UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing 19 March 2021

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UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing 19 March 2021

1:21:24

MP4

838.6 MB

19-03-2021

Press Conferences | OHCHR , UNHCR , WFP , WIPO , WMO , FAO

UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing 19 March 2021

ENG

International Day of Forests

Mette Wilkie, for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said that the International Day of Forests would be celebrated throughout the world on Sunday 21 March 2021, under the theme “Forest restoration: a path to recovery and well-being”. Forests covered more than 30 per cent of the world’s surface and provided health benefits for everyone and habitat for 80 per cent of all known terrestrial species, many of which were under threat - more than 1 million of the planet’s estimated 8 million plant and animal species were at risk of extinction. Up to 25 per cent of medicinal drugs in developed countries and 80 per cent in developing countries were plant-based.

Deforestation was causing the loss of over 10 million hectares of forest, or the equivalent of twice the land area of Costa Rica, every year. One in every three disease outbreaks was directly linked to deforestation through the disturbance of habitat. However, it was possible to change that situation through investment: restoring forests was as cost-effective option and could both contribute to economic recovery after the coronavirus disease pandemic and help mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change.

Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), said that the UN Secretary-General, in a message to mark the International Day of Forests, had said that, despite all that forests provided to the world, their loss was continuing at an alarming rate. He called on the world to plant the seeds for a sustainable future by committing to restore and conserve the world’s forests. The Secretary-General’s full message is available here.

Replying to questions from journalists, Ms. Wilkie said that the two main drivers of deforestation were large-scale commercial exploitation and small-scale farmers. Alternative livelihoods needed to be found for the latter and new efforts were being made to help countries do that in order to reduce deforestation. It had been shown, notably in Latin America, that indigenous groups were effective in protecting forests, and funding should be channelled into helping local people manage the forest sustainably, through forest-based livelihoods, especially to build back better from the pandemic. Africa had the largest annual net loss of forests, with deforestation affecting the east and the south in particular, but rates were rising throughout the continent. She noted that data showed a significant reduction in deforestation in Brazil since 2014, but that more recent satellite imaging indicated that there had been an increase in the last couple of years.

New Water and Climate Coalition

Clare Nullis, for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said that oceans, like forests, absorbed large amounts of CO₂ and took up over 90 per cent of the excess heat trapped in the atmosphere. World Water Day would be marked on Monday 22 March; on Thursday 18 March, a high-level event had been convened in New York by the President of the UN General Assembly to launch a new Water and Climate Coalition, aimed at highlighting the lagging progress made towards the water-related Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 6, on clean water on sanitation for all.

Some 39 per cent of the world’s population did not have access to safe drinking water; 50 per cent would face water stress by 2015. Climate change was altering rainfall patterns, with increasing damage caused by floods and drought throughout the world; those problems were exacerbated by socioeconomic change and population growth. The melting of ice cover and glaciers was leading to increased water stress for millions of people. Over half of all countries had no quality management system for water, which meant that there was an immense information gap, a problem that the new Coalition, spearheaded by WMO, aimed to address. The Water and Climate Leaders Panel, whose 15 members included presidents and ministers from many countries and business leaders, would provide strategic guidance to the Coalition.

Attacks on civilians in Democratic Republic of the Congo

Babar Baloch, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that attacks blamed on the armed group, Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), had killed nearly 200 people, injured dozens of others and displaced an estimated 40,000 people in Beni Territory in North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as nearby villages in Ituri province. In less than three months, ADF had reportedly raided 25 villages, set fire to dozens of houses, and kidnapped over 70 people. That was in addition to the 465 Congolese who had been killed in attacks attributed to ADF during 2020. While the men had generally remained behind to protect their homes, the women and children had fled to Beni and other towns and were living in dire conditions.

UNHCR urgently needed USD 2 million to reinforce its protection and humanitarian response in Beni, North Kivu and Irumu Territory in Ituri. Currently, the USD 33 million UNHCR required for the response in the whole of the eastern part of the country was just 5.5 per cent funded.

In response to journalists’ questions, Mr. Baloch said that armed groups refrained from attacking settlements when Government troops or forces of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) were present. However, once they withdrew, the armed groups would attack, supposedly in retaliation for villagers passing on information to the military, but often in a search for food or medicines. They killed, injured or kidnapped local people. Many armed groups had long carried out such attacks, but the intensity and violence of the ADF attacks over the past three months were particularly disturbing.

The full briefing note is available here.

Answering a question, Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), said that, on 15 March 2021, peace-keeping forces deployed to Bulungo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo had found the bodies of victims of an attack, reportedly committed by ADF.

WFP cuts food rations in Somalia because of funding shortages

Tomson Phiri, for the World Food Programme (WFP), said that the continued deteriorating food security situation in Somalia, combined with significant funding shortfalls, had forced WFP to cut by 50 per cent the rations it had distributed to almost 1.3 million people in the country in February. It had reallocated resources to restore full rations, but urgently required USD 172 million to continue its operations in the country at current levels for the next six months.

The vital nutrition programmes were also at risk because of funding shortages and, previous gains, including a 2 per cent reduction in the malnutrition rate last year, risked being undermined; 840,000 children were expected to suffer from moderate acute malnutrition, 143,000 from severe acute malnutrition, and 51,000 were at risk of dying.

In answer to a question, Mr. Phiri said that the rations provided represented only the most basic of food supplies and that the cuts to them, combined with the effects of the previous year’s poor harvest and the poor rain forecast for the coming season, could represent the difference between life and death.

Human Rights Council update

Rolando Gomez, for the Human Rights Council, said that the forty-sixth session of the human Rights Council had been extended by a day to 24 March to allow time for the consideration of the draft resolutions and amendments. Regarding the Council’s programme, he said that the conclusion today of the general debate on item 8, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, would be followed by an oral update by the High Commissioner for Human Rights on systemic racism, violations and international human rights law against Africans and people of African descent by law enforcement agencies, in follow up to a resolution adopted in June 2020. The general debate on item 8 would continue into the afternoon.

At 5 p.m., there would be an interactive dialogue on the human rights situation in the Kasai region in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The meeting on Monday would begin at 9 a.m. with a presentation by the new Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Mali of the annual report of the mandate-holder, to be followed by a high-level interactive dialogue on the human rights situation in the Central African Republic.

There would then be a general debate on technical assistance and capacity building and, towards the end of the day, the Council would begin considering the draft resolutions. For the first time, the Council would be voting simultaneously in a virtual manner on an electronic platform referred to as e-delegate platform, using a system intended to mimic voting taking place in person. There were 31 draft resolutions, plus 14 amendments, to be voted on, all available on internet.

Launch of a WIPO report

Edward Harris, for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), said that WIPO would hold a press conference on Monday 22 March at 11 a.m. to present a report entitled “Technology Trends 2021, Assistive Technology”, which was under embargo until 11.30 a.m. on 23 March. The report used patent data to look at the future of innovations that helped people overcome mobility, sight and other physical limitations and showed how such emerging “assistive technologies" were increasingly integrated with consumer goods.

