Welcome to the press briefing of the United Nations Information Service here in Geneva.
Today is Friday, 27th of March.
We have a very dense briefing today, so I like to remind all the speaker, if possible, to be a bit brief and leave the time for the journalist to ask questions.
We will start with a group of briefer on Lebanon.
Then we will go to Iran, to Tehran to listen to the head of delegation of IFRC.
We'll try to keep it around 11:00.
And then we will go to the region, to the Middle East region and then to the topics such as Djibouti with the IOM.
You've received the complete plan.
So without more ado, I will like to welcome our first speaker, Mercurigi Korsi, who is the UNICEF Country Representative in Lebanon and was reaching out from Beirut.
Welcome, Sir Bonjourno and you will tell us about the impact of the conflict on children.
There you have the floor.
Good morning, Madam Chair, and good morning to everybody.
Just just in three weeks, more than 370,000 children have been forced out of their homes here in Lebanon, which is an average of at least 19,000 girls and boys displaced every single day.
Just to grasp the scale, this is the equivalent of hundreds of school buses filled with children praying for their lives every 24 hours.
And in lesser than a single month, roughly 20% of Lebanon's population has been displaced.
The speed and the scale are just staggering.
Across the country, more than 1,000,000 people are now uprooted, many for the second, third or even fourth time.
This is a sudden, chaotic mass displacement, tearing families apart and hollowing out entire communities, with consequences that will reverberate long after the violence subsides.
The mental and emotional exhaustion weighing on the children of Lebanon is just devastating.
Before having a single moment to hear from the trauma of the last escalation just 15 months ago, they are being violently uprooted all over again.
This relentless cycle of bombardment and displacement is severely compounding their psychological scars, embedding deep seated fear and threatening profound long term emotional harm.
In a shelter just here in Beirut, I met the 11 years old Zaina who had escaped for from with her family from the southern suburb of Beirut to the same school.
They took refuge just 18 months ago and she told me she'd never imagined that she would leave these days again, sleeping with many people around her, listening to the sound of shelling and bombing almost every night.
She just wished to go back home and to go back to school, go back to her normal life.
Today, over 150,000 internal displaced persons are seeking refuge in over 660 collective shelters and many of them are children.
The living conditions are increasingly strained.
Many displaced household are sheltering informal, overcrowded and unsafe settling, including unfinished building, public spaces and vehicles.
Lebanon's economic crisis and weakened infrastructure were already limiting the country's ability to respond to the betting needs, and today that infrastructure is battling under the pressure.
The essential service that children rely on, their survival and future are being severely disrupted and in many areas like Beka and Balbek, bombardment have destroyed vital water reservoirs and pumping station, cutting off 10s of thousands of individuals from safe water.
For the more with an estimation an estimated 435 public schools now functioning as shelters, you can imagine the education of over 150,000 students have been abruptly halted.
And the human cost of this escalation is shocking.
To date at least at least 121 children have been killed and 399 have been injured.
Those who survive the bombardment are waking up to a dire humanitarian reality.
We are seeing families fleeing with only the clothes on their backs, forced to move multiple times within days as repeated displacement orders are issued.
Meanwhile, essential civilian infrastructure like hospitals, schools, bridge and water and sanitation system upon which children depend to carry on with their lives have been consistently attacked, damaged or destroyed.
UNICEF is on the ground working around the clock alongside our partners and national system to support children on the move in shelters in hard to reach areas.
In just the past few weeks, our rapid response mechanism reached over 167,000 displaced people with essential non food items and winterisation kits.
We have delivered more than 140 tonnes of essential medical supplies to hospitals and activated supporting Primary Healthcare Satellites Unit to ensure that children and families in shelters have access to care.
We are delivering emergency water and sanitation support to nearly 190 shelters, and we are working to protect the children's future by supporting the Minister of Education in establishing online learning access and planning temporary learning spaces.
However, humanitarian assistance alone cannot solve this crisis.
Our emergency response capacity is severely weakened by repeated attacks on paramedics and health workers, and thousands of families remain cut off in hard to reach areas due to safety concern and lack of transport.
Children Children are paying the highest price for this conflict and we urgently call for unimpeded humanitarian access to all those in need.
We call for an immediate and the aim to attacks on civilian infrastructure including schools, hospital and water system.
Above all, above all, the 370,000 displayed children desperately need an immediate ceasefire.
They need to stop running and start living as children should.
You can imagine enough is enough.
Too much is really too much over.
Thank you very much indeed.
And we have heard about children now also on the situation in Lebanon.
Sophia Caltrop for UN women has brought us sorry, Jalian and Siri, UN women representative also from calling in from Beirut to hear about the impact on women and girls.
So we go straight to to her Sophia.
So Jalan, if you would like to give us some brief in from introductory remarks, please.
I'm joining you today from Beirut where I will brief on what this latest escalation in Lebanon means for women and girls.
Understanding how women and girls are experiencing this conflict is essential to understanding the full humanitarian impact of this crisis.
Since the 2nd of March, an estimated 620 thousand women and girls have been forced to flee their homes.
This represents 1/4 of all women and girls in Lebanon and more than half of those displaced, including Lebanese, Syrian, Palestinian and migrant communities.
This escalation is unfolding in a context where women already faced pre-existing inequalities, including limited access to income, unequal legal protections, and reduced access to services.
Today, these vulnerabilities are being compounded by displacement, loss of livelihoods, and weakened protection systems.
