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UNOG-NEWS Briefing Continuity 25 January 2022
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UNOG Bi-Weekly Press Briefing Continuity 25 January 2022
Michele Zaccheo, Chief of the Radio and Television Section, United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, attended by the spokespersons and representatives of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the International Labour Organization, Education Cannot Wait and the Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
Military takeover in Burkina Faso
Ravina Shamdasani, for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said that the High Commissioner deeply deplored the military takeover of power in Burkina Faso on 24 January. OHCHR called on the military to immediately release President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré and other detained high-level officials and urged a swift return to constitutional order.
During her visit in November 2021, the High Commissioner had observed mounting frustration and impatience with the deteriorating security situation in Burkina Faso and with the authorities’ response. In the face of the security threats and tremendous humanitarian challenges, it was more important than ever to ensure that the rule of law, constitutional order and the country’s obligations under international human rights law were fully respected. It was crucial to effectively protect democratic space, ensure people were able to air their grievances and aspirations peacefully and engage in meaningful dialogue to work towards addressing the many crises in the country.
The full briefing note is available here.
Michele Zaccheo, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), drew attention to the statement by the spokesperson of the Secretary-General on the developments in Burkina Faso.
Replying to questions from journalists, Ms. Shamdasani said that OHCHR staff in the country were safe and working from home and had reported that the situation was quite calm, though a protest was planned for that day. OHCHR did not currently have contact with the coup leaders but stressed that a military takeover was not the solution. It was not too late to revive the process of dialogue and social reconciliation that had been initiated prior to the coup. Regional actors could be useful in applying pressure for the restoration of civilian rule.
Da’esh attack on a prison in Syria
Ravina Shamdasani, for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said that the situation of civilians in the north-eastern Syrian city of Al-Hassakeh was deeply troubling. On 20 January, Da’esh fighters had launched apparently coordinated attacks on a prison there, enabling dozens of inmates, many of them suspected Da’esh members, to escape and sparking fighting between Da’esh and the Kurdish-led Syrian Defence Forces (SDF). The SDF had declared a curfew in all areas under its control in the city and, with air support from international forces, had surrounded the prison. However, detainees were said to be in control of the prison’s main building and had taken some prison staff hostage.
The Ghweiran prison was one of the biggest detention centres in north-east Syria, housing an estimated 5,000 male detainees, many in prolonged pre-trial detention or internment. OHCHR was particularly disturbed by reports that a significant number of boys were held there and was extremely concerned for their safety and well-being. The detention of children should be a measure of last resort and imposed for the shortest appropriate period of time.
In response to the attacks, international forces had carried out several air strikes near the prison. Thousands of people were reported to have fled the immediate area. OHCHR reminded all parties to the conflict of their obligation under international law to do their utmost to protect civilians.
The latest developments in Al-Hassakeh highlighted the desperate situation of thousands of detainees across Syria. OHCHR had previously warned about the squalid and insecure state of SDF-run detention facilities. In addition, OHCHR remained deeply concerned at the situation of thousands of Syrians, Iraqis and third-country nationals who were confined in overcrowded displacement camps in north-eastern Syria and reiterated that countries of origin should repatriate their nationals, especially women and children, in accordance with their obligations under international law.
The full briefing note is available here.
Education Cannot Wait/Germany joint announcement
Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW), said that ECW thanked the people and the Government of Germany for the additional, historic contribution of €200 million, which brought the country’s total contribution to €380 million and propelled it to the top of ECW’s donor list. Through that contribution, Germany was making a huge commitment to the United Nations as a multilateral organization and to ECW as a fund, making it possible to reach a further 2.5 million children and youth who were affected by conflict or climate-induced disasters or were refugees or internally displaced. ECW was able to provide sustainable, quality education in keeping with Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG). Thanks to the latest pledge, ECW could boast a trust fund of USD 1.1 billion and over USD 1 billion in in-country projects.
Katharina Stasch, Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said that education was key to enabling children to lead a good life and to tackling present challenges, including sustainable development, environmental transformation and social cohesion. However, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) had threatened gains, not least in education, with many students not returning to school even once the facilities reopened. However, even before the pandemic, tens of millions had already been out of school owing to armed conflict, forced displacement and natural disasters, and their number would continue to grow as a result of the global climate crisis, with girls being particularly at risk. The world had a shared responsibility not to lose that generation, not to leave anyone behind. Multilateral efforts should be intensified to build resilient education systems worldwide. That was why Germany had decided to support ECW with an additional €200 million. As it assumed the presidency of the G7, Germany wanted to send a strong signal – education was a human right, education mattered.
Replying to journalists, Ms. Sherif said that ECW was able to continue operating in challenging circumstances because it was a United Nations fund and, as such, had systems and security in place and had contact with de jure and de facto governments and militia groups it would not have otherwise enjoyed. Its programmes were designed to function in such fluid contexts. There was no sign that ECW’s large multi-year programme in Burkina Faso was hampered by the recent developments in that country, and, in Afghanistan, ECW was providing support to 3.7 million children who were out of school, thanks to the negotiation efforts of its partners and to its direct implementation model. The focus in Afghanistan was on urging the authorities to allow secondary school girls to return to the classroom. Needs around the world were dramatically rising, not least because of COVID-19, which had caused 128 million children to lose access to education, up from 75 million before the pandemic. It was important to remember that many of the areas ECW operated in lacked basic infrastructure such as electricity, which made providing remote learning that much more challenging. ECW mobilized resources for a whole-of-child approach to education services carried out in cooperation with various United Nations entities, international NGOs, local governments and civil society organizations. Education was the foundation of the realization of human rights and the SDGs and was the pathway to peace, good governance and the rule of law.
Ukraine
Replying to a question, Matthew Saltmarsh, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that UNHCR had staff in six locations in Ukraine, working with local NGOs and communities. While it called for calm and for all actors to ratchet down tensions, UNHCR was updating contingency plans with partners and had the ability to move in supplies and staff if needed.
Announcements
Catherine Huissoud, for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), said that UNCTAD would be holding the Global forum 2022 for national trade facilitation committees, online from Geneva, from 1 to 4 February 2022. Pursuant to the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), whose objective was to accelerate the movement, release and clearance of goods, national trade facilitation committees (NTFCs) had been put in place to implement the agreement. UNCTAD was a major actor in the fields of technical assistance and capacity-building in that area. The three main focuses of the Forum, which would be a platform for NFTC members, policymakers, donors and other stakeholders to explore the latest trends in implementation of trade facilitation reforms, were: good practices, especially in relation to the pandemic, networking and technical assistance programmes. Though the Forum was open to all, it was nonetheless necessary to register (https://unctad.org/conference/ntfc-global-forum-2022).
