UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing 12 March 2021

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UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing 12 March 2021

1:12:40

MP4

580.6 MB

12-03-2021

Press Conferences | OHCHR , UNICEF , OCHA , WHO , WFP , UNCTAD , UNECE

UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing 12 March 2021

ENG

Impact of ten years of war on children in Syria

Bo Viktor Nylund, Representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Syria, said that regrettably the situation for children in Syria was getting worse. There was a triple crisis going on: the continued conflict, the economic downturn, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two out of three families reported they could not meet their basic needs; the price of the food basket significantly increased while the value of the Syrian pound had gone down. Boys and girls were increasingly having to turn to negative copying mechanisms, such as child marriage and child labour. UNICEF believed that more than 13 million people in Syria needed humanitarian action, and almost half of those were children, said Mr. Nylund.

Some five million children had been born in Syria over the past ten years and had known nothing but death and destruction. Children were still being killed and maimed. The protection of children in Syria hung by a thread. Since 2011, at least 12,000 children had been verified to have been killed or maimed in Syria; full figures were likely to be higher. Grave violations continued, especially in the northwest of the country, where nine out of ten attacks on schools were occurring. Education used to be the pride of Syria, with enrolment rates consistently over 97 per cent; now some 3.5 million children were out of school, said Mr. Nylund. This would have a devastating effect on the country in the years to come. More than 700 education facilities and personnel had been confirmed to have been under attack in the ten years of conflict.

Speaking of UNICEF’s actions, Mr. Nylund said that in 2020 UNICEF had been able to reach more than 12 million people across Syria with lifesaving assistance. While the humanitarian response was not going to solve the crisis, it was critical that UNICEF continue to get the support to help Syrian children. UNICEF’s response to the needs of Syrian children and their families was one of the largest in our history with a total of USD 1.4 billion required for 2021.

Responding to questions, Mr. Nylund said that UNICEF strongly collaborated with the rest of the UN team and with the Syrian Red Crescent and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

New coalition to support school feeding worldwide

Tomson Phiri, for the World Food Programme (WFP), stated that the WFP had begun to convene a coalition of stakeholders to support governments to restore and boost access to school feeding for the most vulnerable children. At the request of the African Union and member states such as Finland and France, the school feeding coalition - composed of stakeholders drawn from governments, development agencies, donors, academia, the private sector, UN agencies and civil society organizations - employed a “big tent” approach where all stakeholders interested in school feeding can converge.

One in two schoolchildren, equivalent to 388 million children worldwide, had been receiving school meals when the pandemic struck - the highest number in history, according to the State of School Feeding Worldwide 2020 report. By April 2020, 199 countries had closed schools leaving 370 million children without school meals. Therefore, the intiative came at a crucial time. The coalition, which would be built during the course of 2021 and launched at the Food Systems Summit in September, had already gained support from stakeholders. Mr. Phiri stressed that school feeding was a game changer for children, parents, smallholder farmers and indeed for the entire community. Activities helped stave off hunger, support long-term health and helped a child learn and thrive, which was especially true for girls.

Extreme water shortages in Somalia

Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that tens of thousands of people in Somalia had been forced to leave their homes because of the extreme water shortages. Poor seasonal rains had been recorded the previous year. Displaced people had told OCHA they were moving in search of water for themselves and their animals. Water shortages would also increase the risk of disease outbreaks. Some USD 13 million had been released from the Somalia Humanitarian Fund to scale up the response, said Mr. Laerke. One billion was needed in funding, but so far only 2.5 per cent had been received.

Since November 2020, some 83,000 people had been displaced because of the water shortages, said Mr. Laerke answering a question. That number was likely to increase.

Human Rights Council

Rolando Gomez, for the Human Rights Council (HRC), said that 29 draft resolutions had been tabled thus far; two more were expected today. They covered a wide range of themes and country situations; nine were country-specific and 22 were thematic draft resolutions. They would be considered on 22 and 23 March. Today, the Council would continue its interactive discussion with the Commission on South Sudan, to be followed by the High Commissioner’s report on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The Assistant Secretary-General for Peace and Peacebuilding Affairs would speak on Myanmar, to be followed by a discussion on country situations. Interactive discussion on the situation in Myanmar with the Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews would also be held today.

More information on the Council’s forty-sixth session is available here.

COVID-19

Responding to questions, Margaret Harris, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said there was no date yet on the release of the report of the investigative mission to China. Dr.Harris explained that a few countries in Europe had suspended use of a specific batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine distributed in the European Union, based on reports of rare blood coagulation disorders in persons who had received vaccine from that batch. This was decided as a precaution whilst a full investigation was being finalized. Vaccine benefits continued to outweigh the risks, advised the European Medecines Agency’s Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee. WHO would report on the AstraZeneca vaccine after a review by its own Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety. More than 268 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered thus far, and no deaths had been reported to date.

When asked about response to variants she stressed that public health preventive measures- avoiding crowding, closed spaces, wearing masks, physical distancing, testing, tracking, tracing, quarantine and self-isolation if infected - worked, and had to be applied all together, along with the vaccination. Not one single bit of the response could be ignored. The whole world was interconnected, and until everyone was safe, nobody was safe, and everyone had to do their part.

Dr. Harris also informed that the Sinopharm vaccine was currently in the final stages of the emergency use listing process done by WHO. She stressed that every country made their own decision about the vaccine approval.

One year since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic

Rhéal LeBlanc, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), referred to a statement by the UN Secretary-General on the first anniversary since the World Health Organization (WHO) had declared the global COVID-19 pandemic. The SG stated that the global vaccination campaign represented the greatest moral test of our times. It was also essential to restart the global economy, and help the world move from locking down societies to locking down the virus. COVID-19 vaccines had to be seen as a global public good.

Mr. LeBlanc informed that the UN was launching a new #OnlyTogether multimedia campaign, which would emphasize that only together could we protect healthcare workers and the world’s most vulnerable people, revive our economies, and end this pandemic and recover.

Full Secretary-General’s statement is available here.

