UNOG Bi-Weekly Press Briefing 28 January 2022

Good morning.

Sorry for this delay.

We had a a slight technical problem.

I hope now it's working for everyone and you can hear us fine.

Welcome to the press briefing of the UN Information Service in Geneva today.

It's Friday, 28th of January and we will start immediately with an announcement from Ankh Tad.

I've got the pleasure to have Kathleen here with me.

Kathleen.

Bonjour.

Good morning, everyone.

I would like to remind you that Ankh Tad is organising next week starting from Tuesday until the end of the week, the 2022 Forum on National Trade Facilitation Committees and TFCS.

As always, use the acronyms later on.

The number of those committees has been expanded since the adoption of the Trade Facilitation Agreement at WTO and and it's entry into force in 2017.

Their role today is very important as we hope we are getting out of the pandemic.

There are drivers of change in the post COVID-19 recovery as the burden of the pandemic can be eased by improved trade flows.

For that we need traffic trade facilitation.

Sorry to work.

This means empowering all people involved in ensuring goods move.

It also means improving all processes related to to trade, lifting barriers and providing the right data at the right time.

The committees are central to delivering these objectives right now in the moment of crisis and in the post pandemic process.

This forum is very timely and it helps to devise new ways of keeping goods moving across borders smoothly.

UNCTAD is key in this process and provides Technical Support to the committees around the world particularly in developing and least developed country.

It equips the committees with different tools.

It has developed an empowerment programme for the committees to implement trade facilitation reforms in a coordinated manner.

The coordination is very important.

It offers e-learning opportunities.

They need new skills and knowledge to build a common understanding of their roles and responsibilities.

UNCTATE has created a reform tracker platform which has empowered 19 countries accord across Africa, Asia and Latin America to better track, monitor and manage their trade facilitation initiatives.

It also maintains a knowledge database and the organisation latest largest technical assistant programme as he could have has over the past 40 years had customs officers around the world accelerate the clearance of goods and increase the pace of trade.

I will send you a multimedia package with news items and the links to the different tools.

And there is a statement by the secretary General, Rebecca Greenspan and other different elements for this week.

And I'm stay at your disposal.

If you want to meet any of the participants and speakers, they're they are all on the web page of the of the forum and you can find the the the main speakers on the page of each day.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Catherine.

Catherine Chacon.

Alessandra Catherine, Director.

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Representative media and the the.

Rupert is also leading us and this is his last briefing and I just can't let this go without thanking him enormously for his contribution to the work not only of the communication of the UN, of course human rights Office, but also of the UN, Geneva and the UN in general.

He will not have Rupert again to bother him with incredibly difficult questions or on the most incredibly difficult human rights situations in the world.

Somebody else will do it.

He will enjoy a very well deserved rest and and retirement, but it's really with a lot of sadness that I say goodbye to him.

And I think all the journalists in this in this room and around the screen, unfortunately would have loved to have them all here.

Join me in saying thank you, Rupert, Thank you very much.

And before you go for your last briefing, I would like to ask everybody to give him a big round of applause online and in person here.

And you cannot hear them, but the journalists have been unmuted to clap you for the first time, I think in the briefing since this hybrid, we have opened the mic to everyone to thank you very, very much.

And I see a lot of clapping in virtual on the platform.

Rupert will transmit this to you later on.

So you have the great privilege now to have your last briefing and not on the easiest subjects, isn't it?

Let's start with Myanmar.

That's, that's right.

Thank you so much for those words, Alessandra, and to you all for many years I've been, I think I did my very first press briefing in the autumn of 1993 on Afghanistan.

The Taliban have not yet materialised.

And of course this year we have Afghanistan very much back in the news again.

And sadly, in this last briefing, I have to address the situation in two other countries that have suffered conflict and and human rights abuses, huge human rights abuses for many, many years, and that's Myanmar and Yemen.

So I'll kick off with Myanmar.

As you're probably aware, next Tuesday is the 1st anniversary of the coup, military coup in Myanmar.

We'll be putting out a press release on that shortly, quoting the the **** Commissioner.

Obviously, in that press release, she's urging governments and businesses to heed the voices of the people and to intensify pressure on the military to stop its campaign of violence against the people.

She notes that, and I quote, one year after the military seized power, the people of Myanmar, who have paid a **** cost in both lives and freedoms lost, continue to advocate relentlessly for their democracy.

This week, the **** Commissioner had a chance to speak in person with determined, courageous human rights defenders who are pleading to the international community not to abandon them, but to take robust, effective measures to ensure their rights are protected and the military is held accountable.

We urge governments in the region and beyond, as well as businesses, to listen to this plea.

It's time for an urgent, renewed effort to restore human rights and democracy in Myanmar and ensure that perpetrators of systemic human rights violations and abuses are held to account.

During her meeting this week with SHE, the **** Commissioner heard chilling reports of journalists being tortured, of factory workers being intimidated, silenced and exploited.

Of intensified persecution of ethnic and religious minorities, including the Rohingya.

Of arbitrary arrests and the tensions and sham trials of political opponents.

Of clearance operations targeting villages.

Indiscriminate attacks, including through air strikes and the use of heavy weaponry in populated areas, showing gross disregard for human life.

And yet, courageous human rights defenders and trade unionists continue to protest, continue to advocate, and to document and accumulate the mountain mounting evidence of violations.

The brutal effort by security forces to crush dissent has led to the killing of at least 1500 people by the military since the 1st of February 2021 coup.

But that figure does not include thousands more deaths from armed conflict and violence, which have intensified nationwide.

The UN Human Rights Office has documented gross human rights violations on a daily basis, the vast majority committed by security forces.

At least 11,787 people have been arbitrarily detained for voicing their opposition to the military, either in peaceful protests or through their online activities, and of these, 8792 remain in custody.

At least 290 people have died in detention, many likely due to the use of torture.

Armed clashes have grown in frequency and intensity, with every part of the country experiencing some level of violence.

In those areas with the most intense military activity, that's Sagang Region, Chin, Kachin, Kayar and Kayan states, the military have been punishing local communities for their assumed support of armed elements.

The office has documented village burnings, including places of worship in medical clinics, mass arrests, summary executions and the use of torture.

