OK, so let's continue with our regular press briefing of today, Tuesday, 9th of April was great to hear from Secretary General of Anktad, but we have other speakers on the list.
And in particular, I'm very happy to welcome August Serrado from UNHCR who has brought her as the her colleague Mary Ellen Werner, who is the UNHCR representative in South Sudan.
Mrs Vernay is coming to us from Juba to tell us more about people fleeing Sudan daily, one year after the start of the war.
I'll start with Olga and then we will go to Madame Derne.
So we are here a year on, as the war in Sudan continues to rage, with the country and its neighbours dragged into one of the largest and most challenging humanitarian and displacement crisis in the world.
The number of Sudanese forced to flee has now surpassed 8.5 million people, with 1.8 million of them crossing borders.
The ongoing conflict has shattered people's lives, filling them with fear and loss.
Attacks on civilians continue even though the war started one year ago.
Everyday, thousands cross borders as if the emergency had started just yesterday.
In South Sudan, an average on average over 1800 people continue to arrive daily, increasing pressure on overstretched infrastructure.
And we will hear more from our representative.
In South Sudan, Marine and Verne Chad has experienced the largest refugee arrivals in its history, while them teams from UNHCR and partners continue to to to work and relocate refugees to expanded a new settlement.
Over 150,000 remain in bordered areas in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, mainly and largely due to funding shortfalls in the Central African Republic.
In March, over 2200 people arrived from Sudan in hard to reach areas where logistical challenges hindered a delivery.
The number of Sudanese registered with Unity and in Egypt has increased fivefold over the past year, with a daily average of 2003 thousand refugees and asylum seekers from Sudan registering and approaching our reception areas.
Continuing your refugee arrivals, those crossing borders, mostly women and children, are arriving in remote areas with little to nothing and in desperate need of food, water, shelter and medical care.
Many families have been separated and arrive in distress.
People and children have witness or experience appalling violence and making psychosocial support a priority and **** number of children are arriving malnourished.
For instance, in Chad, nearly 50,000 malnourished children have crossed the border in the past few months As the conflict continues and abated with a lack of assistance and opportunities, more people will be forced to flee Sudan to neighbouring countries and likely move further, risking their lives by embarking on long dangerous journeys to to find safety.
In the last year, for instance, Uganda has welcomed 30,000 Sudanese refugees, including over 14,000 since the start of this year.
Most Sudanese who are arriving are from Khartoum and have a university level education and unitary statistics show increased movements of Sudanese refugees to Europe as well, with 6000 arriving in Italy since the beginning of 2023 from Tunisia and Libya.
This is an almost 6 fold increase from the previous year.
Host countries having extremely generous welcoming those forced to flee and they are making efforts to include them in national and public services.
However, despite the magnitude of the crisis, we continue to see that funding remains critically low.
The the 2024 Regional Refugee Response Plan is just 7% funded and very similarly is the situation for the Humanitarian Response Plan from inside.
For Inside Sudan, UNHERM partners are saving lives in many locations, but we are being able to provide less than the bare minimum.
Firm commitments from the international community to support Sudan and the countries hosting refugees are needed to ensure that they can live in dignity.
And now we go to Mrs Vernet.
Good morning, colleagues.
Olga has just told you about the overall numbers.
So I'm not going to spend a lot of time on numbers, but I do want to give a bit of an idea of what these numbers actually mean.
635,000 people have arrived to South Sudan since 15th of April last year and that represent more than 5% of the population of South Sudan.
So I think if we want to make a comparison, if we're talking about Germany, that would be 4.5 million people arriving in one year, in less than one year.
And if we're talking about the United States, that would be 17.6 million people arriving in less than one year.
Now this is the world's poorest country, so you can imagine the pressure that has been put on this country since 15th of April.
Daily average of arrival since last 15th of April a year ago is 1800 people a day, a day, every single day.
I want to really stress this because I think it's also important to understand that the pressure this is putting on the humanitarian teams responding at the border every day, Sunday, Christmas, you name it, Easter, all of it is included in that.
