UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing 01 May 2020

The United Nations Office at Geneva

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UNOG-RUSH-NEWS Briefing 01MAY2020 Zoom recording

1:34:40

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01-05-2020

Press Conferences | OHCHR , UNICEF , UNHCR , OCHA , WHO , UNOG , WFP , UNCTAD , WMO

UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing 01 May 2020

ENG

International Labour Day

Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva (UNIS), informed that the United Nations Secretary-General had published a statement to mark on the International Day of Labour, noting that, this year, with the COVID-19 pandemic unfolding around them, people around the world were truly seeing workers who too often toiled unseen. “As we seek to build back better in the wake of this pandemic, the wellbeing of people must be at the centre of economic and social policies with a special focus on who are being furthest left behind,” the Secretary-General had said. The full statement is available here.

COVID-19 pandemic

Supply chain logistics

Amer Daoudi, COVID-19 Corporate Response Director and Senior Director of Operations for the World Food Programme (WFP) said a WFP-contracted Boeing 757 cargo flight had departed the newly-established Global Humanitarian Response Hub in Liège, Belgium, late on Thursday, carrying almost 16 metric tons of medical cargo and personal protective equipment like masks and gloves on behalf of UNICEF and the International Committee of the Red Cross and destined for Burkina Faso and Ghana. WFP was setting up the logistics backbone for global COVID-19 efforts, rolling out a global hub-and-spokes system of air links to dispatch vital medical and humanitarian cargo and transport health workers to the front lines of the pandemic. Global Humanitarian Response Hubs located close to where medical supplies were manufactured in Liège, Dubai, and China would link to regional hubs in Ethiopia, Ghana, Malaysia, Panama, Dubai, and South Africa, where a fleet of smaller aircraft would be on standby to move cargo and personnel into priority countries. A press release is available here.

Responding to questions, Mr. Daoudi said that there were no flights from Geneva and Rome, as commercial alternatives had been found for these cities. Where there were commercial alternatives, WFP stood down, he explained.

Displaced people’s access to social safety nets

Andrej Mahecic, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said the Agency was alarmed at the increasingly desperate situation of those forcibly displaced by conflicts and violence, particularly in low and middle-income countries, which currently shelter more than 85 per cent of the world’s refugees. Across the Middle East and North Africa alone, UNHCR and its partners had received over 350,000 calls from refugees and internally displaced people since lockdowns and other public health measures came into force in many countries in March. The majority asked for urgent financial assistance to cover their daily existential needs. Across all major refugee operations and despite challenges, UNHCR was working to provide emergency assistance including cash-based assistance, secure shelter spaces and to ensure the inclusion of refugees in national public health responses, in social safety nets and any assistance plans. Urgent action was required to help the most vulnerable refugees and internally displaced persons, especially where they had no access to state-run social protection schemes. A briefing note is available here.

Responding to a question on UNHCR’s appeal for funds to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Mahecic said a revision of the Global Humanitarian Appeal, launched by the UN a few weeks ago, was upcoming, but so far the response had been generous.

Backlog in vaccine shipments

Marixie Mercado, for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said UNICEF was calling for support to unlock a massive backlog in vaccine shipments due to unprecedented logistical constraints related to COVID-19 mitigation measures including lockdowns in some countries. As of 1 May, dozens of countries were at risk of stock-out due to delayed vaccine shipments. At most risk were 26 countries that were difficult to reach due to limited commercial and cargo options. Disruptions in routine immunization, particularly in countries with weak health systems, could lead to disastrous outbreaks in 2020 and well beyond. UNICEF was working to find solutions with manufacturers and partners, including WHO, GAVI, the vaccine alliance, the Pan American Health Organization and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. UNICEF and was appealing to governments, the private sector, the airline industry, and others, to free up freight space at affordable cost for these life-saving vaccines.

Responding to questions, Ms. Mercado said it was possible to carry out immunization campaigns despite the pandemic. It was currently being done in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for instance, in compliance with measures to avoid the spread of the COVID-19.

Tarik Jašarević, for the World Health Organization (WHO), added that WHO had issued guidance on the provision of immunization services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

March smuggling tragedy survivors’ return to Ethiopia

Paul Dillon, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), recalled that the remains of 64 migrants from Ethiopia had been found locked in a container at the back of a truck, discovered on 24 March near Tete, Mozambique after crossing over the Malawi-Mozambique border. This week, 11 youthful survivors had returned to Ethiopia, thanks to coordination by the governments of Ethiopia and Mozambique, assisted by IOM and the European Union-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration in the Horn of Africa. After the discovery by Mozambican authorities, officials of the Mozambican National Migration Service, had brought the survivors to a hospital in Tete, where the young men had been treated for dehydration and exhaustion. They had spent a required quarantine period as part of Mozambique’s COVID-19 prevention measures. IOM Mozambique had contacted the Ethiopian Consulate in Pretoria, South Africa, and IOM had provided translation services between the Consulate, the migrants and the local authorities, and worked to facilitate their voluntary return to Ethiopia. A press release is available here.

Two incidents highlight plight of stranded migrants in Africa

Paul Dillon, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said over 1,330 Nigeriens were currently stranded in Burkina Faso after fleeing clashes in Diebougou, a gold mining region in that country’s south. Fearful of retaliation, with travel impeded due to national restrictions, and lacking resources to pursue their journeys, the men had fled the mining area by foot and bicycle, trying to reach Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso’s capital, hoping later to reach Niamey, Niger’s capital. On 1 May, IOM would begin assisting those who expressed their wish to go back to Niger with voluntary return. In Chad, almost 2,000 stranded students were receiving assistance from IOM to return home safely from Cameroon. Cameroon was among the African countries most affected by the coronavirus. In a bid to curb the contagion, it had closed its land borders on 18 March. IOM believed thousands remain stranded in the country’s northern regions, where universities had large numbers of Chadian students.

Other matters

Responding to questions, Rupert Colville, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said quite a few countries had been acting the recommendation that countries consider reducing their prison population. Iran, but also Somalia, Kenya, DRC and other African countries had released prisoners, for instance. The individuals released had been detained for minor offences. The OHCHR was not suggesting that people convicted of serious crimes be simply released, but rather that they should be protected from COVID-19.

Responding to questions, Tarik Jašarević, for the World Health Organization (WHO) said the WHO’s Emergency Committee had met yesterday, as per normal procedure, and would make an announcement later today. The WHO did not have information on the global number of health workers affected by COVID-19 as countries did not systematically report such cases.

Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva (UNIS), said that the Secretary-General had launched a Policy Brief on the impact of COVID-19 on older persons. The brief, its key messages and the text of the video message had been distributed and could be found here. This brief would be followed by an analysis of the consequences of COVID-19 for persons with disabilities and the impacts on mental health.

Flash floods in Yemen

Jens Laerke, for Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that in Yemen, torrential rains and flooding since mid-April have affected nearly 150,000 people and damaged houses and shelters, washed out roads and bridges, contaminated water supplies and cut access to basic services such as electricity. Also shelters for internally displaced people had been flooded. Conditions were hardest for thousands of families already displaced who had lost shelter, food rations and household supplies. According to WHO, there were six confirmed COVID-19 cases in Yemen. The Humanitarian Coordinator had recently warned that the virus may spread quickly because of the low levels of general immunity, high levels of acute vulnerability and a fragile health system. Yemen remained the largest humanitarian operation in the world, reaching more than 13 million people each month.

Responding to questions, Mr. Laerke said there were massive funding problems. Several critical programmes were critical at risk of closing down in the weeks and months to come if OCHA did not received a significant boost of funding.

Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva (UNIS), said the Secretary-General had spoken at length about the situation in Yemen during a press briefing yesterday. A transcript of this press briefing is available here.

Lebanon – concerns about violent protests

Rupert Colville, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said the Office was concerned by the renewed violence that had erupted in Lebanon this week, claiming the life of one protester and leaving dozens of other civilians and law enforcement officers injured, as well as causing significant damage and destruction to public and private property. The Office was calling on everyone to exercise utmost restraint, to refrain from violence against other people, and to respect property, and reminded law enforcement officers that they had an obligation to abide by international norms and standards on the use of force, particularly the principles of legality, necessity and proportionality. It was also urging demonstrators not to resort to violence, and stress that the right to peaceful assembly protected non-violent gatherings. The full statement is available here.

Nepal – amnesties connected to 1996-2006 internal conflict

Rupert Colville, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said the Office hoped the Nepal Supreme Court’s decision to stand by its ruling against amnesties for serious human rights violations committed during the decade-long armed conflict would provide an opportunity to revitalise the country’s long-stalled transitional justice process in line with international norms and its international commitments. The Office was calling on the Government of Nepal to take the Supreme Court’s decision as an opportunity to change course and pursue a truly fair and transparent transitional process that would win the trust of key stakeholders. The process must be truly consultative, with the rights and interests of victims firmly at the centre. The full statement is available here.

