Thank you for joining us here at the UN office at Geneva today, the 20th of January for this press briefing hosted by the UN Information Service at Geneva.
We have another very important agenda for you.
We have we'll start off immediately with colleagues from OCHA and UNICEF to speak to the situation in Mozambique.
We'll also have from the Human Rights office subject of Sudan and Ukraine as well as some announcements from colleagues who are in the room here.
I'll also have a few announcements for you at the end of this briefing, but we'll start right away with Yens, who's going to introduce colleague who's joining us from from Mozambique.
Yeah, Thank you very much, Rolando.
And good morning everyone, as we have on the screen already, Paula And welcome Paula Emerson, who is the head of OCHA in Mozambique and she is speaking to you from Shy.
Shy, I think it's are pronounced in southern Mozambique, which is heavily affected by rainfall that has gone on for a long time and now flooding.
So with that, over to you, Paula.
Good morning, everyone and thanks for this opportunity to speak about the impact of the floods on people here in Mozambique.
More than half a million people have been impacted by recent floods across southern and central Mozambique, particularly in Gaza, the Gaza in Mozambique, Maputo and Safala provinces.
The numbers keep rising as extensive flooding continues and dams them.
The floods have caused extensive damage to people's lives.
Physical impact is also huge.
90% of the people in Mozambique live in Adobe houses that basically melt after a few days.
Rains, health facilities, roads and critical infrastructure are also impacted.
So far, the most affected province is Gaza, where I am today with 64% of the affected people.
Nearly 5000 kilometres of roads have been damaged across 9 provinces, including the main Rd linking the capital Maputo to the rest of the country, which is currently inaccessible.
As a result, supply chains are severely disrupted and the authorities also report a loss of over 27,000 heads of livestock, further undermining livelihoods.
The Government of Mozambique has declared a national emergency.
It is leading the response and has established an Emergency Operations Centre in Gaza Province, covering all affected provinces.
At the same time, provisional coordination is assured by the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre.
The National Disaster Management Authority, INGD and partners continue relocating people to safer areas and are conducting search and rescue operations at this point.
Currently, there are 51 accommodation centres active nationwide, posting more than 50,000 people, including around 38,000 in Gaza province.
The situation remains fluid and dangerous.
Search and rescue can continue, but more support, more capacity is needed.
Road access including is severely impacted, including the risk of flash flooding linked to the rains, but also them releases in Mozambique and upstream countries.
Shai Shai town near the Lipopo River has been inundated, prompting the evacuation from these provincial capital to higher ground.
Authorities have also issued alerts for downtown time shy shy, including warnings of crocodile risks in flooded areas.
On Saturday 17 January, the government requested United Nations support for air resources for rescue operations and transport of humanitarian aid to hard to reach areas, logistics, civil engineering and disaster management specialists aimed at the temporary restoration of essential access routes and flood control and humanitarian assistance.
At this stage, access and funding remain the most critical constraints.
Widespread flooding and infrastructure damage have rendered large areas inaccessible, including sections of the main highway linking ports to affected areas.
After flooding of the Incommati, Umbaluzi, Limpopo, Savi and Boozy rivers in southern and central Mozambique, humanitarian partners are exploring alternative access route, including the feasibility of sea routes between Maputo and the small port of Inyamban, closer to the most affected areas.
While rainfall may ease in the coming days, flood risks persist.
It will take time for dam levels to reduce, plant waters to recede and soil conditions to stabilise sufficiently to allow roads to reopen and comprehensive response and assessments to be conducted.
Continued water releases are expected to remain a threat even after heavy rains subside.
From just one dam, up to 10,000 cubic metres cubic metres were of water were being discharged.
That is approximately 25 times the amount of water that could be held in the press briefing room you are in today every second.
You cannot imagine the strength of these water and the impact it has on people and the infrastructure.
Humanitarian partners are scaling up life saving assistance with a focus on easing overcrowding in accommodation centres, particularly in Gaza province, while response and assessments continue in hard to reach areas.
Humanitarian partners have deployed to Gaza and other areas strengthening human emergency coordination, child protection, WASH and displacement monitoring capacity and IM as well.
More support is arriving, including for search and rescue coordination, prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse, information management and logistic support, among others.
Additional funding is urgently needed to sustain and scale up the humanitarian response.
This flooding emergency comes on top of massive conflict related displacement in northern Mozambique and has depleted stocks.
The number of people in need is increasing with significant protection risk.