The crisis has been exacerbated by the combined forces of the COVID-19 pandemic and the collapse of the banking, transportation, education and other sectors, leaving the economy on the brink of collapse.

The daily lives of people have been severely impacted.

There are projections that nearly half of the population of 54,000,000 may be driven into poverty this year.

The people have shown extraordinary courage and resilience in standing up for their basic human rights and supporting each other, and now the international community must show its resolve to support them through concrete actions to end this crisis.

While there has been near universal condemnation of the coup and the ensuing violence, the international response has been, to quote the **** Commissioner, ineffectual and lacks a sense of urgency commensurate to the magnitude of the crisis.

The limited actions taken by the UN Security Council and by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, have been insufficient to convince Myanmar's military to cease its violence and facilitate humanitarian access and aid deliveries.

The **** Commissioner welcomed some private corporations decisions to cease commercial operations and associated payments to the military authorities on human rights grounds and she describes this as a powerful tool to apply pressure on the financing of the military's operations against civilians.

The **** Commissioner is also stressing that the current human rights crisis is built upon, and I quote, is built upon the impunity with military leadership perpetrated the shocking campaign of violence resulting in gross human rights violations against the Rohingya communities in Myanmar 4 years ago and other ethnic minorities over many decades beforehand.

As long as impunity prevails, stability in Myanmar will be a fiction.

Accountability of the military remains crucial to any solution going forward and the people overwhelmingly demand this.

I would just add that two points.

So we will be publishing a report in March of this year detailing the human rights situation in the country since the coup on 1st of February last year.

And I also understand the Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, Tom Andrews, will be publishing materials on Monday and I believe he's conducting a press conference on Tuesday.

Thank you very much.

Rupert for this.

Extensive briefing on this side anniversary.

Any question to Rupert on this matter in the room online, Lisa.

Good morning, Rupert.

I'm sitting here weeping silently.

Come back and see us.

Don't disappear, OK?

The the lack of international pressure is really very disturbing.

What actually would it take to get the military to change its position?

It seems that it can wait out economic sanctions and so forth, because I think there have been some from private corporations, as you've mentioned, and otherwise what would actually turn the tide.

And I'm also wondering whether you have reported in the past about people arming themselves, whether civil?

War is in the offing, whether it is something that actually might become a reality.

Thank you.

Should made-up by now.

Yeah, well, as I said up front, the the **** Commissioner is urging the international community to intensify pressure on the military.

There needs to be basically a decisive, concerted effort on the part of UN member states to hold the violence and to respond to the humanitarian needs.

There needs obviously to be a political process involving all the stakeholders, including the women, youth, civil society and so on.

And that needs to be established in a way that is actually capable of resolving this.

This crisis and the international response has so far, you know, very clearly been ineffectual and lacked a sense of urgency.

ASEAN did make some progress last April towards reaching A5 Point Consensus, but that consensus agreement has has failed to produce any tangible results so far.

So it's very important for ASEAN to keep up the pressure and remain united and for other regional powers such as China, India and Japan in particular to to reinforce that.

But I would just have to add that there have been, I think, some really remarkable dynamics in relation to Myanmar, which which make it in some sense is very striking.

So there's been almost universal rejection of the military and the coup among the population of Myanmar, and the military have not been able to consolidate their power as a result of that.

Secondly, for the first time, the country's many ethnic groups have come together in solidarity and begun to articulate a a very different and and more inclusive and more democratic vision for the future of the country.

And that's that's incredibly important because in the past there's tended to be distinct divisions between different groups.

Now there is also now across Myanmar, greater recognition of the crimes that have been committed in the past and particularly against the Rohingya.

And that also is, I think, a very welcome shift and a whole generation of young people now who are not going to go quietly back to accepting the the status quo.

Thank you Rupert, Omar, Yildiz, Anaduru Agency.

Thanks for having my question, Rupert.

We have seen some reports from several media outlets that Iran might be sending arms or deploying troops to Myanmar to suppress the protesters.

Did you have any information about it?

And one another quick question, this year Cambodia will be carrying ASEAN Association and they they seem to be having a different approach to deal with the Myanmar junta.

So what would you like to say about it?

Thank you.

I don't have any specific information on Iran and military supplies, but clearly the military are getting supplies and I believe this is the main focus of of Tom Andrews interventions next week.

But clearly, you know, the military are using lethal force.

They're using military machinery to, to to crush the population at large.

And in the process of that, they're using helicopter gunships, they're using air strikes, they're using cluster munitions and other indiscriminate tactics to target their foes.

And they're using landmines as well to, to discourage displaced people from returning home.

All these objects, machines and helicopters and so on are coming from somewhere else.

And I think as part of the, you know, as I said, the effort to to stop this, you know, to bring this to a halt and restore democracy and and human rights in Myanmar, it's, it's essential that the military is not restocked with weapons, is using to **** its own people.

Nina Las.

Yes, hi.

Thanks for taking my question.

First, I also wanted to just say personally and on behalf of AFP that we'd really like to thank you for all the cooperation, your professionalism over the years.

It's really been a pleasure working with you and we'll be sorry to see you go.

And I have a question for you.

It's not on my end.

More, though, I'd like to ask about the South China Morning Post report about China agreeing to the **** commissioner's visit to Shenyang after the Olympics.

Is is, have you received a word of that?

And it seems perhaps to be an attempt to avoid the publication of the report that we're waiting for IS, do you have more word on when that report will come out?

And is there a possibility to delay it until after the Olympics?

Thank you, Nina.

Nina, thank you very much for your kind words to Rupert.

But if you don't mind, I have more questions.

So and I think they're on Myanmar.

So if you don't mind that we take those first and then I'll come back to you, promised Jamil.

Is that on Myanmar?

And then Christian?

And then we can get back to Nina.

No, it's not on Myanmar.

Oh yeah.

OK, Christian, thank you.

Yes, it's.

It's not on Myanmar, it was on Bhupai.

It was just to also.

Add my voice, say thank you so much.

For being here for us and supporting our role here, that's all I wanted to say.

Thank you.

It's not just all it's everything that counts today, including, of course, what Rupert is saying.

Catherine Fiancon on my on Myanmar.

Not it's Yemen, but I.

Wanted also to thank rapper for all the cooperation through the years.

And we'll miss you Rupert.

Try to stay a bit around.

Don't.

Laugh when I say that.

