UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing 19 January 2021

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UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing 19 January 2021

1:20:55

MP4

459.3 MB

19-01-2021

Press Conferences | UNHCR , OCHA , WHO , WFP , UNCTAD , ILO

UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing 19 January 2021

ENG

Universal Periodic Review

Rhéal LeBlanc, speaking on behalf of the Human Rights Council (HRC), said the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review Working Group had begun its 37^th session on 18 January, when it had reviewed the human rights situations in Micronesia and Lebanon. This morning, the Working Group was reviewing the human rights record of Mauritania and this afternoon St Kitts and Nevis.

Refugees in Tigray, Ethiopia

Babar Baloch, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that UNHCR had regained access to two refugee camps in the Tigray and found Eritrean refugees in desperate need of supplies and services two months after a conflict had forced humanitarian workers to withdraw from the region. UNHCR had led the first humanitarian mission to Mai Aini and Adi Harush refugee camps since the start of the conflict in November, after being granted one-time access by the Ethiopian authorities to conduct a needs assessment.

The assessment, concluded the previous week, had found help was urgently needed for the tens of thousands of Eritrean refugees in northern Ethiopia. Refugees were cut off from any supplies and services for more than two months. Wells were not functional without fuel for the pumps – leaving refugees to use water from a nearby creek for washing, cooking and drinking, resulting in diarrhea-like illnesses.

UNHCR was working with the government and partners to re-establish a regular presence at the camps and launch a response based on the information collected. Further north in the Tigray, UNHCR had not had any access to the Shimelba and Hitsats refugee camps since November. UNHCR reiterated the UN-wide call for full and unimpeded access to all refugees in the Tigray region and remained committed to work with the Ethiopian government to seek solutions together.

UNHCR briefing note is here.

Responding to questions, Mr. Baloch said that UNHCR had no information about how refugees and others had been surviving in the areas to which it had no access. Unimpeded access was paramount to the entire Tigray region, including to almost 100,000 Eritrean refugees who had been residing there from before the conflict.

Deteriorating humanitarian situation in northern Mozambique

Tomson Phiri, for the World Food Programme (WFP), stated that the Regional Directors for southern and eastern Africa had recently concluded a joint mission to assess the plight of displaced people and host communities in conflict-affected Cabo Delgado province. The mission had met with internally displaced people victims of attacks, continue facing insecurity and had lost everything. As displacement numbers increased daily, the lack of security, adequate food, water, sanitation, shelter, health, protection and education was exacerbating an already dire situation. What was happening was nothing short of a humanitarian and security disaster.

A virtual press conference would be held the following day, 20 January, at 10 a.m. Central African time. Speakers would include representatives of the FAO, the IOM, the UNFPA, the WFP, the UNHCR, the IFAD, and the RSCA, as well as the Resident Coordinator for Mozambique, informed Mr. Phiri. The link for the press conference is here.

Drought in Madagascar

Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said the United Nations had issued a USD 76 million flash appeal to urgently support one million people in need of food and sanitation in the Grand Sud of Madagascar. The region was experiencing the worst draught in a decade, and people had been driven to the brink of survival. The food security analysis from December showed that 130,000 children could suffer from malnutrition in the coming months.

Mr. Laerke emphasized that Madagascar urgently needed donor support, which would, if fully funded, improve food security for 1.1 million people; provide access to water for 420,000 of the most vulnerable; give nutritional support to 300,000 children under age 5; and ensure essential health care services for 230,000 people.

In a response to a question, Mr. Laerke said the usual coping mechanisms during lean seasons would be to send family members to larger cities to look for work, but with COVID-19, people could not move as much as before, and jobs were less available.

The flash appeal can be accessed here.

Insecurity in Haiti

Marta Hurtado, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said that OHCHR was concerned that persistent insecurity, poverty and structural inequalities in Haiti coupled with increasing political tensions might lead to a pattern of public discontent followed by violent police repression and other human rights violations.

In recent months, kidnappings for ransom, attacks by criminal gangs against perceived rival neighbourhoods and widespread insecurity had increased in a context of almost total impunity. In parallel, political tensions were resurfacing due to disputes over the timing and scope of elections and a referendum on constitutional reform proposed by the Government.

Ms. Hurtado stressed that Haiti should take steps to address the population’s grievances and the root causes that fuelled the protests, including widespread impunity, allegations of corruption, persistent poverty, structural inequalities, limited access to social services, and other difficulties in the enjoyment of economic and social rights by the Haitian people. UN Human Rights Office stood ready to continue supporting State authorities in their fulfilment of human rights international obligations.

OHCHR briefing note can be found here.

COVID-19

Margaret Harris, for the World Health Organization (WHO), responding to numerous journalists’ questions, informed that the WHO had been repeating its message to the countries not to go for “vaccine nationalism”, which did not make sense either economically or in public health terms. Until the pandemic was stopped globally, nobody was completely safe. Vaccine manufacturers ought to submit full data so that they could be properly and fully examined by the WHO; only afterwards could those vaccines be procured for the COVAX facility. Efforts ought to be accelerated to roll out enough doses to the countries which did not have the capacity to purchase vaccines. No vaccines had been rolled out via COVAX thus far.

Individual countries were using their own national or regional regulatory authorities to decide on the approval of various vaccines; it was not mandatory that countries use the WHO regulatory framework, said Ms. Harris. WHO would wish all vaccine manufacturers to provide the needed data in a speedy and comprehensive manner, which would allow the WHO to properly review the vaccine for a possible emergency-use listing.

Ms. Harris also informed that, in brief, COVAX functioned on the principle of wealthier countries providing funds to buy vaccines for poorer countries, which were not able to do so themselves. GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, was in charge of negotiating agreements for vaccines. Ms. Harris explained that three sets of data were looked at when analyzing different vaccines: data on efficacy, data on safety, and data on good manufacturing practice.

Presentations by Dr Mike Ryan and Dr Bruce Aylward to WHO Executive Board: https://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/EB148/EB_14.1_COVID_Update%20_EXD-en.pdf

https://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/EB148/WHO-EB_Accelerating_ACT-A&COVAX-en.pdf

To another question, Ms. Harris responded that the independent panel headed by Helen Clarke and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was separate from the WHO, and that journalists would need to contact the panel’s communication focal point with inquires and requests for a press conference. The report was currently under discussion at the WHO Executive Board.

She stressed that vaccines would help, but not immediately, as the vaccination process would last for a while. All other public health measures needed to continue until then, including testing, distancing, wearing masks, and washing hands. There were many reports of the so-called “long COVID”, and everybody’s priority should really be to avoid getting infected in the first place.

Status of EUL applications to WHO here: https://extranet.who.int/pqweb/sites/default/files/documents/Status_COVID_VAX_14Jan2021.pdf

Geneva announcements

Catherine Huissoud, for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), stated that UNCTAD’s Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi had informed the Secretary-General he would resign from his position with effect from 15 February 2021. The Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD, Isabelle Durant, would be Acting Secretary-General of UNCTAD while the Secretary-General launched a recruitment process to find a successor to Mr. Kituyi. Responding to a question, Ms. Huissoud said that Mr. Kituy had indeed indicated, but not officially announced, his interest to run for the position of the President of Kenya.

