The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
UN Geneva Press Briefing - 02 April 2024
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32:45
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MP4
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2.1 GB
ANNOUNCEMENTS
HRC Pascal Sim (PR)
· Human Rights Council update
TOPICS
WFP Paul Turnbull, WFP Country Director Malawi from Lilongwe (Zoom)
· Malawi – Declaration of a State of Disaster over drought
UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING
2 April 2024
Drought in Malawi
Paul Turnbull, World Food Programme (WFP) Country Director for Malawi, speaking from Lilongwe, informed that on 23 March, Malawi had declared a state of disaster in 23 out of the country's 28 districts. World Food Programme was appealing for urgent resources to deliver life-saving food assistance to two million people reeling from the devastating impacts of drought, exacerbated by the effects of El Niño.
The country was still suffering from the impacts of tropical storms and cyclones in 2022 and 2023 and the compounded effect was to push up to 40 percent of Malawi’s population into hunger, threatening both lives and livelihoods. Prolonged dry spells had blighted harvests in southern and central regions while flooding had washed away crops in northern and central areas. As national maize stocks ran low, the country had been forced to import staple commodities, driving food prices to alarming levels. Maize prices had nearly doubled in just one year and had tripled against the five-year average. With over 80 percent of the population relying on agriculture to cover basic needs, the steep decline in staple crops such as maize, rice, soya beans, cowpeas and groundnuts had been devastating for millions of people. The Government’s preliminary estimate was that close to two million farming households were affected. The Government was coordinating an effort to procure 600,000 tons of maize; WFP would do its part and was calling for an urgent scale-up of assistance. Normally, the lean season started in October, but this year it could start in July, warned Mr. Turnbull. Early release of funding for food procurement was needed. International solidarity and common action were of particular importance in this case, concluded Mr. Turnbull.
Responding to questions, Mr. Turnbull said that exploitation was happening among refugee populations, most of whom were from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. An estimated 90 percent of the population in Malawi were already engaging in negative coping mechanisms. UNICEF was organizing a comprehensive survey to estimate a proper situation of malnutrition in the country. Mr. Turnbull said that the 600,000 tons of maize would cost about USD 210 million. WFP needed USD 70 million to provide emergency food assistance to two million people for three months, delivering a combination of in-kind and cash to affected households.
Situation in Gaza
Margaret Harris, for the World Health Organization (WHO), responding to questions, said that horrific levels of violence had continued in Gaza over the Easter weekend. The Al Shifa hospital was now in ruins and was no longer able to function in any shape or form. At least 21 patients had died during the siege. With the destruction of the Al-Shifa hospital, the heart of the health system in Gaza had been ripped out. WHO was hoping to reach several hospitals in Gaza today. A ceasefire had to happen now - it should have happened months earlier, but it was necessary now.
Alessandra Vellucci, for the UN Information Service (UNIS), said that Martin Griffiths, UN Humanitarian Chief, had expressed his outrage at the killing of the seven aid workers of the World Central Kitchen. Those actions were indefensible, stressed Mr. Griffiths. Ms. Harris said that this particular mission had been agreed upon in advance, using a deconfliction mechanism, and the aid vehicle had been clearly marked as such. This situation was a moral stain on humanity that should not allow to continue. WHO would continue with its mission, stressed Ms. Harris. A big rise of children born low weight was being reported; many infants and young children were suffering from malnutrition, which made them far more prone to other illnesses. Finally, Ms. Harris said that the following day, 3 April, Dr. Tedros would hold a press conference.
Ms. Vellucci stated that on 3 and 4 April, at the Palais des Nations, there would be a Conference of Civil Society Organizations Working on the Question of Palestine, convened by the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. The title of the conference was “Building Bridges with International Civil Society to Address the Ongoing Nakba.” More information is available here. A press conference would be held on 3 April at 1:30 pm, with the Ambassadors of Senegal, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cuba, and the State of Palestine, Permanent Representatives of their countries to the UN in New York [later, Ms Vellucci specified that the five ambassadors will be briefing the press in-person from the UNOG press room].
Human Rights Council
Pascal Sim, for the Human Rights Council (HRC), said that today, the Council was discussing five different country situations: Ukraine, Colombia, South Sudan, Haiti, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The following day, the Council would start looking into 34 draft texts, of which 33 draft resolutions. Several of these draft resolutions would deal with renewals of a number of mandates, including investigative bodies on Ukraine and Iran, and special rapporteurs on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Myanmar, environment, right of food, and adequate housing, among others. More information is available here.