Ozone hole over the Arctic

Clare Nullis, for World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said depletion of the ozone layer, the shield that protects life on Earth from harmful levels of ultraviolet radiation, had reached an unprecedented level over large parts of the Arctic this spring. This phenomenon had been caused by the continuing presence of ozone-depleting substances in the atmosphere and a very cold winter in the stratosphere. The ozone hole had closed in April with an increase in stratospheric temperatures which had culminated in an influx of ozone-rich air from the lower atmosphere. The depletion would have been even worse if it had not been for a successful international agreement called the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. This had led to a phaseout of substances such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). But they remained in the atmosphere for several decades and their concentrations were still high enough to cause severe ozone destruction. The full statement is available here.

UNCTAD announcements

Catherine Huissoud, for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), said UNCTAD would publish a Special Issue of its regular Investment Policy Monitor that not only documented and analysed how investment policies responded to the crisis, but also looked at how they could help fighting the pandemic and its effects.

Ms. Huissoud also said that on 5 May, UNCTAD would publish a report on the Blue Economy with news on fisheries. Related documentation will be sent to the journalists soon.

Teleprompter

Good morning.

Welcome to the regular press briefing of the Information Service here in Geneva.

We have quite a few speakers listed today.

Just as a initial housekeeping note, after discussions with the canoe, we have decided to revert it to a system as it was done in the past to start with short announcements so that colleagues who have whose announcement can make them very, very quickly at the beginning.

And then we go into the more substantive based briefings.

So I will invert as you've seen in the announcements at least that was sent to you this morning or we'll start with Ankit.

But before I give the floor to Katrina, I would just like to remind you that today is International Day of Labour, 1st of May.

And we have distributed to you the statement of the Secretary General for this International Day in which he says that in many countries around the world, today is a day to celebrate workers.

This year, with the COVID pandemic unfolding around us, we are truly seeing workers who too often toil unseen.

We are also reminded that he says of the enormous toll that the pandemic is taking on the global workforce.

As the International Labour Organisation reported this week, the global workforce will be hit with the equivalent of the loss of more than 300 million jobs.

And it concludes by saying we can build a fair globalisation rooted in equality, sustainability and justice.

The pathway is by honouring the dignity of work, not only words but deeds, not only once a year, but every day.

You have the full statement in your mailbox and then I will go to now to Katrina for her brief announcements at the beginning.

Katrina, you have the floor.

Good morning everyone.

Like you said by publicly Landy Nouvelle Nouvelle Nouvelle Monitor the politics that is too small.

None.

It's Italy, Canada.

Like Swiss.

Let's find Brazil.

But I don't choose over in media, in alert media as a document respected Landy at this sector, Landy Kathmay at this sector.

He's never a genneve, the director of the position.

Merci Katrina Esquire the question for like you said, Don Comerci A tua A scheme as a man or premium them they're not briefing.

I'm sorry, I switched to English.

COVID-19, of course, and we have the pleasure to have again with us our colleague from the World Food Programme from Rome, Mr Amir Daoudi, who's the COVID-19 Corporate Response Director and Senior Director of Operations.

Amir, thank you for being with us today.

Again, I think you have an important announcement to make for the first flight towards Africa with medical supplies on behalf of the European of the humanitarian community.

You have the floor.

Thank you.

Thanks a lot and good morning colleagues and happy Labour Day.

We did the yesterday evening, the first flight took off from Liege in Europe, our hub in Europe carrying UNICEF supplies, 14 metric tonnes of UNICEF supply that will be going to Wagga, Dugo, Burkina Faso.

We are also in the process of preparing other flights now for ICRC and and the UN both from China as well as from Europe.

So we are ready.

I think the issue is of the sourcing of of medical supplies and that should be coming online very soon.

So that was the first flight from Europe, from our hub in Europe.

However, we did do, we did deliver supplies from Addis Ababa twice to 52 African countries, the whole continent.

So we've been delivering medical supplies on behalf of the community since the past 3-4 weeks over.

Thank you very much.

I don't know if you want to also speak about the future air bridges and then I'll open the floor to questions.

OK.

So we as as I briefed you last time, we are ready in terms of our hubs in China, Guangzhou and Shanghai as well as the age.

As I mentioned, our hub in in UAE in Dubai is up and running.

Addis Ababa is up and running.

Sorry, Johannesburg should be coming online within the next few days.

Ghana is up and running.

We did 28 countries deliveries through Accra.

Our hub in Accra, Panama is up and running.

We still did not do any deliveries from there.

We are also in the process other than the cargo delivery and air bridge delivery, We are also next week we will be first week of May, we will be starting two air services, passenger services from Addis Ababa and from Accra to ensure that humanitarian and health responders can travel to where they need to travel in in the countries of operations but also to allow staff to also come out from their duty stations that they have been basically blocked because of no commercial traffic.

We are also standing up our medevac at the same time.

Tomorrow we will start the first airlift of the first hospital to Ghana and as well as Addis and this will proceed as as per plan.

So the three elements of our common services are standing up and should be up and running within a week time.

Of course, our passenger services is starting in East and West Africa, then we're expanding to the Middle East and Asia in the week after and the week after we will start from Central America.

Panama over.

Thank you very much.

I have already a question for you, Amir, and it comes from Lohon Sierra from the Swiss News Agency.

Lohon, you have the floor.

Can you hear me?

Very well, you're on.

Very good.

Hi, Amir.

Thanks for briefing us again.

What you said about the passenger air, air bridges from Addis and Accra starting next week, does that mean that you're going to be able to start also the flights from Geneva via Rome to these destinations with passengers?

Thank you.

Thanks for the question.

Good to see you again.

The the flights from Geneva, Rome are on hold because we found an alternative, commercial alternative.

As I briefed you before, WFP services are there when there is no commercial alternative.

Where there is a commercial alternative, we stand down immediately and we found that there are flights going from Paris, London and another location in in Europe that on Ethiopian Airlines and others to Addis Ababa.

In in fact our we have two teams, one team that is in Addis Ababa travelled from Rome from our hub in, in Italy, Brindisi and another team as we speak is flying Addis to Accra.

So they they flew yesterday from Frankfurt on on Ethiopian Airlines to Addis and this morning they boarded the flight, commercial flight from Addis Ababa to Accra.

Now the Addis, the Addis hub is connected commercially whether through Frankfurt, Paris and and London as I mentioned.

However West Africa is not.

So we are looking at examining now as we speak if we need to start flying Europe to West Africa, that is being looked at as we speak and if there is no viable commercial alternative, we will do it over.

Thank you, Amir.

Next question is from Peter Kenny.

Peter.

I wanted to ask you about the hub at Johannesburg.

It seems to be in a long stage of should be up and running.

What is the impediment there?

I, I understand that there was, there was supposed to be some communication with the South African President about this and South Africa has also announced A slight easing of its lockdown.

So could you explain what the whole up there is?

Thank you, Amir.

Thank you so much.

It is up and running.

We have a commercial contract with a commercial operator.

So if I need to transport cargo through Johannesburg, we can do it commercially.

But usually when we when we establish a fully fledged hub, it means our staff are also there on the ground because it requires a lot of work and understanding the side of the UN and how we operate and linking it with the commercial.

So our staff are not able to travel to Johannesburg because exactly what you mentioned the lockdown, there has been communications with the with the President of South Africa and we're waiting to hear back.

With the ease of the lockdown, we expect that we'll be able to deploy our staff to Johannesburg and to start full-fledged type operations, passengers, cargo and hopefully medevac.

So up and running, sorry.

No worries.

Thank you.

Gabriela Sotomayor, thank you very much.

I'm Gabriella Sotomayor, Mexico Mexican journalist.

If you can elaborate a little bit about Central America that you've mentioned and give us more details about that.

Thank you very much, America.

Central America, in Panama, we have one part of the network that we we have humanitarian response depos that has always been the hub for our air freight operations.

What we are planning to do and we are in communications with the government is to establish in on top of the humanitarian response depot and cargo movement, we to establish a medivac services as well as passenger services because again we need to be able to transit through Panama and connect with the rest of the world.

So that is what is in the process.

We have been talking to the government, official communications are on its way.

So we hope that within the next one Week, 2 weeks and we, we hope that a positive official response will will come and we will be able to stand up the operations as I said towards the third week of May.

Thank you very much, Amir.

I don't see any other requests from the from the journalist.

So thank you very much if you can stay with us.

But in any case, I know that Elizabeth is also on the on the attendance and if journalists have other questions for WFP, she can also answer.

