UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing 12 January 2021

52:14

MP4

443.8 MB

12-01-2021

Press Conferences | OHCHR , UNOG , UNITED NATIONS , WFP , IOM

UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing 12 January 2021

ENG

Rhéal LeBlanc, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), chaired the hybrid briefing, attended by the spokespersons and representatives of the International Labour Organization, the World Food Programme, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Unitaid.

Food security situation in southern Madagascar

Lola Castro, Regional director for Southern Africa and Indian Ocean States for the World Food Programme (WFP), said three consecutive years of drought coupled with a sharp recession triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic had left a third of the population in Southern Madagascar struggling to put food on the table. There was no let up on the worsening drought conditions in 2021 and a poor harvest in 2020 meant communities had few resources to fall back on and many had had to leave their homes in search of food and work. Some 1.35 million people were projected to be food insecure — 35 per cent of the region’s population. The figure was nearly double what it was in the same period last year. While recognizing that donors had been supportive over the years and thanking them for their support, WFP urgently needed US$35 million to fund lifesaving food and cash distributions and malnutrition treatment programmes. This also included emergency school feeding for 150,000 children.

Responding to questions, Ms. Castro said WFP had worked with communities to increase their resilience in the face of climatic shocks. It did so by building irrigation channels, for instance, and considering the key role played by women in ensuring families’ food security. This was a complex endeavour which required long-term financial engagements.

Peru: Police used unnecessary and excessive force during protests

Elizabeth Throssell, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said police in Peru had used unnecessary and excessive force when faced with mass protests between 9 and 15 November 2020, according to a UN Human Rights Office report published today that stressed the failure of security forces to comply with international human rights norms and standards. The report was the product of a Human Rights Office mission to Lima from 17 to 22 November, at the invitation of the Peruvian Government, to gather information regarding alleged human rights violations committed during protests challenging the legitimacy of the interim president, as well as expressing other causes of social discontent. Among its main findings, the report noted that police officers did not distinguish between peaceful protesters, who were in the majority, and a minority who were alleged to have acted violently.

A full press release is available here. The full report can be accessed here.

Ms. Throssell, in response to journalists’ questions, said there had been cooperation on the part of the Government. It was critical that investigations thoroughly address not only what happened in November, but more broadly allegations that police had not abided by international standards.

Launch of world’s first long-acting medicines centre at University of Liverpool

Hervé Verhoosel, for Unitaid, said Unitaid was launching today a new research Centre at the University of Liverpool. Established as part of a US$40 million international research consortium, primarily funded by Unitaid, the University of Liverpool’s Centre of Excellence for Long-acting Therapeutics (CELT) would be the first of its kind in the world. By repurposing existing medicines into slow-release formulations, where drug effectiveness can be sustained over several months, “long-acting” technology had already been successfully implemented in the fields of contraception and schizophrenia. It now had the potential to improve the outcomes for treatment and prevention of deadly diseases such as HIV, malaria, Hepatitis C and tuberculosis, which particularly impacted low- and middle-income countries.

Geneva announcements

Rhéal LeBlanc, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), said the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF)’s Advisory Committee would be meeting this week at the Palais des Nations, from 13 to 16 January 2021. The Committee was recently established to discuss outstanding issues related to the selection mechanism of a unified executive and to put forward concrete and practical recommendations upon which the LDFP plenary shall decide. The national elections date of December 24, 2021 remained a sine qua non for the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), a guiding principle and unrenounceable goal. In this sense, the Committee’s mandate would be strictly time-bound. The 18 members of the Committee represented a broad geographical and political diversity and included the participation of women, youth and cultural components. The first meeting on Wednesday morning would begin at 9.30 a.m., with opening remarks by Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General Stephanie Williams.

The first public meeting of the 2021 session of the Conference on Disarmament would take place next Tuesday, 19 January, at 10 a.m. and would be a virtual meeting. The first part of the session would take place until the 26 March and begin under the presidency of Belgium. The other presidencies for this year session would be : Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada and Chile. The second part of the session would take place from 10 May to 25 June and the third part from 26 July to 10 September.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child would open next Monday, 18 January, at noon, its 85^th session — a virtual one during which, given the current COVID-19 situation, it would not review any country report.

