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UN Geneva briefing - 30 January 2024

1:16:38

MP4

4.8 GB

30-01-2024

Press Conferences | OCHA , OHCHR , UNHCR , WHO , WMO

UN Geneva briefing - 30 January 2024

ENG ESP FRA العربية

UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING

30 January 2024

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid briefing, which was attended by spokespersons and representatives of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, and the World Meteorological Organization.

Progress update on eliminating industrially produced trans fat

Dr. Francesco Branca, Director of the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety at the World Health Organization (WHO), explained that trans fat was produced industrially by the partial hydrogenation of any liquid oils which made them hard. Invented several decades earlier, those fats were known to be harmful and could lead to cardiovascular diseases. The good news was that only five year earlier, only six percent of people in the world had been protected through national policies on trans fats; today, as many as 46 percent of people in the world, across 53 countries, were covered. This way, an estimated 183,000 lives were being saved every year. Five countries had been awarded a WHO certificate for eliminating industrial trans fats from their food supply chains: Denmark, Lithuania, Poland, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand. Dr. Branca said that Cargill, one of the big manufacturers, had committed to eliminating trans fats from their production process. On the other side, the job was far from being finished, warned Dr. Branca. It was hoped that within next five years, at least 90 percent of the global population would be covered by policies on the elimination of industrially produced trans fat.

Responding to questions, Dr. Branca said that a report on this subject was being published shortly. The important news was to acknowledge the five countries which were leading the way, while the newly published data was encouraging and showing consistent progress towards eliminating trans fat. More information from the WHO on trans fat is available here.

Situation in Gaza

On questions related to the situation in the Gaza Strip, Dr. Francesco Branca, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that a recent evaluation showed that close to 90 percent of the population were in a very precarious situation regarding food safety. The situation with food and water was very dire, reminded Christian Lindmeier, also for the World Health Organization; access to clean drinking water was affected by the desalination problems. The malnourished population was very prone to catching diseases, he warned, which came on the top of constant shelling. Mr. Lindmeier reminded that Dr. Tedros had already appealed to donors not to suspend the funding to UNRWA at this critical moment, which would only hurt the people of Gaza who now desperately needed this vital support.

Close to half of the people in Gaza were a refugee population for whom UNRWA had the primary responsibility, said Mr. Lindmeier. Before the war, UNRWA had run 22 health centers; only six were currently functioning. By 14 January, close to one million people were living in UNRWA shelters, almost half of the entire population of the Gaza Strip. Mr. Lindmeier emphasized that UNRWA provided vital services. He said that 70 percent of the almost 27,000 killed people in Gaza were women and children; the deliberate shelling of the civilians continued, which was acknowledged even by some of the closest allies of Israel. As important as the discussions were on the alleged participation of several UNRWA employees in the 7 October attacks, those discussions were also a distraction from the extremely dire conditions for the civilians in the enclave. Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), said that while the Secretary-General was horrified by the allegations against some UNRWA employees, he emphasized the need that the funding for UNRWA be continued at this critical point. Answering questions on what the humanitarian community would do, should UNWRA stop working for lack of funds, Ms. Vellucci said that the stopping had not happened yet, and the Secretary-General was working hard to solve the issue. Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), reiterated that UNRWA’s work was critical for humanitarian operations in Gaza.

Mr. Lindmeier, for the WHO, responding to other questions, said that scaling up of aid deliveries was possible; this was not a question for UN agencies, but for the Israeli forces as the occupying power. Why cut off an already existing lifeline, wondered Mr. Lindmeier. The situation around the Al Nasr hospital was getting worse, he said; it was a very important medical centre remaining in the south, which was under siege. The previous day, three missions to Al Nasr had been planned; only one convoy had been allowed through. Such denials and delays by the Israeli forces impeded the work of medical establishments.

Catherine Huissoud, for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), informed that on 31 January, UNCTAD would release a rapid assessment of the social and economic deterioration in Gaza since the beginning of the military operation after 7 October 2023. The new report quantified GDP loss, recovery timelines, and described enduring effects on poverty and household expenditure; it painted a daunting picture of the development challenges ahead. Utilizing innovative satellite imagery and official data, UNCTAD estimated the current level of contraction of the economy.

Myanmar three years after the coup

Jeremy Laurence, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), read a statement by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, ahead of the third anniversary of the military coup in Myanmar. Three years after the coup, Myanmar’s ever deteriorating human rights crisis was now in freefall, with insufficient world attention paid to the misery and pain of its people. Since the end of October 2023, the situation had deteriorated even further. Pitched battles between the military and armed opposition groups had resulted in mass displacement and civilian casualties. Sources had verified that over 554 people had died since October. Overall for 2023, the number of civilians reportedly killed by the military had risen to over 1,600. As of 26 January, credible sources had documented the arrest of nearly 26,000 people on political grounds, of whom 19,973 remained in detention.

Rakhine State had been particularly hard hit since fighting restarted there in November. Many communities, especially the Rohingya, had already been suffering from the impacts of Cyclone Mocha and the military’s months-long limitation of humanitarian access and provision of assistance. There had now been several reports of Rohingya deaths and injuries amid the military’s shelling of Rohingya villages. OHCHR stressed that parties to armed conflicts had to take constant care to spare the civilians and civilian objects, in the conduct of military operations, which includes taking feasible measures to protect the civilian population under their control against the effects of attack. “This crisis will only be resolved by insisting on accountability for the military’s leadership, the release of political prisoners and the restoration of civilian rule,” High Commissioner Türk said, urging all Member States to take appropriate measures to address this crisis. The full statement is available here.

Replying to questions from the media, James Rodehaver, head of the Myanmar Team at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), speaking from Bangkok, said that the fighting, while significantly subsided following a China-brokered ceasefire, had continued with military attacks against the three armed groups in the so-called “Brotherhood Alliance.” Those armed groups were now very much in control of the areas they had captured; OHCHR was keen to see what kind of impact that had on the governance of those areas and how the civilian population was being cared for. Mr. Rodehaver said that the situation in the Rakhine State was dire, where both parties – the Myanmar Military and the Arakan Army – were establishing themselves in and around Rohingya villages, using schools and mosques for artillery attacks and mortar fire. Mr. Rodehaver stressed the importance of collecting comprehensive, detailed information for the sake of future accountability. It was very hard to get reliable data on weapons transfers, but some foreign assistance still seemed to be getting through to the Myanmar Military, including jet fuel and maintenance services. Organized crime and trafficking networks were still very active in the country. Many of the crossing points with neighbouring countries were now under the control of ethnic armed groups rather than the Myanmar Miliary. Rohingya had very limited options, which was why many amongst them opted for unseaworthy vessels. Mr. Rodehaver explained that almost all funding for his team came from extrabudgetary sources, and the fundraising was a labour-intensive process.

