Welcome to the press briefing of the UN Information Service today in here in Geneva.
It's Friday 10th of April and we are going to have a briefing based on 2 main topics.
The Middle East of course, as the situation unfolds here.
And then we will speak about Sudan, where where the conflict is getting into its fourth year right these days.
So in order to speak about the Middle East, we have several guests today.
We have colleagues from the World Food Programme, UN Women, WHOUNHCR and I welcome those who are here with me on the podium and those who are online.
Before giving the floor to WFP to start this part of the briefing, I just would like to remind you that yesterday, oh sorry, that on the 8th of April, the Secretary General has issued a statement in which he was unequivocally condemning the massive strikes by Israel across Lebanon on the 8th of April.
We also have had a statement by High Commissioner Folker to work on this subject and we are going now to hear a little bit more about the impact of this skeleton conflict in the country.
So I'd like to welcome Alison Allman, who is the World Food Programme Country Director in Lebanon, who's joining us from Beirut.
I'll give you the floor straight away and then we will hear from the other colleagues.
Good morning and thank you for the opportunity to brief you today.
And greetings to my partner agencies who are speaking about Lebanon.
The past 48 hours in Lebanon have been among the most difficult we've seen in recent months.
A sharp escalation in hostilities on Wednesday resulted in devastating consequences with hundreds of casualties reported within a matter of hours.
Behind these numbers are families, communities and lives abruptly shattered.
I'm happy to report that our team is safe and accounted for, but not untouched.
One of our staff lost his home during the the bombardment.
He's thankfully fine and thankfully his family was out, but it is a hard moment for the World Food Programme.
This crisis is unfolding right in front of our eyes, in the lives of the people we serve, in the communities we reach, and in every decision our teams must make.
Our teams are there, navigating in security uncertainty and rapidly changing conditions to continue delivering life saving assistance.
Just earlier this week I was on a convoy to a border village in the South and what I saw has really stayed with me.
Not only the level of gratitude of the population and the the villagers who all came out when we arrived, but their local bakery had the glass front destroyed just an hour before we'd been there and they were already sweeping up the glass and had already fired up the ovens because they were waiting for the wheat flour that we were bringing in on the convoy.
Their food stocks were very low and it was clear that this convoy was much awaited and it was essential to help them keep going.
Despite these challenges, WFP convoys have continued to move, but the operating environment is becoming increasingly complex.
The convoy that I was on, it took us over 15 hours, what normally would have just taken a matter of hours.
Safety can't be taken for granted and yet the needs are growing rapidly.
Safe and sustained access is critical for WFP to continue delivering needed assistance to affected communities, especially in these hard to reach areas.
At the same time, what we're witnessing is not just a displacement crisis, it is rapidly becoming a food security crisis.
We're already seeing clear signs of rising food prices across Lebanon.
In just one month, the price of vegetables has served by more than 20%.
Bread prices have increased by 17%.
For families who are already struggling, this is deeply concerning and what we're now seeing is a very worrying combination.
Prices are rising, incomes are disrupted and demand is increasing as displacement continues.
For many families, food is still available, but it's becoming increasingly unaffordable.
And while markets across Lebanon remain broadly functional the national level, this is actually masking much more severe reality in these conflict affected areas.
In southern parts of Lebanon, more than 80% of markets are no longer functioning with many traders reporting less than one week of essential food stocks remaining as markets and relatively safer areas such as Beirut, Beirut are still operating, they're under increasing strain.
And what this creates is effectively A2 layered crisis where some areas markets are fully collapsed and others they're just holding on.
Just before the March crisis began, Lebanon was already facing a severe economic crisis, with many families struggling to afford even the most basic food items.
This escalation is pushing vulnerable communities even closer to the edge.
Even before this latest escalation, about 900,000 people across Lebanon were facing food insecurity.
And our latest analysis to be released probably next week, hopefully indicate the number is set to rise.
The World Food Programme has been on the ground since the very first hours of this escalation, responding immediately as the situation unfolded.
And since then, we've already reached more than 440,000 conflict affected people on top of our ongoing assistance programmes with emergency cash and food assistance, we've distributed the equivalent of 2 million meals to families caught in the crisis.
And this response is being carried out under the leadership of the Lebanese government and an in close coordination with our partners, our UN partners, our local NGO partners and international partners.
And it's only possible, of course, thanks to the generous support of our donors, whose continued commitment is critical as the needs continue to rise.
WFP is here, and we remain committed to delivering.
We're adapting our operations in real time, working with partners, preparing to scalable assistance as the situation evolves.
But we can't do this alone.
And I'm sorry to say that the space for humanitarian action is compromised and it needs to be preserved because the families that we meet every day and for countless others across Lebanon, food isn't just assistance, it's stability, it's dignity.
And right now, in many cases, it's a lifeline.
Thank you very much for for your time.
And I'll stop there to make sure the other panellists have their time.
Thank you very much, Alison.
And yes, indeed, we have other colleagues who are going to tell us about the situation in the Middle East and Lebanon.
And I'd like to go now to Doctor ABI Nasir Abu Bak, who is The Who representative in Lebanon.
I've got Christian with me on the on the podium to hear about the situation of the health sector in Lebanon that we have seen many reports have been very strongly affected.
So doctor, you have the floor for your introductory remarks, please.
You know, first, I think what happened on the April 8th was the one of the deadliest, you know, single day since the escalation started.
I think we have seen that, you know, within a very short period of time, so many airstrikes, you know, in the civilian areas and the result is that the civilians will pay the price, have the price actually according to the Minister of Health, the latest figures of the impact of that, you know, April 8, there's almost over 300 deaths and 1150 injuries, but many more people actually are still missing.
They're believed to be under the rebels.
We also do have a many, many, you know, body parts that still cannot be identified actually and waiting to be identified with.
All this while the civilians are suffering, but also the hospitals are overwhelmed and the health system in general, what we are seeing.
And you can imagine now in a, in a, in any given time that you have a 1000 / 1000, you know, casualty that has flooded to the hospitals in Beirut and outside Beirut.
Considering that, you know, the health, the health sector and the health system were already on a strain for the last 40 days actually that we've been responded the mass casualty yesterday, I think he on the 8th, the Minister of Health has activated the mass casualty protocol that would lead us that, you know, all hospitalists should be able to respond and receive patients.
But also, you know, to increase the blood donations and also increase the supplies that's available to the hospitalists, the supplies that that that exist in the country as we speak right now.