Rosalind Yarde, for the International Labour Organization (ILO), said that ILO was launching a new video download platform for use by broadcast and online media covering world of work issues. The platform featured a wide selection of video content produced by ILO, organized into three separate libraries: a video newsroom library containing news offers from press conferences, report launches and other events; a b-roll library containing footage with natural sound, as well as archival footage, on a range of topics, such as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world of work, child labour, forced labour and green jobs; and an edited video library that could be used for educational, training and awareness-raising purposes. The videos were free to download and were subject to a Creative Commons licence.
Michele Zaccheo, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), on behalf of the Human Rights Council, said that the fortieth session of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review had opened, with the reviews of the human rights situation in Togo and the Syrian Arab Republic. The Working Group would be reviewing the situation in Iceland that morning, followed by the situation in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela that afternoon.
Mr. Zaccheo, on behalf of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), said that, as fully digital transactions increasingly became the norm, the vital groundwork to prepare international standards for digital currency was accelerating. ITU's DC3 Conference: From Cryptocurrencies to CBDCs, would be taking place online from 25 to 27 January 2022, bringing together industry thought leaders, policymakers, central banks, standards bodies, international organizations, digital currency platform providers and stablecoin and cryptocurrency experts to discuss the key areas where standards were needed to strengthen the architecture and interoperability of digital currencies and facilitate integration with existing payment systems.
Mr. Zaccheo, referring to the programme of events for Holocaust Remembrance Week, said that the United Nations in Geneva and its partners would mark the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust on 27 January through activities reflecting that year's theme of "Memory, Dignity and Justice". During the official ceremony, at noon in Room XVIII, Holocaust survivor, Ms. Emma Adjadj, would tell of her family’s experience of loss and survival. Following a message from United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, there would be remarks by Ms. Tatiana Valovaya, UNOG Director-General, Ms. Meirav Eilon Shahar, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations Office at Geneva, and Ms. Lotte Knudsen, Head of the Permanent Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations Office at Geneva, as well as a musical interlude by Ensemble baroque Kairos. It was possible to attend in person (registration: https://indico.un.org/event/37258/) but the event could also be followed on UN Web TV and on Facebook. In addition, there would be a virtual screening of "The Last Ones", a series of interviews with some of the few remaining Holocaust survivors, followed by a discussion, on 26 January 2022, at 6 p.m. Visit Ciné ONU for more information.
Mr. Zaccheo also said that the UN Archives Geneva Platform would be launched at a hybrid event on Friday, 28 January, at 9.30 a.m. Speakers would include: Ms. Tatiana Valovaya, Director-General, United Nations Office at Geneva; Mr. Francesco Pisano, Director, UN Library & Archives Geneva; and Ms. Blandine Blukacz-Louisfert, Chief, Institutional Memory Section.
Mr. Zaccheo further said that the Conference on Disarmament was holding the first public plenary meeting of its 2022 session that morning, in room XIX, under the presidency of Ambassador Li Song of China. The three parts of the 2022 session would take place from 24 January to 1 April, from 16 May to 1 July and from 1 August to 16 September. Following China, the rotating presidency would be assumed by Colombia, Cuba, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ecuador.
Mr. Zaccheo added that there was currently no formal confirmation of the exact programme of work for the upcoming sessions of the human rights treaty bodies.
Teleprompter
Bonjour, the nurse appoint the press.
Mardi Vincent Jean Vie.
Welcome to this to the UN Information Services press briefing for today, Tuesday, the 25th of January.
I've got a fairly long list of announcements to read, which we'll go to at the end just to, you know, prepare you for what's coming up.
You know, of course that later this week on the 27th.
So the day after tomorrow, we've got the International Day of commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust.
And there are some activities related to that both tomorrow evening with senior new and with a with a ceremony here at the Palais de Nacion.
So we'll have more details on that.
But just to start in, we've got two sets of briefings, one from OHCHR Ravina to my left and another one from Yasmine Sharif, who we're very happy to welcome back.
She's the director of Education, Cannot wait.
And the Ambassador of Germany to the UN in Geneva, Ambassador Katrina Stache, who we're also very welcome.
We're also very happy to welcome here.
And they will.
They're here with a big announcement that was made yesterday and they'll give you the background on that.
But I think that without further ado, we'll we'll go to Ravina who's got items on Burkina Faso and on Syria and we'll begin with Burkina Faso.
Thank you.
Thanks, Real.
Good morning, everyone.
It's Michele.
That's OK.
No worries.
It's early in the morning.
Kind of it's not that early.
I apologise.
Good morning, Mikhail.
Good morning everyone.
On Burkina Faso, the **** Commissioner deeply deplores the military takeover of power in Burkina Faso yesterday.
During her visit to Burkina Faso last November, she had stressed the importance of preserving the hard won democratic and human rights gains made in the country, noting in particular the peaceful legislative and presidential elections that had been held in 2020.
We call on the military to immediately release the President and other **** level officials who have been detained.
We urge a swift return to constitutional order.
During the **** Commissioner's visit just two months ago, we observed mounting frustration and impatience with the deteriorating security situation in Burkina Faso and with the increasing, increasingly vicious attacks by non state armed groups and other violent actors across the Sahel region, and frustration also with the response by the authorities.
In the face of the security threats and the tremendous humanitarian challenges facing the country, it is more important than ever to ensure that the rule of law, constitutional order and the country's obligations under international human rights law are fully respected.
It is crucial for democratic space to be effectively protected, to ensure people are able to air their grievances and their aspirations and to participate in meaningful dialogue to work towards addressing the many crises in the country.
We will continue monitoring the human rights situation in the country.
Thank you very much, Ravina.
I'm going to give it a just a little pause there to see if there are any questions specifically on Burkina Faso.
And if not, we we can move to the next item.
I don't see any hands going up.
Sorry.
I see.
OK.
Sorry.
I'm for some reason I'm not seeing that.
Perhaps we looked at.
Ah, OK.
Thank you, Lisa.
Go ahead, please.
Voice of America.
Thank you.
Good morning, Michaela.
Yes.
OK, now I can talk.
Hi Ravina.
I was wondering whether you had any kind of personal contact whatsoever with the coup leaders and what is actually happening on the ground right now?
Are people protesting?
Are they being brutalised in some way shot?
Is there sort of a chaotic situation that is going on?
And are your monitors themselves safe?
Thank you.
Thanks, Lisa, and thanks for the question about our staff.
Our staff are safe.
They are in the country and they are working from home on whether we have personal contact.
So I was with the **** Commissioner at the end of November in Burkina Faso and we met with authorities, you know, across the line from the president, several ministers, parliament, civil society actors.
We do not have personal contact at the moment with the coup leaders.
But as I said, what what we saw in the country was of course a multifaceted crisis.
You had climate change affecting the ability of herders and pastoralists to carry out their, their, you know, daily work and conflict as a result of, of climate change and that crisis.
And then you've got violent extremist groups attacking, coming through the porous borders of the country and, you know, launching increasingly violent attacks against the local population.
