Welcome to the press briefing of the UN Information Service here in Geneva.
Today is Friday 5th of April, and as you know, the Council of Human Rights is currently terminating his first session of the year.
So Pascal SIM will not be with us this morning.
He's going to send me an update that I will read to you with the other announcements at the end of the briefing.
But of course, we will hear more about that and he is available if you have any questions.
So sorry for the change in the programme that we have distributed to you.
So we will go straight now to our guests and I'll start with the World Food Programme.
We have online Lenny Kinsley, who is the World Food Programme communications officer in Sudan, Mrs Kinsley speaking from Nairobi, and she is going to brief us on the first food aid in months which reached Darfur.
So I'll give her the floor and then we will open the floor to question Mrs Kinsley.
Thank you so much for having me.
So the United Nations World Food Programme has managed to bring desperately needed food and nutrition supplies into Darfur, the first WFP assistance to reach the war wreck region in months.
Yet we are extremely concerned that unless the people of Sudan receive a constant flow of aid via all possible humanitarian corridors from neighbouring countries and across battle lines within Sudan, the country's hunger catastrophe will only worsen.
2 convoys crossed the border from Chad into Darfur in late March, carrying food and Nutrition Assistance for around 250,000 people facing acute hunger in Northwest and Central Darfur.
These are the first cross-border convoys of WFP assistance to reach Darfur, following lengthy negotiations to reopen these routes after authorities in Port Sudan revoked permissions for humanitarian corridors from Chad last February.
The temporary halt of the humanitarian corridor from Chad, as well as ongoing fighting, lengthy clearance processes for humanitarian cargo, bureaucratic impediments and security ****** have made it nearly impossible for humanitarians to operate at the scale needed to meet the hunger needs in Sudan.
I was recently in Port Sudan where I met a young boy named Ahmed, whose family had recently escaped a besieged area in Omdurman in Greater Khartoum.
He told me he was 13 years old and I could not believe it.
I asked him and his mother three times if that was true because he looked like he was only 8 due to the lack of an adequate diet after having been trapped in his home under bombs and air strikes in Sudan's capital for nearly a year.
His mother, Fatima told me that in the final weeks before they managed to escape, they were surviving by diluting sorghum, a staple cereal in Sudan, with water and drinking it once a day because it was all they had left.
He told me at least there was food in Port Sudan, even though him and his family are sleeping on mats in a classroom where they found refuge from the war.
This is the case for millions in Sudan who are trapped in conflict hot spots like Khartoum, Kordafan, Jazeera State and the Darfur region.
WFP did manage to provide assistance to around 50,000 people in the Kharari area of Greater Khartoum in the last week, the first time since December because of lack of access.
There are many more families like Ahmeds who desperately need our support in these conflict hotspots.
WFP needs aid to be consistently reaching war ravaged communities through every possible route.
Hunger in Sudan will only increase as the lean season starts in just a few weeks.
Our greatest fear is that we will see unprecedented levels of starvation and malnutrition sweep across Sudan this lean season and that the Darfur region will be particularly hard hit.
Last week, WFP trucks crossed into West Darfur from Andre and Chad, and food distributions are under way in West and Central Darfur.
However, we receive reports that community members, including many vulnerable women, stormed one of the distributions in Gennina out of desperation because there was not enough food for everyone, only those identified in the most severe levels of hunger.
This shows the immediate need that we need to scale up as fast as possible so innocent civilians who need our help do not resort to such measures.
But WFP has no clarity as to when the next aid convoy can travel via the route from Audrey to Westar 4, which is vital if the humanitarian community stands a chance of preventing widespread starvation there.
Last year, WFP supported 1,000,000 people in West and Central Darfur with food transported via Chad's Audrey crossing.
Another convoy of trucks entered N Darfur from Chad's Tina border in late March, while a separate convoy of trucks reached the area from Port Sudan, crossing into Northern State and then into N Darfur a few days later.
The first aid delivery to be transported across conflict lines from within Sudan in the last six months.
Yet fierce fighting, lack of security and lengthy clearances by the warring parties have led to delays in the distribution of this assistance to people in need.
