UN Geneva - Multimedia Newsroom : UN Geneva Press Briefing

[Other language spoken]

Welcome to the press briefing of the Information Service of the UN in Geneva.

I like to sorry our phones.

So welcome to this press briefing.

Let's start immediately by listening to Jonathan Fowler.

You know, Jonathan has been with UNRWA for quite a while now and he's now replacing Juliet that we will hear a little bit later.

So Jonathan, welcome to the briefing.

You have an update on your operations and on the event at the East Jerusalem Umbra compound, the recent event.

So I'll give you the floor.

[Other language spoken]

Good morning, everybody and and thank you very much indeed.

[Other language spoken]

Good to see everybody.

So I I want to_again what's happened this week at the UNRWA compound in East Jerusalem.

And I also want to emphasise this is a United Nations compound like any other.

What we saw is what UNRWA Commissioner General Philip Lazzarini called a new level of open and deliberate defiance of international law.

This, this is a site which is covered by the privileges and immunities of the United Nations and the storming and demolition of the compound by Israeli authorities is, is, is appalling.

It's an outrage and it has potential impacts well beyond, well beyond the United Nations and, and potentially globally because these kind of breaches of international law.

This is absolutely unprecedented, storming into the United Nations compound, destroying it, expropriating it.

Now, as recently as October last year, the International Court of Justice stressed that Israel is obliged to facilitate, not hinder or prevent Unrwa's operations.

So what we saw this week, I mean, flies in the face of that ruling from the International Court of Justice.

We we've seen a lot in the media and and including statements also by Israeli officials claiming that they own the land that the facility was situated on.

This, this is is these assertions need to be dismissed and dismissed outright.

Contrary to these assertions, the Israeli government does not own or have rights to the land.

The International Court of Justice and the United Nations General Assembly have both repeatedly emphasised that the occupation of East Jerusalem is illegal and therefore Israel has no sovereign rights over the land.

Philip Lazzarini also talked about a lost moral compass and the reason for this is that multiple Israeli officials were on site during the demolition, filming and posting content on social media celebrating it and making statements alike.

The fact that UNRWA, UNRWA staff need to be annihilated.

I mean, really, really, this is incredibly worrying.

This opens the road for more actions.

We're very fearful that the next step could be the seizure of our, our, our training centre, our vocational training centre in East Jerusalem.

And that would deprive hundreds of students of their right to education.

So that that's all I have on, on the, the compound.

But I just want to emphasise very, very quickly, it's one year since the Israeli forces launched their Operation Iron Wall in the north of the West Bank.

Now this led to the the mass displacement of the of people from three camps in the north of the West Bank.

Anwar continues to be the largest provider of humanitarian aid to around 33,000 people who've been displaced for the last 12 months.

These Palestine refugees who were expelled by the Israeli forces from the camps, they're living in poverty, they've had their income cut off.

They have very few prospects of returning to their homes.

The camps are progressively being demolished by the Israeli military.

So therefore changing the facts on the ground, changing the topography and the demography of of of these large communities.

We're providing healthcare, we're providing cash for a rent, and we're also providing schooling for 4600 children who were expelled from these camps.

And then finally, on schooling, given that it's International Day for Education tomorrow, I also want to emphasise what we're doing on education in Gaza.

We have 65,000 children in what we call temporary learning spaces.

These are children receiving direct education from Unruh teachers on the ground.

We're also providing digital learning to almost 300,000 children in Gaza.

But the key thing is these children need to be able to get back into proper schooling as soon as possible because there's a huge risk of a lost generation.

These children have been out of school for much too long and they have to be able to get back to school, proper school as soon as possible.

That's all for me.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much for Jonathan.

That's that's really a welcome update.

I'd like now to give the floor to Juliet Toma, who has joined us.

[Other language spoken]

Let's see if we can see you.

[Other language spoken]

Our journalists are accustomed to see you speaking to them for UNRWA, which Jonathan just said.

So maybe you want to say one word about your new role, but also tell us about your executive director, the executive editor of UNOPS who visited recently.

Gaza, you have the floor.

And then we will open for.

[Other language spoken]

Good to be back in in this forum.

And and hi, everyone.

Hi, Jonathan as well and thank you for the very compelling briefing.

I mean, it's just unbelievable to to to see what was happening and, and quite, quite shocking.

So best regards to you, to you and the team and, and thank you for the update everyone.

I wanted to say hello really in informally and to say that I have moved now from Indra to UNOPS and the Office of Project Services and based out of Copenhagen.

It's, it's freezing this morning.

I wanted to tell you a little bit about this new role and to reintroduce myself and to also share credentials and, and contacts and, and that.

And yes, like Alessandra said, to speak a little bit about the, the Gaza visit and to say that the executive director of UNOPS is available for, for, for interviews about his, his Gaza visit.

So Alessandra, I'll put in the chat box my new contacts and if you can share that with with with the team would be would be great.