And the government was struggling to handle these crises.
You also have a humanitarian situation, which is very difficult.
I believe that there are nearly 3 million people in the country who are food insecure.
So there was a lot of frustration that was building.
And what the **** Commissioner was emphasising is that the way to manage this frustration and and to find a way out of this conflict was through dialogue, through the meaningful participation of people from all sectors of society.
A military coup is certainly not the solution.
As far as the situation on the ground, our monitors tell us that it's quite calm this morning.
There is a protest planned which might have already begun.
There are people protesting in support of the military coup as well, those who were frustrated with with what they perceived as, you know, ineffective A measures taken to address the conflict.
But again, we stress that military takeover is not the solution.
Really, there needs to be meaningful dialogue with the participation of people from across the spectrum to be able to air their grievances peacefully and to be able to resolve the situation together.
And we are urging that the president to be immediately released.
Thank you, Ravine.
Lisa, I, I see your hand is still up.
I don't know whether that's because you have a follow up, do you?
Yeah, I, I hope I'm unused now.
Yeah, just a quick follow up.
I'm interested about this meaningful dialogue and you say with representatives and so forth.
I mean, who is available actually there to discuss this very serious situation with the coup leaders?
It's not really clear that the coup leaders are interested in any kind of a dialogue by who are the people who are there who could put some kind of pressure upon the situation and at least start talking?
Because the former government, I mean, it's, it's gone.
So you can't count on them.
Thanks.
There was in fact a dialogue that had been initiated and there was a process of social reconciliation.
And we we met with the minister who was in charge of that and he was bringing together different actors.
So it's not too late.
We are still calling for a restoration of civilian rule.
We're calling for the release of the president and other **** level officials who have been detained.
The secretary general also issued a statement yesterday and I believe he, he is involved in in trying to, you know, address the situation directly with the authorities as well as regional actors who can certainly bring pressure to bear to insist on a restoration to civilian rule as soon as possible.
Thank you, Ravina, anybody else?
I would like you to remind you meanwhile that the the spokesman for the Secretary General has a statement that we put out and that we distributed to you on working at Faso in English and in French.
And just let us know whether you need that either sent, sent to you again or or read out for audio visual purposes.
If we've got no more questions on Burkina Faso, then I'd ask Ravina to kindly move to the next.
Sorry, I see.
I thought the hand had gone down, but I see it up again.
Lisa, go ahead.
Well, you stimulated my hand going up.
Would you be so kind at some point to read this statement?
I would find that useful.
Thank you.
Sure.
Would you like it in English or in French?
And the, the, the, the statement itself?
Thank you.
Thank you.
Would you like, is it OK to do this at the end of the briefing, just not to keep our guests waiting?
Is that OK?
I'll take that as a yes.
Yeah, I was.
I I have no control over when I can speak.
So I wanted to say yes before I'm saying it now, before they mute me again.
OK.
Yes.
Save it for the end of.
We can hear you loud and clear.
Thank you.
Thank you, Lisa.
All right, so we'll read this at the.
I'll read this at the end of the briefing.
And Ravina, you're free to move on to the next item.
Thank you.
The second item is on Syria.
The situation of civilians in the north eastern Syrian city of Al Hasaki is deeply troubling.
On the 20th of January, ISIL fighters launched apparently Co ordinated attacks on a prison there, enabling dozens of inmates, many of them suspected ISIL members, to escape and sparking fighting between ISIL and the Kurdish LED Syrian Defence Forces, the SDF, including in residential areas.
The SDF subsequently said it had captured recaptured many of the escapees, but a number are reportedly hiding in populated areas in Alhasake, especially in the Gueran and Al Zuhur neighbourhoods.
The SDF has declared a curfew in all areas under its control in the city and has, with air support from international forces, surrounded the prison.
However, detainees, many of whom are suspected to have been ISIL fighters, are said to be in control of the prisons main building and have taken some prison staff hostage.
The Quran Prison is one of the biggest detention centres in North East Syria, housing an estimated 5000 male detainees, many in prolonged pretrial detention or internment.
The exact composition of the prison population is not clear, but it includes many suspected ISIL fighters, including Iraqi and Syrian nationals.
We are particularly disturbed by reports that significant number of boys, possibly several 100, are held there and are extremely concerned for their safety and well-being.
The detention of children should, as ever, be a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.
In response to Thursday's attacks, which are the biggest since ISIL was declared defeated in Syria in 2019, international forces have carried out several air strikes near the prison, including on areas where fugitives are believed to be hiding.
In addition, thousands of people are said to have fled the immediate area for fear of further attacks by ISIL and to escape ongoing clashes.
We remind all parties to the conflict, as well as governments with influence over the parties, that international law requires them to do their utmost to protect civilians, including in the planning and execution of military and security operations.
These latest developments in Al Hasaki highlight the desperate situation of thousands of detainees, including suspected ISIL members, across Syria.
We have previously warned about the squalid and insecure state of detention facilities run by the SDF, where detainees are held in overcrowded conditions, do not have access to proper medical care and cannot see their families.
There have been several riots instigated on occasion by detainees with links to ISIL and attacks on these locations by ISIL sleeper cells, as appears to have been the case in Thursday's attack.
In addition, we remain deeply concerned by the situation of thousands of Syrians, Iraqis and 3rd country nationals with presumed family links to ISIL members who are confined in overcrowded displacement camps such as Alhol and Al Raj in northeastern Syria.
Acts of violence, including killings by unidentified perpetrators and dire living conditions, continue to affect the camps residents.
This makes it all the more important, as the **** Commissioner has previously stressed, that countries of origin should repatriate their nationals, especially women and children, in accordance with their obligations under international law.
Thank you.
See your hand up from John Zaracostas.
Go ahead, John.
Yes, good morning, Ravina.
Actually, my question is on the earlier topic.
I somehow had a computer problem.
According to your monitors, how many people were killed in Burkina Faso in 2021 due to a jihadist attacks?
What are your estimates?
Sorry, John, the we don't know.
We don't have an estimate of how many people were killed.
There are patchy reports on the ground, but it's very difficult to, to, to compile full data.
There have been people killed and, you know, many hundreds of thousands displaced as a result of the attacks by these armed actors.
In fact, yes, I've got it here.
According to the government, more than 1.4 million people have been internally displaced amid these increasing reports of the horrific acts of violence that violent extremist groups have been carrying out.
And there was a major attack in on the 14th of November, just before the **** Commissioner's visit, where 53 people were killed in an attack against the gendarmerie in the northern town of Inata.
And that had led to a lot of popular frustration, given that these gendarmes, gendarmes were killed.
And apparently they had already been living in very difficult conditions, even though they were on the front lines of the of the fight against these violent extremist groups.
So anyway, the short answer is I'm afraid we don't have an estimate of how many people have been killed.
Isabel Sacco FA Good morning Provina.