WFP and our partners urgently need security guarantees and deconfliction so supplies in North Darfur can be distributed to people who are struggling to find even one basic meal a day, especially with Eid approaching next week.
I am in regular contact with the head of a woman's farmer association, Inel Fisher, who I met last year before the conflict started.
She says the living conditions for her and her family are getting nearly impossible, especially over Ramadan.
There's no way for her to make money or farm because of the insecurity.
And recent crop reports show that the harvest for cereals in Darfur this year is 78% below the five year average.
That is why WFP is so deeply concerned about how serious the hunger crisis will get this lean season.
That's why cross-border operations from Chad to Darfur are so critical to reach communities where children are already reported to be dying of malnutrition.
All corridors to transport food must remain open, particularly the one from Andre in Chad to West Darfur, where levels of hunger are alarming.
And the delivery of aid into other parts of Darfur via the Tina border crossing or across conflict lines from within Sudan must become quicker and easier.
Last month, WFP's executive director warned that the war in Sudan risks triggering the world's worst hunger crisis unless families in Sudan and those who have fled to South Sudan and Chad receive desperately needed food assistance.
This requires unfettered access, faster clearances, process and funds to deliver a humanitarian response that meets the huge needs of some billions impacted by this devastating war in Sudan.
Thank you very much, Mrs Kinsley.
I'll open now the floor to question.
First of all, I know that Liz is going to say this, so I'm going to say it for all the journalists.
If it's possible for Ishita to distribute your notes as soon as possible, please.
So, Lisa Schlein, Voice of America.
Good morning, Miss Kenzie.
First could, could you tell me what, what changed that you were able actually to deliver aid after months to Darfur and you seem to be in doubt that that this will happen again, that this might be a one off for quite a while, which would of course be very unfortunate.
And are you in constant contact with the other, with members of the Sudanese army and so forth in order to get aid into the other parts of, of, of Sudan?
Let's see when, when will the lean season actually begin?
You said, I think in several weeks and so forth.
And then I, I see that Christian Lindenmayer of WHO is on the line, maybe he can talk about the critical health situation in Sudan, sort of add to that and anyone else who might have something to add?
Lisa, thank you very much.
In fact, we have Margaret in the room and Christian on the line, but I'll start by asking Mrs Kinsley to answer and then maybe one of the colleagues of WHO can give us an update on the health situation in the country.
So thanks so much, Lisa, for your question.
So first your question, how was this possible?
So a little bit of background.
In February, the authorities in Port Sudan revoked permissions to transport aid via Audrey border in Chad to West Star Four.
And for some context, W Star 4 is largely controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
So they revoked those permissions and through that specific order, last year we had reached 1,000,000 people.
Then there were ongoing negotiations on behalf of the humanitarian community between the humanitarian court coordinator in Port Sudan and the Sudanese Armed Forces and the authorities in Port Sudan to basically reopen these cross-border corridors.
The authorities agreed to open a new corridor from Tina and Chad which crosses into N Darfur.
So it's much further north.
And that actually that route to get into El Fascia in North Darfur's capital is much lengthy and much more challenging because there's so many different armed actors along that route.
And so then authorities also on a provisional basis granted access to move food from ADRE into Chad, basically considering that aid agencies, including WFP had already pre positioned food there.
And now there is a lack of clarity whether we will be able to continue and regularly use the cross-border from Andre into Westar 4, which is so critical because Westar 4 is among the most food insecure areas in Sudan, especially Janina.
And historically has been over the last four to five years is where we see the highest levels of hunger in the lean season.
And so if we aren't able to use that specific corridor and continue to use it and scale up via that corridor, that is what we are most concerned about is what is going to happen to the people of West R4 who are bearing the brunt of this conflict, who are in, you know an unimaginable situation.
So that's to your first question on how kind of the background of how this let's say somewhat of a breakthrough and access happened into the Darf wars via these cross borders.
Then you were asking when the lean season starts.
So typically in Sudan, the lean season is from May until September and sometimes it does in, in certain areas it starts sooner or later, sometimes not until June.
But this year we're extremely concerned that it's going to start even sooner, maybe even in the next week or so because the crop production was so much lower the across the country.