The appeal for 2026 for 352 million to support conflict affected people remains underfunded.
With the floods, more support is urgently requested.
This latest disaster is a stark reminder of Mozambique's vulnerability to the convergence of multiple drought cyclones in region, placing enormous strain on communities and capacity.
Thank you very much, Paulo.
We lost you for the last couple of sentences.
It was a small break in the Internet.
Nevertheless, colleagues, we will share the notes with you.
Lots of geographical names, lots of numbers.
Very important update from you, Paulo.
I'm going to stay on the subject of Mozambique.
Ricardo from UNICEF is online.
He's going to introduce a guest, Guy Taylor from UNICEF.
But maybe we'll start with Ricardo and then over to Guy.
Introducing my colleague Guy Taylor, who's also in shy, shy southern Mozambique to speak about the impact that the floods are having on children and and the services that we are trying to to provide to them.
Over to you, Guy, and thank you for joining.
Yes, so as Carla mentioned just now, the exceptionally heavy rains that we've been seeing during the first weeks of January have really triggered A rapidly escalating emergency across vast swathes of Mozambique, particularly in the in the South of the country.
And the flooding that we're seeing is not just destroying homes, schools, health centres and roads, it's really turning unsafe water, disease outbreaks and malnutrition into a deadly threat for children.
And the fact that Mozambique is now entering into its annual cyclone season creates the risk of a double crisis, with the most vulnerable children impacted most severely.
According to preliminary government data, as parliament mentioned, more than half a million people have been affected already, with that number likely to rise.
And, and we, we estimate the more, more than half of those people that are children, more than 50,000 people have been forced to flee their homes and are now sheltering across 62 temporary centres, many of those very overcrowded.
Its own risk of disease outbreaks, access to the most basic services.
So we're talking about clean water, healthcare, nutrition education is uncertain or unsafe at best in, in most impacted areas.
And in that kind of condition, these kind of conditions, children really face high risks of disease, of interrupted learning and of course the protection risks.
And that's particularly the case for for girls and for adolescents.
Of particular concern are waterborne, always the combination of waterborne diseases and malnutrition, which can can often prove lethal.
Even before the recent floods here in Mozambique, around 4 out of every 10 children were experiencing chronic malnutrition.
And so this renewed disruption to to food supplies, to health services and to care practises threatens to push the most vulnerable children into a dangerous spiral.
And that includes the risks, of course of acute and severe acute malnutrition, which is the deadliest form of of malnutrition.
The other with government and our humanitarian.
As UNICEF is responding with urgency in Gaza, where I am now the most affected province, we're working very closely in support of government and with our humanitarian partners to assess the needs and to begin distributing essential supplies to the most affected children and families.
At the same time, we're working to get the most critical services, so access to safe water, sanitation, hygiene, health services, education, child protection back online as quickly as possible to avoid the disruptions and the dangers to children's life and well-being.
Further north in the country, we've been providing water, sanitation and hygiene supplies to affected districts in Safala Province, enabling treatment of contaminated water, community and household level and have already reached at least 13,000 households that.
But it's important to emphasise that the threat to children is really growing.
We have river basins above alert levels, rain continuing in some areas, and as I mentioned before, the cyclone season just getting under way.
And so the number of affected children and families is is really expected to rise further in the days and weeks ahead.
And at the same time, critically damaged roads and infrastructure and making access to affected communities is very, very difficult.
Timely support allows UNICEF and our partners to scale up safe water, nutrition, health, education and child protection services before conditions deteriorate further.
We can prevent disease deaths and irreversible losses to children, but we we need to act fast.
Mozambique is really a country of of children and young people.
More than half its population, around 17 million people, are under the age of 18 and the average age is just 17.
And when floods and cyclones strike, as they have repeatedly and with increasing frequency over recent years, it's the youngest and children who are hit hardest, both in those first days of the emergency, but also in the the months and sometimes years that follow.
So for children in Mozambique, what happens in the coming days will really determine not only how many survive this emergency, but how many can recover, how many can return to school and rebuild their futures.
Thanks to you, Guy, very much as and again to Paula.
So we'll turn out to you colleagues for questions.
We'll start with an E in the room here in Geneva.
Amidst all the the threats that come with these rising water levels, are crocodiles a concern?
I understand there's a lot in in the country, in the river systems.
Is there a risk of them moving out of the rivers into populated areas and and maybe attacking people?