So the vast majority are actually arriving in just one place, which is a place that is called the Jodha border crossing point, which is at the very obviously at the very north of the country.
And this is a place that is cut off from the rest of the country.
The only way out of that place is by river, the Nile River.
So the first priority of the response has actually been to move people away from the border further into the country.
And that is obviously not as easy as it sounds because there are no roads, so people have to go by boat.
It's 48 hours on a boat down to a city called Malacca.
And from there they wait until they can be taken to the places where they're going to go to.
Finally, the other priority of the response therefore is obviously setting up.
We have set up a large number of transit centres and managing these transit centres because due to the logistics, the the amount of time that people do spend in rank vary from two days to two months.
So that's obviously a priority and I will get back to the funding, but it's a priority that we need to expand at the moment because we are approaching the second rainy season.
I mean, you may have seen pictures of rank.
When it rains, it gets very muddy and unfortunately a lot of people are outside.
Another priority obviously, and that I think Olga already touched on is really identifying the vulnerable.
Unfortunately, we get a lot of children arriving unaccompanied, a lot of single women.
You all know, we all know that the risk of of sexual violence are **** during transit.
And we have heard pretty heartbreaking stories of what has happened to women trying to flee when they were in Sudan.
I've mentioned some of the challenges for sure, the logistics.
South Sudan is a very complex country to work on, very few roads, pretty much everything in in terms of assistance as to be airlifted, which of course increases the cost significantly.
I've mentioned that we are approaching again the rainy season and of course with the rainy season, we are once again facing risks of disease, particularly cholera is something we're always very worried about and we are preparing for.
The lack of funding certainly is an issue.
The for South Sudan, the funding, the total funding that we require is 283,000,000.
That's 18% funded as of 31st of March and actually something that is interesting and that is both a challenge and an opportunity.
Many, many of the refugees that we are receiving, the Sudanese refugees are in fact quite a different profile from the other Sudanese refugees that South Sudan had been receiving in early years.
They tend to be very urban, mostly from Khartoum, what Madani, and also very middle class, very educated, which means that many of them are one, have professional skills that can be used and two, very reluctant to be in camps.
So we're working with the government of South Sudan to try and match the professional skills with the gaps that exist in South Sudan.
In terms of skills particularly we are talking here health professionals and education professionals.
I would say the biggest challenge that we face is really the relentlessness of this crisis.
Unfortunately, we're not seeing an end to this crisis and in fact, it could get worse before it gets better.
We're particularly concerned about one particular city in Sudan, which is called Hosti, where there are at least half 1,000,000 S Sudanese and at least half a million, probably a lot more than that Sudanese ID PS And that's something we're very concerned about.
I will add, by really stressing the impact on South Sudan, which goes way beyond the number of arrivals.
I mean, I was mentioning 4.5 million arrivals in Germany in one year.
I think that would challenge even a rich European country.
But really when you're talking about a country like South Sudan that has very, very close links with Sudan, you all know, of course, South Sudan was part of Sudan until 2011.
And the economy of the country is very linked to Sudan.
So the crisis in Sudan has very badly hit South Sudan.
Most of the country we've seen the prices of food within one month of the conflict starting going up 300%, same for all basic commodities.
And these communities in the north of the country are actually the community where these Sudanese, we say returning to South Sudan from Sudan are going to 735 thousand arrival, half a million are S Sudanese.
And we say that they are S Sudanese returning.
The vast majority of them had never lived in South Sudan.
So you have come, it is in the north of the country that are having to integrate very large number of their compatriots coming with at the time where they are even more fragile than they already were.
75% of the population of the country is in need of humanitarian assistance, 75%.
We are seeing an increase in the number of communities that are now facing famine in South Sudan.
And lately in the past months, the the economic situation in the country has deteriorated even further because the oil pipeline, South Sudan does produce oil, but it doesn't refine oil.
And so all the oil that is produced in South Sudan goes to Sudan for refining and exporting.
Since last month, that oil pipeline has been closed because Sudan is no longer able to maintain it due to the conflict.
This has had a massive impact on the economy of South Sudan, the entire country with incredibly rapid inflation of the South Sudanese pounds and just generally speaking, a lack of revenue getting into the country.