WTO, Aid-for-Trade Event

Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service said, on behalf of the World Trade Organization (WTO), that WTO would hold a virtual Aid-for-Trade Stocktaking Event from Tuesday 22 to Thursday 24 March 2021, to survey the trade impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on developing and least-developed countries and examine how Aid for Trade could help support recovery and foster resilience.

The high-level session will feature Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Isabelle Durant, Kristalina Georgieva, Angel Gurría, and David R. Malpass.

The high-level plenary on Tuesday 23 March and the closing session on Thursday 25 March would be livestreamed on the WTO YouTube channel.

Journalists interested in registering to participate in the high-level session should send a request to the WTO at pressbriefing@wto.org

Other Announcements

Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), said that, as of the previous evening, a total of 237 staff members of the United Nations Secretariat in Geneva had tested positive for COVID-19 since March 2020.

Ms. Vellucci said that the next public plenary meeting of the Conference on Disarmament would take place on Friday 26 March at 10 a.m., under the presidency of Bulgaria. It would be the last meeting of the first part of the current year’s session.

She noted that the Human Rights Committee would close its 131st session on Friday 26 March at 4 p.m. It had reviewed the reports of Finland and Kenya.

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities would hold a public general debate on Monday 22 and Wednesday 24 March at 12.30 p.m., in view of the drafting of a general comment on article 27 of the Convention, related to the right to work and employment. The Committee would close its 24th session on 1 April 2021.

Ms. Vellucci said that the international days being marked in the next week included the International Day of Happiness and French Language Day, both on 20 March, and World Poetry Day, World Down Syndrome Day and Nowruz on 21 March.

She also announced that, on Friday 19 March, at the noon press briefing at United Nations Headquarters in New York, the Secretary-General’s report on “Special Measures for the Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse” would be issued in all the United Nations languages. The report contained information on and a series of charts outlining the nature of allegations reported for United Nations peace operations, for United Nations entities other than peace operations, implementing partners, and for non-United Nations forces operating under a Security Council mandate.

Teleprompter

[Other language spoken]

Welcome to the press briefing of the UN Information Service in Geneva of Friday, 19th of March.

We have quite a long list of briefing and announcements and I would like to start straight away with our guest, Mrs Mehta Wilke, who's the Director of the Forestry Division of the FAO.

She is with us on Zoom to tell us about the forest restoration, a path to recovery and well-being, and of course, Adriano.

Timothy is with her online.

If you need to also intervene.

Adriano, please raise your hand.

Otherwise I'll give the floor straight away to Mrs Wilky.

You have the floor, Madam.

I don't think we can hear you just one second.

[Other language spoken]

We are moving some buttons here in the room.

Can you try now, please?

[Other language spoken]

Sorry for that.

Is this that?

[Other language spoken]

Please go ahead with your briefing.

[Other language spoken]

All right, thank you.

Good morning and thanks for inviting me.

What I want to talk to you about is about this Sunday, the 21st of March, which is the International Day of Forests.

The aim of this day is to celebrate forest and raise awareness of the importance of all types of forest across the globe.

And on each International Day of Forest, countries are encouraged to undertake local, national, international efforts to organise activities involving forest and trees, such as tree planting campaigns.

And this year is no different, except for the fact that in many countries we have to keep our distance and use our face masks.

But this year, the observance also takes place during the first year of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, which focuses on scaling up efforts to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide.

So that's why the theme for 20/21 is forest restoration, a path to recovery and well-being.

And since the day falls on this Sunday, the FAO and others marks the day today.

And we have a very **** level online ceremony starting at 11 O clock Central European time.

But just to tell you why it's so important that we celebrate this day.

Forests cover about 30% of the global land area.

They provide habitat for the majority of terrestrial plants and animal species known to science, and they provide us with the air that we breathe, most of the water that we drink, and numerous products that we use every day in our daily lives.

More than a billion people depend on forest foods and 2.4 billion people use fuel, wood or charcoal to cook their daily meals.

Forests are also what we call green pharmacies.

In developing countries, up to 40 or 80% of all medicinal drugs are plant based.

But unfortunately forest and the biodiversity they contain continue to be under ****** from actions to convert the land to other uses or unsustainable levels of exploitation, some of it illegal.

And FA OS most recent Global Forest Resources Assessment tells us that each year the world loses more than 10 million hectares of forest.

That's an area about twice the size of Costa Rica.

This is having negative impacts on the climate, biodiversity and people.

We know that deforestation and land degradation is affecting the well-being of at least 3.2 billion people across the world and costing more than 10% of annual global GDP in lost ecosystem services.

It also impacts people's health.

Nearly one in three outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases is directly linked to land use change such as deforestation, and the risk of new pandemics will continue to increase if we continue business as usual.

So the message we have today is that we can change this.

Restoring forests and managing them sustainably is a cost effective option to provide multiple benefits for both people and the planet.

Investments in forest restoration will contribute to economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic by creating green jobs, generating new livelihoods, and increasing food security.

It will also help us mitigate and adapt to climate change, increase habitats for biodiversity, provide numerous wood and non wood products that we all use, and increase the availability of green spaces for recreation.

In short, healthy forests mean healthy people.

So we are asking everybody to help protect, manage and restore our forests to make sure that we are on the right path to recovery and well-being.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much for this briefing.

And I would like to add that we've just sent you the message on the International Day of Forest by the Secretary General, where he says, as Miss Ricky just said, that despite all that they provide, forest loss continues at an alarming rate.

The forestation also increases the risk of infectious disease outbreaks and pandemic.

On this International Day of Forest, let us plant the seeds for a sustainable future by committing to restore and conserve our forests for the benefit of people and the planets.

And I'll open now the floor to question.

I see Jamil Chade, this is we can know you have very little time and that's why we've started with you.

But if you have a time for a couple of questions, I have here journalists who would like to ask you something.

So I'll start with Jamil, then Liz and John.

[Other language spoken]

Jamil, we are a little bit slow this morning.

Sorry for that.

[Other language spoken]

What is your perception about Bolsonaro's government?

Thank you very much.

OK, Shall we take all of the questions in one go?

No, it's quite customary to answer question by question for the journalist.

OK, All right.

I the question is related to deforestation in Brazil.

I take it in Brazil there has been a tremendous reduction in the deforestation since 2014.

We see now that there is some increase in deforestation happening in the last year or so.

The data that we get, we get from the institution in Brazil that's monitoring their forest and we publish our data of every five years.

So I don't have the data for you for for this past year, but we have seen an increase in deforestation in the last couple of years based on information that we see from others that are providing that through the monitoring of their forest by satellite imagery.

Mrs Wiki, just for your information, as Adriano is here with us in Geneva, if you have follow up data to share with the journalist, I think you can do it through him or through US in case you want to share the the data about Brazil later on.

[Other language spoken]

One is, if you would be specific, elaborate a bit more on why the loss of forest will will increase the risk of pandemics.

And also forests are very important to prevent climate change.

At what point if we continue to cut down the forest do we reach a point of no return?

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

We have indications that nearly one in three outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases is directly linked to land use changes.

That's deforestation, fragmentation of forest.