And then I'll try to come every now and again to into Geneva so that I can meet you and the team and and members of the press in in in person.

I'm hoping to do that maybe early, early March on the visit of the the executive director to to Gaza happened a few few days ago.

And really the focus was to go and see the team on the ground working in Gaza.

It was just around 100 days since the ceasefire was announced in, in, in, in Gaza, A ceasefire that brought some respite to the civilians, to the families in, in, in Gaza.

But unfortunately, people continue to be killed day in, day out in in Gaza.

When it comes to the, the work that UNOPS does in Gaza, you probably know that it's largely around the delivery of fuel.

Everyday UNOPS teams bring in fuel, which is absolutely critical to services, including those that Indra continues to provide to Palestinians in in Gaza, but also to bakeries, to clinics, to whatever is still standing in terms of hospitals, to water facility and to electricity grid.

So that's really a big chunk of the work that UNOPS does there.

It was also the week of the very heavy storm that the people of Gaza have endured, a regional storm.

We were able to witness first hand the impact of the lack of basic material that will help families cope with winter.

That is something that UNOPS and several other UN agencies continue to struggle in bringing at scale much needed humanitarian supplies every day.

Before going to Gaza, we were in Jordan where there is the really important, what is called Jordan Corridor.

That's the Direct Line of a delivery from Jordan to to Gaza that has not been working or functional for the past four months since the incident on a King Hussein or Allenby Bridge in mid mid-september.

And the Executive Director called for reopening that Direct Line, meaning the direct delivery of much needed supplies from Jordan, supplies that the United Nations has bought, including unops supplies that are currently stuck in unops built warehouses in in Jordan.

There's around 10 of them in in in the capital that are full of basic supplies, including those to help people with with with winter, which is which is ongoing.

The, the, the executive director has also announced or welcomed the announcement of the, the second phase, which happened when he was on on the ground in, in, in the region.

And he called finally for several actions that must be taken immediately.

That's first and foremost is around the improvement of humanitarian access, the opening of all crossings, including that Jordan corridor, which I just told you about, and an increase in the flow of basic supplies and less restrictions on bringing those supplies, including the so-called dual use, which we've spoken to several times in, in, in this, this forum, in, in, in, in the end, the, the, the, the executive director of, of UNOPS acknowledged the huge suffering, the unspeakable suffering of the people of, of Gaza.

He said no one should experience such suffering.

And he called on the international community to remain engaged and act with urgency beyond the immediate response to the humanitarian crisis and called for a long lasting political and diplomatic solution to the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

That's what I have.

Alessandra, thank you for having me to take any questions.

Yes, thank you very much.

And just before opening the floor to questions, I'd just like to recall the the statement that we have distributed to you about the demolition of the UNRWA Sheikh Jarrah compound by the Secretary General that sent you a couple of days ago.

So let me open the floor to questions now.

First in the room, Nina Larson, AFP.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much for the the briefings and nice to see you both.

[Other language spoken]

I was wondering on the 1st on the Onura compound.

Obviously there's been a lot of outrage about it, but that doesn't seem to have slowed down this operation.

I'm just, is there anything that the international community can do that could reverse this or, you know, what should should be happening right now to, to reverse the situation?

And then I also had a question on the, I guess the peace board.

That's and also thoughts around the future of of Gaza.

If you have any thoughts on, on what's been coming out of, on that.

And finally, I had a question on the journalists who were killed in, in Gaza.

It's, it's been, I think 220 journalists.

I mean, what does it say about the impunity that's being permitted right now?

And is there anything the UN or the international community can do about this?

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Nina.

[Other language spoken]

Just on the issue of the Board of Peace, what we can say that we are very strongly committed to do whatever we can to ensure the full implementation of the Security Council Resolution 2803, which as you recall welcomed the creation of the Board for Gaza.

And as you see, there is a rule for the UN there about the UN leading on humanitarian aid delivery, which we have been doing for such a long time.

We will continue to do the best of our capacities.

Jonathan, you want to start on the UNRWA compound and then maybe Juliet, if you want to chime in.

[Other language spoken]

Thanks very much indeed for for the question.

[Other language spoken]

Look, I mean, there was an outpouring of international condemnation for for what happened at the compound.

We would hope that that would focus minds in the various levels of the Israeli authorities.

So municipality through to national governments.

Sadly, we've seen a pattern of disregard for international humanitarian law over and over.

And, you know, Unruh has been on the sharp end of this.

It's, I mean, we're immensely grateful for, for the statements from, from governments, senior officials around the world condemning this.

But the action has to come from the Israeli authorities to, to, to cease these kinds of things.

This in many ways is much, much bigger than UNRWA.

As I emphasised in my introductory remarks, this is a United Nations compound.

So this is an attack on the United Nations, it's an attack on international law, and it's something with potential implications globally because what happens to UNRWA now could happen to another agency tomorrow in the occupied Palestinian territory or elsewhere.

So, you know, this creates this kind of precedent and this is, this is extremely dangerous.