So it's a pretty challenging situation for the country.
And I suppose it sounds a bit right, but the only real solution to this is to have peace in Sudan as quickly as well.
Miss Madam, thank you very much.
There were a little bit of problems on the audio, but hopefully you'll be able to answer questions from our journalists.
Otherwise Olga can do that.
So I will start now to give the floor to Benjamin Lewis, who is our correspondent of the Swiss Radio Television.
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I have a Missy in the room.
If there are other hands up.
So let's go to the platform.
Lisa Katrina has already asked for the notes of Mrs Verner.
And I understand from Orga that they've been transcribed because she didn't read from a paper.
So you'll have them as soon as possible.
And maybe you have a question also for Mrs Verner.
Lisa Shrine, Mrs Verner is our correspondent of Force of America.
I'd like to have your notes as well as Madame Verner's notes.
They're a little scattered, but I'll see where I what I can do with them.
That is in regard to the Sudanese returnees, so-called, I mean, it was interesting that you mentioned that when they originally were planted in Sudan, they weren't, they were part of Sudan because of the whole thing.
But nonetheless, do they have attachments to communities of origin?
And if so, are they being, are you trying to integrate them into the places where they originally came from?
And are they being welcomed?
Then was interesting that you mentioned that there are people who are professionals and they have skills.
And so it's a kind of reverse brain drain that they they now are coming to South Sudan.
Are you actually actively working with the government, you know, talking about this and about how these people can be used for the benefit of the South Sudanese economy?
Let's see now the yeah, Olga, you're talking a lot about the people who are going from, you know, leaving, fleeing to other countries, sorry, in, in Africa and also in Europe.
What is their reception like?
That is is their hostility?
Growing in terms of these communities to which they are going because many, many of the countries are very poor.
Chad, and on and on and on.
And there's a lot of, you know, pressure upon them.
So I'm wondering what's what's happening with that.
And the government, the South Sudanese government itself.
Sorry, I will stop after this.
But Miss Verne, in terms in terms of that, are they really able to handle this?
They themselves politically and economically and socially have so many difficulties.
I'll start with Mrs Vernand, then we can go to you, Olga.
So your first question, attachment to communities of origin, you know South Sudan is very defined by people define themselves very much in terms of their identity by ethnic origin, right?
So even those who have never lived in South Sudan, they would probably choose to go to the area where the originally the family came from, right.
So you know, depending on the ethnic origin that might go to Unity state or upon our state.
So in that sense there is that, but many, many of them I've never really never lived here.
And again, many of these S Sudanese coming back were in Khartoum.
So they're very urban and it's a bit of a shock for them to be in communities that are very often quite small.
So what we're seeing in fact is that a lot of them do end up in urban centres.
As I was saying, the issue here is that so on the one hand, many of those were coming back, not all, but many have skills that perhaps S Sudanese here would not have.
And these are the ones who tend to end up in the cities, particularly the younger people.
Now do these communities welcome them?
Yes, in the sense that we have not had anywhere any reaction against return.
Is it it has not been any friction.
I think the communities do understand what's happening in Sudan.
And so in that sense, they welcome them.
Do they have the capacity to integrate them?
That's really another question.
And what can we do, what we're trying, what we're trying, But it's very, very difficult because as I said, these were communities that pretty much 100% of them in the north of the country already depended on humanitarian assist.
Humanitarian funding in South Sudan has been going down quite.
And I really feel that this is going to be the one we are losing.
Whether or not we managed to help is going to be what is not the oh, can you hear me now difficulty.
I wonder whether if I wonder whether if you could turn off the video, we could hear you better.
It says that the low the bandwidth is very low.
I don't know if it's we can do that.
It seems the video, the audio is better.
OK, So I think whether or not we managed to integrate this half a million people and probably half a million before the end of the year, another half a million into communities is going to be the the deciding factor as to whether or not these people then decide to move back either to Sudan or towards Europe.