But if you can stay with us, you're absolutely welcome.

And I'll go now to our second speaker, who is Andre, my teach from UNHCR.

Andre, you're connected.

Thank you very much.

Good morning.

Good morning ladies and gentlemen.

Today is the International Labour Day and on that day we are sounding our alarm at increasingly desperate situation of those forcibly displaced by conflicts and violence, particularly in low and middle income countries which currently shelter more than 85% of the world's refugees.

The evidence of deep and hard hitting economic impact of the crisis on refugees is overwhelming.

Across Middle East and North Africa alone, we have received about 350,000 calls from refugees and ID PS since the lockdown and other since lockdown and other public health measures came into force in in March.

The majority asked for urgent financial assistance to cover their existential needs.

Countries neighbouring Syria host more than 5.6 million Syrian refugees and there is another 6,000,000 internally displaced people in Syria.

Many need urgency support.

In Lebanon, which faced an economic downturn prior to the pandemic.

Over half of the refugee refugees surveyed by UNHCR late April reported having lost livelihoods such as daily labour.

Among the refugees consulted, 70% reported that they had to skip meals and in other countries in the region such as Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, large number of refugees have also reported having lost their main source of income.

In Jordan, the impact on refugee women is profound with almost all who were working say that they had seen their income sources disrupted.

Groups at particular risk include female headed households unaccompanied that separated children, elderly people, LGBTI persons.

Their situations can be improved through emergency assistance, notably through cash grabs.

Across this region.

Many are at risk of losing shelters and they're running out of means to support themselves.

There's been a reported increase in evictions or threats of evictions in Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania and Tunisia.

We are worried that the loss of jobs can also result in a psychosocial hardship.

In Jordan, UNHCR partners report a significant rise in mental health and psychosocial consultations by over 50%.

In the neighbouring Southwest Asia region, Afghan refugees are vulnerable and vulnerable members amongst the host communities who are already struggling to make ends meet due to the economic pressures, are finding it harder and harder to cope.

In Iran, the nearly 1,000,000 Afghan refugees, the majority of whom live and work side by side with a host, find themselves under immense economic hardships.

Children were particularly at risk with every 4th Afghan child reporting being compelled sorry, every 4th Afghan refugee reporting being compelled to take children out of school and every theft having to send children to work due to increased economic precarity.

The impact on the future of Afghan refugee children is already being acutely felt and will likely worsen without much needed further international support, responsibility sharing.

Despite the commendable efforts of the Government of Iran, UNHCR and other actors on the ground, the overwhelming majority of Afghans in Iran also includes 11.5 to 2 million of those who are undocumented, who rely on precarious and unstable source of their main income, making them highly vulnerable to economic downturns.

According to the local reports, 2 million people in Iran have lost jobs due to the COVID-19.

Our helplines are inundated with calls and while resilience remains the distinct feature of the refugee community during this challenging times, most report being unable to afford enough food to pay the rent, get medical treatment.

In Pakistan, that is the second largest refugee host host country in the world, Afghans have lost their only source of income as daily wage earners due to the general lockdown.

10s of thousands of refugees are particularly vulnerable given the challenges that they face, including all the people, individuals with disabilities, individuals with serial medical conditions, single parents, women and children at risk.

Pakistan not only hosts 1.4 million registered Afghans, but also over some it's it's home to 880,000 registered Afghan migrants and half a million undocumented in Latin America.

This region faces one of the world's largest displacement crisis.

More than 5 million Venezuelans have fled their country, close to 8 million internally displaced Colombians, 340,000 displaced people in north of Central America and more than 100,000 Nicaraguan refugees and asylum seekers.

Most refugees and asylum seekers in Latin America live in urban areas or along borders.

Many work in informal sector, often without social safety Nets.

Confinement measures have left them with sudden loss of income.

According to our 2019 data, 80% of Venezuelan refugees and migrants interviewed at the time said that they were working without any contractual arrangements met with many depending on the informal economy for survival.

Unable to pay rent or medicine, many are risk of homelessness and they are already being evicted from their shelters.

The numbers of destitute and homeless Venezuelans are increasing in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina.

Some are now resorting to survival sex, begging or Hawking in the streets.

Others are at risk for being preyed to smugglers and illegal armed groups.

With growing fears of social unrest, xenophobia and discrimination across the region, there are also on the rise.

Refugees who are trying to make ends meet on the streets or in the informal sector are often unable to comply with quarantine measures and are being scapegoated, stigmatised or at risk of detention.

But also in the past few weeks, we have seen a number of Venezuelans attempting to return to their country as they cannot cover the basic needs such as shelter, food and healthcare.

We are scaling our response to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 on this population, providing additional cash support, increasing capacity of shelters and working with governments and partners to inclusion of refugees and migrants in the social protection programmes in the North and Central of Central America.

Consequences of the lockdown coupled with increased violence and extortion from armed gangs are bearing heavily on the internal displaced people and communities at risk.

Many of them just survive on the on on the daily jobs.

In Mexico, where more than 7500 refugees participate in an integration programme that helps them to find jobs in the formal economy, mass layoffs have put them at risk of slipping into poverty.

Across all of the major refugee operations and despite challenges, we are working to provide emergency assistance, including cash based assistance, secure shelter spaces and to ensure inclusion of refugees in national public health responses in social safety, safety Nets and assistance plans.

Urgent action is required to help the most vulnerable refugees and Ivps, especially when they have no access to state-run social protection schemes.

The coronavirus crisis has exacerbated all the dire humanitarian needs globally, and timely and flexible support from governments, private sector and individuals for ongoing human humanitarian operations is critical.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Andre.

I have a first question from Antonio.

Antonio, go ahead.

Good morning.

I would like to know if Andre, if you have some more figures about the situation in Latin America, for example, any numbers on on, on the Venezuelans that are going back to their country.

Do you also have some figures on like you said in, in in the Middle East and Africa?

How many calls for help from from this region or any other information?

Thank you.

Can you just repeat the second part of the question?

There was a line was breaking up.

Oh, sorry.

Well you mentioned in the beginning or or in the press release at least it's it's written that there is a 300,000 calls for help from from a Middle East.

I don't know if you have some similar figure about Latin America.

Thank you.

OK, on the letter, no, but we know from from the anecdotal evidence that a number of calls to all of our help lines in, in most of the operations is going up because the refugees are facing very dire social economic impact of the, of the current, current measures in place and the and the pandemic itself.

On the issue of the, of the, of the returns that we have mentioned the the IT, it is very difficult for us to assess the the the numbers because we are trying to provide support in the country obviously when when the people are there.

But the the process itself, we are not, we are not supporting the returns to Venezuela.

The the borders all over South America are essentially closed and we respect the difficult decisions that the states have had to contain to do to contain the epidemic.

But we are not supporting the activities which could contribute to the dissemination of the pandemic.

And in addition, the conditions, overall conditions inside Venezuela do not allow for a lot for for large scale dignified returns.

Yeah, but yeah, sorry Lisa.

Lisa's next.

Oh, hi.

Thank you.

Hello.

Yes, we can hear you Good, good.

Andre, so nice to see you, if only virtually a couple of questions please, it sounds.

Like there are.

Countless millions and millions of people.

I suppose you don't have a a global number of how many people are caught in this horrible vice that you've just described?

Now I'm wondering about the countries neighbouring Syria that are in such dire straits.

Is there any sense?

Or fear that that refugees might be deported back to to Syria.

Certainly they're not.

It's not safe for them to return by themselves.

And then is there any sense that the United Nations is going to make some kind of a global appeal on behalf of all of these victims of COVID-19?

Thank you.

Thank you very much for that.

To answer your first question, what we are seeing in all of the countries neighbouring Syria and in many, many countries around the world that have been generously hosting refugees.

And we will be soon in June releasing the data for for 2019.

But right now we are still working with with, with our latest data which was released in June last year, which basically gives you an idea of the of the global displacements, which is well over 70 million people who are either refugees, internally displaced or are asylum seekers.

Now 85% of the world's refugees are being hosted in the low income or middle income countries.

Many of these countries have a weaker or weak public health systems.

And obviously there are a lot of concerns about the the situation there.

But what we have also seen is, are the responses which are including refugees displaced and others in their national public health responses to the, to the pandemic.

And that's a very important point in that regard.

We have seen no signals of any changes to the, to the current policies or any attempts to forcibly return refugees to work to, to Syrian refugees into, into Syria.

On the issue of the of the appeal, there is the current the UN appeal that relates to the pandemic to COVID-19 pandemic.

It is currently being revised and hopefully soon there will be a revised copy of the appeal released.

Perhaps colleagues from other agencies may have a bit more detail to share on that, but there there is a joint UN work on the on the latest revision of the COVID-19 global appeal in order to address the needs of all of the affected populations.