Nationwide, the production of staple cereals, so that's wheat, sorghum and Millet, was 41% below the five year average, meaning there's going to be less food availability in the lean season, which also means that the lean season may start sooner and also last longer and be more severe and affect many more people.
I hope that answers your questions.
And I have been joined here on the podium by Margaret Harris.
I don't have specifics data numbers for you, but I'm going to get them for you.
I'm just getting them and I'll send them to you by e-mail.
But essentially the health situation is disastrous.
People are not being able to access healthcare, health services with.
Going on for so long that is preventing access to healthcare of all kinds.
Of course, we do have teams on the ground and we're doing what we can, but essentially this is an ongoing health catastrophe.
And as I said, I will get you more detail when I have it.
Peter Kenny or Africa Global Media?
Peter, can you unmute yourself please?
I think we have a muted here, but you have to do it yourself on your side, please, otherwise we can't hear you.
I was just wanting to ask Miss Kinsley, you mentioned that the Sudan Armed Forces are obstructing your movement from from the ports.
Who are the other actors?
Is is it only the Sudan Armed Forces that are preventing your access to Darfur or are there other?
Party involved in this as well.
Sorry I just took a second to unmute.
I hope you can hear me now.
So it's both parties to the conflict that have been interfering with access to the Darf force.
And especially what has been difficult is the cross line access across battle zones.
So if you're looking at Sudan, the East is in control of the Sudanese Armed Forces.
And let's say very broadly the West is is largely in parts, big parts of the Darfur are in control of the Rapid Support Forces.
So getting the clearances to move assistance from 1 area of control to another from both sides has been extremely challenging.
There's a lot of politicisation of aid and accusations and propaganda on either side of of how aid is being used.
And, and so that's what makes it really, really difficult.
And just just one clarification, the the Sudanese Armed Forces or the authorities in Port Sudan had revoked permissions for cross-border from Chad into Darfur, not from Port Sudan, just to be a bit more specific on that one.
I see Lisa has a follow up.
To you, Margaret, sorry if I'm putting you on the spot for this.
Heard an interview with Rick Brennan earlier and he referred to the situation in Sudan as catastrophic.
He what what hit me about that was he said that this was sort of the first time or very rarely does he refer to any situation as catastrophic.
So what in your opinion makes this situation so acute, so catastrophic?
And in fact, I've got our public health situation analysis which just came out, so I can give you a lot more detail.
Humanitarian needs across Sudan are at record highs with 24.8 million people or every second person.
So how catastrophic is that needing humanitarian assistance in 2024?
This is 9,000,000 more than in 2023.
People have been forced to flee their homes due to the dire humanitarian situation and the destruction of essential infrastructure such as roads, hospitals, medical facilities and schools.
Also power, water, communication services, everything and all the infrastructure you need just for normal life.
The number of people displaced by the conflict continues to increase, with 8.1 million people fleeing their homes in Sudan.
Approximately 6.3 million people are displaced in Sudan and another eight, 1.8 million people have fled abroad.
So we have this analysis giving you all the detail, but that's the overview, that's what we're dealing with, a catastrophic situation.
I don't see other questions.
I'd like to thank Mrs Kinsley very much.
And again, we wait for your urgently for your notes to all the journalist.
Thanks Margaret for this update.
Margaret stays with us, so don't worry about her leaving the podium.
But I'd like now to go to Rome, where we have.
So Mrs Kinsley, thank you very much and good luck with your work.
And let's now go to one of your sister agencies colleague who's joining us from Rome.
You will know Maximo Torreira.
I don't need to introduce you to him, just remind you that Maximo is the FAO Chief Economist and we thank you very, very much for being here, as he does quite often, to update you on the global food commodity prices monthly update.
So you have the the floor, Maximo.
I see Maximus on the line, but I can't hear you.
If you could just add your your camera, please.
Just one more moment, because now we have the audio just waiting for the actually it is unmuted on our side.
So I'm looking at my colleague in the regime.
I'm Mr Torreiro says he's still not muted.
The machine doesn't let him unmute.
We are trying to get you served.