Geneva announcements

Catherine Huissoud, for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), said that on 18 March, UNCTAD would publish an update on the global economy. The report would be embargoed until 7 a.m. Geneva time. The report would look at who had done better and worse than expected the previous year. It would explain why UNCTAD had upgraded its forecast for 2021, but also have a warning about complacency given the weakness of international cooperation in the face of the biggest economic shock since the Great Depression. Speakers at a virtual press conference on 16 March at 4 p.m. would be Richard Kozul-Wright, Director, Division on Globalization and Development Strategies at UNCTAD, and Nelson Barbosa, Professor of Economics at the University of Brasilia.

Jean Rodriguez, for the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), informed that the Regional Forum 2021 (10-18 March) would discuss the sustainable and resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and action and delivery on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the UNECE Region. High-level speakers included Deputy UN Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, ECOSOC President Munir Akram, UNECE Executive Secretary Olga Algayerova, UNOG Director-General Tatiana Valovaya, and others. The high-level segment would be complemented by 12 peer learning round tables and more than 25 side events and pre-meetings, facilitating a truly multi-stakeholder exchange. For the first time this year, in addition to civil society and youth representatives, dedicated meetings would gather SDG advocates from the private sector, parliaments, and local governments. The plenary sessions would be broadcasted live on UN Web TV and most peer learning round tables would be livestreamed on YouTube. Programme and details can be found here.

Rhéal LeBlanc, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), informed that on 15 March between 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. there would be a virtual press stakeout by the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir O. Pedersen, following his briefing to the Security Council. The exact time would be communicated later.

The Conference on Disarmament had held a public plenary meeting this morning.

The Human Rights Committee would close on 26 March its one-hundred thirty-first session, during which it had reviewed the reports of Finland and Kenya.

The twenty-fourth session of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was beginning today at 12:30 p.m. its review of the report of Estonia, which would continue on 15 and 17 March, from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. each day.

Teleprompter

[Other language spoken]

Good morning, everyone.

[Other language spoken]

Before we get into some announcements, let me just remind you, you will have seen the statement that these we put out last evening on behalf of the Secretary General on the COVID-19 pandemic when you're on.

In this statement, the Secretary General said one full year into the COVID-19 pandemic, our world has faced a tsunami of suffering and many lives have been lost.

He commended the women, the men, the young people everywhere for adapting to work, learn and live in new ways and he especially honoured all the health workers for their dedication and sacrifice and other all other essential workers who have kept societies running.

Secretary General said that the United Nations will be continuing to mobilise the international community to make vaccines affordable and available for all, to recover better and to put a special focus on the needs of those who have borne the burden of this crisis on so many level levels.

This includes women, minorities, older persons, persons with disabilities, refugees, migrants and indigenous people.

With the vaccine roll out, he said there is some light at the end of the tunnel and he cited the COVAX initiative which is making sure that low income countries are starting to receive doses of the vaccine.

He said this global vaccination campaign represents the greatest moral test of our times, and COVID-19 vaccines must be seen as a global public good.

Only together can we end this pandemic and recover.

Only together can we revive our economies, he said.

And only together is the name of a new campaign that he also launched yesterday, a campaign where he calls for vaccines to be available to everyone and everywhere.

It's a campaign that is anchored in the verified pause campaign that we launched last year, fighting disinformation, but also support now for the vaccination programme worldwide.

And let's move into, if there are no questions, let's move into our agenda.

We'll go directly to Rolando, Rolando Gomez from the Human Rights Council to give you an update on what's happening at the Council.

Orlando.

Thank you very all and a very good morning to everybody here.

Before I go into the programme for today at the Human Rights Council, let me just simply remind you per the message I sent you last night that there were 29 draught resolutions that were tabled over the course of the last couple of days and that is per the extension rather per the deadline that was set for yesterday.

So 29 resolutions thus far.

There are two more expect expected to be tabled today per an extension for those two additional draught resolutions.

I know these resolutions, rough resolutions rather could all be found on the extranet.

I shared the link with you last night that cover a wide range of themes and country situations.

I point out that nine of these, 31 in total with the ones today, 9 will be on country specific resolutions and 22 informatic resolutions.

[Other language spoken]

They're at the link I shared with you last night, and they will all be considered on 22 and 23 March.

That is the Monday and Tuesday following next week.

Typically we do this on a Thursday and Friday, but just to remind you that we have an extension of two extra days for the session given the very, very packed agenda.

[Other language spoken]

Turning to today's programme, this morning the Council continued its interactive discussion with the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan.

There are approximately 30 states leftover from yesterday's discussion and approximately 10 NGOs remaining to speak.

At roughly 11:00, we will hear the presentation of the report by the **** Commissioner for Human Rights on the activities of her office and promoting accountability for human rights violations in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

This is a report that will be presented by a representative of the office, not the **** Commissioner herself.

So that's at around 11:00.

And that'll be immediately followed by a an oral update, not a written report, but an oral update of the Secretary General on the involvement of the United Nations in Myanmar.

Since some of you have asked, this is going to be delivered by Mohammed Khaled Khiadi, who is the Assistant Secretary General for the Middle East, Asia and Pacific in the Department of Political and Peace, Building Affairs and Peace Operations at New York.

So that's after 11:00.

And then roughly 11:15 or so, we'll have a general debate on Item 4.

That's country situation.

[Other language spoken]

We have approximately 80 States and over 100 NGOs inscribed to speak, and this will carry over to Monday.

This afternoon at 3:00, the Council will continue its interactive discussion with a Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, that started yesterday afternoon.

There are approximately 15 states remaining to speak today and approximately 10 NGOs.

And then at 4:00 PM this afternoon, the Council will hold a panel discussion on the International Decade of People of African Descent.

Now, this is taking place in commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which incidentally is 21 March, so just a few days ahead.

And this panel this afternoon has a particular focus on the role of youth in combating racial discrimination and fostering dialogue and intergroup relations.

It also has a focus on the impact of COVID-19 on the education, development and empowerment of youth and children, in particular of African descent.

All the details are in the concept note I shared with you last night.

And last note, simply to point out for Monday morning, as mentioned, we will have the continuation of the general debate on country situations before moving on in the afternoon to a presentation from the Special Rapporteur on minority issues.

That's Mr Ferdinand Deverend, whose report addresses hate speech in social media.