That includes also those that have been forced to flee their homes over.

Thank you, Andre.

The next question is from Gabriella.

We have a lot of speakers today.

So if you can make it a little bit shorter.

Thank you.

Yes, very, very quickly.

And and then after we are going to ask for.

OK.

So my question is if you if you see in Latin America any sign of social unrest of the because of this dire situation that you're mentioning, do you fear about that?

Thank you very much.

And then inside Venezuela, I don't know if Tariq can talk about the situation COVID in inside Venezuela, how is the situation?

Because the government gives some numbers, I don't know if they are accurate.

OK, Yeah.

OK, let's let's ask Andre to answer 1st and then I go to Tariq.

Andre.

Well, there's clearly, as, as I mentioned, there is clearly a sense of, of, of a growing fear and with the growing fear and social race xenophobia, discrimination across the Latin American region.

But this is not something that, you know, it's unique to, to Latin America.

But we have seen xenophobia and, and and discrimination on the rise.

Refugees who are essentially trying to make ends meet and who are taking any possible job that they may find and often live a hand to mouth existence and are working in informal sector are often, you know, unable to, to comply with all of the measures that that are, that are being put in place with the quarantine measures and so on.

And we have seen situations where they have been scapegoating, scapegoated, stigmatised and also at at risk of detention.

So it is something that is of of concern to us and that we continue to monitor.

Thank you, Andrei.

Tariq, can you answer the question on the situation of COVID-19 in Venezuela?

Hi.

Hello everyone.

Hi, it's nice to see you.

Yeah, pleasure, pleasure seeing you Alessandra.

And and hi to everyone, Gabriella.

I don't have any specific information on COVID-19 in Venezuela, but you know, we know that health systems that are in a fragile countries will face additional challenges because countries who have shortages of health workers who have problems with the supply chain, with the with the, with equipment being being being available, Obviously we'll have we'll have more issues, but particularly in Venezuela.

I will have to really come back to you and first try to get information from our colleagues in in PAHO.

Thank you very much, Tariq.

Yes, please do.

My next speaker, my next request for the floor is Catherine Fianco.

I guess is for Andre.

Yes, good morning, good morning to everyone.

My question to Andre is regarding the 255,000,000 that have been asked by UNHER for the response on COVID-19.

Can you tell us a little bit where it stands now for the moment?

Thank you.

Very.

Thank you very much for for that question.

Now you, you know well that our appeal is part of the consolidated UN appeal.

So and our portion, the current portion amounts to about $255,000,000.

As I mentioned, these needs are being currently revised and the, the, the entire UN system is working on the revision of the appeal.

I can only say that so far we have had a very generous support from the government, from the private sector, from the individuals to our portion of the appeal.

Given the upcoming revision, it would be misleading to give you any precise percentage now.

But I would just like to stress that we have had a supportive and generous response from the in terms of contribution from the donors.

Thank you very much.

OK, Andre, thank you.

I don't see any other requests for the floor, so I will now go to our next speaker, Medici.

Medici, you're going to brief us on vaccine shipments, right?

Medici, you, I think, yes, you are unmuted.

Go ahead.

Medici, you are unmuted.

I can see you're there.

Don't know why we are not seeing you and we are not hearing you.

OK, Why?

We try to find a solution to that.

I I think you are on Marixi.

Yeah.

Now we can hear you.

Go ahead, please.

Good morning everybody.

UNICEF is calling for support to unlock a massive backlog in vaccine shipments due to unprecedented logistical constraints related to COVID-19 mitigation measures, including lockdowns in some countries.

In 2019, UNICEF procured 2.43 billion doses of vaccines for 100 countries to reach approximately 45% of all children below 5 years old.

This year, since the week of March 22, UNICEF has seen a 70 to 80% reduction in planned vaccine shipments due to the dramatic decline in commercial flights and limited availability of charters.

As of today, dozens of countries are at risk of stock out due to delayed vaccine shipments.

At most risk are 25 countries that are difficult to reach due to limited commercial and cargo options.

Among these, at least five countries have experienced measles outbreaks in 2019, and many more are at risk.

Compounding the challenge is the exorbitant cost of securing flights, with freight rates at 100 to 200% above normal and charter flights even more costly.

Countries with limited resources will struggle to pay these higher prices, leaving children vulnerable to vaccine preventable diseases such as measles and polio.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, measles, polio and other vaccines were out of reach for 20 million children under the age of 1 every year.

Disruptions in routine immunisation, particularly in countries with weak health systems, could lead to disastrous outbreaks in 2020 and well beyond.

A substantial proportion of the vaccines that are not reaching countries as planned are for routine immunisation programmes.

Because of the delays, countries have been using buffer stocks, which typically consists of a three month supply that is intended for unplanned and urgent needs, including responding to sudden outbreaks.

As transport challenges persist, countries are at increasing risk of a vaccine stock out.

The extended delays and shipments also pose a huge risk to manufacturers who must store the excess vaccine stock and may be required to postpone future production if their warehouse storage space is exceeded.

UNICEF is working to find solutions with manufacturers and partners including WHO, GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, Tahoe and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Some manufacturers have offered to support with their own freight forwarding services and Gabby has provided additional funding to support charter flights.

And we continue to work with governments to monitor their stock levels, prioritise the most critical back sheet, back vaccine shipments and respond to the needs of their immunisation programmes.

However, the logistical situation remains severely constrained and many countries require additional funding support.

UNICEF is appealing to governments, the private sector, the airline industry and others to free up freight, space and affordable cost for these life saving vaccines and to work with us to find ways around the transport disruptions we face.

Children's lives are at stake.

Thank you.

Thank you, Marixi.

OK, the first question is from Katrina again.

Katrina.

One second.

Yeah, Now you're muted.

Go ahead.

OK.

So I say hello, Marixi.

Nice seeing.

You hope you're doing.

Fine.

I have a couple of questions.

First of all, could you be more precise about the difficult countries you that have are reached?

Which countries are difficult to be reached?

And can it be organised with WFP logistics system?

Because I suppose that these are the same vulnerable countries that are hit also maybe by COVID-19?

And could you also be more precise about the additioning financial support UNICEF needs?

Could you articulate some numbers please?

Thank you.

Sure.

I'm happy to send you the full rest of 25 countries that have access constraints right now.

UNICEF's appeal, UNICEF's portion of the appeal is for $651 million.

But as Andre has said, this appeal is currently being revised now.

I believe the new release date is for May 7th.

So that's that's, that's a number that's in flux at this point.

OK.

Thank you.

And next one is Katherine.

You wanted to say something else.

It's very difficult with follow up.

So if you can say everything together, it will help me immensely.

Yes, I understand perfectly, but I really need to have a little bit more precision about these 25 countries.

If you don't want to name them, I mean, at least tell us in which regions this they're located.

A percentage, as many in Africa, as many in Latin America, if you could.

Nice.

And and and also about it is my follow up.

That was also for Andrea.

If you are revising the figures, do you have an an ID about the percentage that need to be resized?

Do you need 10% more money or 15%?

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

And we also have, I remind you och brief later on, and I don't know if Yance will have to add something to that, but OK, let's give a chance to Marrick C to fun to to answer Catherine and then I go to Andrei Catherine.

The the countries are in five regions and I'm happy to read the names of these countries aloud on the briefing, or I can send them all to you.

Right now, please send them to.

That's very that.

That would probably be more accurate.

I could.

I will do that as soon as the briefing is over with my notes and I will.

And on and on the funding at this stage, I'm really sorry I don't have more detail for you on what the what the new appeal will look like.

As soon as I have that detail, we're more than happy to share it, of course.

Thank you, Andre, on this particular point.

I, I really don't have much to add to what I said before.

It would be, it is really impossible because the, the, the work is, is being done actually as we speak.

And so by early next week, we should have all of us, all of the agencies participating have a have a better picture of where the, the overall needs stand and where the individual needs of all agencies stand.

So I I'm sorry, I can't tell you more than that at this stage.

Thank you.

And I will also invite you to read the the transcript of the UN Secretary General's press briefing of yesterday where he speaks about contributions, he speaks about this funding to the humanitarian appeal maybe hence we'll have a little bit more later on.

But let me go back to Lisa, who had questions for Marrick C Good morning, Marrick.

C Nice to see you.

You say that there are five countries that had outbreaks of measles.

That's not 25, but five countries.

Which ones are they?

Are they in Africa?

Now I'm wondering, have you any information about children having died as a consequence of not getting their routine measles and other other vaccinations?

Another question is, have polio campaigns essentially stopped?

And then lastly, are you?

And the World Health Organisation usually go together on this, able to organise vaccination campaigns when there is really an emergency somewhere.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Marixi.