Thank you very much, Katrina.

And in fact, before you ask your question on Yemen, maybe I'll add, I don't see other questions on on Myanmar.

So I, I let Rupert speak about Yemen and then we can take your question on Yemen and then we will go to the other questions.

So yeah, Yemen, Rupert, thank you.

Just before Yemen and I'll, I'll come back to Xinjiang afterwards, just before Yemen.

I'd just like to thank Lisa, Nina, Christian, Catherine for your kind words.

I would stress that, you know, it really is a team effort and everything I'm saying to you was not prepared by me at all.

I've just scribbled a couple of things in the last few minutes and I have a really, really great team.

And increasingly they've been doing more of the hard grind.

So I would just like to share your very kind words with my, my team, Ravina Mata, who as you know is sadly off on medical, prolonged medical leave and let's Rostal in particular, but also the rest of the team who deal with special procedures, treaty bodies and so on.

So Yemen.

On Yemen, I, I vividly remember very early in my career, must have been about 1994 or five almost getting your HCR as representative or local representative in, in Adam, PNG with a statement that the government was not happy with.

So yes, there's a long connection with Yemen and unfortunately a lot of it's been bad news and continues to be so.

So as you know, on the 18th of January, we, the human rights office warned about the escalating conflict in Yemen and its devastating impact on civilians.

Then just three days after that, on the 21st of January, 3 air strikes in quick succession by the Saudi LED coalition hit a detention facility run by Ansara Allah.

That's the Houthis in the northern city of Sadat, causing dozens of deaths.

And colleagues from our Yemen office were in Sadat this week as part of an interagency mission.

And the information they have collected paints a chaotic and desperate picture after the remand prison, which was believed to be holding some 1300 pretrial detainees as well as 700 migrants, was struck by these air strikes.

We're working to verify the civilian casualties, but so far we understand that some 91 detainees were killed, many when the upper floor of one building collapsed and 236 others were injured.

But as I said, those are kind of preliminary figures.

Still, the most severely injured were taken to Al Jamhori Hospital in in Saddam, which colleagues said was struggling to deal with the the sheer number of patients in need of urgent and life saving treatment.

The Saudi LED coalition reiterated this morning that it is investigating the airstrikes.

We urge them to ensure that that investigation is in line with international standards and is transparent, independent and impartial, to establish why the prison was hit, to ensure individual accountability for any breaches of international humanitarian law and to identify measures and procedures required to prevent such incidents in the future.

And during the recent visit by our team this week, we saw no signs indicating that this site, which was formerly a barracks, continues to have a military function.

And in light of this, we have asked the coalition to share their information with us with regard to the escalating conflict.

During 2021 the UN recorded just under 600 air strikes a month by the Saudi LED coalition across Yemen.

Also in 2021 there were 340 missile and drone attacks by Ansar Allah on the territory of Saudi Arabia.

So far this year, up to the 26th of January, so not even one complete month, there have been 1403 coalition airstrikes and 39 cross-border attacks by Ansar Allah, mostly on Saudi Arabia but some on UAE.

As the fighting intensifies through Yemen, we remind parties to the conflict that international humanitarian law must be scrupulously respected during the conduct of hostilities.

This including this includes taking all feasible measures to verify that targets are indeed military objectives at the time they intend to strike.

Violence is also continuing to be reported in the strategic city of Marib and the adjacent governorate of Shabwa as Yemeni government forces carry out a major counter offensive against Ansar Allah.

Among incidents this week, Ansar Allah forces launched a missile on Wednesday evening, hitting a multi lane Rd across from a military camp in Marib, causing a number of casualties among a crowded group of soldiers who were gathered at the roadside at the time.

And the attack also caused casualties among civilians that were on the road at the at the at that moment.

So far, we've verified that at least three civilians were killed and nine other injured in this incident.

On a further note, we renew our demand that Ansar Allah immediately releases 2 UN staff members who work for the UN Human Rights Office and UNESCO respectively.

Our colleagues have been unacceptably detained since early November in Sanaa without any information provided as to the grounds or legal basis for their detention or any communication with their families.

And we also recall the privileges and immunities, according to staff, of the UN system under international law, which are essential to the proper discharge of their official functions.

Thank you very much, Rupert.

And I'll go back to Katrina, who had a question for you in Yemen.

Thank you, Alessandra.

In fact, Rupert, you partially answered the question I wanted to ask.

It was related to the two UN staff members, one from human rights, one from UNESCO that have been detained since the beginning of November.

I think November is 7 by the Houthis in Sana.

You just mentioned that you have absolutely no news.

Is that correct?

And if I'm not mistaken, at the late late November there was a contact with the Hooties, no?

And that did say something about releasing them.

Could you please?

Elaborate a little bit on on the situation and the contacts.

Are there contacts with the the hooties?

Thank you.

I don't have too much detail on that Catherine.

We can, we can perhaps look a bit more in detail than that and get get back to you.

I'm sure there have definitely been contacts with the with the Ruthie's obviously about the the two staff members on numerous occasions.

I'm not entirely sure if you had no news about them.

But the the key point is there's been absolutely no information as to why they were arrested, what the charges are, if there are charges.

So basically completely improper process in terms of establishing why this has happened in the first place.

And then secondly, of course, once one knows more information about that, you can start to calibrate to what extent international privileges and immunities are being abused by the authorities or the quasi authorities.

Thank you.

Rupert.

I don't see other questions on Yemen.

So if you don't mind to go back to Nina's question on on China, on the Chinese announcement?

Nina, do you want to?

Actually, I didn't.

Yes.

Let's go back to your question, Nina, maybe if we can unmute Nina, Lars, Nina, you can repeat your question.

It was quite articulated.

Yeah, thanks.

Yeah, sorry.

It's it's about the South China Morning Post report that Beijing has agreed to to allow the **** Commissioner to come to Xin Yang, but after the Olympics.

So my question is if, if you've received word of that, if, if there are conditions linked to that, for instance, to wait to publish the report that we're waiting for from your office on Xinyan and if you have details on the on the dates of publication.

Thank you.

So on the visit, no, we didn't, you know, the way it's been characterised in the South China Morning Post article is not correct in our view.

There are still ongoing discussions about a possible visit during the first half of this year, but clearly it's not going to take place before the start of the Olympics.