And then lastly, at the end of the day, the Council will move on to the adoption of a series of reports based on human rights reviews by its Universal Periodic Review Working Group, which took place in November.

The full list of states is available in the Programme of Work.

[Other language spoken]

Thanks very much.

[Other language spoken]

We have body here in the room who would like to ask you a question.

Rolando, do you have any update of situation in Hong Kong or any update from your rapporteurs?

[Other language spoken]

OK, Bodie, I think maybe you're best to point that question to our colleagues in the media office who deal with the special operators.

But of course I can mention that situation in Hong Kong and in China in general has been raised by number of States and NGOs during the various general debates.

And we understand that there may be more statements during the country specific country situations, general debate today on on the situation in Hong Kong in particular.

But do do consultant colleagues in the media office for more, more particulars.

[Other language spoken]

And we also have Nick coming Bruce online with a question.

[Other language spoken]

I gathered the Council Vice President yesterday had to make a comment pushing back some criticism of special rapporteurs by one of the states.

I'm unaware of the detail of this and I wonder if you you have that at hand and could just say exactly who said what in relation to what comment by which state.

[Other language spoken]

Thanks Nick for the question.

I, I'd, I'd have to check on that.

I really would prefer to get some guidance from colleagues.

I'm not sure which state made any comments about that.

I can tell you that indeed, you know, this might stem from a discussion which took place last last week, I believe it was Friday when there was a procedural vote in connection with the repertoire and privacy.

And that was procedural vote that was that was that failed in the end it it was shot down to suspend the meeting for the day.

But it was in the context of a discussion around the special procedures.

I'm not aware of any specific comment yesterday.

There might have been.

I just would need to check on on that and get back to you, Nick, if I may.

[Other language spoken]

OK, it's going to be 1 moment.

Let me just check the the the presentation of the reports on item 7 on the Occupied Palestinian Territories will be next week.

In fact, it's scheduled to take place on Thursday the 18th of March.

[Other language spoken]

So we still have some time for that to take place.

So Thursday this week.

[Other language spoken]

And Christian Erlich Erlich rather thank you.

Yeah, Rolando, I also haven't followed all the discussions.

So similar question to my colleagues, is there action or or has there been prominent comment on the situation in Russia and Mr Navarini, is there going to be action on demanding the release of Mr Navarini?

Are you aware of anything?

[Other language spoken]

There, there are no resolutions on on this situation of Mr Navalny, if that's what you're asking about.

Indeed, you take a look at the resolutions, of course.

But that aside, you know, it's always the prerogative of states to raise this issue during the general debate which will begin in approximately half hour.

And I could just recall that there were several utterances by the states during the **** level segment on the the case of Mr Navalny, as you might recall yourself.

I could, I could perhaps do a recap of that for you afterwards, but nothing that is prescribed for the moment.

But of course we might have something during the Jungle debate today.

[Other language spoken]

Orlando, I don't see any other questions for you.

So we will move quickly to Jean Rodriguez from UNEC, who has an announcement and then we'll have Catherine Rizu from Ankhtad.

So let's start with Jean.

[Other language spoken]

So, the regional forum on Sustainable development for the UNEC region will be held next week and the **** level segment will be on 17th and 18th of March.

The regional forum will discuss the sustainable and resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and action and delivery on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the UNEC region.

**** level speakers will include Deputy UN Secretary General Amina Mohammed, ECOSOC President Munir Ahram, UNEC Executive Secretary Olga Alkalorova, Uno Director General Tatiana Varouvaya, many more who will be sharing their insights on sustainable recovery from the pandemic.

The forum will be Co chaired by Portugal State Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Corporation and Romania's state councillor to the Prime Minister.

The **** Level segment is complemented complemented by 12 peering peer learning round tables and more than 25 side events and free meetings, facilitating a truly multi stakeholder exchange for the first time this year.

In addition to civil society and youth representatives, dedicated meetings gather SDG advocates from the private sector, parliaments and local governments.

The plenary sessions will be broadcast live on UN Web TV and most peer learning sessions are available live stream on YouTube.

The Co Chair summary of the Regional Forum will be submitted to the **** Level Political Forum in New York in July as official contribution from the UNEC region for the programme and further the details.

You can consult the dedicated websites at regionalforum.unece.org.

And I stand ready for your questions if you have any.

[Other language spoken]

Are there any questions for Jean about this event?

[Other language spoken]

So we've taken note of your event and wish you good luck with it.

We will go now to Catherine.

Catherine from the division Strategy Development in Nelson Barbosa, Professor of Economic University de Brazil.

Now let's turn to UNICEF with James Elder, who is the new spokesperson here in Geneva.

He is here with a guest, Bo Victor at Niland, the UNICEF representative in Syria, who is joining us online for a briefing about the impact of the Syrian conflict on on children over the next over the past 10 years.

Would we go directly to Bo or James?

Would you like to introduce?

[Other language spoken]

I think we can probably go directly to Mr Nylon.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, I hear you loud and clear.

[Other language spoken]

So let's go right into your briefing, then.

Right.

And greetings from Damascus.

It's a pleasure to be with you this morning.

Regrettably, after 10 years, I have to start this.

Just trying to unmute **** there.

[Other language spoken]

This week we've got nearly a 90% increase.

Sorry, James, are you on?

Are you with us?

[Other language spoken]

We seem to have a an issue.

I see your microphone is open, but for some reason we're not hearing you.

But we had started with Mr Nilan.

So maybe we, we continue with Mr Nilan.

[Other language spoken]

Right.

So I was starting to say that I regrettably have to start this briefing with the simple fact that things are getting worse for children in Syria.

And specifically today I'd like to speak to four men in France that continue to impact the children in Syria.

First, I want to start with the triple crisis that children are facing, the continued continued conflict, of course, the economic downturn, and obviously also the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It's hard to imagine, as we were looking for children to get some respite in 2020, that following the most intense years of active conflict, things could actually considerably deteriorate for children.

And yet the triple crisis of 2020 and spilling into this year has somehow further exacerbated the situation for serious children.

So what does it mean in practical terms?

It means, for instance, that two out of three families report that they cannot meet their basic needs.

The basic food basket price during the course of last year increased 236%, while the Syrian # dropped 78%.