I've met women and girls forced to make devastating choices, fleeing their homes at night without clear destination, losing their families, entire livelihoods, and leaving behind their sense of safety and everything that is familiar.
85% or more of displaced women and girls are living outside formal shelters.
They are staying in overcrowded apartments and informal arrangements, with Beirut to Mount Lebanon hosting the largest numbers.
These are not just difficult conditions, they are creating serious protection risks including exploitation, abuse and gender based violence.
As essential protection and justice services are disrupted, women and girls are finding it harder to report violations and to seek protection.
Women tell me that they're skipping meals so their children can eat.
Older women, already vulnerable, are going without essential medication for chronic illnesses, putting their lives at risk.
We're also seeing limited hygiene supplies and pregnant women giving birth in shelters with limited access to care.
Mental health needs are rising rapidly.
Women describe constant fear, sleeplessness and exhaustion, while also comforting frightened children.
And yet, as in all crisis, women in Lebanon are among the hardest hit and at the front lines of the response.
They are caring for displaced families, organising support, delivering assistance and helping to prevent tensions from escalating, often while displaced themselves.
UN Women is working in major displacement hubs across Lebanon, scaling up life saving protection, cash for work and livelihood support for women and girls, strengthening coordination to ensure the response is gender responsive and amplifying woman's role in decision making.
UN Women echoes the Secretary General's call for immediate de escalation, full respect for international humanitarian law and an urgent scale up of gender responsive humanitarian assistance to meet the needs of women and girls.
Thank you, Thank you very much.
Also from Beirut on my left, Babar and her invitee, Carolina Lindholm Billing, who's the UNHCR representative in Lebanon to tell us about people on the move.
You want to step Papa or we go straight to her?
So Caroline, I have the floor.
And again, just complimenting what my colleagues from UNICEF and you and women have already briefed on, it is really a deepening humanitarian crisis that we here on the ground are are seeing in Lebanon because the intensified Israeli strikes, the widespread evacuation orders that have forced more than a million people in just a couple of weeks to flee their homes.
It's now stretching from the South.
It's in the Becca to Beirut, and people fleeing also to the north.
And the numbers continue to rise.
But even when displaced to what's supposed to be safer areas, people are not feeling safe.
Just last week, there were strikes that hit central Beirut, including intensely populated neighbourhoods of Zukalplat and Bashura, where many people had all had tried to find safety in collective shelters.
One of these strikes was just a block away from a school sheltering displaced families that I visited a few days before with the governor of Beirut.
So the families are, as colleagues have also highlighted, living in constant fear, and the psychological toll, particularly on children, will last far beyond this current escalation.
But access to safety is also becoming increasingly difficult because the destruction of key bridges in the South has cut off entire districts and isolating over 150,000 people and severely limiting humanitarian access with essential items to reach them.
And many of the families that that we at UNHCR meet daily in our work are displaced for the second or third time, and many have returned to the same school where they had found shelter back in 2024.
So today more than 136,000 of the displaced are staying in 660 collective shelters.
Most of them are schools built beyond their capacity and as colleagues have said, overcrowding, shared classrooms, limited access to proper sanitation and other basic services are significantly increasing protection risks, including exposure to exploitation and and gender based violence.
And what we also see is that older people and people with disabilities are particularly affected, really struggling to sleep on classroom floors or using the facilities that have been designed for children going to school.
And this, the stress and the trauma is really intensifying in these cramped and, and, and substandard conditions.
So beyond the immediate shelter needs that that people fleeing have, there is really an urgent need to scale up protection and community support.
And during a recent visit I I made to one of the largest collective shelters in inside and in the South that's hosting over 1000 displaced people, I saw how collaboration can help restore dignity and agency among displaced.
There, central authorities, the Ministry of Social Affairs, the local authorities, UNHCR, NGOs and volunteers are really working alongside displaced families to organise recreational and and learning activities for the over 400 children staying there and displaced with men and women were also engaged in cooking and other meaningful activities while UNHCR and our NGO partners were providing dedicated counselling and support on protection and needs of individuals and families.
So I mean the situation remains extremely worrying and the risk of a humanitarian catastrophe that the Prime Minister has highlighted is real.
But by supporting the government LED response that's outlined in the as outlined in the Lebanon Flash Appeal, further risks including violence, exploitation and rising tensions can be mitigated.
UNHR continues to lead the protection and shelter sectors together with the Ministry of Social Affairs and NGO partners and has at the same time delivered over 198,000 essential relief items while working to improve the privacy and dignity of shelters.
And so far, protection sector partners including UNHCR have supported more than 27,000 people with services like psychosocial support, recreational activities, counselling and targeted assistance for the most vulnerable.
But and with adequate funding for UNHCR appeal of more than 60 million, we can scale up these programmes within the interagency response.
And lastly, I really just want to highlight that this support for the Lebanon Flash appeal that has been issued really goes beyond the immediate emergency because it also helped strengthen national protection and social systems that the government has been working to reform.
So by responding to these urgent critical needs today, we are simultaneously investing in their long term sustainability and resilience.
And just to conclude this part on Lebanon, Thomas, we also have an update on behalf of IFRC and then we will go to questions please.
Yeah, thank you, Alessandro.
I would like to present the AFRC perspective on the rapidly escalating humanitarian situation in Lebanon.
The AFRC supporting the life saving activities of the Lebanese Red Cross and ensuring the continuity of its operations.
The Lebanese Recross is the main provider of ambulance services in the country.