Announcements
Alessandra Vellucci, for the for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), informed the media about the International Week at Balexert in Geneva, from 16 to 20 April. The objective of this event, featuring 16 agencies and international organizations, was to showcase to the local audiences the importance of the work done by “International Geneva”. More information is available here.
Teleprompter
Good morning.
Welcome to the press briefing of the Information Service at the UN in Geneva.
Today is Tuesday, second of April
and we have a We don't have a long list of points,
but I'm pretty sure that would be interesting.
And I'll start with Pascal for an update on the
Human Rights Council that concludes his work this week.
Thank you, Alexandra. Good morning, everyone.
Today,
the UN Human Rights Council is discussing five different country situations.
The council heard from the High Commissioner on his latest reports on Ukraine,
and he is about to start an interactive dialogue with Antonia
Holla,
the international expert designated by the High Commissioner last
year to identify and verify the obstacles to the implementation
of the 2016 peace agreement in Colombia.
This is the first time Ms
Hola
is appearing before the Council in her capacity as international expert,
and she is presenting her first report to the council.
After Colombia,
the council will hear a presentation by Mr Christian Salazar
Walk
on the latest
report on south Sudan.
Starting tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 p.m. the Human Rights Council will
begin the consideration of a total of 34 texts for adoption.
More specifically, one decision and 33 resolution.
The draught decision proposed the postponement
of the postponement of 17 mandated activities
to 2025 and 2026
and this proposal to postpone these activities followed. The letter followed the
receipt by the president of the Council
of a letter from the High Commissioner explaining the
current difficult situation due to the liquidity crisis
and among the 33 resolutions that are proposed for adoption.
We have several that concerns mandate renewal. I'm going to list them for you.
The Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine,
the Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic,
The Fact Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran
and the Special rapporteur on the Islamic Republic of Iran It is a joint
the same resolution for the two same renewal.
The special report on the
the Special Report on Myanmar,
the Special Report on the Environment on the
Right to Food on the Field of Cultural Rights
on the Right to Adequate Housing on the Right to Privacy,
the independent expert on foreign Debt and the independent human rights
expert designated by the High Commissioner on the situation in Haiti
and we have two new resolutions for this session one on the
culture of peace and another one on the rights of intersex persons.
That's it for
me.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. Let me see if there are questions in
the
room or online. Let
me have a look.
I don't see any
good luck for this.
Just wanted to add that I will send you the list
of all the resolution this afternoon in the running order.
Ok, thank you.
OK, so let's go to now
to Lilongwe,
where we have our colleague Paul Turnbull,
who is the country director for Malawi of
the World Food Programme Welcome Paul And thank
you very much for being here to brief the journalists in the UN in Geneva.
It's about the situation in Malawi over the draught.
I'll give you the floor, please.
Thank you for joining us today.
I appreciate this opportunity to shed light on the critical situation in
Malawi following the recent declaration of a state of disaster by President
Jarra.
The declaration on the 23rd of March understa understates
the sorry underscores the gravity of the harsh impact of El Nino
in Malawi
in 23 out of 28 districts in Malawi,
El Nino conditions are pushing around 40% of Malawi's population
of over 20 million into hunger threatening lives and livelihoods.
Prolonged dry spells have damaged crops at critical
stages of growth in southern and central regions,
while flooding has washed away crops in some
of the districts in northern and central regions.
The El Nino event has compounded existing vulnerabilities in Malawi,
which is still suffering from the impacts of tropical storms and
cyclones in 2022 and 2023 as well as a faltering economy.
As national maize stocks are running very low,
Malawi has been forced to import staple commodities and
food prices have already been at alarming levels.
For example,
the prices of maize in 2023 were double the prices of the
previous year and were triple those of the five year average,
with over 80% of the population relying on agriculture to cover their basic needs,
the steep decline in production of stable crops
will be devastating for millions of people.
The adverse effects of El Nino on food production threatens livelihoods,
food security and nutrition
acutely food insecure households are at risk
of having to resort to negative coping strategies
such as
skipping meals, smaller food portions
and adults not eating so that young Children can eat.
There has been a surge in cases of Children
with moderate acute malnutrition and severe acute malnutrition,
which is expected to become worse this year.
The strain on families also risks increasing protection issues,
particularly impacting girls and women.
The government's preliminary estimate is that close
to 2 million farming households are affected.
President Chua
emphasised the need
for a scale up of humanitarian assistance,
particularly in providing food assistance to those at risk of hunger.
