Thank you very much for being with us this morning for the bi weekly press briefing of the UN Information Service in Geneva.
I would we have a very long and intense programme today.
So I would like to start immediately by welcoming our special guest this morning, who's Gayer O Pedersen, the Special envoy for Syria, who is going to give us an update on the situation in Syria.
I believe you are talking to us from Oslo, if I am correct, you are wrong, Sir.
You have been muted and you would like to address our Geneva press corps, which we really thank you for.
Thank you so much, really a pleasure connecting to you with you again.
Of course, I'd hoped it could be in person sitting together with you in Geneva.
Maybe in the not too distant future we will be able to do that again.
I'm sure you are just as busy as we are, covering COVID-19 among other headlines.
But hopefully there will be a time when we will not only have to focus on COVID-19 and all the consequences that have.
You may have heard my briefing to the council yesterday, but let me sort of try to relatively brief the sort of explain a little bit where I believe we we are.
And of course, I will be repeating some of the messages that I gave yesterday in, in, in the council.
I think, you know, one of my key messages yesterday is or is the question, are we ceasing the opportunities that are there.
And as you know, I have called for, no, since the emergence of COVID-19, I have called for a complete and what I call immediate nationwide ceasefire throughout Syria to enable what I call an all of effort to counter COVID-19.
And of course, I've been in close touch with the government of Syria and the opposition.
And I also called on all the relevant players and told them that we are prepared to work with them to make sure that a ceasefire could hold.
This is of course a follow up to the Secretary General's call for a global ceasefire.
I also, as you will have noticed, continued to work on the political track and in particular of course on the constitutional committee.
And I've been in constant touch with the government in Damascus and the the opposition.
And my deputy, Karola Matar is in Damascus and is continuing working there on a, on a, on a daily basis.
And of course goes without saying, I've been in regular contact with all the key international players as well.
And if you listen to my briefing to the Security Council yesterday, you will have heard that I've also been in close contact on a regular basis with a women's Advisory Board and also with what we call our civil society support.
We have had quite a few meetings with them.
And it's, you know, in particular during these difficult times, extremely important to hear from Syrians all across the country how they see the situation.
And I must say, it's been really rewarding.
Listen carefully to them.
And of course, we've been following very, very carefully at the situation on the ground.
As I said in my briefing to the Council yesterday, there is a relative calm in Italy.
The ceasefire that Turkey and Russia entered into in the beginning of March is still by and large, holding.
And I, I've said that this is indeed good news, but I've also warned that hostilities could resume and that that would have devastating consequences, of course, not only in Idlib, but in many other parts of Syria as as well.
But of course, we are in particular worried about the situation in the IDP camps when it comes to the potential spread of COVID-19.
You will have noticed that in terms of COVID itself, so far the official case count in Syria is very low.
And there is of course, a great relief that the numbers are not a lot worse when it comes to Syria.
But at the same time, this is also what I'm hearing from Syrians when I'm talking to them.
There is, of course, a risk of a virus spread that is ever present.
So there is no cause for complacency.
And in connection with this, we continue to call for a sustained and unimpeded humanitarian access using all modalities, including scaled off cross line and cross-border access to deliver necessary and urgent assistance.
And of course, this is absolutely essential.
I'm in my appeal for a nationwide ceasefire.
I also mentioned obviously the issue of detainees, abductees and missing persons.
And I've continued to appeal for, you know, large scale releases of abductees and detainees and more information about the missing persons.
And I, I said that, you know, this could be both unilateral and, of course, negotiated, but that I have stressed again and again that the time has now come for more meaningful actions on all of these issues.
You know, as I said, on detainees, abductees, and indeed also on missing persons.
For those of you who follow Syria, you will also have noticed that economic conditions are dramatically deteriorating.
This of course are the results of a range of internal and external factors Throughout nearly a decade of conflict.
The last few weeks we have seen significant price increases and even shortages in basic food commodities.
So it's what we call the dramatic development.
But if I should summarise sort of briefly this, the common sentiment that I hear from Syrians, it's a real concern that the current situation and will not improve in the near future and that there is a huge uncertainty about what the future holds.
And there is of course also naturally I would say, disappointments that the political process has not delivered tangible improvements for Syrians.
You will have heard that we managed to get an agreement between the Co chairs when it comes to an agenda for the small body of the Constitutional Committee and that the two cultures know already to meet in Geneva as soon as the pandemic allows us to meet and international flights are resumed.
And I also had a meeting with the civil members of the civil society's small body, have kept them, of course, also informed.
But as I've said all along, but I I need to repeat it.
The constitutional Committee in itself will of course not solve the conflict.
If it is done in a proper manner, it can build confidence and it can be a door opener to a broader, wider political effort.
As I told the Council yesterday, to solve the conflict in Syria, we also need improved international cooperation.
We need to build trust and confidence also among international partners and of course, also among the Syrian partners.
And I've been arguing for since I took office that we need to do this through reciprocal measures.
I've also said that obviously the United States and Russia has a key role to play in this, and I've asked for that.
They increase their dialogue and cooperation when it comes to Syria.
They've done it before and they can do it again.
Of course, there are many other actors that also needs to be on board to be if you are to be able to find a solution to the Syrian conflict.
And this we can get into later if you want.
I've said that there have been too many episodes in the past decade where fleeting opportunities to turn dynamics towards a political path were lost.
And I emphasise that those missed moments were followed by renewed violence and harming of positions both among regional and international actors, and that we must not repeat this pattern we have now.
Some are calm, we have the common threads of COVID and Daesh, and with the Syrian people continuing to suffer.
So therefore, I continue to remind all key players that they have a common interest and a duty to build what I call a constructive Syria diplomacy and that based on this, we hopefully could move forward and start to building blocks to end the conflict in Syria.
I stop here for questions.