Ms. Huissoud also informed that UNCTAD would publish, on 24 January at 7 p.m. Geneva time, new data on global Foreign Direct Investment for 2020. A virtual press conference would be held on 22 January at 2:30 p.m. to present the Global Investment Trends Monitor n°38 with James Zhan, director of the Investment Division.

Rhéal LeBlanc, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), said the first public meeting of the 2021 session of the Conference on Disarmament was taking place this morning, under the presidency of Ambassador Marc Pecsteen of Belgium. The other presidencies for this year session would be Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, and Chile.

Rosalind Yarde, for the International Labour Organization (ILO), informed about a launch on 25 January of the ILO’s ‘7^th Monitor on COVID-19 and the world of work’. The latest Monitor looked at workplace closures, working hours, labour income and employment losses in 2020, comparing the data with the previous year. It also gave labour market projections for 2021, including an assessment of the type of recovery likely to be seen in the coming year. An embargoed virtual press briefing on 25 January at 11 a.m. would feature ILO Director-General Guy Ryder and Sangheon Lee, Director of the ILO’s Employment Policy Department. An embargoed press release would be sent out this week.

Responding to a question, Mr. LeBlanc confirmed that the Syrian Constitutional Small Body would be convening at UN Geneva the following week, 25-29 January, Covid-19 conditions permitting. The UN Special Envoy for Syria would be briefing the Security Council on 20 January at 4 p.m. Geneva time, and his remarks would be distributed shortly thereafter.

Mr. LeBlanc also informed that on 22 January at 5 p.m. Geneva time, there would be a media briefing on background with the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on Climate Action, Selwin Hart, on the upcoming Adaptation Summit (25-26 January) and the World Economic Forum (25-29 January). Those interested to attend should RSVP to Florencia Soto sotonino@un.org by 21 January.

Finally, the Committee on the Rights of the Child had opened the previous day its 85^th session – a virtual one during which, given the current situation concerning COVID, it would not review any country report.

Teleprompter

All right, good morning, everyone.

We have a good agenda before us, so we'll get right into it.

Rolando Gomez from the Human Rights Council could not come this morning, but he's asked me to just inform you of some information he's already shared with you.

But the Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review Working Group began its 37th session, as you know, yesterday when it reviewed the human rights situation of Micronesia and Lebanon.

This morning the working group is reviewing the human rights record of Mauritania, and this afternoon, Saint Kitts and Nevis.

So he urges you to consult the background press release that he issued last week For more information about the session, or to contact him if you have any specific questions.

Just on my side very quickly, as you know, this morning, the first public meeting of the 2021 session on the Conference on Disarmament began at 10 AM this morning under the Presidency of Ambassador Mark Petstein of Belgium.

The other presidencies for this year session will be Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada and Chile.

The meeting is being held in Room 17 here at the Parade de Nacion.

But of course, given the COVID measures, people can.

There is no webcast of the conference, but you can listen to the audio on the live link that I sent to all of you this morning.

[Other language spoken]

And I think you've received the long list of speakers for today's session.

For other announcements, we have Catrin Rissou from the conference on Trade to give you a couple of highlights.

[Other language spoken]

Then update the shift for the direct SO the Global Investment Trans Monitor.

The text Judy is just feasible disposition for Kelly's interview of Bola, Mercia, Toss, Merci, Buku, Katrine, Katrine, Peter, and Kenny.

I see that your hand is raised.

Yes, good morning and good morning, Catherine.

[Other language spoken]

I just wanted to ask you if this resignation of Mr Katie came as a surprise to you and if you can confirm that the reason why he is quitting his post is because he wishes to stand as a presidential candidate in the next Kenyan election, which is only actually scheduled for August 2022.

Yeah, I I don't have any official reason for the resignation of the Turkey tree, but we all saw that he mentioned himself his intention to run for the Kenyan presidency elections.

So no, it's not really a surprise.

It's he said that according to his engagement, he could not go into the the election campaign if he stays as, as a secretary general of Wong Tat.

So it's his decision according to what he wants to do after his mandate at Octagon.

But the the the the official declaration of his candidacy is not made right now so far.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Catherine.

We are going to move on now to Thompson Ferry from the WFP, who also joins us online for a quick announcement.

Good morning, everybody.

Can you hear me well, Ria?

Yes, we hear you, Thompson.

[Other language spoken]

OK, Just an announcement on behalf of my colleagues in Southern Africa.

the United Nations Regional Directors for Southern and Eastern Africa recently concluded a joint mission to assess the plight of displaced people in host communities in Cabo Delgado Province, Mozambique.

Now, the Regional Directors will address the media tomorrow, 20 January 2021, at a virtual conference that is set to start at 1000 hours Central African time.

I am going to for what after, after this announcement, the the media advisory that they have just shared with me.

Amongst the speakers are the representative of EFFAT, FAO, IOMUNHCRWFPUNFPA as well as the Resident Coordinator for Mozambique.

I will share the full the full note of the announcement with you all afterwards.

[Other language spoken]

Peter Tinney has his hand raised.

[Other language spoken]

Yeah, Peter, you hear me now?

I was muted and then unmuted.

Good morning, Thompson.

I'm just wondering, it sounds like the situation in.

[Other language spoken]

Can you give us an update?

On what the?

Situation is there today because if there's going to be this briefing tomorrow, there must be something up.

[Other language spoken]

So what is happening is that they, they were there whilst they were in Kabul Delgado, they met with displaced communities that they, they met with, with, with host communities.

And the what is happening is nothing short of a food security and nutritional crisis.

[Other language spoken]

But I'll kindly ask you to shelve the questions in ambience so that you could ask tomorrow at the briefing.

But the situation has not improved.

It is deteriorating and they have first hand information as well as latest facts and figures to share with you.

All very good.

[Other language spoken]

I think we have a follow up question from Peter.

[Other language spoken]

I mean, I, I, I know you can't say what they're going to say tomorrow, but if the situation is that serious, there must be some sort of information that that's there for today.

[Other language spoken]

Why is the food security situation deteriorating?

Yes, there are limited supplies that are reaching markets.

The cost of food and household items has skyrocketed.

Displacement numbers increase daily.

There is lack of security, adequate food, water, sanitation, shelter, Health Protection issues, children, children's education has been affected.

So by and large, this is a humanitarian disaster.

I do not have the latest but but I know for sure that the reps tomorrow will go at length in in detailing what is there and what they saw with their with their own eyes in trouble.

Delgado the situation is is is continues to worsen in 2021.

Host communities US struggling with continued pressure as people continue to move.

The victims of attacks were were displaced speak of of of very, very strange attacks that are happening often in the middle of the night.