But the parameters of that visit are still very much under discussion and there's no final decision or agreement.

And as we've stated many times from our side, it's important that such a visit be meaningful with unsupervised access to a wide range of civil society actors and locations as well as **** level engagement with with government officials.

So that's what we would see as necessary for such a visit.

On the publication of the report, I'm afraid I don't have an updated timeline yet again, it's clearly it's not it's not going to come out before the Olympics start.

They start next week, next Friday, Thursday, Wednesday, I think Thursday, Friday and there's still a little bit of process to get through.

So, but in terms of how the South China Morning Post characterise kind of linkage between visit and and publication report, we don't don't share that linkage.

We see these as separate parallel discussions.

Thank you.

And Nina has a follow up.

Yeah, thank you.

Just on, on the publication of the report.

I understood before the holidays you've mentioned it was expected in a in a couple of weeks.

So I'm just wondering what the delay is due to, if there's been any discussion with the Beijing about it, about the dates and if it's delayed?

For any specific reason.

Thank you.

Yeah, I said a few weeks, not a couple of weeks.

A few weeks is a extendable feast.

So yeah, I, I, as I said, I just don't have an updated timeline.

I have been repeatedly assured that it will be released.

There are rumours around that it won't be released and so on.

And, and again, the South China Morning Post article was kind of suggesting that, but I would say it again, I've been repeatedly assured that it will be released.

Thank you very much.

John.

Is that on also in China before I go back to Jamil?

No, it's actually on Yemen.

OK.

I think, I think Nick has a question on on China.

If you want to stay on China, Rupert, we will.

We will give it the floor.

And then I come back to to well, in fact, in fact there is also Jamil who had asked for the floor on for something which was not any of those.

So I'll ask Nick and Jamie, I think their question is on China and then we come back to the others.

Nick, Yeah, thank you.

Yeah, my question is on China.

And first let me just add my voice to all the other expressions of appreciation to you and to the team, Rupert.

And of course, nice of you to show up and showcase again how well you deal with difficult and sensitive questions.

So on with that, I wanted to check whether you mentioned that there was still some process to be gone through before the release of the Xinjiang report.

Could you elaborate on what that process is?

And can you specify particularly whether or not Mrs Bachelet has notified formally the Chinese authorities of OHCHRS intention to release that report?

And the second question in relation to a potential visit, have we got to the point where there is an agreement that an advanced team would go to prepare an agenda and is she specifically asking for access to Sinjiang itself?

Thank you.

The, well, you know, the process of any of these reports is, is is long and complicated and obviously you've got all the fact finding when you've got the assembling of the material and you've got cross checking verification and you know, minimum standards in, in terms of of that verification process and so on and so forth.

Then you've got the whole legal side of it.

Because as you know, in the reports we put out, you normally have some kind of legal characterisation based on the findings that we have.

All that, of course, is more complex when you haven't been to in Yemen, we have access and we're able to go to the Roman prison where where the air strikes hit, we're able to see the craters and the destroyed buildings and we're able to talk to the relatives of, of people who killed Chinjang.

We've had no access.

So that's obviously complicated, you know very complicating.

You know my understanding is we are very much in the in the last stages of of the process of finalising such a report.

But until that's done until final decision is is taken on when it will be published, I really can't tell you any more than that at this point that were on the visit.

Yeah, again the same thing.

I mean, we've been saying all along that it's normally a 2 step process.

It was a visit by team first and **** Commissioner visit is it is a different kind of visit.

And so but but between the two of them, it does need to be a meaningful process with, as I said, unsupervised access to both civil society members and to locations, as well as engagement with with government officials.

Now the report, you know, again, part of the process on the report goes to the authorities once it's been kind of finalised, cleared and so on internally.

And then it has with all governments, they're given certain length of time is the minimum of five days normally to review what's in the report, make their own comments to challenge the facts if they wish to do so.

That is then looked at, that response is looked at.

And if changes are necessary based on, on factual errors or whatever, then we make them.

But, and obviously we we listen and take them seriously, but that that's very much the last step in the process.

Mick, you have a follow up.

Yes, indeed.

So sorry just to press you.

So she hasn't notified the Chinese authorities that there is an A specific intent to release this report anytime soon.

And I mean, given the fact that this report has been in the works for so long, what I still don't quite see what remains to be clarified what what additional process needs to be undertaken.

I mean, all the issues have been, as we understand it, covered in this report over many months.

So presumably all the legal evaluations have been undertaken.

What what still remains?

Thank you.

I mean, in terms of formal notification in, I mean, it's been aired publicly, I don't know how many times.

So it's not like do you need a formal notification And you know, and that's, that's, I don't think that's a normal part of the process that you formally notify a government in advance beyond that point where you you give them the report in in most cases, governments, you know, know perfectly well that you are working on a report.

Of course, what remains to be clarified.

Look, I don't have the precise details of that.

I haven't seen the report and I don't know what what the very final stages are exactly.

But as I said, you know, obviously you have the facts fact gathering.

You're interviewing of people, you're reviewing of other open source material and so on.

And then you have the legal analysis.

And obviously that has to be very carefully done because, you know, when we produce these reports, we're often making very serious allegations which are tied to to very serious.

Elements of of law, international law, humanitarian law, human rights law or whatever.

So I don't exactly know where we are in that, but I know we're in the final stages.

Jamie also in China, Yes indeed.

And I I also want to add my.

Appreciation to Rupert for the many years of.

Long chats and I I would just say that you have assembled a crack team, including some, if at least one, maybe more of my former colleagues.

So I, I want to just say you will be missed and, and, and thank you very much for all of your help over the years.

I wanted to also, yes, indeed, go back to the, to the, to, to the issue about the visit to Xinjiang eventually.

And I just wanted to bring to your attention that the Chinese Foreign Ministry at the briefing today said the following statement.

China welcomes the visit of the UN **** Commissioner for Human Rights to China and Xinjiang.

We have sent an invitation long ago and both sides have been in communication.

On the matter, and this is the part I'd like you to comment on please.

We have a consistent and clear position that the purpose of the visit is to promote exchanges and cooperation between the two sides, and we oppose anyone using this matter for political manipulation.

So my question is, is that also your purpose of the visit to promote exchanges and cooperation?

And what do you say about concerns about political manipulation?