Hello everybody.
I would like to know if maybe I missed this figure, but how many prisoners escaped from the prison?
How many of them were recaptured?
If you mentioned, And I would like also to know if this SDF, they have other detention centres in the, in the area or anywhere else in, in Syria that you recommend to.
And what do you recommend in fact that they can do with this, with this, with the people they, they, they, they, they hold these areas Because you, you mentioned that the, the situation in these centres are insecure and the, the living conditions are very bad.
But what is the solution for, for all the people that are healthy there in these centres?
Thank you.
Thanks, Isabel.
I don't have clear figures for how many, how many people have, how many fugitives there are and how many remain in the detention facility.
We do understand, I believe there was a statement by the SDF saying that more than 600 children remain detained, 600 boys remain detained and many of them in a rehabilitation facility.
And there are allegations that the, well, there are allegations by the SDF that those apparently affiliated with ISIL are holding these children as human Shields.
We, we've been able to, we haven't been able to, to confirm these allegations on the bad conditions and what can be done about them.
I mean, this is something that we have been raising the alarm on over the years.
The the Commission of Inquiry on Syria also issued a report, which which I should send you, where they highlighted the really terrible conditions in which people are living, severe overcrowding, lack of medical care, lack of adequate health and many of them have been held in prolonged pretrial detention.
They were rounded up.
They haven't had any contact with lawyers, with their families, no question of any due process rights.
There were some rumblings of trials, but we haven't been able to confirm whether any hearings have even taken place.
So some of these people are suspected ISIL members.
Some of them may have just been rounded up along with others.
And they've been held for more than two years, 2 1/2 years perhaps now in the squalid conditions.
So of course, this is the recipe for violence, for rioting and for for the kind of situation that we find ourselves in now.
What can be done?
Well, no, clearly there needs to be international support.
For example, some of these detainees are actually third party nationals and so on that it's very clear we've been calling on the the states to which they belong to take steps that countries of origin should repatriate their nationals, especially women and children, but but also these men who have been held in these facilities for more than two years.
It is their obligation under international law to to repatriate their nationals rather than have them languish in these squalid facilities, creating a recipe for the violence and instability.
Thank you, Ravina Byram Altob, Thank you.
Good morning, everybody.
Ravina, good morning.
I have a question about the STF.
Who's the STF like, but more STF, Is it an official Byram?
Byram, I think, I think you're coming through.
It's very disturbed your audio.
So perhaps just try speaking slowly, OK, closer to the mic, and we'll see whether that works.
Can you hear me now?
It's better.
Thanks.
OK.
Ravina, who is STFSTF?
Is it an official entity?
And are YPG and STF the same?
Furthermore, does the Syrian regime recognise the STF officially?
Thank you.
OK, OK, thanks.
Thanks for that.
It it still wasn't very clear, but but I'll try to answer it.
The the SDF are the Syrian Defort defence forces which are which are led, the Kurdish LED and these operations that are being carried out, these air strikes are being they're being supported by the US-led international coalition forces.
Isabel, I see you have your hand up again.
Go ahead.
Yes, thank you.
Go ahead.
Yes, as in, in relation to the to what this can be done for for these prisoners in the case, in the case of the third national prisoners, it's clear that you call for their repatriation for for years and not not only you but other human rights organisations.
But in the case of Syrian nationals, who is the entity able to to judge them in in in fair conditions, New Syria?
Thank you.
Yes, no, that's an important question.
We understand that in these facilities there are Syrian nationals as well as Iraqi nationals.
That's our understanding in addition to to the third party nationals.
It is very difficult.
We're in a situation where part of the area is controlled by the SDF and the other part is controlled by the Syrian government forces.
It is the obligation of the state fundamentally to ensure that people who are detained have access to due process and that they, you know, their cases are processed in line with with fair trial standards.
This is of course very difficult to to carry out on the ground in these circumstances, but this is where international support comes in.
It is very important that there is international attention to the situation, which is a ticking time bomb.
Again, when you've got people in these squalid conditions, whether they may be actual perpetrators of, you know, attacks, whether they may be actual ISIL members or not, they're languishing in these squalid conditions over more than two years, overcrowded together.
It's a recipe for violence and it's a recipe for some kind of interruption, which we are seeing now.
So really this is the time for the international community to pay attention to the situation and to extend their support to ensure that these cases are processed in line with the international obligations of the Syrian government.
Thank you very much.
Rubina.
If there are no more questions for for now, I would just like to ask if you, I don't know if you can stay for a little while.
Perhaps there'll be a few more.
We'll come back to the statement that the spokesman for the secretary General put out on Burkina Faso.
And I'd like to invite Yasmeen Sharif, the Director of Education cannot wait.
And Madam Ambassador Katrina Stache of Germany to come.
And perhaps you saw this yesterday that Germany announced that there are €200 million in new additional funding for education.
Thank you.
Excuse me, I'm sorry.
I didn't think that needed to rotate.
Yeah.
All right.
Thank you.
Welcome, Madam Ambassador.
So as I was saying yesterday, there's an announcement that Germany is contributing €200 million in new additional funding for education Cannot wait, which is obviously very good news, but presumably also because there's a crisis of unprecedented proportions.
So perhaps yes, me now invite you to say a few words and or how do you, how do you want to do it?
It's up to up to you as you go ahead.
Thank you.
So Ben, what, which one?
This one?
Yes, OK.
Thank you very much.
Thank you so much.
It's always good to be back, Tak Tak.
And I'm also happy to be here with the Ambassador Stache of the German mission, Catalina Stache, Ambassador of the mission here in Geneva.
First of all, yesterday we had a major announcement made by the government of Germany to Education Cannot Wait, which is United Nations Global Fund for Education in Emergencies and protracted Crisis.
So I'm here to first of all thank the German people, the Government of Germany and the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation, Development, Swania Schulze, whom I had the pleasure of meeting yesterday.
For Germans, generous additional contribution of €200 million in new funding to Education Cannot Wait, which brings the total contribution of Germany alone alone to €318 million, which makes Germany the biggest contributor to Education Cannot wait.
We have 21 very generous and steadfast strategic donor partners and member states of the United Nations and private sector and foundations.
But Germany now has, I would say, sky rocketed in the lead here.
And by doing this, Germany is first of all, of course, making a huge commitment which is important to all of us, to the United Nations as a multilateral organisation and to Education Cannot Wait as a fund allowing us to reach an additional 2.5 million children and youth who are affected by conflict, by climate induced disasters or as refugees or internal displaced.
And as my colleague from OHR mentioned, Syria and Burkina Faso, these are one of the 42 countries where these are two of the 42 countries where Education Cannot Wait has made substantive investments since its inception.
Operation, Operation Operationalization in just over 4 years ago and with this we are able to provide sustainable quality education.