Actually even before this mass casualty event that happened on April 8th wasn't enough to cover for one month.
But the supplies that we use only that day and subsequent day actually for the last two days is equivalent of supplies that should have been enough for 3/4, four weeks.
That leads us to the potential risk of shortage of trauma medical supplies, you know other medications, blood product and many other related supplies that requires for trauma management.
The Minister of Health already a bill for the international community for more supplies yesterday and as awho also we are also working with our friends and also our partners to see how we can ensure that the hospitals maintained adequate supplies.
If in case there is another mass casualty, you know event that might happen get forbidden into that.
In addition to that, what we have seen on on on on April 8th actually is, is the subsequent evacuation order that happened yesterday in the area called Jinang, which in in Beirut where two major hospitals that are managing the mass casuality is Rafiq Hariri and Al Zahra Hospital where included the evacuation order.
These two hospitals actually are currently having 450 patients.
Of these fifty of them are in ICU.
And you can imagine now you know, this caseload where to transfer these hospitals.
And I think yesterday and last night we, we worked through our diplomatic channels with the, the UN system, with The Who Director General, everything to see what, how we can save these hospitals, not to be attacked because we don't have any other hospitals to handle this caseload of 450 patients that we may have in these areas.
And the last point I would like to mention is the healthcare workers.
What we have seen in this conflict on this escalation is that healthcare workers are disproportionately impacted.
Now first is the healthcare attacks that happened for the last year for five weeks, where we lost almost 50 healthcare workers, 1 / 150 were injured, but also more ambulances that has been attacked.
The impact is that not only that we lost lives actually, but also that this is impacting the access to services, especially area affected by the conflict, whether it's in the South, in Beirut, in Beqa and other areas.
Today, this morning, we receive another, you know, a warning from the Israelis where the, you know, the ambulances will be attacked as well.
And I just would like to remind that both the healthcare workers, the facilities, the ambulances are all protected under international humanitarian law.
And unless we have these services available, we will not be able to save lives into that.
And my final point is many of these healthcare workers, the brave healthcare workers were displaced by themselves.
And they're either in shelters, they're either in outside the services.
And we're trying, working with the Minister of Health and partner is how we can bring back those healthcare workers into the hospital and primary healthcare facility so they can better serve for the people who are in need into that.
And the last is as a WHO as well as other health sector veterans, we are building that more resources for us to procure more supplies, but also to make sure that the response activities actually are sustained.
Thank you very much, Doctor Abdi.
And and that's it's important briefing on the health issue, but we have now 2 speakers to speak about.
Those two are probably the most vulnerable in this situation.
First of all, I'd like to give the floor to Sophia Caltrup.
Sophia, you are in Stockholm, if I'm not wrong, and you'll tell us about the situation, women and girls in this terrible in cerebral context.
Thank you, Alessandra and good morning, everybody.
As you and women, we echo the Secretary General's welcome of the announcement of a two week ceasefire by the United States and Iran.
And equally, we echo his alarm at the wave of Israeli strikes across Lebanon.
The reports indicate that hundreds of people have been killed and injured this week alone, including women and girls.
UN Women continues its call for a lasting and just peace in the region, one that upholds the rights, safety and dignity of all women and girls.
On 28th February, the very first day of the recent escalation, 168 girls were reportedly killed when a strike hit their primary school in Minhab in Iran and since then, hundreds more women and girls have reportedly been killed across the region.
204 women have reportedly been killed in Iran, while in Lebanon 102 women were reportedly killed prior to the intense bombardment on 8th April.
According to National Health authorities.
Women and girls have also been reportedly killed in Bahrain, in Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the United Arab Emirates.
Millions of women and girls have been forced to flee their homes, including an estimated up to 1.6 million in Iran and 620,000 in Lebanon.
Displacement is exposing them to heightening risks, particularly in overcrowded and unsafe conditions.
There's also cutting off access to healthcare, protection and livelihoods, while increasing unpaid care burdens.
The destruction of civilian infrastructure across the region is further limiting access to self shelter, clean water and essential services.
Even before this latest escalation, an estimated 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza and 70,000 pregnant women in Lebanon were in need of maternal health services, many already facing significant barriers to adequate care.
Damage to hospitals and health systems will further constrain access to life saving and essential services and as we have heard from WFP, food insecurity has become an increasingly urgent concern across affected countries including Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Iraq.
24,000,000 Women and girls are now facing deepening food insecurity driven by price volatility, disrupted supply chains and declining purchasing power in a highly import dependent region.
In girls alone, nearly 790,000 women and girls are now experiencing crisis level or worse food insecurity.
Women's rights organisations that are critical to humanitarian response and peace building across this region.
They are operating under shrinking civic space, escalating security risks and severe funding gaps.
Women human rights defenders.
They have faced intimidation, arbitrary arrests, detention and in some cases, lethal violence.
As UN Women, we are on the ground across the Middle East region scaling up protection, livelihood support and coordination and ensuring women's voices lead the the response and the recovery.
We call for de escalation, for protection of all civilians, unimpeded humanitarian access, gender responsive humanitarian action, and for this two week ceasefire to become the foundation for a just enduring and comprehensive peace for all women and girls across this region.
And back over to Alessandra.
Thank you very much, Sophia.
It's very important to spotlight the particular situation, women and girls and another category of very vulnerable people are the refugees.
And Eugene is here to tell us more about that.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, echoing what other UN agency talk about before about the challenges and difficult of the civilian.
And we urge that all civilian inside Lebanon, including the more that 1,000,000 people already displaced, be protected at all times, as the country wields from the largest and most devastating Israeli attacks of the current conflict carried out on 8th of April.
Around 100 location were hit within 10 minute with no warnings, including a densely populated neighbourhoods in Beirut already sheltering thousands of displaced people.
Family who had already fled early hostility in Beirut, the Bekaa Valley and saw the Lebanon, some of whom had begun contemplating returns after mixed signal of about the ceasefire, were once again uprooted.
Areas previously considered safe war struck this time, triggering panic and forcing people to flee for the second or third time.
The destruction of the Kashmir bridge has made access to tear from Saidon even more restricted, making moving between northern and southern Lebanon much more difficult.
For many families from southern villages, return is no longer possible as the entire community have been partially or completely destroyed.
Some 150,000 people are estimated to still be in the South.
Humanitarian access to them is essential and they need a safe route to flee if they are forced to again.
Humanitarian needs are rising sharply.