On behalf of the Human Rights Council (HRC), Mr. LeBlanc added that the HRC would hold an organizational meeting today at 3 p.m. to select the country rapporteurs for its Universal Periodic Reviews taking place in 2021. The meeting would also continue the discussion on the election of the Council President (from the Asia-Pacific Group) and the 4th Vice-President (from the Eastern European Group) for 2021

Responding to a question on the Secretary-General’s intentions regarding a second mandate, Mr. LeBlanc said the Secretary-General had conveyed to the President of the General Assembly and the President of the Security Council that he was available to serve a second term as Secretary-General of the United Nations, if that were the will of the Member States.

Rosalind Yarde, for the International Labour Organization (ILO), said that, on 21 January, the ILO would be kicking off the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour following on from a resolution that was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2019. Almost 100 million children had been removed from child labour over the last two decades, bringing numbers down from 246 million in 2000 to 152 million in 2016. Nevertheless, progress across regions was imbalanced and challenges remained with younger age groups. This was being aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ms. Yarde added that the ILO would launch a report on homeworking tomorrow. The report analyzed the situation of homeworkers worldwide — whose numbers had increased significantly since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It covered the hundreds of millions of workers worldwide who worked from home in a range of jobs covering industrial home working, teleworking, and digital platform working

Teleprompter

All right.

Good morning, everyone.

Bonjour Atusi atut for this hybrid press briefing of Tuesday, the 12th of January.

Before we get right into the agenda, I just have a few announcements you will have seen.

We've just issued a note to correspondence just a few minutes ago to give you a bit of information about the Libyan Political Dialogue Forums Advisory Committee that we'll be meeting here at the Paladinacion starting tomorrow, the 13th of January and their their their meeting is expected to go on until the 16th.

As you know, the the Committee was recently established to discuss outstanding issues related to the selection mechanism of a unified executive and to put forward concrete and practical recommendations upon which the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum plenary shall decide.

There will be national elections on the 24th of December of this year.

This is a a cynic when on for the United Nations support mission in Libya, A guiding principle and an unrenounceable goal.

So in this sense, the Committee's mandate will be strictly time bound.

So 18 members of the committee will be coming to Geneva and their first meeting is expected to start tomorrow morning around 9:30.

The acting Special Representative of the Secretary General, Stephanie Williams will be here.

She will provide delivery opening remarks which we expect to be able to share with you.

So that's one event happening this week.

You will also have yeah, Jamie, why don't you good morning Real.

When you say expect to be able to share with us the comments from Stephanie Williams, can we not be present for her opening remarks?

Look, I think we're still looking at possible options.

But for the moment at least you will have her, her remarks as as they're available.

If as I said in the note, I mean Jean El Alam, Jean El Alam is still on his way to Geneva and he's expected to arrive sometime today with the rest of the team.

And you know, they make they make more decisions.

If there's any additional media activity that we can of course make available to you, we will inform you as soon as possible.

In terms you were asking for filming, As the note says, there will be an opportunity to film the arrivals.

It's going to be a pool set up by UNTV because there are a number of limited spots at the door where the arrivals will take place.

But I guess our colleague Jim Serini will be in contact with everyone to to set that up.

[Other language spoken]

There's also a question from Catherine Fiancon.

[Other language spoken]

I don't hear you, but I see your lips moving.

[Other language spoken]

Regarding the meeting tomorrow, could you please kindly remind the team of, of Mr Jean El Alam to send us the, the, the different speeches under embargo or as soon as possible?

Because we see that Mrs.

Williams is reading when she delivers.

So why not sharing the documents under embargo And we will check upon delivery, of course, what she says, but it would really help us and, and make our, our work easier.

[Other language spoken]

No, I understand that getting embargoed remarks and speeches can be very helpful for you.

We'll discuss it with the Winds Mill team and see if that's at all possible.

[Other language spoken]

You've used words like for tomorrow, for I guess.

And the last time there was a big announcement from Mrs.

Williams, the, the journalist who actually came to the press briefing missed the event because it was taking place a few doors down and they and we, they weren't able to be informed.

