UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING

11 October 2024

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, which was attended by spokespersons and representatives from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children's Fund, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and United Nations Trade and Development.

Decade of Action against Statelessness

Ruvendrini Menikdiwela, Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said UNHCR was releasing a very important report to mark a decade of action to prevent statelessness. UNHCR was mandated to prevent and end statelessness. Ten years ago, the then High Commissioner António Guterres initiated the I Belong campaign, which aimed to mobilise governments to pay global attention to this issue and to try and bring an end to this devastating problem.

Ten years on, UNHCR had not succeeded in eliminating statelessness, a serious human rights violation. Everybody has a fundamental human right to nationality, and to be arbitrarily deprived of their nationality.

Most stateless people lived on the margins of society. They tended to be stripped of all the legal rights and protections that stemmed from citizenship, which make them even more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Many of the things that we took for granted, such as renting an apartment, sending our kids to school and accessing medical care were insurmountable challenges for stateless people.

Statelessness was a solvable issue. All it took was political will to enact change by introducing laws and regulations addressing the gaps that led to statelessness. All it took sometimes was a stroke of a pen.

The report showed progress that had been made. Since the start of the campaign, over half a million stateless people had acquired citizenship. Kyrgyzstan had resolved every known stateless case on their territory, and Turkmenistan was on track to do the same. Kenya had provided citizenship to ethnic minorities on its territories. Liberia, Madagascar and Sierra Leone had introduced legislation that allowed women to pass nationalities on to their children and over 20 countries had introduced national plans of action to end statelessness.

However, last year some 4.4 million stateless people were registered. This data covered only half of the 193 Member States, so the real numbers were likely significantly higher. Another sobering statistic was that 1.3 million stateless people were forcibly displaced as well. This related principally to the Rohingya ethnic minority from Myanmar. There were over a million Rohingya refugees principally in Bangladesh, but also in other asylum countries in the Asia Pacific region; and hundreds and thousands of Rohingya were displaced internally within Myanmar because of the conflict.

To mark the closure of the “I Belong” campaign, UNHCR would be convening a high-level event next Monday during its annual Executive Committee (ExCom) sessions. Around 100 Governments and over 50 representatives of international organizations and civil society would attend to commemorate the achievements of the campaign.

This event would also serve to launch the Global Alliance to End Statelessness. This is an alliance that included Member States, the private sector, stateless people themselves and the organizations that they represented, academia, faith-based groups, and other United Nations agencies. These stakeholders would be working together with the principal objective of maintaining the momentum and building on the achievements already generated by the I Belong campaign. The aim of the initiative was for every single person to obtain citizenship and a legal identity. This was a very easily implementable objective if there was political will to do it.

Ms. Menikdiwela also announced that on Monday, a ceremony would be held to honour this year’s Nansen Award winners.

Dipti Gurang, longtime Nepalese statelessness campaigner and Nansen Asia award winner, said that she had a deeply personal dedication to ending statelessness. She faced a long and painful struggle to secure citizenship for her daughters and husband. He was able to receive his citizenship at the age of 45 after decades of hardship because of gender discriminatory citizenship laws. These challenges drove Ms. Gurang to advocate for the rights of all mothers seeking to pass on their nationality to their children.

Ms. Gurang recounted the story of a girl who was orphaned at the young age and raised by her grandmother, who fought for over ten years to secure her citizenship. Despite her success, many other youth continued to face this issue, depriving them of education, employment, and basic rights. Without citizenship, they became vulnerable to human trafficking, exploitation, illegal activities and drug abuse. Tragically, some had even taken their own lives. These young people could have been contributing to Nepal's development but were instead left marginalised. For a developing country like Nepal, this loss of human potential was catastrophic.

Gender discriminatory citizenship law was not just a legal issue. It was a human rights crisis, denying citizenship strips individuals of dignity and opportunity. This issue was often overshadowed by political narrative, but it was fundamentally about justice and equality. Every child deserved the right to belong, regardless of whether their nationality came from their mother or father.

Ms. Gurang said her organisation was working to change this reality. One of its key initiatives, the Safe Haven project, provided employment to people impacted by citizenship laws, enabling them to earn a dignified living and helping fund our broader advocacy efforts. This initiative demonstrated that stateless people were not threats but valuable contributors to society. Ms. Gurang thanked various non-governmental organizations and UNHCR for their support, which made her organisation’s efforts possible.