Access to affected people is increasingly constrained.
Almost 700 shelters hosting over 138,000 displaced people are severely overcrowded and nearly half of Lebanon's public school are now functioning as a shelters, leaving children once again out of a class and grappling with the fear, anxiety and repeated displacement.
Despite immense challenges, UNHCR and partner continues supporting the government LED response with the emergency relief, shelter, repairs and protection services.
So far we have assisted more than 151,000 displaced people in collective shelter and 31,000 in hard to reach area, alongside expanded financial assistance and a specialised protection support for the most vulnerable including separated children and people with disabilities.
We're also supporting over 250,000 people who cross into Syria, including 39,000 Lebanese, with one in five people in Lebanon currently displaced and UNHCR operation in the country just 19% funded, immediate and sustained support and most of all, a lasting end of hostility are now critical.
Thank you very much to all the speakers.
And I'd like to conclude by saying that as the situation continues to deteriorate, we reiterate the need for an immediate de escalation of hostilities, full respect for international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilian, civilian infrastructures.
Have you, we've heard the hospitals, healthcare workers and everyone else sustained an impeded an impeded humanitarian access to all those who need it and an urgent funding for our humanitarian operations.
And I'll open the floor to questions now, first in the room, so I'll introduce to Jamie.
My question is for Doctor Abu Bak.
Thank you very much for your presentation.
I was hoping that you might be able to give us a little bit more detail about this warning that you mentioned from Israeli forces about attacks on ambulances.
Is that the first time that that's happened?
And what other communications have you had with the Israelis about possible pauses in the in the military operations that could pave the way for continued access to healthcare?
Yes, thank you very much for the question.
Actually for yesterday we had a, you know, one warning which was the evacuation that has been expended actually to cover, you know, some additional area, especially where these hospitals are located.
You know, Rafiq Hariri and Zara Hospital and I mentioned earlier these hospitals are shouldering the biggest burden when it comes to the mass casualty.
And we have a 450 at the same time.
Also I think this morning there's this another warning related to the ambulances, attacks on ambulances.
And I think it is not the first time actually we have this type of warning.
Previously there were similar warning about the ambulances.
And I would like to reiterate that, you know, as a WHO and a health sector per SE, that ambulances are there to save lives actually.
And, and we always advocate that, you know, the ambulances, healthy facilities and healthcare in general should not be militarised, should not be used the means of the military, regardless of which parties.
And then ambulances should be used purely for, you know, for the paramedics who are intended to save lives, especially when there is attacks.
And for us as a WHO here in the country office, of course, we don't have contact actually, but we have a mechanism where we channel our information because we have a humanitarian notification system that's in place.
And we channel those information is, you know, to whether it's an orchard, whether it's a residence coordinator, but also our director general and regional director also are helping us to communicate to the right, you know, parties in order for us to de escalate, but also to reduce the impact this might have for the first responders.
But it's very critical that first responders should be given opportunity to serve and to save lives and they should be protected.
Can I just follow up on that?
Could you, could you be specific about what the actual, I mean, you said that this has happened in the past.
So this is a regular thing.
Obviously we saw what happened on on April 8th.
So I, I'm just wondering what specific communications have you had?
And you mentioned here that this, you know that ambulances, facilities and healthcare workers are protected under IHL.
So are you expressing that to the Israelis that that is actually that this would be a violation of of international humanitarian law?
Well, I think, you know, some of those diplomatic discussion is I will live with my colleague in HQ, Christine, who are sitting there actually to elude and to explain more what steps WHO is taking at the international and the diplomatic level into that.
From my side, we're doing more technical work into that.
And we, you know, our HQ, but also other other leaders are taking some of those rooms.
So Christian, will you be in a position to address that?
Thank you, Doctor Abdi and Jamie, but I have nothing to add at this point.
Any other question in the room?
Yeah, Olivia, Olivia Reuters, thank you very much.
Just a question if I may for this is for WFP just to get a sense of why prices are rising.
Is that because of difficulty getting food supplies into Lebanon due to the broader regional situation and and supply chain disruption?
Is it more of an issue actually just internally circulating food distribution within the country?
And I think our UNHCR colleague mentioned the impact on the customer bridge in the in the South.
I'm just wondering from WFP's perspective if that the the the attack on that bridge has also impacted your abilities to move between North and South in terms of food stocks.
I think that that you've highlighted the key issues and it's a little bit of all of it.
Absolutely there are supply chain disruptions and the whole food system has taken a blow.
And that has to do with the fact that we have had farmers in the South that aren't able to be on their fields and to finish cultivating.
There are movement issues, but also we're already seeing the preliminary impact of the change in global fuel prices, the impact of fertiliser and fuel deliveries.
And so I think that a little bit of everything we're we're very grateful that the ports remain open in Lebanon.
So goods are still able to come in.
But absolutely it's a constrained environment.
And I think that that Lebanon is not alone in seeing the impact on prices already that that we think are going to continue to go up.
The the access issues continue to be a really large one.
I'm pleased to say that despite being struck, actually the Kasmia Bridge now is operational and in fact we had a convoy that had to use that this morning.
But it, it is a constrained environment and it is not easy to move to move food either humanitarian goods down to the South or the normal foods flow.
And I think all of that are impacting on the on the prices.
This is a question also to to AFP on food insecurity.
I would like to ask you if you could give us a sense of how many convoys are you able to that was that was to WP.
Yeah, in terms of sorry and yes, I think the end of your question was not heard by Alison's maybe just just you said that the convoys and yes and sorry, I don't know what happened with the MIC about the how many people are you able to reach and how many you would like to reach every day in Lebanon.
Yeah, no thanks very much.
So today WFP with the logistics cluster has been able to launch 9 convoys.
If I'm counting correctly, this morning might have been the 10th.
Somewhere around 70 trucks have gone out with goods and we've been able to reach in the ballpark of between 40 and 60,000 people with those convoys.
WFP in the logistics cluster is doing a lot of food movement, but so also are some of the other partners.
So I can't speak to the exact number for all of the partners, but for us, indeed, what I will tell you is that we do recognise the need to be putting on even more convoys to reach the needs of the people.
And that while we've had 10 convoys that have gone out, we've also had many, many convoys that have not been able to proceed because the safety and security couldn't be guaranteed.
So there is not an exact figure of the the number of of people that are still in the southern parts of Lebanon, but most of the estimates put that population somewhere between 50 and 150,000 that are that are relying on humanitarian support and the convoys, which are food, of course, but also water, mattresses, blankets, hygiene kits and essential goods.