Shabia Mantoo, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), answering a question, said that there were still around one million Rohingya refugees hosted by Bangladesh. Continued support for them was or paramount importance. UNHCR was present and providing assistance in both Bangladesh and Myanmar.

OHCHR appeals for USD 500 million in extrabudgetary funding for 2024

Jeremy Laurence, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), informed that UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk today appealed for a significant increase in annual voluntary funding for his Office this year, warning it was still drastically short of funds needed to more effectively advance human rights globally.

In 2023, he reminded, the top five contributors of voluntary funds had been the European Union, the United States of America, Sweden, Germany, and Norway. More information is available here.

Record temperature in Europe

Clare Nullis, for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said that the WMO had officially confirmed the record temperature for continental Europe: 48.8 degrees Celsius, recorded in Sicily, Italy in August 2021. The procedures to confirm such records were painstaking and time-consuming, she explained. More details are available here. It was possible that a new global temperature record would be witnessed this year, she said.

Ms. Nullis also informed that the WMO had appointed Ko Barrett as Deputy Secretary-General and Thomas Asare as Assistant Secretary-General.

Announcements

Christian Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO), reminded that an embargoed press conference ahead of the World Cancer Day would be held at 2 pm today.

At 3 pm today, a press conference would be held ahead of the Tenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which would take place in Panama City from 5 to 10 February.

Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service, informed that the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, was reviewing today the report of Niger.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child would hold on 1 February a meeting with State parties before closing its 95^th session on 2 February.

The World Interfaith Harmony Week would be marked from 1 to 7 February, informed Ms. Vellucci.

***

The webcast for this briefing is available here: https://bit.ly/unog30012024

The audio for this briefing is available here: https://bit.ly/UNOG30012024

Teleprompter

[Other language spoken]

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

Today is Tuesday, 30th of January.

We have quite a few briefing points and I like to start immediately with our guest from the World Health Organisation, Christmas.

Christine has brought with us to us that the Director of the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety, Doctor Francesco Branca.

Welcome Francesco.

And I'll give you the floor immediately for a progress updates on the elimination of industrially produced trans fats.

Thank you very much, Alessandra, and good morning to all.

And today for a change, I'm coming with some good news.

So we're we're we're talking about industrial trans fats.

Trans fats are a particular category of fats which is other naturally present in food, particularly in dairy food.

It comes from ruminants or and that's the largest amount we have in our food systems or we used to have in our food system, which is produced by bubbling hydrogen in liquid oils to make them hard.

So they were invented, you know, a few decades ago, you know, what we had on our tables as margarine.

But then there's been a demonstration that this fats, even more than the saturated fat and butter, are responsible for heart disease.

And we have estimated at about 250,000 deaths have been connected to the consumption of trans fat in the past.

The ritual recommends not to consume trans fat or to consume less than 1% of total energy, acknowledging that some of it will come from dairy products, for example.

Now the good news is that while five years ago very few people in the world are protected from this harmful compound, about 6% of people in the world in five years after a very energetic programme to persuade countries to adopt policies to ban this compound from the food system.

Now we have 46% of the world covered, which is 3.7 billion people.

53 countries have adopted The Who best practise policies.

That means that we've been able to save about 183,000 lives every year.

So that that's the good achievement.

The reason why we're convening this press conference today is because yesterday WHO awarded 5 countries the 1st certificate to document elimination of transfer.

So basically, they have established policies, but they also have established monitoring and enforcing mechanisms that actually certify the fact that transfer have been eliminated from the food supply.

And these countries are Denmark, Lithuania, Poland, Saudi Arabia and Thailand.

So different parts of the world, different food systems, some of them own producers, some of them food importers.

And I must say that has been also a good collaboration with the private sector, particularly the largest food manufacturers committed also to WHO to eliminate trans fat, industrial trans fat from their food supply, from their supply chains.

We have been able to monitor this commitment and we have been able largely to say that it's not 100%, but you know, largely implemented.

We also have received a commitment by one of the big manufacturers of fat and oils, which is Cargill, that they would also eliminate this compound from their products by the the end of the year.

But then what about the rest of the world?

There is still half of the world to be covered in some cases because still the problem is there, but also because we would not like to see that countries that do not have regulations in place basically receive products, you know, end of the stocks or, or, or, or products which are cheaper because there's not been an update in the technology.

And so the poorer countries would again get poorer products.

[Other language spoken]

So we definitely want to have, you know, in the next 5 years another additional effort to at least have 90% of the burden of disease eliminated.

And you know, it's sufficient to focus on a few countries with the the highest burden.

We do work with partners and particularly with Resolve to Save Life, which is a non profit organisation that has been, I'm very active in working with WHO on on on this agenda.

So I'll stop here.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much Francisco for this.

We need good news and the work, as you said, continues.

So I'll open the floor to questions now in the room if any I don't.

Yes, Christian.

Christian Eric is our correspondent of the German news agency The PA.

[Other language spoken]

I haven't quite understood what the news is today, other than that you handed out certificates yesterday to five countries, so maybe you can.

Is there a report out today or are there new figures out?

Is it something that is new today?

[Other language spoken]

Yes, indeed there is a report.

I'm not going to be able to share the report with you today.

It's actually being published.

So the news is that we have actually analysed as we do every year the data.

And so today we're able to say this is the number, this is the latest number.

At the same time, we wanted to acknowledge the fact that some specific countries have been leading and not only doing this good job for themselves, but inspiring other countries in the region in the world.

If example of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia imports the largest amount of their food.

So by having this strict legislation, they're able to stop food at their customs and they are influencing regionally the country.

So we wanted to acknowledge it.

So I think the first news is, yes, we've we've analysed the data and I'm going to be able to share the report with you in in the next few weeks.

We already have actually data published on our website.

So if you're interested to have some details about countries and numbers, we can do that.

And, and of course, the other, a second piece of news is this recognition of the countries.

[Other language spoken]

The.

Wait, that's not.

[Other language spoken]

The the the severity, the risk the the famine Suki ship.

Yeah, thank you most it's just a few general points.

As you know, the the situation in general is very dire in in Gaza.

And of course, the hunger and and where the food and water situation is extremely bad food has been cut off.

Regular food supply has been cut off Gaza since more than 100 days.

The water supply, the fresh water supply has been cut off.

