Thank you for joining us here at the UN office at Geneva for this press briefing today, 13 March.
Another very important briefing.
We have colleagues joining us from Lebanon and from Iran.
Before we go to them, let me throw to our colleague, Pascal SIM of the Human Rights Council, who has an update from that session.
Just a quick reminder about what's going to happen on Monday morning on on on Monday, March 16, the United Nations Human Rights Council will discuss the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The Council will hold a joint interactive dialogue with the Independent International Fact Finding Mission on Iran, which is chaired by Saura Hussein, and with the Special Rapporteur on Iran, Mai Sato.
The Fact Finding Mission and the Special Rapporteur will present their respective reports to the Human Rights Council.
And on 23rd of January of this year, the Human Rights Council, during a special session on Iran, decided to extend the mandate of the Fact Finding Mission on Iran for a further period of two years and to extend the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran for a further period of one year.
The extension of both mandates will be effective from the end of the 61st session of the Council on March 31st.
The fact finding mission will hold a press conference here in this room on Tuesday, March 17 at 9:30 AM.
And as we all seen, the release of the fact finding missions latest reports last Wednesday came out with a press release.
Thank you very much, Pascal.
Just wondering, are there any other urgent, has there been a call for an urgent session during this session on Iran and on the war that's happening?
So far, we haven't received any request or proposal for an urgent debate during this 61st session.
Any further questions online?
Yes, there is Maeva Kyodo.
Maybe that was a false alarm.
If you do have any questions, of course, you know where to find Pascal and Matt.
OK, colleagues, we're going to now shift our focus to the situation in Lebanon, particularly South Lebanon.
We're very pleased to have with us Candice Ardiel, the UNIFIL spokesperson, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon.
I believe you're connected, Candace.
I hope the connectivity perhaps is not terrific, but let's.
I did see your name there.
Do we have Candace online?
Bear with us for a moment as we start the video.
I think you need to click once more.
Alright, Candace, thank you so very much.
I think this is your first time briefing our journalists here in Geneva.
We're very grateful for that.
So over to you for some remarks and then we'll go right to questions to you.
Thanks for that kind introduction and thanks to all of you watching for your interest in UNIFIL and the situation in South Lebanon.
Since the 2nd of March, when Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an attack on Israel, the situation in South Lebanon has greatly deteriorated.
We're seeing daily rocket, missile and drone attacks on Israel and the occupied Golan from Lebanon, and artillery fire, air and drone strikes and ground incursions up to 7 kilometres into Lebanon by Israeli forces.
Each of these acts represents a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 17 O One and a step toward further escalation following repeated messages from the Israel Defence Forces telling people to evacuate.
Lebanese authorities estimate that half a million people have been displaced from their homes in Unifil's area of operations South of the Litani River.
As of yesterday afternoon, Lebanese authorities report that almost 700 people have been killed and almost 1800 injured.
UNIFIL civilian staff whose physical presence is not strictly needed have been relocated.
One of our peacekeeping positions was hit by a projectile last week, injuring several peacekeepers, one seriously, who is stable and in hospital recovering.
A number of other positions have been damaged by weapons fire and nearby impacts.
We remind all actors of their clear responsibility to ensure the safety and security of peacekeepers at all times.
Seeing the rapid and intense escalation of violence, we are deeply concerned that the situation will deteriorate further.
In this environment, UNIFIL has had to adapt over our over 7500.
Peacekeepers remain on the ground and continue to monitor and report what we see, but due to the volatile and dangerous security situation, our movements right now are heavily restricted.
We're no longer conducting patrols in the way that we used to, so our monitoring is more limited than it was before.
Some of our peacekeepers are spending long hours in shelters.
Our patrols are now focused on areas around our positions to ensure our peacekeepers are safe and discourage armed groups from using our positions as cover for their activities.
We continue movements to resupply our bases with fuel, food and water, although in some cases roadblocks erected by the Israel Defence Forces have restricted access.
We continue to facilitate humanitarian access, supporting missions by UN and international organisations and daily missions by the Lebanese Red Cross to bring essential assistance to people in need when asked.
We have also facilitated the safe movement of about 100 civilians wanting to leave dangerous areas, including children, the elderly and people with disabilities.
All of this is done in close coordination with the Lebanese Armed Forces and local authorities, and we continue to maintain close contact with both Lebanese and Israeli authorities, passing information to avoid misunderstandings that could exacerbate this already tense situation and urging restraint and de escalation to avoid putting peacekeepers and civilians at further risk.
Our Head of Mission and Force Commander, Major General Diodato Avenada, continues to maintain an open channel of communication with the parties, encouraging them to fully recommit to Resolution 17 O1 and return to the cessation of hostilities.
Resolution 17, O One has been deeply challenged for the second time in a year and a half, but it remains the framework for a return to security and stability if the parties are willing to fully commit to it.
UNIFIL is here and we are willing to support them in whatever way we can.
I'm willing to take any questions.
Thank you so very much, Candace, for that update.
We do have a few questions for you.
Let's start in the room before we turn.
We do have a question online from Moussa, from Almaydin TV.
Is it has Israel occupied additional areas in Lebanon and to what extent has it penetrated the Lebanese territory?
And I have a second question, please could you remind us of the number of violations committed by Israel and Lebanon since the ceasefire in November 24?
In terms of what's happening on the ground, as I said, peacekeepers have much more restricted freedom of movement and freedom to monitor the situation at the moment because we're largely restricted to our bases except for some areas around where our bases are and some logistical movements.
So we're not seeing as much as we did before, but we are seeing the presence of of Israeli troops in Lebanese territory in at least one case up to 7 kilometres.
So I can't give you a full picture of what exactly is happening because unfortunately, given the security situation, we don't have that at the moment.