He called upon various stakeholders, including Malawians Development Partners,
international organisations NGO S
and the private sector
to contribute resources to address the humanitarian crisis
in a co ordinated effort led by the Department of Disaster Management Affairs.
The estimated requirement
of 600,000 tonnes of maize for the humanitarian
response programme highlights the scale of the crisis.
WFP will do its part
of Malawi's food assistance requirements and we are calling for
an urgent scale up of the humanitarian response in Malawi
in line with the scale of the needs,
the early onset of the 2024 2025 lean season poses significant challenges.
Normally, the lean season starts in October
this year. It could start as early as July in the worst affected districts.
The regional impact of El Nino in southern
Africa and the consequent surge in demand for maize
raises concerns about shortages in the region.
Most importantly, sourcing maize from outside the region EG from Argentina,
Brazil, the Black Sea ports or Mexico
would entail a lead time of 3 to 4 months.
This highlights the need for the early release of funding for food procurement
and the necessity for coordinating regional and international efforts
to address the logistics challenges, especially at the ports in southern Africa.
I would like to conclude by emphasising
the importance of international solidarity and collective action
in addressing the human crisis humanitarian crisis in Malawi.
I thank the media for their attention.
Thank you very much, sir, for for this briefing,
and I open the floor to questions now if any in the room.
I don't see any hand up here, so let's go to the platform.
Lisa
Schlein is our correspondent to Voice of America.
Lisa, you have the floor for your question.
Uh,
yes. Thank you, Alessandra. Good morning. Good morning to you, Mister Turnbull.
could you talk a bit more about the negative coping measures
you were talking about? Uh, family skipping meals and so forth.
But what about the, uh, aspect of the,
uh, the fear of exploitation that,
you know, forced labour or or,
uh, forced, Uh, early marriages and so forth Is,
is any of that going on as a consequence of, uh, families not having
the money to buy the food to get what it is that they need? If you could talk a bit about
the ex possible exploitation that exists
And also, um,
what is the situation of malnutrition? Do you have any figures on,
uh, how serious that is whether
Sorry, whether it has R risen or not,
I've got something wrong with my voice. I'm so sorry. Uh,
and lastly, if you would, uh what about the money? Have you got enough?
And would you send your notes, please?
Yeah, that's that's That's something. Maybe for, uh, ishita.
If, uh, you could send the journalist the notes
of Paul. Otherwise, we can do it for you if you send it to us?
Paul? Uh, I think you heard the three questions, right?
Yes. Thank you. Thank you very much for the question.
Very insightful. Um,
I think on the exploitation side, um, that certainly is a risk. I would say it's not.
Not particularly well documented for the whole country,
but it's certainly been happening in the refugee population.
Um, that that is in Malawi. We have about 50,000 refugees.
Um, mainly from the, uh, DRC
that we have been monitoring
the the various, the various aspects of food insecurity.
And we found that nine out of 10 families, um, this was in November,
um, were suffering from
food insecurity that they were employing negative coping mechanism. That's a,
you know,
having 90% of the population already engaged in the negative co coping mechanisms.
And there's this was actually during the the the the previous lean season.
So with a crop even worse for 2024 I think
there's a much bigger risk for the next lean season.
And that's that's why we we we're going out early.
As as did the President of of Malawi,
so that we can act early and avert a crisis here
for the malnutrition.
Um, what we do have, um, fro from our colleagues in UNICEF is records of the surge in
cases of moderate and acute malnutrition.
Uh, moderate and sorry and severe acute malnutrition
that that are, uh,
they're going to the health centres now.
This probably underestimates the scale of the problem here. So,
UNICEF and with the support of the government and
WFP is organising what we call a smart survey
which will be a a much better snapshot and much more representative
of of the malnutrition in the country.
So, um, what we've got is evidence coming from the health centres at the moment,
which shows an increase, but frankly, um, as Malawians tend not to seek health, Uh,
very readily we we fear that the there's an
underestimate of of the current state of nutrition.
Um, the last question.
Could you repeat the last question, please? I
think it was about the the financial situation if you have enough money.
But maybe Lisa, you want to
articulate it?
Yeah, Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got my voice back.
Uh,
if you if you would if you would elaborate upon that, that is uh,
has there been an appeal lodged?
Are you planning to do this? Have you got the money
to actually provide the aid that is needed? Thank you.
Uh, um,
Yes, I'm I'm afraid we don't have the money at the moment.
Which is one of the reasons we are we're going
out with with various advocacy measures such as this.