Water is salinated or mixed with with wastewater.

Now the the pumping stations part partially are not working because of lack of fuel.

So all basic supplies have been cut off since more than three months now The population is really at the at the border of famine as was discussed multiple times already.

And it's definitely not getting better.

[Other language spoken]

We had a convoy just this morning trying to reach NASA hospital with with patients, healthcare staff, everybody there needing food but the the very needy population already before basically took the the supplies as we can call it.

This was a self distribution of supplies which only shows how dire the needs are.

And on top of it, malnourished and population is very prone to catching diseases, catching infections in a situation where they're crammed together, where housing is scarce, where shelter is is bad and needed, and where infections and rashes and diseases just can spread like wildfire.

And that's on top of the bombing and the shelling and the collapsing buildings.

Any other question to Francesco?

I see Lisa Schlein, Voice of America.

[Other language spoken]

This is not on Transfab.

I that was yesterday stuff actually I don't know whether it's appropriate to talk about more about Gaza.

I'm interested in following up on the question that was asked and on Christian's reply.

Just one second, sorry.

How do you, how do you want to deal with this?

OK, so since I don't see other questions on the issue of the transfers, maybe we go unless there's other.

It was at the hand, Jamie.

[Other language spoken]

OK, so let's keep let's Francisco, if you want to stay here, no problem.

But I'll now turn to Christian.

If you have other question on the health situation in Gaza, please raise your hand and I'll give the floor again to Lisa first as she was talking.

Yeah, Lisa, sorry, because of the discussion on the floor here, can I ask you to repeat, please?

[Other language spoken]

I didn't actually ask a question so, but I but I will now, yeah, regarding the the situation that's occurring in Gaza and you're talking about the dire situation.

And now I heard a, an interview with Mark Rego, who is Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesperson and this morning, and he said in regard to the possibility, which seems more likely, that Unruh, well it's been suspended and that it won't be able to carry out it's work.

He was asked whether food and water, all of the things that are necessary, would be able to go over into Gaza.

He essentially said yes, they had now 2 border crossings and that they would take care of food and everything else going in and not going to inject my own view of the situation, but I would like to ask you the question finally, if indeed ANRE is no longer able to do the work that it has been doing because of money which is no longer going to it, what will happen?

Will the humanitarian work supplies that your organisation and others want to get into Gaza be able to actually go from through the border crossings into the territory and if not, the consequences of that?

[Other language spoken]

Christian, maybe you want to answer this.

[Other language spoken]

I don't know if Ian wants to say something on the general picture of the situation.

Maybe I'll start with Christian.

[Other language spoken]

Very difficult situation for the people in Gaza indeed.

But I cannot speak for UNRWA, that's clear.

[Other language spoken]

Doctor Tedros has said that we appeal to donors not to suspend their funding to UNRWA at this very critical moment.

Cutting off funding will only hurt the people of Gaza who desperately need support and maybe just a few figures in order to to put this into context, UNRWA provides vital support to the population of Gaza, including in the health sector, as you may know.

And just to put that UNRWA is in charge of the Palestinian refugees in Gaza and they're, they're close to half of the population in Gaza is the refugee population.

That's what Undra is.

And who's Undra in charge of the resident Gaza population, if you want to call it that way.

That's what WHO is mainly concerned with in terms of health and other issues.

So before the conflict, UNRWA provided care for approximately 100,000 individuals, with diabetes and hypertension for 40,000 pregnant women annually.

The escalation of hostilities in Gaza made the continuation of such care extremely difficult as daily life itself became untenable.

UNRWA ran 22 health centres before the war but by January 14 only six were still operating.

Services provided include critical cases of non communicable diseases, emergency outpatients, vaccinations for children, post Natal services and the management of **** risk pregnancies.

From 8 October to 31 December, a total of nearly 570,000 medical consultations were provided in the 9 operating UNRWA healthcare centres.

From 8 October to 14 January, close to 1,000,000 medical consultations were provided through medical units and shelters.

By 14 January, nearly 1,000,000 individuals were living in or near emergency shelters or informal shelters.

UNRWA was operating 150 for shelters, many of them school buildings.

Each shelter has a designated medical team that is composed of a medical office and the nurse.

They focus on outpatient service, dispensing medication, following up with vulnerable ID, PS, maternal health, coordinating the the nearest health centres for case management and and, and, and, and, and.

So these are vital services.

The shelters, the the health centres and everything else is provided in Gaza through UNRWA.

Therefore, let me repeat Doctor Tedros words, we appeal to donors not to suspend their funding to UNRWA at this critical moment.

Cutting off funding will only hurt the people of Gaza who desperately need support.

And let me, as we added, maybe add a few things again on context and not forget that this discussion is vital, of course, and criminal activity can never go unpunished.

But the discussion right now is much of A distraction from what's really going on every day, every hour, every minute in Gaza.

It's a distraction from close to 2627 thousand deaths per now, out of which 70% of women and children.

It's a distraction from preventing an entire population from access to clean water, foods, shelter.

It's a distraction from preventing electricity to come into Gaza for more than 100 days.

It's also a distraction from the continuous shelling of an entire population, even in areas that just moments before had been designated as safe areas.

And some of the closest allies of Israel have been calling this deliberate shelling.

It's a distraction from attacking shelters, schools, hospitals, whatever there is, living quarters, whether they're run by UNRWA, by the ministry, health, by WHO, it doesn't matter.

[Other language spoken]

And but as important as this discussion is, let's not forget what the real issues are on the ground.

Thank you very much, Christian.

Quite a few additional points we have been distributed.

First of all, thanks for, for mentioning the figures on, on right I sent you yesterday.

They, they are what they call the report situation report in the number 70, which had all these numbers.

So you, you have all the figures there.

I also, we also distributed to you the various statements, whether by Mr by Commissioner General Zarini and by the Secretary General on the actions that are being taken in relation with the funding of UNRWA.

And you've seen that the Secretary General has expressed his personal.

He said he is personally horrified by the accusation against the employees of the agency.

But he has also spoken about the need to continue the funding of the organisation for ensuring the continuity of, sorry, it's operations.

And just wanted to add that today there will be a meeting in New York hosted by the Secretary General with the major donors for Andra.

So we will probably hear more about this.

But on the general humanitarian situation, maybe I'll give the floor to Yens who has connected Yens, maybe you want to add some more information about the monitoring situation there.

[Other language spoken]

Well, thank you, Alessandra.

I, I didn't actually ask for the floor.

So I don't think I have anything to add at this point.

You you will all have the situation report.

That we issue daily and all the details are in there.

