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UN Geneva Press Briefing - 10 May 2024
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Press Conferences | OCHA , UNHCR , UNICEF , WHO , WIPO , WMO
UN Geneva Press Briefing - 10 May 2024
UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING
10 May 2024
Rolando Gómez, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section at the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid briefing, which was attended by the spokespersons and representatives of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the World Meteorological Organization, and the World Intellectual Property Organization.
Situation in the occupied Palestinian territory
Georgios Petropoulos, Head of the Sub-office of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Gaza, speaking from Rafah, said that the situation had reached even more unprecedented levels of emergency, following the Israeli military operation in Rafah. The largest impediment to humanitarian activities came from the fact that all crossings into Rafah were now closed. Movement of humanitarian staff and medical evacuations of civilians were limited. OCHA was working with Member States to find a rapid, sustainable solution to bring fuel and humanitarian aid into Rafah, as not having fuel would have immediate, adverse effects. Protection of civilians and influx of supplies had to remain priorities. Without fuel, numerous hospitals, mobile clinics, and ambulances would not be able to function. Safe water production in Rafah had already ceased, he said. As of today, out of the 12 bakeries in south Gaza, eight had had to stop operating because of the lack of fuel. Unless the supply of fuel resumed immediately, humanitarian, communication and banking activities would all have to halt within days, warned Mr. Petropoulos.
Hamish Young, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Senior Emergency Coordinator in Gaza, speaking from Rafah, said that in his 30-year long humanitarian career, he had never been involved in a situation as devastating, complex, or erratic as this. The previous day, he had walked around Al-Mawasi, the so-called “humanitarian zone” that people in eastern Rafah were being told to move to. More than 100,000 people had fled Rafah in the last five days and the stream of displacement continued. The roads to Mawasi were jammed – many hundreds of trucks, buses, cars, and donkey carts loaded with people and possessions. Mr. Young had even seen someone trying to move their latrine on the back of a donkey cart – just one example of how desperate people were. Open defecation was on the rise, and displaced people were subject to even greater risk of disease, infections, malnutrition, dehydration and other protection and health concerns.
Mr. Young explained that for five days, no fuel and virtually no humanitarian aid had entered the Gaza Strip and the humanitarian agencies were scraping the bottom of the barrel. If not corrected, the lack of fuel could grind humanitarian operations to a halt. Without fuel, for example, the maternity wards in Emirati hospital could not function, while approximately 80 babies were born there every day. Without fuel, the water desalination plants, and the water wells could not function, the sewage system could not operate, and UN trucks could not bring the critical, lifesaving humanitarian aid to the people in need. Mr. Young said that over 14,000 children had reportedly been killed already, and a ground offensive in Rafah would undoubtedly result in this number increasing dramatically. He had seen firsthand many children who had lost limbs, who have suffered horrific burns. Mr. Young stressed the immediate need for fuel. Aid had to flow; hostages had to be freed; Rafah should not be invaded; children ought to be protected, not killed.
Margaret Harris, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that the previous day a WHO team had visited the Naser medical complex, which was not fully functional, but there had been some improvements thanks to international support: dialysis patients were being accepted and blood tests were being conducted again, for example. Without fuel, however, all the lifesaving treatments could no longer be done, warned Ms. Harris. Missions to the north had been suspended to save fuel. The sewage system had to be repaired throughout Gaza Strip. If one was not killed by bombs, they could die of thirst, hunger, or infectious diseases.
Rolando Gómez, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), read an X post by Philippe Lazzarini, head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), in which he informed that the previous day, Israeli residents had set fire twice to the perimeter of the UNRWA Headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem. This had taken place while UNRWA and other UN agencies’ staff had been on the compound. While there had been no casualties among UNRWA staff, the fire had caused extensive damage to the outdoor areas.
Answering questions from the media, Georgios Petropoulos, for OCHA, said that some 30,000 people had been leaving Rafah per day since the IDF had moved into the area. OCHA did not have sufficient tents, beddings, and other necessary supplies in the areas to which the population was now moving; and further supplies could currently not go in. The Erez crossing into northern Gaza remained open, through which humanitarian supplies continued to come in, but that was far from sufficient to meet the needs of two million people across Gaza Strip. Margaret Harris, for the WHO, said that some 9,000 people needed medical evacuation, but nobody was coming in and out. At least 30 people were confirmed as having died of hunger and dehydration. WHO-established malnutrition centers in both the north and the south needed fuel and supplies to keep going.
Both Mr. Petropoulos, for OCHA, and Hamish Young, for UNICEF, said that the local population continued to be warm and welcoming towards UN humanitarian workers. Shelling was still very much going on, Mr. Young said. Evacuation orders were received from the IDF through established channels, but local people in Rafah were also receiving them through social media and leaflets. Every action that would stop a military incursion into Rafah should be supported, stressed Mr. Petropoulos. People’s physical safety and wellbeing had to be put first. Fuel should be coming in regularly and not in one-off deliveries, he said. Ms. Harris stated that all surviving hospitals were already massively overcrowded. Destroying access to healthcare was catastrophic for everyone, emphasized Ms. Harris.
Floods in Brazil
Rolando Gómez, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), said that the previous day, the Secretary-General had stated that he was deeply saddened by the loss of lives and damage caused by heavy rains and flooding in the south of Brazil. The United Nations team on the ground stood ready to assist the people of Brazil at this difficult time. The Secretary-General further noted that such disasters were a reminder of the devastating effects of the climate crisis on lives and livelihoods; he reiterated his call for swift international action to curb the chaotic effects of climate change.