But we can say that there have been incursions in several areas and in one case up to 7 kilometres.
In terms of your second question of violations of 17 O one since the ceasefire, and just to reiterate, because sometimes there is some confusion, the ceasefire, the cessation of hostilities understanding is separate from Resolution 17.
O1 Peacekeepers track violations of Resolution 17 O one since November 2024.
At this point, we've seen a total of, I think it's now over 15,000 violations by both parties.
But up until recently, most of those violations indeed were by the Israel Defence Forces.
Most of those were air violations, air strikes and things like this.
But we also continue to discover weapons caches in Lebanese territory, which were also a violation of Resolution 17.
We have a question now from Emma Farge of Reuters.
I saw that some German peacekeepers were withdrawn a few days ago.
I was just wondering if other countries have followed suit given the hostilities.
How many have you seen withdraw from UNIFIL since February 28?
Thanks for that question.
I'm not entirely sure what you're referring to.
We haven't had any withdrawals of peacekeepers.
We, up until recently, we were doing our normal rotation schedules and this was happening.
That's been put on pause a little bit due to the security situation.
But of course, like the rest of the UN, we did have to deal with the liquidity crisis.
So we've had to cut a number of our peacekeepers.
We're down to about 7500 from 10,000 before.
But in terms of the current situation, we've not had any peacekeepers or any contingents withdraw from UNIFIL.
If there's a perhaps there's a misunderstanding, there's a separate question we can perhaps talk afterward and I can clarify.
Thanks for that, Candace.
I think Moussa, you have another question going back to Moussa.
How many victims, victims have there been in Lebanon as a result of Israel violations from 2024 and how many victims in Israel, if you have some details about that?
As a peacekeeping mission, we don't track civilian deaths or injuries.
We rely on numbers that are reported to us by local authorities and by UN colleagues.
But we track violations of Resolution 17 O1, which it, you know, you can understand it's rather technical.
We're looking at crossing of the blue line.
We're looking at air violations, we're looking at air strikes, we're looking at rocket fire and things like this.
Of course, any of these activities, when civilians are harmed, this is obviously a very serious situation.
Violations of 17 O1 by definition, many of them do unfortunately create civilian harm.
So I can't give you a number of the people who've been infect affected, but I will say it's too many on both sides of the blue line.
There have been too many civilians who have been hurt and killed in this conflict and This is why peacekeepers are working very hard to try to restore security and stability.
In fact, we have spoken to this issue on casualty figures and perhaps colleagues can chime in on this point.
We have AWHO online as well.
But let's take a question from Nina of AFP now.
Yes, hi, thank you for the briefing.
I was wondering, you mentioned the liquidity crisis and the the fact that you've reduced the number of of peacekeepers on the ground.
How is that impacting you at the moment in this crisis?
And also there there are plans for infill to withdraw completely by the end of middle of next year.
Is that a good idea in this situation?
How are you preparing for that in this situation?
Yes, it's we are dealing with some challenges.
The liquidity crisis caused us to have to, as I said, reduce the number of peacekeepers by about 25%.
And this of course was before, largely before this, this current crisis happened.
It did affect the way that we operate in terms of forcing us to focus on our very core activities, monitoring the line, patrolling our area of operations and supporting the Lebanese Armed Forces.
In terms of the current situation, to look at a silver lining, perhaps it's a good thing that we have fewer people on the ground, but this creates less risk.
We have fewer people who are operating in a dangerous area.
But nonetheless, it is a concern that this crisis is affecting everyone in the UN and it is affecting our ability to as as an organisation, do the work in terms of the withdrawal at the end of the year, the Security Council has decided that we are leaving and this is the assumption that we are operating under.
And in the meantime, we're just continuing to do everything that we can to ensure that we set up the Lebanese Armed Forces as much as possible for success as they are the people who are here on the ground.
And they will remain here when we when UNIFO finally withdraws.
Obviously, the current situation is not ideal.
Peacekeepers have been here for almost 50 years.
We've helped to maintain stability for an unprecedented period since 2006.
We'll be working in the next few months until the end of the year to try to restore that stability, to create the space for a political, diplomatic solution to emerge.
We have another question for you, Candace from Nick, New York Times.
Has UNIFIL identified the source of the projectile that struck one of your positions and injured one of your members recently?
And given that there were several incidents of Israeli military strikes on uniform positions in last year or so, I wondered if there had been any confirmation from Israel of of its engagement on that and whether they had denied any responsibility for such a missile strike.
Secondly, I wonder if you could just detail the number of missile strikes you're seeing from Lebanese territory into Israel in in the last day or two and whether you're seeing an escalation in that number or whether the hostilities that are going on are diminishing the number of Hezbollah strikes?
On the projectile that hit our base that's under investigation, we have a peacekeeping, A peacekeeping team of experts who is investigating that.
So we've not yet determined the origin of of the fire.
I will note the IDF did make a statement that they were not responsible.
But nonetheless, we will continue to investigate and come to our own conclusions.
In terms of strikes and that we've seen over the last couple of days.
We did see a great escalation 2 nights ago with over 100 projectiles fired from Lebanese territory and over 100 projectiles fired right back from Israel, as well as 7 air strikes within our area of operations.
So that was a significant escalation.
Things have been more quiet yesterday.
We haven't seen so much activity and I haven't seen any numbers from today, but I'll say here in Nokora, it's been fairly quiet.
So that gives us some hope that perhaps that escalation has it will not continue.
But nonetheless, it's a very volatile situation and anything can change at any moment, dude, one can hope.
Thank you very much, Candace.
I see that Christian put his camera on.
Maybe let's just to make sure there are no further questions for Candace, because I know.
OK, before we go to Christian, we have a Spanish news agency, Isabel through Ugandas.