They are living without any possessions, just enough they can get on their backs to jump onto the small boards.

It's really nothing short of a humanitarian catastrophe that is happening in Cabo Delgado.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Thompson.

And I think that's all the questions for you at the moment.

[Other language spoken]

We're going to move to Roselyn Yard from the ILO, who also has an announcement.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, sorry.

[Other language spoken]

On on Monday 25th of January, the ILO will be publishing the 7th edition of our Monitor series of Reports on COVID-19 and the World of Work, which tracks the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on labour markets, workers and businesses worldwide.

The latest Monitor looks at workplace closures, working hour, labour income and employment losses in 2020, comparing the data with the previous year.

It also gives labour market projections for 2021, including an assessment of the type of recovery we're likely to see in the coming year and recommendations for the way ahead.

The report includes data by region, age, gender, income group and sector, as well as some country specific statistics.

[Other language spoken]

An embargoed virtual press briefing on Monday 25th January at 1100 CET and the ILO Director General, Guy Ryder will present the findings along with Sangyon Lee, the Director of the Ilo's Employment Policy Department.

We're aiming to send you the embargoed press releasing report by Friday 22nd January at the latest, and all materials will be under strict embargo until Monday the 25th of January at 1300 CET.

So please contact me or e-mail newsroom@ilo.org to set up interviews either prior to the press conference under embargo or after.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Roslyn.

I see Catherine Fiancon has her hand raised.

Yes, good morning to to all of you and good morning, Rosalyn.

Sorry, I mean, this is a technical issue.

I mean, the studio confuses me with Katherine Wissu of Angkdatz.

So I'm obliged to raise my hand on my mobile because they don't want, I mean, it's impossible to raise a hand on my laptop.

[Other language spoken]

So if, if they could, you know, put the the technical things together that I can raise my hand with that.

And, and sorry that I interrupted you.

No questions for Rosalind.

Because it has been.

Said and, and of course I contact you directly and I had the question.

I'm sorry, real.

I had the question regarding Syria.

I I know that Mister Peterson is going to brief soon the Security Council, so it would be nice that the spokesperson maybe organises a briefing for Geneva Press Corps, because we haven't heard anything for a long time.

[Other language spoken]

OK, thank you, Catherine.

And you're not just a journalist, you are a journalist.

OK, we'll try to sorry for the, the, the the error beforehand, but it was a small blip the on yes, Jennifer unfortunately could not be here this morning.

But what I can tell you is, is the following and you we will be sending out a note to correspondence, I hope very shortly.

But basically, yes, the Syrian constitutional small body will be convening in Geneva next week, between the 25th and the 29th of January, COVID-19 conditions permitting.

The office of the special envoy will be providing more information soon.

Indeed, the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Mr Ger Pierson, will be briefing the Security Council tomorrow, Wednesday at 10 AM, New York, so 4:00 PM Geneva.

I understand that it is an open briefing and the office will distribute his remarks, the transcript of his remarks immediately after that regarding any media activities around the meeting of next week.

Of course, as I said, we will be putting together a note for correspondence, which I hope will include a few additional details regarding this.

So voila, thank you for that.

We are going to move now to Babar Baloch from the refugee agency to give you a little bit more information about the situation in the Tigre.

[Other language spoken]

Keeping the focus on Ethiopia's Tigre Region Unit, CR, the UN Refugee Agency regained access to two out of the four refugee camps in Tigre and found Eritrean refugees in desperate need of supplies and services two months after conflict forced humanitarian workers to withdraw from the region.

UNICER led the first humanitarian mission to My Aini and Adi Hirosh refugee camps since the start of the conflict in November after being granted A1 time access by the Ethiopian authorities to conduct a needs assessment.

The assessment, which concluded last week, found help is urgently needed for the 10s of thousands of Eritrean refugees in northern Ethiopia.

Refugees were cut off from any supplies and services for more than two months.

Wells were not functional without fuel for the pumps, leaving refugees to use water from a nearby Creek for washing, cooking and drinking, resulting in diarrhoea like illnesses.

The only assistance refugees received since the start of the conflict was a one time food distribution conducted by the World Food Programme almost a month ago.

Plans are underway for a second distribution.

Thankfully, teams found that in both Mayani and Adi Harush camps, buildings and structures remain intact, including refugee homes, schools, clinics, with little damage observed.

However, refugees told our staff that while they were not impacted directly from the fighting, they were threatened and harassed by various armed groups.

The refugees told us they continue to have safety concerns, reporting armed gangs roamed the camps at night, stealing and looting.

UNICIA is working with the government and partners to re establish a regular presence at the camps and launch a response.

Based on the information that we collected.

We have called on the government to strengthen security in both these camps.

Further north in Tigray, we have not had any access to the Shemalba and Hitzad's refugee camps since November.

As highlighted in the **** Commissioner's statement last week, we continue to receive a number of reports of significant damage to those camps and indications that many refugees have fled in search of safety and food.

We remain deeply concerned about that.

Some 5000 Criterion refugees have made their way to the town of Shire and are living in dire conditions, many sleeping in open field on the outskirts of the town with no water and no food.

UNITIA reiterates the UN wide call for full and unimpeded access to all refugees in Tigre region and remains committed to work with the Ethiopian government to seek solutions.

Together, we stress again that swift action to restore safe access are needed to save thousands of lives at risk.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much Baba.

Any questions in the in the room?

I see Antonio Berto from FA has a question.

[Other language spoken]

So the this figure 5000 is the is also the number of refugees in these two camps you mentioned or you don't have exact figure of how many people are in these two camps?

In the two camps that we were able to reach, there were more than 50,000 registered refugees before the conflict had started.

But when we did the food distribution, we were able to distribute food nearly to 25,000 refugees.

Remember, the total number of refugees in the Tigray camp in the four Eritrean refugee camps was more than 96,000 before the crisis started.

This is just the number that has moved.

The 5000 is just the number that has moved to the town of Shire.

OK, we have other questions online.

Emma, Emma Thomson Thomason from it's Emma Farge, I think, right?

No, actually it's Emma Thomason.

[Other language spoken]

Sorry.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

Bit more about what levels of malnutrition you've seen.

And there's been some reports that, you know, things are so bad that there's even the possibility of starvation of of some, some of the refugees.

Thanks very much indeed.

There are really, really concerns for overall well-being of refugees, but also not having access to to food as well.

As we mentioned, I mean, at least to this site, we were able to do a food distribution to refugees.

These two camps, there's another one under way.

But beyond that we, we, we, we have no idea in terms of how refugees and and other people have been surviving.

Food has been a main issue with with Market Shot, no access to cash.

I'll see if other colleagues online are able to to shed some more light on this in terms of food and nutrition.

I don't know if Thompson has any additional information on that front, but if you do, just raise your hand.

I'll give you the floor.

We'll move now to Ben Parker from The New Humanitarian.