Sustainable Development Goal 4, which entails the full package of curriculum, learning, protection, school feeding, psychosocial services and all that creates a a good standard of education which is absolutely critical if you are to achieve any of the other sustainable development goals or human rights.
Unless the generation of children and youth in countries like Burkina Faso, Chad, Syria, Afghanistan and Central African Republic Rohingyas receive a 12 year education, we will achieve very little elsewhere in the goals that we have set for ourselves.
I I also want to stress that Germany made its contribution on the day of international education, which we commemorated yesterday.
And I would like to conclude by thanking my colleagues at the United Nations and colleagues in civil society, private sector across the globe.
The media who are so supportive of education cannot wait as a global fund, because now we have, after just over 4 years, almost five years, mobilised 1.1 billion thanks to the German contribution.
We broke that record yesterday, one 1.1 billion in our trust fund and an additional excess of 1 billion in in country missions against our programmes making education cannot wait and over $2 billion fund in less than five years.
I think we at the UN should be very proud of that.
The UN is an action oriented organisation and we are very proud to serve it and most of all to serve the 128 children in youth, out in armed conflicts as refugees who are suffering the toughest, toughest and hardest circumstances on earth.
We are making a difference to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and we call on all Member States in the UN host governments who cooperate with us governments who can are able to provide the funding and many are private sector.
Please help us reach the next funding target, $1 billion to come.
We we turn to you.
It is possible to make it impossible or seemingly impossible happen and we're just making it now.
Thank you very much here, here, Madam Ambassador, thank you.
Education is the key that enables millions of girls and boys to lead a good life and more generally, education is key to tackle the challenges of our time, sustainable development, environmental transformation and social occasion, just to name a few.
However, COVID-19 has threatened all progress we have made.
We experience a huge backlash and this is also true to education.
Schools are closed around the world and many students cannot and do not return to school even when they reopen.
And Yasmin has mentioned it, even before the pandemic, an estimated of 128 million children were already out of school because of armed conflict, forced displacement or emergencies like climate induced emergencies.
Worldwide, there are 34 million displaced children and youth.
Their number will continue to grow as a result of the global climate crisis, and girls are particularly at risk.
We have a shared responsibility not to lose this generation.
We must not leave anybody behind.
And This is why Education Cannot Wait is doing such an important work.
Yasmin, you are doing a tremendous job in educating and promoting education and bringing children back to school.
We do need to intensify our multilateral efforts to build resilient education systems worldwide, and This is why Germany has decided to support Education Cannot Wait.
With an additional €200 million, this will help millions of most vulnerable children to have access to quality education and a safe learning environment.
At the beginning of our G7 presidency, we want to send a strong signal to our economic, economically strong partners and private donors.
Education is a human right.
Education matters.
Get involved.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Madam Ambassador, and, and thank you, Yasmeen.
I think that it's, it's a privilege that, you know, often we're, we're up here giving you some very dire news, but it's a privilege sometimes to also be able to see solutions in the works and, and, you know, people working hard and getting engaged for solutions and for, for alleviating the, the suffering and, and for building those foundations for the future, which education is all about, of course.
So thank you.
Thank you both for being here.
And I see, I see Lisa has her hand up.
So we'll go to the Voice of America.
Go ahead.
Thank you.
Hi, Yasmin, nice to see you.
I have a couple of specific questions here.
I was wondering how it is that you are able to operate in the midst of conflict situations and specifically right now Ravina spoke about the coup in Burkina Faso and you have a big programme there, I believe perhaps you could elaborate a bit upon that.
But has that programme come to a standstill because of the situation, terrible situation which is occurring right now?
And then you also also mentioned that Afghanistan was one of your projects.
You, you operate there.
Are you able to operate?
I mean, what is happening there?
The Taliban say that they're going to let girls go back to school sometime in March.
Well, who knows, maybe, maybe not.
So what has happened with your operation there?
And are you in in contact with the Taliban?
Are you able to speak to them?
Are you able to get them to allow you to actually go forth with your project to educate children?
How many kids there also do you take care of?
Thanks.
Thank you very much, Lisa.
It's lovely to hear your voice again from Voice of America and I hope to see you soon again.
I think your questions are very pertinent.
And I, I'm happy to answer the question because I often get that question because education is development sector and how do you implement development in a conflict and a crisis.
And my answer is always the same.
And I'll go into detail as to your question, especially Afghanistan since I was there just a few months ago.
We are able to do this because we are a United Nations fund.
the United Nations is the first multilateral crisis responder and has been so for decades.
We have systems and security in place.
We have contacts with governments, the jury governments, the facto governments, militia groups.
We work on the basis of the humanitarian imperative, neutrality, impartiality, solidarity, humanity, which allows us that access.
This is a very unique access that only the United Nation enjoys.
I'm not saying it's without risks, but it is an access that is unprecedented.
So take for Burkina Faso, we have a big programme there, multi year programme and we have no and we receive daily updates.
We have no updates saying that our programme has in any way been Hanford by the evolving situation on the ground.
And here may I say we constantly have evolving situations.
I, I was recently in Cameroon, we have several incidents of violence and and attacks.
We have ongoing crisis in so many in conflicts and active conflicts in so many parts of the world, Yemen and, and, and Central African Republic and so forth.
It never stops our programmes because we are designed to function in those abnormal environments, working with the UN coordination mechanism, security and so forth.
Now on Afghanistan, it's interesting because I actually led the 1st all women mission since the Taliban takeover on 15th of August.
We went out education cannot wait and we joined up teams with the UNICEF on the ground.
In the first all all women mission, I met with the de facto authorities who treated us with hospitality.
They accompanied us to visit girls schools and we, our strongest point there was to ensure that girls in secondary school can return back to school.
Because the situation today in Afghanistan, as it were when we went out, is that primary school girls are now back to school and secondary schoolgirls have returned in some provinces of Afghanistan.
And this is possible because many of our partners on the ground whom we are investing in, whether it is UNICEF, Save the Children, Aga Khan Foundation, Swedish Afghanistan Committee, they are negotiating access on the ground, province to province, district to district.
Afghanistan is a very decentralised country.
We are also receiving good updates saying that there is a possibility that the secondary school education will now expand to all provinces.
It's all about negotiations.
I can also say because I'm very familiar with Afghanistan, I, I started my field mission there in 1990.
I left Geneva to go and work in Afghanistan in 1990.
And, and I've been back and forth and I was there during the first Taliban takeover in late 1919, nineties, 2000.
And Afghanistan, the Kabul, what I saw now is very, very different, very different.
Women are out on the streets, they're protesting, you know, their basic services.
Primary girls are in school.
Secondary schools are slowly returning.
Female professionals are working.
This is not to say that everything is great and but we are definitely seeing a bigger maturity and we have, we have, we are cautiously optimistic about the situation.
What I would like to take this opportunity to say is that education cannot wait.
We are supporting 3 Point or 3.57 million children who are out of school, including returnees coming back under the all species of UNHR.