So I'm wondering if by tomorrow we can have something stronger than I guess look, the, the note that I've supplied is, is what we have at the moment.

There's a meeting tomorrow starting tomorrow.

We are still working with their communications team to see if there's any more that we can provide to to the press.

Of course, that's that's always our goal to try to facilitate information for you as much as possible.

So we'll we'll see what else.

Stay tuned.

Maybe we can give you more by the end of the day or first thing tomorrow morning.

[Other language spoken]

Well, it's a question on the SG.

Apparently, the SG intends to serve a second term in office.

Can you lay out the the schedule?

And do we know when the SG will officially inform the President of the General Assembly of his intention?

[Other language spoken]

Let me just find this was asked yesterday at the briefing and the spokesman.

[Other language spoken]

What Stefan Judaic said yesterday at the briefing in New York was that the Secretary General had indeed informed the President of the General Assembly and then the Security Council of his availability to serve a second mandate.

I think those are the words that they used.

Of course, if I can just find exactly.

Yes, well, that's the gist of it.

I can't find the exact wording, but he, he has informed these two bodies that he is willing to serve a second mandate.

If this is, if the member states wish it, then the process of course, is one that is handled by the General Assembly.

So in terms of the next steps, I, I, I, I'm, I'm not sure what those are, but we'll see if there's any more information available.

Normally the spokesperson of the General Assembly president has a daily briefing as well.

He may have addressed this, this issue yesterday, but I don't have his transcript, so I can't, I don't know if he said anything in particular, but that's the gist of it.

[Other language spoken]

And in terms of, oops, other announcements, just to remind you that the Human Rights Council will be holding an organisational meeting to today at 3:00 PM to select the country rapporteurs for its universal periodic reviews that are taking place this year.

And of course, the meeting will also continue the discussion on the election of the Council President and the 4th Vice President.

This is from a note that Rolando Gomez shared with you yesterday.

So if there are no other questions, we'll get right into the agenda.

We have Rosalyn Yard from ILO joining us for a couple of quick announcements.

Roslyn, are you there?

[Other language spoken]

Hello, good morning, Good morning, everyone.

Next week, on the 21st of January, the ILO will be launching the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour and this follows on from a resolution that was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2019.

Almost 100 million children have been removed from child labour over the last two decades, bringing numbers down from 246 million in the year 2000 to 152 million in 2016.

Nevertheless, progress across regions is imbalanced and challenges remain with younger age groups.

In addition, the incidence of child labour is being aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic because for many children and their families, and due to family illness and potential loss of household income, we're seeing or we're expecting a surge in child labour as children find themselves having to contribute to family income.

The purpose of the International Year is to highlight the issue of child labour and to encourage governments to take concrete actions towards its elimination.

The International Year will start with a virtual event that will take place on the 21st of January that will include a range of stakeholders including the Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satiati.

Throughout the year there'll be a number of events and initiatives and we're also expecting to publish new global estimates on child labour later in the year, but I'll keep you updated on this as soon as this is confirmed.

We'll be issuing a press release on the International Year on Thursday which will give further information.

And if you're interested in doing interviews on the International Year or on childlabourgenerallypleasecontactmeornewsroom@ilo.org.

[Other language spoken]

I think there's a question from Catherine Fianca.

Catherine.

[Other language spoken]

Did I, I hear well, what is it 21st of January that 21st?

That's right.

The, the, the launch of the international year will be on the 21st of January.

And so there will be a virtual event bringing together these stakeholders where they'll be discussing various issues and actions that need to be taken on child labour.

[Other language spoken]

Could you already maybe share some documents with us about child labour in the world, the situation, global facts that we could use?

[Other language spoken]

The last estimates were were in 2016.

And as I say, we're expecting updated X updated estimates this year.

But sure, yes, I can share the latest information that we do have on child labour.

And as I said, we do have experts available for interview as and when you would like to do that.

OK, I'll contact you then.

[Other language spoken]

OK, I do have a second announcement, right?

You have a report on homeworking.

That's right.