Yes, we are talking actively with the Commission for Refugee Affairs and with the Labour minister about what we can do to match the skills there are, there's a big, there are big gaps in South Sudan, particularly in education and in health.
So we're trying to match the skills of the education professionals and health professionals that are arriving.
And the government of South Sudan really needs to be praised for its generosity.
I mean, again, the world's poorest countries, the borders are open and they're willing to give job even in the public sector to qualified doctors and nurses from Sudan.
So that's something that's actually quite interesting and I'm happy.
We're also also quite interesting that we're able to do this from the beginning of the crisis, which that is one of the, I would say, one of the opportunities that we've seen here.
And maybe I would also highlight the involvement of the development actors and the multilateral banks.
They're really trying to help, including to integrate returnees into communities.
So both the World Bank and the African Development Bank and the European Union have really stepped to the plate and are really trying to help.
Is the South Govern, Sudanese government able to help?
I mean, it's as you know, I mean, I've described the economic situation.
You also know that South Sudan is possibly heading for its first presidential election at the end of the year.
I think that the South Sudanese government is doing everything possible to help.
The coordination with humanitarian actors has been good.
But again, the scale of the response I think would challenge any government and, and it is obviously very difficult.
So our message to the South Sudanese government is really coordination, keeping the borders open, which they have done, but also making sure that they really target these communities with large number of returns and include them into the state and national development plan.
Thank you very much, Olga.
Just very briefly because I think what my alliance said translates to, to other neighbouring countries as well.
I mean we haven't seen any major hostility in the neighbouring countries.
On the contrary, we've seen communities that are open and welcoming those refugees since they started arriving a year ago.
And the same for the, for the, for the governments and the hosting countries.
We are seeing refugees being included in existing settlements in, in, in schools, in, in the health system, also facilitating for instance, in Egypt, the access to, to, to SIM cards and, and other services that can make someone's life much easier and dignified when, when in exile.
But something that is key here is that funding needs to arrive and not only for the humanitarian response, but also to to those hosting countries so they can they can enhance those infrastructures and public services to accommodate the refugees that have been arriving in the past year and that we see continue arrive on a on a daily basis.
Thank you for being with us.
The 1st is related to the conference you told us about.
Where is it going to take place?
And if I understood well, it will last one day, April 15.
My second question is related to the oil exploitation, because this is a very important revenue for South Sudan and due to the war in Sudan, there are problems.
So are the countries that have companies exploiting oil in South Sudan and taking advantage of that oil investing or helping South Sudan?
I was giving you the floor.
The conference in Paris, one day, 15th of April, organised by the French Foreign Ministry.
The morning is going to be political discussions, I mean basically peace resolution discussions, I think at, I think at head of states levels, but I am not quite certain.
I don't have confirmation as to who is going, but that's probably some information that Olga can get for you.
And in the afternoon, it's a pledging conference.
So that's next week in next Monday even I think in Paris one day.
And I'm pretty certain that Olga can share a lot more information on that one.
The oil situation, 95% of the declared revenue of South Sudan comes from oil, 95%.
And it is, it is an interesting set up in the sense that the oil is extracted here by a number of companies including Chinese, I think mostly Chinese companies that is then sent through a pipeline to Sudan.
Sudan refines the oil and exports it and then some of the refined oil come back to South Sudan in exchange for Sudan transporting and refining the oil.
South Sudan pays money to Sudan.
Basically for each barrel of oil, there's, there's a fee that is being paid to Sudan.
So it was in the interest of those countries to keep that pipeline going.
But basically they've tried and it's not Even so much a case that either side in the conflict has attacked the pipeline.
It's more a case that because of the conflict, they are not able to do basic maintenance on that pipeline.
And if you don't do maintenance on an oil pipeline, at some point it's going to basically get get stilted and and the oil will not be able to flow.
And this is what's happening now.
So this happened about two months ago and immediate immediate consequences on the economy of South Sudan and and possibly in the longer term on the stability of South Sudan as well.
Again, 95% of the revenue.
So basically the country no longer has money to pay salaries of its civil servants, of its military, etcetera.
We don't have a clear outlook of how quickly that pipeline could be repaired.