Of course, COVID-19 impacts on the economy, but also on the social fabric of the society.

Those factors combined increase significantly the risks for boys and girls and seeing them resort to negative coping mechanism.

So for instance, we have seen an increase in child marriage and also more children are having to go to work, some as young as seven years old.

Children are being pushed over closer to the brink.

Just a few days ago I visited Asweda in the southern parts of Syria and I was talking to a 10 year old boy called Ahmed and his parents had taken him and his the siblings out of school to go to work in the local vegetable market for a measly daily wage to help provide for the family.

Almost everyone in this centre that the UNICEF is supporting shared similar stories.

And indeed, as we have been planning for the humanitarian response in 2021, we have seen an increase in the people in need in Syria.

More than 13 million people are in need of humanitarian action.

Half of them, some 6.1 million, are children.

And this is an increase in 20% in an increase of 20% compared to 2020.

Secondly, I wanted to speak about how for millions of children in Syria, the war is the only thing they know with a tremendous impact on their psychosocial well-being.

Nearly 5 million children were born inside Syria over the past 10 years, with another other additional 1,000,000 children being born outside as refugees in Syria's neighbouring country.

And these are millions of children who know nothing but death and displacement and destruction.

Almost 6 million people remain displaced within Syria, some half of them are children, so about 3 million.

And the number of refugee children in neighbouring countries has increased more than tenfold to some 2.5 million registered child refugees.

Thirdly, I wanted to mention that children are still being killed and maimed.

As many of you will have seen from the statement the day before yesterday by our UNICEF Executive Director, the protection of children in Syria hangs by the ****** and very few places are safe for Syria's children.

Since 2011, nearly 12,000 children were verified as killed or injured in Syria.

That's one child every 8 hours over the past 10 years.

As we all know, these are children that the UN was able to verify as having been killed or injured, and the actual numbers are likely to be much higher.

Also, since 2011, some 5700 children were recruited and used in the fighting.

Again, this is the verified number of cases based on the monitoring and reporting mechanism that is being upheld by the United Nations system.

And in this case as well, the actual figures are probably much, much higher.

Unfortunately, great violations continue.

We're seeing the highest levels in the northwest of the country, where 75% of the total child casualties across Syria took place last year.

And also in the northwest, 9 out of 10 attacks on school are taking place, as well as 7 out of 10 cases of child recruitment occur in the northwest.

Finally, I wanted to talk about how the war is not only destroying present day life for children, but also it's threatening the future.

Education used to be the pride of Syria, with an enrollment rate consistently above, above 97% before the crisis.

And education now is facing one of the largest crisis in recent history.

We're seeing some 3.5 children, 3.5 million children out of school, including 40% of those are girls.

And we cannot overstate what this means for these children now, what it means to their community communities, but also for the country as a whole in the years to come.

And what we see, of course, on the ground is that the education facilities are always stretched.

Still today, one in three schools is not possible for use.

It's either been destroyed, it's damaged, it is being used for military purposes or functions of the shelter for displaced families.

Many of the schools are also infested with mine.

And indeed, more than 700 education facilities and personnel are confirmed and verified to have been under attack in Syria since 2011.

What does this combination of the war and education mean?

Well, firstly, a lack of opportunity to learn to to return to some level of normalcy to education for the children.

But also in Syria we saw during last year a doubling of children reporting psycho social distress.

Finally, let me just say that I'm happy also to speak to some of the enormity of UNICEF sanctions in Syria.

In 2020, we were able to reach more than 12 million people across Syria with life saving assistance.

While of course humanitarian response is not going to solve the crisis, it's absolutely critical that UNICEF continues to get support to provide assistance to Korean children.

UNICEF response to the need of Syrian children and their families is one of the largest in history.

The budget is about 1.4 million required for 20/21 and this is in line with the volume and size of the humanitarian needs on the ground, not only in Syria, but across the sub region as our programmes respond to covering also the six countries where UNICEF teams are providing for the needs of millions of children inside Syria and also in the neighbouring countries.

Thank you so much for this opportunity and back to you there.

Thank you very much for this this briefing.

Mr Nyland, of course, as as the secretary general himself said just the other day as he put out his statement on the 10th anniversary of the Syrian conflict, it's a situation that remains a living nightmare for for many, many Syrians.

And I can just then just expect that for children, it's particularly horrific.

Do we have any questions?

I see we have a question from Nick coming Bruce from the New York Times online.

So let's go over to Nick.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much for the briefing.

When he hears about considerable variations in conditions around the country, even in government controlled areas, there are some sort of local deals being done that are stabilising.

Conditions are very different in the North East.

So I'm wondering, are there some pockets of Syria where you are actually seeing a return to, if not normality, at least conditions that address some of the crises that you've just been reporting in terms of schooling and access to food and health care?

[Other language spoken]

That's a really important question.

UNICEF has 6 field offices across Syria and also access through through the across the border from from Gaziantep.

We see of course areas of return.

We are helping restore some of these schools and education facilities and myself also visited recently in Aleppo schools where we have reconstructed and the children are coming back in the thousands.

So definitely there is streams of hope across the country as we're looking to really build up again some of these services that children have have not had in the past.

So against our lots just in the period of of last year, 3.7 million children in Syria and in the neighbouring countries were supported with both formal and non formal education opportunities.

And so these are really important inputs that we're able to provide to the children.

And you know, as you say, it's still there's a long way to go and it's one child at the time, but overall able to really see pockets of hope and areas of return throughout the country over.

[Other language spoken]

And here in the room, we have body Hugger from Phoenix Television who would like to ask you a question.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you for calling me.

[Other language spoken]

IFRC and ICRC has briefed us on the Syria situation at Google.

Do you have interaction or cooperation with all your agencies in Syria?

Or if yes, could you tell us more detail?

[Other language spoken]

Certainly, thank you for that question.

Specifically on on the International Committee of the Red Cross, the FRC, also the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, we have a very close collaboration, of course, with children who have been separated, children who are also in the various camps.

Also registration of children and exchanging information has been an important activity with agencies such as the ICRC and and the IFRC, as well as with the with SAQ, with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.

We also implement the programmes together, for instance in the area of water and sanitation, but also in the area of of mine risk education, for instance.