Thank you very much.

I see very many questions hands up.

So I will start with the Michelle.

[Other language spoken]

Alessandra, I wanted to follow up actually on this question.

Just how will this impact though your operation from your mic a little bit more in front of your face because does that work better get you through the system?

[Other language spoken]

So how will this impact WH OS work, but also OHS work?

I just want to know a little bit how operationally this could have an impact on what you're doing on Gaza.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, you want to say a few words.

I there is also the fact that we were speaking still about something hypothetical.

I mean we have declaration from member states about the fact that they are different thinking or are already defending own rubber for the moment we are working on it.

That's something that we need to to be very clear about.

And secret count is has been working a lot and she will report to the Security Council soon.

So we're speaking still about something hypothetical.

I don't know if or if yes you can say something what would happen if UNRWA was completely stopped in it's operation, but I think it's, it's pretty pathetic for the moment.

But I let hence of course say, yeah, thank you Alessandra.

But I, I think you touched on, on the key point today and that is that UNRWA has not stopped working.

[Other language spoken]

It's the pipeline of funding that is in in danger was is irreplaceable in the humanitarian operation, as I think was very clear from one what Christian said.

So I will not go into hypotheticals about what if I think everybody is is working towards ensuring, as the Secretary General said, the the core functions of of that organisation exactly and what we'll continue doing so and Mr Lazarina has been extremely swift in his reaction Secretary General too.

So let's let's concentrate on what has happened instead of what could happen.

I show a lot of hands in there.

No, there was Emma and then Jamie.

Emma, I don't think you'll like my question because it was about whether The Who and Archer could scale up if you got extra resources and, and in the event that UNRWA is defunded, it's hypothetical, but they said it could be in February, which is a few days away.

[Other language spoken]

But let me start with this and I'm sure Yan says something hypothetically to add here.

[Other language spoken]

We always said the whole UN any, anything is possible.

Any deliveries are possible.

Any scaling up is possible.

It's not the amount of food or trucks or medical aid or whatever we should need to get in.

That's all possible.

[Other language spoken]

It's approval of getting convoys in its approval of it's about getting these cleared and checked in time.

And then it's of course once inside Gaza, which is already very difficult getting it distributed inside Gaza, getting, getting approvals for convoys to move, getting every item approved, checking for dual use items.

So it is really a hypothetical question, but I would say it's not a question for us, it's a question for the for the powers on the ground.

It's a question for the Israelis.

Would they allow a scaling up?

I have no doubt that the UN in general and WH OS would be able to scale up whatever needs to be done.

But why cut off a life, a lifeline which is already existing and make it even worse for those on the ground, make it even more difficult to operate?

Yes, we would certainly be able to to, to scale up under most difficult circumstances.

But again, the question is not for the UN agencies, I'd say, but over to the answer that it's it's for for the occupying power.

[Other language spoken]

Alessandra, this question is for Christian.

If you could comment on the fact that armed Israeli forces disguised as men and wet medical workers stormed the even seen a hospital in Janine today.

I don't know if you are familiar with this situation, but apparently they went in and killed a three Palestinian militants inside the inside the hospital.

And I'm just wondering what WHO's position might be on a military raid with people disguising themselves as medical workers to carry out a military operation inside a hospital.

And again, it's in Jenin.

We're not talking about Gaza, of course.

[Other language spoken]

I have not heard about it, so I cannot confirm or deny anything of this.

Any ***** of a medical facility is prohibited.

There should never be an ***** in any form or shape or way of a medical facility.

But again, just to stress, I have not heard about that, that incident or a rumour or whatever it is.

I had seen another hand in the room.

[Other language spoken]

I answered already.

[Other language spoken]

OK, so let's go to the platform.

[Other language spoken]

Christian, you mentioned I think that there was a convoy getting to going to NASA today.

[Other language spoken]

Does that indicate that that area of Khan Unisys is, which has been highly conflicted is the the conflict has kind of diminished and you're able to get medical supplies in there?

And secondly, I'm just curious what are you aware of And Jens might want to comment on this too.

What steps are you aware of since Friday's ICJ ruling to actually respond to its instruction to massively increase the delivery of aid?

Do you what, what steps are you aware of that are being taken to to follow up on that?

[Other language spoken]

So, yeah, as far as I know, the situation around Al NASA has only gotten worse.

The shooting, the fighting around the the difficulty of access for people to reach Al NASA or the difficulty for leaving.

But that's why it was so important that there was finally a clearance more de conflicting in order to reach al NASA with necessary food supplies.

No, I don't believe the situation around al NASA has changed to under our understanding.

It's actually gotten worse as we keep saying Al NASA in the South or yeah is what Al Shifa was in the north.

It's it's a highly important hospital remaining in the South, but it's as much under siege and under distress and and turns into a crucial symbol.

Catherine.

Oh, sorry.

Yeah, that's right.

[Other language spoken]

You may want to add something.

Sorry for the rest of the question.

Sorry.

And no, that's that.

That's fine.

And thanks for for the question.

Nick, I'm not aware and I haven't seen reported anywhere that we should know about these rallies plans.

Usually you would have to ask themselves what we do is we report on the situation on the ground.

You have the the report in your in your inbox and I will invite you to draw your own conclusions from from that report about whether this humanitarian situation is getting better or is getting worse.

[Other language spoken]

I'd like to come back on, on the trucks and the aid.

Christian, can you confirm that 8 trucks have been blocked for the last three days at Karem Shalom by Israeli protesters or or yes, I don't know one of both of you can can answer the question.

And Alison, how would you kindly be able to send us the link of the meeting or if, if we can attend that is taking place in New York this afternoon.

Don't think it's a public meeting, but I will check or the info or the info detailed info that maybe New York is going to publish related to.

[Other language spoken]

If we get more, I'll, I'll share it with you for of course.

So Ian's on the trucks.

[Other language spoken]

I, I don't have any update on that.

I, I believe Stefan in in New York addressed that.

[Other language spoken]

Yeah, I don't have particular information.

But in general, if you look at the map, the the issue about Karam Shalom is whenever there's disruption at Karam Shalom, we're trying to reroute through Rafa.

And Rafa of course is a challenge in general because it's not been laid out from the beginning to work as a clearing terminal for trucks.

It was more a foot crossing issue.

So any, any, any trucks having to go through Rafa is even more of a headache.

But again, I'm not aware of the particular trucks that you're mentioning.

[Other language spoken]

Mohammed yes, thank you so much.

[Other language spoken]

As you know, following Israelis allegations, many countries suspended their financial support to Unruff.