And while we are waiting, I just read you the message that Christian has just put in the in the chat saying that he will send out the the Sudan data that Margaret has just mentioned.
So we're trying to retrieve.
We're trying to retrieve Maximo.
Maybe while we do that, let me see if I can, if I can see what's happening.
Otherwise we go to the next.
OK, we have the connection now.
OK, Apparently there's a problem with the with the sounds.
Can I ask my colleague to try and solve this while maybe I will ask the colleagues from WHO to reach us on the podium?
Margaret has broken with her Paulina Niakinin Retaroli, who is the senior technical lead and unit head on human rights to tell us about World Health Day, which as you all know, it's 7th of April.
And the theme this year is My Health, My Rights.
Yeah, as you, as you please.
So you want to start with your comments or Margaret?
So as you know, I'm sure April 7 is our birthday.
It's a day we celebrate as World Health Day because it's the day that The Who Constitution came in.
And this year, very importantly, we've selected the theme My Health, my right, because it's poorly understood that health is a right, not a privilege.
I'd also like to, I've got a couple of announcements.
Should I mention them now or just go into Lena?
Lena and then OK, please go ahead.
I see that Mister Torell results online.
So we keep him you, we keep you there, Maximo, and we finish with the colleagues from WHO, please.
Thank you very much and good morning everyone.
So for World Health Day this year, WHO is placing a spotlight on the right to health.
WHO Constitution was in fact the first international instrument that recognised health as a right, and today all WHO Member States have ratified at least one international treaty that currently is the right to to health.
This means that every human being on this planet has the right to health and every country in the world has an obligation to realise it.
Despite this, the right to health is often unrealised or under ******.
In 2020, one 4.5 billion people, and that's more than half of the world's population, were not covered by essential health services.
About 2 billion people faced financial hardship due to health costs.
The situation has been worsening rather than improving over last two decades.
Progress is possible where there is political will.
Since 2042, countries have succeeded in improving both health service coverage and protection against catastrophic health spending.
On this World Health Day, WHO is calling for an additional annual investment of between 200 and 328,000 billion U.S.
dollars to scale up primary healthcare in low and middle income countries.
Financial barriers are not the only barrier to the realisation of the right to health.
Groups that are marginalised and discriminated against face many, many barriers and obstacles in accessing health services.
WHO is therefore calling for health services to be available, accessible for everyone, everywhere, without any discrimination.
We also call for meaningful involvement of individuals and communities in decision making around health.
Fully realising the right to health also means improving the conditions that allow people to live healthy lives.
Accents are therefore needed across all sectors of society to address the causes of ill health.
WHO is calling on governments to make every law and policy count for the right to health.
This means taxing tobacco, sugar and alcohol, eliminating trans fats, stopping fossil fuel subsidies, insuring worker rights for health and care workers, prohibiting all forms of discrimination, and ensuring access to social protection.
Recently, we have seen attacks on health facilities and on health and aid workers in conflict settings.
Health workers, facilities and supplies are protected under international humanitarian law.
They must never be attacked and they must never be used for military purposes.
Access to medical services must be insured, even during war and conflict.
WHO is calling for the safeguarding of the right to health and for the protection of health and humanitarian workers and facilities in war and conflict in line with international humanitarian human rights law.
But attacks on Healthcare is only one of the most flagrant examples of the violations of the right to health.
Even in countries that are not in war, too many people lose their lives or are pushed into poverty because they cannot access timely and affordable healthcare.
On this World Health Day, WHO is raising awareness so that people know their rights in the context of health and can advocate for these rights for themselves and for others.
Thank you very much and I'll open the floor to questions if any.
Let me go up on the platform.
Sorry, don't see any hand up.
So thank you very much for this update on this very, very important day.
And before you go, maybe Margaret, you wanted to add something on announcements and then we will go to a few.
Just a couple of announcements.
We've got a an embargoed press release on the hepatitis report.
There's a embargoed press conference which you're invited to this afternoon.
But also we've just giving to the pallet the embargoed press release as well.
That should come to your inboxes about 11:30 this morning.
The hepatitis report itself won't be available until next week.
It's a really big, really important report with and we will get it to you as quickly as we possibly can, but it's not quite complete yet.
