Thank you very much for being with us for this Tuesday briefing of the UN Geneva.
Today we have a a quite a long list of speakers including a distinguished guest with whom we will start.
Just before we start with the our invitee, I would like to remind all our correspondents that yesterday our Deputy Secretary General, Amina Mohammed launched a a a couple of initiatives called.
The first one is called the Framework for Immediate Social Economic Response and Recovery to COVID-19, which puts into practise the Secretary General's report that, as you may remember, was titled Shared Responsibility, Global Solitary Solidarity that he released in March.
And the second initiative, it is called Women Rising for All, putting women leaders at the forefront, calling the wall to action for the responses that we will need on the earth, the economic and the humanitarian front.
We've been distributing you the information related to these two initiatives that involve very **** level personalities, especially women, including including Heroinos Sheikh Mosa Binas, Prime Minister of Barbados, Meninda Gates of the building and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Many more incredible women under the leadership of President Saleh work spend day of Ethiopia and Prime Minister and a soldier of Norway.
So if you would like to have more information on this initiative, please let us know.
And with this, I would like to start with our guest today, Mr Paul Molinaro, Chief Operation Support and Logistics of WHO Health Emergencies Programme.
So if you would like to also address Tariq, he can answer your question.
Otherwise, I will give the floor to Mr Paul Molinaro for brief remarks, initial remarks and then he will answer your question.
Mr Molinaro, I think you've been muted.
So yes, just before I give a floor to to Yeah, this is Doug.
Just before I give a floor, I'm here in Adobe Show Studio with with our chief operation support and logistics, Paul Molinaro.
He has some 20 minutes with us.
So I would like really that questions go to him on this topic.
I will stay a little bit longer to take any questions that are not related to the to the work of supplies and logistics that Paul Molinaro will speak about.
So with this, I give a floor to to to Paul for opening remarks and then we will take he will take questions.
Eric, just for clarifying, we have a lot of speakers today.
So I think we can go with Mr Molinaro.
He has introductory remarks.
I understand we will go to questions and then we will see if there are further questions maybe later on for you because we've got more speakers on the on the list.
So Mr Molinaro just start and if you can give us some preliminary remarks on the supplies and logistics.
Sorry, we didn't hear the first sentence.
I don't know what's happening.
We could hear Tariq very well, but we can't hear you.
Now this that that should be fine.
As introduced, my name is Paul Molinaro.
Currently in WHO function of Chief Operation Support Logistics.
What we do is essentially over the last two years has built a small quite agile unit to support operations, in particular outbreaks.
We've been very busy in the last two years with Ebola.
What we've faced since January, February, this year's essentially has been an unprecedented crisis, particularly in the field of supply chain logistics.
I think 25 years of working on this and and working in teams that are delivering to all four corners of of the world.
The challenges we're facing in being able to respond to this crisis, particularly across the globe, I think are, are at a scale previously unimagined how we're responding to this.
So essentially we had stood up a small group into agency here in Geneva to support our efforts to coordinate.
And what we saw very clearly and quickly was unprecedented demand for certain items, particularly around PPE diagnostics because tests were just in the process of being created after genetic sequencing was was shared.
And then biomedical clinical equipment for clinical care on the front line, the demand obviously is increased in some of those markets 102 hundred times normal demand.
And then on the supply side, we saw a lot of shutdowns on manufacturing.
We saw export controls, we saw the international air transport system of which were quite dependent for movement of cargo gradually shut down.
So we're at the point now where we need to look for solutions to this.
The Secretary General requested that WHO convene a task force on these issues.
This has been done and within the remit of that task force, we are now increasing the capacity here in Geneva within the supply chain coordination sell for COVID-19.
We're now joined by partners from WFP, from UNICEF, from UN, OCHA and others on their way.
And we're really looking at this through the lens of four principles.
First of all, it's very clear we need to streamline demand at country level to really look at the highest priority to try and get the numbers to something manageable and coordinated.
And the Step 2 is collaborative procurement and amongst ourselves in the UN and some of our key partners is approaching the market together.
This gives us a bigger voice, particularly in a constrained market with a lot of intense competition.
The third part is allocation process based on vulnerabilities, on gaps and on critical needs.
And then the full step in light of the difficulties with transportation is to create a unified transport system.
And this is something our partners are currently doing, particularly WFP.
We have created 3 purchasing consortia in diagnostics, PPE and in biomedical equipment.
We've had some success now in getting quantities of supplies in those various markets and work will continue on that.
In the meantime, we have been delivering what we've had.
WHO did have stockpiles at the end of last year of PPE which we've been able to distribute.
UNICEF likewise have had success in a number of countries distributing PPE, oxygen concentrators and other equipment that they had available at the time of the of the evolution of this outbreak.
Some WFP have continued to support.
So some of the items we did have, we've successfully delivered.
I think the latest 1 is now 51 countries in Africa through the solidarity flights that we had run through a new hub in Addis Ababa, WHO in the meantime did manage to source, acquire and distribute some 1.1 million tests.
We have another 1.5 million on the way.
And then through the consortium, we aim to secure around 9 million tests and this is collectively with the different partners and then allocate those accordingly.
So we're trying to get to a place where we can be getting a large number of tests on a monthly basis through secured allocations with negotiations with manufacturers and backed by financing from other financial partners in order to be able to to get those allocations.
So this is how the system is coming together.
Again, as I mentioned, there's enormous challenges and the longer we're we're, we continue to face this situation, it's clear there are going to be repercussions outside of the COVID response.
We already see UNICEF vaccine shipments which are highly dependent on commercial air cargo.
We do see those having been disrupted in the month of May, if this in the month of April, sorry.
If this continues into into May, there will be gaps in routine immunisation and also in in in campaigns against outbreaks of other diseases.
At the same time, should this continue longer, I think the food supply chain and certainly WFP are reporting first disruptions in a number of places.
This also could bite deep.
So I think the time to start flagging repercussions with our other humanitarian operations is now and this going beyond the challenges we're facing just on delivering critical items to the COVID-19 response.
It was very interesting to hear this introductory remark.
Mr Molinaro, I have already quite a long list of journalists who would like to ask you a question.
And I will start straight away with John Zarro Costas for The Lancet.
Yes, good morning, Mr Molinario.
So with reference to the three critical areas that you're purchasing with consortia, if you can give us a bit of a context, Dr Tedros was ringing the alarm bells on the shortages in these three areas, especially PPS already in early February.
What went wrong in the logistics chain that that a good month was lost to ramp up the PPS, Mr Molinaro?
I, I wouldn't say it's necessarily what what went wrong.
What we found ourselves up against was a, a market that was just not responsive our regular long term agreement holders of which many agencies have very quickly just announced that they were unable to source anymore.
And there are a number of reasons for this.
Initially a lot of the market was based in in China and with the virus spreading from Wuhan and the mitigation measures put in place, there was a serious impact on manufacturing.
This coincided with probably the worst time for there to be a slow down in manufacturing was also around the Chinese New Year.
So we had an immediate knock on effect.
Now what we did in the meantime, we continue to source through our regular supply base and we started to approach directly manufacturers.
But while we were doing that, we were at least with quantities we had been able to secure as small as they were able to consolidate those into our hub in Dubai and maintain some deliveries.