Yes, I mentioned this on Friday, but I also wanted to remind you about the new ILO report on homeworking that will be launching tomorrow and the report analysis, the situation of homeworkers worldwide whose numbers have increased significantly since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

And this report covers the hundreds of millions of of of workers who work from home in a range of jobs covering industrial, home working, teleworking and digital platform working.

And this report provides the latest latest global estimates of home working numbers, including by gender.

Gives a breakdown of sectors, working conditions and the risks they face working from home.

It compares the wages of home workers and non home workers, examines home worker regulations and makes a series of recommendations.

And the report also assesses the likely impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the home working sector.

Now, you should have already received embargoed copies of the report, executive summary and press release.

And if you haven't received them, please let me know and I'll forward them to you.

And you can also contact me on newsroom@ilo.org for interview requests.

And just as a reminder that all associated materials will be under strict embargo until the 13th of January at at 12:00 GMT, which is 1300 Geneva time.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

Roslyn, are there any questions on this?

I don't see any, Roslyn.

So thanks very much and all the best with your upcoming reports and events.

We turn now to Thompson, Thompson Firi from the World Food Programme, who is joining us this morning with a guest, Lola Castro, the Regional Director for Southern Africa and Indian Ocean States.

I'll let Thompson introduce the topic and we'll bring Ms Castro on.

[Other language spoken]

Real good morning everybody.

I hope I find you well today.

Earlier last year, some of you may relate last year rather some of you may remember that we've driven the situation in Madagascar where where we we were warning about the humanitarian situation in that country.

The situation continues to deteriorate and and today WFP's Director for Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean States, Miss Lola Castro, joins us from South Africa to talk more about that.

And I would also want to add quickly that earlier, earlier today we circulated a news release on the same in English and French.

I do hope you've all received it after after he introductory remarks, Miss Castro can also tag questions in English.

In addition to English, she can tag questions in French, Spanish and Portuguese.

[Other language spoken]

Good morning, Miss Castro, welcome to the briefing.

[Other language spoken]

So please over to you.

Good morning and thank you very much for inviting us.

Basically, as Thompson has said, the situation in South of Madagascar has greatly deteriorated over the last month.

We have seen the doubling of the the numbers of foot insecure between the data we had in July 2020 and November 2020.

We moved from 700,000 people foot insecure in the Grand South or Grand St of Madagascar to 1.3 million people.

As you can see the situation is not normal.

This is not the regular grand suit problem.

This year the problems in the grand suit of Madagascar are not only the drought, five years of recurring drought with only one year of good or semi good harvest.

It is also the COVID-19 which has come in and created famine like conditions in the in the area.

In September 2020, WFP was called to action to go to areas where we have never been providing food assistance because they were the bread basket of the ground South.

And why we were called because people were dying and there was such numbers of severe acute malnutrition among children that interventions need to be scaled up.

Basically, what has been different, what is different now to other years in the grand suit of Madagascar?

First, the issue of the several years of drought, as I have said before, five years of drought without the real proper harbours.

The second one, 2019-2020, the population of the South relies on casual labour and goes to urban areas or to or to the fields to really have additional funds that will allow them to survive during the lean season that is normally between November and April every year.

But this year there was no labour.

They move around without finding any labour anywhere, both in urban areas or in on the rural areas due to the drought and due to the COVID lockdown.

The third one, the rains that normally come November, December, we only had one day of rain in December in the whole region and the thunderstorms have been blasting the region, have been blasting and destroying and burying the crops that they were there.

So basically what is the result?

The result is a humming like condition.

1.3 million people, food insecure, 135,000 children severely or acutely malnourished, moderate, acutely malnourished.

[Other language spoken]

The children have abandoned schools.

75% of the children in this area are either begging or foraging for food.

The people are eating whatever they can find between cactus mixed with mud, roots, whatever they can find, leaves, seeds, whatever is available.

And and the situation really is more dramatic because this year also the funds have not arrived enough on time to really be able to procure food or to provide cash transfers to these people.

So basically what we are saying here is that the situation we are facing in South and Madagascar is not normal, it's very different to any normal year of crisis and that we really need to act immediately.

300,000 people need at the moment safe lighting support and how we can help.