And then I'll go to Tariq, OK, if he has something to add emergency.

That that are difficult to access and that experience measles outbreaks in 2019 are Chad, Ghana, Guinea, Nepal and Niger in terms of the numbers of children who have died because they've missed out on, on immunisation campaigns.

I, I, I think I don't have a figure on that, but it's clear that many more children will be affected.

I think Doctor Teddrus has also made that clear in an earlier briefing where he said, you know, tragically children will die on the polio campaigns or that have been suspended.

As of the last count, most countries had suspended mass polio campaigns.

I do flag that we will have updated picture on immunisation campaigns, hopefully early next week this will be do.

We will be doing this in conjunction with WHO and Gavi and others.

And yes, it is possible to do immunisation campaigns in DRC which you know had the worst measles outbreak last year.

We have been immunising children against measles, of course, respecting the social distancing and safety measures that are required now.

But yes, there are no DRC, for example, is doing that and it's particularly critical there.

And I can see if there are examples of other countries where measles campaigns are under way now.

Thank you very much, Marek.

See next question is from Alice.

Tariq wants to add something on this particular point.

Tariq, you are on.

Oh, yeah.

Now we can hear you.

Go ahead.

Sorry, sorry.

So I think Merrick's already responded.

We think that shutting down immunisation services is basically risking triggering a resurgence of vaccine preventable diseases.

We have issued guidance on immunisation services during COVID-19 pandemic and that basically provides countries with a guiding principles and considerations to support them in their decision making regarding provision of immunisation services.

Thank you, Tariq.

And my last question from Marik C is from Freddie.

Bonjour, Freddie, we.

Alexi The.

Mercy, Freddie, we have Rupert.

We should have Rupert on the line.

Let me see who is going to brief you later on.

But Rupert, if you want to get into that, just on this particular issue related to COVID-19, on the recommendation for the this, this angora shamo, I don't even know the English word for that of prisons.

Do you have any, any element for Freddie?

He would like to know what's happening with this recommendation if you have anything.

Sorry I wasn't listening when that question was.

He just asked what is happening in with the recommendation of the UN of lowering the number of prisoners, releasing prisoners from prisons in order to have less people subject to, you know, conditions of closeness in relation with the COVID-19.

He said he was looking for a follow up to that recommendation and couldn't find any.

Yes, I mean quite a few countries have actually been acting on that recommendation.

We did do a follow up.

In fact at one point, Iran for example, I think released at least temporarily something like 85,000 prisoners.

Other countries have also released substantial numbers.

I recall Indonesia, for example, also in Africa, Freddy and a number of countries have have released prisoners.

Somalia I know has released some.

Kenya has released some.

I think DRC has released a few.

It's it's a very mixed picture.

You know, some countries have really perhaps because COVID was already taking a grip in the prisons of have released significant numbers.

Other countries, just a few 100.

So I mean the, the advice remains the same.

I mean, clearly prisons, especially prisons that are hugely overcrowded, which is in unfortunately the case in many, many countries, they really need to do something because these, these could become a total death trap to, to the prisoners inside.

And these are not people who were sentenced to death.

These are people who are sentenced in many cases for minor crimes.

So the advice remains the same.

They should look for best ways possible to allow physical distancing to take place in the prisons, which of course does mean reducing the populations, the obvious people to release other people who, well, shouldn't have been in the prison in the first places.

So the political prisoners also, people convicted of very minor crimes, people very near the end of their sentences, people at particular risk because of their medical conditions.

We're not suggesting I do do stress is that people convicted of serious crimes are just simply released as as a matter of course.

They should complete their sentences if it's serious crimes, war crimes, crimes against humanity, ****** and so on.

Nevertheless, there have to be measures taken to protect them from from getting COVID-19.

Thank you very much, Rupert and stay with us because you have two items for briefing later on.

So I I'll go to you in a while.

Thank you.

I'll go now to our next and last speaker on COVID issues, which is IOMI think it's Paul.

Paul, you should be connected now.

Paul Dylan from IOM.

Good morning.

You're on.

Great.

Thank you very much.

Sorry, OK.

I just want to bring bring you up to speed on on 2 matters.

The 1st is the return of the survivors of a migrant truck tragedy in Mozambique and the second is on the general issue of stranded migrants in West and Central Africa.

This is Dateline, Maputo and Addis Ababa.

It was a tragedy that shook the African continent.

The remains of 64 migrants from Ethiopia found locked in a container in the back of a truck discovered on the 24th of March near Tete, Mozambique.

After crossing over the Malawi, Mozambique border this week, 11 youthful survivors returned to Ethiopia thanks to coordination by the governments of Ethiopia and Mozambique, assisted by the International Organisation for Migration and the EUIOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration in the Horn of Africa.

A month after escaping death, the young man agreed.

It is a miracle.

Pardon me, they survived since being rescued.

The magnitude of their life threatening experience and dangerous journey is just now dawning.

Quote.

The entire journey was difficult and I suffered greatly, one young man recalled.

I endured torture by smugglers.

I walked in forest for days.

I barely had food and water.

But the worst of all was the ride in the container.

In a space that could barely hold 20 people, they loaded 78 of US1 on top of another.

We were screaming for air, begging them to open the door.

At the last checkpoint, we banged on the container, screaming for our lives.

That's when the police heard us.

After the discovery by Mozambican authorities, officials from of the Mozambican National Migration Service brought the survivors to a hospital in Tete, where the young men were treated for hydration and exhaustion.

They would spend a required quarantine period as part of Mozambique's COVID-19 prevention measures.

IOM Mozambique contacted the Ethiopian Consulate in Pretoria, South Africa, provided translation services between the consulate and the migrants and local authorities, and worked to facilitate their voluntary return to Ethiopia.

While in Tete, three of the survivors left the facility and have yet to be located.

When speaking with IOM staff, the remaining 11 survivors explained to IOM that they just wanted to go home.

On the 28th of April, 11 men travelled to Mozambique's capital Naputu.

Their IOM provided clothes, personal hygiene items and other items to reduce risks of exposure to COVID-19.

Following day Wednesday, the survivors boarded a plane for Ethiopia.

The migrants are now under the care of Ethiopian authorities undergoing a 14 day mandatory quarantine as per Ethiopian.

During this quarantine period, IOM Ethiopia will provide individual as well as group counselling for the returnings.

IOM plans to help the migrants return to their home communities in Oromia and Southern nations, nationalities and people's regional states respectively, some 250 and 350 kilometres from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital.

They arrive home.

I will provide these survivors with assistance, reintegrating with their families and neighbours.

Assistance will include psychosocial and economic support.

Thank you, Paul.

And you also have another point.

Maybe you want to brief both and then we'll go to questions, please.

Certainly this is Dateline.

Wagadu and Jamina I fight in a remote artisanal goldmine.

Young students scrambling to get home to their families ahead of a global pandemic.

These are two incidents thousands of kilometres apart that this week highlight the plight of stranded migrants in Africa and the role IOM plays getting migrants home safely.

Over 1330 Nigerians are currently stranded in Burkina Faso after fleeing clashes in Debug Debugu, the gold mining region in that country's S.

Fearful of retaliation with travel impeded due to national restrictions and lacking resources to pursue their journeys, the men fled the mining area by foot and bicycle trying to reach a Wagga Dugu in Chad.

Almost 2000 stranded students are receiving assistance from IOM to return home safely from Cameroon.

Border closures across West and Central Africa have left over 24,000 migrants stand stranded, many without access to health services.

Quote West and Central Africa have a long history of intra regional mobility and an estimated 80 to 90% of all migratory movements take place within the region, says IOMS regional spokesperson of Florence Kim.

But in the context of COVID-19, borders across the region remain mostly symbolic for a lot of people.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Paul, I have a question for you from Lisa.

Yes.

Good morning, Paul.

Hi.

First, would you be so good as to send your press releases?

I if you sent it, I haven't received it.

I would appreciate that.

Thank you.

Very much I I believe we sorted out the issue with that, that you experienced last week and then the press release should have gone out well.

It didn't resolve it with me, so maybe I can get some personal attention on that.

Thank you.

Yeah, OK.

But now to what You mentioned this incident, horrible incident of the truck that was found with The Ethiopians.

I missed the date when that occurred.

And was there an investigation into this, where the perpetrators of this awful crime found?

And I'm wondering, was this the first such case or have there been similar incidents of this sort of thing happening?

Thank you.

The date of the incident was the 24th of March.

I can tell you that the there is an investigation ongoing.

The driver of the truck as we reported back at that time isn't has been detained and the matter now rests with the law enforcement and border agencies in Mozambique.

So was there a follow up to that?

Go ahead, go ahead.

On the second matter, there are the the movement down the southern route from Ethiopia to South Africa is a very common route.