So we, we, we did manage sort of 80 countries with small quantities and this was really based on trying to provide quantities for countries to deal with the first imported cases.
And this was similar with with what we were doing for tests at the time.
We had one supplier come online quite quickly.
We acquired the tests and we're, we're able to move those fairly rapidly while the aviation system was up and functioning.
So we, we did have to learn as we go along.
And it was in the sense of just how difficult the market was going to be that we reported to the UN crisis management team that we, we do need to, to take a different approach that the market was getting more and more constrained as, as we, as we spoke.
So I'd I'd put it in that, that it was essentially we had a period of learning, but in the meantime with the stocks that we had were able to manage some of the deliveries we were expected to make.
Thank you very much, Mr Molinaro.
The next journalist on the line is Catherine Fiancon.
Catherine, for whom you are.
Good morning, Mr Molinar.
Catherine Fiancon for France Van Katra and African outlets.
Mr Molina, who I would like to have some details about the group and the small group that you put together, if I understood well, two years ago in Geneva.
So I would like to have more details about that group.
And also you just mentioned that year 1.1 million tests have been distributed already.
So could you be a little bit more precise and tell us where these tests have been distributed and where is the next distribution going to occur?
Just to clarify, the, the, the, the group that was established was our own internal group.
So this was the Operation Support and Logistics Centre and that was essentially put together as a result of reform processes that were underway post 2015.
And, and that was essential bringing a supply chain element, a logistics support operations element and a technical health logistics element together.
And, and that model was, was tried quite effectively to respond to the Ebola outbreak in Ecuador, in DRC and in Kivu and covers everything from planning supplies, pharmaceuticals, being able to bring vaccine, store vaccine, set up treatment units and, and, and safely bury, safely bury dead the dead.
Now obviously the scale with what we're being hit is beyond that.
Hence we've been bringing together what we call supply chain coordination cell and that is made-up of WFP of, of Ultra and UNICEF.
And we'll, we'll continue to to continue to expand that.
At the same time, there was a mechanism in place that was fairly older.
That's the pandemic supply chain network, which has a number of private sector partners, logistics companies.
We sort of re initiated a lot of the discussions in that forum around six months ago.
And we did that because we saw our response in Ebola becoming less intense as transmission went down.
So we were looking at can we activate the pandemic supply chain network to engage on certain preparedness activities for future events of which this one came quite suddenly on the tests, on the, on the, on the test distribution, those went out to, and I think at last measure about 126 countries.
Now obviously the quantities are small and what we were attempting to do was to put enough tests to identify imported cases and clusters around those first imported cases.
And I and I think that went quite well.
Obviously the problem is as transmission continues and becomes community transmission, the demand for those tests increases considerably.
So then it's in that sense we quickly realised we had to bring on new sources, particularly in the manual PCR tests and we had to approach manufacturers of some of the more **** throughput, **** **** tech tests to be able to acquire quantities accordingly.
So that's sort of the, the, the, the genesis of, of, of how we moved and distributed those, those testings.
And within the consortium we aim just to continue to make those gains to get as many validated sources of testing online planned and then distributed.
Now where the next batch are going, I don't have the information as of yet.
We do have a number of partners working in the consortium to determine that and that determination is being made on the existing capacity within countries.
So what machinery and platform they already used, because obviously we don't want to send tests that are incompatible to that platform and the capacity to absorb testing based on their current strategies.
And then hopefully we as a support unit receive those numbers can then start placing our orders and and and moving tests, which I'm fairly sure in the May, in May we'll be probably increasing fivefold the numbers that we're able to move than what we have done in the last six weeks.
Thank you very much, Sir.
Next question is from Peter Kenny.
I'm a freelance journalist.
I work for South African Media and others.
About air links and you spoke about a consortium for PPE, but is there actually a consortium for airlinks?
And you spoke about the hub in Africa at Addis Ababa.
I understand that the UN was going to contact President Ramaphosa of South Africa, who was at your solidarity meeting last Friday, and I wanted to know if there had been any progress in getting South Africa to open up its airlines and make itself available as a hub.
I think, yeah, I think, I think Johannesburg is in the plan again.
What we've done with the airlines is lesser consortia and more dependent on on WF PS infrastructure and expertise in this area.
And I think certainly the intention we already had hub in Accra was to add Addis and to add Johannesburg.
And then I think there is another dimension to this is that we're also looking again through WFP is to acquire assets to be able to move passengers and that's particularly humanitarian staff, technical staff and health staff.
Obviously with the reduction in air links it becomes very difficult to do that.
So what we're doing through that is it's less a consortia and more when we're receiving offers of air capacity is basically routing to WFP because the nature of this operation it it it's very clear you just need one sort of control tower to put all the routings together rather than many voices just to just to ease confusion.
So we have been feeding into that process in determining where these hubs should be located around the world, including in Africa and sort of the plan of action for rolling that out.
But the actual scheduling, routing, hub management and day-to-day air management and air operations is being managed by WFP.
And I I remind the journalist that Elizabeth Verse for WSP is also in on our list of speakers today.
So maybe she will complete or say something about it later on Peter, or you can ask her a question.
My next request for the floor is from Paula Depraz.
So you spoke a little bit about the demands and the supply for PPE and diagnostics, oxygen, so forth.
But I was wondering what sort of what the situation is for supplies related to dead body management, body bags and so forth.
And then I had another question which was regarding generally speaking the demands in, in all these supplies in Latin America.
I know that there's been a lot of focus in on logistics in in Africa, but what if you could speak a little bit about demands in a demands and supply for Latin America, Mr Marina?
Yeah, so, so thanks on as far as supplies for dead body management, we don't really see constraint on, on body bags.
If you look at some of the countries that had the higher cases of death, again, a lot of this does end up becoming cultural.
And so you saw for example in Italy the use of coffins and you see that in, in, in other societies as well.
So that there hasn't been that run on, on body bags that that one would anticipate.
So I think in in that domain, we're fairly comfortable in terms of being able to acquire that material.
The other question on South America, yes, in a way the geography is difficult in terms of the distance from where some of our acquisition is taking place.
We do have a hub in place in Panama and do have plans for the next allocations, particularly of PPE to be directed to that part of the world.
Just in terms of being able to balance some of our initial push, push operations to get stuff out just by the distance and the difficulty of of getting there meant there have been delays.
So it's something we aim to address in the next round using Panama, but also using offers we've had from some of the countries to come and collect from hubs.
We are having the Asian, Europe or elsewhere with air capacity that may be a made available.
So we're in the planning part of that at this moment.
I think maybe there is another question on Latin America from Isabel, Isabel Sacco from FA or something else.
You're Isabel, you're muted.
Isabel Sacco with FA Spanish and saving Mr Molinari.
I would like to know firstly, what is the origin of the test you are buying and you then distributing because I would like to know if they are they are from China or from other sources.
I would like to know if these are especially rapid tests or you are buying also molecular tests because I I understand that they're they are not reliable in the same way most.
And I would like to know if the producers, the manufacturers are willing to to do their part in in this effort and they are doing a very, they are doing lower prices for that would really show that they would do for in direct negotiations with countries.
So it wasn't from Latin America, Mr Molinaro.
I mean the, the, the first validated essay that we we bought and used was was German again just now on the manual PCR part, we've extended the sources.
I think we have two that are Chinese.
I think we have another two that are American companies in the **** throughput machines.