Even if you said that you of course, are not there to count victims, but I, I would like to ask you, you and other agencies, maybe other spokespersons who may be aware of attacks that have affected displaced people in Beirut.
And because I I am reported in and directly yesterday, the deaths of eight people and thousands of wounded, displaced people in, in, in Beirut.
Maybe Candace, if you have anything you want to comment on, register to remind you colleagues, we have colleagues from IOM, we have colleagues from UNFPA as well.
And we have colleagues online who can address the situation in the broader context of Lebanon.
But I don't know, Candace, has anything you wanted to end up with?
Before we conclude, just to clarify on this point, Beirut is not in our area of operations.
We're based in the South.
So that's not something that I can comment on.
So I'll leave that to other colleagues to say something about that.
Yes, thank you very, very much, Candace, We really appreciate your your intervention here and do stay in touch.
Thank you for everything you're doing in in Southern Lebanon.
And colleagues, we're going to stay on Lebanon has mentioned, but maybe before we turn to our colleagues from UNFPA and IOM who joined me here on the podium.
Christian, I think wanted to dress the casualty figures.
So over to Christian from WHO Thank you again, Candace.
Thank you very much, Candace and thank you very much Rolando.
Yes, on the on the latest figures.
And by the way, we just sent sending an update to the first MRO Middle East situation report that we sent last night as it was just becoming available.
And there are a few updates now this morning on figures.
So that's what I'm reporting on now.
And the updates are being put into this, into the same SIDREP as well.
So it's still the same sidrep #1 just to clarify that.
So on Lebanon, the Ministry of Health reported at least 634 deaths and more than 1586 injuries.
Out of the total injured, 53 were treated at emergency rooms.
The majority of fatalities and injuries occurred in Nabati, followed by the South and Mount Lebanon.
A significant number of people remain in hard to reach or high risk areas, including older people, persons with disabilities, and individuals with limited mobility who have barriers to evacuation and access to assistance.
Health facilities are increasingly overstretched as trauma cases surge.
People with chronic illnesses, including those requiring the usual interventions as dialysis, insulin or other life sustaining treatment are facing disruptions due to displacement, infrastructure, name and movement restrictions.
Thank you very much, Christian.
And of course, we'll we'll continue to update you colleagues.
OK, without further ado, let's move now to let's move to Annandita Filippos, who's UNFPA representative in Lebanon, who's going to speak to the situation, women, girls afterwards.
We have a colleague, David John from the IOM as well as well as Matthew Luciano of IOM.
So let's we'll do these back-to-back, but starting with you, Annandita.
And thank you very much for joining us.
Thank you very much everyone.
And good morning from Beirut.
As colleagues have said before, the situation has been escalating dramatically across the country, particularly in the South Beirut, Mount Lebanon and the Becker Valley.
In addition to what The Who colleague just shared about the death toll, I also want to flag that 55 hospitals and clinics have been forced to close, either because they're in zones where there's been mass evacuation orders or because there's been direct damage to them.
Today I'll be focusing really on the impact of the women and girls who are often the hardest hit in a crisis.
We are seeing that in the current situation with the numbers that we have, there's 11,600 pregnant women who are affected, 4000 are anticipated to give birth over the next three months.
Many of these women have been forced on their homes, cut off from essential health services and forced to give birth in dangerous conditions, some even by the side of the road.
In every crisis, women and girls face specific and life threatening risks, and this crisis is no exception.
They also face serious protection risks when they displace from their homes and from their communities.
We monitor rates of gender based violence, including sexual violence, exploitation, harassment and trafficking, all of which are likely to increase in the current context.
Now, due to the waves of displacement, women and girls are living in hundreds of overcrowded classrooms and an I'll equipped temporary shelters across Lebanon.
Many of them lack privacy or have insufficient sanitation and supplies.
In many cases, women can't even access basic hygiene supplies, including menstrual supplies.
I want to_that this is a population that has already endured A devastating conflict back in 2324, one in which the health system and protection system was badly damaged and also safe spaces for women and girls were either destroyed, damaged or forced to close.
We're seeing now that civilians are going through violence again and impacting women and girls.
For many families in Lebanon, what is important to_is THAT displacement is not a temporary disruption this.
Has been a recurring reality for many of them over the years I.
MET a woman recently in a collective shelter here in Beirut Her.
Daughter had been born in a collective shelter back in 2024 and is now back here in 2026 under the age of 2 being, displaced twice in.
Response UNFP IS deploying mobile clinics and teams in areas where we know displaced people are.
We are providing them essential healthcare services, medical treatment for gender based violence and mental health care support integrated with our health services for women and girls who have fled their homes.
We're also providing essential equipment and supplies to primary healthcare facilities, supporting deliveries at the secondary healthcare level, distributing dignity kits and baby kits linked to a health and protection response, and deploying networks of midwives and social workers as part of the overall response.
It's important to say that it's very difficult in these circumstances for humanitarians and health workers to carry out their work safely.
There's been direct impact on them with both deaths and injuries reported.
Humanitarians and health workers must be protected.
And finally, just to say that our response is also Hanford by funding shortages.
The humanitarian appeal for UNFPA is a modest 12 million and it prioritises the most urgent life saving needs.
In the midst of conflict.
We must ensure that every woman can give birth safely and every woman and girl can access the care and protection she needs.
Thank you very much, Anandita.
We're going to move to now people on the move.
We have IOM, we have Zoe Brennan with this who is going to start off.
And then we also have a colleague, David John from IOM as well as our colleague in the field, Matthew Luciana, who you'll introduce.
Hi everyone and thanks for attending.
So I'm going to read out a short statement from IOM and then I'm going to introduce my colleagues who are Chief of Mission for Lebanon, Matthew Luciano, Chief of Mission for Iran, Salvador Gutierrez and then my colleague here, Dave John, who's Director of Resettlement and Movement Management and can take questions.