William Spindler, for the United Nations Refuge Agency (UNHCR), stated that UNHCR was working with federal, state, and municipal authorities, and partner organizations in Brazil to mitigate the severe impact of the extreme weather events, including heavy rains, strong winds and cold, that had devastated areas of Brazil's southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. Massive floods had killed at least 107 people and affected more than 1.7 million, according to official figures. Another 134 people were missing. Those affected included some 41,000 refugees and others in need of international protection, including many Venezuelans and Haitians.
In coordination with local authorities, UNHCR was distributing relief items such as blankets and mattresses and assessing the needs of the affected population. UNHCR was also providing technical support to facilitate communication with the impacted communities so that refugees and migrants would have access in their own language to official information on protection recommendations and risks in the places where they lived. Extreme weather events in Brazil had been frequent and more devastating in recent years, including droughts in the Amazon region and severe rains in Bahia and Acre states, all of which UNHCR had responded to.
UNHCR estimated USD 3.21 million was needed to support the most urgent needs, including direct financial assistance to affected individuals and the provision of essential relief items.
Meteorologists were warning of further high-intensity rain and strong winds across the state until this weekend. Finally, Mr. Spindler stressed that severe climate events disproportionately affected refugees and other people requesting international protection.
Full statement can be read here.
Replying to questions, Mr. Spindler, for UNHCR, said that the UNHCR had been present in Brazil for several decades, with the primary objective of assisting the authorities with the arrival of asylum seekers and refugees. In Brazil, as in many countries of Latin America, refugees lived amid local communities rather than in camps, so UNHCR was providing support to the local people as well as refugees. UNHCR’s assistance to the areas hosting refugees came within the broader response led by the Brazilian authorities. UNHCR also worked with a number of local partners, through which it was providing assistance. Mr. Gómez, for UNIS, reminded that the UN team in Brazil was led by the Resident Coordinator. Misinformation and disinformation remained a major concern, not only in Brazil, but around the world, stated Mr. Spindler. Brazil was a country prone to natural disasters, which was why it was important to work on prevention, he said.
Clare Nullis, for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), responding to another question, said that the WMO State of the Climate in Latin America and the Caribbean 2023, released this week, highlighted the vulnerability of the entire region to climate change. A huge area of Brazil, several times the size of Switzerland, was affected by floods, she explained. El Niño played a major role in the Brazilian floods, but the impact of the climate change was as important. Every fraction of a degree of global warming meant that our weather, already on steroids, would become more extreme. April 2024 had been the warmest month on record, she informed, making it the eleventh month in a row to be recorded as the warmest ever. Ms. Nullis emphasized the importance of the “Early Warnings for All” initiative; the early warning system in the case of Brazil had helped reduce the number of victims. Brazilian meteorological services regularly issued accurate and timely early warnings. While the response by the authorities was rapid and efficient, the scale of the disaster made the response more difficult.
Announcements
Responding to a question, Margaret Harris, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that the current, very intense negotiations among WHO Member States on a pandemic preparedness treaty would end today. Next steps would be discussed and announced later today, she informed. The World Health Assembly, at the end of May, would consider the outcome of the negotiating process.
Edward Harris, for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), informed that the Diplomatic Conference on Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge
would begin at WIPO on 13 May at 10 am, and it would be webcast on WIPO’s website. There would be 1,200 attendees; any journalists who wanted to be there should get in touch with Mr. Harris and be there early. A number of government ministers from around the world were expected to attend.
Rolando Gómez, for the for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), said that the Secretary-General was in Nairobi attending the UN Civil Society Conference, which is part of preparations for the Summit of the Future. He would be giving a press conference at 2:15 pm today, which would be webcast at UNTV.
The Committee Against Torture would conclude its 79th session today and issue its concluding observations on the six countries reviewed during this session: Austria, Honduras, Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein, North Macedonia, and Finland.
The Committee on the Rights of the Child was concluding this morning its review of the report of Mali. This afternoon, it would review the report of Panama under Optional Protocol on the sale of children.
On 13 May, the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women would open on 13 May at 10 am its 88th session, during which it would review the reports of Republic of Korea, Montenegro, Singapore, Estonia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Brazil, and Rwanda.
Teleprompter
Good morning.
Thank you for joining us here at the UN office at Geneva for this press briefing.
Today, the 10th of May, we have another very important and and dense press briefing for you.
We have briefers from OCHA, from UNICEF and from the World Health Organisation who were going to speak to the situation in Gaza.
We also have an update from our colleague from the Refugee Agency on Brazil, as well as an announcement from the World Intellectual Property Organisation.
So we'll start off immediately with our colleague for the from the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Mr Giorgios Petropoulos, who is a head of the sub office in Gaza for Orcha, who is joining us from Rafa.
Just to mention that we'll take the three briefers on Gaza back-to-back and then we'll take questions at the end of the three briefings.
Giorgios, over to you.
Hi everyone and good afternoon from Rafa.
It's good to be here.
The the situation that we're seeing here in Gaza, I think has reached once again we say even more unprecedented levels of emergency.
So the recent, the evacuation order we had from the government of Israel linked to the military operation in Rafa is now counting 110,000 plus displaced people having to move north.
And most of these are people who have had to displace 5 or 6 times.
What's on our plate right now is the largest impediment to our activities is that every single crossing into Rafa government in South Gaza is closed and remains.
So.
The closure, especially Rafa Crossing and Karma Asylum has severed access for us to fuel to supplies and the movement of humanitarian staff.
It's also affected the movement of any civilians that could go out or medical evacuation.
In our assessment of both Rafa and Karam Abu Salim to date, we've seen that they're not secure, they're not safe and they're not logistically viable.
So there's a lot of work that we have to do to get them to that state, that we're working hard with member states to find ways to bring this fuel and supplies and to make sure that aid workers can get in and out.
This solution will need to be sustainable.
We have to bring some kind of predictability to the aid here.