So we we need more condemnation, but we need action.

Action has to come at various levels to, to stop this kind of thing.

In the meantime, of course, we continue doing our work.

[Other language spoken]

We, we, we, we have not stopped and we will not stop doing what we are committed to do.

And what is our mission given to us by the United Nations General Assembly.

Most recently, our mandate was renewed in December.

And we, we continue doing what we do.

I should add also that we need to have the means to do what we, we, we, we do what to fulfil our mission to provide public like services for Palestine refugees, primarily education and, and healthcare.

We do not have the financial resources which are adequate to, to, to, to do our work to the full at a time when we are under immense pressure and, and where demands and needs are rising, not just because of the humanitarian disaster in Gaza, but also the situation in, in, in the West Bank, but indeed the, the, the complexity of operating in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria as well.

So we, we need, we need the financial means to do that over.

Yes, indeed.

Sorry.

And just to, to recall that the Secretary General has made a very, very, very urgent request to the government of Israel to return and restore the, the compound.

And he has written a very direct letter to the government of Israel about this.

Juliet, maybe you want to say something something to listen.

Thanks, Alessandra and and hi.

[Other language spoken]

Perhaps just on to what needs to happen now in in Gaza.

Absolutely fundamental that the ceasefire holds.

It's, it's, it's that that phase, Nina, right now between just after a ceasefire and just before massive reconstruction.

So it's that day in between, which means it's about the basics and restoring basic services, which is why, for example, bringing fuel to Gaza every single day is absolutely critical.

And that must continue at scale and every day without any interruption.

And there should be, in fact, an increase.

So it's the restoration of of of basic services that includes primary healthcare, including services that India provides, but also water pumps and water stations.

Electricity, the electricity grid in Gaza is severely damaged because of the war.

And perhaps you've heard the, you know, executive director say that all is needed is $10 million for that a grid to be rebuilt and for people to have much more electricity than they have today.

So it's those things that must happen.

Now, while there are all these agreements on the shape and the form of reconstruction, the people of Gaza cannot wait.

They need supplies at at the same time.

It's not just the the the services.

This is why it's absolutely critical to unlock these the congestion if, if you wish at crossing points to reopen critical life lines like the the the Jordan corridor.

So it's it's it's urgent action that is needed now.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much both of you for the briefing.

[Other language spoken]

1st of all, from inwards perspective, if I could just get some more details about the training centre which you're worried could be the next to be seized.

Perhaps you could just detail what it does exactly and how many students it supports and if in the meantime following this week and also that concern there if any other provisional plans are being made.

You also mentioned that you don't have the financial means in order to sufficiently help everybody.

Perhaps you could just give some detail on what that means materially?

If I may also just ask about Lazzarini, I understand he is is due to be finishing his tenure soon.

Any news on his replacement when that might be announced?

And sorry, another one from owner please as well.

That was mentioned there about the UN having a leading role in humanitarian aid supply, but what role, if any will Unroll have under the Gaza Board of Peace and the phase two plan?

And a question to to both of you.

But also I think Tarek from the World Health Organisation is on the call just about Rafa and there's talk of it, the crossing opening next week, both in both directions.

Do you have any more detail on that?

And also how much of A game changer might that be if that does happen?

[Other language spoken]

Thanks very much.

So forgive me if I if I missed any of those, but in in jumbled up order to respond.

So yes, regarding the Commissioner General's mandate, indeed his term ends is scheduled to end in March.

No, no more details on that at this stage.

Regarding the Board of Peace, nothing specifically, but I do want to emphasise we are the largest United Nations agency operating in the Gaza Strip.

We have the knowledge, we have the trust of the community and we have the mandate from the United Nations General Assembly and we must remain and we must be able to continue doing our work.

That's crystal clear.

We, we have to be part of the reconstruction by by definition.

I mean that's what we mandated to do.

Forgive me, I need to, I need you to repeat the other two questions.

One was about the financial issue.

[Other language spoken]

So on the finances, just to, to give you a picture of what we need role is very specific.

We have a unique mandate in the United Nations, which is that we are a direct provider of public like services.

So we don't do capacity build, I mean we do capacity building, but we, we also have around 30,000 staff who, who provide public like services, essentially education and healthcare.

So, you know, our, our funding model though, is it's, it's, it's voluntary contributions from, from, from countries that in a sense, you know, if you imagine the civil service in a country that it doesn't have a tax base or, or clear funding flows, that that could potentially be a problem.

Now, in our case, we need around $880 million a year to, to do our work.

That work is incredible value for money, in fact, because when you look at the health and education outcomes of Palestine refugees, you know, we, we, we, we deliver.

There's the United Nations, we, we do our job and we, we, we, we support those outcomes.

You know, the indicators are all very, all very good despite the complexity of the situation, $880 million to do that.

But last year from donors, so primarily government, we received around 570 million.

So you can do the mathematics on this.

That's just not enough to do our work.