Thank you very much, special Envoy.
That has been really interesting and nice of you to give us this briefing.
I would like now to give a few moments to the journalists to start raising their hands for possible questions.
Bear with us, this is a little bit long in technical terms, but we have already quite a few aligned questions.
So I will start with Nick coming.
Bruce, as you may remember, Mr Petition, he is the correspondent of The New York Times in Geneva.
Nick, you have the floor.
Thank you very much and good morning to all.
There doesn't appear to have been any conspicuous movement on political issues.
And I'm just wondering, is there any point bringing Co chairs to Geneva without some action, some demonstration, some concrete move by both sides to indicate that there is really an opportunity to move forward before they come?
But I, I think you could sort of turn the arguments on its head and say that.
And that's, you know, that's what I've been saying from the very beginning.
And that is that, you know, in every conflict, there needs to be a moment where you ident that you may be in hindsight, could identify as the beginning of something new.
That may be a small thing, it could be a big thing.
The, the constitutional committee in Syria could be that, you know, we, we may define as a as a small thing.
That could be the beginning of building trust and confidence between the parties.
And then it could produce some positive spin off that would allow us to move on to what I call other avenues in Syria as well.
It would obviously also help us if we could have a sort of a broader positive environment in Syria before the two Co chairs come to and, and their teams to come to Geneva again.
But I, I, I think that would be the, the sort of what I said to put forward wrong dynamics.
So my hope is get the Co chairs, the 15 from the opposition, the 15 from the government, the 15 from the civil society, and if they come together, let's slowly, as I said, start to build confidence and trust.
After nine years of conflict, we all understand that this is not done on the night.
Like what I need from the parties is a proper commitment to be willing to do this and not to use excuses not to move forward.
So I hope that at least partly answered your question.
Next question is from Moussa Hassi.
Moussa, was that no, just one second you have to be unmuted.
Moussa Hassi yes, you are on Alessi.
Pedersen, I want to ask about the possibility to continue the political process in light of the changes in in the rank of of opposition and the declining of this position, especially the political opposition.
And my second question about the transfer of fighters from Syria to Libya.
This is continue this operations and you have some numbers about the fighters and what is really the risk of this those operations operations.
Let let me start when it comes to Syrians fighting in, in Libya, as you heard, I, I mentioned this as one of the examples that the Syrian conflict sort of remembrance all across and that this is in indeed a danger with the conflict continuing.
And that we know how serious it seems based on the report we are receiving, you know, fighting on both sides in, in, in the conflict in Libya as well.
But I, I, I, I don't, I don't have more information than that.
But I think this is indeed troubling, the deeply troubling development when it comes to the political process.
As you are aware of, my mandate in Security Council Resolution 2254 is to work with the government in Damascus and to work with the opposition as it is defined there today.
That is the SNC and the SNC has nominated them members Co chair to the Constitutional Committee and members to the Constitutional Committee and nothing that has has happened so far has had any impact on the work that we are doing within the Constitutional Committee and it is my hope that that will still continue to be the case.
Thank you very much, Sir.
The next question comes from Peter Kenny.
Yes, Peter, you are unmuted.
I'm asking this question on behalf of Anadolu News Agency.
You mentioned that there were two stumbling blocks at the moment.
The one is the Constitutional Committee and the other one is the sort of talks that could take place, say, between Russia and the United States.
Which hurdle do you see as having a greater priority for you and which hurdle do you see as as being more difficult?
You know, we, as I said, we need to work both, you know, to be a bit more precise.
We need to work internationally, of course, or, or getting more trust and confidence between the key players.
That also needs to happen regionally, but it also need obviously to happen between the parties themselves.
So all of these things needs to go together.
The stars sort of say, needs to align.
So obviously very important that the US and Russia continue to work together.
As I said, they've done it before with success.
Without the US Russia cooperation, we would never have had Security Council Resolution 2254.
And so my appeal is for them is to strengthen that cooperation and to move on and to support the the process.
Then between the government and the opposition, there is obviously also a deep, deep mistrust and lack of confidence.
My hope is that when we get constitution committed together again, we can slowly start to build that trust and confidence.
None of it will be easy because you know, as I also said, when I, when I talk to Syrians across the country, there is a, there is a huge disappointment that the process has not delivered anything tangible and it gamiled into the 9th year of the conflict.
So it, you know, it also has developed a lot of cynicism, I think on the experiences and of course also among the parties themselves.
This we need to bring and we need this to start somewhere.
And the constitutional committee could be that arena where that sort of confidence starts to build.
Thank you very much, Sir.
And I have another question from Laurent Sierra from the Swiss News Agency.
Yeah, good morning, special envoy.
We, we entered in a new era of teleconferences and and we could see in the past that sometimes physical settings could be also a problem in in the in the talks.
So could we imagine maybe an online remote resumption of the constitutional committee proceedings?
And secondly, there were a lot of concerns before the pandemics of, of by some states of, of the trials that were were planned in the Kurdish control area of, of foreign fighters directly by the the Kurdish authorities.
It seems that the pandemics also has an effect on, on postponing these proceedings.
What's what's your assessment on that the petition?
We have been discussing with the two cultures the possibilities of doing sort of online conference.
There is no, it's not impossible to find an agreement on that.
There are many questions being asked, you know, when it comes to security and other issues for how to handle it.
So as it looks today, I'm afraid it will not be possible to to do a virtual meeting of the Constitutional Committee.
But what I have said to, you know, all the different members of the the small body and my message to the Constitution Committee at large is that you all know what it takes to prepare properly for the next rounds of negotiations that should take place in Geneva.
So you know, hopefully you know the different.
In the government, the opposition and the civil society members of the constitutional committee, they will all prepare themselves so that when we meet in Geneva, we are ready to have substantial and deep discussions and not waste time.