There have been incidents in the past.

Most of the fatalities that have occurred along that route have been traffic accidents.

But there was an incident I believe in 2015, the details of which I'm more than happy to provide you by that.

Thank you, Paul.

Next question from Robin Miller.

Hi.

It's a question for Tarek, if that's OK.

No, I have also other questions for Tarek.

I'm taking those for Paul at the moment.

And then we come back to to WHO?

Sorry for that, Gabriella.

Next question, Is that for Paul?

No, I wait, it's for Tarek too.

OK.

Everybody wants to ask that question.

And then we have Paula.

Paula, is that for IOM?

Yes, it is.

Go ahead then.

Yeah.

Hi.

Good morning.

Actually, I just have a question regarding the Burkina FASA story.

Do you know by do you know would you know which companies gold company either refiners or other gold companies might be presence in this area buying the gold from?

I I don't have that level of detail, Paula.

I mean, these are artisanal gold mines that we've reported on in the past.

Thousands of men from around the region through the Gold belt working on these small plots.

I don't know the the organisational structure of that area, but I'll be happy to make an inquiry on your behalf.

Thank you very much, Paul.

Katherine, is that for Paul?

It's it's a follow up on on Paula's question about Nafasu.

Go ahead.

Yeah, just to ask Paul because it was also the kind of question that I needed if he could be kind enough to send his notes to everybody.

And I have a question for Tarek later on.

Yeah, indeed I would like to take this opportunity to ask colleagues if again with this virtual briefing it is even more important if you can send out your notes before the briefing and we can help with that or just at the moment of the briefing that will help the journalist immensely.

I can use as several times to take this opportunity to remind that colleagues if possible.

So Paul, you wanted to answer this follow up question to?

OK.

The question was whether those that information can be shared more broadly and I'm more than happy to do so.

And I will get on this issue of the distribution because the the press releases were supposed to have gone out this morning.

I I received a copy myself, but I will follow up immediately on that.

Thank you very much.

Now I have 4 questions for Jamil on the from for.

Sorry for Tariq from Jamil and other colleagues.

I would like just before giving the floor to WHO on this to remind you.

No, let's go to WHO and then we finish with the questions.

I would like also to remind you, please, we have three more speakers and big speakers with big stories.

So please, please, please one question each.

Tariq, short answer if possible.

I'll start with Jamil, who has been waiting patiently.

Hi.

Tariq, hi, everyone.

There is a lot of noise on the line, Jamil.

I don't know if there is noise in your mic, but we can't hear you very well.

Not here.

Go ahead now.

Much better.

Yeah, go ahead.

Tarek, very quick question.

The latest data is data on Brazil for the last days show an increase that is basically vertical on the curve of infections.

It it is, it has surpassed China in terms of numbers and in terms of deaths as well.

My question to you is the situation in Brazil particularly warring for Latin America, for South America and what can be done at this point?

Thank you.

Thank you, Tariq.

Well, I don't really have Jamil on particular countries.

I I really invite you to ask that question today.

Maybe Doctor Ryan has has more on that.

Thank you.

That was quick, Robin.

On smallpox, if The Who is planning to do anything to mark the the upcoming 40th anniversary of the eradication of smallpox.

Thank you.

Eric Robin I think we did marked it last year.

We had a big event.

We had even people who participated in it.

But I will I will ask our expert on on smallpox if we are planning something this year.

Thank you, Gabriela.

Yes, thank you very much.

Tyke, Why did you change the format of the press briefings of the virtual press briefings?

Because it's so it's too difficult to find a microphone to unmute ourselves.

And we don't know who which journalist are in the in the press conference.

And it's it's, it's difficult.

I mean it's not that easy like that that it was before.

That is one question.

And then I have a question on Mexico, but I don't know if it's better to ask in the virtual press briefing or right now to you.

On particular countries, what I would suggest Gabriella like it was the same thing for Venezuela.

You know, you can send us an e-mail and then we will go to our regional office who, who probably has more information on countries in their region.

So I would suggest that on changing of the format, I will have to check really with, with my with my colleagues.

We are really trying to to make the best possible a way to to now we have interpretation in you know, 6 young languages plus Portuguese.

We may have more.

We are really trying our best to make these press briefings available to everyone.

And we are just as we are learning about different technical options and we are adopting.

Thank you, Tarek.

And I will take this opportunity to thank WHO that after our discussion with Akanu has now accepted to do expert briefings as requested by the journalist in Geneva, 4 Geneva journalist and they've started this morning, as you have seen also not to have too many people at the regular briefing, although this is going to be quite another long briefing too.

Katherine, you had a question for Tarek.

Yes, the the 1st is yes.

Hello again Tarek the first.

Is.

Could you please also when a journalist ask a question, even on the region, be kind enough to share it with all of us So like that we won't ask the same questions over and over.

And regarding organisation this week, WHO Afro did?

Brief at the same moment of WHO?

Euro so we had.

Two briefings, I mean, yeah, as you, as Alessandra mentioned, I mean it, it is not, I mean possible to, to have two important offices of WHO briefing the same day at exactly the same time.

So if you could look into it with the WEF.

That is organising The Who Afro and WHO Euro.

Could you please also give us some infos on the?

WHA that was supposed to that was supposed to start next week or?

20 No 16, yes, and and thank you.

Thank you, Tarek.

Yeah, very quickly.

So we cannot really like, you know, there's a tremendous demand on WHO regional offices, headquarters, country offices and and you know, our, our our representatives try to do press conferences when, when, when they can.

So we try from our side to get this information and transmit it to our global list that has now over 80,000 people on.

WHO?

I do have a news.

So it has been agreed that WHO will take place virtually using video conference technology.

It will open on 18th of May and it will go on for a couple of days with the executive board that usually starts at the end of the Royal Health Assembly will start on 22nd of May.

Now there will be there will be less meetings like than usual.

So technical briefings will be done later.

What we will have, we will have the meetings will focus on COVID-19 obviously and some items that are essential for governance continuity such as election of executive board and also there will be there would be addressed by the Director General.

So we are still working on the agenda.

But yes, we can say that the Workhol Assembly will take place virtually from May 18th and then once we have a agenda that will be posted and share with you.

Thank you very much.

I have Jan, Peter and John for you.

I will repeat, please brief.

We have three more speaker big stories for you journalists.

So I would ask you to be really brief and then if there is time, I'll go back to Tariq.

So please brief Jan.

Yes.

Good morning, Tariq.

I'd like to ask you on the emergency committee on this current session, what can we expect as an outcome?

Will they, will they extend the public health emergency of international concern?

Will this be the major outcome of the session?

OK.

So very briefly, so the emergency committee held a meeting yesterday and the results and the final document will be presented today at the press conference.

You have received the invitation.

We will have the chair of the emergency committee, that's Professor Didier Ussong, just for those who are not familiar.

So as per normal procedures under IHR, emergency committee must reconvene within three months of a meeting to review temporary recommendations.

So this is this is sort of as per procedure.

So more on the outcome and the statement today at 5:00.

And just to remind you that we will have another speaker today, not only Chair, Professor Hussam, but we will also have a representative from the European Investment Bank, as WTO and European Investment Bank are strengthening efforts to combat COVID-19.

And we will have that there.

There will be a press release on that.

And I'm just checking if I can give you the name of the person.

So the president of the European Investment back, Werner Hoyer, will be at the press conference and he will be able to take questions.

Thank you, Tarek.

Last two speakers please.

Quick, Peter and then John and that's it.

Afterwards I'll go to OCHA.

Very good.

I have a repetition of a question I asked a couple of weeks ago.

Do we have a global number for the number of health workers affected by COVID-19, for their deaths and overall people who are affected?

I've sent the question in writing as well, too.

Yes, Peter, I think that we don't have overall, overall numbers on health workers because it's not systematically reported.

Thank you, John.

Yes, yes, logistical question on the Health Assembly, the virtual meeting on the 18th, that will be the plenary session.

Will it be webcast for us to follow?

And will the other technical meetings the following days, will they be webcast as well or not?

I don't know right now.

I'm just telling you what I just got.

So the decision that a rule, a rule health assembly will take place virtually on all the details, how we will get organised, you know, and how we will share the information.

We will.

We'll, we'll make a media advisory on that.

Thank you very much to everybody.

Thanks Derek for being really brief.

And before we we give the floor to OCH, I just would like to remind you that since the beginning of the crisis, the Secretary General has mobilised the whole UN family with a series of reports and policy briefs providing analysis and advice for coordination of the international community response.

And today we have been launching a policy brief on older persons.

You have received the division message text, the key messages and the policy brief itself.

I am not going to read it to make it shorter, but I will just like to tell you that this is in your mailbox.

Please have a look.