Maybe I think Paula might be a well guide chime in as well.
But we'll start with Paula.
And from what I understand the what is happening is the river levels are rising and are reaching urban areas or heavily populated areas.
So the crocodiles that are are are in these in the Lipopo River in this case are able to get into areas, urban or or populated areas that are now submerged underwater.
That is their concern that has been expressed in downtown Shai Shai, which is the provincial capital of Gaza and a key of Montrepool linking the north and the South of the country.
If there's anything you want to add at any point in time, maybe just raise your hand or no, no, nothing to add.
OK, further questions in the room.
I don't see that's the case.
Well, your briefings were very comprehensive.
And I think Ricardo, if you can share guys notes that would be much appreciated.
And as mentioned, we will share powerless notes as well.
So thank you both very much for joining us from Mozambique and and do keep us updated on the developments there.
And, and thank you for for your excellent work you're doing there and best of luck.
I think we will then move on to Ravina of the Human Rights office, who will shortly join me on the podium, who will address firstly Sudan about specific about the situation, Cordafan and then we also have a subject on the Ukraine.
Thank you very much whenever you're ready.
Thank you, Rolando, and good morning, everyone.
As you know, the High Commissioner was just in Sudan for a five day visit.
We went to Port Sudan and then to Northern State to a few places, Dongola where we met with a lot of more than 50 NGOs and international NGOs and humanitarian volunteers who are doing really inspirational work in Sudan.
We then visited an IDP camp and also a dam and a power station that had been hit by drones.
The High Commissioner asked me to to come here today to emphasise his warning on Kordofan.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights woke a Turk on Sunday and did a five day visit to Sudan with a stark warning to the parties to the conflict.
The horrific violations and abuses committed during the capture of Al Fasher in North Darfur must under no circumstances be repeated in Kadugli and Dillinge in South Kordofan during his visit to Sudan and in particular to the Al Fad site for internally displaced people in Adaba in Northern State, which is sheltering some 20,000 displaced people.
We bore witness to the trauma and the reverberating impact of the brutality that children, men and women have suffered in Al Fasher as they attempted to flee.
The capture of Elfasher in late October was characterised by widespread summary executions, the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war, dehumanising treatment and abductions for ransom.
The offensive was preceded by a suffocating 18 month long siege that prevented civilians from getting food, access to health and other basic needs, with constant attacks on residential areas and civilian infrastructure.
And the High Commissioner urged all parties to the conflict, including in a meeting with an RSF delegation on Sunday, to ensure that the crimes committed during and after the takeover of Alfasher are not repeated in Kadugli.
De Lynch and the wider Kodofan Region Report suggests that additional troops from the Rapid Support Forces and allied SPLM N are about 20 kilometres now from the besieged city of Kadugli, which is currently under the control of the Sudanese Armed Forces and where famine conditions have been confirmed.
We've heard reports of relentless military engagement, heavy shelling, drone bombardments and air strikes by parties to the conflict, causing widespread destruction and collapse of essential services.
Over 25,000 people have already been displaced from their homes across S Kordofan since late October, when the hostilities intensified in that region.
The High Commissioner identified a number of immediate measures that the parties can implement at once.
Safe passage must be ensured for civilians who leave areas of active conflict.
They must be protected from summary executions, sexual violence, reprisal, attacks based on alleged collaboration, arbitrary detention and abductions.
All parties to the conflict need to ensure that forces allied with them or under their Control Act in accordance with international human rights and humanitarian law, including, crucially, by repressing such violations and holding those responsible for violations and abuses to account, regardless of their affiliation.
Throughout the course of this conflict, all parties have perpetrated gross violations and abuses of international human rights law and serious violations of IHL, notably when the fighting intensifies to bring new areas under the control of one of the parties.
In a report to the Security Council yesterday, the International Criminal Court assessed the Commission of both war crimes and crimes against humanity around the fall of Elfasher and beyond.
This validates very much our own findings.
Having witnessed the destruction of critical civilian infrastructure at the Meadow Way Dam and Hydroelectric power Station, the High Commissioner said the RSF and the SAF must seize intolerable attacks against civilian objects that are indispensable to the population, including markets, health facilities, schools and shelters.
They must ensure the protection of civilians and unimpeded access for the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Protection from arbitrary detention is essential and all those deprived of liberty must be treated humanely in accordance with international law.
As the High Commissioner has said, a chronicle of cruelty is unfolding before our very eyes and we must not look away.