[Other language spoken]

We had to enact austerity measures already last year in a situation where, as I said, demand is incredibly high.

And we, we've had to do more, You know, we, we've, we've had to most recently announce that we would be reducing our service delivery week by about 20%.

So that has an immediate impact.

You know, when that comes in, that's scheduled to come in in February, that means less healthcare, less education for Palestine refugees, despite the fact that we are mandated to, to, to do these things.

So that really needs to focus minds.

You know, we we need the financial support.

We need the financial tools to be able to do our job.

And then there was the the first question again, if Alessandra, if you could remind me.

Oh, the training centre, Sorry.

[Other language spoken]

The Kalandia training centre.

Yeah, Yeah, I'm sorry.

So look, the the Kalandia Training Centre, we have 350 students aged 15 to 19, male students every year.

And these students are, are, are learning a trade basically.

And that could be, you know, automotive engineering, vehicle maintenance, you know, maintaining agricultural machinery, plumbing, electricity, heating, engineering, these kind of things generally.

I mean, these students come from across the West Bank.

It's a residential centre, obviously incredibly complex if they were having to move every day to come, to come to the training centre, come to the college.

It's on land which is situated.

It's, it's kind of straddles the boundary between occupied E Jerusalem and area C of the West Bank.

So that that's already, you know, geographically complicated Israeli officials have repeatedly slated it for expropriation so that they can construct settlements there.

That that's that's the the stated plan.

We've had incursions by Israeli forces, tear gassing all kinds of things.

The point is that these students, this is a unique training centre.

These students generally come from non academic backgrounds, lower income families.

So this is a social justice issue.

If the centre were to be forcibly closed, and we do fear that this could happen within days, there is no educational alternative for these students.

So you're depriving a large cohort of Palestine refugees or of economic opportunities and, you know, life opportunities basically.

And so the right to education would be under attack there.

And as I said, I mean, this is this is about social justice.

This is an incredibly important issue and this cannot be allowed to happen now.

We had a visit by diplomats from donor governments that happened last week.

It's on the same day that the compound in East Jerusalem was stormed and demolished and Israeli forces were outside the compound while the diplomats were in and they were firing tear gas.

Now, clearly this is a sign of intent And, and, and really the international community needs to wake up and, and, and has to make clear that Kalandia Training Centre must be able to continue operating.

I mean, the, the mission of that centre is incredibly important and it has to continue.

Thank you very much.

Juliet, do you want to add anything?

Yes, I think Olivia's question on, on, on Rafa and you know whether we have more information or or not, I don't think we do.

We've seen the reports about it in in the media and look, like I said earlier, any additional opening in those crossings are literally life saving for the people of Gaza.

And so all crossings 2IN out of Gaza must reopen as soon as possible.

There should be an increase in the flow of humanitarian and other basic supplies so that people can get improved access to to basic services and cope with the inhumane living conditions that they're going through right now.

Thank you very much.

I'll go to the colleagues.

OK, go ahead then, if we miss one.

Sorry.

Yeah, no, it was just the question about the journalists who were killed, which I don't think I got a response to.

And I, I know that the human rights people don't seem to be online today, but it would be good to have Aun response to the fact that there were three journalists, including one who worked very frequently for us, for AFP, who was killed and when there's supposed to be a ceasefire.

So if there's any reaction from the UN, that would be good.

[Other language spoken]

I think no, we don't have our colleagues of OHCHR this morning.

But also, as you know, there is a session very close to here, a special session on Iran.

But I think we can just say that, I mean, the position of the UN, it's always been the same.

We need journalists to be able to do their work.

We need freedom of the press.

We need to to have journalists who can ask questions, do their work and their work be respected.

We need to protect journalists.

I don't have a specific comment on, I don't know on this particular case.

I don't know if my colleagues do, but I think the UN position on freedom of the press is unchanged and we need to be able to ensure and protect freedom of the press.

Jonathan, I see your hand and then Juliet, I see your hand.

[Other language spoken]

I, I, I can address this in part.

I mean, you know, the Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a journalist.

It's also the most dangerous place in the world to be a humanitarian.

Anra has had almost 400 of our colleagues killed in the Gaza Strip.

This has never happened in the entire history of the United Nations that so many people working for the UN have lost their lives.

So I mean, this needs to focus minds happening to journalists, happening to United Nations employees, happening to other aid workers, happening to health workers over absolutely, absolutely, Jonathan.

So let me go to the platform now.

[Other language spoken]

Hi, thank you very much for taking my question from Health Policy Watch.

the US has now formally withdrawn from the World Health Organisation and we noticed the flag is also lowered.

the US flag is lowered at the at the DeVito compound.

However, the US has also issued a very stinging statement basically today, basically accusing WHO of of everything from everything it lost during the COVID pandemic.

I wondered if WHO of Tariq Online could respond and also tell us if you're going to get back the flag because that seems to have become a kind of secondary issue in this whole thing.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

I'll ask for your patience to to Tariq.