Its activities also include blood services, the deployment of mobile medical units to deliver essential healthcare and the distribution of assistance to displaced people in shelter centres.
16 Emergency Operations room are active across the country, coordinating with local authorities and partners to support the shelter operations, monitor displacement and plan the response.
In coordination with the Minister of Social Affairs, the Lebanese Recross is also managing major collective shelters, including the Camille Shamun Sport City Stadium in Beirut, where displaced family are being registered and supported.
Lebanese Recross is distributing essential aid to displaced households across the country.
This includes blankets, mattresses, ready to eat meals, bread and safe drinking water, ensuring support reaches those most in need.
To support Hospital St in the wooded, Lebanese recourses activated an emergency blood transfusion plan to maintain an interrupt blood supply for hospitals requiring assistance.
A few figures illustrate the immense work carried out between the 2nd and the 23rd of March.
Lebanese recourse teams conducted 2754 ambulance mission and 11 Urban Search and rescue operation.
They distributed 3244 units of blood and almost 80,000 relief items to displace people and 22,000 patients receive Primary Health care services.
But figures alone cannot fully convey the scale of needs in Lebanon.
Colleagues in Beirut to describe a very complicated situation.
The most urgent needs include shelter, food, access to emergency medical services and a critical need for psychological support.
Families are arriving at shelters with few belongings and no clear timeline for returning home, placing immense strain on already fragile essential services.
One of the other major challenges is the high level of risk facing volunteers, particularly during night time missions.
Staff and volunteers are working around are working under extreme pressure while ensuring both of their personal safety and the safe evacuation of injured individuals.
And as you know, sadly we already lost one of our colleague and some others were injured in several ambulance mission.
Our priority is to sustain the response, addressing both the immediate needs and the longer term sustainability of the operation.
In Lebanon, the FFC has immediately mobilised nearly half a million Swiss franc through its disaster response emergency found to support the Lebanese Air Cross activities and we also extended the existing Emergency appeal for Lebanon until the end of this year to help sustain and scale up the Lebanese Air cross humanitarian response.
In the Mont side, our support is critical to maintaining ambulance service health services, including mobile medical units, blood supplies for hospitals and relief assistance for displaced family.
We call on the international community partners and donors to show solidarity and support.
The humanitarian response needs are growing and we cannot leave affected communities in Lebanon to face this crisis alone.
Thank you very much too much.
And thanks to the various speakers.
We're told that about Lebanon.
I'll open the floor to questions now.
I saw the Spanish news agency first.
I wanted to ask because several of the speakers have talked about the evacuation orders and I was wondering if you know if Israel is designating safe places and if after Israel is not attacking these places.
OK, so since we have several speakers in the in the field, if you could, whoever wants to answer, if you can raise your hand even just with your hand, you don't need a electronic and I can see you.
I don't know if Marco Luigi wants to say something about it or maybe, I don't know, maybe Carolina or Gillian.
So, I mean, there is, to be honest with you, I mean, there is no safe space where to go.
Actually, even here in bed, which will do.
The evaluation order has been issued for the southern part of Beirut.
People, they move out of there.
But then, you know, we just recently saw that the the strikes actually happen also in other part of Beirut.
So in a nutshell, just to say that there is no, there is no safe place but for people to go.
And we don't know when these evacuation orders are issued.
And that's what the problem is, is that you know, the scale and the speed of the movements of the people, which is really putting pressure on on on all the humanitarian and government as well.
I don't know if Jalian or Carolina wants to add something.
Jalian, I see you have put your camera around.
You want to add something to that?
Just to add also that these often they, these evacuation orders, you know, they happen at night, early mornings.
And as I mentioned earlier, often families have to make very critical decisions on where to go in the middle of the night under extreme pressure.
And it's not really well thought out of where where they're going to go.
So it's it's a lot of pressure that they're under.
And, you know, family separations happen.
You see people trying to rush out in the middle of the night in in with very, very limited time to make decisions.
I mean, as my colleagues said, what we as an example of this on the 5th of March when you had large scale evacuation orders, I mean, people spent a distance that normally takes maybe half an hour to travel, took 12 hours to reach, uh, by, by road.
And that's how congested the roads were.
And the examples I gave in my intervention, the attack in Basura in central Beirut last week, there was a warning issued, but maybe less than an hour before the strike hit and it was very early in the morning.
The second strike that was close to several collective shelters hosting displaced.
And as far as I'm aware, there have been no sites designated as safe where civilians have been advised to go to.
Robin Jean France Presse, Thank you.
Firstly, if everyone could could send their speaking notes, that would be greatly appreciated.
Firstly, the the flow of people fleeing their homes.
What's the the rate of flow now?
Has it has it gone down or, or tailed off?
Secondly, these shelters, how well set up are they for longer term residency, say if we're looking at weeks or or even months that people might be there?
And finally to to all of the agencies, have any of your staff been cut off by the blowing up of bridges in the South of Lebanon?
Just raise your hand please, so I can see Gillian.
So in terms of the shelters and the way they are set up, as as noted, these shelters are public schools that have been converted into shelters.
The government has has tried as as much as possible and given the resource constraints to equip them but they are not at this stage necessarily equipped for long term stay.
Just to give you an example, you have classrooms.
Several families are putting sleeping on thin mattresses next side by side in in these classrooms.
You have limited wash facilities in those shelters, limited heating.
We've had a few very cold days here in Lebanon.
All of this is making it.
It's not necessarily suitable for any long term stay.