Unless these these solutions come quickly, our aid activities are communication like with lack of fuel, banking activities even will halt within the next two days.
Not having fuel will affect life critical sectors without supplies.
We're already seeing market prices rise and vulnerable members of society be forced to *****, so having to make choices that are unacceptable, that are dangerous in order to access what does remain available in the market or on displacement sites.
So protection of civilians, humanitarian assets and our actual supplies with assurance from all parties has to remain a major concern.
Already we have lost supplies from warehouses that have been in evacuation zones, from destruction and looting, shelling, bombing has affected communication, cell phone, Internet, towers.
It was Internet access, it was the ability to communicate effectively with each other, communities that we serve in the next day or so, if we don't have fuel, we're going to lose functioning.
Of five Ministry of Health hospitals, 5 field hospitals, almost 30 ambulances, 70 primary healthcare centres run by UNRWA and other partners and 10 mobile clinics providing immunisation, trauma care and malnutrition services as well as 23 medical facilities in Almawasi, which as you know is for hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people have seeked shelter, any kind of meaningful water, safe water production.
Rafa has already stopped.
Facilities have to be maintained at their lowest levels just to ensure that they're not destroyed by full stoppage, which would require weeks to to begin again.
In terms of the food, we have to say that the World Food Programme in Numa will run out of food for distribution in the South by tomorrow.
That means that people will be left only with what has already been distributed in their in their shelters, in their homes and on site.
As of today, we have 12 bakeries supported by humanitarian partners here in South Gaza.
8 have ceased to operate due to lack of fuel in stock, and four that are still operating at reduced capacities will be out of that stock.
Bye, Monday.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Georgios.
And indeed, Jansu's with us here on the podium.
We'll share these figures with you.
We're going to turn immediately to another colleague joining us from Rafa from UNICEF, Hamish Yang, Who's UNICEF Senior Emergency Coordinator in the Gaza Strip.
Hamish, over to you.
Good morning.
Thank you and greetings from Rafa.
Here in Gaza, I've been working on large scale humanitarian emergencies for the best part of the last 30 years and I've never been involved in a situation as devastating, complex or erratic as this.
When I arrived in Gaza in the middle of November, I was shocked by the severity of the impact of this conflict on children.
And impossibly, it has continued to worsen since then.
Yesterday I was walking around the Almawasi zone that people in Rafa are being told to move to.
More than 100,000 people have played Rafa in the last five days and the stream of displacement continues.
The roads to Almawasi are jammed.
Many hundreds of trucks, buses, cars, donkey carts, you name it.
They're loaded with people and possessions.
In fact, I was almost late for this briefing because I was held up in in that human traffic and and on the way in today I saw someone trying to move their latrine, their temporary makeshift latrine, on the back of a donkey cart.
I think this gives you some idea of just how desperate the people are.
Shelters already lined Almawasi sand dunes, and it's now becoming difficult to move between the mass of tents and tarpaulins.
People I speak with tell me they are absolutely exhausted, they're terrified and they know life in Almawasi will again, almost impossibly, be harder.
Families lack proper sanitation facilities, they lack drinking water and they lack shelter.
People are making improvised toilets by digging holes in the ground around groups of tents.
Open defecation is on the rise.
George's just gave us some some striking numbers on the lack of access to hospitals and health centres.
And as we know, displaced people are subject to even greater risk of disease, infections, malnutrition, particularly children, dehydration.
And they're also subject to other protection and additional health concerns beyond a few mobile health points and field hospitals with limited capacity.
The closest hospital is at least 4 kilometres away, and that's assuming the road is even safe to use.
In Gaza, almost everyone has now been displaced more than once, some many times, and as a result, they're at even greater risk.
Yesterday I was talking to to someone who was packing up their family just outside the the the coordination centre where we are now.
And one of the the father told me that he had no nothing other than bad options to choose from.
And as he was telling me where he was going, he he started sobbing, then his children started crying, then they started asking me what to do.
It's just a tragic situation and and there's nowhere safe in Gaza for children.
All that said, impossibly, again, it will worsen further if humanitarian operations are not revised in the next 24 to 48 hours.
Again, as George has just said, for five days, no fuel and virtually no humanitarian aid has entered the the Gaza Strip and we are scraping the bottom of the barrel.
This is already a huge issue for the population and for all humanitarian actors, but in a matter of days, if this is not corrected, the lack of fuel will really grind the whole humanitarian operation to a halt.
Without fuel, the maternity wards, for example in Emirati hospital cannot function and this is while approximately 80 babies are born there every day.
Pregnant women are left without options for safe delivery of their newborns, as we've seen in other parts Gaza over the last seven months.
When hospitals ran out of fuel, life saving equipment such as ventilators and incubators stopped working.
And there's not even enough incubators to go around at the moment.
I was in a hospital last week and every incubator had two, if not three newborn babies in it.
Without fuel.
The water desalina tion plants, which are only running at 20 to 30% capacity anyway, cannot function.
The water wells can't function.
The sewerage system, degraded as it is, cannot operate at all and our trucks cannot bring the critical life saving humanitarian aid to the people in need.
Food stocks to support the people in the South are expected to run out in the coming days and the last functioning bakery in the South is about to run out of fuel.
At a time when people have been forced to pick up and move again, life saving supplies that sustain and support them have been entirely cut off.
So let's be very clear, This will result in children dying.
These are deaths of children that can and must be prevented.
And then there are families that cannot leave Rafa or choose to stay.
Hundreds of thousands of children are injured, sick, malnourished or have a pre-existing disability.
Over 14,000 children have reportedly been killed already in this conflict.
A ground offensive in Rafa will undoubtedly result in this number increasing dramatically.
Even the air offensive is is killing people already.
One of our colleagues at The Who lost a 7 year old niece 2 days ago.