We are trying WFP and the other union agencies.

We are working together with government, civil society and communities to increase their capacity.

We have been working over the years to increase their resilience to these climatic shocks that affect the South permanently, especially working with women, women groups, We have been working with them to change, diversify the food they produce, try to produce different type of nutrients for their children, etcetera.

But we haven't reached everybody and it's not enough.

And This is why we're finding ourselves in this situation.

We're trying Well Food Programme to reach 600,000 people in January, but we should be in fact reaching 900,000.

We managed to reach 520,000 in December, but we are very far from reaching everybody who is in need.

So really the the point and very rapidly to conclude at this moment we Well Food Programme, we are looking for $35 million of urgent support to be able to reach not only the food insecure but all these pregnant women.

Under five children and school children to be able to maintain a sort of normal livelihood, he'll somehow harvest come out.

However, we know the harvest will not be very good this year neither and we need more durable and sustainable solutions.

So let me leave it there at the moment and if there is any questions, I will take them.

That's it.

Thank you very much, Miss Castro, for your insight into this worrying situation in Madagascar.

[Other language spoken]

Are there any questions in the room?

[Other language spoken]

Then I see that we have Nick Cummings, Bruce from the New York Times wishing to ask you a question.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you for the briefing.

Do you have any estimate of how many people have died as a result that you can attribute to to hunger?

And secondly, clearly we're talking about adverse agricultural conditions for many years, but how do you think the COVID lockdown has contributed to this crisis?

Yeah, thank you very much, Nick, for the question.

Should I go ahead with the reply, please?

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

No, thank you very much, Nick for the question.

Look, the numbers are always very difficult to gather.

But initially in September 2020 when we were called in the numbers that we are quoted by the government on people who have died related to hunger or associated process of under nutrition, around 20 people.

But at this moment, it's very difficult to calculate and differentiate what is what.

So if you allow me, we can try to inquire a bit more, but we don't have a specific data on that.

What we know is that the civility of the situation has created a, a number of a, a huge amount of children who are severely achieved malnourished.

And we are estimating them together with UNICEF and other colleagues in 135,000.

And that's very, very large number.

And the total population which is food insecure is 1.3 million, which is 35% of the population of the Grand South.

So that's to reply to your first question and then to your second question on the on the issue what what can be done or what has been done.

Look, over the years we have been working with the communities and with other actors to really look at how these climatic shocks can be, can be reduced by making the communities more resilient.

And making the communities more resilient in an area that is pretty arid with droughts, recurring droughts and winds and other climatic issues is quite complex and it takes years and, and, and it needs additional long term investment if you want.

But what have we done?

Let me tell you, for example, irrigation channels with the communities to reach the water, to reach the fields in the areas which are more productive.

We're working also to build rural tracts and, and, and ensure that the communities can, whatever they produce, they can reach the markets because the communication is very poor.

But what COVID-19 has made a more complicated is that the population couldn't really go out and move to rural areas to do their normal casual labour that they will do because there was almost no movement of population for a long while.

And as well as in the urban areas as the markets were almost not functioning in this grand South and there was very low demand of labour.

These people who get a little meagre income during those months to really survive over the link in periods didn't get it this year.

So this is what COVID-19 has done to these people and, and why the situation deteriorated so fast without really being able to be picked up early enough to avoid those initial deaths.

Once the the, the situation was picked up immediately, there was a response.

And in September, we already responded to 100,000 people that were in very, very acute food insecurity to stop at least to try to reduce and stop mortality.

And we'll leave it there.

[Other language spoken]

We have now a question from Peter Kenny.

Thank you for taking my question.

Good morning, Miss Castro.

I work for South African Media.

I just was wondering how many consecutive years of drought has there been in Madagascar?

And has there been similar consecutive patterns of drought in the in the recent parts?

[Other language spoken]

Yeah, in fact, thank you, Peter, as you are calling from Southern Africa, you know very well in Southern Africa the climate change effects are more than any other regions in the world and we have seen the last five years only one would harvest.

The drought has been recurring in the whole region in fact and also is being coupled by freaking storms like the cyclones we saw in 20/20/19 that affected Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Komoros, Idai and Kenneth which affected mostly Komoros and and Mozambique.