So we have a lot of collaborated collaboration, excuse me, with the Red Cross and Red present movement within the UN country team.

Obviously very strong collaboration as well regular interactions also programming that we work on developing together and implementing together in various fields, locations as well.

And then while there's not a whole lot of international Ng OS in Syria for those that are present, they take part in the humanitarian country team and coordinate through that.

But also many of them are partners in the sectors that UNICEF leads, which are water and sanitation, education, nutrition, as well as child protection.

[Other language spoken]

Are there any other questions for our guests?

And I don't see any more question.

Mr Nyland Bo, Victor Nyland, UNICEF Representative of Syria, thank you so much for having joined us this morning to brief us on the situation of children in Syria as the conflict continues.

And thank you, James Elder.

I'm sorry that we have.

I see we have another question from Stefan Boussa Le Town.

[Other language spoken]

Actually it's not for my Mr Leyland.

I'm sorry about that.

[Other language spoken]

Do we have a a date for the publication of The Who report on the the origin of the virus?

[Other language spoken]

OK, Stephen, we'll to I'll see.

I think someone from WHOI think Margaret is there.

So Margaret Harris, maybe you can note the question and we'll come back to you maybe later at the end of the briefing so you can answer that.

And I see Jamil, Shad, Shamil, do you have a question for Mr Nyland?

No, sorry that that was for WHO as well.

[Other language spoken]

Maybe we then then if I can ask you to hold on, We'll we'll come to my grit a little bit later.

So I think Mr Nyland, again, thank you very much for being with us and we'll let you get on with your day.

And thank you also James Elder, UNICEF spokesperson, for having organised this.

We're going to now move to Thompson Ferry from the World Food Programme, who wants to give you an update on a new coalition to support school feeding worldwide.

[Other language spoken]

I hope you can hear me loud and clear.

You can hear me perfectly OK.

the United Nations World Food Programme, WFE has begun to convene a coalition of stakeholders to support governments to restore and boost access to school feeding for the most vulnerable children.

At the request of the African Union and Member States such as Finland and France, The School Feeding Coalition, composed of stakeholders drawn from governments, development agencies, donors, academia, you name it, employs a big tent approach where all stakeholders interested in school feeding can converge.

The Coalition aims to find sustainable and innovative funding sources for school feeding programmes, strengthen evidence and guidance to improve state programmes as well as to bring together multiple stick factors to achieve better outcomes for school children globally.

Some of you may be asking why is this important and why now?

Let me just take a step back and say one in two school children, which was equivalent to 388 million children worldwide, had been receiving school meals when the pandemic struck.

This was the highest number in history by April 20, 2000, and 99 countries had closed schools, leaving 370 million children without school meals.

Therefore, the initiative comes at a very crucial time.

The coalition, which will be built during the course of 2021 and launched at the Food System Summit in September, has already started to gain support from stakeholders.

The Finnish Minister for Development, Cooperation and Foreign Trade, Bill Scanari is the founding member of a **** level steering committee to support a global scale up of school meal programmes.

Now for those of you who may not be in the know, school feeding is a game changer.

It is a game changer for children, for parents, for smallholder farmers and indeed for the entire community.

Activities help stave off hunger, support longer term health and help a child to learn and thrive.

This is especially true for girls in places where there is a school news programme girls tend to attend as well as to stay in school longer.

Child marriage rates go down and teen pregnancies decrease.

Where school feeding activities use locally produced food.

We have seen that this enhances a community's economy.

School feeding programmes can have an additional effect of helping economies recover from the impact of COVID-19.

Approximately 2000 jobs are created for every 100,000 children.

Third, contributing to stable markets, boosting local agriculture and in the process, strengthening local foods.

While Finland is the first to lend support to the initiator, no one actor can achieve this alone and the World Food Programme looks forward to more partners joining the coalition over the coming months before being launched at the food system stamps at the end of the year.

The challenge that is before us is huge and there is space for everyone.

I will stop here and see if there are any questions for me.

Thank you very much, Thompson.

[Other language spoken]

Jamila, I suspect you you're keeping your hand raised to ask the question to WHO?

So we'll we'll come to you later.

John Zaracosta, is this a question for Thompson?

[Other language spoken]

Hi, Thompson, I was wondering if you have some details on the various stakeholders.

I'm interested in particular if any major food companies are participating and what will be their role given that in the past you mentioned about stable markets.

In the past major food humanitarian NGOs have been highly critical of interventions in some poor countries where the interventions decimated the local food markets in those countries.

In other words, the food aid completely wiped them out.

So what are the precautions that you are taking that this does not happen?

OK, Thanks John and good morning.

There are a number of private sector companies that's that are coming on board and that this Asia can't just confirm the names.

But what I can tell you is that they're coming in to partner with us.

Some are coming in to develop, develop windows, some are coming to assist with package, some are coming to assist with connecting farmers.

Some are coming providing extension services, developing the capacity of school with the farmers.

Others are equipping some of the schools utensils and equipment as part of their CSR.

But there's a whole lot that they are doing in this on this particular platform.

Our experience with buying locally and providing assistance is that it actually contributes a stronger market of of of assistance is provided after careful analysis and needs assessments that are undertaken so as not to stabilise, destabilise the growth of markets.

In fact, our assistance where we buy locally tends to sort of boost local capacity for all the farmers in areas where we work.

Realise that there is a predictable market through WFP and they're likely to put ground when they are guaranteed that WFP is a quality buyer who buy from them.

We are working as well with school Huda farmers in helping them protect their yield against against obvious locuses farmers since southern and Central Africa lose up to 30% of their harvest, harvest losses.

So all these initiatives that we're doing as a convener bring everybody under a big tent and saying how, what, what can you bring to the table?

How best can you do so that we help countries to build back better after coffee over.

[Other language spoken]

Jamil, your hand is still open.

I just want to make sure that you don't have a question for WFP is is that the case?

Right.

That's for Margaret.

The question is for Margaret.

[Other language spoken]

Maybe you could put your hand down and and I've noted that you want to ask a question for Margaret.

We'll come to you as soon as we can.

[Other language spoken]

I don't see any other questions for you, Thompson.

So thanks very much for being with us this morning.