If yeah, you have follow up.
Yes, just to clarify, it's 10 convoys since the beginning of, of the war, right.
Yes, since, since March 2nd is what we're counting as the first day.
So if there are no other question in the room, Jimmy, I've got people on the on the platform.
I'll come back to you in a moment.
I have a question for the for Doctor Abdel Nasser Boubacar.
Can you give give me please more details about the number of victims in April 8, the number of children, women, etcetera And my have a second question.
Israel announced that the IT targeted Hezbollah military sites in Beirut.
What did you actually see there?
And another question about the situation of hospitals in Beirut, the dangers facing Al Zahra Hospital and Al Hariri Hospital and about the ambulances.
Israel says it is targeting ambulances related to Hezbollah.
How you see this this accusation?
Yes, thank you very much for your question.
First, I think as I said earlier, you know, the, the, the casualty figures that we received from the Ministry of Health, it's as of yesterday evening, actually 300 people died and also 1001 / 1100 injuries were recorded.
But you know, as I said also there are many missing, you know, people and they're still, you know, the first responders are still trying to dig and recover, you know, somebody's from the rubble.
And so the Minister of Health, you know, they haven't finalised the county yet, but periodically they give us these numbers when it comes to the distribution of children and women and all those things.
I think that we haven't received it from the Minister of Health, but I think by the end of the day today, probably we'll get more disaggregated data to, to show, you know, who's impacted and what regarding the, you know, the, you know, the, the hospitals that you have mentioned, Of course, you know, the hospitals, as I said earlier, they are on the, you know, in the, in the, they're overwhelmed both the hospitalists and the healthcare workers who are trying to support the mass casuality.
I think what we have seen on on April 8 was, you know, of course, unexpected in a single day, in a single time to receive.
And I think it reminds me also, you know, during the major attack where we had a 4000 patients in a single day.
But at least yesterday, on April 8 was another big day that we have seen it.
And most of the hospitalists at least try to respond.
But again, you know, we really need to keep in mind that there's a limitations when it comes to the capacity of those hospitalists.
For example, Traffic Hariri and Azara Hospital, both of them as we speak, they are full in capacity and God forbidden that.
If there's any mass casuality today or tomorrow, probably we may not have any space for hospitals.
Of course, there are many other hospitals in Beirut that can still accommodate, but I'm preferring to those hospitals.
So we have a, we have a challenge and we have a, you know, situation in the hospital is that we really need to pay attention, not to mention for the supplies that just to ensure that we have enough supplies for those hospitals to sustain the operation.
The issue of the targeting of the ambulances, of course, we have received many, you know, warnings, you know, for the last five weeks about, you know, the use of ambulances by Hezbollah.
But as a WHO, I'm not in a position to verify whether they use or not to use because that's I live with authority and also a different other organisation to, to verify into that.
But what I'm aware is that as a WHO that, you know, healthcare, whether it's ambulances or health facilities or healthcare workers, actually should not be militarised.
And I think they should purely do their own humanitarian work and also their healthcare work so they can save lives.
And that's the most important for me into that.
And I think that's, that's all what I have.
Remind me please, if I forgot any other question, I think I think I'm looking at Christian.
I think you you covered all the questions.
I would like to know if you have what is the average of Iranians till the average age of Iranians killed during the bombardments.
Then I have a question on Lebanon.
Do you have an estimate or numbers, any one of you, of how many members of Hezbollah have been killed during the bombardments?
Because I think Israel is going after Hezbollah, but I don't know if there's anyone there or not or if they are doing their job.
Then I have another questions.
You, you mentioned that in Lebanon there are more or less 1,000,000 of, of civilians that needs protection of that million, if you have any, like an idea of how many are women, men, children, Do you have an idea if it's the majority are children or the majority are old people or do we have an idea of that?
And then another question is you mentioned there are no warnings for the bombardments.
I mean, this is against any Geneva Convention, any International Convention.
So why there are no warnings?
I mean, do you remember a conflict that there are no warnings for bombardments in in civilian places?
And then the last question that you mentioned that they are targeting humanitarian workers and ambulances and, and that, but why, why they are targeting what, what do you think why they are targeting A humanitarian personnel?
This is also against all the conventions that we learned in the school in in every book.
So there is there a justification that they are killing humanitarian personnel?
Why is the what is the excuse if you if you know?
Thank you so much for everything.
So on Iran, I don't think we have anybody who can answer specific question on Iran, except that Sophia mentioned some figures on women and girls in Iran.
So I don't know if Sophia, you want to reiterate this on the rest, whoever would like to answer, I think the reference to the 1,000,000 you, you made Eugene.
So maybe I'll start with Sophia.
And also we have Ricardo on the line.
So, Ricardo, if you have any, any figure on children, I'll let you I'll let you take the floor, but I'll start with the I'll start with Sophia.
Thank you very much, Alessandra, and thank you for that question.
As mentioned, according to national authorities, 204 women have reportedly been killed in Iran during this latest escalation.
And among those we have the 168 girls that were killed in their primary school during the very first day of of this conflict.
So that's that's the numbers that we have.
And back over to you, Alessandra.
Doctor Abdi, would you like to take once on the ambulances and then I'll go to Eugene.
Yes, well, thank you very much.
I think he the of course we received many warnings about the ambulances and I say, as I reiterated earlier that, you know, verification whether Hezbollah is using or any other parts are using the ambulances.
I think that's I live with the government and other organisations to verify.
But as WHOI think what we are very concerned is that these ambulances and the first responders are trying to save lives.
They're trying to respond to the attacks that happened in the nearby areas and they are responding to those areas.
And I think he as far as we know that most of the ambulances that's been attacked, we have not seen any militarised ambulances so far.
But I think I will leave with the even a different authority to verify into that and also to, to address the concern raised by, by by Israel into that regarding the, you know, the, the, the number of Hezbollah kill.
I think he as a WHO you know, and also the health system, when we receive a wounded patient, actually we don't ask you where they which, where they belong and who they belong.
Our job is to to receive, to treat and to save the lives actually.
So I, I'm not here in the position to tell exactly how many Hezbollah were killed and how many were not killed.
What we have seen most of the hospitals actually are civilians actually that what we have seen in the in the hospitals.
But maybe there's an any other, you know, entity that have that kind of information.