So here is a statement from the International Organisation for Migration.
The Middle East is facing a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis as escalating conflict in both Lebanon and Iran drives widespread displacement, civilian casualties and severe disruptions to daily life.
More than 820,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon alone, while thousands of families in Iran have fled damaged urban areas, placing immense pressure on shelters and humanitarian services.
Migrants and other vulnerable groups face heightened risks, often falling outside formal assistance systems and relying on overstretched community support.
IOM is supporting governments and partners through displacement tracking, relief, distribution, shelter and health coordination and assistance for stranded migrants.
However, humanitarian needs are rising faster than available resources, requiring urgent international support and respect for international humanitarian law to protect civilians and prevent further escalation of the crisis.
So now I will bring in our Chief of Mission for Lebanon, Matthew Luciano, who's speaking on the ground in Beirut and can also talk to the launch of our Flash appeal, which we launched today.
Thank you very much Zoe and thank you.
Thank you colleagues and and good morning.
So as my colleagues from UNFPA and UNF and Unifield said, I mean the people of Lebanon are bearing the brunt of yet a new war, yet another war.
In just days, nearly 1,000,000 people have been displaced.
And just to reiterate what an Endita said, civilians must be protected.
They must be able to flee safely and receive humanitarian assistance wherever they settle.
Humanitarians must have unhindered access and our own lives may not, must not be put at risk as we try to bring hope and comforts to the most vulnerable from the outsets.
I always been working with the government of Lebanon and partners, including UFP and other partners, to deliver food, clothing, mattresses, blankets and medical care to those in collective shelters, but also those hosted outside of collective shelters.
But the needs are escalating much faster than our capacity to respond.
As of yesterday, 12th of March, 822,600 individuals have registered as displaced on the government's platform, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Registration platform, with 100 and 128,200 sheltering in government run collective shelters.
Close to 600 shelters are now active with many of them full or very close to capacity, as UNHPA already highlighted.
I want to take a few minutes to highlight the specific risks that migrants facing the country.
They come here for work and they're particularly vulnerable.
They come from Ethiopia, from Sri Lanka, from Kenya, Sudan, Bangladesh and other countries.
And most of them were working in agriculture, construction, Also domestic workers.
And the crisis that hit them hard.
It left many with nowhere to go and relying on community organisation, churches, their embassies and NGOs for safety.
IOM estimates that at least 30,000 migrants honoured as displaced and many of them because they can't access or not willing to access government shelters.
Many of them are actually outside of assistance systems.
Yesterday in Beirut, I visited A migrant LED kitchen which is run by Filipino volunteers and they prepare hot meals twice a day for migrant families who had just arrived in in Beirut and had nothing.
And we're relying entirely on community solid director.
In terms of response, IOMS activated our displacement tracking matrix.
We've distributed more than 27,000 core relief items.
Again, blankets, mattresses and pillows with expanded mental health and psychosocial supports through our partners and we continue to work on shelter and health services with national entities, authorities and UNUN partners.
Today, as Zoe mentioned, we're launching a flash appeal for $19 million for the next three months to scale up displacement monitoring, shelter relief, distribution, protection services, healthcare, and of course targeted support for for migrants.
And this aligns with a broader interagency appeal which will be launched this afternoon with the government at the at the Gross Salayan in Beirut.
Humanitarian needs are rising faster than the response.
The assistance must be inclusive of all affected Lebanese, Syrians, Palestinians, migrants.
And of course, we need predictable flexible funding to sustain and maintain and extend life saving services.
We call on all parties to seize hostilities, to respect international humanitarian law, and to allow civilians to escape and to find safety.
Attacks on displaced families, such as those in Beirut 2 nights ago_the extreme vulnerability of households sleeping in tents and shelters that offer very little protection.
We urge the international community to act decisively, not only to alleviate suffering today, but also to prevent the conflict from consuming tomorrow.
Thank you very much, Matthew.
We just received notice that the Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has just landed in Beirut.
Now, this is a visit of solidarity with the people of Lebanon.
In a post that he just put out, he says they, the Lebanese people, did not choose this war.
They were dragged into it.
The UN and I will spare no effort in striving for the peaceful future that Lebanon and this region so far, so rightly, richly deserve.
We will spare no effort in striving for the peaceful future that Lebanon and this region so richly deserve, the secretary general says.
We'll keep you updated on the Secretary General's plans, his trip itinerary while he's in Lebanon, certainly throughout the day.
I think Isabel, you had your hand up, so over to you.
I would like to ask about among these 200,000 migrants, there are some of them approaching IOM to, to have some help to go back to their countries.
And if so, do you have the capacity to help them?
And also I reiterate my question on the attacks that affected displaced people in Beirut.
If you can give some updates about that and how it happened, Who seems to be responsible and what was the circumstances in general of the of of the situations?
Matthew yes, thank you very much Isabel for the, for your question.
So indeed we have 200,000 migrants, I mean more or less working in, in, in Lebanon and we estimate as IOM that 30,000 have been, have been displaced.
So yes, they, they approach IOMI mean we have a regular programme, programmes providing human assistance to, to migrants, including, you know, protection, legal assistance, healthcare as well.
So they know, they know AUM really well.
And of course, they're reaching out to us in, in these dire, I mean, dire times, including for, for assistance to, to return home.
We have an ongoing programme for assisted volunteer return and reintegration of migrants in, in Lebanon.
And of course, you know, again, in these, you know, difficult times, many migrants have been reaching out and we're trying how to assist, you know, with significant, significant constraints.
1 is actually funding, the availability of funding to be able to return these people, but also operational constraints linked to the fact that not many flights are operating out of out of Beirut.
We've also been approached by some embassies to, to help them evacuate their, their nationals.