Start with the second one first.

I mean, obviously political manipulation tends to be done by others when we're it's something that's extremely important in human rights worker, you don't do political manipulation yourself.

We're dealing with human rights violations that are very clearly codified in international law.

That's the basis of everything we do.

And there's a huge volume of human rights law, law and standards and practises and so on.

So that's where we come from.

Now, of course we're not ****.

So we are aware that when we put out human rights reports or we do human rights work, or we speak of this briefing even, that we're, we are going into an environment that is politicised and but that's kind of in a sense beyond our control.

And it's something we have to try and blank out because otherwise we can't do human rights work properly in terms of the, the purposes of visit.

Well, I just repeat again, I mean, it's important such a visit is meaningful, meaningful in human rights terms.

And that it's, it's, it's not too constrained in, in the parameters of it.

You know, there are, there are parameters that we need for this kind of visit to be, to be, to be successful and to be worth, worth making.

And as I said, the parameters of that visit are still being discussed.

They're not finalised.

Jamie, thanks, Rupert.

I appreciate that.

I just want to make sure I'm very clear on the what I'd really like to try to get you to.

Focus in on, they said, promote exchanges and cooperation between the two sides.

So is that also a priority for the human rights office?

And and then just going back to the issue of political manipulation, is there any communication with other Member States of the United Nations in terms of the way that this is drafted, in other words, with the United.

States with Britain, with Russia, with India, with any of those countries have any type of input in the OR a vetting or would they have any sort of?

Way to contribute positions?

Or is this strictly a work done by by the?

The human rights office without any sort of outside diplomatic or even political input.

I turned it off instead of on exchanges and cooperation with governments.

You know, that's part of the DNA, That's what we do.

It's United Nations, it's part of what you do, but it's not the whole of what we do.

It's just one aspect.

So yes, I mean, with any government, however critical we are being of them, including even regimes, not even governments, so Myanmar and so on, one is having exchanges all the time, providing they are prepared to have them.

And we cooperate on the things we can cooperate on.

And very often that's that's obviously geared to trying to improve the human rights situation.

We cooperate on drafting laws, we cooperate on standards for the behaviour of police forces and and many, many, many other things.

This is kind of one side of the work that's maybe less visible and perhaps less interesting to, to news journalists, but it's a very important part of the work.

And of course, discussions with, with governments and officials, you know, that's perhaps the value added in the UN.

You, you have that kind of access to senior officials.

You can discuss the difficult topics.

It may be a difficult conversation.

That's a mandate.

We have to do it and we'd like to do it on the, I think you're suggesting interference or whatever by other states.

But I mean, look, we're receiving many queries from many member States and other, but all for UN word stakeholders.

So NGOs, you guys, media so on constantly on this report on the status of it, the data publication and so on.

And again, that's that's normal was a lot of interest in it and one would expect that kind of that kind of attention.

But again, you know, if states try to interfere in your drafting, no, I mean that's, that's we have to maintain our own integrity and our own credibility and our own products and not become anybody's puppet or, or tool.

So, and obviously, and you know, I know the team been working on this.

They're extremely good people, very experienced and, and **** quality.

So I can assure you they will be fending off any, any untoward requests and they come.

But you know, we get approaches all the time that are difficult to deal with from from states, all sorts of states, not, not just the just the sort of obvious aspects.

OK.

I'll take a last follow up on this question from Nick and then we will go to John and Jamil.

Yeah.

Sorry, just one last question.

Rupert.

You said you'd had repeated assurances that the report would be published.

There are a lot of question marks about Mr Bachelet's position on this outside in the world.

So could you just say whether those assurances that you've received that the report will be published are indeed from Mrs Bashley?

Thank you.

They're from people or everyone kind of involved in this, basically.

OK, John, on Yemen.

Yes.

Can you hear me, Rupert?

Can you hear me?

Yeah, Yeah.

Go ahead.

Hello.

Yeah, hi.

First, I'd like to also thank Rupert for nearly 30 years of cooperation and he's come a long way from first briefing in Solder Press 3 when a very shy Rupert took the podium to brief on Afghanistan.

But but my question is, with reference to Yemen, given that the Human Rights Council turfed the Group of Eminent Persons last October, what special thematic repertoires are going in there besides your monitors into Yemen, given the horrific situation on the ground, whether it's people starving or the bombings, what are your thematic rapporteurs doing there?

The the special rapporteurs?

Yeah, I, I, you know, there are lots of special rapporteurs, 760 or something.

So I have no idea what they're all doing or what they're all planning in, in relation to, to one specific country.

It, it is a question you could perhaps talk with Jeremy Lawrence who liaises with them.

But I, I, I, yeah, I have no idea what's, what's in the works with, with, as I said, such a huge, huge group of independent international.

It's not just the rapporteurs, of course, it's working groups, some of which would be relevant to the situation in Yemen.

So yeah, maybe you could follow up with with Jeremy, Nick, and perhaps ask if there's anything in the works from there.

And just to say, John, you've been here around even longer than I have even bigger dinosaur than I am so and it's been it's been a great pleasure.

I don't remember if you asked a nasty question in that first briefing, but you probably probably would.

I think it's you, Lisa and Stephanie who are who are the the the ones who started before me, even before me and Claire Nellis, of course, who's his AP.

And I see you can see Claire on the screen there.

Hi, Claire.

And it's been great working with you all and thanks very much.

Robert, if I might, yeah, if I might ask your human rights monitors that went on the ground after the bombings, did they collect evidence on the material that was used for potentially future investigations by various rapporteurs or etcetera or war crimes tribunals?

I'm sure if they could, they did.

I don't know for sure, but yeah, that would be normal on this kind of visit.

So you know, you when you get access to somewhere where there's been an airstrikes of this type, you know, you're looking at every aspect of it.

You're looking at the impact, the damage, where it came from, what the likely weapon used is, if there's any, any, you know, fragments of the weaponry or unexploded bombs or pitfalls or whatever.

You photograph them, you, you catalogue it and so on.

You don't touch them because it might explode.

And yeah, you gather everything you can that has potential relevance for accountability process for establishing the full scale of the, of the event.

You know, you know who's a civilian, who's not a civilian.

Can it be characterised as a military target or can't?

It was the military active activity very close by.