My question is, don't you think this is a collective punishment of for more than 2.2 million people in Gaza?

And also, will this step not lead to increased famine and hunger in Gaza?

[Other language spoken]

I think, Mohammed, you can draw, as we said before, your own conclusions.

Obviously, UNRWA is essential, as the Secretary General said, to the humanitarian support of 2 million people and and more, but interesting Gaza and and obviously we need to make everything possible for all reservation to continue.

And you draw your own conclusion on what it means.

I'll give the floor to John.

[Other language spoken]

It's a follow up to the question by Jamie.

I was wondering and that's to all the reps on the on the podium from various UN agencies.

If you have in the in the in the recent past or in the last 10 or 20 years had any incidents in your agencies where the UN emblem was misused by COVID operatives in the field and it led to the death of quite a few humanitarians.

[Other language spoken]

Sorry, are you, you're asking that to Jens?

[Other language spoken]

No to to all the reps to all the agencies WHO ocha if they've had cases in the field where the UN was misused by COVID operatives.

Not not on top of my head.

John, thank you for that.

I I'm right out of my memory.

I only recall ***** of Red Cross or Red Crescent vehicles or that that yes, but to my knowledge WHO side, but I might be wrong.

I I don't recall any looking at yens.

But no, I mean, I'm not sure I understand the question.

If it's something like you're asking if there's been some kind of false flag operation on the UN flag by someone else.

If, if that's the case, not not to my knowledge.

OK, thank you very much.

I don't see other hands up in the room or on the platform.

So thanks for the colleagues who have been updating us on Gaza.

I just wanted to say that indeed, yesterday, Stefan usually confirmed that there were there had been blockage for parts of the day of the tracks by the Israeli protesters.

But that's as much as we have at the moment.

[Other language spoken]

Thanks to Francesco, who's moving out of the room and I'd like to go now to my right to OHCHR.

Jeremy, you brought us James Rd Haver that our journalists know well, the UN Rights Office, head of the Myanmar team.

James, you are with us from Bangkok and you are going to brief on the human rights situation in Myanmar ahead of the 3rd anniversary of the coup.

So you want to start Jeremy?

And then we go to Yes.

Thanks, Alexandra.

[Other language spoken]

So as you say, we've got James here.

He's head of our Myanmar team based in Bangkok.

He can take some questions after I read this statement.

Three years after the military launched A coup, Myanmar's ever deteriorating human rights crisis is now in free fall, with insufficient world attention paid to the misery and pain of its people.

Amid all of the crises around the world, it is important no one is forgotten.

The people of Myanmar have been suffering for too long.

Since the end of October last year, their situation has deteriorated even further as a result of the long established tactics of the military to target them, the **** Commissioner of Human Rights Volcker Turk said today in a statement ahead of the anniversary of the coup on the 1st of February.

Pitched battles between the military and armed opposition groups have resulted in mass displacement and civilian casualties as the military have suffered.

Set back after set back on the battlefield, they have lashed out, launching waves of indiscriminate and aerial bombardments and artillery strikes.

Sources have verified that over 554 people have died since October.

Overall, for 2023, the number of civilians reportedly killed by the military rose to over 1600, an increase of some 300 from the previous year.

As of the 26th of January, credible sources had documented the arrest of nearly 26,000 people on political grounds, of whom 19,973 remain in detention, some reportedly subjected to torture and abuses and with no hope of a fair trial.

Over the over the last three years, some 1576 individuals have died while being held by the military.

Rakhine's state has been particularly hard hit since fighting restarted there in November.

Many communities, especially the Rohingya, were already suffering from the impacts of Cyclone Mocha and the military's months long limitation of humanitarian access and provision of assistance.

There have now been several reports of Rohingya deaths and injuries amid the military shelling of Rohingya villages.

On Friday the 26th of January, fighting between the Arakan Army and the Myanmar military reportedly left at least 12 Rohingya civilians dead and thirty others wounded in Hipon Neoliak village, where inhabitants are trapped between the two warring parties.

The Ara Khan Army allegedly positioned its troops in and around this Rohingya village, anticipating the military's attacks.

The military repeatedly shelled the village, destroying infrastructure.

Parties to armed conflicts must take constant care to spare the civilians and civilian objects in the conduct of military operations, which includes taking feasible measures to protect the civilian population under their control against the effects of attack.

The international community must redouble efforts to hold the military accountable.

The **** Commissioner urges all Member States to take appropriate measures to address this crisis, including to consider imposing further targeted sanctions on the military to constrain their ability to commit serious violations and disregard international law.

A full version of this statement is now available online, and I will hand over to James now for any questions.

[Other language spoken]

So is there any question on this matter in the room?

[Other language spoken]

Sorry.

[Other language spoken]

Mr Roderhaver, it's nice to see you again.

It's been quite a while from when you were in Geneva.

I wanted to ask you about the ceasefire that was announced between by by China, between the Myanmar military and ethnic guerrilla groups.

What's the current status of that?

Are you seeing any impact on the ground?

[Other language spoken]

Well, OK, thank you very much for that.

Well, the I guess you'd say that there is one clear impact, which is the the fighting has subsided to a large degree.

However, there's still continue to be air strikes and some artillery barrage barrages by the military against the positions by those 3 armed groups, the, the Three Brotherhood Alliance, the T in LA, the MNDAA and the Arakan Army that have you have captured a significant amount of territory there in northern Shan.

Now the air strikes and artillery barrages have been specifically part, you know, prohibited as part of that ceasefire agreement.

And the the armed groups have made it very clear that.

The ceasefire has been repeatedly violated by the Myanmar military and that they are not responding.

Now what is unclear is that are they not responding because there is a, a larger strategic movement going on right now where the these armed groups are repositioning themselves and and you're trying to to to rearm or whether they are being ordered by, by the China who is both their benefactor and their of course the the broker of the ceasefire.

Whether they are are being told, you know, simply not to respond and are and are accepting, you know that their assurances.

But it is, but there are still instances where civilians are being killed as a result of these barrages.

So, so they are, you know, still very much concerned.

I'd say that the last thing is that of course that ceasefire was negotiated with that three Brotherhood alliance operating in that Northern Shine area.

There are other armed groups that still continue to operate in that area as well.

And so they're still fighting that is going on, I guess you'd say in the periphery of that larger area that has been impacted by this operation.

[Other language spoken]

It's been ongoing since the 27th of October last year.

So you know it it's something that is the to keep an eye on.