Despite these efforts, the fight against statelessness remained underfunded globally. We could achieve so much more if this issue received the financial help and political will it truly deserved. Ms. Gurang urged the global community and the Nepalese Government to view statelessness or people without citizenship through a lens of humanity and inclusion.

We needed to enact reforms that ensured that no child was left stateless and no mother was denied the right to pass on her nationality. Together, we could build a future where every child in Nepal and around the world was given the chance to participate fully in society and contribute to their communities.

Matthew Saltmarsh for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said UNHCR had sent a press release announcing the launch of the I Belong report and a media advisory on the events scheduled for the upcoming Executive Committee next week, containing details on media access and broadcast opportunities. After the high-level event on statelessness, the Nansen Award ceremony would be held on Monday evening, to which media could gain access if they contacted UNHCR's press office. Throughout the rest of the week, there would be a number of sessions held in the Palais des Nations, including, the ExCom general debates, as well as individual sessions on the situation in the Middle East and in Sudan, climate change, the Cartagena Process, and several other topics.

In response to questions, Ms. Menikdiwela said there were international human rights instruments that specified that the right to nationality was a fundamental human right that needed to be respected.

UNHCR was lobbying with governments in the region to try to persuade the authorities in Myanmar to grant citizenship and protection to the Rohingya. It was also working with civil society and the private sector to mobilise public opinion and to convince government to grant citizenship to stateless persons on their territory. Stateless persons contributed to the societies where they lived, including by paying taxes.

Update on Conflict in the Middle East

Ravina Shamdasani for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said the situation for civilians on the ground in Lebanon, Gaza, Israel and Syria was getting worse by the day. The densely populated capital Beirut was increasingly being hit by Israeli air strikes. Hundreds were dead, and over a million people had fled their homes throughout the country. Hezbollah and other armed groups continued to fire rockets into Israel, resulting in the first civilian fatalities in the north since the most recent escalation of hostilities between Israel and Lebanon last month.

Just last night, Beirut was bombed again, in the heaviest strike yet on the central part of the city. At least 22 people were killed, and over 100 injured, according to the Ministry of Public Health.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, reminded all parties of their obligation to adhere to international humanitarian law, or the rules of war, with respect to the protection of civilians, civilian objects and infrastructure. Any alleged violations needed to be subjected to a prompt and thorough investigation, and those responsible where violations were found to have taken place needed to be held to account.

The Lebanese people were bearing the brunt of this latest phase of conflict. The Ministry of Public Health said almost 400 children and women were among over 2,000 people killed since October 2023. There were recurring reports of essential civilian infrastructure having been struck, including hospitals, clinics, ambulances and schools – along with destruction of housing. In all, over 100 medical and emergency workers had been killed across Lebanon since October last year.

Many of those displaced had fled to Syria. From 23 September to 9 October, it had been reported that over 310,000 Syrians and nearly 110,000 Lebanese citizens had crossed the border.

On 9 and 10 October, Hezbollah said it had launched at least 360 missiles from southern Lebanon into Israel. Two people were killed in a rocket attack on the border town of Kiryat Shmona on 9 October, a day after five others were injured in a rocket attack on Haifa.

Amidst this escalating violence, OHCHR was appalled by sweeping inflammatory language on multiple sides. Recent language threatening Lebanese people as a whole and calling on them to either rise up against Hezbollah or face destruction like Gaza, risked being understood as encouraging or accepting violence directed against civilians and civilian objects, in violation of international law. Ongoing denigration of the United Nations, in particular United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), was unacceptable. This kind of toxic rhetoric, from any source, needed to stop.

It was important that we also kept the spotlight on the frightful human suffering continuing in Gaza. Over the last week, the Israeli military had intensified operations in North Gaza, further severing the area from the rest of the Gaza Strip and risking afresh the lives of civilians in the area. Intense strikes, shelling, quadcopter shootings and ground incursions had occurred over the past few days, hitting residential buildings and groups of people, causing numerous casualties and – once again - mass displacement of Palestinians in the area.

Attacks on hospitals also continued. One strike on Al-Yaman Al-Saeed Hospital, serving as a shelter for internally displaced persons, in Jabalya Camp, killed 17 Palestinians, including children and women. On 9 October, the Israeli military ordered the evacuation within 24 hours of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya – the largest operating hospital in North Gaza – impacting hundreds of injured, other patients, and medical workers as well as residents that relied on the hospital.