Proportionality, necessity or all the elements of war crimes that have to be satisfied before you can state categorically it was a war crime.

So they will have been looking at all that kind of stuff with very specific details and the elements I don't have.

Damir, I come back to you.

You had a question around the subject.

No, it's not a question.

It's just a comment on on the farewell to Rupert and to thank him a lot for everything and to, to wish you a very, very long new life, long enough that you can get a visa to all the countries you mentioned for the last couple of years, so including South America.

But it's just to say thank you here.

Thank you.

I hope you'll be able to see spamming a little bit too.

Yeah, Thank you, Jamil.

I think there are quite a lot of countries that won't be visiting in the very near future.

So you're quite right.

I might need, I'm not going to name them, but yes, there are some I would actually genuinely be quite wary of visiting as a as a sort of civilian individual.

Catherine de Moderafa, I know you wanted to ask and I, I was going to do it, ask Rupert to send his notes as soon as possible.

Exactly.

I mean, we got the one on Myanmar, but I'm still waiting for the one on the MN.

Thank you, Rupert.

Thanks, Catherine.

I expect one or other of my poor colleagues is listening to this and is is.

I don't think I deviated much from what I was given, but I'm sure you'll get it very, very shortly.

And that concludes Rupert's last briefing.

Rupert, after this briefing, I really think you need some rest.

But as somebody said, you've demonstrated how well you're able to speak and how professionally you're able to speak on very difficult matters.

And we thank you all very much again for professionalism, your kindness, your humour.

I remember one or twice where you really made us laugh and, and obviously always think about the terrible violation of human rights that should announce every day.

So thank you very much on behalf of us all for your incredibly fantastic and, and, and, and really thoughtful work.

Thank you.

Thank you very much and bond retreat.

And thank you all and keep up the great work.

We need you, you know, the, the, the media is so important to, to human rights.

You know, you amplify our voice and it's, you know, some very, very important messages that come out entirely thanks to this press call.

So thank you.

And again, we hope we'll see you again soon.

And as they say on television, the show must go on.

So thank you again.

And I'll ask now, Jens and Thompson, to come to the podium to talk us, to talk to us about Ethiopia.

Apologies to Jensen Thompson for keeping them waiting so.

So who wants to start Jens Thompson?

OK.

Bourgeois 2 said.

Very good morning to you all.

The United Nations World Food Programme WP is today releasing a new food security assessment which confirms our W fears really severe hunger is tightening its grip on northern Ethiopia after 15 months of conflict.

Almost 40% of Tigrayans are suffering an extreme lack of food.

Meanwhile, across all.

[Missing Subtitle]

Conflict affected regions of the North.

An estimated 9 million people are in need of humanitarian food assistance, the highest number yet in just Tigray.

The household survey found that 83% of people are food insecure.

It is to be noted that the World Food Programme conducted a food security assessment in Tigray during the main harvest in November 2021.

It is usually a time of plenty.

More than 900 and and 80 families across the region spoke about their food and nutrition situation.

Families told our teams they had exhausted all the means they had to feed themselves, with 3/4 of the population using extreme coping strategies to survive.

Diets are increasingly are increasingly impoverished as food items become unavailable and families rely almost exclusively on cereals while limiting potion sizes and the number of meals they eat each day to make whatever food is available stretch further.

It is to be noted as well that WFP conducted another survey in October 2020.

Prior to the conflict, an estimated 93% of people in Tigray said they had little or no experience of hunger.

Now, less than half can say the same, only 45%.

In terms of nutrition, the survey found that 13% of Tigrayan children under the age of five and half of all pregnant and nursing women are malnourished.

This obviously is leading to poor pregnant outcomes, low birth weight, stunting and even maternal death.

In neighbouring Amara region, hunger has more than doubled in five months because the region bore the brunt of recent fighting between the Ethiopian National Defence Force and the Tigray forces.

More than 14% of children under 5 and almost a third of pregnant and nursing women are malnourished.

In a far region to the east of Tigray, conflict driven displacement is pushing hunger and malnutrition rates up.

Recent health screening data shows malnutrition rates for children under five were at 28%, far above the standard emergency threshold of 15%.

Intensified conflict on the Tigre Afar border in recent days is expected to force more communities from their homes and deeper into hunger now.

WFP estimates that on average, crisis affected families in northern Ethiopia were getting less than 30% of their caloric needs in the past months.

Pushing people deeper into crisis is expected that the that constant humanitarian food assistance will be required at least throughout 2022.

Now, since March and despite the challenges posed to operations, the World Food Programme has reached almost 4 million people across northern Ethiopia with food and Nutrition Assistance.

The survey found that when access to Tigray improved during the summer months, humanitarian assistance from the World Food Programme and its partners kept starvation at Bay for those who had been cut off from assistance prior to May.

Most recently, however, no convoy has reached Tigray since mid-december.

Fighting and insecurity means the World Food Programme and other humanitarian actors are struggling to reach areas that have been cut off by the conflict in conditions that risk the safety of both our staff and and other volunteers, as well as the security of humanitarian supplies.

WFP is doing all it can to ensure our convoys with food and medicines make it through the front lines.

We need all the parties to the conflict to agree to a humanitarian pause and formally agreed transport corridors so that supplies can reach the millions besieged by hunger.

Now WFP is north in Ethiopia.

Response.

Urgently requires more than $330 million to deliver systems over the next six months alone.

And we will start, we will begin to run out of the capacity to even purchase food from as early as February.

I'll stop here.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Thompson Yens.

Thank you, Alessandra, and good morning, everyone.

Just a couple of additions from OSHA side Integrate, the United Nations and our NGO partners have been forced to scale back operations because of the severe shortages of supplies, fuel and cash.

Organisations have warned that operations could cease completely by the end of February.

Nutrition supplies for supplementary feeding and treatment of severe acute malnutrition have already gone out.

So we have the lack of supplies as we heard nothing is coming in overland.

We have the lack of fuel and cash and just want to give you a couple of examples of of of of that cash.

The national NGOs critical part of the response in Tigray have not brought in cash since June last year.

In terms of fuel and the lack of fuel going in, One international NGO reported on the 24th January that they had now effectively run out of fuel completely and the few supplies that they had left were being delivered on foot.

So that is the state of affairs in northwestern Tigray.

Thank you.