It's a little bit more concentrated in US and and European.
We have in the initial negotiations with those manufacturers.
Yes, the pricing is more attractive based on our collective volume, but also on the fact that we applying for access on behalf of 120 a 135 countries.
So yes, we've had some degree of preferential pricing and we continue to negotiate and push for that.
Obviously, it's in our interest to get hold of as many of these tests as possible.
But yes, our efforts is as new sources come online as they're validated, we aim to acquire those and independently validated.
You're correct, we're not at the moment sourcing, distributing RDTS.
We will not do that until we have some indication from the technical side and of the house as to as regards their accuracy, sensitivity and and and usefulness.
So for the time being we're concentrating on the PCR on manual and automated platforms for PCR.
Gabriela Sotomayor from Mexico.
Yes, I wanted to follow up on my colleagues question Latin America because I mean it's northern region headquarters.
Gabriela, we lost you for a moment.
Sorry, do you hear me on now?
Yes, yes, follow up on Latin America because in the region health workers doesn't have a protection.
So if you are sending more PPE and material, it's only two way that is just a clarification if you can clarify that and also test.
And another question is, are you, are you having help from air commercial lines or you don't need them, You're only with the World Food Programme, but you don't need any help or of commercial airlines.
Mr Molina, did you get the questions from Gabriella?
I, I, I, I heard the end I didn't quite get at the beginning in terms of the PPE and health workers.
In in Latin America, yeah.
I didn't hear the question.
Gabriella, the second question was about air commercial airlines.
When I heard yes, that I heard Gabriella.
Can you clarify your first question, You wanted to know if they are distributing PPE to Latin American health workers, right?
If it's if it's on its way, because he mentioned that they have something at the hub in Panama.
But I just wanted to know if if if help is on its way or OK because they don't have them.
Yeah, Yeah, I mean correct.
Like as I as mentioned before, we, we were aware that the difficulties of of supplying Latin, Latin America in the beginning and also at the time the caseload wasn't **** and we were concentrating in, in, in other areas.
But I am certainly the situation has changed and as mentioned, we're in the process of now planning that the next acquisitions and batch volumes we get at least in PPE will be making their way in that direction certainly.
And we do within the plan for tests there will be allocation there also.
So I'm not saying that things are going to be arriving tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.
The plans are being put in place so that the next, the next production we get, we will be sending that way.
On the question on commercial traffic, yes, we use, we use it normally as a as a matter of normality.
It's, it's the normal way we do things right now with the diminution in, in those networks.
We are having to through WFP approach the charter market.
We are processing donations of air assets from a number of Member states.
We've had a good, we've had good collaboration with the UAE in terms of providing air assets to go to China to collect things, but also to help distribute items out of Dubai.
And we have other states offering, yes, in commercial aircraft.
We are always willing to take more offers and we appeal constantly recently formal offers of assets or extremely discounted air cargo and run that through through the colleagues at WFP so that they can put those offers into some form of schedule and use.
So yes, the intention is as much as possible to to coordinate those offers.
But Mr Molinaro, I know you have to leave us at 11, which is now, but I still have two journalists who've asked for a question, Mr Sierra from the Swiss news agency and Ian Arson from AFP.
Now, now we can hear you.
I was just saying that I know that you have to leave us at 11:00, but I still have two journalists who wanted to ask you a question, Mr Sierra from the Swiss Noise agency and Mrs Larson from AFP.
Can you take those two questions and then we'll let you go?
Yes, thank you very much.
So Lahore, ask your question briefly, please.
So you briefly mentioned the passenger airlift.
There was also the scenario to set up a frequent airlift from Geneva through Rome to Africa for both health and humanitarian staff.
So where do we stand on that?
The idea was to be able to to launch the first flight this week, if I understood correctly, Mr Molinaro.
Yeah, I I don't have an update on precisely.
I know it was in planning and the schedule was being set by WFP including to various different hubs.
I think there are a couple of practical issues that need to be ironed out.
Visa V The arrival of passengers from 1 country to another and the entrance regulations to enable that.
So I think this is more or less an issue of air capacity, which I think has been reserved.
I think they're just one or two practicalities on the movement of people that need to be sorted out.
The last question is from Nina Larson from ASP.
Thank you for taking my question.
This is Nina Larson from AFPI.
Just had a quick question for you on the role, what role your group might have in the work on planning to develop and just mainly to distribute a COVID-19 vaccine and what you foresee might be the biggest logistical challenge that you would be facing once a vaccine is actually available.
We do have mechanisms already in place for that kind of operation.
If you look at other vaccines where we have more demand than supply like oral cholera vaccine, there is a, the, the ICG, which is a technical group that responds to requests and prioritise them.
And that's an interagency group of different stakeholders in pandemic influenza.
We have within that framework contracts with a number of vendors for an allocation percentage of any, for any future influenza outbreak.
So the the the feeling is in that space it will be likely to be one of those mechanisms put in place and then through that, depending on how many suppliers come online and the quantities available.
Generally, once we have organised ourselves, we try and regularise that through procurement through a single entity, normally UNICEF, where WHO then plays the role technically on the ground of preparing vaccination.
So in general then we will use already existing processes and mechanisms for any new vaccine as we've done in the past for pneumococcal vaccine, for oral cholera vaccine, for diminishing stockpiles of the other fever vaccine.
I think we do have tried and tested means to be able to acquire and distribute those fairly.
Thank you very much, Mr Molinaro, for being with us today.
I understand Tarik has a little bit more time, so if afterwards there are more questions for Tariq, I'll come back to him.
But thank you very much Mr Molinaro for being with us and good luck with your important job.
I will now go to Elizabeth Beers on from WFP and maybe she will say something more about that too.
But I know that she wants to brief us on the impact of COVID-19 on East Africa and the Horn of Africa food security.
Yeah, to follow up with the the question about the passenger hub, the passenger air bridge from Geneva, Rome and Rome, Accra and and Addis Abeba.
In fact, we are also expecting the exact date of the the the the starting of this of this air bridge.
I have no other information, but I might give you more details, precise details before the end of the week.
And also about the herbs of in Guangzhou, China, yes, Belgium, Dubai, which are being set up and the regional hubs also the one in Ethiopia is in Addis Ababa is functioning, but also Ghana, South Africa, Malaysia, Panama and Dubai as well.
So I will come back with more detailed information as soon as I get them from my headquarters.
Okay, I would like today to draw your attention on East Africa and all North Africa.
You probably know that the situation is already dire and on top of that, the COVID-19 is steadily spreading across this region and the virus is having a massive impact and will have a potential massive impact in the next weeks or months because of the weak economies, because of the poor health infrastructure and some other factors.
WFP estimates that 20 million people are now food insecure in nine countries in the region, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Kenya, Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi, Djibouti and Eritrea.
We have done projection about the situation there about the number of food insecure people and this number is likely to increase to 34 million up to 41 million during the next three months due to the socio economic impact of COVID-19.
If it reaches 43 million people food insecure, it means that food insecurity will have more than doubled in this region.
The 43,000,000 would include 20 million acutely food insecure people which is the the IPC phase three on the scale which has 55 levels and and above nearly 17,000,000 urban pool and 3.2 million refugees would depend on assistance.
In this region, 50% of the urban population live in informal urban settlements or slums, with more than 25 million of them live end to mouth daily and rely on informal day-to-day employment.