Meanwhile, in other parts of Gaza, a strike on Rufaydah School sheltering internally displaced persons west of Deir Al-Balah on 10 October, reportedly killed 28 Palestinians, including children and women, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. OHCHR had recorded at least 14 schools struck this October alone – at a rate of more than one school a day.

While the Israeli military continued to order Palestinians in North Gaza to leave, many were trapped and could not safely move. The Office of the High Commissioner had received reports that those most vulnerable, including people with disabilities and their families, were especially struggling to evacuate.

The High Commissioner said now -- more than ever -- political courage, leadership and compassion were needed. The killing, destruction, as well as bellicose posturing by those in positions of power, needed to end. There was no alternative for resolution of this conflict than the negotiating table. Widening conflict and progressive escalation put the lives and wellbeing of potentially millions of people across the region at risk.

In response to questions, Ms. Shamdasani said that on 9 October, the Israeli Air Force reportedly hit the Civil Defence Centre of the Islamic Health Organization in Wadi Jilou, killing two paramedics and wounding others. On the same day, at least five rescue workers were reportedly killed when a strike hit their Civil Defence Centre in Derdghaiya. Previous to that, on 5 October, the Ministry of Public Health reported that 96 primary healthcare centres and clinics had been closed. There were several reports also of airstrikes targeting other medical centres and of paramedics as well as firefighters being killed.

OHCHR had a regional office based in Beirut. Staff in Lebanon were doing what they could to report to the Office. They had been covering the situation in Gaza for the last year but were now being personally affected, seeing strikes and bombing take place close to where they were. It was a tiring and terrifying situation. Some colleagues had left while other had remained. Work to verify whether casualties were civilians were ongoing but any figures that could be released currently would be serious underestimates of the actual situation.

Israel had a responsibility to protect United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeepers so that they were able to carry out the work that they had been mandated to do by the United Nations. Recent statements implying that their safety could not be guaranteed were unfortunate. All parties had obligations to ensure the safety and security of the United Nations personnel and property and respect the inviolability of United Nations premises at all times.

There had been several attacks against journalists and raids of journalistic offices in the context of this conflict. This was unacceptable. With the spread of propaganda and misinformation, the work of journalists was more important than ever, but there had been almost unprecedented levels of attacks against journalists. All such threats, attacks and violence against journalists needed to be thoroughly investigated.

It was difficult to describe the impact that this conflict had on civilians. The reverberations of the conflict would continue for generations in the Middle East. Children had been out of school for so long, had had their limbs amputated and would live with lifelong injuries and trauma. The impunity that marked this conflict would continue to feed cycles of revenge and injustice. The international community had been speaking in one voice about the need for a ceasefire, for the release of the hostages, and for a return to some kind of peace. Every military escalation took us further away from that. The disregard for international law that had been demonstrated in the course of this conflict was horrifying. Respect for humanitarian law was crucial for peace, security and human rights in the region and beyond.

Humanitarian law required that warring parties give effective warning of an impending attack and that attacks needed to be carried out with respect for the principles of proportionality and protection of civilians. A number of incidents in the past few weeks raised concerns of violations of humanitarian law.

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, said that there was an extensive briefing yesterday by Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, and Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, who spoke at length about the situation in Lebanon. UNIFIL had also issued a statement that spoke about the two peacekeepers who were injured after an attack. UNIFIL were working in very difficult situation but were fulfilling their mandate and would continue to do so as long as they could.

Situation of Hospitals in Gaza

Rik Peeperkorn, Representative for the occupied Palestinian territory, World Health Organization (WHO), said WHO remained gravely concerned about safety of patients and health workers amid intensified hostilities and current evacuation orders covering Kamal Adwan, Al-Awda and Indonesian hospitals in northern Gaza. It appealed for every possible measure to be taken to protect civilians and health care, including patients, health workers, hospitals and ambulances. Healthcare should never be a target.

WHO was requested by the Ministry of Health on 7 October to support the evacuation of critical non-walking patients from these hospitals. It immediately planned missions.

A mission to Kamal-Adwan planned to transfer critical, non-walking patients to Al-Shifa, Al-Ahti and As-Sahabah hospitals. The mission, which was incredibly complex and time consuming, was planned by WHO with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Palestine Red Crescent Society, and ready by 8 October. However, the mission was impeded on 8, 9 and 10 October after delays at the checkpoint.