Is most of the wounded patients that on death that we have we have seen in the hospital is most of them are civilians, but maybe you know the the the wounded and that's for Hezbollah.
If they are actually maybe they have been managed in different places and a different forum into that.
So I will not be in a position actually to respond to that question.
Thank you very much, Doctor.
Abdi and Eugene, thank you so much for your question.
I mean like all civilian in Lebanon need to be protected from those kind of strikes.
I mean including one million who are already displaced.
So out of those 1,000,000 who are already displaced inside of Lebanon, 35% are indeed children and out of 140,000 of the displaced are currently sheltered in over 680 collective shelters that we have.
The more detailed breakdown of those displaced in the sheltering and collective sites, 25% are children, 8% are older people and over 1% are pregnant or the breast feeding mother.
I have three follow-ups, Jamie, Moussa and Gabriela.
You had also raise your hand and then we'll close and we will go to Sudan because we've got many more speakers waiting.
Jamie, this is just a quick question for Doctor Abu Baker.
Could you just tell us very quickly if you have received or health authorities or or who have received guarantees that hospitals in Beirut will not be targeted, whether Rafi Carrillo or others?
Yes, thank you very much, Jimmy.
I think yesterday after we received the warning, I think I personally communicated to the our humanitarian coordinator as well as through, you know the, the, the UN coordinator here in Lebanon.
But also we communicated through our HQ Director General.
And I think he, you know, at the end of the sometime in midnight, I think we received some feedback saying that, you know, that these hospitals will be will not be attacked into that.
Whether that will materialise or not, we will see it.
But at least we we got some feedback giving us assurance that these two hospitalists will not be attacked.
Actually, just picking up on my colleague Jamie's question, just to check that they get that feedback, was that from Israel or intermediary in terms of guarantee that these hospitals will not be attacked?
And just so just to clarify, in Rafiq Hariri and Al Zahra Hospital, are those patients still there?
I understand that you said it's very difficult to move them, but is the working plan for now that those patients will stay in place?
Yes, the patient is still there.
Actually, we didn't evacuate.
We have decided not to evacuate because one, we don't have any other place to evacuate them actually.
So I think we have done this background negotiation about, you know, the protection of these two hospitalities and you know, 1 is we got positive feedback on this will not be attacked.
I think we haven't moved the patients into that, but the whole area, you know, the civilians who are living in that area, including the shelters have been evacuated one way or another.
And, and the question of the how we receive, I think I, I really don't know exactly, you know, what for us, what we use is through our UN channels, you know, whether this information were reached through intermediate to Israel or directly to Israel, I can't tell you more about that.
But at least what's more important for me is that at least we get some assurance back saying that these two hospitals will not be attacked.
My question is very clear and it's very, very important.
Doctor Abdul Nasser, it's very important to know you are in Beirut in eight April.
Did Israel targeted the Hezbollah military site sites or or not the the targeted is for civilian building or military styles.
I, I think, you know, it's a very difficult for me to answer to that question because I'm not the fairest responders who went there and I'm not the authority, you know, the police or the military Lebanese authority.
So I think that answer should be asking for the government of Lebanon for their security people, because they are the one who have responded, who have visited every single attack into that as a WHO actually, we don't have this responsibility to whether it's a, it's a military site or non military site.
What's important for us is how we can save lives.
You want to Yeah, thank you very much for all these questions.
Now, just to be clear, it is not WHO's mandate or mission to qualify or or or establish which attack came from where and who shot and who did and what whatever.
So it's not WHO mandate to go into the origin of an attack.
It's not the the mission of the mandate of WHO to find out or determine who is a combatant or not.
It is not our mandate for US.
Healthcare has to be protected.
Healthcare can either be attacked.
That's a human, human humanitarian violation and it should always be protected.
It should also not be misused.
So misuse of ambulances, misuse of, of hospitals is also condemnable in case it would be so, but still it does not justify attack of an hospital hospital or of an ambulance in case healthcare has to be protected.
Thank you, Christian, very, very last follow up from Gabriella.
Gabriella, please, please, yes, yes, just the average of age of Iranians killed.
Just if you have an an idea.
And then at the end of the the of the all of this subject, I have a question about Mexico.
Thank you very much, Gabriella, I think I'm not sure we have that number, but maybe Sophia, you have at least the average age of the women and and girl killed.
I mean, just just to clarify, according to to reports, we have 204 women killed in Iran.
And then in addition, we have the 168 girls that were killed in their primary school.
So that's the that's the numbers and the indicative ages that we have at this moment according to reports of national authorities.
And we may get more on this during these days.
Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed to this part of the briefing.
Thanks to Alison Oman and Doctor Abdi in Beirut and Sophia from Stockholm and my colleagues here on the podium.
And I'd like now to go to the second part of the briefing, which concerns, as I've told you before, Sudan.
You are all aware that three years after the beginning of the conflict in Sudan, the relentless fighting between the Sudanese Armoured Forces and the Rapid Support Forces has set off the world's most devastating humanitarian crisis, inflicting untold suffering to civilians.
Sudan is now the the largest hunger and displacement crisis on the planet.
And to tell us about the situation, this terrible anniversary, I would say we have Eugenia's brothers, Marielle Vechner, the representative of UNHCR in Sudan, who's reaching us from Port Sudan.
We also have the representative of FAO in Sudan calling in from Khartoum, Hongjie Young and Christian, you brought Doctor Shiblet Sabani, who's The Who representative and head of mission in Sudan from Port Sudan.
So we listen to the three colleagues and then we will go to questions.
Let's start with Mary Ellen.
I can go directly to her.
So Mary Ellen, you have the floor.
Good morning, colleagues from Khartoum.
So next week, 15th of April to be precise, is the third anniversary of the fighting, of the start of the fighting in Sudan.
And I just want to give you an overall idea of what's been happening in these three years.
1/4 of the population of the country has been displaced since the start of the fighting.
That's about 14 million people.
And as we speak, there are still about 12 million people displaced.
9 million are internally displaced.
The rest, around 4 million are in neighbouring countries, mostly Chad, South Sudan and Egypt.
If we look back at the last year, unfortunately we're not seeing clear progress towards any resolution as we speak.
We still have fighting ongoing in large parts of the country very much this year in three states that are called the Cordofans, fighting still ongoing in Darfur and also in Blue Nile.
And one thing to note is the increased use of aerial bombardments and drone attacks.
There have been drone attacks from the start of the conflict, but this year we've seen a lot of use of air bombardments.