I think what the, the final aspect of all of this and, and what it be extremely, what we are quite eager to know more about is how these areas that have been captured, how they're being governed, because the armed groups are now very much in control of those areas.

In some of the towns and villages, they've handed over administration to the civilian civil servants that, that work primarily with the, the national unity government.

So we're quite keen to see what impact that's had and, and, and also, of course, whether or not humanitarian access is going to expand in those areas and whether the the needs of the civilian population are going to be better cared for.

Thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

So let's go to the platform Nicamine Bruce, the New York Times.

[Other language spoken]

Thanks for the notes, the comments.

It sounds as if you're saying our Kanami are pretty systematically using the ranges of kind of human Shields in this conflict.

Would you confirm that?

And second thing is another question.

We had a statement from AA Double M also saying that they have collected large amounts of data over the last three years on the main perpetrators of human rights abuses in terms of promoting accountability.

Is there any intention to let us have the names of some of these guys so that the international community can take follow up action to to target them?

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Nick.

Well, the first question on Rakhine state, I mean, the situation there is, is very dire and it's, it's really the the the worst case scenario that we feared.

And that's specifically because in in 2022, there was a three month period where Rakhine State, you know, returned to a state of armed conflict.

And there were very clear patterns that emerged from the fighting between the Arakan Army and the Myanmar military.

And that is that they both actively tried to position themselves so that essentially the Rohingya villages were the battlefield that they chose to fought on, to fight on.

And, and, and at the time that was had, you know, led to a limited number of civilian casualties, but it led to a lot of civilian displacement.

And given that the Rohingya villages that are, you know, the Rohingya population is still there in Rakhine and those villages, they are often under very strict movement restrictions.

So there are are very few places people could flee to.

And but right now with the situation where, again, you know, there are at least several instances now where you have the Erikan army and the Myanmar military both wanting to take up positions, insinuating themselves on the edges of Rohingya villages or even in some cases, taking up positions inside schools in Rohingya villages or in mosques in Rohingya villages.

And then using those as staging grounds for artillery attacks, mortar fire and other.

And of course, you know, spotting for, you know, communications with aeroplanes before airstrikes.

All of that sort of behaviour is ongoing right now.

And whenever you look at the humanitarian situation in Rakhine, which was already dire because of the impacts of Cyclone Mocha last year and the Myanmar military's deliberate denial of humanitarian access to many communities, limiting humanitarian access, limiting what kinds of services can be delivered to these communities, it has an outsized impact on the Rohingya population.

Thank you very much, Lisa, both of America.

Oh, I'm, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I, I forgot about the second part of Nick's question about accountability.

[Other language spoken]

Of course, you know that you're delivering names that in, in public is, is a practise that that many UN mechanisms have been asked to do in past, but have not.

And that's specifically because they are trying to respect the presumption of innocence.

And of course, they don't want to deliver names without first having a guarantee that prosecution's going to follow in many cases.

You know, it's basically, if, if you're wanting people like OHCHR or the Double I double M to release names, you're almost asking us to fire, you know, our one shot from our musket in the air.

And, and, and rather than waiting until it's properly aimed at, at, at a target.

If it's not completely tasteless, to use such an analogy when talking about civilian casualties and accountability.

But it, it really is in the end, I think up to the double I double M and, and the prosecutors that they cooperate with as to how and when they will make such names available to the public.

But I would say that, you know, it, it's sort of the gold standard anytime you're investigating these sorts of violations that you are trying to find out, OK, who are the commanding officers of the forces in that area?

Who are the the Air Force commanders for the, you know, the bases where the planes that are conducting these attacks, where they're coming from?

So it is something that we always have an eye on to try and ensure, you know, that we have the proper detailed information to make the the documentation we do as useful as possible for future accountability.

Indeed.

[Other language spoken]

I don't know where to begin really.

Actually, what what is it?

What can break the logjam, if I may say that is ASEAN for instance, seems to be pretty toothless organisation.

China, I guess, which has the most influence doesn't appear to be using it in a peaceful manner, if I may say.

And our weapons still flowing in unabated to to the the junta.

And then I'm wondering whether are any humanitarian agencies able to work in the country or have essentially been banished from Myanmar?

And I'm wondering whether the Rohingya are still fleeing, if they're even able to flee.

And then I'd like to ask a question to the UNHCR, but maybe I'll do that later after you answer these questions.

[Other language spoken]

We've got to be connected to.

I'll let James and then Chevy answer.

[Other language spoken]

Shabbir, good morning to you.

[Other language spoken]

But anyway, yeah, if, if you could sort of speak a little bit about the situation of the Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazaar, whether the.

There's still a lot of pressure on the part of the Bangladeshi government to send them back to Myanmar, even though it doesn't seem to be a propitious time to do that.

Anything you could say on that?

I don't think you have a presence or do you have a presence at all in the country, In Myanmar, that is.

[Other language spoken]

I'll start with James.

[Other language spoken]

Shall be as connected.

[Other language spoken]

No, thank you very much for those those questions.

First of all, on the flow of weapons, you know, it is our understanding, I mean, it's very hard to get reliable data on on weapons transfers, but you know the whenever we do get information, it does appear that there are certain arms transfers that still go through to the military.

We know that they are, you know, they are reliant on foreign assistance and particularly in order to both get jet fuel and to get the the maintenance services that both their aircraft and some of the more sophisticated artillery systems that they utilise on the battlefield.

You know, so, so they are reliant on, you know, foreign foreign Technical Support in order to keep those systems operational their their planes up to you know, specs and so forth.

So, so yeah, they still are getting, you know, foreign assistance for weapon systems also at the same time though we, we are not sure, always sure where they are they are coming from.

But of course organised crime networks, trafficking networks, both for narcotics, human trafficking and for arms trafficking are still very active in the country.

Of course, China's initial backing of the ethnic armed groups and they're offensive in late October was really based around the desire to shut down some of these trafficking networks, primarily human trafficking of Chinese nationals into Myanmar.

But of course, the number of victims of trafficking in the country is still massive.

I think that the estimates are anywhere from 80 to 100,000, you know, human victims have been trafficked into the country.

So it's really, you know, a, a, a massive problem that still remains and, and it's always hard to see where some of these, you know, black economies, how they they have their regular sort of transfer points.

What is interesting is that as a result of these offensives, many of the border crossing points with, with their neighbours have are now under the control of the ethnic armed groups rather than the Myanmar military.

So it'll be very interesting, I think to see just, you know, how that impacts the traffic from China, how it impacts the traffic from Thailand.

And, and, and then, you know, what is the, the end result of the impact on that, including on, you know, humanitarian assistance and its ability to get through borders and, and to get to the places where it needs to go.