Millions have already lost their job in the region.
To continue and to scale up assistance, WFP needs more than $500 million for the next three to six months in the region to scale up it's operation.
The COVID-19 is an unprecedented crisis because it is not just one country or one region such as Ebola in 2014, fifteen, it is global, but it's also not just a supply side problem such as drought or locust, but also it's it's also a recession and it's also a supply problem at the same time.
And it's on a global scale.
That's why we are drawing your attention on this country.
The top priority is to mitigate food insecurity in keeping borders open.
Protectionist response would have disastrous effect that's why government WFP commence government in the region for cooperating to keep food flowing.
We to give you an example, we are, we are seeing at the border with Rwanda and and Uganda, sorry Uganda and Kenya, we are seeing long queues of trucks waiting because now govern some government like in Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda are taking the temperature taking temperature of the truck drivers.
This slows the the delivery of food in the country.
So WSPN partners are raising this issue with government to see if the process can be streamline or humanitarian assistance can be given special status.
This is just an example to show that we have to act swiftly and we have to streamline the way food enter the country in the in the region.
You have more details about examples what we do and what we provide in the countries of the region.
That's thank you very much, Elizabeth.
Any question for Elizabeth?
I don't see any hand raised, but please yes, keep informed the journalist about the developments on the on the raids, air raids.
Yeah, this is what I have in mind and as soon as I get the green light.
For the passenger air bridge and for the hubs, I will send you a press release or a note or whatever.
Yeah, on the air bridges.
Next speaker on my list is Paul, Paul Dillon for IOM.
Paul, are you, are you with us?
Just take a moment for the video to boot up here.
I just wanted to bring you up to speed a little bit about the situation in Vanuatu.
This is the first major natural disaster that we've seen in a in a COVID-19 world.
So we issued the following statement today.
The International Organisation for Migration is appealing for four million U.S.
dollars to respond to urgent needs in the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu in the aftermath of the recent devastating Category 5 Tropical Cyclone Harold, which directly impacted over 5 over half of the country's 272,000 residents.
Exacerbating the immediate and long term response is the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on a country that relies on tourism for up to 65% of its GDP.
Flight restrictions imposed in response to the pandemic and the mandatory 14 day quarantine period for new arrivals are also impacting the transport and distribution of relief supplies and other forms of assistance to people in need.
In line with emerging best practises in responding to dual humanitarian challenges, relief supplies are being quarantined for at least 72 hours and disinfected before being distributed.
A quote from our Chief of Mission, one of our Pacific Coordinator.
Given the dual challenges of responding to a natural disaster in the middle of a global pandemic where isolation and social distancing is critical, IOM support is designed to re establish primary shelter in the hardest hits areas of Pentecost and Abrium Islands.
It's attributable to our Pacific Coordinator Par Liljert.
Since making landfall in Vanuatu on 6 April with sustained winds exceeding 200 kilometres an hour, Tropical Cyclone Harold carved a path from the Solomon Islands, wrecking havoc in Vanuatu and then dissipating as it headed towards Fiji and Tonga.
The cyclone destroyed homes and vital infrastructure, leaving over 80,000 people in need of urgent shelter assistance in Vanuatu.
Government assessments indicate that 90% of the 17,300 homes that have been damaged or destroyed are located in the 2 northern provinces of San Ma and Panama.
2/3 of the buildings on Pentecost Island in Panama were damaged and the current stock of shelter supplies in country is sufficient to meet only one quarter of the need.
There have been no reported cases of COVID-19 in Vanuatu.
In the Cyclone's awake, social distancing measures relaxed in order to allow people to move to evacuation centres that included schools, churches and even caves.
Thousands of families remain in those locations, while others have returned to the places where their homes once stood.
The government of Vanuatu asked IOM to join the coordinated response and work closely with the Vanuatu National Disaster Management Office, known as the NDMO, especially in the initial damage assessments.
Quote Joining NDMO in the early assessments gave us the opportunity to truly appreciate the scale of a disaster and to comprehend the range of support that we will need to overcome to overcome this destruction, says Helen Bonnie from our IOM office in Vanuatu.
Currently, IOM is working in coordination with our the UN agencies and NGOs such as CARE and the International Federation of the Red Cross to provide shelter assistance.
The UN and the Pacific has requested funds from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund to initiate the most urgent life saving efforts.
IOM will shortly roll out its Displacement Tracking Matrix which will collect critical information on demographics and living conditions of displaced households so that the most vulnerable children, the elderly, disabled people and female headed households can be prioritised for assistance.
Quote, Displacement tracking is a critical way to identify and target support for those most effective, including internal migrants and people already displaced by pre-existing environmental pressures, as well as those living in informal settlements who are particularly hard to reach in an emergency response.
Our Chief of mission in Vanuatu says thank you very much, Paul.
I see that Catherine is asking for the floor.
Catherine Cianco Yes, good morning, Paul.
Thank you for all these details During this.
I mean we see the very important role of IOM and Akanu is insisting again since Mr Antonio Victorino, the DG of IOM took his position, he never accepted to have a press conference organised through Eunice Alessandra or to be a guest of AKANU.
And we insist again that it would be very important to have the DG having a press conference exclusively for Geneva based correspondence organised through Eunice or accepting to be a guest of Akanu.
Paul, I don't know if you want to.
Thanks very much, Catherine, for your input.
We're aware of the concerns and we'd appreciate if perhaps you could send us an e-mail to that effect, making a formal invitation, and then we'll make sure that it gets to the Director General's office.
I mean, Mr Antonio Victorino took his position the moment he was elected.
I mean, Akanu did ask and write a mail and I don't count the numbers of mails that have been sent to, to your office, to your department, to the assistance, to everyone.
So, I mean, I don't think it's useful to send other mails.
It said again on the record.
I mean, Alessandra Velucci, head of Eunice, is there.
We have the Zoom platform.
All the heads of agencies are meeting the press through Mrs Velucci or coming to ACANU.
And we are insisting again to have Mr Antonio Victorino meeting the Geneva press corps because he did not do it since day one.
I think Paul has well received your message and obviously Paul as Catherine said, we will be very happy to host Mr Victorino should you decide to to give the press conference on the platform that we have made available to to agencies.
So I think you we'll take a look at that.
That was the only request for questions for you.
I will go now to Jeremy Lawrence for OHCHR, hoping that we have the right image.
Jeremy, can you turn on your camera please?
We're waiting for the image, OK, the moment I can hear you, but not see you still not coming.
I can't see the image myself.
Maybe it is on here now you're I can we can see.
Jeremy, you have a couple of points.
Maybe if you could start with the COVID-19 related one and then we'll go to Libya.
I'll start yes, with Sudan.
We are seriously concerned about the crisis facing Sudan's transition in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and believe untold suffering awaits unless donors act fast.
Barely a year after the removal from power of long time ruler Omar Al Bashir, the promise of economic and social development, democracy, justice and peace is now being threatened by acute resource constraints on the transitional government of Sudan.
These are being exacerbated by a combination of the practical effects of ongoing unilateral sanctions, the failure of the international institutions to provide debt relief and a deficit of international support.
The tipping point we think could be COVID-19.
Medical sources have warned there is a serious shortage of equipment and protective gear.
