representatives of governments, civil society, international organisations and other stakeholders to discuss achievements and remaining challenges in the area of human rights and the environment.

This takes the form of the eighth session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation and Decision Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters.

[Other language spoken]

It's more frequently known as the Rs Convention and simultaneously later that week, in fact, the fifth session of the meeting of the parties to the Protocol on Pollutant Releases and transfer registers known as the Protocol on PRTRS.

And this is every four years, the highest decision making bodies under these treaties.

And I'll explain to you what they do now.

This is in Tempest from 17 to 21 November, so all of next week.

So these UNECE treaties are open for accession by all member states of the United Nations and they provide legally binding frameworks to advance transparency and environmental democracy, including regarding climate change.

And COP 30 is going on right now, for these are the type of instruments that facilitate the public's role in the decision making process.

Now, the Rs Convention is actively used by individuals and NGOs working on environmental matters to put the rights to information, participation and justice into action for 48 parties.

Now those are the EU and the majority of the UNEC member states in the Pan European region, plus Guinea Bissau, which became the first party outside the region in 2023.

On 20th of November, a joint high level segment of the two bodies is expected to adopt the Geneva Declaration on advancing public rights to tackle the triple planetary crisis in the face of geopolitical tensions.

Now the parties are expected to set priorities for 20/26/29.

So this is every four years they're setting the they're setting the work for the next years.

The decisions to be taken include on compliance with country's obligations under these treaties, under the Iris Convention in particular.

And those aim to assist individual parties to improve their legislation and practise and bring themselves into compliance in areas such as oil and gas extraction, gold and lithium mining, nuclear power plants and renewable energy.

One of the key milestones that will be marked as the entry into force of the GMO amendment, which we announced here some months ago, earlier this year, and which essentially improves transparency on everything to do with GMOs, genetically modified organisms and welcoming as well the accession of Uzbekistan as the latest party to the Convention.

Importantly for you, as you've been following his work, some of you quite closely, the meeting of the parties will mark the completion of the first term of the Special Rapporteur on environmental defenders under the Rs Convention, Michelle Forst.

They will they will consider a decision on the scope and renewal of his mandate.

And as you know, he has been very active in in putting pressure on governments to protect environmental defenders who in many countries have been under have been subject to harassment, penalisation, criminalisation, persecution.

One final note that the Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers is expected to adopt A decision that will help countries to modernise these registers, which are essentially databases of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

So improving transparency, again, that's all for for us, but we remain available as always to facilitate contact with delegations, to help you follow the cases that you might be interested in if you're following particular countries and to put you in contact with experts to the extent possible.

[Other language spoken]

Thanks to you, Thomas.

Very important announcement indeed.

Questions for Thomas.

Yes, buddy, right Thomas, you mentioned 20s on 20th November you will have the high level segment to adopt some declarations is that included all the country members of the United States were only your members which are some observers and you also mentioned the meeting of the parties.

The meeting of the parties, what that means the parties who are adopt several important decisions.

The party is the the the participating or all the member states of United States, United Nations.

[Other language spoken]

Now, this is the meeting of the parties, which means that all of the countries that have ratified this particular treaty, or there are two next week, but Speaking of the Rs Convention, 48 parties, all of those which have ratified.

So the ones that participate are those that have ratified.

The ones which decide are those which have ratified.

So every four years with a treaty like this, it's when the members of the treaty, the signatories to that treaty come together to decide and take the most important decisions.

This declaration I referred to will be discussed and is expected to be adopted by the parties to this treaty.

And UNECE has 56 member states.

The Rs Convention has 48 parties, so slightly less, but we're talking about the countries that have ratified this treaty.

1 clarification.

One clarification is that these treaties are open to accession by all UN member states.

So worldwide, for the moment, there is one country that has that has ratified the Rs Convention outside the Pan European region, Guinea Bissau.

I would just comment on that, that this treaty and its success in Europe over several decades led to the adoption, negotiation and adoption of the Eschazo Agreement in Latin America and the Caribbean, which you may have heard about.

So there's global interest in this work, but this is reserved for the parties, the countries that have ratified this instrument.

Thanks very much for that, Thomas.

Further questions for Thomas.

No, that's not the case.

So thank you very much and and good luck with this meeting coming up next week.

Just a few announcements before we wrap up.

As you well know, colleagues, the Human Rights Council's engaged in a special session on the situation, human rights situation in Sudan.

I'm not sure where they stand right now, but they are scheduled, scheduled to wrap up around 1:00 with with action on a draft resolution, which you've have before you after having heard from a long list of speakers who have addressed very much the situations that we just heard about.

If you, you and HE, our colleagues as well as our unmasked colleague.

So to keep an eye on those proceedings on Sudan also and and more broadly the continent, I just wanted to share with you the joint communique that of the Ninth African Union United Nations Annual Conference readout that we shared with you last night with the Secretary General addressed earlier this week.

In this communique, there are various situations that are highlighted, including the situation in the Sahel, in Mali, Madagascar and in South Sudan and Sudan, of course, as many as well as other states.

So that's a communique we shared with you.

In terms of meetings here, in addition to the special session, we have the Committee against Torture, which is still underway.

This coming Tuesday, the committee will review Bahrain.

And then starting next week, we have the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, otherwise known as SERD.

It's 116th session starting on Monday the 17th with during which it will review the following states, the Maldives, Guatemala, Sweden, excuse me, Burundi, New Zealand and Tunisia.

So do take a look at that media advisory.

And this afternoon, after the special session, the Council's UPR Universal Periodic Review Working Group will conclude its session after having adopted the reports for the remaining countries for Belarus, Liberia, Malawi, Mongolia, Panama, Maldives, Andora, Bulgaria, Honduras, the Marshall Islands, Croatia, Jamaica and Libya, if you caught all that.

So that's a lot to adopt this afternoon.

And two last points, just to mention that this coming Sunday is the World Day of Remembrance for Rd traffic victims.

The 16th of November is the day.

And among other things in the SGS message, he notes that every year 1.2 million people are killed in Rd crashes and another 50 millionaire left injured or disabled.

He also notes that to date, the UN Rd Safety Conventions, the Road Safety Fund and the Special Envoy for Rd Safety have helped 94 countries save lives on the road.

Important message indeed.

And last but certainly not least, as Alessandra mentioned earlier this week, we have coming up next week a very nice event, the Young Activist Summit.

It's an annual event here.

The seventh Young Activist Summit, otherwise known as the Yas, will convene on Thursday the 20th at 10:00 AM.

We'll hear from 5 outstanding young individuals between age 17 and 27 who will be presenting the important work they've done in their countries, Cote d'Ivoire, India, Lebanon, Brazil and Japan to drive positive change by using technology.

So we've shared with you the press release and the programme, truly an important event that we we are very proud to host here at the UN office at Geneva.

So that's it from me if you have any questions.

Nope in that case.

So wish you a good afternoon and see you on Tuesday.

[Other language spoken]

UN Geneva Press Briefing - 14 November 2025