And the next one will be on the consequences of COVID-19 for persons with disabilities and the impact on mental health.

So stay tuned for that, but please have a look and cover the report, which is really important because the toll on all the persons of COVID-19 has been very important, as you know.

So I will now go to OCHA for a short briefing on Yemen and then to OHCHR.

Jens, thank you for your patience.

Yeah.

Thank you very much, Alessandra, and good morning, everyone.

Briefing on Yemen In Yemen, torrential rains and flooding since mid-april have affected nearly 150,000 people and damaged houses and shelters, washed out roads and bridges, contaminated water supplies and caught access to basic services such as electricity.

Also, shelters for internally displaced people have been flooded, 13 Gabanarats in the coastal regions in the southwest and also in central Yemen have been affected and more rains and thunderstorms are expected across the country.

Conditions are hardest for the thousands of families already displaced who have lost shelter, food rations and household supplies.

Sana Gabanarat has been particularly bad hit and Sana city was inundated by floodwaters which caused widespread disruption to services.

In Aiden, Power cuts have continued since the city was flooded on 21st of April.

In the central Marie government, rains and floods have killed 7 people and injured 250 in Haja government in the northwest, more than 5000 families have been affected and partners report severe damages to shelters of sites for internally displaced persons.

Also, IDP sites in the southern government have been affected due to damaged water supply and stagnant water.

There is heightened risk of diseases such as malaria and cholera.

Already more than 110,000 cases of suspected cholera cases have been recorded across Yemen since January of this year.

Despite very limited resources, humanitarian organisations are responding to flood affected communities across the country with food, water, sanitation and hygiene services, health, nutrition, shelter and non food items as well as protection services.

For example, in Aden, all 25 sites hosting nearly 2000 displaced families have been deep watered and hygiene kits have been distributed.

Food assistance is also ongoing and one day mosquito fogging operation was conducted in Aden last week and a three day fogging campaign is under way in all districts in Aden.

In Sanaa city, some cash assistance and hygiene kits have been provided to affect the families and water trucking and distribution of chlorine tablets is ongoing in several places.

Awareness raising on diseases such as cholera, dengue and COVID-19 is carried out through community radio and social media.

According to WHO, there are 6 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Yemen now.

The humanitarian coordinator recently warned that the virus may spread quickly because of the low levels general immunity, **** levels of acute vulnerability and a fragile health system.

Yemen remains the largest humanitarian operation in the world, reaching more than 13 million people each month.

Many of the programmes offer Yemen is their best chance of avoiding COVID-19 infection, including through the provision of clean water, sanitation and access to health care.

Thank you very much, Yens.

I have a question from Lisa and one from Nick.

I'll start with Lisa.

Good morning, Yens.

I hope you're fine.

You say 150,000 people have been affected by these floods and they, they don't have any homes.

I mean, where are they?

Who, who's taking care of them?

How?

And especially with COVID-19 lurking in the atmosphere, this sounds absolutely catastrophic to me.

Yes, thank you, Lisa.

It is indeed this is, this is what we are very concerned about now in German and everywhere else when these disasters happen, natural disasters if you like, the disasters we know of, when these happen, what, what, how are we going to respond in the context of COVID-19, as I mentioned, what what has happened already is for example, the IDP sites that have been, that have been flooded or inundated are being deep watered.

Essentially they're being drained to get to get rid of the water.

In the first instance.

The, the concern is water borne disease or vector borne disease.

So water borne disease such as cholera or vector borne such as malaria, because the stagnant water after the flooding is a breeding ground for, for mosquitoes.

So getting rid of the water as fast as possible is very important.

And of course, providing, you know, clean drinking water for the, for the families who are there.

Already we have the reports from the north, from the South, from the West, from the central of all these IDP sites and camps that, that have been affected by, by by the flooding.

The humanitarian organisations there are doing what they can to respond.

Of course, as is the case everywhere we respond these days, it has to be done in a way so that we minimise any risk of of of of infections and that is of course being taken into account.

As a humanitarian coordinator clearly warned, what what we cannot see is, is very important here because we.

Have.

A handful of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in in Yemen, but really the setting there is almost conspire to make this into a disaster if we start seeing widespread communal transmission of of COVID-19.

One particular issue here is really there's massive funding problems in Yemen at the moment.

We have been warning that a large number of the programmes that are indeed critical to be able to combat COVID-19 as well as as the the needs that were there prior to that, such as water and sanitation services and other health services.

Those programmes are really at risk of closing down in the weeks and months to come if we do not get a significant boost of of funding to the operation.

And I would like to add to what Ian's just said that yesterday the Secretary General in the press conference in New York, related, spoke extensively about the Yemeni situation, the conflict and the humanitarian supply.

So I will invite you to have a look at that too.

I go to Nick.

Thank you.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Cool.

Thanks.

Ian's couple of questions, the COVID cases, where are they located?

Are they all in the same place or are they distributed in a variety of places #1 #2 to what extent has the separatist activity which has picked up in recent days, is that impacting either the delivery of assistance or access of aid personnel?

And finally, also, we had intermittent reports about interruptions to distribution of aid by relief agencies in some of the Houthi controlled areas because of the problems there.

Is this also now still a major issue for you as you approach the sort of the COVID season?

Yeah, thank.

Thank you, Nick.

First of all, the the six cases that that I mentioned are those that are reported by World Health Organisation in their latest situation report.

In terms of locations, what I have seen is that there was one case in which is as you know, in the in the east of the country, that is the only location that I have of these 6 cases.

Now whether access is is an issue because of continued hostilities, yes, it is.

I do not have specific incidents or cases about that.

It really is a general problem.

And in that vein, I would say that the, the issues that we have had with the armed groups, the answer Allah in in particular and and distributional aid is something that continues to be work done by, by the UN system in Yemen.

It's my understanding it's not something that's complete, 100% resolved, but it is an an ongoing discussion with with the parties to the country.

Indeed.

OK.

Thank you very much.

So I will now go to our next speaker.

Thank you, Jens Rupert, you have two points to brief us about.

Thank you for your patience.

Not at all.

Is the video on?

I was told it wasn't on earlier.

No.

We see your picture and we hear your voice.

Oh, now you're on.

Yes.

I thought you control the video but.

Thank you.

You're on even we can see you very well.

Go ahead.

So yes, I'll start with Lebanon.

We're deeply concerned by the renewed violence that has erupted in Lebanon this week, claiming the life of 1 protester and leaving dozens of other civilians and law enforcement officers injured, as well as causing significant damage and destruction to public and private property.

We call on everyone to exercise utmost restraint, to refrain from violence against other people, and to respect property.

We remind law enforcement officers that they have an obligation to abide by international norms and standards on the use of force, particularly the principles of legality, necessity and proportionality.

And we also urge demonstrators not to resort to violence and stress that the right to peaceful assembly protects nonviolent gathering gatherings.

It's peaceful assembly, not violent assembly.

After a relative lull in the six month old demonstrations, due largely to the breakout of the COVID-19 epidemic, protests against the country's rapidly worsening economic crisis resumed this week, and some of those protests turned extremely violent.

On the 26th of April, a protester who was hit reportedly by a rubber bullet, died of his injuries.

We've also received reports that at least 77 civilians were injured between the 26th and 30th of April.

And the Lebanese Armed Forces have reported that at least 159 of its personnel have been hurt, of whom 15 are in a critical condition.

So these casualty figures underline the alarming intensity of the violence has been taking place.

We understand the Lebanese Armed Forces used tear gas and rubber bullets and that live ammunition was fired in the air.

And protesters, for their part, have reportedly been using tear gas grenades, petrol bombs, iron chains.

Wooden sticks and other weapons.

We've also received reports of instances of use of force violations by the Lebanon Lebanese Armed Forces.

We welcome the announcement of investigations by the confident authorities into these incidents because victims and their families have the right to justice and to the truth about what happened.

While certain measures, such as physical distancing, may be warranted in a bid to contain COVID-19, we remind the authorities that people do have a right to participate in public affairs one way or another, and they do have a right to raise concerns and shape decisions that affect their lives.

Thank you very much.

Rupert, would you like to also go to the second briefing and then I'll open the third question, please, on Nepal.

On Nepal, we hope the Nepal Stream Supreme Court's decision earlier this week to stand by its earlier ruling against amnesties for serious human rights violations committed during the decades long armed conflict will provide an opportunity to revitalise the country's long stall transitional justice process in line with international norms and its international commitments.

The Supreme Court's decision reconfirms that the only way for the government to credibly proceed with the transitional justice process is to abide by the key human rights and transitional justice principles reflected in its earlier 2015 ruling, which included the centrality of victims and the importance of accountability for serious violations.

Victims, advocacy groups, and civil society members have welcomed the Court's latest decision, and so do we.