The last question you had was just on Rohingya fleeing and on humanitarian operations.

Yes, the humanitarian community is still actively trying to deliver aid anywhere where they are still able to get travel authorizations.

They, they, they're working extremely hard every day under enormous pressures and increasing insecurity.

And that includes UNHCR in Rakhine State, even though the flow of humanitarian aid there has really been shut down to a large extent.

But I'll, I'll, I'll leave that for the other agencies to, to report on.

But the Rohingya of course, have very limited options, which is one of the reasons why so many are are looking for any way to get out and into a safe locations.

And that includes even, you know, trying these very unseaworthy boat routes, either, you know, directly from Myanmar or out of Cox's Bazaar.

But I'll leave, I'll leave the rest for my UNHCR colleagues to discuss.

Thank you very much.

Yes, Shabya, thanks Lisa for your question and and good morning to everyone.

No, it's a very pertinent question.

There are about a million of Rohingya refugees still hosted in in Bangladesh and they continue to support them generously.

But we know that this is a protracted situation.

Humanitarian needs continue to accrue with all the, the pressures.

So what's really important is for support to be sustained to the the Rohingya that are outside their country and in Bangladesh.

So I think that's really a really critical point to make and yes, as part of the broader UN footprint we are present in in Myanmar and and also providing assistance.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, Philip Motaz, yes, Philip Motaz, the the Geneva Observer at the end of the day, your action is predicated about your funding.

Any concerns about the information that the liquidity, liquidity crisis is severe and will be lasting, that's a question to you in Bangkok.

And more generally on that same issue, Alessandra, how are you coordinating this whole thing with New York?

The, the decision, the hiring freeze, etcetera, etcetera, Say the mechanism on Myanmar affected by it or, or in Syria or or HCHR comes to you and says this is mission critical.

We need absolutely to hire people, we need new services.

How are you coordinating, coordinating this with New York and who is in charge here in, in Geneva?

[Other language spoken]

Maybe I can just answer this question first very quickly.

There's no coordination of this kind in place.

I mean the, the secretariat as a, as a secretary general is sitting in New York as a controller who is in charge of making the house run.

They are taking the decision.

We are just applying them here in at the UN office for what concerns that UN office.

The agencies have got their own budgets and we are just implementing and and tailoring the decision that are taken to New York, in New York to the Geneva office.

And sometimes the, the needs here are specific like we had, we saw last year about the energy costs, but that is something that is made under the framework of what the, the, the instructions that we get from New York from the Secretary General and it's controller.

As of for the other parts of the secretariat and the agencies, of course, I cannot speak for that.

And maybe James, you have some information, some, some answers on the issue of liquidity for your operations.

Well, I, I mean, the, the information that I can give is that we get most of our funding, almost, almost all of our funding is from extra budgetary sources.

We, we have to directly appeal to, to donors to help support my team and, or else, you know, we could not operate.

And, and that includes, you know, you know, the vast majority of people that we have on the ground that are trying desperately to gather information remotely.

And, and it's a very labour intensive process.

And and so it's not ideal to be entirely extra budgetarily funded, but I would say that it puts us in a better position right now then we would be if we were funded by the regular budget.

So it's it's a sort of a double edged sword in this case, but we seem to be on the right side of the blade.

Thank you very much.

Yeah, yes, Philip, quick follow up, did have any impact on the SHP, sorry.

Then again you were speaking about the the liquidity problem for for here.

To the best of my knowledge, the strategic heritage plan is fund has been decided and funded a long time ago by a separate decision of the General Assembly.

So the works continue.

I don't see other hands up.

Jeremy, you also wanted to speak about the appeal of the **** Commissioner this morning speaking indeed about funds.

Yes, I guess the the, the timing is, am I on here?

Yes, the timing is perfect.

To follow up on your question, So the the **** Commissioner Volcker Turk has just issued the UN Human Rights Officers Appeal for 2024, calling for a significant increase in funding for our office.

He warned that the office is still drastically short of funds to more effectively advance human rights globally.

So to that end, he appealed for 500 million U.S.

dollars in extra budgetary resources to boost our ability to address some of the biggest human rights challenges we are facing now and will face in the future.

[Other language spoken]

Don't see other hands up on this.

So thanks very much to James Rodhaver for connecting from Bangkok.

[Other language spoken]

Oh, sorry.

[Other language spoken]

Hi Mr Rodhaver, could you just you mentioned that you are your funding is extra.

It's beyond the normal budgetary process.

Who are your main donors?

I I would rather.

Not discuss that I, you know, it's, it's part, I believe it would be accounted for in the, in the, the annual report of the office.

But at any given time, I, I could not tell you exactly which funds are being spent at any given time, But we, we do get funding from, I believe at this point, 6 different member states.

And so that, you know, my team can continue to function, but I'd rather not go into the specifics unless I had the consent of those donors to release that publicly.

Jeremy, it has a little bit more.

Yes, I can, I can just provide a bit more information, not specifically on in the case of Myanmar, but last year we had 283,000,000 involuntary contributions.

So I can tell you that the top five contributors were the European Union, the US, Sweden, Germany and Norway.

It generally no.

Yeah, there is.

There is I think maybe the need for a little bit of clarity between, you know, the regular budget which has been approved by the General Assembly as you know at the end of last year.

The crisis is about liquidity over that budget and it's about the regular budget.

And then we have the extra budgetary funds.

And that is a different issue because of course, as, as you know, depend on the donors and the donors maybe as as as Jeremy said, these these are additional funds and we are doing also also request for funding, which are extra budgetary.

And of course, please again, remember that this is concerning the secretariat and the agencies have got their own budget and and funding as Christian is nodding.

So I don't see this time other hands up.

Thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

It seems Christian has some updates on Gaza, so I'll give him the floor again.

That was good.

I stuck up here because I just got a little update on the convoys as some of you, I've asked about the missions to NASA, just to update that.

So yesterday three missions to NASA were planned.

That was one for food for ID, PS patients and health workers.

This mission was delayed and could eventually not go ahead.

Another one for fuel was denied.

A third one for the medical supplies did go ahead yesterday.

Denials and delays are part of a pattern which impede humanitarian supplies from reaching hospitals and could make them non functional.

Today another attempt was made to get food to NASA but due to delays around 500 metres from the checkpoint the crowd self distributed the food and it could once again not reach NASA.

Thank you very much for this live updates Christian.

I see a hand up.

[Other language spoken]

I mean, how close to starvation are they in the hospital?

Have you had any reports of how bad it is?