In terms of the our own staff, yes, we do have staff definitely that have been impacted by displacement.
Several of my colleagues have been displaced and relocated to safer areas.
And in terms of the flow rate, the flow rate has followed the rate and the pace of the evacuation orders.
I see Marco, Luigi and then Carolina.
Yeah, I think it just just in terms of the last question, Yeah, we have the same, we have those family staff who had been relocated and they have family members actually that they are still residing in areas where they're under strike.
And in addition to that they also lost their family members.
So, so for them as well, it's a it's it's a very heavy tool.
And while they continue also supporting the the the case of wins of the children.
So yeah, I think I think we need to take care of them that them as well.
Yeah, I think we need to consider those are schools which are not meant to be receiving.
We are trying our level best to make sure that at least there are there is running water, there are toilets separated for female and male.
But then at the same time showers that at least, you know, there is a sense of dignity among the people who moved over.
And then we'll go to Jeremy.
Just to compliment also on the use of schools to remember that, you know, until a couple of days before the escalation started, these were schools where kids in the hosting community were going for for lessons.
And now these kids are having to school at home online.
And this may further increase tensions between those displaced and the hosting communities in these areas.
So while schools had to be open as an immediate response, it's not sustainable in the long term because it's crucial that these schools can go back to being used as schools.
And the longer this continues and people are in need of shelter and not able to return to their homes, the more needs for shelter longer term or medium shelter support will be needed on the displacement rate.
I mean, the first days of course with the very intense and, and when the strikes, air strikes started and there were area security evacuation orders, we saw these huge movements of people with the very congested roads that I mentioned before.
But it's still people are still leaving at the pace of attacks and evacuation orders that are still taking.
So everyday there is movement of people even though it's not as large numbers in one go as we saw in some of the early days.
And indeed, in terms of access to areas in the South where bridges have been cut there, this is something that we see can also increasingly affect access to people remaining in their home areas going forward.
And some of the humanitarian notifications that have been submitted for humanitarian convoys have not been approved.
Launch Radio France International Mojo.
Montanto, good morning to everyone.
We've been hearing about 20% of the population that is now displaced people being multiple, displaced women's keeping meals, densely populated areas, targeted evacuation orders and no safe place to go for Lebanese people.
So we've been here for many years now, and this rings a bell for a lot of journalists in the room.
I guess the question is simple and it's blunt.
Some Israeli officials have threatened to impose on Lebanon what they imposed on on Gaza.
So the question is, are we there yet?
Because it looks a lot like what we've been seeing for for many years now.
Maybe I can start on this.
Yes, Jeremy, as you say, we've seen increasingly worrying rhetoric concerning the activities in southern Lebanon by the Israeli army and authorities.
What we really need is for Lebanon's territorial integrity to be fully respected, Lebanon's sovereignty to be fully respected, and for the government of Lebanon to be fully respected in its effort to have a complete monopoly of arms and authority throughout its territory.
And I don't know if anybody wants to add anything on this.
I'm looking at our speakers, no hands up.
So I would like to thank you all very much.
That was last question that we had.
There is also a fair online.
And then we will go to Iran because we have our speaker connected and it's a little bit difficult for her the connection.
So Isabel, you, you have your last question, the last question on Lebanon, if you want.
I would like to know a little bit more about this 1000 and you said no 150,000 sorry people staying remaining in the South isolated cut because of the destroyed destroy the destruction of bridges.
So I would like to know if you have, you said that you have of course difficulties to access these people, but any of the the agencies have a personal or workers there still.
And also I think UNACR mentioned that there was not permission authorization for humanitarian convoys for South, for the South, if I am correct, the bridges are blown now.
So is this is, are these convoys coming from Israel in in case if that they are authorised?
Could you explain a little bit more on the logistics?
I'm looking at our speakers who would like to take the floor.
Carolina, you have unmuted yourself, so maybe I'll start with you.
OK, No, so the, the estimation is that, but it's also difficult to know exactly how many people are remaining in these areas.
But the estimation is around 150,000 people isolated because of this and umm, between the 2nd and the 23rd of March, 15 humanitarian movements have been notified through the OCHA managed Humanitarian notification system and were successfully implemented, bringing essential relief items to people, uh, remaining in UMM.
The South and UH-12 movements South of the Litani River have supported the delivery of essential items.
But there have also been some of these convoys where the notification was not approved.
So we were not able then to proceed with it because of the security risks.
One, for example, last week was not approved and then it could proceed a couple of days later.
But these are interagency convoys that are coming from from often from Beirut towards the South to deliver the relief items.
Thank you very much, Marco.
Luigi, you want to add something or Gillian?
No, I think OK, very well.
And I see also Gillian is also nodding.
Isabel, I see you have a follow up, but I really need to go to our colleague in Tehran who has very limited satellite time.
So if you have a follow up, if you don't mind to send it to our colleagues in writing and we'll try to answer you immediately after.
I'd like to thank everyone who has been talking about Lebanon.
It's so important to keep this under the spotlight.
And so thank you very much to Jaylen, to Carolina, to Marco, Luigi in Lebanon.
I think Barbario, stay with me to on Iran and Tomas also.
And now I would like to introduce you to Maria Martinez was the Head of delegation in Iran of the IFRC.
Thomas will go straight to her.
So she has a very, very limited time for connection.
So let's try and use it as efficiency as possible to Maria.
I'll give you the floor for your introductory remarks.