And the other thing, yes, it was just, that was it.
And then the notes are from Lena's presentation.
It's a fuller transcript that's already in your inboxes, I'm sure.
Yeah, thank you very much.
And so thanks again for for the update, Missus, me, I can naturally.
And Margaret, you stay in the room in case there are questions later on on the other subjects.
So now we have Mr Torero from Rome.
Happy that we have solved the technical problem.
And I'll give you the floor for an update on, sorry, the FAO Food Price Index monthly update.
Many things and Apollo is something was going wrong.
OK, so this briefing concerns the FAO Food Price Index, which we released at 10 AM this morning runtime.
The FAO Food Price Index tracks the monthly changes in the international prices of basket of globally traded food commodities.
It covered 5 commodity groups and while it registered an app stick in March following a seven month long decline train, the FAO Food Price Index was down 9.9 points.
This is 7.7% from its corresponding value one year ago.
The increase in the FAO Food Price Index in March was led by increasing the world price of vegetable oils, dairy products and meat, which were more than the offset decreases in the presence of cereals and sugar.
If we look at specifically to the FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index, which led the increase in the FAO Food Price Index, pricing 8% from February and reaching A1 year **** with quotations for pan soy and flour and rapeseed oils all up.
International oil price rose due to seasonally lower outputs in leading producing countries and firm domestic demand in South Asia, Southeast Asia, while soil oil prices recover from multi year low, boosted by a robust demand from the biofuels sector, particularly in Brazil and the United States of America.
In the case of the FAO dairy price index, the increase for the 6th consecutive month in March up to 2.9% from February led by the higher world increase in cheese and butter prices, reflecting the steady important man from Asia.
Higher internal sales in Europe leading to the spring holidays and seasonally falling production in Doseni and the FAO meat price index also increased, rising 1.7% from the previous month with international price rising for poultry peak and bobbin meats underpinned by continued steady demand.
On the decrease side, the FAO cereal price index declined by 2.6% in March and was 20% below it's March 2022 value.
The drop was led by decreasing global wheat export prices, which declined due to the strong export competition among the European Union, the Russian Federation and the USA, which was underscored by cancelled purchases by China.
The FAO All Rise price Index did by 1.7% in March amid subdue global import demand and by contrast, the Maze export price and edge upwards in March due in part to logistical difficulties experienced in Ukraine.
The FAO Sugar price index declined by 5.4% from February, with a drop mainly driven by an upward revision to the 2023-2024 shower production forecast in India and improved pace of harvesting time.
So to conclude, despite the uptick in March, food commodity markets continue to sustain the relative cabinet, but always they remain prone to chokes as we all know, and again, the cereal prices has continued to decrease.
FAO also released today a new Cereal Supply and Demand brief, raising its forecast for world cereal production in 2023-2024 to 2841 million tonnes, reflecting the expectations of greater outputs of maize, rice and wheat.
And this explains why the zero prices continue to decline.
If we also adjusted this forecast for global wheat production in 2024, now picked at 786 million tonnes, marking a 1% increase over 2023.
For coal screen crops showing will begin soon in the snow and hemisphere, while harvests have already begun in the South of the equator.
While Argentina's output is expected to rebound after a drop impacted in 2023, the smaller outputs are expected from Brazil and across the southern Africa.
FAO will continue to monitor developments and we will keep informing you.
Thank you very much, Maximo.
And of course, I'm opening now the floor to question if there is any on this important update.
I don't see much up, hands up so, so I'll thank you very much.
Sorry again for this technical issue.
And we count on your colleagues here in Geneva on Key to send us the notes of your briefing, please.
Thank you again for being with us.
And Key says will do so we'll, you'll get very soon the the notes from Mr Torreira.
So let's go now to the last point on our briefing.
And I know that you've been waiting for this.
We have rescheduled the briefing because as you know, this morning there was a a important vote at the Human Rights Council.
I understand this has been now approved.
Maybe, Jeremy, you have more on the this, the resolution and in general on the occupied Palestinian Territory, the situation of humanitarian workers.
Yes, thank you, Alexandra.