And we will turn to Jens Lark from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, who's here to talk to you about extreme water shortages in Somalia.

Jens, good morning, Good morning, Real good morning, everyone.

Short note so you can get to WHO 10s of thousands of people in Somalia have been forced to leave their homes since November because of extreme water shortages and forecasts now indicate that the current rainy season, which runs from March to June, will only deliver below average rainfall.

Pre drought conditions are already reported in parts of Somaliland, Puntland, Yoshibel, Kalmuduk and Jubaland states after the poor seasonal rains late last year.

The laws of rain fed rain fed pasture is threatening the survival of livestock which is the foundation of many Somalis livelihoods.

Displaced people have told ORCHA that they are moving in search of water and pasture for their animals.

An estimated 2.7 million Somalis will face food insecurity at crisis of worse levels between April and June.

That is an increase of more than 65% compared to current levels.

Water shortages will also increase the risk of disease outbreaks.

Humanitarian organisations are delivering water to 300,000 people already in areas affected by water shortages and $13 million has been released from the Somalia Humanitarian Fund to scale up the response.

A special rapid response allocation of 7 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund is also on its way and up to $20 million will be released to fund anticipatory action in Somalia.

A host as you know of humanitarian problems, including conflict, food insecurity and erratic weather has affected Somalia for decades.

This year, the United Nations and partners aim to reach 4 million vulnerable people with humanitarian assistance.

We're asking for 1 billion in funding, but so far only 2 1/2% of that funding is secured.

[Other language spoken]

Thanks very much, Jens.

I see we have a couple of hands up Christophe from IFP.

Sorry, Jens, It's not for you.

[Other language spoken]

It's for Margaret, but I left the hand too early.

[Other language spoken]

Christophe.

[Other language spoken]

You have a question for Jens?

[Other language spoken]

I don't know if I caught it in the beginning, but do you have any idea how many people might be internally displaced because of the drought?

Be forced to move elsewhere And what contingencies are you doing about this?

Basically, that's the key element.

And from the number of people that you mentioned, the 2.7 million facing food crisis, severe food crisis, how many of those would be children and basically, yeah.

[Other language spoken]

So far, since November last year, we have recorded 83,000 people who have been internally displaced because of these extreme water shortages.

But this is a moving number because people are being are basically picking up sticks and moving away from where there's no water, trying to find water right now.

So that is a number that is likely to increase of the estimated 2.7 million that will go into that will face food insecurity at crisis level or worse.

So we're talking IPC three and four out of those approximately 840,000 are children that may face acute acute malnutrition because of this development.

[Other language spoken]

Are there any other questions for Yens on this issue?

I don't see any.

So Yens, thank you very much for briefing this morning.

And wait a second, I see there's Paula Dupras wants to ask a question.

I think it's I think I understand it's for the Human Rights Council.

[Other language spoken]

No, it's, it's not for Yens, it's for, it's for the UNHCR if they're around UNHCR.

OK, we'll see if they are online.

[Other language spoken]

Jens, thank you very much.

No, no, it's always appreciated when you show up for the briefing.

OK, now before we conclude the briefing, we have some people wanting to ask a few questions of WHO Margaret Harris, are you with us?

[Other language spoken]

How are you?

Nice to very good.

Nice to see you as well.

So I think Stefan Boussard was the had raised his hand earlier.

He wanted you to ask a question about The Who report on the China mission, if I understood correctly.

Maybe you want to take that question and then we'll go to Jamil and Christophe from AFP.

OK, first question is very easy.

[Other language spoken]

Umm, we will certainly advise you as soon as we have one and we'll make you know all the appropriate press opportunities.

[Other language spoken]

Because it was amount asking.

So we don't next week, but we we we cannot guarantee that for you, but we certainly especially on this, you know, we have a particularly special to us.

We'll make sure we give you as much warning as we can.

OK, I think that's that's clear.

[Other language spoken]

Can we bring Jamil back for his question?

Hi, There we go.

[Other language spoken]

Brazil has been registering over 2000 deaths a day.

It is an epicentre obviously of of I think you've dropped out.

Yeah, Jamil, we're not hearing you properly.

[Other language spoken]

Are you there?

[Other language spoken]

We have a small technical issue, Jamil with you.

Let's see if you can fix that.

And we'll go.

We'll go to Kristof and we'll come right back to you.

[Other language spoken]

I had a quick question in the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Is there anything that we can expect from WHO in terms of guidance after several countries suspended vaccination with it?

Yes, certainly we do have some response.

We're well aware, obviously, that as a precautionary measure, a few countries in the European Union have suspended the use of a specific batch of AstraZeneca vaccine distributed in the EU based on reports of blood coagulation disorders in some people who had received it at that time.

Now it was not it the causal relationship.

A causal relationship has not been decided.

So this is decided has not been shown.

This was decided as a precaution.

Whilst the full investigation is finalised.

It's also important to note that the European Medicines Agencies Pharmacal Vigilance Risk Assessment Committee, that's a long one.

Their position is that the vaccines benefits continue to outweigh the risks and the vaccine can continue to be administered while investigation of cases of these thromboembolic events is ongoing.

We also have a global advisory committee on vaccine safety which systematically reviews any vaccine safety signals and has been doing throughout the roll out of all the vaccines.

It's continually looking at the vaccines and sends regular reports.

I can give you the link to those after this and they are looking at the these particular signals and will meeting every meeting soon and will advise WHO on any new safety signals or concerns about any vaccines.

And they're currently assessing the reports on AstraZeneca.

And as soon as we've got a full understanding of that from our committee, we will communicate that to the public.

Vaccination against COVID-19 doesn't reduce deaths from any other causes.

So where embolic events do happen in the population, so it's not clear whether this is something that was going to happen or whether there was any relationship.

That's why it's important to have always review any signal like this.

As of 9th March, there have been over 268,000,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered since the start of the pandemic and are based on data reported.

That's based on data reported to WHO by national governments.

No causes of death have been found to have been caused by COVID-19 vaccines to date.

I hope that helps.

Thank you, Margaret Christophe, did you have a follow up or can we lower your hand?

No, I, I had, I had a quick follow up just on SO for the time being.