And we are able to operate across the country through our implementing partners, UN agencies and civil society organisations using a direct execution modality, meaning we do all of this without having any involvement of the de facto authorities.
They simply grant us access to continue our our implementation and we are implementing and we are hoping to scale up and we have a new multi year programme that will be ready early next year, this year in a few months and we will be calling on at least $300 million for that particular programme.
And we are continuing uninterruptedly, uninterruptedly.
We were made for crisis.
That's why we are able to work.
Thank you.
Let's see.
A question from John Zaracostas.
Go ahead.
Yes, good morning.
Miss Sharif.
I was wondering if you have any estimates on how many children have been denied access to education because of conflict and facilities, school facilities either being weaponized or bombed in in conflict situations?
There have been so many areas and I was wondering if you have some figures on that.
Thank you.
Excellent question.
It's important because that's the very reason why the UN Special envoy Gordon Brown brought the campaign to establish Education Cannot Wait to the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016, simply because back then, the estimated children and youth who did not access education because of conflict and crisis and refuge were estimated at 75 million, of whom 39 million were girls that that was back in 2016.
Today, as a result of COVID-19, we have reached a number of 128 million children and youth, half of them girls, who are not accessing education, in conflict, in refuge or due to climate use and use disaster 128 today, five years or six years later.
So the needs are not going down, they are dramatically rising and that's why again, we call for funding private sector, ODA, governments, foundations, please invest in humanity, invest in United Nations, invest in education, cannot wait.
And most of all, invest in this 128,000,000 shilling and youth.
Thank you, Miss Sharif.
Next question, Paula Dupras, please go ahead.
Hi, good morning.
So nice to hear from you again.
I have a question regarding the donation by by Germany.
Does this actually mean that it is your all time top donor contributor since you started the fund?
And and also could you just sort of could you state what would happen if you do not receive sufficient or if there's not sufficient sufficient amount of support being made, financial support being made to education in these crises situations?
What what's that made provoke?
Thank you.
Thank you.
Excellent question.
Very, very important.
Gives us a chance to elaborate.
Well, yesterday when Germany made this ground breaking historical announcement on the world education, they, they, they ***** up to become the number one, number one strategic donor partner to education cannot wait.
As I mentioned, the total contribution today amounts to euros $380 million.
And they hope yes, as I we do and the ambassador stock will agree with me that everyone of our 21 strategic donor partners will fall off in their, in their footsteps and scale up.
And all those Member states in the UN and private sector companies out there who have not joined education cannot wait yet do so because we still need when we speak about 128,000,000 strategic children and youth, we know that the $2.2 billion in total that we leverage and mobilise will not cover the needs of 128 million.
So please, we we would need to 10 times fall that if you're really going to reach them.
I do want to give credit also to many of our other great donors.
The United Kingdom has been the leading donor for a very long time and we're part of founding education cannot wait and we are.
We are confident that they will scale up, as will our third biggest donor, Denmark.
Other great donors like Canada, the United States, Norway.
I'm so afraid of forgetting anyone because there are so many great donors.
Lego Foundation as a private sector and so forth.
We have 21 and please look at our website to see each and every one of them.
Now, why is this important to the to, to the United Nations and to the world and to all of us?
Because if we want to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in the 2030 Agenda, the minimum requirement for every child in youth in the country of war and in refuge is that they have at least an education.
Otherwise, gender equality will not be achieved.
We cannot end extreme poverty and so forth, and we cannot achieve human rights.
If you have a whole generation that cannot read and write, have not processed the traumas, have no protection and who are not surviving COVID-19 or the war, because I have no protective environment of learning.
Education is the foundation for all sustainable development goals and the foundation to achieve all human rights.
And I speak as a human rights lawyer there.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Isabelle.
Go ahead.
Good morning, Isabelle Sacco for the Spanish newsagers.
CFAI would like to know after you said that a 128 million people are are out of school because of conflict and climate disaster for for example, I would like to know how many children are still being out of school because of the pandemic situation at this point in that.
But in that sense also in, in what extent do you consider that the situation of the education sector has normalised also in the context of the pandemic?
And if you can elaborate on this and I have a follow up, then thank you.
I mean, when the pandemic broke out, I think they were, if you take the entire globe, I think it was close to a billion that were, that were out of school.
And then of course, the the welfare parts of the world in the North have been able to reclaim and through remote learning and technology to bring children back to school.
Now our focus is on the children who are suffering furthest behind the achieving the sustainable development goal for and all sustainable development goals, namely those who live in the midst of armed conflict, conflict and as refugees.
And they are 128 because of COVID-19.
Before that it was 7575 million.
And today there are 128 million in total.
So 128,000,000 -, 75,000,000.
It's almost a bit like you don't mind making that calculation.
The, the, the total is 128 million.
And all of them, whether they were there before COVID-19 or not, are suffering from COVID today.
And here it's important to bear in mind because of the environment in which they live.
You go to a remote village in Afghanistan, you have no electricity, let alone Wi-Fi.
So whereas a child in Sweden or Norway can sit at home and work on the laptop, they, they don't even have electricity.
So, so that's the same for, for Central African Republic or go to Cameroon or go to Mali.
They don't have the infrastructure because of the socio economic inequity in the world.
They have no infrastructure.
So the remote learning that we are providing is trying to use technology in countries like Lebanon, where you have a huge refugee caseload from Palestine and from Syria, or to use use it manually.
Teachers go from home to home or provide support so that they can enlarge the classrooms and exercise social distancing or provide water and sanitation and and so that they can also manage their health and masks to continue to go to school with social distancing protocol.
But they don't have at all the services that our children would have in case of COVID-19 to see that home behind their computer and laptop and and continuously do their work.
No, they are double, they are triple into crisis, conflict, being a refugee and then COVID-19.
That's why they are left photos behind.
And that's why funding is urgent because one day if we don't reach them, they will reach us and not in the shape that we would like to see them.
Because what happens is the girls go into early child marriage, they get caught into trafficking, they get they become subject to sexual *****, and they are totally disempowered as girls and women.
They will never be able to stand up for themselves.
And the boys are tempted to go into militia groups, even terrorist groups, in order to support their families.
Is that the word we want?
No.
So let's invest now in their education.
Isabel, you had a follow up.
Go ahead.
Yes, I am here.
Thank you.
It's it's unfortunately the the connection was cut when you were responding to the to the first question.
So what's remaining the second one in what extent the the situation in the education sector has been back normal in in this in the pandemic pandemic context.
If you can give us your your assessment and to, to, to finish with and then for to finish.
Now for me, I would like to know if I I find that this donation that you are announcing is very impressive and show shows a big trust in your work.
I mean your organisation work.
But I would like to understand how exactly you help the children back to education.
You know, in what concretely, how can we convey to the, to the, to the public, to the, to the general public?