I've spent a lot of time in Gaza's remaining hospitals and the injuries I've witnessed are excruciating.
It's very hard to describe the impact of modern **** tech weaponry on a four year old.
What it does to a young body is just beyond comprehension.
I've seen first hand many, many children who've lost limbs, who've suffered horrific burns, these type of injuries and of course, the impact on the mental health of all children in the Gaza Strip is is terrible.
And it's getting worse.
Now those of us who are working here are doing everything we can to keep the humanitarian response alive.
We remain hopeful our calls for a ceasefire will be heard and acted on.
But we are also braced for this senseless conflict to continue to shock even the most seasoned of us.
We need fuel immediately.
Aid must flow.
Hostages must be freed, Rougher must not be invaded, and children must be protected, not killed.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Himesh.
Now over to Margaret from the World Health Organisation for an update as well in Gaza.
And thank you very much to my colleague from UNICEF for those updates and really bringing to reality what a health system under such ******, under such pressure.
Looks like we have one bright spot.
Our WHO team visited the NASA Medical complex yesterday.
It's not fully functional, but the work of the HealthPartners in the Health Cluster UK, Med Map UK, MSF France and UNFPA along with WHO to get it back up and running.
This has just been done within days, weeks, means that they were actually accepting dialysis patients yesterday and they and they are also their laboratories able to perform some blood tests.
It's not anywhere near where it was, but it's coming back.
And this was part of a contingency plan to try to see where the hospitals could be made available or functional if this incursion happened.
But and and we have pre positioned supplies in the various hospitals, field hospitals, medical points.
But as was has been made absolutely clear, without fuel all that stops.
All the things that a hospital does, all the life saving treatments no longer can be done.
Even if you've got somebody back from the brink, you've operated on them, you've put them on a ventilator, ventilator stops, they no longer breathe.
So without fuel, no matter what everybody's done, the whole system collapses.
We have distributed fuel to NASA Medical Complex and to other hospitals.
We who are now the distributor of fuel to all hospitals.
We've also had to suspend our missions to the north currently to conserve fuel to try to ensure that we can provide as much fuel as possible to the hospitals in the South to keep them going.
And as I said, I think that's it.
Also, a team of logisticians were working to repair the sewage system in NASA Medical Hospital Medical Centre, and that is something that needs to be done throughout the strip.
As my colleague very graphically described, lack of sewage services, lack of clean water means that if the bombs don't get you, you die of thirst, infectious diseases or simply hunger.
Thank you very much, Margaret.
If you'll indulge me, we'll take questions in a minute.
But I I'm just going to read out a a tweet that was put out last night from ANRA on behalf of Runway ANRA is the commissioner General Philip Lazzarini.
The tweet is as follows.
This evening, Israeli residents set fire twice to the perimeter of their ANRA headquarters in the occupied E Jerusalem and this took place while UNRAR and UN agency staff were on the compound.
While there were no casualties among the staff, the fire cause extensive damage to outdoor areas.
The UNRAR headquarters has on its grounds a petrol and diesel station for the agency's fleet of cars.
Now the director of UNRAR, with the help of other staff had put out the fire themselves as it took the Israeli fire extinguishers and police a while before they turned up.
A crowd accompanied by armed men were witnessed outside the compound chanting burned down the United Nations.
This is an outrageous development.
Once again, the lives of UN staff were at a serious risk in light of this second appalling incident.
In less than a week I have that is the Commissioner General has taken the decision to close down the compound until proper security is restored.
Over the past two months, I should mention that this is the Israeli extremists have been staging protests outside their Anurag compound in Jerusalem called by an elected member of the Jerusalem municipality.
The tweet continues.
This week, the protests became violent when demonstrated threw stones at the UN staff in the building to the compound.
Over the past months, UN staff have been regularly subjected to harassment and intimidation.
The Anurag compound has been seriously vandalised and damaged.
On several occasions, Israeli extremists threatened staff with guns.
UN.
Of course, it is a responsibility of the State of Israel as an occupying power to ensure the United Nations personnel and facilities are protected at all times.
UN staff premises and operations should be protected at all times in line with international law.
Lastly, the young Wright Commissioner General calls at all who have influence to put an end to these attacks and hold all those responsible accountable.
The perpetrators of these attacks must be investigated and those responsible must be held accountable.
Anything else, anything less rather, will set a dangerous standard.
And of course, that's the end of the tweet.
Of course, this illustrates that our colleagues, of course, in Gaza are at risk.
We've lost many humanitarian colleagues.
We've lost nearly 190 of our unrest staff, as we've reported here.
It's not just in Gaza where we are under attack.
So this is something that we really wanted to emphasise the need for accountability, need for these intimidations in attacks to end.
So I'll turn over to you colleagues for your questions.
And if you could kindly indicate who you want to point your question to, We'll start off right away for any in the room and then we'll turn to the platform.
OK, we have a question from Muhammad of Andalou.
Muhammad, Thank you so much Rondo.
My question for Ocha yes or other guy can reply it.
After the Israeli attack almost 110,000 people fled Arafa for safety as we well know.
My question is where these firstly redisplaced people go?
Is this a number expected to increase rapidly?
And does United, does United Nation have any, any aid plan for these people?
Thank you.
Thank you, Muhammad Georgios.
Yeah, thank you very much for your question.
So we've seen since the since the attack, we've seen on average about 30,000 people leaving off every day.
They move from Rafa City towards the coast or they move N into the governance of Khan Yunus or Dero Bala or what we call the middle area.
They add to the numbers of the displaced there.
So these areas already have displaced numbers in the hundreds of thousands the the humanitarian system has prepared through some pre positioning of supplies and moving over over field hospitals and preparation of primary healthcare.