You were saying that it's a specific batch.

Is that a different batch from what Kovacs uses?

[Other language spoken]

I'm sorry that in those countries they have made a suspension of that, that batch, but you'll have to discuss that with those countries.

But they have made this as a precautionary action while they're looking at those particular instances, those particular reports.

[Other language spoken]

Let's try, Margaret.

I was saying Brazil has been registering over 2000 deaths a day, over 500,000 new cases a week and there is the P1 variant which is more transmissible and presumably more lethal as well.

My question regarding the the variant, is it a ****** beyond Brazil as well?

Does the does the situation in Brazil represent a ****** beyond the country?

And secondly, in terms of lockdown, confinement, etcetera, there's a perception that now some cities are going back to that mode in Brazil.

Do they work confinements, lockdowns?

[Other language spoken]

Is this a measure that has been proven to work?

Thank you very much.

Thanks Jamil, very good question.

Now we've looked at the situation, the variance and reviewed it.

The with the technical experts around the world and the public health social measures, the distancing, the not having mass gatherings, the being sure to track and trace everyone, being sure to isolate and genuinely quarantine, stay in that quarantine for the time you need to be quarantined.

These things do work.

Also with the variance, your second question, do lockdowns work?

Yes, they do.

Over and over.

When you look at the epidemiological curves in the various countries where they've instituted it, you see a drop and quite a dramatic drop in transmission because you're basically putting your entire society into quarantine.

The problem is you're also putting your economy into quarantine.

You're freezing all your other activities.

So it's not something you want to be doing for long term.

So essentially we're saying strengthen, really strengthen the public health social measures that we've talking, been talking about all year where they've been applied.

Well, they work.

The quarantines work, the isolation works, the self isolation works, the distancing, the ensuring that you genuinely test, you genuinely track, it really works.

But unfortunately it has not necessarily been applied well in every place.

And the other problem we're facing now is people are thinking that vaccines are somehow going to replace all the other measures.

No, we have to do it all together.

If we do it all together, we will beat this thing.

But we mustn't neglect every bit of the response.

[Other language spoken]

Yeah, it's actually not a follow up, but ask asking to respond to my first question, which is does Brazil at this moment with these amount of cases and a variant that does it represent a ****** to neighbours and to other countries in the world?

[Other language spoken]

So we're all connected.

Not there's not one or another.

We're all connected.

So, you know, I would just say until everyone's safe, no one's safe.

We all have to do our part.

Everyone of us, everyone of us on this planet has to do everything to stop this transmission of this virus.

[Other language spoken]

Well, Donna, I've just got a little logistical question with regards to the report on the Wuhan visit.

Given what I understand it's going to be quite a bulky report.

Are we going to get it on embargo for a few hours?

And secondly, in the presentation, will there be an an expert from the independent experts other than The Who staff to take questions from the press?

So John, I have cannot answer either of those questions, but I will pass them on to Tariq, who as you know is managing all the media, all the communications around this.

I don't think any of that detail has been necessarily sorted out yet, but I'll a pass it on to him to make sure it's clear that that's your request.

And secondly, so that you get any information.

[Other language spoken]

Let's go to Christian Ulrich.

[Other language spoken]

Margaret, you mentioned the advisory committee looking at the AstraZeneca details.

Can you tell us when they are meeting and when do you expect a more qualified response from them?

Because you told us what other people have said about AstraZeneca, but I understand that the advisory committee is the one that we should all be looking for.

And I wonder when they are meeting.

[Other language spoken]

I don't have a date, but they meet regularly at least every two weeks and, and, and they have been provided.

They are looking specifically currently at the AstraZeneca issue as it arose.

I will, I so I do not have a date for that or or release, but certainly will let you know as soon as I know.

OK, let's go to Byram and then we have body huger here in the room who would like to ask a question.

Let's start with Byram.

[Other language spoken]

I'm just wondering if a more health organisation released by RAM, I'm sorry, we're not hearing you very well.

[Other language spoken]

That's better, a little bit better, yes.

[Other language spoken]

I am just wondering if The Who will list the Chinese, you know, COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use.

If yes, when will you do that?

As as far as we know, Turkey, they vaccinated more than 10 million people with the Chinese vaccine and other countries start using this vaccine.

[Other language spoken]

In fact, if you look at our tracker, you will see that they have gone quite a long way through the process and they are now in the final stages of review.

So if that review is if all the questions that are needed to be answered or answered in that review that could occur quite, quite soon.

Thank you, Margaret, Let's go to body here in the room.

[Other language spoken]

I have a quite similar question with all other candidates vaccines, what's the process of approve approvement?

Do you have any news and regarding to the some vaccines problems approved as WHO also considering the variants with other candidates vaccines?

[Other language spoken]

Yes, certainly.

I'll again provide the link to the tracker that we use to follow where the different vaccines are in the approval process.

We have a lot going through various stages and you can see very clearly whether they're in the final stages or whether more information is required.

We've even got you know a likely dates for that, the time of approval and certainly we are looking at the Chinese vaccines at the moment.

There's also the Johnson and Johnson to consider and there are quite a few others.

[Other language spoken]

But yes, certainly if there are issues with variance or if there, if there is more research with variance, again, of course, we are very much involved in the overall review of those things.

OK, I see Byram has put his hand up.

Maybe it's a follow up Byram quickly and then we'll go to Gabriella and then we'll close with Emma Farge from Reuters.

[Other language spoken]

So which means are we expecting to take decision on cinema vaccine in March this month?

I mean we would expect probably, but I, I don't want to put an exact date on because you know these things can change depending on all sorts of issues, but we would expect by the end of March.

Now I should also mention with body, you mentioned approval, what we do is an emergency use listing, which opens the door for procurement by PAHO and UNICEF, but also provides the the confidence to countries that may not have their own full regulatory process.

They may then decide to use that as as acceptable for approval for use in their country.

But every country makes their own decision about approval.

I think that was that, that was your question.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you for your patience, Margaret.

Now let's go to Gabriella and then Emma.

[Other language spoken]

Real 2 questions in my eye, 1 is on Mexico.

I asked, I mean it's not like Brazil as of course, but in Mexico transmission is still very, very active.