[Other language spoken]

And you say it was the first mission, but in fact, a joint government and UN mission reported on January the 6th that they had had access to those two camps.

So I'm a bit confused about what you mean by being the 1st humanitarian mission.

But in general, who do you have to ask how many bits of paper, how many ministries and departments do you have to get permission from?

And what is their reason for giving you this once only permission?

[Other language spoken]

In terms of unit CR us going in with other partners kind of having a detailed look, this was the first mission for us.

And this as mentioned was a one time authorization from the federal government.

We hope we can keep sustained presence in in the refugee camps.

We're asking even beyond this to to get immediate access to the other two refugee camps that we haven't been able to establish a presence in with with all the worrying reports.

So in terms of allowing presence, it is the federal, federal authorities and and we keep insisting and for the other two refugee camps, as **** Commissioner Grandi mentioned in his statement as well that even after repeated repeatedly asking for permission, the permission is authorization is not there.

So we hope that we'll be able to establish our presence to support refugees.

These two camps refugees came to us, they were one very relieved to see UNICR and our partners back in the camp, but they also want to see our our presence continuously over there.

So, so this is what we'll try to strive for in in the coming days.

[Other language spoken]

OK, Next we'll go to Lisa Schlein, Voice of America.

[Other language spoken]

How are you all?

First, you say that the government repeatedly refuses to give you to grant you permission to enter the two camps.

[Other language spoken]

I mean, does this raise your level of concern about perhaps some really dreadful, awful things having happened in the camps?

And do you have any information regarding persistent reports that many of or some of the Eritrean refugees are being abducted and taken back to Eritrea where they would be in some considerable danger?

And then just very quickly in the camps that you were able to visit, supplies were sent in for for how long?

[Other language spoken]

I mean, when, when does it become a critical situation again if you and other agencies aren't able to go into these camps?

[Other language spoken]

In terms of our access and our repeated call, this is not from only from us, but it's the the United Nations and other agencies who have stepped forward in terms of asking for unimpeded access to the Tigray region, reaching people who who are in need of humanitarian assistance, including the Eritrean refugees.

Our account before the conflict started was 96,000.

At least we have reached the two camps, but the other two are are are still not accessible.

We keep receiving worrying information.

You have seen our statements in terms of detailing but the horrible unverified reports that we have been receiving.

That's why it's very important for us to gain access to all locations.

We hope that this one time access could lead us to to a continuous presence not only in these two camps, but beyond this to the the other two that we have been raising our concerns about for long now.

[Other language spoken]

We'll go to Peter Kenny.

[Other language spoken]

Actually, I was wondering if I could ask you a question about Mozambique, because there is a situation brewing there and I was wondering what type of activity UNHCR has been dealing with and whether there has been movement of people across borders.

Could you elaborate for us?

[Other language spoken]

I don't have an update, but as you remember, I mean we have been talking about Mozambique as Kaba Delgado region and also those people who are coming out of there where Unit CR is helping them in, in Pemba and other locations.

I think as the directors were there trying to find out first hand what the situation is, all our colleagues going in to bring back the reports, what they have witnessed and seen and also probably they'll be able to highlight the current needs in terms of what has happened.

I can try to ask colleagues if if there's a latest update we can get for you.

Thank you, very good.

Thank you very much Baba for being with us this morning.

I think that's all the questions for you at the moment.

So we'll move along to Mastan Sado from the Office of the **** Commissioner for Human Rights, who is here to tell you about Haiti.

Good morning everyone.

We are concerned that persistent insecurity, poverty and structural inequalities in Haiti, coupled with increasing political tensions, may lead to a pattern of public discontent, followed by violent police repression and other human rights violations.

In recent months, kidnappings from ransom attacks by criminal gangs against pursued rival neighbourhoods and widespread insecurity have increased in a context of almost total impunity.

In parallel, political tensions are resurfacing due to disputes over the timing and the scope of elections and a referendum from constitutional reform proposed by the government.

Calls for mass protests have been growing.

These in turn raises concerns of renewed human rights violations by security forces during the policing of protests as seen during the months long protests in 2018 and 2018, as well as doing demonstrations in October and November of last year.

The human rights violations by Asian law enforcement officials and the human rights abuses by gang members during the social arrest of 2018 two 1019 are documented in a report by the Human Rights Service of the UN Integrated Office in Haiti and the UN Human Rights Office, which was released a few hours ago.

The report shows a pattern of human rights violations and abuses followed by near lack of accountability.

The authorities should immediately take action to avoid repetition of these human rights violations and abuses by ensuring that law enforcement officers abide by international norms and standards regarding the use of force when dealing with protests.

The authority should also ensure that gangs do not interfere with people's right to demonstrate peacefully.

The government should also guarantee accountability for past violations and abuses, ensuring.

Justice, truth and reparations.

Haiti, Haiti should also take the steps to address population's grievances and the root causes that fuel the protest.

There's more details on that prescription order you have received a few minutes ago.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Marta Antonio from FA.

[Other language spoken]

This is having some effect in neighbouring Dominican Republic.

Like is this raising the numbers of migrants to to this other country is fueling tension between the two countries?

[Other language spoken]

No, I don't have any information regarding migration going patient going to the other way around.

Are there any other questions for Marta on this issue?

I don't see any hands.

So, Marta, thank you very much for being with us this morning.

And we'll go to Yen's Lark from Ocha, who's here to tell you about Madagascar.

Thank you, Ryan and good morning everyone.

This is a bit of follow up to the briefing we heard from WFP last week about the the crisis in Madagascar.

the United Nations in Madagascar has just issued a flash appeal for $76,000,000 to urgently support over 1,000,000 people who face huge and potentially life threatening humanitarian needs for food, nutrition or trans sanitation and health assistance.

In Madagascar's town suit, which this appeal focuses on, the agricultural season has been ruined by the worst drought in the last 10 years and it is the third drought in a row.

With the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns.

With the economy also affecting a large part of the country, these compound crises have driven people to the brake of survival.

One in three people in the South are now severely food insecure.

The food security analysis from last month to December also showed the alarming projection.

More than 135,000 children under the age of five suffering from acute malnutrition in the coming months in the concert.

This Clash appeal complements Madagascar's own national response plan and focuses solely on the most urgent life saving and life sustaining needs of communities in the Concert during the peak of the lean season which we are going into now.

It urgently needs donor support.

If funded, it will improve food security for 1,000,000 people, provide access to water for 420 thousand of the most vulnerable, give nutritional support to 300,000 children under the age of 5 and ensure essential health care services for 230,000 people.

The document is online and I'll share the link with the full with the full appeal just after this brief.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

I see we have hands raised by Jamil.

Jamil, this is a question for Yen's.

Hi there.

Sorry.

No, it's actually for WHO?

[Other language spoken]

Can I just ask you to be patient and we'll come back to to you with that good.

Lisa Schlein, Voice of America, yes, good morning.

Yes, nice to see you.

Are people dying in Madagascar?