And the reason for that is that we are disturbing the habitat for some of the wildlife species that are carrying these zoonotic diseases, which means that we are increasing the risk of a spillover from wildlife to either directly to people or through domestic animals and then to people.

So by altering the nature of the forest and reducing their habitats, we are increasing the risk.

The second one is we cannot reach the climate change goals without forest.

They are crucially important and we know that if we help restore forests, if we reduce the rates of deforestation, that alone with some other nature based solutions can help provide 30% of that mitigation action.

We need by 20-30 to stay below the 2°, but if we really want to go to 1.5° as the maximum increase in global temperatures, we do need to restore the degraded lands, including the forest.

Otherwise we will never get to that list.

But obviously we need to do that together with decarbonisation of our economies.

Thank you, John, Derek Costis yes, good morning, can you hear me?

[Other language spoken]

I was wondering if you could give us some some insights that have been concerns by some developing countries that to preserve the lungs of the earth, rich countries have to chip in and help the poor countries preserve these resources which are being challenged because of a lot of poverty and people needing to survive.

Where is that debate going, especially from rich countries which have the luxury to to live better lives than the people in the poor countries?

Yes, when we look at sort of the drivers of deforestation, we can classify it into two big groups.

One is for large scale commercial agriculture and one is for small scale subsistence use.

And we see that primarily in Africa.

And here we really need to come with some identify to identify some alternative livelihoods.

And there's a lot of effort going into that.

But you have also seen that countries are pledging large amount of funding for combating climate change and for putting funding into the Green Climate Fund, and that's exactly to help countries reduce their rates of deforestation and forest degradation and finding those alternative livelihoods.

We have also seen an increase in debt for nature swaps and there are new efforts going on to try and help countries that are in a position to reduce and better protect their forest, but may not have the financial capacity to do so to provide that.

At the moment it's primarily on a voluntary basis from rich countries to the to the poorer countries.

[Other language spoken]

I, my question is whether you think that indigenous peoples who live in the rainforest, as in Brazil and other parts of South America and elsewhere, who have been acting really as the guardians of these forests very often and which have been hard hit by the pandemic as well as other health and, and social issues in, you know, in recent years.

Should they be a recipients for humanitarian assistance?

[Other language spoken]

We have seen, as you said, that in many cases indigenous peoples are the ones that protect the forest.

And I think you've seen that also, particularly in Latin America where there's been areas of forest that's been designated to the indigenous and local communities to conserve those.

You've really seen a decrease in the deforestation rate.

So it's very important that we do involve those that are living in or nearby or from the forest in those decisions and help them find ways of sustainably manage the forest, still use it, but sustainably manage and conserve the forest.

So you have what we call forest based livelihoods.

I think there's a lot of interest in trying to see how we can have used this opportunity that we have now with the fact that everything has been at a bit of a standstill.

But we want to build back better and see how we can channel that funding so that it is both helping the people, but at the same time, as the Secretary General said, also the planet.

So looking at options that can help with both combating climate change, conserving biodiversity and increasing livelihoods.

And indeed in the message of the secretary general, he also noticed notes that indigenous peoples are leading the way.

They care for the herds biodiversity and achieve conservation results with very few financial resources and little support.

I think you have received the message by now.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, thank you for taking my question.

I was just wondering if you you mentioned the effects of deforestation in Africa and I was wondering which parts of Africa are the most impacted.

Is it the northern parts or the southern parts or both parts?

[Other language spoken]

Yes, Africa is now the region with the largest net loss of forest annually.

It used to be South America, but it's now Africa.

In the last five years that has changed.

It's primarily South of the Sahel, clearly, because that's where most of the forest is, but it varies between the countries.

You will see quite a lot in the eastern and southern part of Africa.

Some parts of western Africa, not so much yet in the Congo Basin because the population density is lower in some of those countries.

But it's spread spread throughout Africa that we are seeing that unfortunately, the rates of deforestation are going up in many countries, not going down.

Thank you very much, Mrs Wilke.

We really appreciate that you took your the time to to brief our Geneva press score.

Thanks for this information.

And as I said, if you want to follow up with the journalist, don't hesitate.

And before we leave FAUI, just would like to remind you that today at 12:30 we have a virtual press briefing with the FAONUNDD, sorry, DRR.

And it will be about the launch of the FA OS report, The Impact of Disasters and Crisis on Agriculture and Food Security 2021.

We'll have it from here.

So let's stay on the planets.

As Mrs Wiki said, the 21st of March is the International Day of Forest.

But the 22nd of March, I remind you, is World Water Day and the 23rd of March, World Meteorological Day.

And I have the pleasure to have with me in person.

Claire, no, this to brief you on a launch on this of the on this subject.

OK, yes, good morning, everybody.

Good to be in this room.

Just to follow up on what the FAO has has said, you know, forests really are the lungs of the earth.

They do play a vital role in absorbing carbon dioxide.

[Other language spoken]

They are once again at record levels.

We need all the help we can get in climate action and forests play a key role in in that.

[Other language spoken]

They absorb more than 90% of excess heat which is trapped in the in the atmosphere.

And so that's why World Meteorological Day on Tuesday, on the 23rd of March does have the theme of the ocean, our climate and weather.

It's all, it's, it's all interconnected.

You know, we would live on an interconnected Earth.

You know, the forests play their role, oceans play their role.

Obviously the, the atmosphere, you know, it, it, it, it's all, it's all interconnected.

We will send out a press release on on the oceans for World Meteorological Day.

[Other language spoken]

So if you need it, if you need it now, I can, I can certainly send it after this, after this briefing.

We're not planning a press event as such, but we are having a virtual ceremony at noon Geneva time, which you're more than welcome to join.

And we will send details of that.

And if anybody does need interviews, please, please let me know.

[Other language spoken]

So continuing the international days, Monday is World War.

Today climate and water obviously very, very closely connected.

Yesterday there was a **** level event in New York convened by the President of the General Assembly to focus attention just on how far we are lagging behind in achieving the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals on water.

It's Sustainable Development Goal 6 and at that **** level event we saw the launch of a new water and climate coalition.

There's obviously a lot of coalitions within the UN system at the moment, but we as WMO are convinced that we really need this new water and climate coalition to try to have more integrated policy making.

Quite often climate is dealt with in by one ministry, water by by another.

And we really need, you know, much, much more integrated action.

Climate change, you know, is playing out through water.

We're seeing an increase in.

Water related hazards such as droughts, such as floods, we're seeing more uneven rainfall patterns, we're seeing more intense precipitation.

The precipitation is falling at different times of the year than it did in the in the past.

There was a new study released by Switzerland earlier this week, which, you know, laid out these scenarios for water in in the future.

And it did make quite, you know, a concerning reading.

And then at the same time, you know, we do have the problems with the, with the access to clean water, to clean sanitation.

So 39% of the global population doesn't have access to safe drinking water.

We expect this problem to be exacerbated because of socio economic changes of population growth and obviously changes in in sources of water such as glaciers.

We are we call them the water towers of the world.

They store a huge amount of of our water.

They are melting.

And so one of the leaders of this new water and climate coalition, which was launched yesterday in New York, is the president of Tajikistan.