Thank you very much to both.

And I see Peter has a question for for Peter whom?

Yeah, what I wanted to ask is this situation has been going on for some time and there's been a lot of toing and froing from both sides about who's to blame for it.

Can you say who is blocking the food supplies and materials getting through to Tea Grey?

Can both of you comment on this question?

Thank you very much.

The reason why these supplies are not getting through overland at the moment is the fighting that's going on around Abala.

Yeah.

So that is the corridor from Amhara and, and, and to, to, to Samara to Mekele.

They get, they can get up to Avala.

Then the convoys have to turn around because they simply can't get through.

We have seen in in recent days, of course, the UN humanitarian air service has picked up again and they are delivering.

But you cannot deliver by plane at all the kind of volumes of aid that is clearly needed in the situation.

Now, as you correctly say, there has been a lot of back and forth from the humanitarian side.

We will leave the politics with the politicians and the negotiations with the negotiators.

We know the African Union has has their envoy there.

We are fully supportive of that.

We look at the facts on the ground and when it it comes to that we are in this situation, that we are seeing organisations reporting to us that if this does not change one way or another, if nothing moves, we will be unable to provide anything by the end of February.

That is the very stark warning we are getting now.

Just quickly.

Thanks so much Peter for that question.

On our part is the woeful programme and indeed as as as Yance has clarified, we continue to work closely with both the federal and the regional authorities to ensure that our convoys is our convoys can advance safely.

We, we try as much as possible to get all clearances at various levels.

We, we, we talk to almost everybody, the, the, the jury, the de facto authorities.

We try always to make sure that we get assurances from all parties so that we continue to work in, in, in, in Ethiopia.

And that's what we have done throughout the process.

Peter.

Yeah, so you are talking to all sides to try to get access, but you're clearly not getting access.

We have reached 4 million people in Tigray and that effect gaining access.

Negotiating for access is an ongoing process.

It's not an event you do it on a case by case basis.

We negotiate for access on convoys on a near daily basis on each of the convoys.

And when you're working in such contexts, it is such that you have to start from the national level, you go on to regional or to regional authorities so that you are guaranteed for, for, for safe passages.

That is the same as well with, with, with humanitarian flights.

There are bureaucratic processes that humanitarian organisations have to contend with in order to be able to work in, in, in, in, in conflict and really in, in, in, in all contexts that we find ourselves in, not only in Ethiopia but elsewhere as well.

Thank you very much, Jamie.

Good morning.

All both of you, this is for Thompson.

Thompson, is there famine integrate right now?

Short answer, no.

Famine is not being declared integrate.

We have people who are in IPC phase four and IPC phase five.

Ask me any day, what does that actually mean?

It means we have people who are facing famine like conditions, those who may be in IPC Phase 4, famine and famine like conditions.

Different animals, but the same beast.

John.

Yes.

Good morning.

Can you hear me there?

Yeah.

Yes.

Firstly, my question is to Yens, the senior Oscar officials that were expelled from Ethiopia, have they been allowed to return to Ethiopia while they still persona Narata?

Thank you John 1st a point on terminology the the expression or the OR the term persona non granted does not apply to UN staff.

That's a term that is used between invoice of estate, but in indeed they were.

Asked.

To leave and they left and they have not returned.

We also, don't, uh, think that, uh, there's any point, uh, pushing particularly individuals.

What is, what is important is that we have a very solid and robust, robust presence, humanitarian presence from the UN and the wider humanitarian community in, in Ethiopia.

And they are, they are doing the best they can to, to get this operation back on track because it is clearly not on track.

It it, it's not a a strategy to see day after day, week after week, month after month that we are not getting the access that we need.

John.

Can you hear me there?

Yeah.

Can you hear John?

If I don't?

If we don't hear you.

I'll tell you.

OK fine.

Have have they been replaced by other Archer officials?

In other words, their posts been filled given a the top 2 posts for Archer in the country.

Well, we, we have the team that that we need to have to do the work present in, in, in Ethiopia.

Lisa, thank you and good morning, gentlemen.

Thompson for you, I'd like to I may have missed it.

You may have given the numbers, but how many malnourished children and women are there?

And do you have account of any malnutrition or hunger related deaths that have occurred in Tigray and elsewhere?

And please send us your notes as soon as you can.

That would be helpful, thank you.

You should have received a news release that also has B row that also has photos as well as the link to the actual report by now.

In terms of numbers, I have percentages for you and I can also e-mail them, but just just very quickly integral 13% of children under 5 and half of of of of of all pregnant and breastfeeding women were found to be malnourished.

I also have numbers, I mean percentages for children in in in neighbouring Amara region, four, more than 14% of children under 5 and almost a third of all pregnant and breastfeeding women are malnourished.

There are W malnutrition rates for children in our far where where 28% are malnourished and that is way above the emergency threshold.

I will also, in addition to the news release that is already in your inboxes, e-mail you my notes.

Thank you very much.

Thompson.

Lisa has a follow up.

Sorry.

Yeah.

I was wondering whether you have any count of malnutrition or hunger related deaths, whether you know about that.

Are people dying because they're not getting enough food to eat?

I'm afraid I do not have mortality, I do not have numbers as directly attributable to food or hunger.

But what I can tell you is that people are suffering.

In fact, the IPC report in June brought to light a population on the edge of crisis.

This latest assessment clearly shows that people are still facing severe hunger.

I was speaking to my colleague who was recently in Merkel, who was recently in the north, and she was telling me that this is a population that was just not ready for this kind of shock.

They may have faced droughts before, they may have suffered from economic crisis before, but nothing has hit them this hard.

This conflict has taken away a lot from these people.

It has taken away their dignity.

It has taken away all the means they had to eke out a living.

People are suffering.

They are on the brink.

They are struggling to put food on their tables.

A pregnant woman, she she, she my colleague tells me that she met and expecting mother who has four other children.

She is already malnourished herself and she says she's having to skip meals in order to feed these four.

And then one.

The question that begs the mind is what kind of a child is?

Is she going to be able to deliver and she expects I think in the next month or so over?

Yeah, indeed.

I don't see other questions for our colleagues on Ethiopia.

Thank you very much, Thompson.

Thank you very much.

Yes, and two very short announcements about the Conference on Disarmament.