All those who have influence, including regional actors, and notably those who supply arms and benefit economically from this war, need to act urgently to put an end to it.
Turn to you for questions.
I was wondering if you could say a little bit more about the meeting with the RSF on on Sunday, sort of what was how did that go and who did he meet with and what was the outcome?
Yes indeed, the meeting took place actually in Nairobi on Sunday at the request of the the RSF.
He met with the delegation and just to be clear, he met with them as a party to the conflict.
He was clear that the meeting in no way implied recognition of their self declared administration in areas controlled by them.
The High Commissioner, of course, needs to engage with all parties to the conflict in order to convey his concerns and our reports regarding the conduct of hostilities and to press for action to address the violations and uphold the protection of civilians.
When he spoke to them, he emphasised in particular exactly what I have said today.
He drew their attention to the fact that he met personally with victims of the violations committed in El Fasher.
He looked women in the eye, women who have been subject to brutal gang rape and other violence, seen their families killed in front of them, been looted of all their belongings, not only money, gold, but also identification documents and even educational degrees were looted from them, leaving them with very little to be able to carry forward in their future.
He raised all these concerns directly with the RSF delegation and he emphasised to them that their leadership is responsible for preventing these violations and that they're accountable for the violations that are committed.
There was some discussion about whether these were individual isolated cases and the High Commissioner emphasised that according to our monitoring, these are not isolated cases.
There is a systemic use of sexual violence and we have identified patterns of violations including summary executions, arbitrary detentions, torture, abduction for ransom.
He emphasised to them directly and he asked them to to take this higher up, that these violations should not be replicated when the fight for Kadugli and the lynch is underway and that we are watching.
And did you receive any, or did he receive any assurances from them about how they would act going forward?
They have actually issued a statement as as you're aware, unfortunately, in their statement, they did ascribe some words to the High Commissioner.
They said that the High Commissioner welcomed efforts towards accountability.
He did not, he did not welcome efforts towards accountability.
He insisted on the need for accountability for the violations committed in order for them to be prevented.
But on, on their response, I would refer you to to them.
Again, further questions for Ravina on Sudan.
Just on another subject, I was wondering if you have any reaction to the bulldozing of onerous headquarters in East Jerusalem, which is happening today, among other issues.
I mean, we do have other agenda items.
We have Ukraine and we have announcements.
But why not since you posed the question?
I mean, what I can do is share with you and I'll read elements of a post that Philippe Lazarini just put out.
As you might have heard, early this morning the Israeli forces stormed the UNRWA headquarters, a United Nations site in East Jerusalem.
Now, this is a new level of open and deliberate defiance of international law, including of the privileges and immunities of the United Nations by the State of Israel.
Again, I'm paraphrasing from Mr Lazzarini's statement, which you put out short while ago.
This demolition constitutes an unprecedented attack against a United Nations agency and its premises, and it comes in the wake of other steps taken by Israeli authorities to erase the Palestinian Palestine refugee identity.
You might recall that on January 12th, Israeli forces stormed into an UNRWA health centre in East Jerusalem and ordered it to close.
Now together these actions to with previous arson attacks in a large scale disinformation campaign flying in the face of the ruling in October by International Court of Justice, which restated that Israel is obliged under international law to facilitate Unrwa's operations, not hinder or prevent them.
Now the court also stressed that Israel has no jurisdiction over E Jerusalem.
Again, these are elements from the post of Mr Lazarini, the Commissioner General of UNRWA, which we received a short while ago.
We will be following these developments as they just occurred a short while ago and we'll certainly keep you updated.
I'm not sure if you had anything to add, Ravina, on that.
Just I would like to add our outrage, the high Commissioners outrage at this incident and it compounds what we've been seeing for a while, attacking aid groups and UN actors who are trying to help.
And of course, we'll, we'll keep you abreast of the developments as, as, as just mentioned.
If, if, if you would be so kind to just announce you have something on Ukraine.
And then we have another subject.
I think maybe Pascal will join us afterwards after the announcement.
If any of you is interested in hearing more about the visit, I'd be very happy to to sit with you and share.
It's rare for us to actually sit with people who are directly experiencing these violations and be able to convey that.
And not only that, but also the visit to the dam and the hydroelectric power station where we saw the remnants of drones and we saw exactly the impact that this conflict is having.
And also to bring some nuance to the situation.
Those of you who have visited areas, you know, war zones, basically, you will understand that there's a lot of nuance there.