Just to give you some figures, which will be in the press release, we'll, we'll send out Tajikistan.

There used to be more than 14,500 glaciers in the 20th century.

Today, more than 1000 of these have completely melted and the the total volume of glacier mass has decreased by 1/3.

This in the short term, leads to more hazards like avalanches, mud flows, flooding, what we call glacial outbursts.

In the long term, it's going to lead to increased water stress for millions and millions of people because obviously, you know, glacier melt is a key source of water and we are seeing this repeated throughout the world.

Other members of the, the, we've got 15 members of this new **** level climate, water and climate leaders panel, as we, as we call it.

Other members are we've got the president of, of Hungary, we've got former or ex or current government ministers from Costa Rica, from Togo, we've got members of the business community, youth leaders.

So, you know, it really is representative from all regions of the world.

And our message is, you know, very much we do need more concerted action on on water and climate.

Just to give you, sorry, I'm, I'm throwing a lot of statistics at you just to say more than half of countries worldwide have no quality management system for that, for their water.

You know, we really do need to make a concerted effort to, you know, to, to, to do much, much more on both on water, but also on climate action.

And as I said, I will say I will send you the press release after this.

Thank you very much, Claire.

Let me see if there are questions for you.

I'm the journalist at the moment.

[Other language spoken]

Actually on the last point, that's that you mentioned where do, where, where are those countries that you say do not have management, water management systems?

Is there a concentration in certain parts of the world?

No, unfortunately it's, it's it's it's it's in many, many countries of the world.

It's obviously, you know, with the problems are most acute in in developing countries, Europe, developed countries in in in Asia, North America much, much better quality monitoring systems.

But generally we, our weather forecasts, weather observations are based on free exchange of data with the water sector.

There's there's not nearly so much exchange of data.

It's one of the things that we are working at as WMO and it means, you know, there is there is a big information cap gap.

We are, you know, we are running blind in in many respects and that's one of the purposes of this, of this, this new water and climate coalition.

It's to just to try and fill that information gap and, you know, connect all the dots, bring the business community together, bring the youth leaders together and obviously the UN family.

Thank you very much, Claire.

Catherine.

[Other language spoken]

It's a question related to human rights.

[Other language spoken]

We'll have we'll have Rolando later on, if you don't mind, Kathy.

[Other language spoken]

Any other question?

Any other question for Claire?

[Other language spoken]

Yes, yes, Claire, I was wondering what is the UN and and all the other agencies besides W Mode doing to promote rainwater harvesting.

That's probably more of a question for our colleagues from FAO who just who just left.

I don't know is, is is my quick answer to that.

There is a, a coalition called UN water.

It's, it's, it brings all the UN agencies to together and it's UN water which organises World War today.

But certainly from our perspective as WMO, you know, not enough is being done to, you know, to capture and store water, but you know, far too much of it runs, runs off and we, and we're not measuring it.

You know, one of one, one of the fundamental principles is, you know, you what you don't manage, sorry, what you don't measure.

It's very difficult to manage and we're not measuring water properly at the moment.

And John, if you want, you can contact Danielle Boss from Danielle Labos from who as you know is the port, the spokesperson of the of water here in Geneva, if I'm not wrong, the memoir, as you say.

Any other question for Claire?

I don't see any.

Claire, thank you very much.

We'll have more International Day.

[Other language spoken]

But now I would like to go to our humanitarian colleagues and start with Babar Baloch for UNHCR, who has a briefing on DRC.

[Other language spoken]

I'm trying to pull up my notes.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, Loud and clear.

[Other language spoken]

We're talking about northeast TR Congo.

That sad and tragic situation continues.

Unit CR, the UN refugee agency, is warning about an alarming increase in the number of attacks by an armed group on civilians in northeastern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Since January this year, attacks blamed on the armed group Allied Democratic Forces, have killed nearly 200 people, injured dozens of others and displaced an estimated 40,000 people in the RCS Beni territory.

And it's not Kivu province as well as in the nearby villages in the Ituri province.

In less than three months, the ADF has allegedly raided 25 villages, set fire to dozens of houses and kidnapped over 70 people.

This is in addition to the 465 Congolese killed in attacks attributed to the group during 2020 attacks and widespread human right violations continue in other parts of North Kibu province as well.

The main reasons for these attacks are reported to include retaliation by armed group against military operations, their search for food and medicine, and accusations against communities of sharing information on their positions.

Those forcibly displaced this month have fled to Oecha, Beni and Butembo towns in the Beni territory, with many fleeing on motorbikes that the majority are women and children as men stay behind to protect their properties, which exposes them to the risk of further attacks.

Displaced people are living in dire conditions without shelter, food, water or healthcare.

In the context of Ebola and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the lack of access to toilets, clean water or soap, and menstrual hygiene product is particularly of concern.

In addition, families do not have enough essential items like blanket, sleeping mats or cooking materials.

Even before the recent mass displacement, an estimated 100,000 internally displaced people already in need of protection and help with shelter and other essentials in Beni.

Funding shortages have curtailed Unisia's ability to respond with the humanitarian assistant, including shelter.

We urgently need 2 million U.S.

dollars to reinforce our operations in in response of displacement in Beni, but also the required 33 million that UNITR needs for our response in whole of in the whole of Eastern DRC is just 5% funded.

I'll stop here.

Thank you very much, Babar.

I see Lisa has a question for you.

[Other language spoken]

How are you?

[Other language spoken]

It, it sounds very deplorable.

What what is the government doing?

Is it capable of doing anything?

You say it's it's essentially a fight between the this armed group and the military operations and yet civilians seem to be deliberately targeted.

Is that correct?

And if so, what is the reason behind that the tactic?

Do they hope to achieve more by doing that then?

Well, maybe they're also killing the, the, the military as well.

I'm kind of concerned that there's seems to be no security at all.

[Other language spoken]

The the main reason for these attacks are reported to include retaliation by the armed groups.

They accuse the communities of sharing information on their on their presence where they are, but also they go searching for food and medicine and and they go in in the communities after the civilians.

What we have seen in the past as we have been talking about the issue here where is when there are the government forces are present, the groups don't attack those locations.

But it it it's worst, worst remote areas.

When the forces, the government forces are not there and they have left, then these groups go after the civilians.

In in this case, it seems that since the beginning of of the year, they have gone on a rampage in terms of raiding villages, killing civilians, kidnapping people, leaving people injured behind.

And the consequences are really, really clear on the desperate population who have to flee at in cases many times from each location to another.

[Other language spoken]

Alessandra, the question is more for you and for Babar.

It is regarding MONUSCO, the UN mission based in in DRC now for more than 20 year, 20 years.

So is the MONUSCO in Beni and do do they help the the local people or is it too far from the villages that are attacked?

Thank you, but I don't know if you can answer at least partially this question for on my side I will have to ask exactly what the mission is doing in Beni.

Do you have any other information about?

[Other language spoken]

As I was mentioning, so whenever Monsco and and the government forces are present to provide security, we have seen that attacks don't happen.

What we are calling is for increase protection for the desperate civilians.

I don't particularly have an answer in terms of what the what Monsco's exact locations are, where they are or where they are not.