So the situation of the patterns of climate change are changing so rapidly and that really the adaptation of communities to this is essential and critical at this moment.

And it's what we are working together.

Well, food programme, the the governments, the communities with the SADEK and other kind other civil society actors.

[Other language spoken]

We have a question from I see Peter has raised his hand again.

[Other language spoken]

So let's take Peter 1st and then we'll go to Lucky.

[Other language spoken]

Could you actually say how many consecutive years of drought there's been there in this in this 5 five years?

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

We found the responsibility, for example a case.

[Other language spoken]

Lafarin de Manioque say in the in the solution.

The the technologist elementary de la in song transmit command the populace so, but question the government the the President Rajolina on a on a on contact the President Rajolina Ila elected when they say they work from our own peer.

They are both of these are the Cliff font de la precedence.

[Other language spoken]

The security element from the resource socio productive or the resource socio and general.

The benefits, the resource.

That's it.

Are there any final questions for Miss Castro?

I don't see any.

So again, Lola Castro, WFP Regional Director for Southern Africa and Indian Ocean States, thank you very much for being with us this morning, and we hope to have you again in the future.

Thank you very much, Thompson.

So moving along, Elizabeth Russell from the Office of the **** Commissioner for Human Rights is here to tell you about Peru.

Yes, good morning everyone.

We have earlier this morning issued a press release and report into events surrounding mass protests in Peru last November.

The report is the product of a human rights office mission to Lima from the 17th to the 22nd of November at the invitation of the Peruvian government to gather information regarding alleged human rights violations committed during protests, challenging the legitimacy of the interim president, as well as expressing other causes of social discontent.

So if I may, I'll just point out some of the findings in the report.

So, among the main findings, police in Peru used unnecessary and excessive force when faced with mass protests between the 9th and 15th of November last year, and the report stresses that the security forces failed to comply with international human rights norms and standards.

The report notes that police officers did not distinguish between peaceful protesters who were in the majority and a minority who were alleged to have behaved violently.

Referencing available audio and video recordings, interviews with victims and witnesses, as well as medical records, the report says that police fired pellets from 12 gauge shotguns and tear gas canisters directly at people's heads and upper bodies indiscriminately and from close range.

2 protesters were killed by shotgun pellets fired at their torso, and more than 200 people, including passersby, were injured.

The **** Commissioner has stressed that international law is clear that people have the right to peaceful assembly and gatherings can only be dispersed in exceptional cases.

Lethal force should only be used against specific individuals to address an imminent ****** of death or serious injury.

With regard to less lethal weapons, these must be employed subject to strict requirements of necessity and proportionality in situations where less harmful measures are clearly ineffective to address the ******.

The **** Commissioner underlines that all all allegations of human rights violations should be promptly, independently and thoroughly investigated, noting that some preliminary investigations had begun.

She also stressed how important it was for the government to publicly acknowledge that violations had been committed.

Recognition of wrongdoing is the first step towards accountability and avoiding repetition.

The Peruvian government has formed a Commission to follow up on actions in favour of certain victims.

However, it is essential that the police command also recognises that human rights violations were committed.

Among other concerns raised in the report are the fact that victims told the UN human rights office that they did not have access to legal assistance and some said they have been pressured into signing self incriminating statements.

The report also documents restrictions, threats and attacks on journalists and other media workers, as well as human rights defenders covering the protests, indicating that the right to freedom of expression had been undermined.

The **** Commissioner has said that she truly hopes that the authorities, both government and Congress, take the necessary steps to ensure law enforcement agencies conduct themselves according to international human rights norms and standards.

The state must also uphold the right of the victims and their families to justice, truth and reparations, including non recurrence.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Liz.

Any questions in the room?

I don't see any.

So we'll go to Antonio Brotto from FA on the line.

[Other language spoken]

Good morning, Antonio, please go ahead.

So I would like to know if the mission find found some obstacles when, when doing these investigations, how was the cooperation with Peruvian government?

And also if the Peruvian government has already received the the results of this report?

And if so, what's the feedback of of the government to these findings?