And then we will hear from Babar also in Iran.
And I'll open the floor to questions.
Good afternoon from Tehran.
I arrived in Tehran on the 26th of February and 48 hours later I was sitting in my very first meeting with Iranian IFSC delegation team, having just been appointed as the head of the IFSC delegation.
Suddenly, 30 minutes into my meeting, we heard a plane over flying quite low.
Seconds later, the windows rattle.
We felt the force of the blast that occurred just a couple of kilometres away.
That was my welcome to Tehran.
It has been 28 days since the beginning of hostilities and amidst the ever present fear and uncertainty, late extraordinary courage.
The leadership, the staff, the volunteers of the Iranian Red Crescent, my team included, continue to show up every single day, despite the danger, despite the deep concern for their own family and safety.
Even during the holy month of Ramadan, while fasting, they work around the clock, arriving early, staying late and providing relief scored.
Since day one, attacks have been reported across 30 provinces.
In almost one month, more than 1900 people have been killed, including women and children, and at least 20,000 people have been injured.
Many families have had to relocate.
Approximately 3% of the population is internally displaced.
Yet the volunteers and responders have not stepped back since the escalation began.
Fortunately we lost one Iranian red present rescue and 14 relief workers have been injured while trying to save others.
According to the Iranian Red Crescent latest report from today, 17 Red Crescent centres have been struck and nearly 100 ambulances were damaged or destroyed.
These are not just vehicles, they are often the only hope people have when the bombs fall.
About 289 pharmaceutical, medical and healthcare facilities have been damaged and also about 600 schools and educational institutions have been damaged.
One of the most striking and heartbreaking moments was when a search and rescue responder discovered the bodies of his own family beneath the rubble in Kwon.
Another first responder recovered his aunt and her husband alongside a young child.
This is the reality humanitarian workers are facing, saving lives while carrying unimaginable personal loss.
This year, new rules, which is the Persian New Year, coincided with it.
Usually a time of joy, a celebration, But this, this time it passed in silence.
There was no celebration, only heavy collective mourning.
They run a city of roughly 9 million people, feels completely empty.
The humanitarian situation is rapidly deteriorating.
While Tehran still maintains some basic services, some cities in the South are facing water and electricity cuts.
Not to mention the fact that we have a nationwide Internet blackout since the 28th February.
The sharp rise in inflation and the continued increase in prices are severely limiting access to essential goods, including food and medications.
Of course, livelihoods are disrupted and the economic activity is constrained.
Households are facing mountain challenges in meeting even their most basic needs in the context that was already marked by an annual inflation of about 70% just before the 28th of February and with put inflation rates pushing more than 100%.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society remains the primary humanitarian actor in Iran and the only nationwide humanitarian organisation able to operate across the country with community level access playing a central role in the nation in the national emergency response architecture, The Iranian Red Crescent is currently providing life saving services including search and rescue, emergency medical assistance, medical care through clinic and pharmacies and support to the basic needs of the affected and displaced population.
From the very first moments of the outbreak of the conflict, the Iranian Red Crescent moved into action, activating its Crisis Management operation team and operation centre, deploying teams across the different affected areas.
Today it operates at a scale you can match with 529 branches activated across all the 31 provinces and reaching 197 seat.
We're talking about around 100,000 responders which are being deployed and are mainly conducting search and rescue.
They're providing emergency care, supporting communities, and so far we have 3500 people that have been rescued.
While ambulances, triage teams and medical units continue to work around the clock, At the same time, the response goes beyond the visible.
Through its national hotline, the Iranian Red Crescent is providing vital psychological and social support, receiving over 67,000 calls from people in distress across the country.
This combination of nationwide reach, rapid response and trusted presence has made the Iranian Red Crescent a lifeline for communities and the partner of choice for many international organisations.
I had the privilege to accompany the Iranian Red present President and leadership, visiting some of the affected sites during the early days of the conflict and meeting some of the rescuers that are on hold 24/7 who actually sleep at the branch so they can be easily mobilised.
Their courage and spirit of service is admirable.
In Salmas, a city in the central district of Salmas County in West Azerbaijan province, for example, responders successfully rescued a survivor trapped under debris and transfer them safely for medical care.
So across the country, emergency teams are providing on site track triage and providing health services to the affected population.
And ambulance service continue to operate despite losses and damage to their feet.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is supporting this response by scaling up critical resources.
We immediately allocated a 1.5 million the Swiss francs through our disaster response Emergency fund known as the draft.
These enabled the rapid procurement of essential health supplies and protective equipment to support frontline responders.
Additionally, the IFRC has launched an initial 40 million Swiss franc Iran Complex Emergency appeal targeting 5 million people, with the flexibility to adjust and scale up the appeal in line with evolving humanitarian needs.
Through this emergency appeal, the IFRS C will provide support to the Iranian Red Crescent response efforts through operational support and international procurement of critical supplies.
We have worked on a list of goods and items needed by the Iranian Red Crescent, such as medical supplies, relief items and search and rescue equipment.
IFRC has a dedicated supply chain team in place both in the country and internationally to support procurement and delivery of goods.
Despite of course the significant challenges in the global supply chain, thanks to our global network, it is still possible for us to deliver good at speed to Iranian Red Crescent today.
The most urgent priorities are clear scaling up life saving relief healthcare, including trauma services and access to essential medicines, expanding mental health support for a population under immense psychological strain.