Yeah, frankly, it's probably hard to see if it can be repaired as long as the conflict is going on.
All the companies that are extracting the oil in South Sudan, are they trying to help?
I'm not Privy to that kind of information.
My guess is that they are because, again, it's in their interest for the oil to flow.
The problem is it really is the the conflict itself in Sudan that is preventing people from being able to maintain that pipeline.
Olga, sorry, just to add Catherine that the, the conference taking place on Monday is convened by, by France, Germany and the European Union.
We can share additional information with you later on.
But also if as the convenience are the the states, they can provide further information and it's, it's an opportunity again to mobilise resources, but also a momentum for that much needed ceasefire and humanitarian access that we are asking.
Catherine, I see you have a follow up.
Yes, thank you, Olga for these details.
Are the UN officially invited and also are the heads of states or representatives of neighbouring countries also invited to that conference?
Sorry, yes, I forgot, I forgot that point.
So the **** Commissioner Filippo Grandi will be there.
I see James here so he can confirm attendance to the conference from from MOCHA.
And regarding the presence, I understand it's a ministerial level presence, but Catherine, I can I can get to you later on.
I don't know if you want to come to the podium just to.
Oh, the question was yeah, I'll, I'll.
He knew if Martin would be left.
Yes, Orchard will participate with our Assistant Secretary General George Musua.
Any other question on Sudan, I don't see other hands up.
Yes, that was that was great.
Unless there is any other question for Yens?
So let me just thank very much Olga and our colleague in Juba, Marielle and Vernet, the VHCR representative in South Sudan, Mercibu Kuperatravic.
And I count on Olga to send the notes as soon as possible to the journalist.
OK, so Gabriel, you have a question and then we have Sarah also that needs to to brief.
But Gabriel, you have a question to Jens before we let him go.
Yes, I don't want to keep him up there too long.
Jens, essentially we'd like to know, you know, we're looking at how much aid is going going into Gaza.
Cogat has published certain numbers suggesting that more aid has been going in, but those numbers are not do not necessarily correspond to numbers published by other UN agencies.
For example, Kogat said that 419 trucks went in, which would be the most since the war began, but there's a backlog.
So just wondering what would ultra stance on this be and if indeed 419 trucks would be enough.
I know the figure had been 500 before, but if what is going in currently would be sufficient.
I missed you too last week.
Cogant has has actually treated another update a few hours ago where they put together I believe Sunday and Monday numbers.
It's complicated and let me be upfront here.
We will never get these truck numbers to match and there's a reason for that.
First of all, Cogat counts what they screen and sent across the border.
We count trucks that arrive in our warehouses.
Between those two there are issues.
First of all, trucks that go in screened by Cogat are typically only half full.
That is a requirement that they have put in place for screening purposes.
When we count the trucks on the other side when they have been reloaded and I'll come back to that they're full to already there, the numbers will will never match up.
Secondly, counting day-to-day and comparing makes little sense because it does not take into account the delays that happens at the crossing and the further movement to warehouses.
There is a restriction imposed by the Israeli side that Egyptian drivers and trucks can never be in the same area at the same time as Palestinian drivers and trucks.
That means there's not a smooth handover.
First, everything has to come in, has to be offloaded, everybody has to go out before a new set of trucks from inside Gaza on Palestinian plates with vetted Palestinian drivers can go in and pick it up.
There are opening hours at these crossings.
What often happens is that things move across from Israel into Gaza, and then they sleep overnight because it's not open anymore for the Gaza side to come in and pick up trucks.
So already there you have another issue that makes these direct comparisons meaningless.
What we want to stress today is the overall picture.
And I want to point to a particular statistic that we publish today in our daily Flash update, which speaks about the movements inside Gaza because that's where there's a, if you like another complication 1 is to get to the warehouse then, but that doesn't mean anything for anyone because the aid has not been distributed.
The other thing is what kind of movements inside Gaza are possible and are actually facilitated.
And there we have numbers for March.
And there you will see perhaps to your surprise, certainly to my surprise that the statistics tells us that it is so that UN coordinated food deliveries are much more food deliveries are much more likely to be impeded or denied access to areas requiring coordination within Gaza than any other humanitarian mission.