Again, at this stage, it's very much to help to, to, to, to prepare for possibly evacuation rather than direct requests yet for evacuations.
But that's indeed something that IOM simply gives us for, for our member states.
So we've been in close contact with, you know, with embassies with consulates in, in Lebanon, should you know, any of these requests come up.
Funding of course is always the issue.
We started actually in Lebanon in 2006 during the war with the evacuation of of migrants and 3rd country nationals.
We did the same in in 2024 and then indeed we were ready to to do the same in, in 2026 if we receive requests from from Member states again pending funding availability.
So this is included in the in the IOMP IOM appeal instead that we're launching today a 19,000,000 appeal, which indeed requires as well funding for evacuation of migrants should receive requests for from member state for for evacuation.
You wanted to add something?
Yeah, thank you, Matthew, and thanks for the question.
I mean, unfortunately, as Matthew referenced, we unfortunately have experience in Lebanon in these same scenarios from back in 2006 and then in 2024 and of course other places in the region, Libya 2011, Yemen 2015 and that that continues Iraq in the mid 80s and mid 90s and then 2003.
So as Matthew referenced, there's a lot of logistical challenges that go along with this and this current and the current climate, airspace restrictions being the most obvious.
Those change quite rapidly.
Having said that, we have in the past been able to navigate the difficult circumstances in conflicts to assist folks when they have a desire to go home.
And we have received requests in the region for individuals of multiple nationalities looking for assistance to return, as Matthew also referenced.
I mean, the problem right now are resources to assist.
Right now those numbers are in the hundreds.
Those are increasing every day.
No doubt will be coming to the thousands in terms of requests in the coming days as the conflict continues and as pressures mount on individuals, they're making individual decisions on their risk tolerance and when they want to return home.
And so we can expect that these requests are going to continue in the coming days.
Just for attribution, David, John is the Director of Movement Resettlement and Labour Pathways at the IOM.
Yes, I asked about the attacks impacting displaced people in Mayo.
OK, maybe that's for Matthew.
Did you get that impact of on people of the, on the attacks of from the attacks rather?
And I'm sorry if I'm just referring to that earlier.
So as I said, indeed, two nights ago, there were, I mean, a series of air strikes in in Beirut targeting the, the, the sea front.
I mean, the Cornish or indeed, you know, many, many people, many ADP Internet space people have been sleeping so in tents or on the street.
And then indeed the media report says casualties.
I think it's it's eight people dying and and various, you know being injured as well.
OK, OK, thank you very much again.
OK, Take a question from John Zaracostas, The Lancet, yes and France 24.
I was wondering if you could elaborate a little bit if there are any contingency plans, if I recall rightly, IOM during the Libya crisis in repatriated migrants by sea, if that is in the pipeline or not?
So listen, we've been working on contingency planning for the past, for the past couple of years, including, you know providing support to various embassies, consulates and member states of them to do their own contingency planning.
So for now, as, as IOM, we don't have any plan to, to undertake evacuations by by sea, even though you know, we've been looking and exploring and preparing for, for various options.
But we know that again, and we've encouraged member states in their own contingency planning efforts to look at various options, including evacuation by sea.
And we know that a few Member states have also already elected in 2024 prepared for that, for that possibility.
Yes, thanks for the briefing.
I would, if it's possible, it would be good to have a bit more on, on the attack yesterday on the that killed, I think we had 12 people in, in tents nearby.
You know what, what is IO M's position on the fact that there are bombs that are falling near displacement?
And you know, I guess these tents are not much protection against the bombs that are falling.
I also had a question about you mentioned the impact on migrants who are vulnerable.
I know that the Palestinians there are not under your remit, but it would be interesting to know what you've seen there because they're also in in refugee camps and there's one that's right in the area that is being very heavily bombed.
So if you've seen anything on the impacts on them and finally on the appeal, you mentioned the interagency appeal.
Could you give more details on when and where specifically that's happening and if is this all the UN agencies who who's participating?
Lots of question for you, Matthew over to thank you.
Listen, on the, on the attacks in on the, on the coordination in Beirut 2 nights ago.
I mean, I don't have much much information, but what I can say, you know, is that, you know, from, from Mayo one, we obviously condemn, I mean, all attacks on, on all civilians, including obviously those who've been displaced.
And we reiterate, reiterate the obligation of all parties to, you know, to, to spare, you know, civilians and to, to about international humanitarian law.
We also call on, you know, all parties to give, you know, humanitarian access so that we can indeed, you know, provide, you know, assistance and relief to those who've been, who've been, who've been, who've been targeted regarding the, the, the appeal.
So indeed, the, the interim appeal will be launched this afternoon jointly with the Lebanese government and, and I assume the UN Secretary General, because this is indeed landed as in, in Beirut.
So this will be at 4:30 PM Beirut time, so 3:30 PM Geneva time.
It will take place at the, at the with the again in the presence I assume of the Prime Minister as well as the the UN Secretary.
So they'd be they'd be for the communication again from the UN and OSHA on and the UN on on this in Indian time.
And then your second question, you had the second question.
I responded to the first one and the third one, Palestinians, not Palestinians indeed.
So it's in Palestinians indeed in, in Lebanon are under the responsibility of UNRWA.
So they too have been affected, impacted by the evacuation orders and they've also been on the, on the move.
So again, I mean, you'd have to check directly with UNRWA.
But we know that UNRWA has also prepared, I mean, it's part of their continuously plan and their response.
I mean some shelters for Palestinians, but also open to to to Palestinians as well.
And then, you know, they also need indeed protection, you know, and assistance in, you know, as as you know, Lebanese do and migrants and and Syrians in the in the country.
But I will encourage you to that to ask directly to to UNRWA specific you have specific questions on on the fate of Palestinian in Palestinians refugees in the level indeed.