Restoring access to basic needs and services, strengthening protection services to ensure the safety and dignity of the most vulnerable and also ensuring respect and protection for humanitarian teams, facilities and in line with international humanitarian.
Thank you the international community to show solidarity and support our emergency appeal and the operation in Iran.
Thank you very much, Maria for this exhaustive briefing.
I go now to UNHCR and we will go to questions hopefully on time for you to answer.
Just quickly to give the floor back to our colleagues in Tehran.
Some of you have been in touch on the funding appeal for refugees in Iran and their hosts.
So led by Unit CR and with the recent escalation of conflict, refugees, other Afghans and host communities in in Iran are struggling with the concerns for their safety, job losses, psychological distress and urgent shelter needs.
Unit CR with all our humanitarian partners have compiled very freshly flash refugee response plan to support Afghan refugees and their generous Iranian host communities affected by the escalating conflict.
This appeal urgently seeks 80 million U.S.
dollars to respond to the immediate humanitarian needs.
This will cover 1.8 million Afghan refugees and Afghans on the other status living in Iran, plus also a million of their hosting communities who have also been affected.
Let's not forget in Iran, most of our own refugees, they live with the urban communities side by side and everyone is affected alike.
Remember, we have been telling you that we are getting desperate, thousands of desperate calls every day from Afghans seeking our help and support.
If you need more details, we can share those.
Thank you very much, Babar.
Let me ask the journalist for questions in the room.
FA I wanted to ask to IFRC if they are having conversations with the US and Israel about their operations to ensure the safety of their staff and if this is something that US and Israel are respecting.
So our, our mandate is, is purely humanitarian.
We work in support to our 191 Red Cross and Red Crescent societies around the world.
Here I am directly supporting the Iranian Red Crescent Society.
We are working closely, of course, with Maganda Vita Don, the National Society for Israel, also across the Middle East.
And of course American Red Cross is one of our members.
So our direct dialogue is with our national societies, with our members listening to their needs and addressing through the different mechanisms.
In this case, as I mentioned, we have launched Disaster Emergency Relief Fund, which is the drive and also an emergency appeal in support to those needs from the Iranian Red Crescent.
But we do not engage as IFRC in a direct dialogue with governments.
It's a question for IFRC in Iran as well.
First of all, you mentioned that there were 17 centres of the Red Crescents that had been hit.
Do you get the sense that they were being targeted specifically?
And then secondly, the regarding the supply chain, how, how is it that you are getting supplies in is it across the the Persian, Persian Gulf or by land?
How, how is this just some more details as to how this this is happening idea?
Yes, indeed 17 centres, branches, operation centres have been affected.
I cannot say they have been directly targeted as a very detailed, neutral and impartial assessment would need to to be undertaken to determine those specific details.
But what I can say is that they have been affected in this include an ambulance that that again was was there providing direct support.
With regards to the supply chain question, yes, we are getting our procurement by by land through the Turkey border.
John Zarro, Costas, France Van Catt and The Lancet.
I was wondering if you could kindly repeat the number of people killed and injured.
Your figures seem to be substantially less for the number of people injured than numbers produced by the World Health Organisation as of 25th of of March.
These figures based on the Iranian Red Crescent or are they also cross checked with the Ministry of Health of Iran?
And, and WHO is also connected?
So the the numbers are rapidly changing.
This is this is 1 factor.
Another factor is the very limited Internet and connection.
The the figures again change on a daily basis.
These are the figures that have been chaired by the Iranian Brick Crescent.
We're managing that over 1900.
I wish I could give you a very specific number, but this is, these are the figures we're we're currently managing.
More than 1900 people have been killed and at least 20,000 people have been injured.
Oh, Paula, you have a follow up and then we will go to the next item.
Yes, actually just on the supply chain question, is the hub, supply chain hub in Dubai inaccessible then for for you, we'll hear about Dubai, the Dubai logistic apps from WHO in a moment, but I don't know if Maria wants to say something or you, you take it.
And then of course, Maria, if you want to compliment or not, the we have a global logistic app in Dubai that actually is working up and running.
But then of course the situation is the to move goods is just slower and it will cost more.
So what we are doing, I mean what our colleagues in the logistic have been Dubai is that they are trying to, they are working around the clock to find alternative routes.
And of course it goes without saying that having the, the sea accessible or the air accessible would have been way faster to bring goods to Iran.
But I would say also to other context and in the case, as Maria just said, the goods are going by land through Turkey.
So thank you very, very much, Maria, for for connecting.
I know it was difficult to, to to get there.
And so good luck with your very important work.
Thank you also, Babar, for the briefing.
And we'll stay in the region.
And now we'll hear also from WHO, as I said on the Dubai Logistics Hub, we are going now to meet the the region Middle East with IOM and WHO.
So I welcome Zoe, who brought us Lauren, history, global coordinator, displacement tracking matrix of IOM.
You want to sit on the other side, Zoe?
So we have one person on each side and online we have Tariq.
Tariq, thank you very much for taking to the briefing.
Robert Blanchard, whom I welcome also emergency operations team lead, WHO Dubai Logistics Hub.
And I understand Robert is connecting from the hub.
So let's hear to this 2 briefing briefers continuing to explore the situation in the region.
And then we'll take again questions.
So I'll start with Laura or you want to start.
OK, Joyce, go ahead and then we'll go to Robert.
Thank you very much, Alessandra.
So as you say, I have Laura Nestri with me, who is our global coordinator for the Displacement Tracking Matrix, EU NS leading data tool.
