UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING

13 September 2023

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, which was attended by spokespersons from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Human Rights Council. A representative of the World Food Programme briefly participated in the briefing but had connection issues, so he could not deliver its statement.

Thailand Withdraws Reservation to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Babar Baloch for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said UNHCR welcomed the Royal Thai Government’s decision to withdraw its reservation to Article 22 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which related to the rights of refugee children.

The withdrawal fulfilled a key commitment Thailand made at last year’s Global Refugee Forum in Geneva. It also strongly reaffirmed that refugee children needed to be recognised as deserving of the same rights to access education, healthcare, legal protection, family reunification and other essential services as any other child under the Convention.

While this move was commendable, its implementation would be key. Thailand’s existing legal frameworks, including the 2019 Memorandum of Understanding on alternatives to detention, the country’s “Education for All” policy and its National Screening Mechanism, which established a formal process for recognising and protecting asylum-seekers, were all designed to offer protection to refugees. They reflected Thailand’s commitment to upholding refugees’ rights and well-being despite, not being a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention.

By strengthening legal protection and expanding access to essential services, Thailand was moving toward a more inclusive environment for refugee children, aligned with international standards. UNHCR hoped that, continuing on this path, Thailand would one day be detaining no refugee children.

This important development came at a time when the world faced unprecedented levels of forced displacement, with children disproportionately affected. Thailand currently hosted over 81,000 refugees from Myanmar across nine temporary shelters along the Thai-Myanmar border, and more than 5,500 refugees and asylum-seekers from over 40 countries who lived outside the temporary shelters.

Read the briefing note here.

Floods Inundate Nigeria

The following statement is based on a World Food Programme press release on the topic of floods in Nigeria. A live statement on this topic could not be delivered in the press briefing due to technical difficulties. The statement has subsequently been distributed to the media.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said it was on the ground in Borno State providing emergency food assistance to communities affected by massive flooding that had displaced over 230,000 people in northeast Nigeria. WFP was working to provide hot meals to 50,000 of the worst affected children, women, and men who had lost their homes in what had been described as the worst flooding in northeast Nigeria in 30 years.

The devastating floods occurred as a dam near Maiduguri collapsed due to torrential rains, forcing the river water to overrun 50 per cent of Maiduguri, the capital city of the Borno State. The State Government had issued evacuation orders to residents in the affected areas, while appealing for humanitarian support.

“Maiduguri was facing a crisis within a crisis, with conflict, record food price inflation and now floods displacing hundreds of thousands of people, most of whom were already cut off from their farms,” said David Stevenson, WFP’s Country Director and Representative.

WFP had established food kitchens in three camps - Teachers’ Village, Asheikh and Yerwa – to provide meals to flood-hit people over the next two weeks. The kitchens provided nutritious cooked rice and beans to affected families. Specialised nutritious foods were also being provided to children, pregnant women and nursing mothers to cover their nutritional needs. However, additional assistance was critical to restore stability and support recovery.

WFP swiftly dispatched UN humanitarian air service (UNHAS) helicopters to conduct an interagency aerial assessment of damage in Maiduguri and its surroundings. The rapid assessment showed that the immediate needs of the affected people include food, shelter and clean water.

“What we have seen from the air is just terrible. Thousands of people are on the streets or staying with friends and relatives. The city has been hit by massive destruction to properties and livelihoods. We need urgent global support to save lives,” Stevenson added.

In Nigeria, over 800,000 people in 29 states had been affected by floods as of September 2024, and over 550,000 hectares of cropland had been flooded. Some 32 million people in the country were already facing acute hunger, according to the March 2024 Cadre Harmonisé food security analysis.

To ensure continued support to flood-affected people in Maiduguri and other food insecure people in the northeast for the next six months, WFP urgently required 147.9 million United States dollars.

Video from Maiduguri is available via this link, and photos via this link.

Human Rights Council

Pascal Sim for the United Nations Human Rights Council said today, the United Nations Human Rights Council was holding dialogues with three experts: Claudia Mahler, the Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons; Alena Douhan, Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures; and Peggy Hicks, Director, Thematic Engagement, Special Procedures and Right to Development Division, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, who would present the Secretary-General's analytical study on climate change.

On Monday, it would hear from three more experts: Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation; George Katrougalos, the new Independent Expert on international order; and Aua Balde, Chair of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.

The United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela would hold a press conference in the Press Room of the Palais des Nations on Tuesday, September 17 at 9 a.m. Geneva time. The three experts of the Fact-Finding Mission would present the findings of their latest reports, which would be presented at the Council on 19 September in the afternoon. A separate call would be held with Spanish speaking media in the afternoon on Tuesday, 17 September. The report on Venezuela would be shared under embargo on Monday.