And as I've been saying, sometimes, you know, people sitting in far-flung places in the world and in small towns in, in the US or, or in Europe, when you think of Sudan, you think of this dark place that's beset by conflict and everyone's a victim and destitute and desperate.
We, we met people whose spirit is undeterred, who are thinking, right, what can I do to help and who are taking things into their own hands to the extent possible.
And where they don't have the power to actually end this conflict.
They're doing what they can to help people not suffer so much to, to do what they can to build communities and to take control where they can.
And we saw a lot of that.
So I'd be very happy to sit with you and, and share.
We also have a lot of footage from there, which we're happy to share.
Journalists are restricted big time.
We encountered so many checkpoints, really difficult for journalists to do their jobs.
So we're very happy to share footage, photos, testimony, whatever you need, just please reach out.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volka Turk said he was outraged by the repeated large scale attacks by the Russian Federation on energy infrastructure in Ukraine, following more strikes last night which shut down heating and electricity in major urban areas, including in Kiev and Odessa, among others.
This as the people of Ukraine are gripped by extreme cold with temperatures below -10°C at night.
Civilians are bearing the brunt of these attacks and they can only be described as cruel.
They must stop targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure is a clear breach of the rules of warfare.
Last night's attacks with long range weapons caused emergency power and heating outages in several regions.
In Kiev city, the mayor has reported that 5635 multi Storey residential buildings were left without heating this morning, nearly 80% of which had only recently had heating restored after outages caused by similar attack on the 9th of January.
This means that hundreds of thousands of families are now without heating and several areas, including a significant part of Kiev, are also without water.
This effects in particular the most vulnerable, including children, older people and those with disabilities.
The Russian Federation has persisted in launching these large scale strikes despite extensive and well documented public information regarding their severe impact on the civilian population.
Since October last year, Russian Armed Forces have renewed systematic large scale attacks against Ukraine's energy infrastructure, with strikes recorded in at least 20 regions of the country, following on similar strikes in 2024.
These attacks have degraded Ukraine's energy system as a whole, which has resulted in rolling power outages across most regions of Ukraine, routinely lasting up to 18 hours per day over recent months.
The High Commissioner calls on Russian authorities to immediately seize these attacks.
It is appalling to see civilians suffering in this way.
Thank you so much again, Ravina, for this update.
Should you have questions on Ukraine for Ravina.
Actually, I have a question on another matter and let's just direct it to you.
But maybe Robin, I would like to chime in as well.
OK, Just want to make sure there are no questions on Ukraine before we move on to another subject.
I think that may be the case.
So I think you were very comprehensive and thank you.
And I see that you already shared the notes.
So thank you very much for that.
France, Sudan and Ukraine.
OK, Beza, back to you then.
Thank you again, Rolando, actually this is directly to you.
And if I mean I would chime in, I would love that.
Yesterday, Syria's Interior Ministry said that SDF released 120 ISIS that knees in a prison with thousands stills at large.
How does UN assess the risk of ISIS regrouping following this release, I mean, ongoing clashes in northern Syria?
And how does UN assess the security implication of these releases?
If you give me a moment, I think this was addressed at our briefing yesterday as well.
And of course the situation is, is worrying, in particular the damage to critical infrastructure.
The the situation in Syria is, you know, where hundreds of families remain unable to leave certain areas is really worrying.
New displaced families are facing terrible conditions as well.
So the UN and its partners are continued to responding where we have access and provide trauma care.
OCHA also issued a note, I believe, which speaks to some of the things that we're doing and why we're doing it.
I mean, we've been focusing on the situation in Syria.
There was a respite at some point, but things are actually rather worrying.
And this is a situation that we are obviously very, very closely following.
I don't have much more to add other than to say that I will definitely seek more guidance and maybe get back to you on specifics from what we can share with our from our colleagues on the ground.
I don't know if there's anything that Ravina or other colleagues want to add on this particular situation.
No, Rolando, I don't have anything specific on ISIS, but I can check with colleagues if they have information based on and come back to you.
What I do have is, is that we are concerned about reports of renewed fighting between the Syrian Army and the SDF despite the the 18th of January ceasefire agreement.
And we again would like to emphasise something we've been saying for a long time, that any integration of security forces of of SDF forces, in particular Interstate institutions must take place within a proper human rights based vetting process to ensure that any individuals involved in human rights violations or abuses are not integrated and to also urge accountability in line with human rights standards.