He's online.

I'm sure he will answer your question afterwards.

But I want to finish on Gaza and we have also had a briefer waiting.

I won't forget your question, but we'll come to it at the end.

John, Zaro, Costas then FA.

[Other language spoken]

Firstly, if you have any comments from the remarks yesterday by the head of the Palestinian tech, the Credit Committee, Doctor Ali Shaf, that the Rafa crossing will be opening next week two ways.

And secondly, concerning UNRWA, can you operate without restrictions in Gaza on the health domain or do you have severe restrictions?

[Other language spoken]

I'm sorry, I was struggling to unmute now.

Thanks for the question, John.

Regarding Rafa, I mean, it's important that all crossings be open, that a flows in at scale by all means possible, that that's all I have to say.

But, but clearly, you know, the on off situation with, with Rafa, as with the other crossings has been an incredibly problematic.

I mean, these are policy choices to to, to, to not allow crossings to operate at, at scale on on a regular basis.

And everything needs to be open.

You know, the, the, the, the cakes have to be fully open so that aid can come in as required into the Gaza Strip.

I mean aid is not flowing in at the scale required.

Then regarding your question on, on, on how we're able to operate, I mean, we, we, we remain in a very, very significant healthcare provider in the Gaza Strip, primary healthcare.

We, we have something, the order of 15,000 patients a day coming to our clinics.

But of course, you know, the majority of our clinics are not able to operate.

We had 22 clinics operating across the Gaza Strip before the start of the war.

We're now down to half a dozen.

We have mobile health teams that operate, but in incredibly complicated circumstances.

A number of our facilities lie behind the so-called yellow line or in close proximity to it.

So that that makes it incredibly difficult to do our work And, and, and so many of our locations have been heavily damaged or indeed completely destroyed.

On top of that, we remain banned by the Israeli authorities from bringing in any of our own supplies.

This this has been a ban that was imposed at the beginning of March 2025.

That has not been lifted for us that this means that we faced regular stock outs of you know, basics, basic medical material and, and, and medicines in our pharmacies.

We continue to manage to work, but you know, we have one hand tied behind our back and we should be able to do our job to the full.

And that that's essential given our role and also given that the mandate is, and I've stressed this already, but you know, we have a mission which is given to us by the United Nations General Assembly, so by the international community, and we should be able to do it fully.

That, that, that that's all I have on that.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, FA Thank you.

My question is for Jonathan, because regarding the, the Israeli storming of the unrest compound, you mentioned that you need, you needed more combination, but especially more action.

So I was wondering from who you expect more, more action and which specific actions you expect?

[Other language spoken]

I mean, Member States of the United Nations have many different tools in their box to to bring about changes in approach by other countries.

It's not for me to say which tools they should take out-of-the-box and use, but there, there, there are many different means.

Words do matter, but actions are equally important.

Now, the, the, the UN Secretary General, of course, has talked about the possible referral to the International Court of Justice.

The International Court of Justice has been crystal clear over and over that we need to be able to do our work.

That is one important track, but you know, there are other tracks.

We, we, we've, we've seen a total breach of the Convention on Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations.

And, and that that's, you know, in the same way that countries, embassies and consulates are supposed to be protected, United Nations facilities are also supposed to be protected.

So there are other tracks on that front, you know, referral to the United Nations, General Assembly, all of these kind of things.

But but regarding what countries could do at their level countries or groups of countries that that's really for them to to decide and to say.

Thank you very much, Jonathan.

[Other language spoken]

And then we go to Mozambique.

[Other language spoken]

The political director and catastroph humanitar situation of the famine.

Unpacked physique decision on the situation kidnap you.

The malnutrition.

Yeah, be unsure.

[Other language spoken]

The situation of Shanji Donosansky delayed humanitarianism say situations are at immediate moment.

These unpacked solar population continue.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

I'd like to thank Jonathan and Juliet for this briefing and also Juliet for coming back in a new position.

And obviously, Juliet.

We will be very happy to see you also in person in March.

Thanks to both continue updating us on, as Jonathan said, this disastrous situation and thanks again.

So let me go to the second topic of this briefing, which is the situation in Mozambique to talk to, to brief us about this.

We have IOM and IFRC.

So maybe with, with you with the IOM Amundi has brought us Andrew Peter Obat, who's the head of IO Ms sub office in Pemba, Mozambique.

Maybe you want to introduce your colleague and then we'll hear from him and then we will go to IFRC.

Yeah, thank you very much.

As you're already aware, weeks of torrential raining in Mozambique has led to intense flooding in the country, flooding that has had a immense impact, especially on populations in both Gaza province and in in Maputo.

So far based on our on our data, we are looking at figures of almost approximately 600,000 people who are being affected.

So far our teams are on the ground and they're responding.

And today we are gladly joined with our head of office from our head of office in in the country in the sub office on on Pemba.

And he's going to be briefing today giving us a bit of an insight on what actually the situation is like in the province of Gaza, one, the one that's mostly affected by the flooding.