So this is bureaucratic language for the fact that food convoys that should be going particularly to the north where 70% of people face famine conditions are more likely, actually three times more likely to be denied than any other humanitarian convoy with other kinds of material.
That's quite astonishing, isn't it?
So that is what I have on.
On that, we do not of course, behind the fact that distribution inside Gaza is a major issue because of the well known, you know, security and safety issues because of the breakdown of law and order.
But we also stress that the obligation on the warring parties, and in particular would say on Israel as the occupying power of Gaza.
To facilitate and ensure humanitarian access does not stop at the border.
And when you put up statistics with numbers of truck going in saying look at all these hundreds of trucks going in and you put it against, look how few trucks have actually moved around with the with distribution.
Well, it's kind of an own goal, isn't it?
Because half of the convoys that we were trying to send to the north with food were denied by the very same Israeli authority.
I think I've seen some hints.
Yes, please, Michelle, I just, I wanted to follow up actually quickly on on on Gabriel's question.
James, what is the reason that has been given as to why these food aid trucks are being denied?
I mean, is, is there a sort of a logic to it?
I have, of course, asked the same question and we are not given any clear answers to any of that.
They very often deny and that's it.
And it it ends there, we don't get an explanation.
We read that other crossing points are going to open, particularly areas.
Could you say are these other crossing points already open?
And what's the significance of the area's crossing point if it's only servicing supplies from Ashdod Port, Are those supplies coming into Ashdod Port?
So will this make a sea change to deliveries of food to the north?
Thank you, thank you as thank you, Nick.
As of last night, we had no information that the ERAS crossing had in fact opened.
So that is what we're waiting to see.
We will recall on the 6th of April, Jimmy McGoldrick, the humanitarian coordinator, issued a statement where he welcomed a number of measures and actually assurances that he had gotten from the Israeli authorities to ease entry and distribution of aid.
And I will not read that out, but I will refer to that.
There are a number of very practical points there.
He was very clear that the goal is really only and solely to save lives now.
And this is what is, you know, practically needed.
And those were the assurances he he was given.
Again, as of last night, the actual implementation of these were still pending.
Thank you very much, Jens.
I think we can get you off the grill.
Thank you very much for these updates.
And let's go to Sarah who has been patiently waiting.
Sarah, you have a, an information on UNDP report, right?
Thank you very much, Alessandra.
UNDP is launching a new report on Thursday on the socio economic situation in Myanmar, another forgotten crisis.
The embargo is under a strict Yeah, sorry.
The report is under a strict embargo until 6:00 AM Geneva time on Thursday.
So to note, this is one of the largest household surveys to date.
The survey covers over 12,000 people and it focuses on poverty level in Myanmar and especially how the crisis effects disproportionately women and children.
The the report brings new figures correlating GDP, poverty and and broader vulnerability with disaggregated data.
And I'll be, I'll be happy to connect you with our senior economists who prepared the the report.
We can walk you through the findings and the policy recommendation I sent you yesterday, the press release and the report and the strict embargo.
Also Please note that Kenny Vinyaraja with UN Assistant Secretary General and UNDP Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific.
Well brief at the noon briefing on Thursday.
Just get in touch if you're interested to to know more about the report and potentially cover the story.
And just in case it had escaped to please be reminded that on Friday the secretary General has appointed Julie Bishop of Australia as his special in volume Myanmar.
We've sent you the statement together with the background of Mrs Bishop.
You talk about noon briefing.
We, we have many noons around the world.
Are you talking about the New York noon briefing, which would be 6:00 PM Geneva time?
But the report is under embargo till 6:00 AM Geneva time.
No, no, the, the the same day.
Actually, it's, it's always a bit complex, but basically you can start publishing your story on on Thursday, 6:00 AM Geneva time.
And Kenny will come to the noon briefer at 6:00 PM Geneva time to answer questions, to answer the question.
OK, Lisa, so the questions are going to be asked, answered after the report is released.
I mean, sorry, I won't no comment.