But I'll come back to you if we have something specific on ISIS.
Thank you very much for viewing that.
Yep, sorry, this is a different subject again.
I was wondering if there are any comments on the situation in Iran.
I know there's been a request now for a special session at the Human Rights Council.
Do you think that's important?
And any also do you have any idea when that might be held?
Rolando, I think the the man in the back Rd there might be better placed to answer that question.
So, Pascal, if I could ask you to come up and in the meantime, just maybe I can remind you of what I shared with you on on Friday, which still stands.
You know, the situation is one of concern in Iran.
Our Assistant Secretary General, Martha Poby did brief this emergency session of the Security Council on Friday.
Actually, it was Thursday evening, pardon me, and I spoke to that on on Friday.
Of course, she framed the situation as fluid and deeply concerning and that remains the case.
Secretary General, obviously these are the words of the secretary general voiced through his assistant secretary general.
But maybe I'll turn on the specific question of the special session over to Pascal.
The United Nations Human Rights Council is expected to hold a special session on to I quote, address the deteriorating human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran and quote, on Friday the 23rd of January 2026.
The special session is set to take place in the Assembly Hall at the Paladin Astro in Geneva starting at 2:00 PM GMT plus one and to last until 6:00 PM.
This special session was requested on Monday evening by Iceland together with Germany, N Macedonia, the Republic of Moldova and the United Kingdom.
For a special session to be convened, the support of 1/3 of the 47 members of the Council is required and so far this request for a special session is supported by 21 states members of the Council.
This request is also supported by 30 observer states at the Council and the list of signatories remains open until the start of the special session.
So if held this coming Friday, this will be the 39 special session of the Human Rights Council since it was funded 20 years ago.
And just as a reminder, on 24 November 2022, the Council already held a special session on Iran and this special session will be webcast live in the sixth official language of the UN.
Thanks very much for that confirmation and of course, big meeting this coming Friday, the 23rd, which I'm sure you'll all be following.
So further questions, other subjects are welcomed before we go to our announcements.
Any for Ravino, Pascal for me?
Catherine, somebody left the phone.
So Thomas has an announcement on an upcoming UNECE meeting concerning water and then Catherine will have something on the UN trade development publication.
With less than a year to go before the UN Water Conference in December 2026, which will be Co hosted by the UAE and Senegal, leaders will gather in Dakar next week on the 26th and 27th for a high level preparatory meeting for this conference with the aim of strengthening global ambition on water and sanitation specifically to address sustainable goal, Sustainable Development Goal 6.
Now this is not UNECE meeting.
It's a UN wide process following on from the 2023 UN Water Conference and building on the momentum that was garnered there.
So to put this in perspective a little bit, the challenges that are faced.
So according to the latest UNSDG report 2025, despite progress between 2015 and 2020, four, 2.2 billion people still lack safely managed drinking water and 3.4 billion live without safely managed sanitation.
Only just over half of domestic wastewater is safely treated worldwide.
Now many countries in Northern Africa, Western Asia and Central and Southern Asia are facing critical water stress exceeding 75%.
And about 10% of the global population now live under high or critical water stress.
So the meeting will assess progress and gaps and try to accelerate that progress where possible.
Now in particular, I want to draw your attention to one of the six main conference themes, which is water corporation.
So Corporation on shared water resources and UNECE will be showcasing this corporation with partners, with governments and partners.
Specifically, the progress under the UN Water Convention, which as you know is Aun treaty serviced by UNECE that provides a legal framework and intergovernmental platform for water corporation.
Now based on 30 years of success in the Pan European region, the convention as you know became open for accession to all UN member states globally.
This was in 2016 and in less than 10 years, 16 countries worldwide have joined this treaty.
That includes 13 in Africa, where 90% of water is in shared basins, as well as Iraq, Panama and Bangladesh in recent years.
Now there are 57 parties worldwide and about 30 countries currently considering joining.
So if all those countries joined, the membership of the convention would reach over half of the 153 UN member states that share water with their neighbours.
Why are countries doing this?
Why is this corporation mounting?
Why is the momentum growing?
It's because because it strengthens the foundations for peace, for security, for sustainable development, for climate adaptation.
Water crosses borders and so do the risks associated with it.
This is really a success story, success story of multilateralism, which countries are increasingly seizing.
So that's the emphasis we want to put for this, for this conference.
Just a quick mention that back-to-back with the official preparatory meeting in Dakar next week.