[Other language spoken]

That'd be clear because you'll be speaking in Gaza.

So I give the floor to Andrew now.

Thank you so much, Alexandra, and thanks, Kennedy.

And I'm happy that you have managed to clarify that it is Gaza, Mozambique, not Gaza that we have been discussing since we started our discussion.

Now, if you don't mind allowing me to switch off my camera, the Internet over here is not good power off and on so that we can proceed with Andrew.

Sorry.

This this briefing is also for visual journalists.

So if you could keep your camera on, we can hear you loud and clear and we can see you loud and clear.

Not loud well and clear.

So if you could if if, if we hear if we have problems with the voice, I'll tell you.

But for the moment it's going well and we need the images to sorry, Thank you.

[Other language spoken]

Thanks, Alexandra.

So today I would want to share what families across Mozambique, especially here in Gaza province where I'm currently deployed are going through based on the weeks of heavy rainfall that has triggered or widespread flooding, especially in the central and, and, and the southern Mozambique, forcing many families to to to flee and seek refuge in different locations.

As Ken has already mentioned, there are over 600,000 population or people that have been affected and this is the data that has come from IOM in collaboration with the National Institute for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction, which is the government wing that validates the data that we produce.

Now Gavra is is the hardest hit as you might have seen among all the provinces that have been affected in central and the the southern region with and the populations that are displaced and communities are really facing acute shortage of shelter, essential household items.

Accommodation centres are becoming increasingly overwhelmed and many families lack access to water, sanitation, hygiene services increase which may increase the the the the risk of water burden diseases.

Now I also have to mention that at the moment there are different accommodation centres across the, the, the, the, the province and apparently we have up to 71 accommodation centres and some accommodation centres have been really overcrowded with over 50,051 thousand people within those accommodation centres.

Now the risk of families also, what about diseases?

I've just mentioned the food supply, the basic services are under severe as constraint.

You know that we have seen, you might have seen that the infrastructures, most of the roads have been affected.

There's no access from, for example, from Maputo to to to Gaza, and therefore bringing even suppliers to these places are becoming a great challenge.

The health services and protections support remain limited and even the displaced crowd have risk of protection issues, which different agencies, including IOM and trying to address.

[Other language spoken]

The government of Mozambique declared the nationwide red alert.

That was on the 16th of January and has been appealing for international support including air assets, search and rescue, logistic and technical assistance which IOM including other humanitarian agencies are currently providing.

Now IOM is tracking the displacement and priority needs through the DTM are providing regular updates at the moment and integrating that support and looking into how the agencies and responders, both the government wing and the humanitarian wing are able to provide a well coordinated response and the information that is being collected.

Also to help in a planning and and mainly targeted response at national and provincial level.

Now, IOM has deployed quite a number of Staffs at the moment for different units, that is in the WASH sector, in the shelter sector, protection, camp management and camp coordination to support in the accommodation centres, the protection, the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse.

We also have colleagues in coordination and also in health, including mental health and psychosis support.

And this has been done through the the the the support from different sub offices, especially the the, the members of office, but also colleagues that are in country at the national level in Maputo.

Now IOM is also supporting evacuation, delivering shelter and essential household kits which will be distributed.

Apparently we have up to 7000 kits the the non food item kits that will be transported from Pemba to Sofala and also to to to Gaza.

Apparently the road from Pemba to Gaza is is accessible but not from Maputo.

In addition, we are channelling some brands as well short term sub grant to vetted Mozambique, Mozambique and organisations enabling them to reach communities in hard to reach areas.

And this modality, we are using it because it's faster to identify the national organisations that are already in the country that already knows the the the area very well.

And IOM will be providing this sub grants through rapid response funds.

[Other language spoken]

The humanitarian needs are now outspacing available resources and everyone is overstretched.

This region, the central and the the southern region were marked for drought and a a number of districts were affected by drought 5 district and now they are new district that we thought probably will not be, you know, affected by anything.

Now those are the district that we have floods and the humanitarians are really overstretched.

We urgently need support to scale up the response.

These include reinforcing site management in overcrowded accommodation centres and expanding the distribution of emergency shelter and essential household items.

There's also need to strengthen water, sanitation and hygiene services.

As I mentioned earlier, where access allow, where access allows, the deployment of the mobile health team will also be something that we're looking into today.

We are deploying health specialists who will be arriving this afternoon to look into that.

The protection team are coming this afternoon as well the mental health and psychosocial support and we also would want to make sure that sustaining displacement tracking metrics to provide data a continues.

And so that we make sure that we provide the real time information for prioritisation for other partners, but also to provide an informed decisions when they are making the partners are making decisions, both the government and also the humanitarian.

Now given the scale of the needs and growing pressure or on essential services, IOM will be appealing for up to 20 million U.S.

dollars and this funding will allow us to reinforce life saving assistance immediately while helping flood affected families begin to rebuild their homes, restore basic services and regain stability.