The problem is that at present and when this, when this new operation started here in the South, we simply have no tents, we have no blankets, no bedding, none of the items that you would expect the population on the move to be able to, to get from humanitarian system.
As I've already explained, also with the, the lack of incoming supplies, what we will need for an increasing number of displaced the, the, the, the displacing number is not stopping.
And as fighting moves into more urban areas of Rafa, we do expect it to increase daily.
So that means that we don't have supplies for the newly displaced and we will be running out, as we said, not just for them, but for those that we were already trying to help.
It's going to be a very critical time as we welcome people into new displacement sites with nothing in our hands.
Thanks.
Thank you, Georgios.
OK.
We'll take a question out from Gunilla Vanhalov, Svenska Dagbladet, Gunilla.
Yes.
Hi.
Thanks for taking my question.
I have several questions.
I'm trying to understand, Does this mean there's no way at all now to get humanitarian aid into Rafa?
There were reports about Israel opening up one crossing the other day.
So I just want to understand if it's completely isolated.
And then I wanted to know what about patients in the hospitals?
Are there any chances they can be evacuated?
How many are waiting to be evacuated?
There were also reports about with the heat now increasing, there are diseases.
There is a lot of problems with sanitation.
What kind of of health issues, diseases are you you having?
And Margaret, you mentioned too that people were lack of food and lack of storage.
People could die from that.
Do you have any reports so far?
Are people who actually have died from lack of of food or lack of water?
Thank you so much.
Sorry for many questions.
No, thank you.
Good of these important questions, maybe George's, we'll start with you and then go to Margaret after.
Sure, thank you.
If you remember, and I think this is a very ironic turn of events, for months since the start of the year, the UN and partners were trying to use two routes of supply from South Gaza to the north of Gaza through through 2 Israeli checkpoints to feed 250, three, 100,000.
We don't have a perfect number for the people that remain in North Gaza.
And we were very, very, very unsuccessful in trying to, to make everyone safe, you know, have enough food and have access to health.
We simply couldn't do it for 300,000 people, which led to malnutrition and the information that we've already shared around the hunger issues there and the risk and the risk of that situation becoming out worse.
Now with the crossings in Rafa all closed, we have areas crossing in north Gaza which continues to be able to bring humanitarian supplies, mainly food.
We were left with one crossing, increasingly dangerous, insecure and inefficient, not a meaningful humanitarian route for the volume of needs that we are increasingly seeing for the approximately 2 million people in Gaza that live South of the Wadi and who are increasingly in desperate, desperate need for food, water, dignity and shelter.
Thank you, Margaret.
Yes, on the patients, nobody's coming in or out.
So anybody needing evacuation and indeed, I think the numbers I have are about 9000 people actually need evacuation.
And when we look at, in the past when we've had patients waiting to be evacuated, when you look at the lists, quite often the percentage of those approved and those who get out is different because they die while waiting to be evacuated.
So, but at the moment, nobody is coming in, nobody's coming out.
That's the real problem on the malnutrition.
We don't have good numbers.
We don't have numbers about what people are dying off.
We know that at least 30 people did die of malnutrition and and dehydration.
Those are recorded numbers, but that it doesn't give you any idea of what's happening right now.
What I can tell you though is our stabilisation centres, our severe acute malnutrition stabilisation centres, which by the way didn't exist before this conflict, but now we've set up two in the South and one in the north.
They are full of patients.
I think the numbers I have are 4055 patients in the north, the 55 patients totally 40 in the North and 15 in the South.
But again, all those centres are dependent on having the supplies, having the fuel, having the means to keep going.
Exactly.
OK.
Yuri from Rio Novosti.
Yes, thank you, Rolando, and thank you for the briefing.
My question is for the colleagues of of OSHA and other agencies that are in the Rafah right now.
Do you feel aggressivity towards you by the Gazans because of the impossibility for the UN to change the situation?
Do you feel a frustration against you by the local people?
Thank you.
Yeah, we'll maybe start with you, gorgeous.
And Hamish, feel free to chime in as well.
Gorgeous.
Yeah.
Thank you.
I I've been doing this a long time and I never been in a place where I felt so safe among the population.
People still smile at you.
I think it, it means a lot to them in the situation that they found themselves in months ago, the increasingly dire circumstances now so, so pronounced with the closing of, of Rafa fully to the world that that aid workers of humanitarian staff remain here with them.
We have to be very clear that we are their neighbours.
We live next to them, we share the same water.
We, we, we talk on the same cell towers and we, we are subject to the same shelling from, from air, land and sea.
So I think I don't feel that what I think is very specifically an issue is what we're seeing in the street, which is increasing violence between them for reduced space that they believe is safe and for reduced commodities good with which to build the reinventary shelters, food, fuel and other supplies, children's shoes, clothing, you know, hygiene products and sundry, sundry household items that they simply don't exist.
And some of them are even being withheld by merchants speculating on price increase.
So it's not it's not some kind of risk of violence or some kind of changing mood against people that are here and trying to help and showing solidarity, but it is a society in a very, very slow breakdown.
Thanks.
Georgios.
Hamish, Not much really to add to what Georgius said.
Just to reiterate that we feel, you know, all of us feel very personally very comfortable here.
I'm, I'm quite happy to walk out.
I leave my car parked some distance away, quite happy to walk through the crowds.
People are friendly, welcoming.
When I was stuck in the traffic earlier today, people were helping clear donkey carts out of the way, that type of thing.
Now the situation remains very welcoming, very warm and welcoming towards us.
Thanks.
Thank you both.
OK, we'll take a question out from Nick Cumbrous of the New York Times.
Nick.
Yeah, thank you for taking the question.
This is for Giorgio.
So anybody else who wishes to contribute?
But we understood that Israel took control of Rafa Crossing.