So I'm going to read a short statement and then Lara is available for questions.
So the conflict in the Middle East continues to affect human mobility and displacement across the region.
Despite heightened regional tensions, cross-border mobility around the Islamic Republic of Iran has remained broadly stable, with no observed surge in movements or atypical outflows from the country.
According to IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix, between the 1st and 23rd of March, there were 97,527 movements from Iran to Afghanistan, 7542 to Pakistan and 32,576 movements from Afghanistan into Iran, reflecting the fluid and complex mobility dynamics in the region.
Neighbouring countries have received growing numbers of third country nationals.
More than 500 countries have 500 people have crossed into Turkmenistan, while 549 individuals from countries including the Russian Federation, China, Kazakhstan, Germany and India ended Armenia from Iran.
In Azerbaijan, crossings from Iran included 486 Azerbaijanis, 722 Chinese, 323 Russians and 198 Bangladeshis, among other nationalities.
Requests from government seeking assistance to evacuate their nationals have also increased.
On the 20th of March, IOM supported the Government of Bangladesh to evacuate 186 Bangladeshi nationals.
IOM continues to monitor the situation closely and stands ready to support governments and affected populations as needed.
And Robert Alice Tarek you want to start or I can go directly to Robert.
Alessandra, Maybe just to answer the the question from from John on casualties.
As you know, John, when it comes to casualties, people who were killed or injured be used always in every conflict, figures provided by them by the Ministry of Health.
We don't do independent verification.
What we do independent verification, on the other hand, is about the tax on the healthcare.
I don't know if you have seen, we sent you out last night a situation report covering all the countries in the region where you can find out the latest numbers.
And now I would I'm really happy that we have with us Robert Blanchard from our logistics hub in Dubai, who will tell us more about challenges that we face and, and how we how we do to get supplies across the region.
Robert, welcome, thank you.
Good afternoon and greetings from the UAE.
Delivering life saving medicines, medical supplies and equipment in response to health emergencies around the world.
WH OS global health supply chains are agile, they are resilient, and they are responsive.
The Hub for Global Health Emergencies Logistics here in the UAE is located within the world's largest humanitarian free zone, and this free zone is positioned to be able to respond to 2/3 of the world's population within 5 to 7 hours.
Over the past 10 years, WH O's hub has supported health service delivery despite significant supply chain barriers, delivering medicines and supplies to Yemen, accelerating access to PPE and diagnostics during COVID, and delivering nearly 50% of the medicines reaching both Gaza and Sudan since the start of those conflicts.
Earlier this month, we took pretty dramatic action to activate our emergency supply chain contingency plans.
To be able to utilise alternative ports of entry so that we could resupply the hub.
At the same time, we simultaneously began sourcing medical commodities from other points of origin, particularly in Europe, so that we could maintain deliveries.
And this was demonstrated earlier this week by an EU ECHO sponsored charter flight that carried WHO and UNICEF supplies from Europe to Beirut with insulin, vaccines and trauma supplies.
Today we have a humanitarian convoy on the way to Lebanon.
It has reached Syria and is in the process of going through customs to deliver enough surgical interventions and medicines to treat 50,000 patients.
At the same time, we have a second humanitarian convoy that's being prepared to depart for Gaza early next week.
And we now have a humanitarian charter flight expected to carry 78 metric tonnes of paediatric and essential medicines to Afghanistan.
Behind me are the ancillary vaccination supplies, including over 5 million syringes that will be used to launch the vaccination campaign in collaboration with UNICEF and the Ministry of Health of Afghanistan.
We hope early next week these humanitarian movements are made possible by Dubai Humanitarian, by the government of Dubai and of course the government of the United Arab Emirates.
They've saved WHO approximately $90,000,000 in operational costs over the past seven years.
And their support and generosity enabled WHO to deliver more medicines to reach more people more quickly than ever before.
And at the same time, we're seeing the GCC countries pull together and strengthen their supply chain partnerships.
This is an extraordinary demonstration of solidarity.
Both Saudi Arabia and Jordan accelerated their approvals of our humanitarian convoy so that at these supplies could transit their territories and be delivered to Lebanon without delay.
So today's supply chain disruptions, they really do present a new set of challenges, challenges that we haven't quite seen before, at least not on this scale.
But the delivery of humanitarian health supplies must and will continue.
With the support of our partners and certainly in collaboration with other UN organisations, we'll continue to prioritise the most critical health supplies needed to deliver to the world's most vulnerable populations at their greatest time of need.
Happy to take any questions.
Thank you very much, Robert, and thanks to Zoe for the introductory remarks.
So we have here both movement of people and movement of goods so in the region.
And I see Robin has a question.
A question for for Robert, the the disruption that you've that you've witnessed, how far behind are you now in terms of in terms of stocks coming in and material going out?
How far behind are you from where you would like to be?
Thank you, Robert, please go ahead.
I would say the first two weeks of the crisis really set us back.
But we're now receiving bookings for commercially scheduled cargo and we're able to begin moving supplies out as we were in the past.
So there was a significant reduction in air freight across the region, but most of the airlines are now back to around 50 or 60% of their capacity and that's pretty much where we are at the at the same time these charter flights and the convoys will will most certainly accelerate the delivery of supplies and and get the operations back on track.
John Francis and Catrin mentioned.
Good morning, Robert, it's John Zaracostas.
I was wondering if you could give us some details on the you mentioned you've got a second convoy plan to go into Gaza next, next week.