What do your organisation does to to help everyday the children get education going back to school or receiving education from home and so on?
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Isabel.
Thank you so much.
First of all, no, the situation has not improved for the 128 million children suffering from COVID-19.
In addition to conflict being refugees or climate induced disasters, we have mitigated the impact through investments by Education Cannot Wait, financial investments, policy investments that come with the finances and strategic investments in how we operate in country through our partners, United Nation agencies and civil society.
And we reached 30 million children with more COVID-19 related investments made by Education Cannot Wait 30.
We we were very fast out there.
The Who declared a pandemic in 2020.
So yes, 20 million have been reached, but this is measures to keep them going until the the pandemic is over.
We still count 128 million children that need to return back to normalcy in their already very abnormal environments of conflict and refuge.
Now how do we operate?
This is important because we as a global fund in the United Nations, we have strategic objectives and most of our strategic objectives are also to support the Secretary General Antonio Guterres reform programme in how we operate in country.
The number one is working together and a new way of working.
The era has come to an end where we work in silos, one agency there, one NGO there.
What we are doing today and this is how we operate is through joint programme and the Secretary General speaks specifically about joint programming.
So as a global fund, our job is to mobilise resources into pooled funding, catalyse the money, and there we have reached over $2 billion.
Bring the money and use that money to work with our colleagues in UN HR, in UNESCO, in UNICEF, in WFP, in Save the Children and Plan International.
Yes, with Refugee Service, Norwegian Refugee Council and so forth and many local NGOs, because we are also very strong on the ground bargain and localization agenda.
We are the catalyst to bring them together through the United Nations coordination mechanism, which is through the cluster approach which most Geneva based actors are familiar with that came out of the humanitarian reform.
Working with humanitarian coordinators as well as rest and coordinate is usually the same to coordinate a joint programme on education for those furthest left behind in a country, in the entire country, or in countries where you only have partial conflict.
The programme is developed three years with a holistic approach, a whole of child approach so that all these children receive psychosocial support, mental health, they all receive school meal, they receive upgraded learning materials and curriculum.
The teachers are being trained security and protection around their schools, receive technology where they can use it and, and, and education that is more aligned with with what we consider better standards so that they have learning outcomes.
They actually come out and no math, can read, can think critically and are relatively healed from their traumas and can then move on to earn a livelihood and start rebuilding their countries.
That's why education is not just the human right, it is actually the pathway to peace, to recovery, to rebuilding a country, to build good governance, to build good rule of law.
So investing in education means investing in the entire spectrum of sustainable development goals and lay the ground for that.
And so that's how we work.
And so we, we, we rely and the ones who are doing the real job are the UN agencies, the civil society organisations and of course the host government where we work in most countries directly with the host government and their Ministry of Education so that we can build up the education sector, which then in turn will help rebuild a country.
Thank you very much and, and thank you.
So I think it was, it was excellent to sort of, it's really spelled out there what it is and what it means for, for, for children to be able to and young people to have this sort of holistic approach to education to be able to build targets.
And that there's really a lot of components to that, to that education aspect.
It's there's, there's security, there's technology there, there's, there's all kinds of things that go into it.
I'm wondering if we have any more questions on this or if, if the ambassador wants to add something.
If not, you know, I just want to apologise for the, for the technical problem that we had earlier on.
If, if you're in, perhaps also to the journalist, if there's anything you needed to have repeated.
Because as I understood it, we went down in the middle of of an answer.
But if not, I'm sure that I'm sure that both the ambassador and, and perhaps the ambassador would like to say a few words.
So just thank you again for the opportunity also to speak here.
And let me just say again how important and impressive the work of education cannot wait is.
And we do hope that our contribution is an incentive for others to come forward.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Madam Ambassador and, and thank you to to the German government and German people for their support to this incredibly important UN Global Fund initiative, which is education cannot wait.
Thank you, Yasmine again for being with us.
Always a pleasure, always a pleasure.
So we have a number of announcements that we were going to do and I'll get into those right away.
I'd promised, for one thing, that I would read the statement attributable to the spokesperson for the secretary general on Burkina Faso, Stefan du Jarik.
I will read it in English, but if if somebody needs it in French, just, you know, put up your hand and I can do that.
So again, this is statement attributable to Stefan du Jarik, the spokesman for the Secretary General.
The Secretary General is following developments in Burkina Faso with deep concern.
He is particularly worried about the whereabouts and safety of President Roche Marquisian Cabaret, as well as the worsening security situation following the coup carried out on January 23rd by sections of the armed forces.
The Secretary General strongly condemns any attempt to take over a government by the force of arms.
He calls on the coup leaders to lay down their arms and to ensure the protection and the physical integrity of the President and of the institutions of Burkina Faso.
The Secretary General calls on all actors to exercise restraint and to opt for dialogue.
The United Nations reiterates its full commitment to the preservation of the constitutional order and reaffirms its support to the people of Burkina Faso in their efforts to find solutions to the multifaceted challenges facing the country.
I have, I'm going to move on to their number of of announcements.
We have a couple of people online with announcements both or, or in the room.
We've got Kathleen here from Ongtad and Rosalind from the ILO.
Perhaps just before we go to that quickly, just to wrap up the part on on human rights, I'm going to read on behalf of the Human Rights Council, a couple of quick announcements.
The Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review Working Group opened its 40th session yesterday with reviews of Togo and the Syrian Arab Republic.
This morning the working group reviews the human rights situation in Iceland and this afternoon the human rights situation in Venezuela.
For the rest of the working group schedule, please consult the background press releases that have been shared with you last week, as well as the individual media advisories.
So I would like now to go to Katharine from UNCTAD.
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Do you have a question for Catherine?
Sorry, no, it actually it's for UNHCR, so I can wait.
I see.
OK, thanks.
All right.
Is also Fernand Decker Mercy, mercy.
Catherine, let's go to let's go to Rosalind perhaps.
And then we'll we'll take Anila's question for for Matthew if he's online from unit CR.
So go ahead, go ahead Rosalind.
Good morning everyone.
Good morning.
The ILO is launching a new video download platform for use for use by broadcast and online media to support your reporting and content production on World of Work issues.
The platform, which goes live later today, features a wide selection of World of Work video content produced by the ILO and is organised into three separate libraries.
A video newsroom library features news offers from press conferences, report launches and other events.
AB Roll Library contains footage with natural sound and it's available for repurposing.
And it covers a range of topics such as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world of work, child labour, forced labour, green jobs and many more other World of Work themes.
And the B Lo B Roll library also contains archive footage taking back to the establishment of the ILO in 1919.
The third library is an edited video library which contains scripted videos mainly in English but also in French and Spanish, covering world of world issues.
And these can be used for educational training and awareness raising purposes.
And the videos on the platforms platform covers all regions.
They're free to download and a subject to a Creative Commons licence.