And to go back to what Gabriella was saying, air bombardments that are unfortunately also targeting civilian infrastructure and locations with no warnings.
And we're also seeing in the last year a continuation of very severe human rights and international humanitarian law violations, which range from conflict related sexual violence, killings, massacres, abductions, kidnappings, arbitrary arrest, false recruitment, etcetera, etcetera.
You've probably all seen the recent reports from the High Commissioner for Human Rights talking very specifically for Alpha share in Darfur of crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes with genocidal intent.
So unfortunately not a good picture for the past year.
As always, women and girls are particularly at risk.
At risk first and foremost, but not only of conflict related sexual violence we are seeing and unfortunately conflict related sexual violence that often take place when they are trying to run for safety.
So we know that when women are displaced during the displacement while they try to reach safety is where the risk is the highest.
We have seen a collapse in parts of the country, in most of the countries of the health system, of the justice system.
And this creates this has created a climate of impunity that we really see as the root, root cause of the conflict.
And sitting here I can tell you from UNHCR, but really for a lot of partners, a real sense of helplessness.
We are trying to respond to individual cases, but at the same time, as long as the perpetrators feel this sense of impunity we have, we continue to see repeated instances of sexual violence and alcohol really is as we're approaching the Berlin conference next week, this sense of impunity needs to be tackled even before a ceasefire.
A message needs to go through that there will be consequences for for what constitutes war crimes.
Of course, children are also very much at risk, and I want to give here an example.
That is one of the most heartbreaking testimony really that I've heard since I've been here in Sudan, which was a group of women who had fled out for share and then managed to reach relative safety in an IDP site who were explaining to me what the displacement had been like with checkpoints pretty much every 10 kilometres along the road.
And a pretty one of the women who spoke to me, she'd lost her husband, she'd lost her eldest son that had been killed.
The second eldest son had been retained at the checkpoint because she was told if we let him through, he will join the opposite side.
And they had had to disguise the nine year old as a girl because otherwise even 9 year olds were being were being kidnapped really.
So children very much at risk.
Unfortunately we have children who are entering their fourth year without going to school.
And in neighbouring countries, we have recorded, and that's just what we recorded, about 58,000 children who have arrived unaccompanied.
I do want to speak of neighbouring countries again, Egypt, South Sudan, Chad mostly, but other countries as well, who have received more than 4.5 million Sudanese refugees fleeing the conflict.
And many of these countries are really at breaking point.
We're looking at countries like South Sudan, like Chad that obviously have their own challenges and, and the the reduction in humanitarian assistance has left really many of these countries and the refugees who have arrived with impossible choices to to make.
I also want to mention that these displacements, these 14 million people who have been displaced, it's extremely fluid.
And as we speak, we have displacements still ongoing every day right now in Plenal, in the Kodafan.
So we have had repeated displacements with the added vulnerability that we know comes from each displacement.
But we are also seeing since since really 2025 returns trends, so both ID PS and refugees, we are trying to go back to parts of the country where conflict has abated and that are relatively safer.
So this can sound like a contradiction, but this is something that we need to pay attention to because as much as our priority is the humanitarian response, the emergency response, there's a huge need to address the needs of these people who are coming back to places like Khartoum.
I am in Khartoum now and the city has been destroyed.
So the infrastructure has been destroyed, The city has been heavily mined, basic services.
We have, I think my colleague from WHO can speak more about this, but really 90% of the hospitals in Khartoum were destroyed, Schools were closed.
And on top of that, and I think particularly important for us as UNITIA and protection partners, it's also the issue of the social fabric of the country has been destroyed.
So it's very much now is the time to try to rebuild a country, a society that is more inclusive and that can eventually participate in elastic peace.
And I want to highlight here again, talking about the fluidity of the displacement.
It's clear to us that if we, if this returns, and we're seeing it already, if not enough is done to try to stabilise these returns, people will move again and many will move northwards and will move through Libya towards Europe.
The numbers remain, actually, I'm going to say extraordinarily small.
Three years into what is a terrible war, 14,000 Sudanese have arrived in Europe, but it's still a 232% increase from what it was in 2023.
So, and I want to be clear here, the only solution to that is not, is not false returns.
UNHCR does not consider any parts of Sudan to be safe for returns.
Yet it is not more difficulties and more danger in reaching Europe.
The only solution is a ceasefire.
It's a lasting peace or at the very least leads more investment into humanitarian assistance and more investment into building, rebuilding, reconstructing the parts of the country that are relatively safer.
And of course, this leads me straight to the state of the response we are saying, we have been saying for the past three years, this is a large, the world's largest humanitarian crisis, although clearly we can't compete.
Having listened to my colleagues in Lebanon, this is our outbreaking report.
Well, but the world's largest displacement crisis, one of the worst protection crisis, remains very largely underfunded.
All in all, humanitarian partners in the country have received 16% of the 2.8 billion that they need for this year.
So just to maybe recapitulate, sadly, as we are speaking today, it's hard to see clear sign of an end to the conflict, But we are calling for a ceasefire and for lasting peace that is built on inclusion of all parts and all of the country and all parts of society.
And that is needed to end the tragedy for millions of Sudanese, but also to mitigate the risk of a further regional spillover.
Thank you very much, Mary Ellen, for this.
Mary Ellen there for this briefing.
I'd like now to go to our colleague of FAO, Mr Ongje Young.
You have a statement on behalf of the Food and Agricultural Organisation and you're calling in from Khartoum, right?
You're in cartoon, Yes, I mean, thank you.
The greetings, the greetings from Khartoum, from FAO.
I would say that urgency attention is needed to address the still extremely diet food situation in many parts of Sudan, including Khartoum colleagues.
Khartoum, that's our colleagues said that Khartoum is capital city of Sudan, but the state of Khartoum is agriculture states.
State of Khartoum is the second largest producer of vegetables and fruits and a lot of fattening farms slaughtering houses before the war were located here in Khartoum, but destroyed by the war.
The the destruction most severe is the destruction for the essential vitamin laboratory, so that now the vaccine for the livestock it cannot produce the locally.
Those are the very direct situation in Sudan.
And I feel it's deeply concerned about spillover effects of the ongoing flag in the Middle East while they're reducing the food supply later in 2026 while farming risks continue in some hot spots has been already happened here in most some part of the Sudan.
This is this especially warning given already constrained access to critical agriculture inputs among Sudan's most food insecure and what is heat populations.