That's my, my, my hope you you may reference, I assume to SDF on the presence of of of Taj fighters under their control.
This is obviously a file that we also follow with the great concern, but I have sort of no particular information related related to this.
I I've heard the same news that that you have heard.
Thank you very much, Mr Peterson.
I think Mussa has a follow up and then that would be our last questions.
Mussa, you have the floor.
Yes, with regard to the Constitutional committee, do the participate the the parties agree to come to Geneva when the condition will be better about COVID-19?
Yes, as soon as the pandemic situation belongs, they have agreed to come to Geneva.
And as I said, they have agreed on an agenda for the next meeting.
And, and you know, we have rather sort of discussions on this.
So I'm, I'm, I hope that when time allows and we meet in, in Geneva, that we can have a substantial and good discussion.
Thank you very much, Mr Patterson.
As I said before, you were speaking from Oslo and I would like to thank you again very much for joining the regular press briefing in Geneva.
We hope to see you soon as as you said the conditions were allowed.
Thanks again for briefing us this morning, and good luck with the rest of your work.
Thank you so much and thank you to all of you.
And as I said before, hope to see you soon again in Geneva and then to be face to face on a more regular basis.
Thanks a lot to all of you.
Thank you very much, Sir Has have a nice day and we will continue with our briefing.
I have now two small announcements from ITUF from UNDP and one from me.
And then we will go into COVID issues.
OK, let's start with the announcement from ITU.
Monica Ganer, you are here with one of your colleagues for the launch of your Measuring Digital Development ICT Price Trends 2019 report.
Monica, you have the floor.
So we have sent you the press release this morning at around 10:00 with the report itself, but also key graphics from the report.
You will also find in the invite for this press briefing the name of Martin Shopper so he is available for any interviews you may wish to conduct after this press briefing.
It's Martin Shopper at ITU dot T if you would like to contact him directly or you contact me.
So what is this report about?
The prices for mobile data, mobile voice and telecom, broadband, telecom services have gone down steadily over the past years.
Prices relative to income, which is measuring affordability, that decrease been even more dramatic.
So we can assume that services are more affordable.
However, we have not seen that people were rapidly increasing their uptake of Internet services and that suggests that there are other barriers to uptake rather than in addition to affordability.
And these barriers are lack of content in local languages, lack of content that is relevant to the context of people in which they live, digital skills are lacking or education is lacking.
So we have to work on these factors and the COVID-19 crisis has shown that Internet access is more vital than ever.
If you do not have Internet access, you'll miss out on remote learning, remote working, connecting with friends and family, and having access to vital health information to protect yourself and your loved ones.
So the call for ITU is whose mission is to connect everybody to a better world through information communication technology.
The call call is twofold 1 to regulators, telecom operators and governments to make these services even more affordable.
And the broader community, which also includes the United Nations agencies, civil society, NGOs, academia and the private sector is to create better conditions for be able to take Internet app, be able to use it, not only have actions, but be able to use it.
As I said before, my digital skills education, relevant content.
So if you have any questions about this report, you have the main trends in the press release, please don't hesitate to contact me or Martin Shopper.
Thank you very much, Monica.
Thanks for this presentation.
I'm just looking if there's any question from the journalist, but I don't see any.
So thank you very much to you and your colleague.
And as you said, he is available for further interviews.
So don't hesitate to contact Monica for that.
I am now going to the next.
And the next announcement was from UNTP.
Sarah, you have the floor you are on.
UNDP Human Development Report Office is launching a new report tomorrow at 2:00 PM Geneva time that that gives a good analysis of the COVID-19 crisis from the human development perspective.
The report is under a strict embargo till tomorrow, 8:00 AM New York time and 2:00 PM Geneva.
And I'll be happy to share it with you if you send me an e-mail after the briefing.
I can't say very much because everything is under embargo, but the headline is that we've seen many crises since the concept was created in 1990, but overall development gains since 1990 accrued globally year on year.
The report now stresses that due to COVID-19 impact on health, education, living standards, human development is on course to decline globally this year for the very first time since 1990.
As I said, I can't say much more, but I'll share the press release later today with key graphics and and let me know if you want to schedule any interviews over Alexandra.
Sarah, I have a question for you, I think for from Isabel Sacco.
Isabel, you have the floor.
I would like to know, I would like to know if this report will be presented in New York or some somewhere else tomorrow.
Actually we were more discussing to have a briefing in Geneva, but it seems that the agenda is very busy because I can use organising A briefer A briefer tomorrow as well.
Am I correct, Alessandro?
Yes, The thing is we are going to try and find a time.
But tomorrow there is, there is there are a couple of briefing from a Cano and maybe some other requests that were there before.
But we are discussing with Sarah to see if we can get the colleagues as her colleagues are in New York.
It should be in the afternoon.
So we were now looking maybe at 5 O clock, but that is Sarah who has to confirm.
But we will do our best to have it launched here from from Geneva.
And, and obviously, if I sense that there is a **** interest from the Geneva community, we'll do all what we can with the team in, in Geneva, with Alessandra and the team in New York to organise something for you.
But but it's very important for me to to get a sense that all of you have a strong interest in getting the the director for instance, of the HDR to brief you.
Yeah, that would be Isabel you you want to say something?
Yes, I would like, but I would like to be sure there is some some press conference organising from New York for New York correspondence or from any other location your location or is you don't organise anything at all, you know with any with the authors of the report or something someone else.
Well, this is exactly what we said we're trying if we do any briefer VID was really to leverage the platform in Geneva and invite the journalist in Geneva and possibly invite some other journalists.
So having like a global press conference, but in Geneva working with Eunice here in Geneva.
I hope it answers your question, but there's nothing in New York yet plan because we really want to focus in Geneva if possible.
We'll do our best to make this happen.
We will discuss again with Sarah and we will see if there's any, how we can best organise this and especially if there is interest from from the junior press corps.