And also, in case you weren't aware, the Ilo's Flickr account has nearly 20,000 photos on world of work issues that are available for download.
And we'll be sending you a media advisory later today with information and links to the download platform.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Rosalind.
So I do see Matthew, is, is, is connected.
Gunilla, perhaps you want to go ahead and ask you a question then.
Yeah, thanks.
Taking my question, it, it concerns the, the, the crisis in Ukraine and the, the, the insecurity in the region.
From the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine said the other day that there could be up to three between 3 and 5 million Ukrainian refugees fleeing if there is a Russian attack, large scale attack.
What is the, the UNHCR view on this?
Is this plausible?
Is this a credible estimation?
Are you making any plans, contingency plans?
And what is your message to European governments in case we are having a conflict?
Thanks.
Thank you, Ganila.
Well, of course, we've been very concerned about recent developments in that part of the world.
And we have of course, been working with various partners, with the UN country teams, with humanitarian country teams, looking at the situation.
We've got a presence in Ukraine.
We're there in six locations.
And we're also working through a number of local NGO partners as well as with the authorities and civil society and local communities.
As you probably know, Ukraine already hosts some 5000 refugees as well as asylum seekers, and there is also a significant population internally displaced in the country.
So overall, we've been working on contingency preparedness and we've been contributing to updating our contingency plans with partners.
So that's the situation right now.
We don't actually have estimates of of potential displacement, but obviously again, we are we're watching things very closely.
Sorry, could you be more specific and what are your contingency plans and also the message to European government in case of a of a military conflict?
Thanks.
Go ahead, Matt.
Go ahead, Matt.
So I was just having trouble with me overall.
Of course, we're calling for calm and we're calling for all actors to try to ratchet down the tensions.
That's the overall message.
In terms of contingency plans, we've been talking to partners.
We have the ability to move in supplies and staff if needed, but that's where we're at this stage going to.
Thank you very much, Matt for for taking that question.
I don't see any other hands up.
So I'll just keep going with some of the announcements.
Then I have something on behalf of the ITU.
The ITU wanted to wanted me to read out this which is.
As fully digital transactions increasingly become the norm, the vital groundwork to prepare international standards for digital currency is accelerating.
RT US DC Cubed conference that's written DC to the power of three DC Cubed conference from Crypto currencies to CBDC's takes place online from the 25th to the 27th of January 2022.
At DC Cubed, industry and thought leaders, policy makers, central banks, standards bodies, international organisations, digital currency platform providers, and stablecoin and cryptocurrency experts will be discussing the key areas where standards are needed to strengthen the architecture and interoperability of digital currencies to facilitate integration with existing payment systems.
Now there's a, there's a website for that if you go, if you go, whether there's a page for that, if you go to the ITU website.
So keep an eye on that.
I think I should also let you know that the Conference on Disarmament is this morning holding its first public plenary of 2022, and they could also be a plenary this afternoon.
The session will be open under the Presidency of Ambassador Lee Song of China.
The three parts of the 2022 session of the Conference will be held, one from the 24th of January through the 1st of April, the 2nd from the 16th of May to the 1st of July, and the third from the 1st of August to the 16th of September.
And after China's presidency, which goes from yesterday through the through the 18th of February, other countries taking the presidency the this year will be Colombia from the 21st of February through the 18th of March.
Cuba from the 21st of March to the 1st of April, and then again from the 16th to the 27th of May.
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea from the 30th of May to the 24th of June.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo from the 27th of June to the 1st of July and then again from the 1st to the 19th of August and then Ecuador from the 22nd of August to the 16th of September.
There's a note here that I'm should be reading out.
It says Please note that so far there are no formal, there is no formal confirmation concerning the exact programme of work of the upset coming sessions of the of the treaty bodies.
So that's the, the treaty bodies of the of the human rights system.
The first, the first of which ought to be the 89 session of the Committee and the Rights of the Child from the 31st of January to the 11th of February.
Other than that, I wanted to remind you once again about the events around the Holocaust Remembrance Week.
On the 26th of January, tomorrow at 6:00 PM, there is this senior new event online.
It's called The Last Ones with director Sophie Noon, who went to meet the last Holocaust survivors in their home and asked them about their lives, their journey during the war and their lives afterwards and how they managed to live a normal life and start a family after experiences after experiencing such a tremendous trauma.
So the result is a series of interviews that reminds us about the importance of passing on the memory before it's too late.
There'll be a screening of three short interviews and it'll be followed by a discussion with the director and other experts.
That's, that's tomorrow, senior new.
And then there's a there's an event here at the Palais de Nacion on the 27th at noon in Room 18.
It's also carried on webcast and it will be carried on Facebook Live.
It's the official ceremony of the UN in Geneva to pay tribute to those who perished in the Nazi death camps.
Holocaust survivor Emma a judge will be there to tell her the story of her family's experience of loss and survival.
And after a video message from the Secretary General Antonio Guterres, we will hear from the UN Geneva Director General, Miss Tatiana Volovaya, his ex Her Excellency Mayor of Aylon Shahar, the Permanent Representative of Israel to the UN in Geneva, and Her Excellency Lotte Knudsen, who's the head of the Permanent Delegation of the EU to the UN in Geneva.
There's also a musical interlude by ensemble Baroque Chaos featuring Johann Sonatas by Johann Sebastian Bach, so please join us for that.
Also a quick reminder about Friday's Friday Mornings press conference here at 9:30 AM.
So before the press, the biweekly press briefing, it's it's the launch of the UN Archives Geneva platform.
It's the subtitled Enabling the History of Multilateralism.
It will feature the director General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Titano Bavaya, together with Francisco Pisano, who is the director of our library and archives here at UN Geneva, and Blondin Bucas Luzver, who is the chief of the institutional memory section here at the UN in Geneva.
And I think there will be really, you know, it's an announcement about this breakthrough for research on the history of multilateralism.
I think I'm done with the announcements.
I see your hand up from Lisa.
Go ahead.
Yeah.
About the Holocaust Memorial ceremony.
Two things.
How long will the ceremony be?
And will you be sending us the speeches by the participants would be very helpful if you great if you could do that.
Absolutely.
I'll, I'll ask, I'll ask my colleagues to make sure that the speeches will be sent to you.
And I believe it's, I believe it doesn't.
It doesn't say here, let me see if I can find the information on another.
I think it's an it's an it's an hour, it's an hour event.
But I may be wrong.
So perhaps what I'll do is I'll, I'll make sure that we resend their office resends the exact information about the event so that you can, you can see what the, what the, what the exact timing is.
I'm going to try to call it up quickly here.
But so, OK, it says I have it noon to 2:00 PM on the calendar.
I don't know whether that includes with, but that's, that's about the that's at least for the for the production of it.
So noon, 12 noon to 2:00 PM and we'll be happy to send you the speeches.
Anything else?
If not, then have a great afternoon.
Thank you very much.