So I wondered if you could just give us an update.
I mean, is there a large military presence, tanks, armoured vehicles or whatever actually at Rafa that will be obstructing any aid coming through?
You've also talked about continuing bombing.
I mean, how intense is that still at the moment?
We heard that it was kind of there had been some attacks on, on Western Rafa, but of easy areas that you're seeing routinely targeted.
And what is the proximity of of bombing to Almawasi, which is supposed to be a safe zone?
And one final question, what are the conversations going on with Cogas at this point about restoring the entry of humanitarian assistance?
What are you being told can come or when it might happen?
Thank you.
Thanks, Nick, maybe gorgeous.
Yeah, thanks.
I think on Rafa crossing, thank you for the Bush on Rafa crossing.
We assessed it.
There is there is military presence along the the corridor from on along both crosses from Kano Salomon to Rafa.
I think to to be to be clear, I don't necessarily we don't necessarily believe that the presence of party to where this conflict is going to obstruct aid necessarily or physically.
But even even if there were assurances to us being able to pass through a corridor, the proximity so close to a military involved in fighting, it's just not acceptable for something that has to be a humanitarian zone.
That's certainly for any route where where supplies go for a crossing that then has to open to civilians and to aid workers.
Of course, we'd also be looking for a crossing that is safe, that has the the infrastructure, the support and the services available to people to safely go in and out.
So for the time being, as I said before, for us, we don't see it viable.
And then maybe I'll link to the, to the, on the Cogat, the government of Israel.
You know, I think we're exploring all options.
There's a clear understanding that people fewer and supplies have to come back to, to, to Rafa and to Gaza in general.
Any crossing will do.
It's not these crossings only as we've always called any way to get these three very specific things into Gaza.
People, fuel and commodities to help will be welcome.
And I think the urgency is understood.
The bombings continue to fall.
They've always fallen all over Rafael.
There's no real area where there's no shelling or or air strikes in general.
What we're seeing is that they are increasingly closer to Malwasi or Talao Sutan area, Rafael, where I am within one kilometre to 800 metres from the joint humanitarian operations software, which I'm talking to you.
And therefore, you could say in the last four or five days, they are moving closer also to to the coast, to Al Malwasi, to where we have hundreds of thousands of displaced alone.
Thanks, George.
Yes.
Hey, miss, you have your hand up if you want to add something.
I need to add that since since we've been online and speaking this morning, I got a message popped up that the younger brother of one of our colleagues and a friend of mine was killed in an air strike a couple of hours ago this morning.
So in answer to Nick's question, yes, it's very much still going on.
It's very real.
Thank you, Amish, and of course, our condolences to your colleague and your friend, Christian German news agency.
Thank you, Ronaldo.
I, I was going to ask you also about contacts with the authorities.
Can you describe to us what exactly is happening with Hamas as well as the Israelis?
Do you get information directly about evacuations?
Do you get advance notice?
In other words, do you know today what is going to come tomorrow?
And are you also still coordinating in any way with the Hamas authorities?
Thank you.
Either one of either Georges or Hamesh who wants to take that.
I think either of you are perhaps I can, I can start.
Yeah, please.
We get, we get evacuation orders from the Israeli military through very particular channels as the United Nations, which we then share in the system basementarian system.
But the evacuation orders have also gone out to to the people of Gaza through through social media, Facebook and Twitter and so on.
They've gone out through through leaflets that have passed.
And I can say also that the recent evacuation orders here in East Rafa also included direct phone calls, I think, to civilians that were asked to evacuate their neighbourhoods and their homes.
We continue to engage our parties in the conflict for safe access, for secure humanitarian humanitarian supply, for secure humanitarian routes from north to South, from South to South, and for the understanding that every single humanitarian worker and protected sites should be respected, should be neutral and remain a place of safety for the aid workers and the people that reach them for our services.
OK, Thank you very much, Giorgios.
We have a question from Lisa Shrine, the Voice of America.
Lisa, thank you, Laura Lando and good morning, everyone.
Yeah, I'd like to get your impression about.
President Biden has said that he would suspend arms shipments to to Israel if the operation, the incursion in Tarafa goes ahead.
How important is this, do you think?
Netanyahu seems to have dissed that situation and said it's going to go ahead anyway.
Are you fearful that the US has perhaps lost any kind of, you know, influence that it has had upon Israel and that it can do any, anything about this, or do you believe that it might have some kind of an influence upon the operation?
Thank you.
And if everybody would, please send us the notes as soon as possible 'cause there's so much material to digest.
Thank you.
OK.
I don't know if maybe George has any thoughts on that.
I think from the beginning, every single, every single way that we can to avoid an operation in Rafa, to avoid a military incursion or a battle in the last part of Gaza that's left standing physically in the beginning, the last part that we have.
I think anything approaching meaningful humanitarian assets and infrastructure has to be, has to be looked at.
We have to stop.
We have to stop this at all costs.
The system that we have had to deal with, the system that we're trying to use to bring aid to more than 2 million people is profoundly not fit for that purpose in its current form.
Any further, any further attack will render it.
I think beyond the pale is something we've never really seen.
And I think that question really has to be put on the table.
It's we have to put people first.
We have to make sure that in this, in this war, like all the wars, but specifically on this one where people really cannot reach places of safety.
We, we, we talk about people 1st and what, what has been done to them, what has continued to be done to them and how fast we can end it for everyone here being affected by the world, including including the hostages.
Thank you very much, gorgeous.
OK, we do have a question now from Robin Millard of Agence France Press Online.
Go ahead, Robin, thank you.
I've got a question for Margaret on another topic, but I'll, I can come back to that on, on Gaza, have you been told anything about when fuel might be able to come in?
Have you been given any promises or guarantees?