Another mission to resupply As-Sahabah hospital with fuel and blood units and medical supplies was denied on 9 October and impeded on 10 October. WHO was now planning with the team in Gaza to conduct this mission to transfer this critical non-walking patients either tomorrow or on Sunday, but it needed to be properly facilitated.

As of yesterday, it was estimated that there were 19 patients in Kamal Adwan, 41 patients in Al Awda Hospital, and 28 patients in Indonesian Hospital. Kamal Adwan and Al-Awda remained partially functional but were struggling due to a shortage of supplies, including blood, trauma disposables and medications for patients with non-communicable diseases and fuel. As per latest reports, Indonesian Hospital was no longer able to provide services and accommodate patients.

Kamal Adwan, Al-Awda and Indonesian hospitals were the only three hospitals that remained partly functional in north Gaza, which also lacked any functional primary health care clinics. Many other hospitals in the north were now running out of fuel, and most United Nations and humanitarian missions were not happening to the north. Hospitals were running out of fuel, specifically medical supplies, one year into this crisis.

WHO requested again for humanitarian corridors to be opened to ensure that these missions could continue.

In response to questions, Dr. Peeperkorn said WHO was organising missions on request from hospital directors, the Ministry of Health and other international organisations. When there was fighting close to hospitals, humanitarian supplies could not be delivered and hospitals started to run out of fuel and supplies. Many internally displaced persons were sheltering close to hospitals. WHO was ready, assessing the situation in hope that it could conduct its missions as quickly as possible. Dr. Peeperkorn had confidence in the teams and partners on the ground.

There were 61 health facilities in Gaza, including 20 in the north. WHO was concerned that many hospitals were within evacuation zones. All these hospitals were short on fuels and supplies. Missions needed to go on. It was unacceptable that WHO struggled with routine humanitarian missions. WHO hoped and expected that hospitals in Gaza would continue functioning. Hospitals should never be a target.

Christian Lindmeier for the World Health Organization (WHO) said that since 8 October 2023, 34 attacks on health had been verified by WHO in Lebanon, which resulted in 94 deaths and 74 injuries alone. The number of displaced people had increased and the population was left with limited access to emergency and trauma care, as well as access to essential health services, including routine vaccination, child and maternal health care, cancer treatments and dialysis. There was thus a much higher risk of disease outbreak, such as acute watery diarrhoea, hepatitis A and a number of preventable diseases.

Since 17 September this year, 18 attacks on healthcare had been recorded, leaving behind 72 deaths and 40 injuries among health staff. Health facilities had also been impacted. Ninety-six primary healthcare centres and health facilities were forced to close in the south due to rising hostilities. Five hospitals were reported non-functional due to physical or infrastructural damage and four hospitals were partially evacuated and required the transfer of patients.

Polio Vaccination Campaign in Gaza

Rik Peeperkorn, Representative for the occupied Palestinian territory, World Health Organization (WHO), said the second round of an emergency polio vaccination campaign was scheduled to start on Monday, 14 October 2024 in Gaza, to vaccinate an estimated 591,700 children under ten years of age with a second dose of the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) vaccine. This was organised by the Ministry of Health, together with WHO, the United Nations Children's Fund and many partners.

The second round would have three phases focusing on three zones, each involving three campaign days and one catch-up day when needed. Hundreds of fixed and mobile teams would be deployed as well as community engagement and awareness raising conducted prior and during the campaign. Local teams would be deployed in areas that needed special coordination to reach children, including those who could not receive the vaccine in the first round. It was critical that they were reached.

A humanitarian pause would be a pre-requisite to implementing a successful second round, particularly to ensure that all polio workers could operate in a safe and secure environment, and communities and families could obtain vaccination for children without fear.

WHO renewed its urgent request to all parties to the conflict to implement the necessary humanitarian pause in Gaza for this second round. This was particularly critical as new evacuation orders in the north of Gaza were threatening access to hospitals and protection of health facilities and health and community workers. Vaccination teams needed to be protected and allowed to conduct the campaigns safely.

WHO appreciated the commitment to specific humanitarian pauses for polio vaccinations, but functional humanitarian corridors needed to be established to facilitate other vital aid activities.