Thank you very much, Matthew.
We'll, we'll certainly help liaise with for you Nina, with UNRWA.
And in terms of the meeting this afternoon, we'll, we'll also update you.
And just lastly, just to echo what with Matthew said, of course, since day one, we've been asking all parties to exercise maximum of straight protect civilians, engage in diplomatic efforts.
So this is the general message which we've been echoing repeatedly here.
John, you had another question over to you.
Yes, it's to to Matthew actually.
I was wondering if your flash appeal, is it part of the overall flash appeal that will be launched by the UN this afternoon?
Yeah, your appeal, is it part, is it stand alone a flash appeal or will it be part of the consolidated flash appeal for 90 days to be launched by the UN today?
No, it's part of the it's part of the appeal.
So it's IOMS indeed ask as part of the interagency appeal.
Thank you for that clarification.
Do we have further questions for our colleagues in Beirut or on the podium here?
So Zoe, are you going to stay with us because you want to introduce our colleague now who's briefing us from Tehran?
And I did also just want to flag that the Director General put out a statement yesterday on the strike in Beirut that hit the displaced people saying that civilians must never be targeted.
We have our chief of mission from Iran, Salvador Gutierrez, on the line, and he will speak to the situation on the ground there and the movement we're seeing.
Maybe while we're waiting for Salvador to connect, I just wanted to say thank you again to Matteo and Anandita for for your precious briefings and, and, and for the work you're doing.
And do stay in touch, Salvador.
I'm afraid we have no audio colleagues on our side.
I think everything is OK.
Apologies, colleagues, for this.
Should we give him one minute to try and sort that out?
Maybe if you could, maybe if you may need to disconnect and then reconnect on the Zoom, try that.
In the meantime, I don't know if he's already got anything or, but what I could also do is maybe jump ahead and give you some programming notes while we're waiting for a Salvador to connect from Tehran.
Just to mention a couple of points.
I already mentioned Secretary General's travels.
We will update you colleagues as he is just landed in Lebanon for a very important visit of solidarity.
As I mentioned yesterday, he comes from Turkey where he was for a couple of days.
Yesterday he received Ataturk International Peace Award, a very important recognition, which he dedicated to the staff, the UN staff, the women in men's striving to advance the cause of peace, humanitarians delivering aid, which we, we, who we connect with and we hear from ourselves here, peacekeepers also, we're hearing from our colleagues in Lebanon, just to give you an example, mediators and human rights defenders.
So this was a very important recognition.
We shared those remarks with you yesterday.
I have a few other notes, but maybe we'll see now with Salvador.
We certainly want to hear from our colleague from Iran.
We've, we've heard a lot from colleagues in Iran in the last few days.
But let's, let's try and give it another shot.
In the meantime, let me just announce a couple of meetings here.
Just whilst waiting here, we have a couple of meetings, as you well know, happening here in Geneva.
The Human Rights Committee meeting is ongoing, as are the Committee on Enforced Disappearances reviewing Ecuador this afternoon and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities also in session this morning, reviewing Samoa.
And the Human Rights Council, as you heard from Pascal earlier, is still in session, the 61st session.
And maybe just jumping ahead to mention a couple of press conferences maybe before I announced the ones which are to take place, I wanted to say apologies once again for having to cancel the press conference we scheduled this morning with Amandeep Gill.
It was a last minute cancellation which we couldn't control, but we certainly want to take advantage of having him here to brief you.
And then just to mention very briefly, I see Salvador's reconnected.
But just to mention other human rather other press conferences, we have this coming Tuesday the 17th at 9:30, the independent fact finding mission on Iran, which is a good segue for for you Salvador, the independent fact finding mission will be briefing you at 9:30 on Tuesday morning.
And then just to mention later in the week, on Thursday the 19th, we have a briefing from WMO on Global Climate 2025 report.
So let's try now with you, Salvador, are we?
If you can utter a few words to see if we can hear you, Can you speak into the mic?
So Zoe will read out your statement.
So apologies that we can't get Salvador's audio working properly.
The connectivity is an ongoing problem, so I'm going to read a statement from our Chief of Mission in Iran, Salvador Gutierrez.
Since the 28th of February, the escalating conflict in Iran has severely disrupted civilian life across Tehran and other highly affected cities.
Families are waking up to destroyed homes, damaged streets, and growing uncertainty about what tomorrow will bring.
While comprehensive displacement data remains limited, the signs are unmistakable.
Thousands of families have been forced to flee and nearly 22,000 civilian structures have been damaged, including more than 17,000 residential units in Tehran alone.
Many families are now sheltering in hotels, emergency and community centres.
Recent movement data also indicates significant population shifts to safer areas in the north, with more than 400,000 vehicle entries recorded in the Caspian Sea provinces in early March from the hardest hit locations.
IOM is closely monitoring these developments and mobilising humanitarian supplies to reach people in greatest need.
De escalation remains critical to preventing further human suffering and the protection of civilians must be an absolute priority.
IOM also stands ready to support migrants and other third country nationals court in the crisis.
Our teams in Iran continue to provide cash based assistance to vulnerable Afghans who remain in the country, having already assisted more than 800 highly vulnerable individuals since the onset of the conflict.
IOM maintains established operational capacity to support organised movements including transportation, temporary accommodation, medical escorts, pre departure procedures and support with exit permit formalities.
Several governments have already requested such assistance.
With adequate funding, these systems can be rapidly scaled to facilitate safe, dignified returns.
Reintification or family reunification for stranded migrants.
Recent reporting has highlighted that migrant workers are also among those affected by civilian casualties, underscoring the urgency of providing safe and organised repatriation options.
IOM is uniquely positioned within the UN system to deliver these movements at scale while upholding essential protection standards.