And secondly, on on the patients in the hospitals which are set to run out of fuel within a day or two, how many patients are actually being treated in those hospitals?
Thank you.
Maybe on the first question of the fuel either, you know, I guess Giorgios may be best placed there.
Yeah, thanks.
It's a short one.
We have had attempts every day they I'm sure either because of the complicated just to bring the fuel to Gaza and the security situation in Gaza.
So it could be, could be tomorrow, could be the day after.
But I think it's very clear that everyone wants us to work.
There is an understanding that the fuel has to come in again, it's not something that should be a one off.
It has to come in the volume and it has to come in every day and it has to come in safe.
Thanks.
Absolutely.
OK, Margaret on the hospitals, so we're talking about fuel for hospitals throughout the Gaza Strip.
Remember this is not simply only in the South.
Now we've we know that there were 500 beds added through the work of the emergency medical teams and the field hospitals and another 1500 beds were available.
But all the hospitals are massively overcrowded.
So if I, I would have to add thousands more of patients.
So we're really looking at what, thousands, You know, I can't give you a clear number, but you're talking about thousands of people today, but also the thousands of people who need help tomorrow and the next day and the day after.
So closing, destroying the access to Healthcare is absolutely catastrophic really for everyone.
Thank you very much, Margaret.
OK, I think we've exhausted the questions on Gaza unless there are any last hands going up.
No, I don't see that's the case.
So I'd like to extend my profound thanks to both of you, Giorgios and Hamish, stay safe and and thank you very much for this ever important briefing.
So, and of course, do join us again.
I think there was a question for you, Margaret from Robin on different subjects.
So Robin, if you want to pose that question now, please do so.
Thank you.
Yes, on the, on the pandemic agreement talks, what's the, what's the latest situation there?
Can you give us an update on, on where the talks are AT and perhaps the likelihood of whether an agreement can be concluded on time today?
Thank you.
Thanks.
Yes, I do have an update on that.
The current round of negotiations by WHO Member States on a proposed pandemic agreement will end later today.
During the past two weeks, negotiators have held extensive discussions on multiple aspects of the proposed agreement meeting, often into the early hours of the morning.
I pity them.
The Member States are still continuing their discussions today to make as much progress as possible.
Next steps on the way forward will also be discussed today, and they will be announced later today.
So we will let you know when we know, as previously decided by Member States in 2021, the World Health Assembly, which as you know happens at the end of this month, we'll consider the outcome of the of the negotiating body process.
So that's what I have currently.
Thanks for that update, Margaret.
Any further questions for Margaret before we relieve her?
OK, well, thank you again as ever, Margaret.
I'm going to call William Spindler of the UN **** Commissioner for Refugees, who's going to address the floods in Brazil.
And maybe while William is making his way up here, I'll just remind you of the statement that we did share with you yesterday from the Secretary General and with through which he expressed that he's deeply saddened by the loss of lives and the damage caused by heavy rains and flooding in the South of Brazil.
Extended his condolences and solidarity to the government and people of Brazil, as well as to the families of the victims.
And Secretary General also noted that disasters such as this are indeed a reminder of the devastating effects of the climate crisis on lives and livelihoods.
So that statement is in your inbox as of yesterday.
Over to William for an update from UNHCR.
Thank you, Orlando.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is working with federal, state and municipal authorities as well as partner organisations in Brazil to mitigate the severe impact of the extreme weather events, including heavy rains, strong winds and cold that have devastated areas of Brazil's southern state of Rio Grande du Su.
Massive floods in particular have killed at least 107 people and affected more than 1.7 million, according to official figures.
Another 134 people are reported missing.
Those affected include some 41,000 refugees and other people in need of international protection, including many Venezuelans and Haitians who live in affected areas, some of which can only be reached by boat.
In coordination with local authorities, UNACR is distributing relief items such as blankets and mattresses, assessing the needs of the affected population and providing Technical Support to facilitate the communication with impacted communities so that refugees and migrants have access, in their own language, to the official information about protection recommendations and risks associated with the places where they live.
In the coming days, Unit ACI will be supporting the issuance of lost and damaged documentation to refugees and asylum seekers to guarantee they can access social benefits and public services.
The agency will also strengthen local teams of civil society partners to provide psychosocial support and respond to most vulnerable cases, including among hosts communities.
Additional relief items such as emergency shelters, kitchen sets, blankets, solar lamps and hygiene kits are being mobilised from different UNAC humanitarian stocks in the region to be delivered to Brazil.
Once logistical arrangements are confirmed.
Supplementary items will also be delivered from Unacs stockpile in the north of Brazil.
According to government data, Rio Grande de Sou is the state which received the third largest number of Venezuelans relocated from Horaima at the country's northern border with Venezuela, hosting more than 21,000 since April 2018.
The incidence of extreme weather events has been frequent and more devastating in recent years in Brazil, involving droughts in the Amazon region and severe rains in different locations such as Bahia and Accra, states of which UNACR had also supported.
UNACR estimates 3.21 million U.S.
dollars is needed to support the most urgent needs, including direct financial assistance to affected individuals and the provision of essential relief items.
As the impact of the climate events in the state is huge, more than 85% of the state's territory was affected.
Around 68,000 people are living in adapted shelters and more than 327,000 have moved from the houses.
New episodes of **** intensity rain and strong gusts of wind could bring new disruptions to Rio Grande de Shul state until this weekend.
According to meteorologists, severe climate events are disproportionately affecting refugees and other people.
Requesting international protection funding available to address the impacts of climate change is not sufficient to address the needs of those forcibly displaced nor the communities hosting them.
Without help to prepare for, withstand and recover for climate related shocks, they face an increased risk of further displacement.