The latest crop and food security Assessment mission reports the cereal production down 22% compared with the previous year, a warning trends among high acute food insecurity.
As main planting season is approaching, I feel urgently cause for the immediate funding for the seed distribution in Sudan.
The main planting season is mainly for sorghum and Mallard will soon start in May from the West to east, so the window is almost close.
With over 20, 21 million Sudanese now are facing acute food insecurity, including 6.3 million in most extreme condition, that is emergency and catastrophe.
The situation remains diet for the rural household particularly in the conflict origin such as Darfur, Kodofun and actually Sudan used to be the agricultural country.
They used to be the powerhouse of the region in terms of agriculture before the war.
They even export surplus of food to neighbouring countries.
So this is a very unfortunate and I feel emergency seed campaign have proved that to be the highly cost effective and producing enough food to feed nearly 18.8 million people for the last 12 years.
For every one single dollar invested in delivering sorghum seeds to household as our calculation, 22 U.S.
dollar worth of sorghum were produced in 2025 alone.
So I feel reached 833,000 household with 8200 metric tonnes of sample food seeds that is sorghum and Millet directly increase the food availability and mitigating hunger in the hardest rich area.
For sorghum seed distribute last year contribute now estimated 22% of the national sorghum production valued at 594,000,000 U.S.
The impact of timely seed distribution is clear.
Emergency seed support has enabled vulnerable families to cultivate their land even amidst insecurity and displacements, increasing food availability in the local markets while contributing to overall national cereal production.
Despite those success, funding shortage threaten to undermine gains made in local production and deepen the need for costly food assistance.
In second-half of this year, delays and gaps or gaps in seed prevention risk driven million further into prices, especially as agriculture costs soaring and and market access remain constrained.
The cost per beneficiary remains mandates and local seed multiplication efforts have further boosted planting rates and resilience.
I feel urged dollars to act swiftly with just 10 million U.S.
dollar if you can support 190,000 household in farming risk area with seeds, inputs and machinery services.
Scaling up funds would allow expansion to reach up to 1.5 million household nationwide, referencing food security and reducing humanitarian needs.
Investing now in emergency seas inputs is not only life saving, but it's also the most cost effect, efficient and sustainable way to strengthen Sudan's agricultural system, protect livelihoods and ensure that rural communities are equipped to withstand of future shocks.
Colleagues, the window for the action is closing rapidly.
I feel that's ready to delivery, but urgent financial support is equipped to secure Sudan's next harvest and prevent for the deterioration of the food security situation, especially for the most vulnerable cause.
Hosts and stop here, over to you.
And let me go to our last speaker, definitely not the least Christian has brought us Doctor Shiblet Sabani, who will tell us about the shuttering situation of the health services.
Yeah, thank you very much and good morning.
Good afternoon, colleagues.
I would like first to thank my colleagues Maria, Len and Hong Ji for drawing the full picture of the impact of the war after three years in in Sudan.
Of course, these three years had an impact also on the health sector.
And now we can say that more than 40% of the population need urgent health needs.
We are talking about 21 million people who need urgent health needs, health support.
And so we all agree that fighting decreased in many parts of the country, but at the same time, it's it's anticified in Darfur's and Cordovans where we have now many hotspots, including in the West Darfur, in the, in the West Cordovan in the North Darfur and and so on.
I've been on mission to Harton.
I just came back a few days ago, exactly last Sunday I came back to Port Sudan and I think this is my 5th or 6th mission to Sudan since 2025.
We have to acknowledge that there is an improvement, improvement of the living conditions, security, safety and so on and so forth.
And they think people, they are all full of hope to rebuild their lives.
But the problem is that there are things that are beyond their control and that they cannot improved by themselves.
I'm talking about the systems, including the health system.
Of course, WASH, education, food and so on and so forth.
But talking about the health system, the needs are huge, they are everywhere.
I've been there a few months ago and they told me that during the war, out of 56 hospitals, only four were functioning.
So you can imagine the workload on this, on this hospitals in terms of patients and in terms of gaps in human resources, supplies, fuel, water and so on and and so forth.
When I visited a few of the hospitals that are that resumed their work, even with all the support that we are giving them as health cluster, as WHO and and the partners, the needs are still very big and we cannot respond to own needs, needs not only for the population who is currently in Khartoum or went back to Khartoum, but also the population who is moving back or willing to go back to their states of origin.
I'm talking about people who are in the other states as Idps, but also the refugees that were mentioned by my colleague from HCR, those who are in the Gulf countries now with what's happening in the Middle East, they want to come back to Sudan, but also those who are in Europe, in US, in Canada, they want to come back.
But the services are not there for for their families.
When it comes to international humanitarian law, colleagues were talking about that and we are so also that the situation in in Lebanon is not better than than Sudan, but in the in the hot spots where the services are very scarce, the attacks on healthcare make them even more rare and very hard to reach for the for the population.
Health workers have been killed, injured, detained, tortured patients and their family.
They risk that whenever they go to seek services.
And also I've met with last last Friday, I met with the Minister of Finance who told me that most of the local factories for medical supplies were destroyed.
They used to be in Al Jazeera and Harton.
Now the local production is almost 0, so they are relying on importing the supplies.
And with all the logistics challenges that we are facing in the world now, it constitutes a big, big burden on on the facilities.
Talking about the attacks on healthcare during the three years of war, WHO has verified and documented more than two 200 attacks that led to more than 2000 deaths.
Exactly 2052, just this year, the first quarter of 26, we've recorded and verified 16 attacks on healthcare leading to almost 200 deaths and more than 300 injuries.
We've noticed since last year that this attacks are increasing in terms of frequency, in terms of impact.
And we can say that they are deliberate and they are not a collateral damage of of the war.
And we all remember what happened in Alfascia last year, unfortunately, with more than 400 people who were killed, including patients, their families and health workers.
Also, what happened in in Dahin recently?
Recently a woman in labour got killed in the ambulance while she was transported to to the hospital to get services.
Another nurse got killed while she she was helping in performing AC section.
Many children were were killed as well.
I will not elaborate more on this due to the time constraints.
But in this in this situation, the attacks on healthcare don't have only the direct impact on the, on the population, but also the indirect impact preventing them from getting the the the right health services.
At the in hospital that was attacked recently was the only operating hospital providing such services in the whole area.
And now they have to travel for more than 200 kilometres to get the same services.
So this is also the indirect impact on, on, on the on the patients.
In this context also we have a lot of needs, severe acute malnutrition.