Have you got the green light for Co get the supplies to go in and what are the principal items that you'll be taking in because I understand there's a huge stock out on many essentials, right.
Yes, we do have the Co get approval.
Actually the the palette that I'm broadcasting from here contains the medicines.
There's medicines for non communicable diseases to treat diabetes and hypertension, but there's a variety of medicines that will be sent to Gaza.
The convoy itself will physically move from Dubai to Al Arish and then from Al Arish.
The team there will then have to reconfigure the cargo so that it can go through the Karam Shalam crossing and and into Gaza.
But we do have the approvals.
We expect those supplies to reach Gaza within 24 to 48 hours of arriving in Al Reach.
Thank you very much, Paula Solutions.
Yes, so again similar questions as before, but have you seen any have there been any hits in or around the this massive humanitarian hub that I'm familiar with in Dubai?
Is there is, has there been any damage in that area?
And then when it comes to supplying other regions like countries in Africa and so forth, has has there been any plans to ship some of these supplies via land across Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea to put on ships?
Is has that been in the plans at all?
So with regards to any damage or impacts here in Dubai, humanitarian and the facilities here, no, there have fortunately there have not been any type of drone or missile issues that we faced here.
And we're just very happy to have this facility up and running to be able to continue to deliver humanitarian supplies.
What we're doing now is we've activated alternative routes that can be a number of different scenarios to reach the countries.
We've already delivered to Eritrea that was delivering medicines through commercially scheduled flights.
We've delivered malaria medicines to Egypt and we're continuing to evaluate where we have stocks pre positioned around the world.
For example, we have a hub in Kenya, we have another hub in Senegal where they can activate the release of supplies so that the supplies don't necessarily have to come from our hub here in Dubai.
We can procure from Europe and send supplies from suppliers directly to to Africa to meet their needs at the same time.
But overall everything is in motion at this point and every day we re evaluate where the most critical priorities are and how we might be able to to reach those priorities most efficiently.
Is there any question for IOM, for Laura and history here in the room or online?
Thanks for for coming misses Mistry and thanks to Robert for connecting from Dubai.
But I keep Zoe on the podium because now we are going to another country to Djibouti to speak about the shipwreck which happened off the coast of Djibouti.
And for that, the way you brought us Tanya Pacifico with the Chief of Mission of IOM in Djibouti connecting from Djibouti.
You also start or should we go directly to Tanya?
We can go directly to Tanya.
And just to mention that, Mike, apologies.
Yes, I think we can go directly to Tanya.
And just to mention that we did put out a press release on this as well.
Tanya, you have the floor.
Thank you for the opportunity to breathe.
We have recorded on the 24th of March the 1st shipwreck for this year, which also marks the opening of the warmer season in Djibouti when the seas get rougher and we usually record more more shipwrecks in this particular one.
Testimonies tell us that there were more than 300 people on board, which is an extremely heavy load for the for the boat.
And we have recovered 9 dead bodies with the local authorities and there are 45 people that are still missing.
In this sort of situation, when the bodies are missing, usually it means that they're not being recovered, they have not reached the shore and they are at sea.
There are more than 120 survivors that have requested support from IOM, ranging from medical support to psychological support.
Many of them have lost also either family members or friends.
During the shipwreck, the vessel was heading towards Yemen, which is a fairly short distance, but the sea is very rough and there were also strong winds and therefore this route is known to be a very deadly one.
Although the distance is fairly short compared to all their maritime crossing points for migration.
Last year, the IUM Missing Migrants Project recorded the deadliest year on record with more than 900 deaths along this route that is usually referred to as the Eastern route.
The search and rescue efforts are ongoing at the moment, so we may be able to recover more bodies.
They are led by the Djiboutian authorities.
This is pretty much what I have to share with you and I'm happy to take any questions.
Thank you, Tanya, Thanks for telling us of this terrible accident.
Let me see if there is any question on this in the room or online.
I don't see any hand up so I'd like to thank you very much too and thanks to Zoe for for taking us these colleagues.
I'm asking again on to all colleagues.
Please send the notes those who haven't done it because the journalists are asking also because there are so many figures and including the ones on the shipwreck.
So thank you again Tanya and good luck with your work.
I just have one or two announcements left.
First of all, let me remind you of the press conference that we're going to have on Friday, 31st of March at 9:30.
So Tuesday, 31st of March at 9:30, we're going to welcome Philippe Ladzarini, the Commissioner General of UNRWA.
As you know, Mr Ladzarini is completing his tenure at the end of March, so that will be his last day and he has kindly accepted to come and talk to you at the end of his mandate as he will be going, so that it's going to be in person here before the briefing on Tuesday.
You've of course heard about from Pascal, about the Human Rights Council.
Many of you have been following it and particularly this, the urgent debate of this morning on the protection of children in education institution, in international armoured conflicts, in particular the ideal attacks on the school in Minab.
And this afternoon the Council will start taking actions on draft resolutions submitted during this session.
And of course this will last until the end.
Today we also have the end of the 2026 session of the Conference on Disarmament.
The first part, sorry, of the of the session.
The president of the conference, the Ambassador of the Netherlands has announced that he would not convene meetings throughout the duration of the meeting of the Treaty of Non Proliferation on nuclear weapons.
That's the review conference which is going to happen here in Geneva in the week of the 19th of May.
And that is all I have for you.
If there are no questions to me or any of the colleagues, I thank you very much.
Wish you a very good weekend and I'll see you on Tuesday.