But it seems once forces are not there in, in, in terms of their presence, it gives these groups a chance to go after the civilians.

[Other language spoken]

And on what I have seen now, but I as I said, I would have to ask a little bit more in detail, but this is a news of the 15th.

So it's a little bit older that the peacekeepers from the Forced Intervention Brigade deployed to the areas where they found the area of Bulongo village, which is located east of Beni, where they discovered unfortunately bodies are victims of violence.

But as I said, I'll try to get a little bit more updated information about that.

Kathy, on the MONUSCO activities in relation to what Baba just said.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, yes, Barbara, I was wondering if UNHCR officers based in North America and Central America have had access to the thousands of children, asylum seekers, unaccompanied children incarcerated by US border guards.

They're in the thousands now.

What's the situation there?

Have you asked for access and been granted access by US authorities?

[Other language spoken]

So UNITIA is aware of the numbers being reported by the US government on on arrivals at the southern border was of so far this year.

We have also seen media reports concerning reception conditions for unaccompanied children crossing the border.

We understand that the US Government is considering a range of mechanisms to ensure human deception conditions prompt protection and screening and compassionate treatment of unaccompanied children arriving at the southern US border.

Protection of forcibly displaced children is at the core of our work and mandate, and we welcome moves by the US Government to address existing deficiencies and deception capacity for children arriving to the US.

Unit CR is ready to offer Technical Support and expertise in support of US efforts to keep unaccompanied children safe.

I have to check in, in, in terms of where our presence is, in terms of the location close to the border.

John, probably that we can check and get back to you.

[Other language spoken]

Bye Freddy, we Alexandra Baba population.

[Other language spoken]

Can we unmute Peter, please?

[Other language spoken]

Peter, you're on.

[Other language spoken]

Alessandra, I have one point of clarification from what you said, the military intervention that you were talking about was that Meniscal and I would like to ask Baba, the ADF has been active in this part of DRC for quite some years now.

And normally you just or the UN just refers to armed groups.

Are these attacks at the moment sort of seasonal, you know, is this does this happen at a certain period of the year every year or can you just elaborate a little bit more?

But I'll let you answer first maybe, but just just I say maybe what I'll do because I see there are a lot of questions on, on this issue.

Maybe we will try to organise a little encounter between you here in Geneva and our colleague in of the Manusco that will probably be so you could ask all these questions directly.

I'll, I'll see what I can do on that.

But Babar, maybe you want to answer your part of the question.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you, Alexandra.

Thank you for what what we have seen.

I mean the attacks are not seasonal.

These attacks linked to ADF specifically have continued in the last year as well.

So the latest 200 people that they have killed, in addition to that, there were 465 Congolese.

That were killed in attacks attributed to the ADF during last year as well.

And, and these attacks have been displacing people.

This group has been going after civilians year after year.

And we have been reporting, I mean, in, in only in, in terms of tactics.

One example that colleagues were shared was that on March 2nd, members of the ADF infiltrated into an open market in Mambalinga in the Ituri province.

After mingling among the visitors, they started to fire on the local population, killing eight people.

So this these are the tactics that they have that they continue to to use and, and desperate people, the the civilians who come under attack after attack.

I mean, they have seen too much of, of, of, of, of these, uh, attacks and killings and raids on their villages and, and displacement.

So for them, security is the most important thing that they can have.

And for us as humanitarians, when we are able to access them in, in many cases we don't have the resources to, to even help these people.

[Other language spoken]

But as I was mentioning, we need 33 million for this part of DRC in terms of our funding and and out of that money so far we have just received 5 1/2%.

Gabriella, yes, thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

Follow up on John's question, I think I read that there were 13,000 children there in the in the border, so in the USA border.

So if maybe if this number is accurate do you think and also if you have any, if you're watching the situation on the children that are in the other side of the of the border in Mexico, they are a stock in overcrowded shelters waiting to pass to to USA and ask for asylum.

So if you are watching the situation there.

[Other language spoken]

In terms of exact numbers, I actually don't have that currently with me.

So maybe I'll try to reach out to colleagues in terms of getting it.

Indeed, we are present on the other side in, in Mexico in terms of how much access and where we are, as I was mentioning.

So that has to also has has to be checked.

So I'll, I'll probably get back to, to you, Byram.

Thank you, Alessandro, for taking my question.

[Other language spoken]

Actually.

We have a breaking report from Turkey this morning, actually about an hour ago, less than an hour ago.

The Minister of the Interior, Mr Suleiman Soldo, said on Twitter that Greek coast guards beat up 7 migrants tonight, took their belongings, tied their hands to plastic handcuffs and threw them into the sea without life jackets and boots and left them for dead.

And he added that the Turkish Coast Guard rescued 2 migrants alive at 2:55 and found one dead body of 1 of migrant and search continues for missing migrants.

So Mr Barber, what's your comment on this issue?

And then will you condemn this horrific or horrific event?

[Other language spoken]

I think we have to go back in terms of checking.

I don't have any details right now on myself, but I can check with colleagues in terms of what, what, what they are hearing or, or getting from from the ground.

But in, in, in terms of incidents like this, I mean, you remember, we issued a statement on 28th of, of of January, which kind of clarifies our, our call on stage.

But on this one, I, I, I, I unfortunately don't have much details.

So I'll, I'll have to get back to you.

Maybe Baba, if, if you issue a comments, if you could send it to all the journalists, I think it would be of interest for, for all of them.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, I mean, yes, Alessandra, follow up about what you said.

And I think it would be a very good idea if possible if we could have the new head of MONUSCO.

It is Mrs Bintu Qaita, she has been recently she spoke on Wednesday, I think in she gave her first press conference there.

I don't know if she would be available to do another one soon.

But if you want to comment on what's happening now, maybe we can also ask this books person.

I mean a press conference because I mean, there's so many questions related to DRC Congo and I mean they are in the field and no one better than them are able to to answer.

[Other language spoken]

And yes, API think Byram has a follow up.

[Other language spoken]

Alessandra, I have a question on the press release which says that the main reasons for these attacks are reported to include retaliation by armed groups against military operations.

So in this part I'm a bit lost.

Armed groups, who are you talking about?

And is this paragraph still about the 200 people death or is it something else?

[Other language spoken]

And yes, indeed this is a tactic that armed groups because we are aware that there are many armed groups operating in, in, in that part of, of DRC.

So this is a tactic they do, they accuse the population of, of, of coordinating or, or accuse them of passing on information to the military forces in, in the region and they go after them.

But not only that, it also when they need food, when they're looking, uh, for, for medicines, they go raid houses, they go from village to village, not only taking the belongings, but also killing people, leaving them injured and also kidnapping civilians as well.

The killings that we are reporting today in terms of the 200, these are attributed to the ADF itself.

And then from the last year, as I was mentioning, there were more than 400 other killings that happened in 2020, which were also linked to to to attacks that the ADF had done.

[Other language spoken]

And the same for the attacks in the Bolongo village was apparently suspected to be from combatants of the ADF.

Yes, you have a follow up on this.

[Other language spoken]

Sorry, Babar, but you didn't answer exactly my question.