And you know from the weather projections, we are hoping that towards end of next week, the waters will start coming down and there'll be more access.

And this period of time is where we are trying to really mobilise all the capacities that we have, be it human resource supplies, and to make sure that once there's a better access then we can reach more populations that are not being reached at the moment.

This is rapidly the situation, as I've said, this rapidly evolving and the response will require really an urgent action to save lives alongside A sustained support to help families recover, rebuild and restore essential services.

IOM remains fully committed to support the Government of Mozambique and work alongside our partners to protect life, preserve dignity and meet the urgent and growing needs of the communities at the moment.

Thank you so much Alexandra and colleagues and thank you there for now and thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

Then you can come in.

[Other language spoken]

Let me now turn to Scott.

Am I right?

Scott, you've brought John Roche with your head of delegation for Mozambique and Angola.

I can see him on the line.

You want to start or we go to John?

[Other language spoken]

Let's go straight to John.

[Other language spoken]

Welcome to the briefing in Geneva.

You have the floor.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much and good morning.

And the compliment, Doctor Andrew, I'm speaking to you at the moment of a of a really growing concern for communities across Mozambique.

This widespread flooding across the country is now impacting and affecting 10 out of Mozambique's 11 provinces.

We're talking of nearly over half a million people that have been impacted for up to about 400,000 people displaced and thousands and thousands of lost homes, livelihoods.

So and again, quote me the figures because as Doctor Andrew also pointed out, there are areas that are just an excessive inaccessible at the moment.

And the real picture will will only be determined over the coming days as the as the situation unfolds.

Behind these figures, there are families who have lost everything in matters of hours, homes washed away, crops submerged just weeks before harvest and roads cut off, isolating entire communities.

For many people, this flooding comes on top of years of of repeated shocks, clones, droughts and now prolonged rains limiting the ability to cope and recover.

This is just the beginning of the disaster season.

We haven't even entered the cyclone season and yet the scale of this is unprecedented that in in the beginning of of this disaster season that that so many areas have been impacted in a very short space of time.

For many people, this flooding comes as I said, on 16th of January, the government the most declared a nationwide red alert enabling a scale up of eventually response efforts.

This was a critical step, however with the rainy season continuing and several dams already at near capacity, there is a very real risk that the situation could could even worsen if if these dams overflow from the onset.

The disability across society has been supported by us, the IFRC, and I've been working together with the government of Turkey to support the response.

Local Red Cross volunteers, many of them affected themselves and their families impacted their homes.

Also washed away have been on the forefront of the early warning dissemination.

Evacuations, first aid and initial release systems are now also assisting in in these shelters where people are are displaced are being hosted the local, the local presence matters.

It means early warnings reach people before the waters rise, It means evacuations happen faster.

And it means the trust, which is essential on emergencies is already there.

There wasn't.

Big Red Cross has reached over 400,000 people with early warning messages and continues to support evacuations in Sambisi, Gaza and Maputo alongside anticipate reaction activities activated in Zambezi and ongoing early action in Sofia.

On the ground, trained volunteers are providing for state basic health services, evacuation and the distribution of preposition households and hygiene items across 7 provinces and the city, with further mobilisation depending on available resources.

Access, of course, as Doctor Andrews stated, remains one of the biggest challenges.

Flooded roads and damage infrastructures are making it difficult to reach some of the most isolated communities.

And this picture is yet not we don't have the full picture of of the damage yet.

We are also increasingly concerned about public health risks, including waterborne diseases.

People are forced to rely on contaminated water services and overcrowded temporary shelters.

Moving forward, priorities including shelter, access to safe water and sanitation, health services and support for livelihoods, particularly for those who have lost their their crops and income sources.

Looking beyond the immediate response, the crisis once again highlights a deeper reality, early warnings and prepared to save lives and our critical investments.

Communities need support to better anticipate, withstand and recover from these shops.

That means sustained investment in early warning systems, climate resilient infrastructure and locally LED preparedness is of utmost importance.

In closing the situation.

Most a week is is serious and evolving.

The coming days will be critical.

Continued international attention, solidarity.

We see this is amazing because so much is impacted.

We're seeing it across the, the, the Mozambique Red Cross going and working in these centres, the the other communities are coming to support.

They are bringing whatever food they have from their houses, They are bringing blankets to, to house those poor unfortunates who are displaced from their own homes.

So we see a real solidarity among communities in this very difficult, which is impacting so many people and so many lives.

So we want to help communities not only survive lessons, but to recover with dignity and be better prepared.

Thank you and I'm happy to no thank you.

Thank you very much, John, and thanks Andrew for your briefings.

I John, the, the, the audio wasn't perfect, but I understand that Scott and colleagues are going to send a your note to the journalist as soon as possible.

And I think Andrew's once have already been distributed.

So I'll open the floor to questions now FA the Spanish news agency.