The 600,000 tonnes that President
Chara,
uh, mentioned in his, uh, state of disaster
that that would cost about $210 million.
Um, assuming favourable prices on on the world market. So
that's that's what the the government has estimated WFP would do be doing its part.
Our provisional plan, pending more accurate estimates,
is that we would be appealing for an additional $70 million dollars
in food and some cash transfers.
Um, for addressing the lean season, the NE, the next lean season, which we fear, uh,
in some areas will start as early as July
and and then
you know, more likely to intensify towards October.
Thank you very much.
Is there any other question
to Paul?
I don't see any, so thank you very much, Paul,
for this update and we are happy to have the World Food Programme any time you can come
and
Oh, sorry. Sorry. There is another question. Maybe
I don't know if it's for you or not, but it's from Mousa
as
our correspondent of
Almain
Moa.
OK, so, Paul, thank you very much for this briefing. And Yes,
please
send the, um
the notes. Uh, yeah. Uh uh. Margaret is here, and I'll ask her to come to the podium.
And I also have a comment from, uh, an answer to your question. Uh, if you want to ask it
from
oa,
let's give the time to Margaret to come to the podium.
I'll also remind you that a
U
and UN HCR are also listening and available for questions if needed.
So,
Mosa, you want to start with your with your question to
To Margaret, please?
Uh, was that was that,
uh
uh, Well, I mean,
not
just if there's any update about the situation in Gaza from WHO. Thank you.
Apologies
indeed. Ov over the, um
what was an Easter break for many people in the world, there were horrific
levels of violence continuing
in Gaza and we saw
that the Al
Shifa Hospital is now in ruins.
We've had contact with the staff.
The directors told us that
Al
Shifa Hospital is gone,
that
it's no longer able to function in any shape or form
as a hospital. We know that at least 21 patients died during the period of the siege.
We also know that the staff had to
bring the patients together in,
uh, a building that wasn't even a hos,
uh, design
a clinical building. It was a human resources, um,
administration area.
Uh, they had no water food. They were sharing one bottle of water between 15 people.
By the end, they had no facilities for toilets.
They had no means of looking after the patients who
many of whom were very, very,
severely injured intensive care
level patients who had urinary catheters. But there were no urinary bags. So
you can imagine the horror
that has been going on.
Uh, now,
today we're hoping to get a mission up there to see what
we can do to help what aid we can provide and also,
of course, to the
few other hospitals functioning in the area.
And there's three or four, particularly important is
Kamal
Adwan,
where the the Paediatric Hospital where we learn that at
least 15 malnourished Children per are coming in per day
And the needs are just getting
ever more
S more severe. So again
and again
and again, as we have said. But it's got to be taken seriously.
The ceasefire,
the UN resolution The world has agreed a ceasefire must happen.
It should have happened months ago. But it must happen now.
Thank you very much. Uh, Margaret, Um yeah, Let me go back to the room. Uh,
there are more questions on the platform, so please stay, but let me go to the room,
Ben.
Yes, thanks. So question to Maga,
But more broadly, to all the
humanitarians who are here and who would like to jump in
about the seven person who have been killed
lately working for World Central Kitchen.
And they were killed by a strike. Obviously Israeli strike.
First of all, if you have a reaction, an observation,
uh, on that and more broadly also, if you have a line from, uh O,
I'd like to hear it. Thank you.
Yes, thank you very much. I've actually been
able to to I I'm able to read you.
It's a It's a tweet that Martin Griffiths put out yesterday.
Maybe this morning, I'm not sure about the time, but in any case,
commenting on what happened, he said,
outraged by the killing of world centre kitchen aid workers in Gaza.
They were heroes killed while trying to feed starving people.
My condolences to their families and colleagues, and Martin goes on saying all the
talk about ceasefires
and still this war still is the best of us.
The actions of those behind it are indefensible. And as much as Margaret said,
Martin concludes, this must stop.
That is the comment of
Martin Griffiths.
Margaret, Maybe you have a comment on your side on this,
you know, again and again we try to get
missions, aid, help. And
if people who this was an agreed mission with this team, it was de
conflicted. Deconflict means both sides know they're coming.
Both sides have agreed,
Uh,
it was a The car was well marked. It was very clear it was World central kitchen.
Now this is happening.
And remember,
hundreds of healthcare workers have been killed while doing their job.
Ambulance drivers
Uh, and of course, thousands of civilians th more than 13,000 of them Children.
So
every day, we're now seeing international,
the all the people who should be protected,
all the people who are there and all the
people who are there to help them being killed.