As we approach six months of hostilities, it is with deep sadness and outrage that we reflect on the devastation and death toll in Israel and Gaza.
Over 33,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, are dead, 75,000 or more are injured and at least 7000 are presumed dead under the rubble.
Over 1200 are dead in Israel and hundreds injured.
More than 100 hostages remain in captivity.
Huge swathes of Gaza have been bombed into oblivion.
The Gaza Strip has changed forever.
The violations of international law committed since the 7th of October in Israel and Gaza, including gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict, as well as the destruction and suffering of civilians in Gaza over the last six months, are unprecedented, and the risk of further atrocity crimes is ****.
The world has collectively spoken to that this carnage and wanton destruction must end immediately.
The hostages must be released unconditionally.
Humanitarian aid and other goods necessary for the survival of this civilian population must be allowed to flood into Gaza and be safely distributed to every part of the Strip.
Also the the **** Commissioner stresses again that there must be accountability for the serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law that have been perpetrated, as well as a renewed resolve to reach a political solution to ensure Palestinians rights to self determination, equality and non discrimination and which guarantees the Palestinians and the Israelis can live side by side in peace.
This should not be just rhetoric, but action is needed now.
This week the world was shocked by Israel's killing of seven people working for World Central Kitchen.
So far, nearly 200 humanitarian workers have been killed in Gaza, including close to 180 UN staff.
The Israeli air strikes that killed World Central Kitchen personnel underline the horrific conditions under which humanitarian workers are operating in Gaza.
Israel has also killed law enforcement officials and others involved in securing humanitarian aid delivery, directly contributing to the breakdown of civil order and putting humanitarian workers and those in need of aid in further danger.
Following these latest attacks, NGOs including World Central Kitchen and Anira have suspended aid delivery and distribution to Palestinians in Gaza, increasing the already risk of more deaths from famine and disease at larger scale.
International law requires all parties to respect and protect humanitarian relief personnel and ensure their safety, security and freedom of movement.
Israel, as the occupying power, has the additional obligation to ensure to the fullest extent possible that the basic needs of the population of Gaza are met.
This means that it must ensure the provision of food and medical care to the population commensurate with its needs, and if it is unable to do so, it must facilitate the work of humanitarian organisations to deliver that assistance and the access of the population to it in a safe and dignified manner.
Attacking people or objects involved in humanitarian assistance may amount to a war crime.
As the **** Commissioner has repeatedly stated, impunity must end.
Independent, thorough and effective investigations into all alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law committed on the 7th of October and subsequently need to be conducted promptly.
The **** Commissioner reiterates his call on all duty bearers to ensure cooperation with international mechanisms, including the International Criminal Court.
All victims and their families should be granted full reparation.
Thank you very much, Jeremy.
And that gives me the occasion to inform you that today at 11 AM New York time, which should be 5:00 if I'm not wrong here.
And the Secretary General will talk to you or to the press in, in, in New York and elsewhere ahead of the six months mark since the horrific attacks of Amas, Amas, another against Israel of the 7th of October and the start of the Israeli military operations that, as we know, we have repeatedly condemned.
Towards the Palestinian as a collective punishment of the Palestinian people and as we have heard now from Jeremy.
So connect yourself with five O clock with on on UN web TV to listen to the statement to the mistake out of the secretary general on this six months mark.
I'll open the the floor to question and I see Ariana Vosti you, you have the floor.
Yes, thank you, Alexandra and thank you Jeremy.
Sorry, because as all of the journalist, I was in the Council of the Human Rights where the resolution was voted by the States.
And in the resolution, it is said that Israel have to let your office and the Commission of inquiry to go to the territory for accountability, as you just now.
And we had after that a stakeout with the Israelian ambassador and she, I asked her a question about the access for your office and for the Commission of inquiry.
She said that nothing will change in their position.
So that means that you, it seems that you will not have access to these territories.
So what are the next step for your office for the accountability?
Because as we all understand, without access, you couldn't make any investigations to to say who is accountability for what.
So what are the next step for your office on that?
The first is our position is unchanged.
We'll continue to press the Israeli authorities for full access.