[Other language spoken]

I wanted to ask, I don't know if you mentioned this, but I wonder if due to the floodings, the displaced people from the violence in the North provinces are going back to these unsafe regions.

[Other language spoken]

We would like to to take this, John, I see your camera is on.

Obviously at the moment it's difficult to move because of the many places around the water.

So, so this is, this is, I can't really give you a real answer on this today.

Maybe IOM has a better picture, but but as I said, we're tracking more people, moving them to safer areas.

So it's not about returning at the moment.

That's not the focus of this response operation.

Andrew, you want to add something?

Yeah, just to to compliment what John has said.

Clearly at the moment we we don't have a clear data on that, that people that are being displaced from floods are going back to conflict affected areas.

Majority of the populations that are being displaced are mainly in the evacuation centres and in the host community living on the Highland area.

So and so far that is the information that we have.

And also I think the geographical location between the central and the north is quite far access has been an issue.

So that has not been significantly mentioned or recorded somewhere.

[Other language spoken]

I was just want I may have missed it, but I didn't hear a death toll so far from the floods.

Do you have any estimate of of that?

And how do you see that evolving going forward?

What are your estimates going forward?

[Other language spoken]

We would like to answer this maybe, John, Do you have any answer, Andrew?

Yeah, I mean, it's again, we're painting the pictures.

That's why we're there are many at the moment.

We're talking in between 50 and 60 deaths, you know, and this is going to increase as we get access.

You know, as I said, as the, the floodwaters start to recede, we will get into more communities and then these reports will come back.

So again, the numbers already that have been recorded, but they're not accurate because as I said, we we still trying to get access to, to really to cut off areas that we we can't pass because of the the following waters.

Andrew.

[Other language spoken]

Nothing much word from Jonah said what Jonah said.

But by next week as we get more access, especially to severely affected areas, we will be able to have more information on that.

[Other language spoken]

Is there any other question for our colleagues from Mozambique?

I don't see any.

So I'd like to thank both Kennedy and Scott for bringing their colleagues to us.

And thanks very much to Andrea and John for briefing the journalist here.

Keep us informed, especially as you said, once, once you'll have more access to these areas.

Thank you to all.

[Other language spoken]

I'd like to ask Tariq come in and possible answer alliance for my question.

Hi, can you hear me, Alexandria, we can just just before that just to answer Olivia, I had a question for me and Olivia, I sent you something, but we don't have anything specific on opening.

But as we heard from from colleagues, more access, better it is we need to bring in more supplies.

What we have now is there are clearance procedures that cause delay for certain medical equipment like lab equipment and what is being considered as a dual use.

So we need more crossings not only for supplies but also for medical evocations.

When it comes to medical evocations, we really call particularly on opening the route to Best Bank, including E Jerusalem, because that's the most efficient route.

We hope that we will have someone from Gaza on Tuesday to brief you with with with with more details on question on the US withdrawal.

This matter is is now on the agenda of the upcoming Executive Board that starts on the first week of February.

And we as Secretariat, we will act on advice and guidance of our governing bodies accordingly.

There is a document that is posted on an executive board website that's provisional agenda item 22.9 and the document is EB158/45 and it's called collaboration within the United Nations system and with other Internet and governmental organisations.

So this is the Secretariat input into this debate.

You have heard from our principal legal officer and DG on on this topic 10 days ago.

So, so no need for me to to repeat that.

But again, the main thing is that this matter will be discussed.

It's with Member states now and it will be discussed at the Executive Board meeting.

[Other language spoken]

Is there a comment from the Director General's office on the press statement dated 22 January by the US government, the State Department and HHS concerning what they're saying about The Who Secretariat?

They're very strong comments.

Is there any formal response from the Director General's office to all the elements outlined allegations against the secretariat?

[Other language spoken]

And maybe Tariq just also Elaine has been putting in the chat sheet also asked about the flag.

OK, flag is a part of of that discussion that we will ask the guidance from the from the Executive Board and from Member States.

So this is really for Member States to discuss regarding all these issues that have been raised in executive order a year ago.

We have been really answering that in detail over the years.

So really there is no need for me to go through point by point again.

Just just look for the for the couple of previous Doctor Tedra's press briefings where this this has been discussed.

[Other language spoken]

Any other question to the Blue HO?

I don't see any.

Thank you very much, Tarek for for, for coming in.

So that concludes our briefing of today.

Really, I just wanted to remind you that today the Committee on the Rights of the Child terminates his work.

Sorry, no, they still have left next week, but they terminate the number of countries that they are reviewing and then they will have a meeting with the Member States in the afternoon of the 29th of January.

We've spoken about the Council.

You know that there is this special session this afternoon starting at 2:00 PM.

It will address the deteriorating human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

And of course, Pascal and his team are available to answer your question.

If anybody have sent out also in your mail, you find a lot of information from them yesterday and the day before.

So if there are no other question for me, I wish you a very good weekend and thank you very much for participating.

[Other language spoken]

UN Geneva Press Briefing - 23 January 2026