And if ever the world could finally pay attention,
what is going on
is completely is, as been said, a moral stain on humanity. It is
a thing we as humans cannot allow to continue. It must stop.
Yeah, I'll go to Gabriel.
Uh, thank you a question for Margaret. Um, for months, Doctor
Por and Doctor Tedros and others have said that
Gaza can't afford to lose another health facility.
And now Gaza has lost a major health facility. What does that mean? Going forward.
Thank you.
That's a very good point. Uh, destroying Al Shifa
means ripping the heart out of the health system. It was the tertiary care centre.
It was a huge hospital. 750 beds.
Uh, 25 operating theatres, 30 intensive care rooms.
You know, it was the the place people go to
for the kind of care that a really good health system provides that we,
in all our societies, expect to have should we be in need?
And the reason you have such a level of a hospital is it means you have a chance,
even if you have a very severe illness of having that reversed returning hole
beginning your life again. That's what health is about. You know,
the best of physical mental health and well being. And you achieve that by having a
functioning health system that can provide
care at all levels. And destroying Al
Shifa means you have ripped the heart out of the the health system in Gaza.
Uh, wait, Jeremy.
Yeah. Margaret.
Um
uh,
Margaret, uh
like to know, uh, how many people you still have left I I in Gaza.
And,
uh,
after what happened again, uh, yesterday and, uh, the world centred kitchen.
Uh, people got killed. A
RE you considering withdrawing your personnel? IN Gaza.
We have a few people I. I think it's three or four internationals.
There's a very strict limits because of the
great danger everybody's in and the difficulty of removing large teams should
should that ever become necessary.
But we will certainly continue to do our work our mission
is to
support the attainment of the highest level of health for everyone.
Now, under these circumstances,
that is particularly difficult.
But that is our mission, and we will continue to do it. But we are certainly looking at
the security. Um,
uh, the the the
the the security that,
uh, our teams are facing because indeed, all our missions have to be deconflict.
Uh, we only go if they're deconflict. We only go
if we get permission. Of course. Uh, and
understanding whether you've got permission.
You It's been been de conflicted, and you're still,
uh, putting staff at incredibly high risk is something we definitely need to
look at.
Uh, John?
Yes. Good morning. Uh, Margaret, can you hear me?
Go ahead.
Hello?
You mentioned the
21 patients
that, uh, died at Al Shifa.
Do you have details? Uh, how many medical staff? Uh, doctors, nurses,
uh, assistants died as well. Uh, in in this operation. Thank you. By the
Israeli defence forces.
Joan, I don't have a breakdown like that. I've only got anecdotal information.
And certainly the people who are contacting
us were talking of of medical staff being
injured and killed and again. Every
every health worker you kill,
you're killing a community. You're
killing the community.
They serve and I And of course, you're killing a human who is only there
to help. That's the only reason they're there.
Make.
Yeah. Thank you. Um, hello, Margaret.
Um, I just wondered if you could
you you mentioned a a mission to Al
Shifa
plan today. Wh what's What's the purpose of that? Do you? Who is left in Al
Shifa and is it? Have you got an agreement essentially, to evacuate
anyone who is left there. And secondly,
you mentioned Ker
of malnutrition.
Um, arriving in
Kama
Adwan Hospital. Could you go into that a little bit more on, uh,
the numbers you're seeing and the state of, uh,
of the patients you're receiving the kind of ages
of these people and whether or not you are also hearing,
um, some evidence of more people dying of of starvation. Thank you.
Thanks, Nick.
Uh, so and And let me say I should not have really said we were going to ask shifra
because it's, uh it's on. We only get to go if we're given permission.
And I haven't got information about whether we were given permission.
So we've been trying to go for days and days and days, and
they've most of our missions are rejected. Um,
so I should clarify that,
uh, now the purpose of going, obviously
we're not going to be able to provide, say,
the things that a functioning hospital would need.
But first of all, we need to do an assessment to understand what we can do.
Secondly, Absolutely. Right. Who needs to be evacuated? How can we get them?
Where can they go?
Uh, what can we do to To save the lives of those patients remaining.
So that is another very important reason for going there.
on the Children. I. I don't have specific numbers in the stabilisation centre.
I know the day we set it up, so it was set up last week. Uh,
there were already six Children in there. Um,
the particular inpatient are usually Children who've
got medical illnesses as well as malnutrition.
Because,
as you know, I'm sure if you've got an underlying condition,
malnutrition will kill you much more quickly.