It's next public plenary will be on Thursday, 3rd of February at 10:00 AM in Room 19.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child will open next Monday morning at 10 AM.

It's 89th session.

The reports will be reviewed, that will be reviewed are those of the Netherlands and Madagascar.

And then just on behalf of the colleagues of the Human Rights Council, please be reminded that the schedule for the Universal Periodic Review Working Group session 40s tension for today.

While this morning it was the review of the Republic of Moldova, this afternoon the working group will adopt the reports of countries which were reviewed earlier this week, Togo, Syrian Arab Republic Island, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

And I'm told that the reports will be shared with you prior to the adoptions.

That concludes.

Oh, no, it doesn't because I still have two questions.

I hope they were not for Jens and and Thompson, that we are a little bit late.

Yeah.

Jamie and and and Peter in the room.

Jamie.

Yeah, thanks.

Thanks.

Alessandra, can you hear me?

I I my question is for Tarek if he's here.

Let me see if he's still connected.

Can.

I see his face or is it just his name?

I think so.

Just one second because Jens and Thompson are leaving.

Peter, is that who who's your Tariq to?

OK, so we haven't finished the briefing.

I know I'm paying my scenes for my scenes because we started 50 minutes late.

So I have to say that Jamie ask you a question to Tariq.

He listens to you.

Thank you.

Hi.

Hi, Tariq, good morning.

I had two questions.

The first one just is about the EB.

Today.

I noticed that it looks like they're on elements 15, three, 15415 five.

And if my maths are correct, it looks like there's as many as 49 elements to the entire agenda.

So I'm just wondering, are you getting through all of the agenda items today or am I misunderstanding what is being discussed today?

And then I have another question after that.

OK.

Hi, Jamie.

Quickly.

Well, I was not because I was listening to this briefing, I was not really following the EB and I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm going to do that as soon as this finishes.

We may have a morning session tomorrow.

That's the news.

OK, I think I'm looking at the faces.

Not everybody seems happy about it, but I guess it's necessary.

Jamie had a second question.

Yes, I had a second question.

The AP yesterday issued a report about allegations of racism involving the regional director for the Western Pacific region that other other news outlets have also picked up upon.

I'm just wondering, could you tell us an update as to what reaction there is from WHO on that?

And in particular how, what is going to be the involvement of the Director General himself in responding to it, given his very outspoken comments in the past against racism?

Jamie, as we have sent you the, the the our position yesterday, we are aware of allegations and we are taking all appropriate steps to follow up on this, on this matter.

Tarek, do you mind to put your camera a little bit down?

We can't see the bottom.

OK, that's perfect.

Yeah.

No, no, it's OK.

Now we can't see your the top of your head, so maybe it's a little bit too much if you if you can just centre it.

Peter has a question from the room.

Yeah, thanks Tarek.

I was just wondering could you tell us when who is going to brief journals again next?

And also is the DG going to answer the allegations put by the Ethiopian government against them during the executive board meeting?

Thank you.

We hope to have a next briefing on next week.

So this week, as you know, it was executive board and everyone was really, really busy.

And I hope you follow the discussions and I hope you followed all the, all the other discussions, including on, on the discussions of, of member states.

Could you answer my second question, please?

Look, I answered.

So I hope you followed all the discussions and the issue has been, has been discussed.

So I just referred to what has been, what has been said at the at the at the EB because the the letter has been addressed to the to the chair of the of the EB.

John.

How can you just say how the letter has been addressed to the chair of the EB?

Thank you.

Sorry, Peter, what is the question?

Is the letter to the chair of the EB addressed in writing?

Thank you.

Well, you will you will refer.

There was a letter that has been addressed to the Executive Board.

It has been received by the by the Chair of the EB and it has been dealt with during the during the proceedings.

I would really refer you to the proceedings.

John.

Yes.

Hi Tariq, good morning.

If you could possibly send me as well the position of The Who concerning the Regional Director on the Western Pacific.

But am I correct that the regional directors are elected by the countries in region and it would be up to them to decide if there is anything further down the road in disciplinary action or can the Director General act as well?

And secondly, to follow up to Peter's question, given that the letter to the Executive Board of 13th of January made specific allegations against the Director General on codes of behaviour, will we get something in writing from his office?

Jim, as I have answered so.

So the we are aware of these allegations and we are, we are taking the necessary steps to follow up on that.

On your question, every regional director is elected by the Member States of that region.

That is correct.

OK.

And yes.

Yes.

Good morning, everybody.

Good morning, Terry, on the two question, first question on the story from AP yesterday, the story say that the these people working for WHO sent a complaint, an internal complaint in October.

Can you confirm that this complaint was received in October?

And then on the agenda of the of the meeting this week, I thought there was already going to have a Saturday working day.

So if you can let me know if I'm wrong.

And I would be particularly interested to know if the item 20 will be discussed today or more likely tomorrow.

Thank you, Anas, you remember.

And you know, you know, it's always difficult to predict the proceedings of, of our governing bodies.

So, so it is possible that we have a session tomorrow if we, if the EB doesn't manage to cover all, the, all the points during the, during the day.

And as, as you know, it's really difficult for us to say.

And I haven't been listening this morning at all.

So I don't know where they are right now in discussions and I don't know how, how much of a progress they made.

So, but, but it is, it is possible that there is a, there is a morning session tomorrow to finalise all, all the, all the discussions.

And really you know, I already answered the question on the on the on the delegations that we are aware of and and we are we are follow up on it.

Christophe.

Sorry, Tarek, just a follow up on this.

So I, I got your answer.

We got it by e-mail yesterday.

We also have a lot of donors, big countries who are, are saying that they're going to watch this very closely.

So at what point is WHO here at headquarters going to brief us more closely on on what happened, what you got when?

Or do we have to wait for a new letter written by dozens of countries to ask the DG to be more transparent?

Once we have more, we will definitely inform media.

Thanks Christophe.

Thank you very much.

Yes, Christophe.

No, I see the hand is gone down.

Fantastic.

Thank you very much.

So there was the last question.

I have already read my announcement, so the only thing I'm left with is thank again Anne for her presence and her work and the support to our work and to our activities.

And thanks to Rupert again for his fantastic time with the United Nations and fantastic professionalism.

And thank you all for being with us today and have a nice weekend.

Thank you.