Jean Gough, Special Representative in the State of Palestine, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), emphasised the logistical challenges that the polio vaccination campaign represented. The first round successfully rolled out in September presented humanitarian workers with overwhelming difficulties, including operating amid devastated infrastructure.

For example, 75 per cent of the pre-existing cold chain, critical for any immunisation campaign, was destroyed over the last year as war ravaged the entire Strip. In order to solve the problem, in addition to the 1.6 million doses of vaccines, UNICEF had to bring in refrigerators, freezers, ice boxes and vaccine carriers -- all equipment required to maintain the stocks at a temperature between 2 and 8°C.

Another important challenge had been the endless population movements. In the north of the Gaza Strip, several displacement orders had been issued, affecting thousands of children.

It was critical that not only the localised humanitarian pauses were respected in the north, but also that people were not forced to move from one area to the other. This would be essential for UNICEF to be able to vaccinate at least 90 per cent of children under the age of 10 among the population in the north.

During this second round, UNICEF would also take the opportunity to administer vitamin A to the children, which helped to reinforce their immune system. It was a simple measure but critical to support the health of thousands of children who were living in extremely dire hygiene and sanitation conditions.

Making sure that families were properly informed about this second round of vaccination was also a very important element. More than 800 social mobilisers would reach out to families to raise awareness on the importance of taking the second dose as well as on the dates and locations.

As was done in the first round, UNICEF would also broadcast radio spots, share SMSs and use all digital channels available in Gaza to amplify these messages. This outreach would continue until the second round concluded. Once again, local teams would be deployed in areas that needed special coordination to reach children, including those that could not receive the vaccine in the first round.  

Ms. Gough reiterated the importance of localised humanitarian pauses as a pre-requisite for a successful second round of this campaign. It was impossible for the campaign to succeed in an active combat zone. All polio workers needed to be able to operate in a safe and secure environment, and all parents needed to be able to bring their children without fear. UNICEF called on all parties to respect this.

The first round of the polio campaign had shown to the world that when everyone lined up, it was possible to bring critical aid to children in Gaza, including to the north. It was crucial that this happened again not only with the second round of polio vaccines but also for other aid activities for the children in the Gaza Strip.

In response to questions, Dr. Peeperkorn said WHO called on all parties to adhere to humanitarian pauses. WHO was conducting daily meetings with partners to discuss how to improve the campaign and was confident that it would succeed.

Ms. Gough said UNICEF was concerned by the situation in the north of Gaza. It would continue planning to ensure that the polio vaccination campaign could continue to take place. Conditions on the ground were more complicated now, but teams were highly motivated to carry out the campaign.

UNICEF was involved in the repair of hospitals. It had repaired the Nasser Hospital and would continue to provide repairs to health facilities when it was possible.

UNICEF had received guarantees from parties to the conflict on Wednesday of area-specific humanitarian pauses at specific times. Daily calls were scheduled with stakeholders to ensure that the campaign could be carried out as planned.

Homicides, Enforced Disappearance and Judicial System Reform in Mexico

Ravina Shamdasani for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said OHCHR’s office in Mexico had been following the very worrying situation in Mexico regarding the number of homicides, the number of femicides, as well as the large number of people who had been subject to enforced disappearance. It was continuing to work with the Government on these issues and monitor the situation, raising concerns regarding institutions and measures taken to resolve the situation. All measures taken needed to be in line with Mexico’s obligations under international human rights law.

Expanding Conflict and Deadly Floods Exacerbate the Humanitarian Situation in Myanmar

Jens Laerke for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the humanitarian community in Myanmar, coordinated by OCHA, was raising concern about the lack of humanitarian access and insufficient donor funding, as millions of people faced acute needs caused by escalating conflict, catastrophic floods, or both.

Over three million people were displaced across the country, predominantly due to conflict. Since early September, one million people — many already displaced — were also affected by torrential monsoon rains and the aftermath of Typhoon Yagi.

The flooding was deadly, with over 360 people reportedly killed and many more injured across multiple regions. Floods ravaged crops, farmland, and livestock, destroying the livelihoods of vulnerable communities. Local volunteers were cleaning up areas where floodwaters had receded, but persistent rains and swollen rivers threatened further flooding.

Immediate response priorities included ensuring access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene services to prevent disease outbreaks, as well as food and health assistance. Reconstruction efforts were critical to restore safe housing for families whose homes had been destroyed, and to allow children to return to schools. Support was also needed for small businesses, farms, and livestock owners, whose livelihoods had been shattered.