As of the 27th of April, 275 people had been tested positive with COVID-19, 22 of whom have died.
Sudan's health system is simply not equipped to handle an outbreak on the scale we have seen elsewhere in the world.
There is only one way to prevent a humanitarian disaster and that is for the donors to step up and extend a helping hand to Sudan.
They need to act swiftly and generously provide financial support.
Otherwise, there is a real risk that this country, which has held out so much promise, will will relapse back into political instability and potentially into conflict again.
In a letter to the UN Secretary General on the 8th of April 2020, Sudan's Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdoc acknowledged that COVID-19 poses profound challenges to his country's health system, economy and society as a whole, and he sought financial and other Technical Support to tackle the pandemic.
Of Sudan's population of 43 million people, nearly 2,000,000 remain internally displaced as a result of conflicts in Darfur, S Quarter Farm and the Blue Nile state.
Most face dire conditions, living in camps or settlements, unable to meet their basic needs.
Sudan also hosts more than 1.1 million refugees and migrants from other countries.
Even before the arrival of COVID-19, many Sudanese were battling to make ends meet due to **** unemployment, soaring inflation, and lack of social protection and safety Nets.
These issues have been compounded by the effects of Sudan still being on the US list of state sponsor sponsoring terrorism.
In addition, Sudan is currently among countries not eligible to access the 50 billion U.S.
dollar trust fund of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to assist countries fighting COVID-19.
The UN Secretary General has urged the international community to do all it can to support the country in its transition and during this time of serious need.
We believe Sudan will not be able to break out this cycle of poverty and desperation unless it is freed from the impediments of sanctions which were imposed at the time of the previous government.
This would enable Sudan to attract investment for it's much needed economic reforms and fully as access funds available from the international financial institutions.
Inequality and economic and social grievances were the main triggers of Sudan's revolution last year.
If these and other root causes are not addressed as a matter of priority, Sudan's successful transition to achieve a durable pace remains a distant prospect.
Thank you very much, Jeremy.
I'm looking if there are questions COVID related for you from the journalist.
But for the moment, yes, there is one is Lisa, Lisa Schlein.
Lisa, you have the floor.
I hope you're doing well.
I have a first of all, you will be sending your notes.
Now I may have missed it, but how much money do you need?
You keep talking about what they need, but I didn't get the amount of money that you need.
And then I have a second question and this relates to the issue of terrorism.
You say that it has not been removed.
Sudan has not been removed from the United States list of countries that are promote terrorism.
I guess first I'd like to know what are the consequences of Sudan remaining on the US list?
And do you really believe that Sudan should be removed, that it no longer is a promoter of terrorism and it's OK to remove it?
I don't know whether you've spoken to the US government about this as well.
Yes, with respect to your first question on on money, no exact sum, we're not talking about that.
What we're talking about is that Sudan is able to have access to these international funds, whether it be through the IMF or the World Bank.
This is due to, due to technical reasons that it is unable to access these funds.
We hope that something will be done soon to rectify this.
And it's I know that the secretary General has also said much the same, but hopefully we can move forward in that in that regard soon.
With respect to the, the, the US listing it as a state sponsor of terrorism, remember that harps back to under a period under the Bashir regime.
So the time is very different now.
The Sudanese are are still being punished to a degree for something that has happened in their past.
They've taken the the government under the current Prime Minister handoff has taken measures to significant measures to, to improve the situation.
And I know that the US had moved to to start the protest to actually Denise Sudan in 2017.
And in fact, but it was only put on hold at the time of the protest.
So I know that talks are taking place on on that to happen.
So I imagine hopefully something will happen soon in that respect.
Gabriella also would like to ask you a question.
Gabriella, yes, I'm muted.
Yes, well, we spoke with the Rupert last week about freedom of the press and independent press in pandemic times.
But I only want to say that yesterday, the president of Mexico, in his press conference lashed out that the cover of Proceso, the weekly magazine for which I collaborate, the cover is related to the management of the COVID-19 and the deaths.
So these attacks have been constant against the magazine, which makes my colleagues work in Mexico very difficult.
So do you have any comments about it?
I think we've talked about this on a number of occasions with respect to the importance the media has in, in covering the whole COVID, COVID pandemic.
And we would just repeat those same calls that that freedom of speech and opinion.
And and it's so vital at this time during the outbreak of the pandemic that the public has access to information and the media is is allowed and permitted to do their job properly and professionally.
Lisa, you have raised your hand again.
No, no, this is a follow up.
It's always so hard to get a follow up in.
It is difficult to also organise that.
Very quickly, Jeremy, on the question I asked you regarded terrorism in the United States, I also asked what the consequences of the United States not removing Sudan from its list is.
I imagine that it involves a loss of a great deal of money.
If you could perhaps elaborate upon this.
Yes, the bottom line is as a result of a of a been on this list, the Sudan is subjected to to sanctions and their unilateral sanctions on from the from the US.
OK, Thank you very much, Jeremy and bear with us.
Jeremy, please before I give you the floor on the non new COVID issue, I would just like to quickly go to Catherine and to Rosalyn for their announcement on COVID and then we'll come back to you for the non COVID item.
Catherine, we saw Anktad Catherine, if you can be unmuted, right?
You have a couple of announcements, right, Catherine?
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I'm going to Rosalind, who also has an announcement related to COVID.
I think it's about your latest.
The ILO will be launching its third update on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global employment and employ and labour markets on Wednesday, 29th of April.
This new report will include updated estimates on the number of working hours and equivalent jobs log that will be lost, the impacts on informal economies around the world and on millions of enterprises, particularly small businesses.
There'll also be updates on the employment impact in Africa, Americas, Asia Pacific, Arab States and Europe.
And the report will outline the urgent policy responses that are needed to address and lessen the impact of the pandemic on the world of work.
So there'll be an embargoed virtual press conference with ILO Director General Guy Ryder at 11:30 Geneva time on the 29th of April and the Director of the Employment Policy Department, Sangan Lee, will also be speaking.
The embargo will lift at 1330 Geneva time on on the 29th.
We've just sent you a media advisory and we'll send you the embargoed press release and report this afternoon.
We'll also send you audio of the briefing after the press conference.
So if you have any questions or you have any media requests, please contact me on YARD at ilo.orgornewsroom@ilo.org.
I've got a question from John Sarah Costas.
The embargoed briefing tomorrow, will the new projections be based on econometric modelling or will you be drawing from surveys with companies and unions that are part of the tripartite system?
In other words, are you tapping into the real world?
We will be tapping in the real world, but they will be based on modelling similar to the previous reports, which were based on scenarios and the information.
Obviously we're getting information from our constituents and we're working very closely with them, but it will be based on economic modelling based on that information that we have.
And Catherine has a question also.
Rosalind, could you please repeat the the time tomorrow for your briefing?
So it's the 11:30 Geneva time.
And the embargo will lift at 1330.
John, you were you were not was only to ask something.
Will there be some case studies?
Our editors are screaming for case studies from, from various affected industries and, and service sectors affected.
So will there be some some of that sprinkled into your briefing tomorrow?
Can I, I, I will need to check John, I will get back to you on that.
I mean that the report is around 7000 words so and they may well be, but I will have to get back to just to confirm that.
Thank you very much, Rosaline.