There will be negotiations, high level negotiations on the Senegal Mauritania aquifer basin.
Now around 20 million people depend on this basin in The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania and Senegal.
UNECE has been supporting those negotiations for over 5 years now and they're expected to result in the finalisation of a draft to be submitted at the conference in December.
UNEC will be present in the car and we invite you to connect us with your colleagues who will be covering in the region.
That would be much appreciated.
I'll share with you the notes shortly.
You have all the information there.
Thanks in advance, Thomas.
It's a supremely important subject and thank you for clarifying.
Not a UNEC meeting, but one of system wide and incredibly important gathering.
Any questions for Thomas?
And thanks in advance for sharing those notes with us, Thomas.
And that note I didn't turn to my right.
Catherine of UN Trade Development, over to you.
Chevy Pelion Francais and my notes will be in English like you said.
The project Greenfield Data Centre Men Ladon's.
We have a question from John Zaracostas, Francois Cat in The Lancet.
My question is related to the Secretary General, Miss Greenspan.
If she has, she had mentioned in the press conference when she would be formally running for Secretary General, should be stepping aside, Has she formally started running for Secretary General or is the paperwork still in the pipeline?
I think the paperwork is still in the pipeline.
Thank you very much for the questions.
You beat me to the punch.
I was just about to say something about that.
I think for our colleagues, I think no questions for Thomas or Catherine.
So maybe just to just to wrap up, just a note to remind you, in fact, draw your attention, excuse me, draw your attention.
What we said yesterday, last night, our time, our spokesperson in New York did in fact announced that the secretary general has unfortunately had to cancel his participation at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos.
It was scheduled for tomorrow.
But he's got a bad cold and he's actually in Switzerland.
He's probably on route back to New York now.
So we had announced that yesterday.
So his participation in in Davos is unfortunately cancelled.
As you know, he was in Switzerland for a short while where he was meeting nearby with his special and personal representatives and envoys.
But to that meeting is now concluding and he's on route back to New York as mentioned.
So is there any comment at all on on his behalf on this board of peace charter and kind of where it leaves the UNS initiative on peace broke broking peace in the world.
Is this a threat to the UN?
Listen, I mean, you know the, the the Board of Peace, as you know, it's as a result of this intergovernmental body which was proposed by President Trump to employ part of its 20 point Gaza peace plan.
But this is not AUN plan.
It was endorsed or rather authorised by the Security Council strictly for its work in Gaza.
All right now our engagement that is the UN engagement is limited to its work on Gaza.
We have as as I mentioned, the statement which we issued Thursday last week, through which we welcomed the ceasefire in all measures to support that.
And we will continue to work with all parties on the ground to help ensure it's upheld.
But the Board of Peace, again, it's, it's, it's not part of the UN plan.
The UN did not draft the plan.
Again, the UN supports humanitarian stability efforts in Gaza, but that's that's as far as I could go on that.
Any further questions I should say on that subject?
Let me just announce a couple of other things before we wrap up just simply to keep you on track for the meetings taking place here.
You heard from Pascal about the upcoming meeting this Saturday, the 23rd special session of the Human Rights Council on Iran.
I should also mention that the concurrent we have the Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review, which we announced the last week.
It started off yesterday.
In fact, this afternoon the Council's subsidiary body is reviewing Nauru, Nauru, South Pacific Island, and this morning it's Mauritania.
In fact tomorrow it's Rwanda and Nepal and the rest of the 11 countries to be reviewed are in this nice timetable which you I'm sure have printed out.
The Committee on the Right to the Child was expected to review the report of Ethiopia today, but that has been postponed to Monday.
So the CRC, the Committee on the Right to the Child will review Ethiopia on Monday, the Conference on Disarmament this morning it opened its its its session on yesterday, in fact, and this morning it's its first public plenary of his 2026 session and under the presidency of Mongolia.
Last but not least, as I announced on Friday, on Thursday, this coming Thursday, the 22nd of January, at 10 AM in this room, we'll have a press conference with the new composition of the new members of the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including E Jerusalem in Israel.
Again, the names of the commissioners.
Well, you know, Chris Adotti is a returning commissioner who you know, well, the new members and the new chairperson is Srinivasan Muralidhar.
And then there is another member, Florence Mumba.
So the three members of the Commission will be here at 10 AM on Thursday to speak with you.
So if you don't have further questions for me, I wish you a good afternoon and see you here on Friday.