But that's why I'm here to tell you, reach out to me and we can do interview under embargo that can be published from 6:00 AM And can you will bring additional information at Fenoon Briefing.
For those who have not covered yet the report, I think it's pretty clear.
And speaking about report, let me remind you, we have central invitation.
But I think it's very important to say that on Monday, 15th of April at 2:30, Geneva time, this time, Lisa, the UNFPA, the UN sexual reproductive Health agency, is launching its flagship report from Geneva.
And it's the first time to the best of my knowledge, maybe it happened in the past, but I wasn't here to know.
So they are launching their State of War Population 2024 report.
The title of the report is Interwoman lives, Threats of Hope and Inequalities in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.
The UNFPA executive director, Doctor Natalia Khanim, will be in Geneva.
We'll come to this press room in person to present the report to you.
But remember, here again is an issue of embargo.
The launch, the report itself are both and and all content related to it are under embargo until 6:01 AM in Geneva.
This is Geneva time, 6:01 AM on 17 of April.
So this is Wednesday 17 of April.
So Monday 15 she will come.
She'll give a press conference.
I think you should also brief some delegates and everything is under embargo until the 17th in the morning at six O 1:00 AM.
The reason for which I'm underlying this presentation is that our good colleague, Eddie Wright, who is the person in charge of communication on this particular report at UNFPA in New York is available to send you the report, an advance copy of the report under embargo as of today.
So from today on, you can request Eddie the report under embargo.
It's quite a complex 1, So don't hesitate to to ask it in advance and come to the press conference to ask all the questions to Mrs Kanema.
Kanema, sorry and day she will also be available on that day for one to one interviews.
If there is any interest of any of you since this this report has been launched from Geneva, just let me know please and we will put you in contact with the right person.
In fact, Eddie's number and e-mail you have also on the invitation.
But we can we can help you organise this.
So don't hesitate to ask both for the report and if you're interested in one to ones, I have an announcement on behalf of WTO for you.
The World Trade Organisation is holding an embargoed press conference at 2:00 PM tomorrow, 10th of April, on its new Global Trade Outlook and Statistics Report.
This report covers the trade growth forecast for 2024 and 2025 and trade performance for 2023.
The embargo will lift an hour later at 3:00 PM Geneva time.
Advance copy of the reports and news item will be made available under embargo this afternoon by our colleagues on the WT OS online media newsroom and via e-mail.
Journalist will be able to attend in person at WTO headquarters.
The UN badge will grant entry or virtually.
And for further information, of course, you can contact the WTO press team.
Which gives me the opportunity to remind you that tomorrow the Palace is closed, We are on an official holiday and we will be closed to business here in New York, all the premises of the UN.
But apparently you'll be able to have fun at the WTO, so don't hesitate.
Then I would like also to remind you the activities of our Human Rights Committee.
We have the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which opened yesterday, it's 112 session and today is reviewing the report of Mexico.
The Conference of Disarmament, we've told you already is opening it's second part on the 13th of May, still under the presidency of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
And of course, you know the Council is closed.
We don't have announcements from Pascal, but I still would like to remind you two more events for next week.
Also on the 15th of April at 4:00, we will, we hope to see you in room 20 of the Paladinacion for the commemoration ceremony of the 30th anniversary, terrible anniversary of the 1994 genocides against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
As usual, we will have a very moving ceremony around this anniversary, particularly important for the fact that this is a 30th year.
And we will have various speeches from they run the community survivor and the president of Association of the Genocide Survivor together with the Ambassador and Permanent representative of Rwanda to the UN.
So that's on Monday 15 at 4:00 for in room 20.
And then on the 16th of April, I remind you the opening of our International Week at Baloxair with the DG who will be there at 10 O clock with the Swiss authorities to open this open house event at Baloxair for one week of UN activities by 16 UN agencies and international organisation showcasing their impactful work to the people of Geneva, passersby, interested people, schools and hopefully journalist.
And I think it's all I had for you.
If there isn't any question in the room or online, I thank you very much and I'll see you on Friday and remember tomorrow it's closed.