Do you have any numbers on that?

And I'm wondering whether your appeal includes some money for COVID prevention and treatment for the people.

Perhaps you could talk a bit about how the seriousness of COVID, whether this is really worsening conditions for the people.

[Other language spoken]

Indeed, the, the, the reason why we put this out now urgently is of course to avoid **** numbers of people losing their lives due to this crisis, The third round in a in a row.

So we're trying to be out there urgently right now to save lives which are at risk.

The COVID-19 situation has of course made everything much more difficult.

One of the one of the things that are particularly concerning is, of course, that the normal coping mechanisms for people during the lean season, because this is not the first time that we have food insecurity in Madagascar, is often to send a family member to the larger cities to look for work so that they can send money back home.

The COVID-19, this kind of coping mechanism is no longer available because people cannot move and there are no jobs available.

So besides the direct our health implication of this, these secondary effects that make the take away people's normal, normal ways of dealing with crisis of this sort has also been undermined and hence we are at a point where we need this flash appeal focusing very strictly and very prioritised on life saving support.

Catherine Shonkal, is this a question for you as well?

Yes, for Yens and at the same time WHO regarding Madagascar.

[Other language spoken]

Nice to see you.

As Madagascar is located in a region that has relations with South Africa, and we know that Como, Reunion and other islands around are apparently heavily affected by COVID-19.

Do you have any information about COVID-19 cases in Madagascar?

That's the reason why I say that it's also question addressed to WHO.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Catherine.

I, I think on the epidemiological data, it would be safest for me to refer that to, to WHO.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, indeed.

Margaret Harris from who is with us, as well as Paul Dillon from IOM and Claire Nellis from WMO.

They're listening and available for questions.

Margaret, do you have any insight into the COVID situation in Madagascar for Catherine?

No, not at this stage.

I was just going to look into my epidemia going, going into the EPI information.

But Katherine, if you want to send me an e-mail to remind me, I'll make sure you get that as soon as I've got it.

[Other language spoken]

Very well.

Thank you, Peter.

[Other language spoken]

All right.

[Other language spoken]

Actually, in view of the conversations that we've had earlier about Carbide Delgado Province in Mozambique, I was just wondering if there's any concern for Orcha.

Orcha has any update on what the situation is there at the moment?

[Other language spoken]

It's not something that I have prepared right now.

I, I do understand that there is a, a press conference coming out on, on Mozambique out of South Africa to the best of my recollection, which may deal with this issue.

But otherwise let let me look into into that and I can send you what we have at the moment on Bairam from Anadolu.

Is this question for Yens?

[Other language spoken]

Happy good morning at all.

My question for Margaret, for Margaret.

OK, if you could just be patient, we'll come back to you shortly.

And Catherine, you have your hand raised again.

Is this a follow up question?

Kind of, but it's also Margaret.

[Other language spoken]

OK, I have three hands up, which all seem to be for Margaret.

Are there any final questions for Yens?

I don't see any hands.

So Yens, thanks again for being with us this morning.

Now, Margaret, stay with us.

We have some questions for you.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, hello Margaret, Good to see you back.

Hope it is for good couple.

Actually some questions because obviously it was accumulated for the last couple of weeks as well.

So first of all, why did Mr Tedros change so radically his take on companies and on access to medicines?

Because at the end of last year, one of the last press conferences, he was very upbeat about Kovacs and all of this.

Yesterday we saw someone very different.

What happened, first of all?

Secondly, last press conference on Friday, Mike Ryan said that you have a team on the ground in Manaus.

So what were the conclusions of the this team and what happened?

And finally, can you tell us the panel today by Miss Miss Clark and Sirlev, when will they present their conclusions to the Executive board?

Thank you very much.

Hope to see you on Friday.

[Other language spoken]

And it's great to be back with all of you as well.

Essentially what's going on right now with Kovacs and the the manufacturers and the and the countries we have been, we haven't changed our tune.

We have been saying all along to to not go for vaccine nationalism, even though we understand national leaders feel a sense of wanting to do this for their country because it makes no sense.

It makes no sense economically, it makes no sense in public health terms, because until we have stopped this pandemic all around the world, it won't be over for anybody.

So this was simply Doctor Tedros strengthening the message.

But that message has been there all along and has continued.

What he also said, which was very important is we want the manufacturers so submit their full data, their full dossiers, so we as WHO can do the full examination of that in order to, to issue an emergency use listing.

Because we can't put out the vaccines, you know, they can't be procured for those countries until they've got that emergency use listing.

So there are a lot of elements that needed to be brought right to the fore, and that's what Doctor Ted Ross did yesterday on the team on the MANASA.

I'll have to get back to you.

Yes, there is a team on the ground and they're a PAHO team.

The emergency director from PAHO is one of them.

But I'll have to go to my colleagues in PAHO to get you more detailed information.

So I'll have to get back to you on that one.

On the power, I believe they will be speaking this morning.

They may even be speaking now.

[Other language spoken]

You may well want to listen to that presentation at our Executive Board meeting this morning or perhaps this afternoon.

It's not clear to me from the agenda, but it will happen today, definitely.

[Other language spoken]

We also have some questions from other journalists.

[Other language spoken]

Good morning, Margaret, very good to see you again.

Mr Tetris yesterday said that more than 3039 million doses of vaccine have now been administrated in at least 49 higher income countries.

And then he followed up, just 25 doses have been given, one of lowest income country, not he said not 25,000,000, not 25,000, but only 25.

I'm just wondering which country was given only 25 doses of vaccine and what's what's name of that country and how many doses have been sent to low income countries so far?

So far, do you have any statistic on that?

[Other language spoken]

So currently through, if you're talking through Kovacs, that has not, no, no doses have been issued, but the country he was talking about that had vaccinated and they have vaccinated 25 doses.

[Other language spoken]

Um, so I think that's, uh, and yeah, he said over 2939 million case doses.

In fact, it's increasing too close to 40 million I think now.

And, um, it's very important to understand that, that, yeah, most of that has only happened in a few countries to date.

So the message was that all the things that need to be done to ensure that we have a large amount of doses that can be rolled out to the countries that do not have the resources to purchase them themselves and do not have the resources to vaccinate, that work needs to be accelerated now.

[Other language spoken]

We're going to go to Catherine Fiancon now.

[Other language spoken]

Good to see someone from WHO and I take the opportunity again to ask if we could please have some technical briefings because everybody has tonnes of questions.

I have a couple.

The first one is about COVAX.

You just mentioned to my colleague Behram that the country that had 25 vaccinations is Guinea in Africa.

But if I'm not wrong, Guinea used the Russian vaccine Sputnik 5 and that was an initiative from the government because they didn't want to wait the so-called help, international help that is not arriving.

That is my first question.

And if you could please elaborate a bit on COVAX, how is it supposed to practically work?

Who is supposed to buy what and to send it to which country and when?

My second question is related to something that the DG mentioned previously in one of his statements.