The **** Commissioner has communicated this expressly with the Israelis on a number of occasions and we'll continue to do so.
We work at the United Nations and we engage with states.
We will proceed with that strategy.
Nothing changes with respect to the the work that we we are still carrying on with our work.
We have a considerable amount of staff in the region who are working day and night on this, albeit not necessarily from Gaza.
We have had access to Gaza on a couple of occasions over the past six months, but with just one person going in.
So there's limited access for sure.
But for us to do our work thoroughly and to the best of our ability, we we need access.
We don't stop, we'll continue.
And the the last one about one more time, this resolution, in the resolution, there is a call to your office saying that your office have to send more people and allowing more resources to this conflict.
We all know that there is a problem of financing in the UN.
Is this something possible for your office to send more people or is this, are you now in the limit of what you can do?
To be honest with you, it's too early.
I wouldn't be in a position to to make a comment on that.
Listen, we would like to send more people, as simple as that.
Yes, there are issues of finances.
And let me inform you that we've just, I've just been told that the stakeout of the secretary general has now been moved to 930 New York Times.
And as I said, you can follow it on UN Web TV.
There is a live schedule available with the link.
Any other question to Jeremy on this particular matter?
Yes, there is a question from FAI think they have a they can't open their mic, but they say question from FA news Agency to Jeremy.
Do you have any reaction to the announcement that Israel is going to open, sorry, 2 new pathways for humanitarian aid into Gaza?
First and foremost, as I just read out in the statement, our call has repeatedly been for humanitarian aid to be able to, to be given, to be sent aloud into Gaza.
The situation is desperate.
We know that you've, we've, we've heard about the Gaza's on the brink of famine.
People are, are starving.
Listen, I think the fact that that two more borders have opened it or will open is of course, that's good news, but much, much more needs to be done.
500 trucks a day were were going into Gaza before October 7.
Now we're not even close to that.
So Jeremy, you have another point and that one was on Kyrgyzstan.
Yes, Thanks again, Alexandra.
We have serious concerns that a new law due to come into force in Kyrgyzstan in just over a week's time will pose a serious ****** to the work of numerous civil society organisations in the country and more broadly violate fundamental rights to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly and the right to take part in public affairs.
Earlier this week, President Sadiya Yaparov signed into law the Foreign Representatives Bill.
This grants the authorities extensive oversight of non commercial organisations and stipulates that Ng OS engaging in what are broadly termed political activities and receiving foreign funding must register as foreign representatives.
Failure to do so could result in their operations being suspended for up to six months and possibly forced liquidation.
The majority of NGOs actively operating in Kyrgyzstan receive grants, including from international organisations and foreign donors.
We are concerned that many of the affected NGOs could feel compelled to close to avoid being stigmatised as foreign representatives, exposed to arbitrary cheques by the authorities and having to pay for annual audits.
Those that choose to be registered as foreign representatives could end up having to self censor.
This in turn would lead to legitimate public advocacy, human rights monitoring and reporting, and discussion of matters of public interest being seriously stifled.
We call on the authorities to repeal the new law and ensure all future legislation fully respects international human rights law and standards.
We also urge the authorities to engage in meaningful consultations with all relevant stakeholders, including civil society organisations and human rights defenders, in this regard.
Any question on the Kyrgyzstan law?
So thanks a lot for this two briefings, Jeremy, I have quite a few updates to share with you.
So again, the Secretary General's take out on the six months mark from the 7th of October at 9:30 New York time.
Then I have received an update from Pascal on the situation at the Human Rights Council.
So I read it to you on the last day of its 55th session, the UN Human Rights Council is considering five last resolution put forward before it for adoption, in addition to those who have been approved this morning.
So the remaining 5 draught resolutions are the one on the rights of the child, realising the rights of the child and inclusive social protection.
Then another one on the rights of the Palestinian people to self determination.
The third one on human rights in the occupied Syrian Golan.
The 4th is on Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, including E Jerusalem and in the occupied senior Syrian Golan.
And the 5th of remote participation modalities for hybrid meeting of the Human Rights Council.
This afternoon the Human Rights Council will also take action on the approval of proposed candidates at 414 experts mandates.