Thank you very much, Sarah.
And speaking about pressure, I would like to give you a save the date as we are going to have our annual press conference with the Director General of the UN office at Geneva.
This is going to happen on Friday before the regular press briefing.
So at 9:30 on Friday, today, we will send you the invitation about, I would like to just say please save the date in your agenda.
She will speak to you at 9:30 on Friday, so Friday 22nd of May.
So now let's go back to our planning.
Oh, just one thing, because I'm receiving messages on from you on the participation of Fadella.
So Fidela has been announced.
She will join us, but she can only join us at the end of the briefing.
She will give you an update on the World Health Assembly.
She says that we'll keep you regularly informed about the WHA proceeding by e-mail.
And of course, the media team is also available to answer your questions about the assembly and other health issues.
So she will join at the end of the briefing.
And this is what she has asked me to tell you.
So now let's go into the COVID-19 related issues.
I will start with the UNHCR.
Shabia Mantu should be connected.
I can see you, Shabia, and you are here to talk to us about the indigenous refugees battle COVID-19 in Latin America.
So as you mentioned, we're talking about indigenous refugees and the ****** of COVID in Latin America.
So as the coronavirus pandemic spreads throughout Latin America, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is warning that many displaced indigenous communities are now dangerously exposed and at risk.
There are almost 5000 indigenous Venezuelans displaced in Brazil, mainly from the whiteout ethnic group but also from the Inyapa, Carina, Pemon and Ecuana communities.
With COVID-19 hitting this Amazon region hard and Brazil emerging as an epicentre of the pandemic, UNH Centre is worried that many will struggle with our adequate health and sanitation conditions.
In Colombia, a number of bi national indigenous groups, including the Way You Body, Yuka, Inga, Sukwani and Amarua live near the border with Venezuela.
While their ancestral homes struggle both countries, many have not been able to regularise their stay in Colombia and are undocumented.
Some now also face threats from irregular armed groups who control the areas where they live.
UNH is concerned that for some indigenous Venezuelans, documentation issues, most notably their irregular status and living conditions, are placing them at heightened risk.
Many live in isolated or remote areas where they lack access to health services, clean water and soap.
Others live in cramped dwellings or informal settlements with access to protective equipment.
Most of the border indigenous groups are threatened by physical and cultural extinction because of insufficient food and severe malnutrition that can increase the risk of contagion.
These areas have lacked adequate health services, which can now exacerbate the current situation.
National lockdowns have also ground to a halt many of their livelihood activities such as farming, selling produce and handicraft.
Handicraft production, Sorry, based with increasing poverty and destitution, some have no option but to pill codes on the streets to try and support their families.
Not only does it expose them to the risk of infection, but also stigmatisation and discrimination, but perceived inability to comply with lockdown and physical distancing measures.
Other protection concerns include an increased risk of recruitment of children in certain areas where armed conflict has not ceased.
Education is also a challenge as isolated and impoverished students and teachers have no means of learning remotely and pursuing virtual education through the lockdown.
Since March, UNHCR has been working with the national governments to ensure COVID-19 prevention measures and assistance reaches remote areas where these groups have found safety.
This is in addition to the work with displaced indigenous communities in both Brazil and Colombia and prevention and awareness.
As the number of suspected and confirmed cases increases and the first steps are reported among indigenous communities, UNHCR is scaling up its support funds to try and limit the spread and impact of the virus.
UNHCR is working with national authorities to increase capacities of National Health systems, new structures such as improved shelters, care and isolation facilities, as well as early warning systems that have also been put in place to respond to COVID-19 among indigenous displaced Venezuelans.
In Brazil, UNHCR is supporting national efforts to ensure adequate shelter for indigenous well refugees from Venezuela.
Currently, 1000 indigenous people benefit from sheltered food, medical and education services provided by Operasa leader.
The national government LED emergency response in Brazil.
Some 770 proud people have also been relegated to municipal shelters with better hygiene conditions in the cities of Manaus and Berlin.
In response to the Corona virus outbreak is facilitating the relocation, providing Technical Support, material assistance as well as transportation.
And this is in addition to continuing hygiene promotion sessions delivered in one hour and any other languages to indigenous refugees in those cities.
In Colombia, complementing national efforts, UNHCR partners are supporting the state in food distributions and providing hygiene kits for those most vulnerable among the Yuka and Yu populations, especially those who are living in informal settlements.
Health brigades have been organised and remote protection lines have also been activated by UNHCR and partners.
Information and hygiene promotion campaigns tailored for indigenous communities also continue.
Despite different efforts made by host countries and humanitarian organisations.
Increased support is urgently needed to continue life saving interventions for indigenous communities, other refugees and their local communities.
Ahead of an international donor conference for Venezuelan refugees and migrants in Latin America hosted by the next day, UNHCR is calling on countries to pledge support.
Alarmingly, the Regional Response plan for refugees and migrants from Venezuela is currently just 4% funded.
Thank you very much for this extensive, extensive briefing.
Shia, I have Jamil who would like to ask you a question.
My question first is I can I include double HO on this?
OK, well, then we'll leave.
She will be, She will be, but at the end of the briefing, OK, So because we have requested precisely this kind of information regarding the Amazon region, so it would be also nice to have WHO on this?
My question to show you, are you satisfied with the behaviour of the Brazilian government that basically claims that COVID is just a small flu?
Look, I can only speak to the situation of refugees, people who have placed in Brazil and we have, I mean, great coordination with the authorities.
They have they have really been working hard to ensure inclusion of refugees, including the indigenous in National Health responses.
So I mean, I can speak to that situation and we're seeing, you know, the national responses with Operation ACO leader setting up health support and care for the people who've been displaced.
I mean, generally across the region, the response to refugees and migrants has been exemplary in terms of hosting them.