During one of the webinars, he said that a team of WH OS in China, if I understood well to exchange with Chinese manufacturers and to make sure that the way the Chinese vaccines are manufacture are according international standards.

Could you please elaborate on that and or or give me a contact with someone that can answer my questions because I did send the mail and I got a generic answer global answer and the person never got back to me and in fact did not answer the questions that I sent.

My third question is regarding the vaccinations in the world.

How does it work for the follow up, what is the system because vaccinating many people, how do the countries report to WHO about side effects or reactions of of the people.

So could you please clarify that?

And my last question.

No, Catherine.

Catherine, we have a lot of other journalists waiting for questions.

So could you let's stop at 3 for the moment and I'd like to ask everybody to limit to two questions and then we'll see if we have additional time.

I have a long list of people waiting to ask questions as well.

And, and I think Margaret needs to take note of lots of these.

So, Margaret, maybe we can start with the first three questions from Katherine.

Yes, Katherine, your first question was rather a statement.

I think as I said to Byram, that was those doses in Guinea were organised by Guinea.

OK, so done your second question you asked about how Kovacs works.

That's a pretty big question that that's actually an essay.

But essentially the the the system is that the rich countries invest, they pay full price, but they also support the countries that cannot afford to pay.

So it is about true solidarity you so you have countries that are assessed as advanced purchase countries and Kovacs itself negotiates with the manufacturers.

So the details on the negotiations with the manufacturers that is all done by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and I will put you in contact with their communications people if you have very specific questions on their purchasing negotiations etcetera, etcetera.

Now Bruce Ellwood gave a really excellent presentation yesterday at our Executive board with an enormous amount of detail about many of the things, things you're asking like which manufacturers we're we're working with, where we are and all of that.

And I will send you the link to that presentation.

It's available publicly, it's online.

Lastly, you mentioned that the Director General referred to some some of our team on the ground in China to look at the manufacturing processes of a couple of the Chinese manufacturers and this is part of the emergency use listing.

There are three elements you need with an emergency use listing.

You need data on efficacy, does the vaccine work?

You need data on safety.

Has it got a good safety profile?

[Other language spoken]

Does it meet the manufacturing standards that that that guarantees safety of a product?

And with that third you need to get, you need to look at the specific factory.

So when we're looking at dossiers, we're actually looking at dossiers specifically on where it's being manufacturing.

So you'll find it even more confusing with quite a few of them because they're being produced in different places, even though it's, it's the vaccine that's been developed by one particular group.

And that's why sometimes you'll see something coming out from one part of the world or somewhere else in another part of the world.

So this is very complex stuff.

I'm, I'm sorry that you seem to have not received a reply.

Do please send me an e-mail.

I always reply to my emails.

I think that's your questions for the moment.

And I will forward you the link to the, the, the excellent presentation yesterday that I will give you a lot of old technical information on technical briefings.

Yes, I think I brought Bruce Alwood to speak with at the Pali just before you all broke up for Christmas.

I didn't break up for Christmas and I indeed am constantly working to get you more technical people.

I do understand the the value and the importance of of the opportunity to ask the deeper technical questions.

It's great to hear, Margaret.

[Other language spoken]

Then we have Antonio Brotto from FA here in the room and we still have a number of journalists listing.

Hi Margaret by Real.

Thank you for taking my question.

I actually have two questions.

First, it's regarding the United States.

Tomorrow is going to be the inauguration day for the new President.

Do you expect that the United States might change it's opinion about withdrawing from The Who after the inauguration?

And second question, it's actually follow up from my question that I've sent you yesterday on Russian vaccine.

I found out that there's going to be a discussion on the Sputnik 5 started on 23rd, 22nd of January.

Could you please explain a little bit in details how this discussion goes on and how long we might might it take so that we know a little bit more about when Sputnik 5 might be accepted by The Who?

[Other language spoken]

On your first question, you'll really have to ask the US administration.

That's it.

That's an issue for them.

On the second question, yes, as I was mentioning before, when we do an emergency use listing, we look at three main elements, efficacy studies, the safety profile, the safety profile studies, but also the good manufacturing practises.

And so we ask every manufacturer to provide very, very detailed information and obviously very confidential information because it's their manufacturing process.

And that is then gone through very thoroughly.

Very often there are more questions that need to be asked and answered.

So simply having the meeting may not be the end of it, but the process.

And I think I sent you the link to the chart showing where we are with all the different vaccine manufacturers.

I think I sent that to you yesterday, right, Elizabetha?

But we start with a request for expression of interest.

We explain to the men what we need and the work goes back and forth.

There are some questions and we ask For more information.

So having got to the meeting means we've got to a pretty good stage, but those discussions may not finish on that day.

But when we have got to a point where that our team is satisfied, we have actually an independent panel that are world experts who review it.

When they are satisfied, then they provide the emergency use listing.

[Other language spoken]

Antonio Grotto from FA here in the room.

And then we'll go to Jan Eberman.

[Other language spoken]

As you can see we are following very closely the vaccination campaigns all over the world and we would like to, I would like to see if you can include statistics of the vaccination campaigns in for example, in the dashboard of The Who web page that we we consult every day.

It would be very, very useful because we are using non official web pages now and we saw yesterday that we do have official figures because Mike Ryan mentioned 40 million people have been vaccinated already.

So it would be very helpful and we could use WHO as a source.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, indeed.

We've been looking at doing that, and as soon as we've got that up and running, we'll let you know.

[Other language spoken]

Good to see you.

Basically, I've 2 questions and and a quick remark.

First, will you organise a press briefing with Helen Clark and her Commission and when will you issue her full report?

You know, I haven't seen it on on your website and honestly, you know, to navigate through your website you've got to be AWHO lawyer, at least for the EB148.

You know, when I first thought, I thought I was thrown into the deep end.

So in this respect, it would be really good if you could organise a sort of press briefing in the run up to these sessions in order to make sure that we understand it.

You know, it's it's so technical, it's so WHO jargon it, it takes up simply too much time.

Many of us do not understand it.

That would be really helpful if you could give us in the run up technical and content guidance.

Otherwise we can't write proper stories on it.

So I think there's a bit of a confusion here.

The IPPR you're referring to, that's the panel chaired by Helen Clark and President Sir Sirleaf.

That's an independent panel.

They have their own communications team, they have their own secretariat.

They are entirely independent of WHOI will let their comms people know that you're looking for a press briefing, but that has to be organised by them.

I understand they issued a press release and they have issued the link to their report.

This happened yesterday.

But this is entirely up to them.

I think their report will be on our side, but it's their report and it hasn't been discussed by the member states yet.

So, you know, at that stage it's really nothing for us.

It's entirely for the independent panel to manage that press briefing on the executive board.

[Other language spoken]

I think we're all navigating unknown waters.

And yes, you know, a pre briefing may well have been a good thing to do last week.

Unfortunately, it did not happen.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you for your patience.

We still have a few questions, if you can stay with us.