This is the update from Pascal and as I said, of course you can, you can always contact him or for more also on human rights activities.
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination will open next Monday at 10 AM it's 112th session, which will last until the 28th of April at Palli Wilson, during which it will review the reports of Mexico, San Marino, Albania, Qatar and Moldova.
And the conference on this armament will open the second part of its 2024 session on the 13th of May.
Let me give you a few other announcements on other dates.
First of all, as you all know, the 7th of April, the international community remembers the genocide, the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
This year, as you can easily calculate, as the 30th anniversary from this terrible event that started on the 7th of April 1994, the Secretary General has issued a statement that we have distributed to you.
And I would like to remind you that on the 15th of April, so not the 7th, which is a Sunday, but on Monday, 15th of April, we will have the commemoration of this International Day here at the UN office in Geneva.
The programme will start.
There will be a, a, a ceremony on the Plas Dinastro at 10:00, which is managed by the organised by the Permanent Mission.
And then at 4:00 here in the Palais in Room 20, we will hold a commemoration ceremony that will be attended and we'll see speeches from our Director General, of course, the message of Antonio Guterres, our Secretary General.
And then we will have a statement by **** Commissioner for Human Rights Turk.
And then we will have remarks from the by the President of the Association of Genocide Survivors, Ibuka, and testimony by a survivor.
We will have some artists from Rwanda and the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Rwanda will conclude with his own remarks.
So again, 15th of April, we will wait for you in Room 20 other announcements on the 9th of April.
So that is Tuesday, coming Tuesday.
We're pleased to inform you that we will start exceptionally the UN Geneva press briefing at 10:00 AM instead of 10/30 as we usually do.
And that will be because we will have with us the Secretary General of Anktad in person here.
She will participate in our briefing as a prequel.
She will address the first ever Anktad rebranding in the run up to the Anktad anniversary, the 60th anniversary which will be celebrated in June here at the Paladinacion.
So we are very happy to have Mrs Greenspan here in person at 10 AM on Tuesday.
We'll start the briefing a little bit earlier.
I would like also to announce that and and and not correspondent about this participation.
Mrs Greenspan is being sent to you by Solange in the next few minutes.
I wanted to inform you and also the the the written invitation will come to you very quickly that on the 15th of April, UNFPA, the UN sexual and reproductive Health agency, we'll launch the State of world Population 2024 report from Geneva.
The report title is interval when lives, threats of hope, ending inequalities in sexual and reproductive health and rights.
So we will have the get pressure to have with us the executive director of UNFPA, Doctor Natalia Kanim in person here from the press room.
The press conference is under embargo as is the report and every information about this report.
The embargo will be lifted at 6:01 AM on 17th of April and which is also marked as midnight one in in the UN in the US.
But that will be the the Geneva time for the lifting of the embargo.
The report is available as an advance copy to you starting on the 9th of April.
So if you need one, you will find in the announcement the contact of our colleague of UNFPA at the right.
You can contact him, he will send you the embargoed advance copy of the report.
And as I said, the media briefing will also be under embargo.
But Mrs Kanema will be here to present the report.
It's very important report and answer your questions.
You will receive the invitation very quickly on the 16th of April, as I've already announced, at 10 AM, and we will open with the Director General and the Mayor of Vernay and some other Swiss authorities the week of the UN at Balixa.
That would be really a nice event.
I really encourage you to participate and cover it.
There will be 16 UN agencies and international organisation of what we call the International Geneva that will be showcasing their impact.
Impact full work to the population and as I said, as we cannot do open days at the Palais, we moved to town to do it.
And I think that was my last announcement.
And maybe just a one last point because many of you have asked about the measures, the cost saving measures that are going to impact the Palais and of which we have spoken to you with the Director of Administration a few days ago.
We will be giving more information, more answers to your questions, in particular about the timing of the closure of the palace.
We will come back to you with more information very, very soon.
And that's about what I had to tell you.
So if there are no questions for me and I don't see any hand up, thank you very much for following the briefing and Bone weekend.
And I'll see you on Tuesday, as I said again at 10:00 instead of 10/30 with Missus Greenspan.