So I asked Monday on the press briefing with Doctor Pedros if you are receiving information sequencing about any possible variant, like a Mexican variant, if you have any detail.

And Maria Van Kerkov said that she she didn't have the information at that time.

But I don't know if you can give me some information if you have data from Mexico on that issue.

And the second one is what is happening with the AstraZeneca because I mean in in UK it looked like it worked pretty well the vaccine and then they are using these vaccines and a lot of the AstraZeneca in Latin America, for example.

So what WTO advised not to use it on the until you revised it or what, what is the advice here?

Thank you, Gabriella, that's important that, that you gave me a chance to make it clear.

[Other language spoken]

In fact, what I read out to you was the European Medicines Authority advice and we can, you know, this is very important to understand that they are saying that the benefit outweighs the risk and that's very important.

Now, the only reason there's been a suspension in some countries is that they are looking at those signals.

Now AstraZeneca has is an excellent vaccine, as are the other vaccines that are being used.

And as I said, we've reviewed the data on deaths.

There has been no deaths to date proven to have been caused by vaccination.

So it's very important to understand that, yes, we should continue using the AstraZeneca vaccine.

All that we're looking at is what we always look at.

Any safety signal must be investigated.

In fact, it's very important that we're hearing safety signals because if we were not hearing about any safety signals, then that would suggest that there is not enough review and vigilance.

We must always ensure we look for any safety signals when we roll out vaccines and we must review them.

But there is no indication that to to not use it.

OK, Gabriella, can you on the variance?

[Other language spoken]

No, we don't have any information on that.

Sorry.

[Other language spoken]

Sorry, Gabriela, do you still have something?

[Other language spoken]

OK, let's go to John then and let's close off then for with WHO after John.

[Other language spoken]

With reference to your last answer about the emergency use listing, which opens the door for procurement by some UN agencies like UNICEF and PAHO, do some of the other regional offices of EU of The Who also have procurement capabilities like Afro or EMRO?

And secondly, on the transparency issue, some, some of the contracts by some of these UN agencies are very opaque in the details other than the price.

We don't have much details on what they've cut with the various manufacturers.

[Other language spoken]

Sorry, I don't know whether Afro and Amro do separate procurement generally for certainly for Kovacs it's been UNICEF and and and PAHO, I can't comment on on contracts that I know nothing about.

I don't even know what agency.

So that's not really something I can comment on.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you so much, Margaret, for answering all these questions.

As usual, we're going to give you let you go.

And I see that two more hands have now just gone up.

Emma Farge had raised her hand earlier, but then disappeared.

[Other language spoken]

What if she has a question for you, Emma?

[Other language spoken]

Maybe you could send me a WhatsApp with your question or contact Margaret directly?

Yeah, sorry, we don't seem to hear you.

So let's close with WHO here.

And Paula Dupras, you had a question for UNHCRI think Boris is with us, so maybe you could ask your question.

[Other language spoken]

So I actually just wanted to know if UNACR has any comments to make about the announcement in the US of the 18 months reprieve from depreciation over the Venezuelans and that they'd be offered to very protective status in the US?

Thank you, Paula and I, I don't have many details with me on this, but of course, we welcome the announcement that came this week and it follows several positive developments that have come from the US administration in recent weeks.

I'm happy to see guidance from my colleagues and come back to you by later.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you, Boris.

We have more hands that have gone up.

[Other language spoken]

I had said that we would close off With WHO?

[Other language spoken]

Emma, are you with us?

[Other language spoken]

I think it would be best if you could contact Margaret directly.

[Other language spoken]

Peter Kenny, is this a question for UNHCR or, or, or or Margaret?

Yeah, it's actually a question for UNHCR.

[Other language spoken]

You know, I wanted to ask Boris, just to recall.

I, I'm sorry, I'm, I'm missed Jensen's briefing because I got called out for a call, but I wanted to know about Somalia, if there's any due to this situation with the drought there, is there any movement of refugees across the border into Kenya?

[Other language spoken]

Thank you, Peter, for that question.

I'll also have to seek some information from colleagues on the ground in Somalia and Kenya to make sure that I have the right information.

And I will come back to you today on that.

[Other language spoken]

All right, Very last question to John.

[Other language spoken]

My question is for Sarah Bell of UNDP, if she's still there.

Let's see if she is.

[Other language spoken]

I think she is, yeah.

[Other language spoken]

My question is if Mr Steiner is still standing by his memo on the crisis in Tigray.

I need to get back to you on that.

I haven't seen the memo myself, but I can easily connect you to the person in charge today.

[Other language spoken]

All right, thank you.

And I think that's it for questions.

We're going to try to end this briefing and let me see if I just have a few announcements for you in terms of press conferences.

Where did my press conference announcements go?

There we go.

Just a reminder, we were talking about Syria earlier, a reminder that on Monday, the special envoy for Syria, Mr Gerr Pedersen, will be briefing the Security Council.

He's going to be doing that I believe around around 3:00 PM Geneva time and right afterwards and that could be anywhere between 4:30 and 5:30.

[Other language spoken]

So we will try to keep you informed of of more details as soon as we have them on Monday.

But you basically know that it'll be between 4:30 and 5:30 on Monday.

Then, as Catherine Reisu reminded you, on Tuesday at 4:00 PM there's a virtual press conference by UNKTAD on the new UNKTAD analysis and update on the global economy.

That will be with Richard Kozol Wright, from WHO is the Director of the Division on Globalisation and Development Strategies, and Nelson Barbosa, Professor of Economics from the University of Brasilia.

In terms of meetings, the Conference on Disarmament was holding this morning a public plenary meeting.

The Human Rights Committee closed or will be closing on the 26th of March, it's 131st session during which it has reviewed the reports of Finland and Kenya.

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities be was beginning today at 12:30.

It's review of the report of Estonia, which will continue on the 15th and 17th of March.

That's always between 12:30 and 2:30 PM.

And the Human Rights Council is continuing its 40th 46 session.

And you've had an update from Rolando on that.

I believe that that's all I have for you today.

So unless there's anything else, we will end here.

And I thank you very much for your attendance and have a good weekend.

I almost forgot it was Friday.

Have a good weekend, everyone.

[Other language spoken]