But we are worried is that the pandemic is obviously a huge concern.
It's a it's a huge ******.
And given the hardship refugees faced by virtue of their displacement and by the fact that, you know, when you leave your country and you go and flee to another country, you're not a national in that country, you are particularly vulnerable.
And especially if you are, you know, indigenous groups are at heightened risk in any case.
So I mean, we are concerned about the situation for displaced people.
But in this instance, I mean, our worry here is that these people are among those that most risk, given their existing vulnerabilities and the fact that, you know, living conditions are hard in general for refugees and displaced people, but even more sort of for for this particular group of people.
And can you, sorry, and I mean maybe you can save your question because Fidel will connect later on, you can ask her in relation to what Javier just said.
I have a question from Paula Chipraz.
I'd like to know if you have any details about the situation for indigenous people in Peru and not only the Amazon indigenous people, but in the mountains.
There's now been over the last few weeks reverse migration, people leaving the cities on the coast to return to their communities and the communities actually don't want them to come back because they're afraid of the infection to to COVID.
So I was wondering if you may have any, any news on that?
And also if you're, if you're present in this reverse migration move in Peru.
Fabia, thank you, Paula for your question.
Look, the information we have is about, I mean, again, it's sort of about the refugees that are in different countries across Latin America.
And so for the information we have about the indigenous refugees, these are refugees who fled Venezuela and we're aware, you know, the significant numbers in Colombia and Brazil, the numbers in Peru of indigenous Venezuelans.
I don't have, I can follow up, I can try and see if we have information on that.
Generally, I mean, I can't speak to indigenous Peruvians, but the indigenous refugees in Peru, we can certainly see if we have information.
The thing is also and maybe WHO in general, but also data collection on, on groups, it's not always desegregated in many countries.
So, but the information that we had, you know.
From Colombia and Brazil points to the fact that we are seeing based on the reports that we have Internet as refugees, they're being affected.
But we can certainly try and follow up your other question for that.
Thank you very much, Lisa.
Yeah, hi, good morning to everybody.
You say that you have 4% of the regional response plan funded.
How much is actually the response plan?
The, the, the amount for which you're appealing.
And also, you may not be able to answer this question, but I hope maybe you have some observations you since you're dealing with indigenous refugees, But in Brazil itself, the indigenous, indigenous people are suffering greatly in the Amazon and they're exposed to COVID-19 because of the exploitation in the region.
Do you have any observations on them, the kind of help that they are getting?
Thanks, Lisa, for your question.
Maybe just start with your your second question first.
I mean, look, as I mentioned, we we're, you know, with our mandate, obviously we're we're concerned and dealing with, with refugees coming across the border and taking shelter.
But so in the context of COVID, I understand UNH in Brazil is supporting some indigenous groups in the city of Pagorama that are also hosting families that violence in Venezuela and he's the Piman indigenous families.
So I mean, there's support being provided to local indigenous communities that are also looking after displaced communities as well.
So we're working with the national authorities to support, you know, to help increase the National Health responses where possible.
And we've donated some refugee housing units to Brazil's National Foundation for Indigenous to support Brazilian ethnic groups in Roraima, which, you know, these housing units can help create spaces for isolation and care of Brazilian indigenous communities of some people in those communities.
And so I mean, but we're, we're generally talking about our work in the country is obviously in response to movements of refugees coming from from Venezuela and elsewhere.
But to your first question about the response plan, so humanitarian organisations revised the regional refugee and migrant response plan.
It was launched in November last year and it was a $1.35 billion W dollar plan, but it actually was updated and we issued a press release with Iowa on that I think last week to take into account the new emergency brought on by coronavirus and the increasing humanitarian needs.
That response plan is now US $1.41 billion and around 1/3 of this is now for COVID specific activities.
Thank you very much, Shabia, for this answer.
I'd like to thank you for the briefing.
I don't see any more requests for the floor and I'll go to Elizabeth Beers.
Elizabeth, you are on to talk to us about the impact of COVID-19 on food security in Southern Africa.
Yes, good morning everyone.
We had a kind of over overview, regional overview the past week, East Africa, West Africa, Middle East and North Africa region.
Now I would like to give you an overview on Southern Africa and of course if you have you are interested in particular country, I will come back to you bilaterally with more detail.
This is just an overview.
With COVID-19 set to significantly aggravate already widespread food insecurity across Southern Africa, WFP is ramping up operation to try to ensure the needs of the most at risk can be made.
WFP analysis indicates that some 42 million people could need food assistance this year, this year in the 12,000 African countries where it operates.
So I quote Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Istwatini, les Auto, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe 26,000,000 in rural areas already food insecure due to drought, flooding, conflict, economic crisis and 16 millions of people are already impacted by COVID-19 as well as assistance to the traditionally vulnerable, among them refugee IDP's farmer.
The scale up include introduction of a large scale support for millions of now destitute people in cities and towns while the imminent of it should ease anger in rural areas.
Lockdowns and other restriction may impede the access of small older farmers to market.
Government also are already struggling to respond to growing food assistance needs and we expect the peak of the panic in Southern Africa until July, September.
WFP also helps to strengthen and expand national social protection system.
This is key to WFP response.
We have initiated a cash transfer programmes for poor people in urban areas in several countries, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Malawi, Republic of Congo, Lesotho and Eswatini and we also provide take home ration for the 2.8 million children who are missing school because of COVID.
WFP is establishing a regional staging centre in Johannesburg, South Africa for Ed cargo and personnel.
Most of the countries in the region are heavily dependent on food imports.
Finally, I will finish with the funding.
WFP unmet funding requirements for the region through October, including anticipated additional food assistance needs generated by the virus are $790 million.
The shortfall for the three biggest operation Zimbabwe, DRC and Mozambique total 690 million.