I before we leave the issue of COVID-19, I just wanted to update you as every Tuesday about the number of UN Secretariat staff in Geneva that have been confirmed COVID positive.
The numbers are exactly the same than last week, but for the UN office at Geneva, you know who has has now raised to 8 cases, which brings the total of confirmed cases for the UN Secretariat staff in Geneva to 17.
Emma, is that a question for Rosalynn because we still have Jeremy and Shabya who have to brief us.
Emma, is that for Rosalynn?
It's a quick question for you based on what you just said, but happy to do it now or at the end.
OK, Just just ask me then and then we go to Jeremy.
I was just curious with a number of cases are UN staff in Switzerland, have they been able to get easier access to tests than the rest of the population in Switzerland?
No, and yes, sorry, go ahead.
And have you got your own tests or is it just part of the Swiss national response?
No, no, We use as everybody else the public health system in Switzerland, in Geneva, of course, in Canton de Vos.
And as the Swiss authorities have been saying in various briefings to the international community, we are basically treated like other other the other citizens.
So if, for example, there's a testing which is made available to the population, international community is also admitted to that.
If the Swiss take other kinds of measures, we are also submitted subject to that when we are in Geneva.
And obviously, as you know, the UN premises are extraterritorial, but we follow the guidance of WHO and of the host country.
It is the decision of the Director general.
We normally followed that.
So basically no, we are working and being put as the same as the same French of the rest of the population.
So it we're very much doing the same thing.
Kathleen, is that a question for me?
It is a follow up on Emma's question.
Regarding we know that many staff UN staff member are residents in nearby France, yes.
So what happens when they they think they are infected, are they following, are they cured or followed in the Swiss system or in the French one?
And my my second question is you said that tag from WHO was going to come back?
Yes, that I said that, but I see now that he has disconnected himself.
So maybe you can, if you have follow up questions for him, you can contact him after the briefing for you.
Your first question, there's a very important, I would say, 3 important issues that not only I can remember, but Geneva Press raised is #1 yesterday during the, the briefing, WHO briefing, it was interrupted apparently for technical reasons, apparently.
But I mean, who did not say why the, the press conference was interrupted in the middle of a very important answer from Doctor Mike Ryan.
So we would like to know what happened.
The second thing is that we still acknow is still waiting for the date of the special briefing for exclusively acne members that Doctor Tedros accepted to have with us.
We're still waiting for date.
We send several mails and demands to the communication unit.
We did not get any date for the moment and it has been since the beginning of confinement that Akanu is asking for special Geneva based correspondence, technical of WHO with WHO experts.
And we are asking and asking again.
And not only Akanu, but the different news agencies correspondents are sending demands and they don't get any answer back from the communication unit.
So Katherine, I can't answer that of course, but we are losing you.
Your, your voice is not very clear.
But what I can tell you, I can repeat it if needed.
It's OK because I won't be able to answer.
I've checked and Tarek is not on the line.
So I'm afraid you will have to ask him those questions that we will.
I will also take the phone after the briefing to tell him that these questions have been asked the briefing, but you will have to take contact with him or he will do it with you because he's not anymore on the line, I'm afraid.
You also asked a follow up for me, which was now I have forgotten what it was.
It was about French UN staff living in France.
Oh, the French yes, but you are really broken, Katrina.
I don't know what's happening with your with your net.
I mean, I, I I haven't, I haven't moved and I'm still on on my on my laptop.
So if he's I'll try to answer UN staff living for you when living in France, Yes.
So for what concerns the staff of the UN, we have a procedure in place which involves informing the medical service of the United Nations of the conditions of the staff that believes that he might have a COVID related issue.
And then the medical service is able to give a first advice.
And then it's also the choice of course of the staff.
As you know, we have an insurance that can be used in in several countries.
So it's also the choice of the staff.
But the first and most important thing is that we, our medical service is our first stop for the staff who's not feeling well.
And then for Ted, for the questions to WHO, as I said, you will have to ask Tariq because he's not connected.
I have Peter, Gabriela and Gorgie on the line is are these all questions for me because I have colleagues waiting.
So Peter, I'll give you the floor quickly if is that a question for me or for Rosalind?
No, it actually relates so the exactly the same thing as Catherine said and the journalists are actually tearing their hair out about communicating with WHO and access to WHO.
And it's not only Akani, but the Foreign Correspondents Association of Switzerland up is and we would just like the UN to do something because WHO is part of the UN.
So I would like to stress that we need yes, thank you.
Yes, I will report and and say that you have been stressing the point made by Catherine Gabriela.
Yes, thank you, Alessandra.
I want to second my colleagues totally support what they said.
And then I have a question.
Swiss schools are going to be open I think in the 10th of May or something like that.
Are we coming back to the briefings, to the live briefings or do you have any plans when we can come back?
Well, I have been asked this by several journalists and my answer at the moment is that we don't know.
We are in the middle of these discussions with our colleagues from security, from the medical service.
We are looking at the guidance from WHO, we are looking at the guidance from the Swiss authorities.
As I said, we try to follow both, but the on how we are going to deconfine is not yet taken.
Just to finish answering the the question of Gabriela, as I said, we don't have a precise answer yet.
We are discussing this at the moment.
So we are discussing the modalities for coming back to the palace, not to come back for work to work because we have been working these weeks for coming back to the palace in person.
And what we are thinking of the unis for the press activities is that maybe we will take back a sort of a hybrid format as we did at the beginning of this crisis.
But we will keep you informed that we will inform you as soon as possible about these modalities.
I have Gorky on the line who would like to have the floor.
And this is really the last question I will take before going back to Jeremy and to Shabia, who have been very patient waiting for us to connect Alessandra Mercy just to somewhere pulling on the the, the personal, the the, the COVID, the.
Merci Gorky on a say they wouldn't need information Parapor and OK Asian specific Bian Celica secretariat, but the two transitions with the secretariat on a say, remember to preserve the La La privates this information.
The natural personnel on on would only the normally she may do some formation.
On the on the diffuse spot.
OK, Hello Merci Buku, Jeremy for thank you very much Jeremy for being patient and and wait, now that we have closed the COVID-19 related issues, you had another item you wanted to brief the journalist on.
I can see you and I can hear you.
Just before I go on to Libya, I just wanted to let everyone know that we have issued a statement now on Sudan.
I'll have commissioner's statement, so you should have that.
On Libya, we are concerned about the expulsions of at least 1400 migrants and refugees this year from Eastern Libya in violation of Libya's international human rights law, obligations on non reformer and collective expulsions and the risk that more may soon be forcibly deported.
Most of those expelled from Libya have been sent to Sudan, Niger, Chad and Somalia.
This month, an official spokesperson for the government confirmed that Libyan authorities had in quotes evacuated 160 Sudanese migrants.
Our staff monitoring the situation have noted they were deported without access to asylum or other protection needs, legal assistance or other critical due process and procedural safeguards.
Such practises violate Libya's international human rights law obligations prohibiting reformer and collective expulsion.
In recent guidance issued by our Office on COVID-19 and the Human Rights of Migrants, we stress that order controls and other measures must comply with the principle of non reformer and the prohibition of collective expulsions, as well as procedural guarantees including due process, access to lawyers and translators, and the right to appeal a return decision.
We have also recommended that states temporarily suspend carrying out forced returns during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to safeguard the human rights, health and safety of all concerned.