Thank you very much, as always, for reading out that statement.
Perhaps we will maybe hope that we can still connect with Salvador should you have questions for him specifically.
We do have a number of hands up.
Let's just look in the room before we go online.
I would like to have some details on this capacity that you have to help people to be repatriated and in in terms of what country exactly, but which country have approached you to, to do this, to do this?
How how many people do you think you are a bit able to to repatriate in, in, in which timetable?
And I know that it's, it's an early stage for us to be able to give specifics and we're not able to to talk about some of the operational detail there.
But I'll hand over to my colleague David, who will talk a little bit about the context and what we're able to do more generally.
Unfortunately, we are not in a position to talk about the specific nationalities right now.
But we have already assisted some migrants to return home from Iran.
We have requests to assist others.
Right now, the barrier is resources to be able to do so.
But we remain confident in our ability to facilitate the repatriation and evacuation of migrants if we had the resources to do that.
It's yeah, it's a complicated process and it's not one without risk, but it is possible.
It also involves surrounding countries and their willingness to allow individuals to enter their country and then depart by air.
And so we are appreciative that there are countries that are still allowing that to take place and allowing the facilitation, which would be a key component to any evacuations of migrants from Iran at this time.
Thank you very much, David.
Yeah, sorry, just following up on that.
In your contingency planning, do you have any thoughts on how, I mean, you mentioned the resources are basically the restriction here.
So how much money are you thinking that you're going to need?
Do you have any sort of way of estimating how many people might be needing these kinds of services?
No, the, the requests now are in once again in the hundreds.
That number is increasing by the day.
The reality also is that these evacuation operations are they're costly because of the extensive ground movement to A to another country.
And then right now as you all know, air the airline tickets are extremely expensive.
So we are talking about a costly, a costly in Denver endeavour for 200 people.
You're, you're looking at a neighbourhood of somewhere around 600 thousand $700,000.
If we had additional requests, we would then look to be efficient with rather using commercial carriers.
We would then go with charter flights which could then make it more efficient from a financial standpoint.
So we don't have any good estimates now of how many requests may come.
We would predict they would be in the thousands, but right now in the low hundreds and increasing on a daily basis.
Sorry, another number question.
I was just you mentioned that migrant workers had been affected so far.
Do you do you have any idea how many may have been hurt or or killed so far?
No, we don't have any stats on any migrant workers that may have been injured or or killed.
And and of course, these moments remind us of the contribution of migrants in in all the countries in the region and that events like this and what those ripple effects are.
Once again, I'm looking at it lens specifically related to to migrants in and then the spillover effects of as the conflict continues and then the continued ripple effects that are going to take place and including then impacting the countries of origin for the migrants where remittances are are relied on.
And those, and those family members and communities from their places of origin, which inevitably are going to start getting impacted as, as individuals, jobs are, are being impacted as a result of the ongoing conflict.
So, you know, as I, I speak about the, the, the issue of evacuations, the, the ripple effects are just so much more serious and, and, and extensive than, than simply the evacuation piece.
But it's, it's always hard when, when these individuals and, and their extended families are so reliant on, on the work that they're doing and, and they've end up making a, a really difficult decision that going home is, is the, is their only decision or the best decision for them in that moment, knowing what the impacts will be.
And, and then on the flip side, that what of course we're going to see is that people won't make that step or won't take that step or won't want to make that step.
And they'll want to shelter in place in hopes that the conflict went soon and that they can then go back to their jobs.
And that inevitably, we heard Matthew talk about this, that inevitably is going to create a lot of strain in the various countries in the region as individuals having their jobs impacted but making a decision not to leave.
And so we're going to see that strain increasing in the coming weeks.
And just to add to that, we, we know just to add some scale, the Gulf hosts more than 30 million migrant workers.
So that gives an an idea of the sort of figure we're looking at in terms of people working and possibly in in vulnerable situations.
Isabel, did you have a follow up or did you say 1313 30,000,033 zero?
And I, I assume that people are asking a requesting for to be helped for repatriation comes from urban centres, Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz.
Could you say something about that because these are these particular places where people used to work, But just to confirm.
Yeah, I think today the majority of those requests have come from individuals that are located in Tehran.
There are a few questions for for you.
Let's start with Gabriella Proceso.
If you can update, I didn't get if you talk about this, but if you can update on the supply, supply chain in Iran.
Also to find out if there is a clearer understanding of the attacks against the girls school that Robina Shandasani mentioned few days ago here in a briefing.
If you have a situation of girls since we are in a woman's month.
Do either you want to take the first on the supply chain?
I could maybe respond to the second part if there's anything on the supply chain.
I don't have anything very specific for you on the supply chain except to say that it is obviously disrupting things across the region, but nothing further specific there.
I mean, Gab, in terms of this attack and Minab on this in the school where we're still waiting for results of that investigation.
As you've heard, you know, since the attack on the 28th of February, we've been calling for an impartial independent investigation.
We're waiting for that where justice and accountability is what we're striving for and of course, the end to this abhorrent, these abhorrent attacks and the protection of civilians.
But we'll certainly keep you all updated as soon as we get some some concrete information on that.
So let's move on to another question.
I apologise in case you have already talked about that, but I was following the briefing and then I had to go live and then reconnected.
So my question is, or my questions are, what cross-border movement is IOM currently observing as a result of the conflict and where are people going?
And do you see a risk that this could evolve into a larger migration wave towards Europe as well?
Maybe if IOM has anything to add about internal displacement, we have Babar from UNHCR who's joining us on the podium who can address maybe the cross-border movements.
But maybe, Zoe, thank you very much.
So at the moment, we're primarily seeing people moving inside their countries, within Iran, Lebanon and inside those countries.
Obviously, we can anticipate more movement if things continue to to escalate.