Confirmation of $430 million in anticipated donation is urgently required to underwrite the cost of prepositioning 3 months of assistance in the region.
I will stop here with figures and you have more figures and details in the notes for the briefing.
I have a question from Peter Kenny.
But before there is a message from Jamil who is advocating for you to continue this sort of tour of the world of the situation with also Latin America in the near future, if you can.
I think that's that's well noted.
Elizabeth is nodding and I keep yeah, we are we are expecting more information on Latin America and also analysis of the number of people that might fall into anger because of the of the COVID crisis, of course.
So I think Jamie this well heard your answer.
So Peter, you have the floor and Jamie keeps his end up for WHO later on.
Peter, you have a question for Elizabeth.
Yeah, the question relates to two parts actually.
The first part is you are talking about the establishment of this air link in Johannesburg and I think we've been talking about it for some time now.
Likely to be established and what is the hold up at the moment?
And the second question is?
The aid and assistance that you need to give to Mozambique and Zimbabwe, is this still part of the overhang from Hurricane Idai?
I will start with the the question on, on the other so far WFP has established a staging area in Johannesburg and we have a hub there, a regional hub.
You know that in the in the network, in the WFP network system, logistics system, you have global humanitarian response hubs in China, in Belgium, Dubai, where we we take supplies and then we send them to regional hubs and the regional hubs where you have one in South Africa.
I have no information yet about passenger, humanitarian workers, passenger flights so far, but the staging area is functioning and delivering and moving cargo and humanitarian post personnel into specific countries such as Tanzania for instance.
So I will, I have been asking For more information about the passenger, the passenger flights so far and I will come back to you on this.
But I can tell you that the staging area and the cargo, cargo freight is moving from South Africa.
The, the question on Mozambique and Zimbabwe, I will come back to you about the cyclone because what I have are global figures and it doesn't mention the, the, the, the cyclone.
I can tell you that in Zimbabwe, there are 38 millions, $38 million for the for the COVID-19 plans that we need for additional 200 and 1000 people in urban areas receiving cash transfer, bringing the total to 300,000 people receiving assistance in Zimbabwe.
You can see that in fact, the additional number of people falling into anger are located in urban areas and cities.
This is the why WFP is concerned, but I will send you more details on those two countries bilaterally.
Thank you very much, Elizabeth.
Thanks for this briefing.
Now I will go to the next speaker, who's John Rodriguez.
You are briefing us on the transport sector in the post COVID time.
Go ahead everyone, do you hear me?
So we're presenting today the findings of a new study titled The Jobs in Green and Healthy Transports, Making the Green Shift, which shows that investment in transforming the transport sector could create millions of new jobs and help countries move to greener and healthier economies.
We have sent you the study under embargo last Friday.
And this study is Co published by UNEC and ILO with the support of the Partnership on Jobs in Green and Healthy Transport of the Transport, Health and Environment Pan European programme, the PEP, which brings together UNECILOWHO and UNIT.
Let me clarify that the study has been done and finished before the pandemic.
So in the study you will not find any development about how the the current situation in the economy would affect the the job the job creation.
However, when looking at the situation today, obviously, as the SG and other UN officials have repeatedly stressed, the recovery from the pandemic cannot be a return at to business as usual and it must be an opportunity to push the advancement of the sustainable development agenda.
As the the study shows that structural transformation of the transport sector will be needed if environmentally sustainable green economies are to become a reality.
The study examines the employment implications of four green transport scenarios in the 56 countries of the UNECE located, as you know, in North America, Europe, the Caucasus in Central Asia.
The study compares a business as usual approach with scenario based projections that run up until 2013.
These options envisage an accelerated expansion of public transport on the one hand, and the electrification of private passenger and freight transport on the other hand.
And the study finds that 10 million additional jobs could be created worldwide.
Of those, 2.9 million in the UNEC region if 50% of all vehicles manufactured were electric.
In addition, almost 5 million new jobs could be created worldwide, out of which 2.5 million in the UNEC region if the UNEC countries doubled investment in public transport.
Beyond the transport sector, job creation would be supported by increased spending on goods and services resulting from a reduction in spending on oil and measures related to the production and use of energy.
Of course, the electrification of private passenger and freight transport would be would also create jobs, particularly if the electricity came from a renewable sources.
The shift to greener transport systems would produce a variety of other beneficial effects such as reduced greenhouse gas emissions, reduced air and noise pollution, reduced traffic congestions, which could also lead to fewer Rd accidents.
When commenting on the findings of the report, UNEC Executive Secretary Olga Algayerova stated the inland transport sector is key in the economies of our region, both regarding its share of GDP and employment.
This study highlights some of the key opportunities to transform the sector and make it greener, healthier and more sustainable.
The report also is a call for governments and the sector itself to make the right choices and invest massively in public transport and green technologies to size these opportunities.
Economies will mean some job redistribution, but the report estimates that this there would be a net gain in employment.
The The team leader at ILO, who was who was supervising the production of the study, also commented.
Her name is Catherine Saget.
Pursuing the goal of an environmentally sustainable and inclusive society requires A structural transformation of the economy, including both changes in the products and services on offer and production processes.
The structural transformation, which could include the transport sector, has the potential to create decent work and protect workers and their families if it is accompanied by suitable policies.
To make the most of the employment opportunities associated with greening the transport sector, the the reports recommends the implementation of a comprehensive range of policies.
This would include skill development, social protection, labour market policies and the promotion of social dialogue and fundamental rights at work.
We will distribute the the the text of the accompanying press release in English and French just to now.
And you will find in there some background also on the size of the transport sector, both in GDP, employment and other data in the region, mostly in the in North America, the EU and other countries in Europe.
Thank you, Merci beaucoup Jean merci beaulare not yeppa de question.
Merci don't post everything.
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Fadela, Omidi, Omidi, Kitchener, Tunepa and Trend.