When was the last time they got food?

We only get only, the only reports we get are about the desperate situation inside the the hospital with people sheltering everywhere they can, patients on the floor, sometimes surgeries having to take place on the floor.

But I do not have details on how bad the starvation or water or whatever situation is.

Yes, Christian.

Sorry, I have to also add to this.

Can you explain a little bit to us how far is it from the checkpoint to NASA?

And do The Who convoys travel with security or how does this happen that the supplies that are meant for a hospital are actually being distributed by people in the streets?

[Other language spoken]

So I don't have much many more details than than what I just told you.

The only part I have in this point is that the delays around 500 metres from the checkpoint.

That's when the the the crowd basically self distributed.

But I do not have geographics of how far the checkpoint then again is from from the hospital so I don't know.

We only know that the area around the hospital is a active fighting area and people have been warned and hence there it's assume is a checkpoint.

But I don't have the a layout of the land or a map or anything.

I also don't have a list of how often.

I recall we had once a report about a a truck with fuel that was also stopped in search for food, but since there was no food it was of course was going forward.

So I don't have figures on how often it happens.

But to put this into context, it just describes the the terribly devastated situation on desperate situation of the people of the population and to stop UN convoys to stop any truck they see to try to get anything to eat or freshwater from it.

[Other language spoken]

Why are why were the missions denied?

Who denies them?

And then you talk about delays occurring.

What is that due to or that, you know, inspections or, or what?

[Other language spoken]

I don't have more than what I just read out.

This was last minute information I just got now.

But of course, checkpoints are run by the Israeli authorities, by the military, and denials come from from them.

Don't see their hands up.

Let me see on the platform is fine.

So thank you very much.

Before we let Christian go, you just have two quick announcements of press conferences.

Yeah, just briefly, very different topics as you've got the invites already.

So it's just a reminder of today's embargoed virtual press conference on World Cancer Day that's happening at 2:00.

[Other language spoken]

You got the invite.

Ahead of World Cancer Day in 4th February, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, IARC will release the latest estimates on the global burden of cancer and WHO will publish a survey.

A country survey showing how majority do not provide adequate cancer and palliative care.

The second, right after that is 3 three O'clock, a virtual press briefing, the opening press conference of the global tobacco controlling governing bodies, the Conference of the parties #10 and the Meeting of the parties #3 which will start on Monday in Panama.

And it's, it's about all the main tobacco control decisions being taken care of.

So 2:00 and 3:00 today.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Christian.

So thanks and I'll let you go this time for true, for real.

Let me turn to my right.

Kathleen is with us also for the announcement of the report Social Economic.

No, the experiment is this image that the plant did, the new official, the contraction, the economy.

[Other language spoken]

Mesika tea, they kiss you and like I said, Jean Wapaz Shula platform and let's go now to care.

Last but definitely not least, you also have an announcement.

Yes, good morning everybody.

We sent out a press release this morning.

The World Meteorological Organisation has officially confirmed a new record temperature for continental Europe.

This was 48.8°C converted into Fahrenheit, that's 119.8°F.

It was recorded in Italy on the 11th of August 2021 at an automated weather station in Sicily and the findings were published today in the International Journal of Climatology.

Why did it take so long for us to verify this temperature?

The the investigations like this one are very, very lengthy procedures.

We want to get it right.

They are very painstaking because it is important that we have confidence, the world has confidence that our global records are properly measured, that they are verified.

And why does it matter?

It matters because the the extremes that we are sort of monitoring, verifying their snapshot of our of our changing climate.

And this is a quote from the WMO Weather and Climate Extremes rapporteur, Professor Randall Servani.

He said the extremes presented before the WMO for adjudication are snapshots of our current climate.

It is possible, even likely, that great extremes will occur across Europe in the future.

When such observations are made, new evaluation committees will be formed to adjudicate these observations as extremes.

We do have a number of ongoing investigations and one of them which will be coming up hopefully in the next few weeks is into whether Tropical Cyclone Freddie was indeed did indeed break the record last year as the world's longest lasting tropical cyclone.

So we don't, we don't do this for fun.

You know, it is a very, very important way of record keeping of our changing climate.

And just separately, we sent out a press release yesterday just to say that the World Meteorological Organisation has appointed Co Barrett as deputy secretary general and Thomas Asari as assistant secretary General.

Co Barrett is currently senior advisor for climate at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Those of you who follow climate policy, climate science closely will also know that she used to be Vice chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

And Thomas Asari is currently Controller and Director of the Division of Financial and Administrative Management at UNICEF.

So they will join WMO and complete the leadership line up under Celeste Salo.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Claire.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you for that.

I know that there's been some projections about the likelihood that the world will see record **** global temperatures in the next 5 years, 10 years number number you today, you're specifically talking about Europe.

What can we say about projections or what has WMO said about projections for Europe specifically being vulnerable to a new temperature record?

Is there anything that's been said on that?

The, I mean, the World Meteorological Organisation last year when we released the provisional state of the global climate report and we confirmed it in January said that you know, 2023 was the hottest year on record globally.

And we've said at the time that given that we are now in an El Nino year and typically El Nino has its biggest impact on temperatures the year after its development.

So it is possible, and this is what Professor Salo has also said, it's possible that we may have a new global temperature record again this year.

For Europe specifically.

We will be releasing a report in April on the state of the climate in Europe and whilst it will look back to 2023, you know obviously there will be some comments which are salient for for 2024 and the future.

The Intergovernmental on Panel Panel on Climate Change, they have done quite detailed fact sheets, regional fact sheets.

And so if you are specifically interested in Europe in the Mediterranean, I recommend that you that you look at those because they, they are very, very detailed.

And basically, yes, the, the Mediterranean is one of the global hotspots both in terms of heat and, and water stress.

And that that's from the IPCC.

OK, so other questions for WMO.

No, I don't see any.

So thank you very much, Claire.

This leaves me only with a few announcements.

We have already given you the information about the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

They have started the the the review of the report today.

It's Niger, but as I told you the last briefing, Tajikistan, Italy, Turkmenistan, Greece, Oman, Djibouti and Central African Republic.

And next in line, the Committee on the Rights of the Child will have next Thursday afternoon a meeting with the state parties and then they will close on Friday, their 95th session.

And this is basically what I have for you, just to remind you.

And I think we needed that from that one from the 1st to the 7th of February, the international community celebrates World Interfaith Harmony Week.

And I think we have a lot of need of that.

So thank you very much to you all.

And I'd see, no, that would be Roland Bon Appetit.

[Other language spoken]