[Other language spoken]

Last week, there was a scientific meeting with 600 experts to talk about the new variants.

Where can we find some of these papers if some of the participants agreed for them to be shared and to be posted at WHO?

And secondly, I was wondering, given all the medical journals in the world have made it Open Access, why all these meetings of global interest not webcast?

[Other language spoken]

I'll find out about where where the papers are.

Yes, certainly it was a very valuable meeting.

I think quite often these meetings are not necessarily webcast so that they can have very full and frank discussions.

That's different from being an Open Access journal.

You know perfectly well that an Open Access journal doesn't publish their papers and it's until it's been fully peer reviewed and you don't usually get to see the peer reviewed comments, some of which can again be free and frank.

Certainly, we are looking to try to open up more the plenary sessions, particularly because they are indeed of value to the science journalists who understand these materials.

All right, let's go to Emma Farge from Reuters.

Then Enrico, we have Gabriella Sotomayor wanting to ask a question, but she's saying she has difficulty raising her hand.

So if you can line her up after Emma, Emma, go ahead.

[Other language spoken]

We seem to have a technical issue with Emma.

[Other language spoken]

Sorry, Emma, maybe you can, maybe you can send me by WhatsApp your question and I'll try to ask it for you.

We'll go to, let's go to Gabriella Sotomayor and you can we find her?

[Other language spoken]

Nice to see you real.

Thank you and nice to see you, Margaret.

One very quick question, actually maybe 2.

Is it true that Doctor Tedros asked Pfizer to cut the the doses for, you know, that they are giving to the countries in order to give them to poor countries?

Is that true that Doctor Tedros asked that to Pfizer?

I've not heard this, this this is so I couldn't comment on something that sounds like some hearsay going around.

But this is not something for that I have any information on.

And I I cannot comment on some hearsay or anything like that.

But that certainly does not seem true.

[Other language spoken]

Because, you know, I saw what he said yesterday.

I mean, I heard what he said yesterday at the at the board, because I mean, he's asking for solidarity to the countries, but there there's this version that that he asked specifically Pfizer.

I can't comment on on something like this.

This is this is just hearsay and you know, saying is it true he said this and this, there's no information this, this is not it.

This is not something that I can even have any comment on.

This is just something that you're saying.

[Other language spoken]

Saying that the the the president of Mexico said that, not me.

Now, now you're saying something.

So has the president of Mexico made this claim?

Is, is this what you're saying?

I have not seen this report.

[Other language spoken]

Well, I can, I can send you what what Mr Lopez Obrador said and, and OK, so could you send to me and, and I will, I will run it by the the, the team at WHO, but I cannot comment on something that I've not seen report that at the press conference.

[Other language spoken]

Well, thank you And then?

[Other language spoken]

Are we you have you have a question, an actual question, Yes.

And that the other one was a question as well.

But I, I'm going, I, I want to ask if countries that are having, you know, a lot of cases and deaths still and they are doing vaccination, but it's not enough.

I want to know if testing it's, it's, it's already, I mean, if you continue to, to suggest testing in order to find maybe if there's another variant or something, because some countries are dropping testing now that the vaccine arrives.

[Other language spoken]

And it's very, very important that all the public health measures that work continue.

Vaccines will help, but not right now.

You it, it will take months and months before there is a level of immunity that that can be protective.

And, and we don't even know whether the vaccines will stop transmission.

What we do know is they will stop disease.

So that's why we are saying get your vaccines into the highest priority groups, the healthcare workers, you need to keep them healthy so they can keep on working to, to save our lives.

And the, the people most likely to get very, very ill and die, that's the older people.

So the the public health measures at work are indeed testing.

So you know who's got the virus and you know who to isolate.

You know how to look for their contacts and isolate them.

So you separate the sick from the healthy.

And all the other things we ask people in community to do to distance, not gather in large crowds, not gather in closed spaces with poor ventilation, improve the ventilation in your buildings, wear the mask, wash the hands.

Those things work, but they're not being done well enough, and testing is a critical part of an effective public health strategy.

[Other language spoken]

Emma Farge from Reuters did send me her question, which is Bruce L Word said he expects to close a deal with Pfizer soon.

Would that be an MOU or something more binding?

And how big of a part, how big a part of COVAX could that be, given difficulties with the cold chain?

So I think if for the detail of the nature of the, the any arrangements with Pfizer or with any other manufacturer, you'll have to go to Gavi, the vaccine alliance, they do those negotiations.

So they do the nitty gritty.

The cold chain, of course, is something important to consider.

It's a it's it, it requires a lot of planning and it requires the ultra cold fridges.

We have done that effectively with the Ebola vaccine, but it's certainly not an easy thing to do.

OK, we still have 5 questions.

I'm going to cut it after Nick Cummings roost because we've been at it for a while.

Thank you, Barnret for your patience.

[Other language spoken]

I just wanted to get a little bit of clarification from you.

The independent panels report, which was released yesterday at a number of critiques of the and the speed of response of The Who, and I understand because it hasn't been presented to the executive WHO is unable to comment.

On it at the moment, do you think?

That there will be a chance for us to get some official comment from The Who on this and could you say perhaps how it might be done?

And my second thing is just a follow up to my colleagues question about vaccines given to the poorest countries.

So there is no data on this at the moment then is, is that, is that what is correct?

[Other language spoken]

So thanks, Peter.

And yes, on the IPPR report is exactly right.

It's being considered by the member say it's right now.

So it's inappropriate for us to comment at this moment.

But again, if you follow the EB, you will see lots of discussion of that report on any official response.

I have no specific timelines on any of that.

On the vaccines, that's right at the moment that there have not been any rolled out via COVAX, if that's what you're looking for.

And certainly as that happens, we will be providing that information.

OK, Catherine Fiancan and then Thomas Shiro from Kyodo.

Thank you for giving me back the floor real Margaret.

I'm back on on what you said before about the manufacturers.

You spoke about efficacity, safety and manufacturing.

Is it the the country that has to ask for the help of WHO is it the country that has to call outreach out with you guys and ask WHO to send a team of experts?

That is my question.

And did any of the other manufacturers ask you to come or did you go?

And regarding that team, are they still in China?

How many people are there and or how long did they stay in China and if you could be a bit.

[Other language spoken]

Verification about the vaccines.

[Other language spoken]

And AstraZeneca, are they on your desk and will they be officially accepted or I don't know the, the, the perfect, the prices Word by WHO, like you did with Kaiser.

And please, Margaret, organise technical briefings because we're spending so much time during a briefing.

Thanks, Catherine.

And I'm so sorry that I'm not adequate for you.

Let me repeat there.

I, I've provided a link to a number of your colleagues.

We have we list on our website and we update regularly where we are with the emergency use listing, including AstraZeneca.

Now part of the emergency use listing is getting the information on the good manufacturing practises.

Sometimes it may come through another agency such as the European Medicines Agency who've already done the inspection and we will accept that data.