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What could you connect the escort you properly?
By equity should be Donila Pahole, Prussian speaker and Nathan Don, the residue, the problematic Fidela that can pull up Le de no colleague per telephone and not Prussian speaker.
So thanks very much, Alessandra.
Today we're briefing on Tropical Cyclone Umphan.
It's pronounced Umphan, which grew very rapidly over the weekend in the in the Bay of Bengal and poses a serious ****** to parts of when W Bengal in India and parts of Bangladesh.
It's currently classed as a super cyclonic storm.
This is the top level category in that part of the world, the equivalent of a strong category 4, weak category 5 on the Sapphire Simpson scale.
It's expected to weaken a little bit and before it makes landfall tomorrow as an extremely severe cyclonic storm, it'll be the strong a strong category three equivalent bringing dangerous winds, in particular storm surge.
That's the big ****** that we're worried about and flooding to coastal areas of of West Bengal and and Bangladesh.
Just to say, you know, quite often you know, we measure tropical cyclones in terms of wind speed, but quite often, you know the biggest ****** comes from the water.
The Indian Metrological Department in New Delhi, which acts as WM OS Regional Specialised Metrological Centre, is warning of a storm surge of in the worst affected areas in in in West Bengal of four to five metres above the astronomical tide level and of about 2.5 to 3.5 metres in in Bangladesh.
When you're talking about low lying coastal areas, some of which are densely populated, you know, this is, this is, this is huge, this is a huge storm surge.
The Indian Meteorological Department is forecasting that OMPAN will make landfall with maximum sustained wind speed of about 155 to 165 kilometres an hour.
And we'll cross make landfall, so between 9:00 and 12:00 GMT tomorrow between a place called Diga.
And in Bangladesh, it's the Hati Islands, which is close to the Sunderbunds.
Tomorrow, the tropical cyclone season in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea has two peaks.
So around May, in other words, now and around around November.
And this is a basin which has seen particularly large casualties with the, you know, with devastating human impacts in the past.
Luckily, there have been major, major advances in disaster management, saving lives.
And my colleague Dennis McLean, We'll, we'll tell you more about that.
Thank you very much, Claire indeed.
In the meantime, I can tell you that Fidel is changing computer so that she can talk to you in, in a few minutes.
So Dennis, you have the floor now, Dennis.
All right, today is not working.
Recalling that 50 years ago, according to official government figures, about 1,000,000 people lost their lives in Cyclone Bola November 1970 and since then there has been a huge drop in fatalities from cyclones in the Bay of Bengal.
Last major loss of life was in Odisha in 1999 when 10,000 people died.
Both India and Bangladesh since then have pursued A0 casualty policy and preparations have been made for what is probably a record number of evacuations on this occasion.
Estimated that about 3 million people are being moved to save shelter in advance of the arrival of Cyclone Umpan tomorrow evening in the border area between India and Bangladesh.
1,000,000 people are being evacuated in India and Bangladesh is estimated to be moving about 2 million people, the same number of people that they moved last November in advance of Cyclone Bulbul which hit exactly the same area in Bangladesh which is likely to be hit again tomorrow.
Our key concern is to identify additional buildings suitable for short term evacuations to reduce overcrowding, to maintain as much social distance as possible to avoid other infections of COVID-19.
In Bangladesh, the number of shelters has been doubled to 12,000.
People will be required to wear masks and are also advised to wear gloves.
The 34 Rohingya camps near Cox's Bazaar, with about 900,000 people, are of particular concern.
They are safe from the tidal surge to Claire mentioned, but they could be readily impacted by landslides and flash floods, depending on how heavy the rains are over Alexandra.
Thank you very much, Dennis.
And on this particular issue of Cox's Bazaar, I think Paul has something to add Paul Dylan for IOM and then we will go back to So WHO?
Paul, you have the floor you're on.
We can see you and hear you.
Just to follow up on this, two days after the first cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in the Rohingya settlements causes bizarre Bangladesh, approximately 1.2 million refugees and host community members now face a ****** of Cyclone Oompun, a super cyclonic storm with maximum sustained winds of 260 kilometres per hour.
Cross the Bangladeshi coastline sometime tomorrow.
A quote from our deputy chief Commission in Cox's Bazaar.
We're extremely concerned about the Jew humanitarian crisis in the district if a cyclone hits while we are trying to contain the COVID-19 outbreak, said Manuel Piera.
Communities are already vulnerable to the devastating health crisis, and we know that if people are forced to seek communal shelter, they'll be unable to maintain physical distancing and run the risk of contracting or transmitting the disease.
Now IOM teams are using what they learned responding to like the cyclone Bulbul in November 2019 to prepare for the new cyclones.
Training, first response warning mechanisms, response activities, distributing and pre positioning supplies, renovating community cyclone shelters, pardon me, pardon me, reinforcing critical infrastructure, repairing drainage systems, enhancing individual shelter durability and of course, raising awareness throughout the community.
A quick update on the COVID-19 response in Cox's Bazaar at this time.
According to government officials, as of yesterday, May 18, five cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the refugee population in Cox's Bazaar.
Based on hundred 140 tests, there have been 23,870 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 349 confirmed COVID-19 related deaths in Bangladesh.
According to the government statistics.
Iowan staff are now engaged obviously in a multi faceted response to contain the spread of COVID-19, coordinating a comprehensive cyclone preparedness effort, alerting the community, reinforcing infrastructure and pre positioning those emergency materials before the cyclone makes landfall.
As detailed earlier, the press release I circulated a little bit earlier has further details about IO, Ms response to COVID-19 and Cox's Bazaar, and I'm happy to take your questions.
Thank you very much, Paul.
Thanks also to the Claire and Dennis for their briefing.
I don't see any request for questions.