So they become the most urgent patients.
We
are struggling to understand
the mortality numbers beyond the numbers that are
reported of people who are killed in the bombardment
because many people don't even get to hospital. And we are looking at
how you can understand that better. So I really don't have good numbers for you.
But again
from different doctors, particularly in the maternity hospitals,
they are reporting that they're seeing
a big rise in Children born low birth weight
and just not surviving the neonatal period because they are, they're born too,
too small.
Any other question to Margaret
or
to other colleagues online?
I don't see any. And before we leave
the matter about Gaza,
let me remind you, we have sent you an invitation
a
couple of weeks ago. So let me just remind you that
tomorrow and
the day after the 3rd and 4th of April here at the Palais de N,
we are hosting a conference of civil society
organisations working on the questions of Palestine.
This is a conference organised by the UN Committee on
the exercise of the Inal rights of the Palestinian People.
The title of the meeting is building bridges with international civil society to
address the ongoing
in room 17,
and I'll just read you about the conference,
the Committee on the Exercise of the Inal
Rights of the Palestinian People will
convene the Conference of Civil Society organisations
working on the Question of Palestine
and on building bridges with international civil society to
address the ongoing
nakba in Room 17 of the Paladin.
The conference will focus on the role of civil society worldwide
in advocating for a durable ceasefire
and in achieving accountability for Israel's war
crimes in the occupied Palestinian territory,
including east Jerusalem.
The speakers will include civil society
representatives from Palestinian human rights organisations
as well as representatives of Solidarity movements in Africa, Europe,
Latin America and the United States.
You are invited to this meeting. It's open to the media
and it's open of course to all member states, observer, UN organisation,
civil society organisation, et cetera. We have sent you the uh programme
and the media advisory and this particular meeting will also hold
a press conference. That's gonna be tomorrow
at 1. 30 in this room,
so we will have a
tambour
from the
the department which organises the meeting.
But we will have also five ambassadors and permanent representatives
of their country to the UN in New York.
So that will be Ambassador Sheikh
Nyong, who is the chair of the General Assembly Committee on the Exercise of the
Rights of the Palestinian People and also permanent representative
of Senegal to the even in New York.
Ambassador Harma
Nazir,
permanent representative of Indonesia to the UN in New York. Ambassador
Ahmad Faizal
Mohammad,
the permanent representative of Malaysia to the UN in New York. Ambassador
Y Romero
Puentes, the deputy permanent representative of Cuba
to the United Nations in New York.
And Ambassador Riyad Mansour, permanent observer of the state of Palestine,
to the UN in New York.
And so that will be here in the press room at 130.
We will listen from these five ambassador
and permanent representatives.
I also have another announcement on a light of tone. I have to say,
um, we would like to invite you to join us in a nice place in Geneva, which is the
Baker Shopping Centre. What are we doing there?
It's It's sort of an open day. It's only that it's an open week. We can't, as you know,
welcome the Geneva population at the Palais
at this moment where works are everywhere we have got restrictions
on the campus. So we are moving to town.
We have 16 agencies.
An international organisation
that will come to bar
for one week from 16th to 20th of April
to show the population of Geneva the shoppers, whoever is interested
about their work,
they will also offer active moments to share and to make people understand better.
What are the activities they are carrying out?
There will be quizzes. There will be games. There will be a
situation, a hands on situation.
So we would love to have you there
covering the event, especially on the 16th,
when we will do the inauguration together with
the Director General and the mayor of Vernier.
As you know, Baraka
is on the Vermeer
territory and the other Swiss
authorities.
And that is what I had to,
uh, for you. Yes.
Oh,
sorry. Margaret. Come, come. Please.
No problem. Yeah. Yeah, we can add this today.
I was hoping to finish on a lighter,
but it's important that you say what you want.
No, no, no.
It's just that we're going to have a director general press conference tomorrow.
That's all. Just to let you know, it's
It's only just been agreed this morning.
And you should
the media adviser just
don't know what time.
Afternoon.
Afternoon.
Just to let you know. Thank you very much. I'm sure you'll send out the
Oh, you have sent out the advisor. Ok, good. So you know,
is there any question on to me or any other colleagues?
I don't see any we, Ben,
can you put in?
I think it has been
sent already, but let us repeat.
It will probably send another one next week to remind everyone
about this about this nice event.
and And I'm being told to resend the invitation to the press
conference and the meeting on Palestine So we'll do it today.
Voila.
Any other questions? No. So thank you very much. And I'll see you on Friday. Thanks.