Sometimes it will be in another country where we don't have access to that data.

[Other language spoken]

It would be where the manufacturing is happening.

But if we go to any country, doesn't matter what country we have to, the country has to be give us a visa and the agreement to come into it no matter what we're doing.

I can't go to any country to do any kind of work unless that country gets me a visa.

[Other language spoken]

And I will send you the link to that thing so that you know where to find it.

It's very easy to find.

It's on the vaccines page.

But I will send you the link so you can see that.

I think that will help you get a lot more information.

And if it's again, if you need more explanation, please contact me.

[Other language spoken]

Thomas Shaver from Kyodo News.

[Other language spoken]

Just quick simple question on the mission in China, I believe they're in a quarantine period now, but when are they actually going outside of their hotel and where are they going to start the their investigation first?

[Other language spoken]

So I think as you know, they've got a quarantine period that's being required by China and when they finish their quarantine period, they will leave the hotel.

I do not have details of their specific visits and agenda as they finish their quarantine.

I expect that that agenda will be part of what they're discussing with their counterparts.

They will be doing the work that they can do virtually right now while in quarantine and they will have have discussed with their counterparts where and when they go next.

So I I don't have any specifics on that currently.

Thank you, Lisa, and then Nick.

[Other language spoken]

You must be tired with all of this.

Happy New Year to you A.

Quick question to you, it is my understanding that WHO has not yet authorised Sputnik nor, I believe, the Chinese vaccine.

I'm not sure about this, but in any case, if WHO has not authorised the vaccine, is it premature for countries such as Brazil and others that are in fact inoculating their people with Sputnik, with the Chinese vaccine and so forth?

Is that a safe thing to do?

What is your recommendation?

[Other language spoken]

So again, with the emergency use listing, WHO emergency use listing, we had only received enough data to provide one for Pfizer currently.

Now some, quite a few of the others are getting much closer.

And the question that Elizabeta asked me was about the meeting that's going to happen in the next few days to look at the Sputnik vaccine.

And likewise the question that Katherine asked about as some part of our team looking at the manufacturing practises in China is also about the work to licence to, to, to consider the two of the Chinese vaccines for emergency use listing.

So all that work is ongoing now.

Countries make their decisions based on their own assessment of whether or not they feel a vaccine meets their standards.

It may be that they use their own regulatory authority.

They may use a a a regional regulatory authority.

A lot of countries do look to us as WHO to prove as as having done a lot of the work on regulation, but it's not obligatory for a country to follow The Who emergency use listing.

[Other language spoken]

Last questions from Nick and then John and then we close there.

Nick, thanks very much.

[Other language spoken]

There was a report out in the UK this is relating to long COVID talks about 30% of people released from hospital being readmitted within 140 days, but a significant number of them dying, 12% I think was a figure.

I wondered if who is seeing any information that replicates that in other environments.

That's my first question.

And the second, which I'm sure you've already dealt with, really, you've mentioned that Pfizer is the only manufacturer that has given you the full data set you require.

If there's a link that indicates how many other manufacturers are in the business, I'd love to see it.

I've roamed around your website and I've come up with lots of other information, but not that I'm astonished that there's only one manufacturer.

It seems that you're saying that has provided you with the full data set you require.

I just need to confirm that.

So it's not exactly what I said I but it was that it had been provided in the time in order to convene the group together to go through all the details.

So it's not quite that they didn't, but we do want manufacturers to speed up what they are providing.

That was one of the things Doctor Tedros said in his speech very clearly that that the focus for some manufacturers had been more at country level.

And we need them also to provide that data as speedily and appropriately and in in the appropriate depth to us because we can't do an emergency use listing until we've assessed that property and that the independent committee that advises on us on whether or not it's appropriate can do that.

Yes, I provide the link to all of you.

I'll send it to AR so it can go out to the whole group.

Clearly everybody needs to see this data and you will see that a lot of manufacturers are now at different stages of providing the data and and you'll also see that the process, how the process works, works a bit better.

So that would be quite helpful.

On non COVID, that's a really important issue you raise.

[Other language spoken]

I have not got specific information.

I did see the UK report and I would say this is underlines why nobody should think it's OK to get COVID.

Unfortunately, I think we've had this over and over again.

There's still a large numbers of people who don't think it matters, who don't think it matters because they think they'll just have a mild disease.

We don't know whether your mild disease or your asymptomatic disease turns into long COVID.

There.

There are increasing reports that you just don't get out of this easily, whether you had mild symptoms initially or not.

So the job of us all is to make sure nobody gets infected, that we really doubled down on all the things we know that can stop transmission.

There are countries that have brought their transmission rates right down.

It's hard work and the population doesn't like it, but we've got to do it.

[Other language spoken]

Are we able to unmute, John?

[Other language spoken]

I think there was some.

[Other language spoken]

John, you just made it right under the wire.

One question for you, go only.

One all.

Right, Margaret, perhaps this is in in the material that you have, but I'll ask it in case it's not.

I was wondering what are the initial assessments or links with the Havana's Finley Institute vaccine that is in phase three?

That is a prestigious institute that's produced many other vaccines in the past.

Oil is just being done by a Paco.

Or are you in contact at headquarters with the Finley Institute group?

And how many manufacturers have ISO qualification around the world at the moment on vaccine manufacturing?

If you have that data, that would be helpful.

I don't have either of those things, but I, you know, we are in contact with all the Manu, all the, all the different groups doing our work.

And I think if you look on the R&D landscape, the vaccine landscape page, you should find it.

But I'll go and have a look for you and see where we are with that one as well.

And I know it's difficult to navigate.

I think I'm going to have to send a lot of links.

I'll send links also to to Bruce Alward's presentation yesterday because that gives a lot of information.

So what was the other one?

[Other language spoken]

I don't have the ISO, but again, I think that would be part of what we look ask of when we ask for the good manufacturing data.

[Other language spoken]

You've been grilled endlessly, but you've you've passed with flying colours.

Thank you so much for being with us this morning.

Wonderful questions and great answers as well.

So that's all the time we have.

Let me see if I have any final.

[Other language spoken]

I just wanted to remind you, and I think you've received the note to correspondence we sent out last night, that this Friday at 11:11 AM New York time, but 5:00 PM Geneva time, there will be a media briefing on background with the Special Advisor of the Secretary General on Climate Action, Selwyn Hart, about the upcoming Adaptation Summit in January and the World Economic Forum also at the end of January.

If you would like to attend, you need to RSVP to our colleague in New York, Florencia Soto by this Thursday, at 11, by this, by this Thursday, and she will then provide you the connection details.

And the other thing I want to mention simply is that, as you know, the Committee on the Rights of the Child opened yesterday's three-week 85th session.

It is a virtual 1 during which given the current situation concerning COVID, it will not be reviewing any country reports.

So voila, that's all I have for you today.

Thank you very much for being with us and we will see you on Friday.

Have a good afternoon.

[Other language spoken]