Mr. Sim reported that United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran had released an update saying that, two years after the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests began following the unlawful death in custody of Jina Mahsa Amini, the Government of Iran had intensified its efforts to suppress the fundamental rights of women and girls and crush remaining initiatives of women’s activism.

A “Hijab and Chastity” Bill was in the final stages of approval before Iran’s Guardian Council and was likely to be finalised imminently. The Bill provided for harsher penalties for women who do not wear the mandatory hijab, including exorbitant financial fines, longer prison sentences, restrictions on work and educational opportunities and bans on travel.

The Fact-Finding Mission also expressed deep concern about an apparent new pattern of sentencing to death of women activists. It reiterated its call to the Government to immediately halt all executions of protesters and put in place a moratorium on the death penalty, with a view to its abolition; immediately and unconditionally release all persons arbitrarily deprived of their liberty in the context of the protests, especially women and children; and end all repressive policy and institutional measures taken and designed to repress women and girls and perpetuate violence and discrimination against women, including the “Hijab and Chastity” Bill.

Inquiries related to the Fact-Finding Mission’s update could be sent to Todd Pitman, Media Adviser for the Human Rights Council’s Investigative Missions, at todd.pitman@un.org.

Mr. Sim also noted that the UN Group of Independent Experts on the Human Rights Situation in Belarus was inviting all individual groups and organizations to submit information and documentation relevant to its investigation into all alleged human rights violations and abuses committed in the country since 1 May, 2020. The deadline for submission was 30 November, 2024. The Group of Experts would present its first oral update during this Council session on Friday, 20 September.

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, said that on Monday, 16 September at 1:30 p.m., several Human Rights Council Special Procedures mandate holders would hold a hybrid press conference on escalating violence and human rights violations in Gaza and across the occupied Palestinian territory. Speaking were Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967 (online); Tlaleng Mofokeng, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (online); George Katrougalos, Special Rapporteur on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order (in-person); and Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation (in-person).

Announcements

Clare Nullis for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said there were many floods in different parts of the world at the moment. In West Africa and the Sahel, there was very heavy rainfall and the vulnerable were suffering the most, as was too often the case.

Next Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. at the Press Room of the Palais des Nations, WMO would hold a press conference with its Secretary-General Celeste Saulo to launch the annual multi-agency United in Science report, which was a collation of the latest science. This year, WMO’s focus in the report continued to be the alarming state of the climate, including greenhouse gas emissions and the greenhouse gas emission gap. There were also new features this year, including on the potential revolution in weather forecasting and climate prediction from artificial intelligence, machine learning and satellite technology developments. Information on the report would be sent out under embargo by Tuesday morning at the latest.

Monday, 16 September, was World Ozone Day, which celebrated the success of the Montreal Protocol in protecting the ozone layer. The United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP)’s Ozone Secretariat was leading commemoration of the day and had planned various activities to mark the day. On the day, WMO would be releasing its annual Ozone Bulletin, which would look at data on the ozone layer in 2023 and the role of the Montreal Protocol in helping to combat climate change.

Later today, WMO would send out a note on the latest figures on global temperatures. Figures were released overnight by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirming that the extraordinary streak of global temperatures continued in August. The year to date had been the hottest year on record. This confirmed an earlier report from the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service which said that the world had the hottest summer and winter on record from June to August. Europe had its hottest summer on record, due to very high temperatures in the Balkan area in Eastern Europe.

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, said that the Committee on the Rights of the Child would conclude this afternoon, at 5 p.m., its ninety-seventh session and issue its concluding observations on the six countries reviewed during this session: Bahrain, Turkmenistan, Mexico, Argentina, Israel and Armenia.

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was concluding this morning its review of the report of Kyrgyzstan. Next week, the Committee would review Albania, Cyprus and Malawi.

Ms. Vellucci invited interested parties to attend the 2024 edition of the Geneva PeaceTalks on 19 September 2024, the International Day of Peace, and Interpeace’s 30th anniversary, from 3 to 5 p.m. in Room XVII at the Palais des Nations and online on UN Web TV.

Register to participate by following this link: https://indico.un.org/event/1008322/

Under the umbrella theme of The Future of Peace, this year’s Geneva Peace Talks would feature powerful personal stories from people on the frontlines of peace, linked to the past, present and future of peace. These would be short, eight-minute inspirational talks and there would be the possibility of interacting with the speakers.

HYBRID PRESS BRIEFING – Friday, 13 September 2024

ANNOUNCEMENTS
HRC Pascal Sim (PR)

 Human Rights Council update

WMO Clare Nullis

 United in Science press conference with WMO SG and new WMO Ozone Bulletin

TOPICS
UNHCR Babar Baloch (PR)

 UNHCR welcomes Thailand’s full adoption of international convention to protect
child rights

WFP Emmanuel Bigenimana, WFP Head of Maiduguri Area Office (From Maiduguri)

 Floods in Nigeria