[Other language spoken]

Yes, thank you, Antonio.

Well, as I said, this mission was at the invitation of the Peruvian government.

And the mission that was there from the 17th to the 22nd of November was able to talk to a range of victims and witnesses and officials, gather information from a variety of sources.

So you can say see that that there was cooperation from the Peruvian authorities.

They are aware of the report, they have seen the report.

And and what we hope is that the recommendations outlined in in the report will will help the Peruvian government going forward.

We say in the press release that we note that the the Peruvian government has launched some investigations.

It is important that these investigations do get thoroughly to, to the to, to, to the scope of what happened in November, not only from the point of view of what happened in November, but also more broadly with regard to the way that the police may have acted with regard to handling protests, not abiding by international human rights norms and standards.

We are concerned, we echo some of the concerns by relatives of the victims that there have been some limited advances in these investigations.

We are urging the Peruvian government to to strengthen the capacity of the prosecutor's office to carry out prompt investigations and take preventive measures to protect human rights defenders.

What we would say overall is, is that in our report we are really focusing on the central role of victims in the state's response to the crisis and how important it is that there should be accountability for serious human rights violations committed in this context.

[Other language spoken]

Antonio.

I see you still have your hand raised.

You have a follow up question.

[Other language spoken]

I, I wonder if you can elaborate a bit more on when the **** Commissioner says that Peru should take the necessary steps to ensure law enforcement agencies conduct themselves according to international human rights norms.

Is there any examples on what those necessary steps could be?

[Other language spoken]

Well, I think what we would say is that we would urge the the law enforcement agencies to start taking these steps now that in the policing of protests that they, they do abide by international norms and standards.

They do use necessary and proportionate force when when the situation arises.

We have seen after the the November protests that there have been some more protests in Peru.

And I think that underscores the importance of our report of highlighting what happened in November, the way that there was excessive, excessive and unnecessary use of force by the police and the kinds of steps that need to be taken to to make sure that this does not keep happening.

[Other language spoken]

Are there any other questions for Liz?

I don't see any.

So thank you very much Liz Throssell from the Office of the **** Commissioner for Human Rights for being with us this morning.

Moving right along, let's turn to Evie Verhussel who joins us online as well from Unity to speak about the launch of the world's first long acting medicine centre at the University of Liverpool.

[Other language spoken]

Bonjour real le Bonjouratus mercy Bonjour.

Unitet is pleased to announce today the launch of a new research centre at the University of Liverpool, established as part of a $40 million international research consortium primarily funded by Unitet, the University of Liverpool's Centre of Excellence for Long Lasting Therapeutics.

Will be the first of its scan in the world.

It's the first time that such a centre is working only on long acting therapeutics by reusing existing medicine into slow release formulations where drugs effectiveness can be sustained over several months.

Long lasting technology has already been successful and implemented in the field such as protraception or schizophrenia.

It now has the potential to improve the outcomes for treatment and prevention of deadly disease such as HIV, malaria, hepatitis C and tuberculosis which particularly impact low and middle income countries.

Your entrainment course for those conditions have often resulted in poor outcomes in lower source of environment as those living with diseases struggle with regiments that can involve taking many tablets every day and rely on a regular access to healthcare settings.

The mission of this new centre is to broaden knowledge of long acting medicines and disseminate key research with the aim of revolutionising all those devastating disease are treated, particularly in countries where access to Healthcare is challenging.

The work will be conducted out of two states of the art laboratories at the University of Liverpool, where the development of long lasting and long acting formulations for malaria and TB prevention, as well as a single injection cure for hepatitis C is already underway as part of the United funded Longevity Project.

In the case of malaria prevention, for example, the aim is to cover an individual for the entire malaria season with just one injection.

Can you imagine the difference for people in some countries?

Meanwhile, by facilitating collaboration between scientists from the field of pharmacology and materials chemistry, as well as global partners, the Centre will ensure that long lasting and long acting medicines I carefully design with the specific needs of affected communities in mind.

I'll send you those informations and also additional informations already by e-mail.

Thank you very much Elvi for this very interesting news.

Are there any questions for Elvi on this issue?

I don't see any questions at the moment.