So I'll hand over to my colleague from the NHSR.
Good morning, dears, as mentioned and huge thanks to colleagues for updating us on the situation.
Most of the displaced are inside the country.
We haven't seen an uptick or an unusual number of people who are leaving Iran units here.
The UN refugee agency has monitors in Turkey.
We have colleagues at the borders in Armenia.
As you know, we are present in Afghanistan and also in in Pakistan.
So far, the numbers that are being mentioned are that some 11,400 Iranians have crossed into Turkey, while over 24,600 Avalans have returned from Iran back into Afghanistan.
Both figures are remaining currently within the daily average crossings prior to the current crisis.
We'll keep you posted in case we see any change in the situation, maybe on the supply disruptions.
Just yeah, from our side at Unit CR, the UN refugee agency.
Despite ongoing airspace closures and maritime disruptions, Unit CR has been able to respond quickly thanks to our solid emergency preparedness systems.
Essential relief items are pre positioned across the region including thermies in Uzbekistan, strategically close to Iran and several country level warehouses.
We have fully mobilised our seven global stockpiles in Dubai, Thermace, Accra, Copenhagen and many other locations in Africa and also in the Americas.
Panama City that together we can support up to 1,000,000 people forced to flee at any moment.
We are replenishing the life saving supplies via Orland transport to Lebanon as it was being mentioned, more than 800,000 people according to the government officials that have been displaced over there.
And we have also seen more than 100,000 people arriving into Syria, majority of them are Syrian refugees but also Lebanese nationals.
So in Lebanon where local stocks are depleting quickly given the dramatic increase in displacement, systems for emergency financial aid are already established in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Pakistan, enabling rapid scale up if needs grow.
OK, we do have a couple of online still, but let's go to Nina first.
Just wondering what kind of contingency planning you guys might be doing in terms of, I know that the cross-border movement hasn't been that significant yet, but what are you expecting and what are you planning for in terms of cross-border movements?
Nina, as mentioned, at any moment of time, we are ready to support up to 1,000,000 people.
Remember as UNISIA, the UN refugee agency, replying or responding to humanitarian emergency is 1 of specialities that we have had and we have responded to many situations in the last 75 years.
So far as I was mentioning, we haven't seen big people leaving Iran in in large numbers.
So that's why we are in touch with the authorities around the neighbouring countries across the region trying to offer our support if that support is needed.
Thank you, Rolando, and nice to see you all again.
I wanted to actually I hope that Mister Gutierrez would still be Gutierrez would still be available.
Maybe he can answer by just verbally without visuals, maybe to help the bandwidth.
But the the real question that I have is about the events today in in Tehran.
Apparently there was a big demonstration for alkyuts celebration and an explosion nearby and I'm just wondering if that is the kind of thing or if you've even seen early instances of people on the move yet again, based on the very most recent events, violence and explosions in in Tehran and elsewhere.
We could check maybe Zoe has something to say, but we can always follow up on this.
Yes, I'm going to have to follow up with you on that bilaterally, Jamie, unless our colleague from Iran is online.
Now, should we just have let's check again?
I don't think so, but let's see if Salvador obviously best placed.
I see that you're mic is unmuted, but let's see if we can hear you.
OK, I think you heard the questions.
Of course, Zoe and David are here and we could certainly get back to you.
Apologies for this technical glitch, but we do what we can.
So thank you again, Jamie, for the question.
We'll take one last question from Gabby again.
I had a question well for Salvador, but could, could you tell us how many people of the UNUN personnel are inside the country and if they are safe and or you know what is their situation?
And maybe what I, I think agencies can speak specifically to their own staff.
What I can do, there are several international, I don't have the precise figures, but of course they're taking precautions, working from safe locations, there's limited movements.
But what I could do is try to get a bit more details in terms of the numbers overall for UN personnel, both international and local staff.
But you know, we have all the all our agencies operating throughout the country for many years now.
But of course there are security measures given the situation unfolding.
But I don't know if IOM or HCR have anything they wanted to add on this.
It's really a worrying situation and also a dangerous environment for all of us as humanitarian workers.
We as unit CR, the UN Refugee agency, remember we have been working in the country for the last more than 4 decades.
Our primary focus has been assisting of 1 refugees in the countries.
Our colleagues and staff are also affected by what's going on on on the ground.
We at UNICR, we have offices in Tehran, Shiraz, Mashad, Esfahan, along the border with Afghanistan.
But we have had to adjust and reduce the way we usually operate as the conflict escalates and intensifies.
I mean, certainly we, we can try to give you some general information on that.
But of course, the power of motives of supreme priority is their safety of of all civilians, including our staff in in country wherever we operate.
Gabby, did you have a follow up on this point or another perhaps?
No, I I don't have, I just wanted to to tell you that I, I had a question for if, if human rights is there.
No, I'm afraid they're not connected.
So I would just suggest you you liaise directly with them.
They weren't able to join the briefing.
So if it's a human rights specific question, do do contact Ravina and her colleagues.
I think unless there are any last comments from colleagues on the podium, I'd like to thank you all very much for joining.
I'm sorry about Salvador.
I see that he's still there, but the audio problem didn't allow.
But we'll certainly get back to you on from the IOM questions.
Indeed, I think I've exhausted all of the notes I had just to actually, there's one last point, maybe just to note that this coming Sunday the 15th, is the International Day to Combat Islamophobia.
There is a Secretary General's message which we'll share with you.
He notes how the Muslims often face institutional discrimination, socio economic exclusion, biassed immigration policies and unwarranted surveillance and profiling.
And he calls on governments to take concrete steps to address hate speech to protect religious freedom and combat discrimination, including by ensuring full compliance with international human rights law.
This is the message of the Secretary General for this important observance.
Any questions for me before we close?
So I wish you a good afternoon.