So we call on the Government of Nepal to take the Supreme Court's decision as an opportunity to change course and pursue a truly fair and transparent transitional process that will win the trust of key stakeholders in the country.

The process must be truly consultative to the rights and interests of victims firmly at the centre.

There are more details on this important decision.

It's quite complex and there's quite a long history behind it, but the more details on it in the briefing note which we sent out a little while ago.

Thank you very much, Rupert S Indeed, I think we have all received it, so I will now go to the journalist.

There is a request for the floor from Lisa.

Yeah.

Hi.

This was a require.

I wanted to talk to Jens.

I guess you didn't see my hand was up.

As a quick follow up, is Jens still around?

Yeah.

But do you have any question for Rupert and I'll go back to Jens?

No, no.

OK.

Let me see if there's any other requests from for questions for Rupert.

Just let me see my list here on the on the side.

I don't see any other requests than Lisa's Rupert.

So thank you very much for your briefings.

Lisa, you want to ask your question to Yens, and then I'll go to W MO.

Yeah, Yens, I hope you can hear me.

My quick question is, you say that you need money.

I'd like to know how much money you need.

And you've made an appeal, no doubt.

And how much have you received?

Thank you.

Yens, are you there?

I don't see Yen's name on the list anymore, so maybe he has.

Let me see just how, how how do we resolve this problem of follow-ups?

Because I had, well, follow-ups.

We are trying, as I said.

Yeah, but this, this is the system.

You just see it.

But, I mean, I had done done this while he was still talking, you see.

So, OK, I'm sorry.

You have to address Jans separately, I think.

I'm sorry.

Gabriella, do you have a question for Rupert?

OK, then I'm sorry.

I will go to our last speaker who's WMO, who has been extremely patient.

Again, I know you want to talk to Tarek, you will do just afterwards.

And we also have Marik C who has to make a correction to the numbers that she gave you.

So let me go to WMO.

Hopefully Claire is on.

Yes, Claire, you are on.

Thank you for your patience.

You also had a briefing note.

Go ahead.

Yeah, we can hear you.

You're unmuted.

OK, It's right.

OK.

Yes.

Hi.

Hi, everybody.

I hope everybody's staying well and safe.

We are about to post on our website and we will send you the the details of it.

Arctic ozone depletion this year in March reached a record.

Level.

It's rare.

The last time it happened was back in 2011.

The reason it happened was a combination of two factors.

The continuing presence of ozone depleting substances in the atmosphere.

The the worst offenders have been, have been phased out by the Montreal Protocol, but they have quite a long lifetime in the atmosphere.

So they're, you know, they're still, they're still up there.

So the continuing presence of these substances plus meteorological conditions.

So this year we had a very cold winter in the stratosphere, which is the layer of the atmosphere between around 10 kilometres and 50 kilometres altitude.

It was these two factors combined to give very **** level of depletion, which was worse than we saw in 2011.

It's now back to normal again again, sort of meteorological factors kicked in again, and the ozone.

Hole has has closed and I think the underlying message is that.

Yes, it was a very big hole.

It's not, it's not a cause for exceptional concern because on the whole, the Montreal Protocol is working very, very well.

It's a very successful environmental treaty.

And without the protocol, this year's Arctic ozone hole would have been even bigger.

But you'll get more details in the notes.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for this interesting briefing.

Is there any question from the journalist for WMO on this particular issue?

OK, Paula, Paula, you have the door.

Yeah.

Just so the closing of the hold, is that does that have anything to do with the reduction in pollution due to the measures taken for now to come?

Nothing.

It's, it's, it's more what's happening way, way, way up in the stratosphere that so it's, it's, it's completely unrelated to, to, to, to, to COVID.

If you want to COVID theme, I think the one would be that we, you know, ozone levels, ultraviolet, ultraviolet levels measured by our global atmosphere watch stations.

A lot of these are facing, you know, quite considerable challenges and constraints because of the pandemic, but they are continuing their work and it's, you know, it's essential that they do continue this work.

Thank you very much.

I don't know Antonio Antonio essay.

Hello.

OK, Just to clarify, this hall has been open just for for a couple of months or or when you detected in in March, it was open a long time ago?

It was, it's a springtime phenomenon.

So, you know, we see it in the Antarctic also every Antarctic spring.

So it is a springtime phenomenon.

It was it was March and as I said, it was due to meteorological conditions.

It's getting a bit technical now, but basically we had a very strong polar vortex.

Now this is the the fast blowing circular winds that isolate the air mass in in the in the vortex that was very, very strong this year and it prevented ozone rich.

Air coming in, coming into, coming into the, coming into the Arctic in addition, and this is where it gets.

Even more complicated, we had very low temperatures for a long period of time in the stratosphere.

We're not talking about the atmosphere, we're talking about the stratosphere the the level above and that that those low temperatures lead to the creation of chlorine and bromine, which which which destroy ozone.

But it's sorry.

Thank you.

Thank you, Claire.

I don't see other requests for for the floor.

Thank you for for briefing us.

I will quickly go to Marixi who needs to correct one of the numbers, one of the figures that she gave you in her briefing.

Marixi, if she can be put on speaker, can you hear me?

Yes, we can.

Thank you.

OK.

I apologies it's it's.

Quite an important.

Number to correct, it's on the number of countries at risk that are difficult to reach due to limited.

Commercial and cargo options.

So this is the correct this is the correct phrase.

As of today, May 1, dozens of countries are at risk of stock out due to delayed vaccine shipments.

Utmost risk are 26 countries that are difficult to reach due to limited commercial and cargo space options.

Among these, at least five countries experienced measles outbreaks in 2019, and many more remain at risk.

Thank you very much for this correction, Marixi.

And I understand that the note that you sent out had the right numbers, so you don't need to correct that one.

It was just for the oral briefing, correct?

Good.

OK, thank you very much for this correction.

And now I'm left only with the final question from OK.

First of all, Lisa, I have sent a message to Jens with your request.

Hopefully he will answer to you.

And then I would like to give the floor to Gabriela.

Tariq is gone, but you want to put on record your, your note.

Gabriela.

Yes, thank you very much.

Alessandra.

Thank you for giving me the floor.

The, the, the situation is very difficult for me because you know, I'm asking questions from Mexico.

And then Tariq says that I should ask to Pajo.

And then I asked Pajo and Pajo, as I wasn't in the briefing during the press conference, I sent my question.

You have to send your questions in written.

So they pick the questions.

So impossible to ask Pajo about COVID-19 and impossible to ask WHO about COVID-19 and about Mexico.

So I just wanted to to put it on the record because it's really difficult to have answers from WHO or from Pajo.

Thank you very much, Gabriella.

I think we have put this on record and the first occasion I'll forward your question to Tariq And I also have a question from John Xerocostas.

Yes, yes, good morning.

It's a follow up to Gabriella's comments perhaps, and it's just a suggestion.

They could iron out all these problems by providing more technical briefings with experts from WHO, either from headquarters or elsewhere, where a lot of these questions we don't have the chance to ask during the three times a week briefings with Doctor Tedros, where at most we get two or three questions from the Geneva press corps.

So there's over 400 experts at WHO headquarters that can be virtually available.

It's just a suggestion, but that would help I think.

John is more than a suggestion.

This question has been brought to our attention by the Executive Committee of Akanu and we have brought it to the attention of our colleagues in WHO and for example, and they have listened to that.

First of all, as you had, I mean, the Geneva journalist had requested to have a briefing with Doctor Tedros for the Geneva press.

They are working on it.

And the second thing is that they've heard this request for technical briefings that you've been doing and we have forwarded to WHO after discussions with that can you And they actually did, they started this morning at 10:00 and 9:45.

They had a briefing with two experts separated from the briefing, from the regular briefing and it was only for the Geneva price.

It was on our platform.

So they are being listening to this request and I hope they will continue doing it and I would like to thank them for this.

So thank you very much.

Both remarks are on the record and we will definitely continue and asking them and they will do it.

They've said they're open to that.

Yes, but my emphasis was on scientific briefings.

Today's briefing was on social media.

We need hard science on vaccines, on antivirals, on what Peter mentioned earlier, number of personnel.

We need the epidemiological data to be.

Shared with us.

Yes, John, the point was that today they had an announcement on something which was more technical.

Tomorrow they could have something to say on the more, as you said, scientific side.

And the point was not on which kind of briefing they had to do separately, but to do briefings with technical or with scientific experts for the Geneva community.

And this I think is a message that has been transmitted and, and and welcomed by our colleague of WHO.

Thank you very much.

So I would like to come to a conclusion from this briefing.

Thank you all very much.

Have a nice weekend and have well, we'll talk again on Tuesday.

Thank you.