So far, the response had included food assistance to more than 150,000 people in the southeast, northwest and Rakhine State, with plans to reach an additional 73,000 people in the southeast. Over 80,000 people in the northwest had received water, sanitation and hygiene assistance, and thousands more shelter, non-food items, learning materials and other types of aid.

However, armed conflict in Myanmar was widespread and generated immense humanitarian needs and displacement, particularly in the north, southeast and Rakhine State. Aid organizations faced continuous challenges in reaching those in need because of insecurity, checkpoints and restricted access in conflict zones, as well as flood-related damages to roads and bridges.

Yet, in the first half of the year, 40 per cent of the 5.3 million people targeted for support received some form of humanitarian assistance. Local and national partners were on the forefront of this response, working closely with communities and providing a lifeline of support.

However, a lack of funding was impeding the necessary scale-up in humanitarian aid. Ten months into the year, OCHA’s one billion United States dollar response plan remained critically underfunded, at less than 30 per cent.

OCHA Leadership

In response to a question on new leadership, Jens Laerke for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said a start date had yet to be set for Tom Fletcher, the newly appointed Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. For now, Joyce Msuya, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, continued to lead OCHA as Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.

Nihon Hidankyo Wins 2024 Nobel Peace Prize

Answering questions, Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, congratulated the winners of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This was a very important cause that was close to the heart of the United Nations, which was born from the ashes of war with a principal mandate to prevent wars and particularly nuclear conflicts. The cause was particularly important for Geneva, which hosted the Conference on Disarmament and discussions that were fundamental for our world.

The Nihon Hidankyo association had been working with the United Nations. In 2018, it came to the United Nations with Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu to present a petition with eight million signatories requesting the end of a nuclear arms race, nuclear conflict and nuclear weapons.

War should never be fought with nuclear weapons. There were currently weapons that were many times more powerful than those used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This year’s Nobel Peace Prize highlighted the critical efforts of the grassroots movement to prevent such a war and underlined the need for the international community to fight this scourge.

Ravina Shamdasani for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo was, for the Office of the High Commissioner, a recognition of the importance of grassroots organisations and the survivors of horrific violations, who worked tirelessly and persistently, often away from the spotlight, without a large amount of recognition or resources at their disposal. Despite the many obstacles they faced and the horrors they themselves experienced, these activists kept going, trying to make the world a better place for all of us.

The world was still dealing with the legacy of the nuclear weapons decades on, and the Office had recently released a report on the impact of this legacy.

Jens Laerke for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that this morning, a celebration of peace was being held in Oslo, with the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize, yet there continued to be unceasing reports of conflict and war across the world. If there was an opposite of the Nobel Peace Prize, there would be no shortage of candidates.

Announcements

Catherine Huissoud for United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan would present the 2024 Trade and Development Report, entitled “Rethinking Development in the Age of Disagreement,” on Thursday 17 October at 10:30 a.m. in the Palais des Nations press briefing room. The embargo on the report would lift at 12 p.m. on the same day. This analysis showed that the world economy was at a turning point. Growth was slow, especially in developing countries. Combined with accelerating technological change, trade fragmentation, rising debt burdens and inflation, social discontent was emerging. The report explored the challenges facing the global South, but also the unique opportunities that lay ahead. To seize these opportunities, a new development path with a focus on economic diversification, resilience and inclusive growth was essential.

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, said the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (89th session, 7-25 October, room XXIII, Palais des Nations) would have a public meeting next Monday afternoon to hear from civil society organizations on the implementation of the Convention on the four countries to be reviewed next week: Chile, Canada, Japan and Cuba. On Friday 25 October, it would hold an informal public meeting with States parties and launch its general recommendation 40 on the equal and inclusive representation of women in decision-making systems.

The Human Rights Committee would open next Monday at 10 a.m. its 142nd session (14 October-7 November, Palais Wilson) during which it would review the reports of Iceland, Pakistan, Greece, France, Türkiye and Ecuador.

Today was the International Day of the Girl Child, and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres had released a statement for the day.

Tomorrow, 12 October, was World Migratory Bird Day. Migratory birds were a fundamental aspect of biodiversity and the environment.

13 October was the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction. A statement from the Secretary-General on the day had been distributed.