My question is on this sentence, you say armed groups in plural.

So who are you talking about?

Because ADF is ADF is one group.

I understand exactly ADF is one group, but ADF is not the only group operating in the region.

So this is a general trend that we have seen from the armed groups.

Whenever they go after civilians, they use this as as as as an excuse in terms of attacking them.

But that's not only the the only reason.

They also need food and other things to to get it from from the villages and from the civilians.

So there are many arm groups in in the region it in and it's a general tactic the way they operate.

[Other language spoken]

I don't see other questions from you for you.

So thanks for this briefing and I'll go now to Thompson who has a briefing note on Somalia.

[Other language spoken]

Good morning, bourgeois toss.

I do have an update from Somalia where the World Food Programme is notifying in advising the world about the food rations that we've had to cut in Somalia amid growing funding shortages.

The food security situation in Somalia has deteriorated and is expected to worsen due to climate shocks, economic upheaval and significant funding shortfalls.

These conditions forced the World Food Programme to cut food rations by 50% in February, and while WFP has reallocated resources to restore food, food, food, food, food rations, further cuts are expected as early as June 2021 unless sustained funding is secured.

An estimated 5.9 million Somalis, almost half of the population, need humanitarian assistance, with WFP providing food assistance to 1.3 million people.

WFP urgently requires $172 million to continue its operations in the country at current levels for the next 6 months.

Duration and programme cuts that I keep coming back to are compounds.

Projected food security deterioration in Somalia due to a range of factors.

There is an ongoing desert locust infestation there.

There are economic challenges and impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic.

They are recurring climatic shocks including droughts, flooding and below average forecast for seasonal rainfall.

Funding shortages are also putting vital nutrition programmes at risk.

With the current funding outlook, the Whole Food programme will only be able to continue programmes to prevent and treat malnutrition until June.

This may undermine previous gains, including a 2% reduction in the malnutrition rates registered last year.

Without these programmes you are talking of, up to 840,000 children were expected to suffer from moderate acute malnutrition, 143,000 from severe acute malnutrition and 51,000 are at risk of dying.

The WFP school feeding programme has also suffered due to the funding shortfalls with coverage being reduced by up to 50% in some areas.

I will leave it here and see if there are any questions.

Thank you Thompson, I'm looking to in the room or online.

Lisa, good morning Thompson, where are you?

Are you in Zimbabwe still or just curious?

When you say that the you're cutting the food rations, I mean, have you actually cut them for the four and a half million people?

And by how much?

I mean, and I'm curious to know whether people can can live on on the food that they're getting or whether this is actually increasingly more difficult.

And not only is it leading to malnutrition, but are people getting sick as a consequence of this?

Are they able to supplement the food ration cuts in any way?

Thank you so much, Lisa, for the question.

[Other language spoken]

I am back from Zimbabwe and should start making physical appearances next week.

[Other language spoken]

They had a below half below average harvest last year.

We have reduced by half.

We have cut rations by 50%.

The problem with this is that the assistance that humanitarians provide is meant to help people survive, to carry them from day-to-day.

The the people we assist, the 1.3 million people that we assist out of the 5.9 million that may need assistance in Somalia, are the poor of the poor.

They're the poorest, they're the most vulnerable and these are people who live from meal to meal and the kind of assistance that you provide them is just enough for them to survive.

The idea of the assistance is to provide the kilo calorie required for one to survive the day.

And when we cut it by half, we are talking of a basic meal.

This is not a three course meal, this is not a 5 course meal, this is not a seven course meal.

No, it's just the basics.

Wheat, sometimes it's maize flour, sometimes it's just pulses mixed with vegetable oil and salt that we provide for, for the nutrition programme.

We are providing super cereal, we are providing nutrition supplements and the the children that we are assisting.

Malnutrition rates have always been on the rise in Somalia due to the protracted conflict there, the loss of resilience over many years, decades of fighting.

So it is pretty much the basic.

And when humanitarians then come and say we have we've been forced to cut food assistance in this, in this settings has pretty much been the difference between life and death for these people.

And when we cut like this, we don't like to do so.

[Other language spoken]

People are struggling, they struggle to supplement, especially now because they had a poor harvest and there's below average rainfall being forecasted for Somali.

Thank you very much Thompson.

I don't see other questions for you, but I look forward to see you in person again next week.

Thank you for this briefing.

And before we we leave the humanitarian issues, I just wanted to remind you that on Monday, 22nd of March at 4:00 PM, UNHCI will hold a virtual press conference on to debrief you on the humanitarian visit to Mozambique's conflict affected Kabul Delgado region by Jillian Tricks, UNHCRS Assistant **** Commissioner for Protection and Rauf Mazu, UNHCR Assistant **** Commissioner for Operations.

And of course, Barbara is here if you want more information on this press conference.

Thank you very much to everybody.

We've got a few more announcements for you and I'll start with Orlando who has some updates on the council.

Rolando, thanks, Elizondo.

[Other language spoken]

I before I get into the programme for today, I just wanted to draw your attention to the note I shared with you last night, the updated programme of work for the current session of the Human Rights Council 46 session, indicating that the session is actually extended to one day by one day to Wednesday, the 24th of March.

So it was, it was meant to finish on the 23rd.

Now we need one extra day, and that's simply to allow time to consider all the draught resolutions and amendments that have been tabled at the current session.

So do consult the updated programme of work I shared with you last night.

Turning to today, the Council is just about to conclude its general debate on item 9, which is the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, otherwise known as the VDPA.

The VDPA being the document adopted in 1993 in June in Vienna, which actually established the post of the **** Commissioner for Human Rights for those of you who might remember that event.

And at approximately noon, So in about 30 minutes from now, the **** Commissioner will present her oral update on systemic racism violations and international human rights law against Africans and, and people of African descent by law enforcement agencies.

And this is especially those incidents that resulted in the death of George Floyd last year and, and other Africans and, and people of African descent.

So it's a very important update that she'll deliver in about 1/2 hour from now.

And this is also to note that there was a similar oral update that was delivered by the **** Commissioner in September.

And eventually the **** Commissioner will produce a written report planned to be presented at the Council at its June session a few months from now.

Shortly after the oral update, we'll hear a general debate or actually commence a general debate on Item 9, which speaks to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.

And this will spill over until the afternoon starting at 3:00 PM.

And then at 5:00 PM, we will hear an enhanced interactive dialogue on the DRC Democrat Republic of the Congo, particularly with the focus on the Kasai region.

A lot of discussion about this today, of course.

So I should just point out to you colleagues that in fact, the Minister for Human Rights from the Congo will be physically here, Andre Lite as Sebaya.

He's here participating in this enhanced dialogue, as is Bintu Kaita, the special representative of the Secretary General and head of MONUSCO.

She's participating virtually, but she will be part of the speakers delivering updates at this interactive dialogue.

We'll also hear from Michelle Bachelet, the **** Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as the experts, the international experts on the situation at Kasai, which was set up by the Human Rights Council in June 2018.

Those are back in DI and Marie Therese, Kaita Bokum.

We also have a speaker from civil society, from DRC speaking this afternoon.