All return decisions and procedures should be re evaluated to ensure they are compatible with migrants right to health as well as broader public health strategies.
At the same time, we have serious concerns for the welfare of thousands of migrants held in crowded and unhygienic official detention facilities and unofficial sites across the country, where they are at risk of serious human rights violations and abuses amid the spread of COVID-19.
We also note that the detained migrants lack access to information, prevention and health services.
Our concerns are compounded by the fact that many of these detention centres are also located in areas close to ongoing hostilities.
the United Nations has repeatedly said that such detentions are fundamentally arbitrary and has called for the closure of the detention facilities in the context of COVID-19.
Release from immigration detention to safe place should be urgently prioritised.
Finally, we we repeat calls for all parties to the conflict to accede to the UN Secretary General's appeal for a global ceasefire to help create conditions for the delivery of life saving aid and bring hope to places that are among the most vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thank you very much Jeremy.
Lisa, I would like to ask you a question.
Again, I'm interested to know what happens to the refugees and migrants once they're deported.
You mentioned a number of countries where they're sent.
I mean, is there anybody there to to greet them, to help them on the other end?
Are these countries even informed that these people, these poor people, are being forcibly deported to their countries?
And then what are the nationalities of the migrants and refugees?
So we know that there have been cases where they've been sent to Sudan be shared Chad in Somalia and and you do we have any information precisely on what happens next once they reach those countries?
No, but of course we we have we would have concerns given that some of these people may be asylum seekers and they've they've left those countries for left a designated country for a specific reason.
So we would, I would just repeat that they, they, the, the full process must be adhered to whereby they, they are processed, there's due process needs are adhered to and the, the procedural safeguards are, are taken.
I can check, I will check for you, Lisa, if I can get any more details on what happens once they've been returned.
But I can come back to hopefully with something on that very much you could.
When when did these deportations begin?
And have you been in touch with any of these countries that you mentioned where they where they are sent?
I mean, it sounds absolutely appalling that they're without any protection whatsoever.
Am I right about that, Jeremy?
Yes, again, I'll come back to you on that, Lisa.
The, the numbers that I have are from the start of the year.
So it was 101,400 migrants and refugees.
And then as I say, just just this month there was that episode of 160 Sutanese migrants.
I, I will say that those migrants, we were using the term which is not precise in that they could refer to refugees or could be asylum seekers or could be migrant workers.
It's I guess slightly you'll be fine in that respect.
Next question is from Byram.
Thank you very much for taking my question.
Jeremy, maybe you know about the development in Libya.
On Monday, warlord Khalifa Haftar unilaterally declared himself as a ruler of Libya.
And he said the agreement signed by the warning sites in Libya under the umbrella of Yuan has lost its rule.
So are you concerned about this development?
And do you think this is going to do negative impact?
This statement by after on who writes in Libya?
With respect to that, I guess I wouldn't be really in a position to answer that.
I, I would suggest that maybe that's something you could take up with New York on that aspect.
Of course, when it comes to human rights, we would, we would always have concerns whether in in a place like Libya that, that everyone's rights have been protected.
But from the political perspective, I think that's your best of taking that to New York.
Last questions from Emma.
So just to clarify, we are talking about from East Libya, right?
And more generally, do you have any comment about signs that Hafta is taking more control of the country, what this will mean in the future for migrants and refugees?
We're talking about from Eastern Olivia, I can confirm that again, with respect to your to your second-half of your question, that's something that I, I think you should probably take up with, with your with our colleagues in New York, they'd be in a better position to talk about that.
All right, so that brings us to the end of your briefing, Jeremy.
And I'll go now to the last but definitely not least speaker, who's Shabia Mantu for UNHCR.
Oh, we can see you and hear you perfectly.
So if it's OK with everybody, maybe we start with Mexico and then go on to to our news from Yemen.
So from Mexico, we're briefing today about despite pandemic restrictions, people claim violence and persecution continue to seek asylum in Mexico.
So while the number of countries throughout Latin America and the rest of the world have closed their borders and restricted movement to contain the spread of coronavirus, Mexico has continued to register new asylum claims from people fleeing brutal violence and persecution, helping them find safety.
By designating the registration of new asylum claims as an essential activity, Mexico has ensured that people receive protection from being forced to return to their countries of origin, where their lives may be in danger as their cases have been processed.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, says these practises show that long standing principles of international refugee law can be upheld even as governments take measures to protect public health.
Even though border restrictions in Central America have meant a 90% drop in average weekly asylum claims in Mexico in April, hundreds of people continue to apply for asylum for refugee status in the country.
This highlights the level of violence and persecution that many people continue to face in their countries of origin, even during the pandemic.
In the first three months of the year, asylum asylum applications in Mexico were up by 33% compared to the same period last year.
The nearly 17,800 new asylum claims in 2020 were principally from nationals of Honduras, Haiti, Cuba, El Salvador and Venezuela.
Although Mexican authorities have suspended the legally mandated processing times for asylum claims due to the pandemic, UNHCR is helping Mexico's refugee office to move to remote registration and processing of asylum claims.
This will respect physical distancing guidelines throughout the process and will also prevent a further increase in processing backlogs which have developed in recent years.
UNHCR has also supported the Mexican authorities to release asylum seekers from migration detention centres.
Released from detention has become even more critical given the danger that coronavirus process for detainees.
The recent announcement by Mexican immigration authorities to release all detained migrants and asylum seekers is therefore a welcome step.
The measure is consistent with the recommendations of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Since March 16th, UNHCR has supported the release of 434 asylum seekers from immigration detention.
Those released are generally housed in shelters run by civil society organisations or the Catholic Church, or they move into rental accommodation with UNHCR systems.
UNHCR has supported 93 shelters to implement preventive measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus, trying to ensure that refugees and asylum seekers remain safe and healthy.
Shelters are on the front line of the humanitarian response during the COVID pandemic and UNHCR has facilitated webinars with the World Health Organisation experts so that shelters can take appropriate cemetery measures.
In coordination with other international organisations, UNHCR has also distributed antibacterial gel and cleaning products to shelters and is also installing temporary sinks to facilitate hand washing.
Many shelters have also established isolation areas for those with confirmed or suspected infections and these spaces are equipped with thermometers, cleaning materials, personal care items and emergency mobile phones.
Another 65 shelters in the country have, however, stopped receiving new arrivals.
So to address this, UNHCI is increasing humanitarian assistance to asylum seekers so that they can pay for other forms of accommodation.
This will help reduce the demand for shelter space and also ensure that asylum seekers maintain physical distancing.
Since the beginning of March 3330, asylum seekers who have recently arrived in Mexico have received humanitarian assistance, allowing them to find rent and accommodation.
So maybe we'll let me see.
Let me see, because I see that there are questions about that.
So I'll start with Gabriella.
So you mentioned 3300 or something like that, asylum seekers, but how many have been, Do you have an idea how many have been released?
And also I heard about, I don't know how many migrants were left alone in a bus in the South of Mexico just like that.
I don't know if you have some details about that.
And then is Mexico in breach of the Convention 3330, I think she said.
But I'll give Shabbir the floor to answer your three questions, Gabriella very much.
Look, in terms of the the release, the figures that we have are just, I've got figures on the numbers of asylum seekers who are released from immigration detention with UNHCR support.