Yes, Catherine.

Catherine.

[Other language spoken]

OK, So I just wanted to thank Evie that did send his notes and embargo because it facilitates our work.

Thank you Evie, I have no question for you.

But again, I'm sorry real the members of Akanu are really concerned and highly disappointed by the fact that it is the third time since the beginning of the year that WHO spokespersons are not attending the briefings.

It is the only platform for a Geneva press corps to address professional questions related to our profession.

The blind webinars organised during the weeks don't allow us to ask questions and when we address questions by mail it takes many days before getting an answer.

So we're desperate and we don't understand if it is the new policy of the communication unit not to attend briefings, UN briefings, and not to have build bridges with the Geneva press.

[Other language spoken]

OK, thank you very much, Katherine.

Well noted.

All I can say is that WHO did apologise that they would not be able to be with us this morning.

I understand, you know, you've you've expressed your issues very, very clearly.

They they have been shared with WHOI understand there are discussions with WHO and of course unit stands ready to, to help to facilitate those discussions as best as we can.

We're really hopeful that there will be some dialogue established shortly and that we can find solutions to some of your concerns.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you, Rael.

I would just like to echo my concerns that were expressed by Kathleen and just add, if I might, to make this a little bit more positive if possible.

You know, it's, it's a benefit to all of us as journalists to have the expertise of people like Tarek, Fadella, Margaret, who can come and speak to us directly to elaborate on some things that may have not been cleared up and in the previous day's briefing.

We are obviously very happy that there are twice weekly breath press briefings at WHO, but this is another type of of, of of interaction with the press.

So it's it's, it's got a different type of utility for for all of us.

So I hope that that can be expressed to WHO, you know, it's one thing to say that, you know, maybe in a sort of less a positive note.

I mean, it's one thing to say that they're sorry that they're not coming.

But the fact of the matter is they have not been present very often in recent weeks, I mean, if at all.

And so they can apologise, but they're just not present.

And, and I hope that that would change because like I said, it is very useful to have professionals like Fatella and Tarek and and Margaret here here to interact with us in Geneva.

[Other language spoken]

Good, Thank you, Jamie, I, I'm sure that they will be pleased to know that you, you, you appreciate their expertise.

I'm, I'm sure they, they are very well-intentioned.

And as I said, there are there are ongoing discussions with them to see how we can find some solutions to your concerns if.

The.

Yan, There's a bit of delay with Yan.

[Other language spoken]

Are we having difficulty on muting Yan?

[Other language spoken]

OK, we'll, we'll come back to Yan, Let's move to Peter Kenny.

Yes, thank you, Rael.

I just wanted to echo Jamie's words on behalf of Akis.

And like Akanu, we have written numerous times to The Who about their closed webinars.

And the reason why it is particularly important for them to attend these press briefings, I believe, is for us to be able to ask detailed questions about matters which they might have erased in their webinars, which are just sort of floating affairs that the journalists don't know what topics they're going to go on.

So that is why it's very important.

And I know it's repetition of the fact, but actually we've been shouting into the wind about this for quite some time.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much Peter for your your comments.

Have we been able to connect with Jan?

I don't see that he is there anymore.

Sorry Jan about that technical difficulty.

You can send me your question by e-mail or or WhatsApp if you if you prefer.

OK, I think we've reached the the end of our agenda today.

I just have a couple of additional announcements for you in terms of meetings that are being covered by Eunice.

The first public meeting of the 2020-2021 session of the Conference on Disarmament will be taking place next Tuesday, the 19th of January at 10 AM and it will be a virtual meeting.

The first part of this session will take place until the 26th of March and begins under the Presidency of Belgium and the other presidencies for this year's sessions.

This year's sessions will be Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada and Chile.

The second part of the Conference on Disarmament will take place from the 10th of May to the 25th of June, and the third part from the 26th of July to the 10th of September.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child will open next Monday, the 18th of January, at noon, it's 85th session.

It will also be a virtual 1, during which, given the current situation concerning COVID, it will not review any country report.

And I think that's all I have for you.

Are there any final questions?

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much and have a very good day and we'll see you on Friday.

[Other language spoken]