So all that happening this afternoon at 5:00, if I may briefly turn to Monday's programme.

So the programme actually we, we start the day at 9:00 AM exceptionally because there's so much on the agenda to complete in a short time that we have.

Thereafter, we start on Monday with a presentation from the new independent expert on the situation of human rights in Mali.

That's Aliyun Tin, who will present his at the report, the annual report of the mandate holder, and it'll be followed by an oral update by the **** Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Ukraine.

And then that will be followed by in **** level interactive dialogue on the human arts situation in the Central African Republic.

I know this is something that we've been focusing on at the briefing recently.

And this dialogue will have a special emphasis on the fight against impunity, including in the electoral context.

And we will have the participation of the independent expert on the CAR, that's Yao Agbetse, as well as a government representative.

And I understand that the government will be represented by the ambassador here in Geneva.

We'll also have somebody from the UN mission in CAR Menuska, as well as somebody from the African Union and civil society.

So that's on Monday.

That'll be followed by a general debate on technical assistance in capacity building.

And then ultimately the council would will commence with the action on the very many draught resolutions it had before it.

We expect that to start at around 4:00 PM on Monday.

And and I wanted to point out that for the first time that the council will be voting simultaneously in a virtual manner on an electronic platform that we refer to as E delegate.

[Other language spoken]

It's it's a system which is meant to mimic the in person experience in the room as the states are casting their vote on the electronic system.

So this is, I understand the first time that this is being employed by Aun body.

So we'll, we'll start with the voting on roughly 4:00 on Monday and that'll continue on Tuesday and Wednesday.

And just to note that there are 31 draught resolutions, 14 amendments and they're all available on the extranet and I will as a voting commences, I will share with you my usual table of resolutions to keep you on track.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much for London.

Thank you also for pointing at the debate on DRC, the Kasai region this afternoon.

I'm I'm sure that will be of interest to the journalist.

And also before I open the floor to the questions on the International Day for the Ammunition of Racial Discrimination, which has Rolando said is commemorated by the international community on the 21st of March.

I just would like to remind you that we have sent both the message of the UN Secretary General for the day and also the embargoed remarks that the Secretary General is expected to deliver today at 10 AM in New York City at the General Assembly observance of the day.

So I will now give the floor to Jamil and Katherine, who had a question also minimal rights.

[Other language spoken]

Rolando, just on the on the resolutions, is there any chance that the voting will begin on Tuesday or for sure it will begin Monday 4:00 no matter what, just as a question regarding the schedule and I understand the question to you, any reason why WHO is not present?

[Other language spoken]

OK, just let me start with this.

Unfortunately, this morning they were not available, but they have sent us a message saying if you have any questions, please call them.

And they have been here quite consistently at the latest briefings, but specifically this morning they said they were not available unfortunately, but available on the phone.

[Other language spoken]

Shamil in terms of timing, we, we expect voting to begin approximately 4:00 PM on Monday.

But of course, things could change.

It all depends on how slow or quickly things progress beforehand and if there are many rights of reply.

There's always a risk it does spill over to Tuesday.

But I, I think from what we're doing now is trying to make up as much time as possible because there are really so many resolutions.

And with the new system that we're rolling out, the E voting system, as I mentioned, it will take slightly longer than in real time.

So we really do hope to start by 4.

Of course, if anything changes, I'll, I'll, I'll inform you all.

And of course, it's an opportunity for me just to really remind you that you have to keep track of, of voting as things happen very quickly.

And we are doing our best to keep you up to speed, but do monitor the, the voting as it progresses.

And I'll, I'll have the table that I share that I mentioned to help you do that.

[Other language spoken]

Rolando, first some question housekeeping.

You said that we'll have the, the session will also take place on Wednesday.

So do you know until what time approximately and now regarding the the session tonight from 5:00 PM about DRC Congo, will there be any opportunity to interview or will there be a press event with the Minister of Justice of the RC that will be in the room?

And my last remark, which is not really a question because it doesn't, it's not related to the Council, but to human rights.

I, I heard about the case of a young boy called Kongawi Bini Combo and he has been in care in, in gaol since October 2010.

And he was 12 years old and he is still detained in Kinshasa in the prison called Makala.

And I'm very surprised that no one meaning UNICEF or human rights or anyone did discover this young bullet boy at the time in gaol in in DRC Congo recently because of the help of another prisoner, he has been able to get a lawyer because in fact he is in arbitrary detention since that moment and without charges and letters have been sent a bits to everyone and no reply.

So could you please keep us updated about that young boy that has spent ten years in gaol without any reason?

[Other language spoken]

Rolando, maybe you want to answer this, but there is also James Elder from UNICEF on the line.

James, if you want to add anything, just raise your hand.

[Other language spoken]

I mean, maybe James could say something about this, the case of this, this young man.

It's, it's appalling to hear.

It's, it's a terrible situation, of course.

And and it's for this reason and and many likely sadly, that the council has been addressing the situation in the DRC since it began meeting 15 years ago.

The DRC has been and firmly on the agenda since then.

There have been over a dozen resolutions, of course, but the idea is to actually translate these these resolutions in something meaningful and and address situations like that.

The Council was designed specifically to address these types of appalling cases.

I would only encourage you to reach out to our colleagues in the office and of course we have MONUSCO is, is has a very vibrant human rights office which would be mandated to look into these cases along with partners like UNICEF, of course.

So I would encourage you to reach out to those colleagues and share as much information that which you just shared with us here and, and any additional details, please do share that with our colleagues.

In terms of speaking opportunity for the minister you asked, of course.

Well, I would point that question to the to the permanent mission directly to see if he might be amenable to that.

And in terms of the last question, the first question in fact was about when we might end on Wednesday.

I don't have a crystal ball, Catherine, I really don't know.

But it's, it's honestly, it's a safety net more than anything.

We may end up earlier than in the afternoon, but it's just it's a safety measure.

Again, we, we, we don't know precisely how long it'll take, but I'll I'll know more perhaps by Monday.

[Other language spoken]

We, we are not allowed to to go into the room, isn't it?

So there's no reason to to be in the Palais.

What is allowed, How many people are allowed if if I am in the plane, I want to, I mean, because I, I prefer to ask before go there and, and and be stopped.

We are subject to the usual limitations which have been set up by the confederation of five people in the room plus the organiser.

So I don't know if we will be able to get you in Rolando, what do you think we can?

I mean, if, if you need to come in just for a short period, Catherine, we could probably accommodate that up in the the balcony area with the press gallery in the back of the room.

You know, it's, it's possible, but perhaps not for a long, long duration.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Rolando.

That was the last question.

And since we are speaking about next week, I would just lie to inform you.

We have not sent out the announcement yet.

But I would like to give you already the heads up that, as Rolando said, on Wednesday, we will end up with the Council session.

And on Thursday morning, Thursday, 25th of March, at 10 AM, the UN Geneva Director General, Mrs Tatiana Balevaya, will hold her annual press conference with the Geneva Press Corps on the priorities of UN Geneva for 20/21.

And we will send you a formal invitation very soon.

It was just a heads up on this, John.