Again, Claire, stay with us because I think you have another item later on.
And Fidela, I can see you.
Hopefully we can hear you too.
If you can, Fidela can be unmuted.
Yes, thank you very much.
Sorry for all this technical problems.
Just a few information about the Word Health Assembly today.
It will in in less than 15 minutes with we will continue with the member state statements and then we will go directly to the discussion and adoption of the COVID response resolution that all that is available in six languages on the website and they send it already.
Then we will have the invited speakers as of as like yesterday, we will have a number of VIPs to talk to you, some 5 to 6 heads of states.
We'll join the closing of the word head assembly and then we will have a speech by Doctor Tedros.
And in the afternoon we will send you the details.
Later on a press conference about the word head assembly and a closing press conference with Doctor Tedros.
I don't know exactly at what time, so the the word that assembly will start at noon.
We hope it will finish by by three with statement by member States, discussion and adoption of the resolution.
COVID-19 resolution speech video statement by some invited guests, closing speech by Doctor Tedros and in the evening press conference by Doctor Tedros over very intense programme.
OK, so Jamil has been waiting for you, Fidela, to ask you a question.
I guess he was on Latin America, he said before.
Jamil, you have the floor.
We heard today from your colleagues from UNHCR about the situation of the indigenous refugees and.
Peoples in Latin America, my question to you, which I have asked WHO a number of times, what is your evaluation about COVID in the Amazon region and the response given especially by the Brazilian government?
Thank you, Fadela Jamil, I hope you received the invitation to a virtual press conference by our office in Washington.
It's for today around 5:00 and you may be I invite you to to link in and ask the regional directors for the Americas this question.
But I am happy also to pursue and try to find an answer from our office in Washington.
Christian has also been waiting.
Fadela, has The Who received the letter from the US President?
And what is the reaction of Doctor Tedros?
Is he going to talk about that today?
Is he going to reply to that?
Yeah, I saw the letter and for now I don't have any reaction.
So we are very busy trying to finalise our agenda for the word head assembly and I am sure in the course of the of the day we will have more clarity and reaction to this letter.
But for now, the focus is really to to continue our word head assembly and close it in the best condition possible.
And if there are exactly the other questions from other correspondent, please don't ask him now because she has answered what she could answer.
Hi, nice to hear from you.
And so my question here is about the speech that was delivered yesterday by President Xi and he announced several measures and proposals.
And what do you think about his speech and which part of that impressed you most?
And what do you think about China's contribution in the world and in this pandemic?
Fadela, I think we we heard more than 100 statement from Member States.
So I would not comment on each and everyone.
So yesterday until midnight over it, it went beyond midnight, 100 of or more than 100 of member states were talking about COVID, their action nationally, what they think is the response.
So I will not make comment for only one country, the word have.
Assembly is really the place where it's a forum for member states to express their views.
We heard the Chinese President and I will not make further comment on that.
Next question is from Jamie.
I will go back over the other question that Christiana actually asked, but I wanted to know if you could give us a little bit of an idea of who these heads of state, Heads of Government are going to be this afternoon because it will help us plan and.
About exactly what time will will that be?
You know, the, the word assembly will start at noon.
They hope to finish the business of the member state statement plus the COVID resolution by two.
And at 2:00 we will hear from the some of these heads of state.
You know, frankly speaking, I don't have a final list, but I was told four or five will be speaking in via video statements.
So I will make sure that before 2, I will do my best like I did yesterday to give you the list before they they start speaking.
I was told, yeah, 4 to 5 heads of states.
They will speak around 2.
All right, So we hold our curiosity, our impatience and I will give the floor to Nina.
So I was just on the same line.
I was just wondering if you could say if President Trump has been invited to speak like Macron and Merkel were invited yesterday and others.
And also are you expecting to be able to give us provide us with Ted Doctor Tetris's statement in advance?
That would be very helpful.
Thank you Fidela, I saw his speech writer trying to finalise the speech.
I am not sure you will get it in advance.
Sorry for the invitation.
Yeah, abroad cross section of leaders from around the world have been invited to speak during the **** level welcome and potentially at other point during the assembly.
Not every leader who was invited accepted or was available to speak.
So we invited really a lot of heads of States and Heads of Government.
Some said yes, some were not available.
Every heads of states is welcome to address the word of assembly.
Thank you very much, Fidela.
So I don't have any other request for the floor, which is timely because you are going to start in 10 minutes if I understand that.
Thank you very much for taking the time to be at the briefing with us today.
And I go to Claire for the last briefing of the day.
Claire, you had a, an issue on the greater Horn of Africa climate outlook that, that that's right.
And just briefly, because it is in the in the briefing notes, we've all seen the images of the the bad flooding in in East Africa, which is compounding the problem of desert locusts and not obviously helped by by the ongoing COVID pandemic.
Well, yesterday the Greater Horn of Africa Climate Outlook Outlook forum met.
This is a very long established body of of climatologists from the region, weather forecasters and who meet together with the user communities, agricultural sectors, health sectors, etcetera, twice a year to issue forecasts for the forthcoming rainy season.
June to September is an important season for for parts of the region, not everywhere, but namely for Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Uganda.
And the forecast is sort of a continuation of what we've already seen.
So a wetter than usual season is forecasted for western and central Sudan, southwestern Ethiopia, southeastern South Sudan, western Kenya, eastern and central Uganda.
What will happen now is that the climate experts will take this forecast, they'll downsize it, downscale it, and they will issue sort of policy recommended recommendations to decision makers and governments on, you know, what to do to mitigate the risks of, of of flooding.
Claire, I don't see any question for you.
This concludes our briefing today.
As I said, we will try to inform you as quickly as possible about the UNDP launch and again save the date for Friday morning at 9:30 for the press conference of the Director General.
Thank you very much to you all.
Bon appetit and talk to you on Friday.