I don't know what the overall number is, but certainly we can try and follow up on that for you.
I think with regards to just remembering your second question in terms of what's happening, I mean, in Mexico is basically people.
I mean, it's showing that the message we've been reiterating is basically the right to seek asylum.
It's a fundamental principle of international RPG law.
It is supposed to can be done.
It can be managed even in the context of COVID.
So it's quite exemplary the fact that people are still able to access asylum and seek protection in Mexico.
And then about the specific question about this particular incident on the bus, I don't have information on that.
But in terms of, I mean, the recent measure to kind of enable people to to leave detention facilities, I mean that's a welcome measure.
It's in line with what we've been advocating for.
And so we are supporting asylum seekers to find alternative facilities, whether it's rental accommodation or otherwise.
But basically, they do need support as well to ensure that they can be protected while their claims are being processed and at the same time, also ensure that they're protected from the ****** of coronavirus with physical distancing measures in their other accommodation arrangements.
Next question is from Lena Nina Larson.
Nina, you have the floor.
I just had a quick question on the asylum seekers near the US border.
Do you have any, do you have any update on how many are there, what conditions they're in?
Because I'm, I'm guessing none of them are crossing over at this time.
Look, I don't really have an update on on that.
I mean so much, but I think we're just seeing generally across the country that I mean even compared to the previous period, compared to last year that the rates of asylum applications are increasing.
So it's showing that I mean the system is working.
It's I mean we're encouraging this, but I don't have, I don't have an update.
I can follow up for you, but you're nothing specific on the on the South.
Next question from Paula.
So actually I was just wondering there were reports that some of the migrants that have been deported from the US in the north were being put on buses as I think Gabriella had mentioned that they to to bring them to the southern border to to Guatemala.
And I was wondering now that the the Mexican government is accepting asylum applications, you know, what is what is going on with that that policy of of busing the deportees to the South Chevia OK, hold on.
I think my video is just we can see you well, OK, great.
Look, I think we, you know, we, I mean, in Mexico, we're working to support the authorities with the asylum system, trying to process cases, trying to make sure that people who, who are in the country who are able to basically get information on how they can lodge asylum applications as well, which is quite important.
So that includes those who have been deported.
But in general, I mean, we're, we're concerned about, you know, movements of people during this time as well, given the coronavirus pandemic on top of that.
But in Mexico, I mean, I mean, it's, it really is remarkable the fact that cases have been processed and people who have claims to international protection are being able to kind of lodge their their claims.
So we're well aware of all these dynamics.
But I think that's why it's important to also look at how states are managing both the ****** of coronavirus and managing their borders.
And in fact, also just yesterday, as an aside, we actually issued another press release looking at also the practises in Europe, which is a different context where states are also managing borders and managing the asylum process as well.
And I think we still have one question from Lisa.
I was wondering whether the people who are asking for asylum in Mexico, whether they went there specifically to ask asylum in Mexico, or whether they or many of them were heading for the United States in the hopes of asking for asylum there.
And after being turned back or not being allowed in, they then decided to ask for asylum in Mexico.
Look, basically from what we understand, I mean, Mexico is, is the destination country for, I mean, it's, it's, it receives asylum seekers who are planning, you know, who are basically fleeing from, from neighbouring regional countries seeking safety.
So it's, it's not just a transit country, but actually a place where people are seeking asylum.
And we can see that from the profiles of people that are fleeing, they're fleeing violence, persecution, you know, majority of factors.
So it's, it is in itself a very generous refugee host country and a, and a place where people are literally fleeing to save their lives.
Shavia, you had the last point you wanted to make about Yemen.
So thank you for bearing with me.
I know it's a, it's a long morning today, but from, from Yemen basically.
So we're another briefing note for me, but basically on the shortfall in terms of funding that's going to threaten critical aid for nearly 1,000,000 displaced Yemenis and refugees.
So nearly 1,000,000 vulnerable displaced people and refugees in Yemen are at risk of losing their shelter, vital cash assistance for essentials like food and medicine and much more.
These people already face abject poverty and hardship and urgent funding is needed in the coming weeks to keep life saving programmes running.
Yemen is already considered to be the world's largest humanitarian prices.
The country is now also facing the overlapping ****** of the coronavirus pandemic and the impact of recent torrential rain and flooding in places like Adam Abian, Lahich Maritana and Aminat Alessina governorates.
Initial reports indicate that more than 100,000 people across Yemen have been impacted.
Flash flooding and rains is inflicting extensive damage to sites that are sheltering internally displaced people and also to public infrastructure.
It's estimated that more than 3.6 million people have been forced to flee their homes in Yemen since the start of the latest conflict in 2015.
Only Syria, Colombia and the DRC have larger internal displacement driven by conflict.
The annual Report on Global Internal Displacement issued today by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, IDMC estimates that conflict and violence displaced nearly 400,000 people in Yemen in 2019 alone.
UNHCL is urgently seeking 89.5 million U.S.
dollars to secure life saving protection and assistance to internally displaced families, refugees and asylum seekers and their host communities.
With most of the countries struggling to survive as the conflict in Yemen enters its sixth year, this funding will enable UNHCL maintained life saving aid to internally displaced families, refugees, asylum seekers and the equally impoverished Yemeni hosts.
This aid is now urgent as these groups are the most vulnerable to the ****** of coronavirus, which may have severe consequences if aid agencies are unable to deliver proper support.
Without the required funds, several UNHCRS, several of UNHCRS critical aid programmes and assistance such as direct cash support will be at risk of drastic reduction or may cease altogether.
This will leave 655,000 internally displaced people and the entire refugee and asylum seeking population in Yemen, which is about 281,000 people without the proper means to get by.
For many refugees and displaced families, this is a matter of life or death.
UNHCR is also supporting Igps internally displaced people in obtaining valid identity documents that are required for children to enrol in schools and for patients to be admitted in hospitals.
We are also deeply concerned about displaced communities and their hosts are now at heightened risk given the dire living and sanitary conditions and the overall decline of local health facilities.
As the first confirmed case of coronavirus was identified in the southern province of Hydramat in April the 10th.
Together with our local partners, we are engaging displaced people and refugee communities so that they are aware of the risks and also prevention measures to protect themselves against the ****** of COVID.
After five years of conflict to more than 80% of Yemen's total population now requires some form of assistance.
Close to 4 million displaced people, returnees, refugees and asylum seekers are now reliant on regular humanitarian aid to survive.
So far, UNHCR has received $58.4 million or 28% of the funding it requires this year to protect and provide critical assistance to displaced people, refugees and host communities alike.
Javier, I don't see questions for you on this subject.
I'm left just to inform you that's an information comes from Jennifer Fenton that the UN envoy for Syria, Mr Garo Petition will be briefing the Security Council by VTC at 10 AM New York time today, sorry tomorrow, Wednesday, 29th of April, so 10 AM in New York time on Wednesday.
The briefing is open, so you can follow it that the distance and a transcript will be delivered following the briefing as usual.
And also Jens told me to ask me to tell you that USG Lowcock will also brief the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Syria.
Wednesday afternoon, New York Times, we have these two announcements regarding Syria and this is all I had for you in my list, which makes already a very long briefing.
So if I don't see and I'm not seeing requests for the floor, I would like to thank you all very much.
Thanks our speakers and to say Bon Apeti and to Friday.