[Other language spoken]

I was wondering if the spokespeople from UNICEF or IOM are monitoring the the briefing because I have a follow up to my question on Tuesday concerning the child soldiers that were relocated, recruited in Syria, relocated to Syria and they have to Libya, sorry, and they are stranded in Libya.

If UNICEF or IOM have any, any follow up to my question, Jamie's on the line.

So I will see if he raises the end if he has any follow up about.

Paul is not Paul Dillon who's always with us and he's always connected.

Today, unfortunately he's not.

So we will have to bring the question perhaps UNICEF, since that's on their beat.

[Other language spoken]

UNICEF is on the line.

So I would invite James, if he has anything to share, to raise his hand.

But I don't see his hand up for the moment.

So I I leave him a little bit of time.

And in the meantime, I will go to Edward Harris, who has been very patient and who has an announcement from Waipo.

And James, please, if you have anything, just raise your hand.

I'll give you the floor.

[Other language spoken]

Hi, everyone.

[Other language spoken]

So just a little bit more information about what's happening at WAIPO on Monday.

It's a reminder that we're releasing our Technology Trends 2021 report, which is focused this year on assistive technology.

Now that's under embargo until Tuesday the 23rd at about at 11:30 in Geneva.

And I'll be sending out all the embargoed material here in just a few moments.

Just some background report uses patent data to look at the future of innovations that help people overcome mobility site and other physical limitations.

This is important because it's currently counts about 1 billion people worldwide and that's a figure that's set to double in the next decade as populations age.

It also finds, which is interesting and you'll see this in the press materials that a lot of these innovations originally designed for the folks who need them are also going to be integrated in the coming years into a wider range of commercial products.

So some of these cutting edge technologies that are very helpful to people with functional limitations will also be available to all of us in the products that we love and use every day.

These include brain computer interfaces, exoskeleton, smart prosthetics, companion robots, augmented reality devices and others.

So I'll be sending that around here shortly.

A reminder about the press conference that's Monday via the Unis Zoom platform, 11 AM.

The speakers are Marco Aleman and Irina Ketzera, who are heavily involved in the report.

So if you'd like to interview them or any other are experts in advance of the press conference on Monday, just get in touch and I'll see what I can do, but expect the embargoed materials within coming hours.

Thank you very much, Alessandra.

Thanks, Ed.

And I see James's recent and John, but since this is the other subject, just let me see if there's any hand up for Wiper in the room or online.

I don't see any.

So thank you very much, Edwin and thanks for your patience.

And I'll go to James Elder now for UNICEF.

Hey, thanks so much.

Yeah, listen John, I think what you're referring to is cross-border recruitment.

I'm told that there is a new report that has some MRM data which is under review in the SGS office.

So I've reached out again to those two countries, Syria and Yemen to get you a line.

[Other language spoken]

I'll loop back this afternoon.

If your query was on the the, the, the children I think you mentioned were recruited in Syria, but are actually now in Libya.

So it's cross-border recruitment if the allegations are correct.

And I'll get you a line and a note on when that MRM report will be released over.

[Other language spoken]

So Alessandro, my my question of my hand was up for Ed Harris.

[Other language spoken]

Let me see if Edward is still on the line.

[Other language spoken]

I don't know if he has gone as there were no questions for him.

Yes, I'm afraid he he has.

Oh, that's sorry for that John.

I thought it was because James had raised his hand.

[Other language spoken]

My question is specific about the 200 child soldiers currently stranded in Libya, not relocated to Yemen or other war zones.

They are right now in, in, in, in Libya and they're stranded there.

And my question is if UNICEF or IOM have been able to reach these kids and to assist them to be repatriated.

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I have written, I think someone mentioned this to me briefly on Tuesday and I wrote to them on Wednesday.

Let me follow up and and get an answer as to in whether we're in touch.

My answer I think is yes.

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So let me try and come back to you before the weekend.

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And I will also share your question with the IOM with Paul.

Thank you very much and thanks James for being with us.

So this leaves me with a few points to raise.

As usual on Friday, I give you my updates of the COVID cases in the UN Secretariat staff.

As of last night, we had a total of 237 staff in UN Geneva Secretariat that were tested positive for COVID-19.

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A few meetings To remind you, the next public plenary meeting of the conference on this amendment will be held Friday, 26th of March at 10 AM.

That would be the last one of the first part of this year's session and it will be held under the current presidency of Bulgaria.

The Human Rights Committee will close also on Friday, 26th of March at 4:00 PM.

It's 131st session during which he has reviewed the reports of Finland and Kenya.

And the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disability will hold public general debate next Monday and Wednesday at 12:30.

The Committee will close on the 1st of April.

I have a note from WTO our colleagues have asked me to read to you.

The World Trade Organisation will hold a virtual eightfold trade stock taking event from Tuesday 23rd to Thursday 25th of March.

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The event aims to survey the trade impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on developing and least developed countries and examine how aid for trade can help support the recovery and foster resilience, notably through the mobilisation of financing to address the trade needs of these countries.

10 sessions are organised by these developed countries and explore the role of aid for trade on issues such as access to vaccines, debt relief and digital connectivity.

The the **** level session will feature Ngozi Own, Konjo Iwala, Tedros Guebrasus, Isabel Duran, Kristalina Giorgieva Angel, Angel Guerilla and David Malpass.

The **** level plenary on Tuesday 23rd of March in the closing session on Thursday 25th will be live streamed on the WTO YouTube channel.

Interpretation will be available for various sessions.

Journalists interested in registering to participate in the **** Level session should send the request to the WTO at pressbriefing@wto.org.

And of course, Fernando is available if you need to ask more questions about this event.

Then finally, we have spoken a lot today about International Days.

There are quite a few more I would like to mention tomorrow, 20th of March, International Day of Happiness and it we all need a little bit of that.

The French Language Day is also celebrated.

And for this we have sent you an invitation for a programme today organised by the UN Geneva, by our colleagues of the conference management.

You have you should have received the programme for events taking place today from 1:00 to 2:00 PM.

21st of March is also World Poetry Day, International Day on Nauru's and World Down syndrome Day.

And last but not least, just be informed that today at the noon briefing, the Secretary General's report on special measures for the protection from sexual exploitation and ***** will be issued in various UN languages.

As you are aware, this is a top priority for the Secretary General.

That needs to that wants to address this issue head on and with full force.

The report contains information on and a series of charts that outline the nature of allegation reported for UN Peacekeeper peace operations, UN entities other than peace operations, implementing partners and new non UN forces operating under a Security Council Monday.

So I will invite you to look at the launch at the noon briefing.

I think I've given you all my updates.

And John has another question.

Yes, Alessandro, I'm not sure if I called it correctly.

This report to be launched today during the noon briefing in New York at also documents sexual ***** and exploitation not only by peacekeepers but also by different personnel in different UN agencies.

Is that correct?

Right.

That's what just what I've what I've just said.

Yes, fine, thanks.

Thank you very much.

Any other question for me or for colleagues?

I don't see any.

So thank you very much for being with us to this at this very long briefing and I will see you hopefully in 35 minutes for the FAOUNDRR press conference.

Thank you very much and have a nice weekend.