Doctor frozen, I will conclude in 30 seconds.
But just to say that we have many outbreaks including malaria, dengue and so on, but cholera is our big fear.
The rainy season is coming very soon and we need to be prepared for that.
So we, we call the international community to support us in terms of advocacy for respect of international humanitarian law.
We need access to all our to reach areas to be able to deliver.
And 3rd, we need funding and the health sector is funded at 8% in April 2026.
You were frozen for a moment, but we heard the end and we heard the figures, so that that should be fine.
And before opening the floor to question, I just would like to call the attention of our correspondents to a a campaign, social media campaign that was launched by OCHA on the occasion of this terrible anniversary.
The hashtag is hashtag three years too long and you can find it on our social media and Archers various platforms.
So I'll now go to the journalist for questions for someone in the room, if there is any.
Just a question on Sudan, in terms of the ability to respond in terms of through medical aid, food aid, etcetera, what impact are you seeing now a month in from the war in the Middle East on the supply chains?
As much detail as possible would be really, really helpful to understand if that has impacted some of your agency's work.
Yeah, that I could ask Mr Doctor Shibre, but also Mr.
Young I think made the reference to that.
So whoever wants to marry a Len, whoever wants to take the floor.
Doctor Shibrez, you have open your mic.
This is a very relevant and valid question.
You know, with the war, I mean most of the agencies like WHO have our main hub logistics have been in UAE and with what's happening now, it's really impacting our capacity to respond in terms of time, in terms of cost as well.
Fortunately, we had some supplies in the country to be able to respond immediately.
But the problem is that now we are using our stocks and we need additional supplies to come in.
We just had yesterday a meeting for the whole, all the countries who are involved in the, in the, in let's say in the response to humanitarian crisis in the region.
And it's obvious that all countries including Lebanon, including Jordan, including the all the other countries they need supplies.
So it's putting a competition on our hub.
Second, with the logistics, roads are are are not safe.
And 3rd, the cost will be will be very high.
I see Mary Ellen has put their hand up.
Yes, just just a few numbers and we want here, we don't have the WFP colleagues here, but it's really they are of course leading the logistics cluster and they briefed us yesterday.
So we're already seeing the price of of doing business of basically bringing stuff in as an emergency response.
You know, shelter kits, etcetera has doubled since the start of the crisis already.
And what the double EFP were telling us is some of the, some of the options they're looking at would be to reroute supplies through the Cape of, of Good Hope.
But that would add 25 days to, to the, to the journey.
And this is fuel mostly and a 50% increase on cost, just on transportation, not even talking about the cost of, of food.
The country last week was reported to have 40-5 days left of, of fuel.
There's another dimension that I think is important.
There are about 1.9 million Sudanese and they're not refugees, actually migrants that are living in Gulf countries.
And unfortunately, with what's happening, and they play a huge role actually in the economy of the country, what is left of the economy of the country, but also in supporting the humanitarian response of local responders, which is very, very important in Sudan.
And these people, first of all, are no longer able to send remittances, but many of them may to come back.
And that's actually we feel that could be a further destabilising impact on, on Sudan.
And of course there's a whole issue on fertilisers, etcetera.
But I think my FAO colleague is much better placed than I am to, to, to talk about that.
And I see Hong Jazzy, you've put your hand up, give you the floor.
Just further to our colleague Shibu and Marhelan, yes, it is true that fertiliser will be affected both the supply and the price as the coming season, the planting season is coming very soon.
So the subsidiary will be a fact for this main planting season.
But so far we don't have the figure.
But you know now normally now we should starting the preparation for the land they need the fertiliser and the the electricity and so on so forth.
So one of the mitigation measure would be used a solar system in several of our projects.
Now we are talking with the donors to to increase the solar component in our project to address this challenging over.
Thank you very much to the three of you.
Other questions in the room don't see any hand up or on the platform.
I don't see any further questions.
So thank you very, very much to the three speakers and to Eugene and Christian, you can stay on the podium.
I know I still have a question from Gabriella, but just a couple of announcements then.
Gabriella, I'll hear your question before closing.
Just again thanks to our speakers and and just as a as an information, we will speak again about Sudan on the 14th next week at the next briefing.
I have been asked by the colleagues of the Human Rights Council to inform you that the UN Permanent Forum on People of African descent.
Will convene its fifth session in Geneva next week, marking its first five years and focusing on expanding rights and advancing justice under the Second International Decade for People of African Descent.
Hundreds of participants, including human rights activists of African descent from around the world, are expected to take part in this four day session to be held from 14 to 17 April in the Assembly Hall of the Palace.
And then just an information about the committees, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is going to open next Monday at 10 AM, it's 117th session that will be at Palli Wilson until the 1st of May.
The countries to be reported reviewed are Serbia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Uzbekistan, working at Faso and Cuba.
And the Committee Against Torture will open next Monday at 10 AM also it's 84th session, which will also last until the 1st of May at Palli Wilson.
And the countries to be reviewed under this session will be Tajikistan, Italy, Gabon and Pakistan.
And these are the announcements I had for you.
So let's hear Gabriella's question and then we'll close.
So my question is on Mexico, maybe I don't know if you are aware, but the Committee of Enforced Disappearances said that in Mexico they are committing crimes against humanity in, in, in, in, in regarding enforced disappearances.
So that is extremely strong.
Is the first time that the committee says something like that about Mexico on enforced disappearances, not disappearances.
OK, then the High Commissioner for Human Rights is going to Mexico next week.
So my question is why there is nobody from the Office of the Human Rights there or listening to ask a question on such an important issue.
Because when they have something to say and a story, they come and we write.
But when we have questions like this, they don't come.
But if they answer 1 by 1, it's not the same that being on the record there.
Alessandra And you know, that's that's the only thing that I wanted to say.
Thank you very much, Gabriella.
And I'm sure that our colleagues can answer any questions both on the results of the work of the committee and on the trouble of the High Commissioner to you.
And I report your comment to, to them, but they, I, I just would like to say they are very, very often here today.
They are not, and they're not listening, but it's, they're not available for listening, but they are here all the time.
I, I, I, I think, I know we've had this discussion before and really colleagues, they are strained.
They are not that numerous.
And the situation is very hard in many, many countries.
And they do what they can and they, they really come very often.
But I'll bring them your your note.
So if there are no other questions, I don't have any other announcements.
So thank you very, very much.
I wish you a very good weekend and I'll see you on Tuesday.