In April 2024, UNACI launched its first Climate Resilience Fund to reinforce the need to build the resilience of refugees, displaced communities and their hosts to the increasing intensity of climate change related extreme weather events.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
William, We have we have a question for you from Bianca of Global TV.
Bianca.
Thanks, Orlando.
Yeah.
In fact, I have many questions.
I will have also a question for Claire later, but I'll start now with William.
First a clarification, the UNHCR is working in Brazil to support only the refugees or did also extend the support for the local population with the shelters for example.
This is a clarification, but how do you see the the Brazilian response to this disaster?
Like the authorities, the volunteers, But what else can be done and how the world could also help Brazil at this point.
And the last thing, despite all challenges the state of Hugh Grand Duso is facing, Brazilians are now also having to deal with fake news regarding this strategy.
For example, that the the state of he going to do so is preventing the entry of trucks with donations because the lack of invoice, things that make any sense.
But anyway, how concerned is the UNHCR also with fake news?
In which extent can fake news complicate even more the situation there?
Thanks a lot.
Thank you for those questions about the first one.
The UNACR presence in Brazil dates to several decades and the main purpose of our presence in Brazil is of course, to help the authorities deal with the arrival of asylum seekers and refugees.
So this is our main mandate and the main area of of work.
But of course, when a situation like this happens, we need to look into how it's affecting also the local population.
Because after all, in Brazil, like in many parts of Latin America, refugees are living with the local people.
They don't live separately, they don't live in refugee camps.
So it's the host communities that we support.
We work closely with them because we need to strengthen their capacity so that they can continue to to host refugees, and that means providing or strengthening social services, access to education, to health, for the local people as well as the refugees.
So in this case, our response concentrates on those areas that are hosting refugees because as we heard, the floods are impacting, you know, a large number of people.
So and our response is a part of a wider response from the United Nations and and other organisations.
So we are concentrating and focusing our response on those areas that host refugees.
But of course, we are providing assistance to everybody, whether they are refugees or whether they're Brazilian citizens.
On the question of fake news, It's it's, it's a problem I think that we face in many parts of the world, not just when there are natural disasters like this, but, you know, in many other circumstances.
They tend to exacerbate tensions with society.
We see in many cases that they target individuals.
They promote hatred of people, whether they are from different nationality or different group or also against LGBT people and and so on.
So it is a serious concern.
It's something that needs to be addressed.
It exacerbates already difficult situations.
It can also lead to difficulties in providing humanitarian assistance.
So this is, this is a, a major concern, I think not just in Brazil, but in many parts of the world.
And could you remind me what the other question was?
I think maybe I think those are the two questions I recall, but maybe is there another one, Bianca or is that are you satisfied with with those responses?
Yeah, I, I asked specifically what else can be done.
I asked about the Brazilian response authorities and volunteers, but what else can be done like how the world could also help Brazil at this point, if you yeah, if you can add.
Thanks a lot.
Yes, in in this case the response is being led by the local and federal authorities in Brazil.
So as I said, our contribution is comes within this kind of wider effort by, by the authorities.
So we are helping the the authorities.
We are not leading in the response, but we are part of a wider response together with other UN organisations, NGOs, civil society organisations, local volunteers, as you said, and of course the authorities, civil defence and so on.
So this is a kind of joint effort in which we we we participate.
Brazil is a country that is prone to natural disasters, so it's very important to work on prevention and also particularly in those areas that are mostly affected and prone to to to this situations.
And among those populations that are particularly vulnerable, the impact of climate change effects everybody.
But some individuals and communities are at a more vulnerable situation, particularly refugees and migrants, because they are not from the country, they come from other countries.
And that means that they don't have the same kind of social networks, family and so on that nationals have.
Often they are also in living in areas that are more exposed to, to risk.
So they are impacted in this proportionate way by by these events.
But of course, they, these events affect everybody.
Thank you very much, William.
And if I may I just add, indeed Brazilians are, the Brazilian government is leading the efforts, but on behalf of the UN, we have a resident coordinator in country who's representing UNDP, who's leading the UN team's response.
And and just to echo what was mentioned at yesterday's briefing, the response includes shipping emergency supplies and monitoring the spread of disease, supporting shelter and related needs and distributing emergency kits and monitoring children and adolescents.
Assume some of whom have been separated from their families as as William just alluded to on this, your fake news.
I mean, it's just to echo what William said.
This is a scourge which is facing us around the globe.
And indeed, that's why it's important for you, members of the press for your accurate reporting to help us contend with this massive amounts of disinformation, which really does not help us and our and carrying out our jobs.
So this is really just a point I wanted to make to echo and support to William's comments.
We have a few hands that have gone up still.
I know that.
Claire, you have a question.
I'll be pointed to you.
But before that, maybe just to go to Maya plants.
You have a question for William perhaps?
Yes.
Good morning.
Thank you, Rolando.
Yes, my question is regarding the number of the UNHCR personnel that are deployed now in Rio Grande Dusso, Port Alegre.
By the way, that's my hometown at the streets I used to walk by as a teenager.
So it is quite heartbreaking to see the situation.
If you could give me perhaps numbers, if you have, of personnel that has been deployed because you mentioned that they are also helping the local population.
Thank you for, for that question and my condolences to you personally since you, your family, friends are directly affected by, by this, by this tragedy.
Unit CR has a number of staff in, in, in Brazil, specifically on Rio Grande do Sul.
We work through a number of partners that are present on the ground.
We work with, for instance, SOS Children's villages.
We also work with the Jesuit Service for migrants and refugees who are present on the ground.
So we work through many of these organisations that we help to finance in areas of the reception, integration of refugees and asylum seekers.
Also local development protection and assistance.
We provide through them protection services and community based protection.
So we are also in contact with refugee LED organisations.
So these are organisations by the refugees themselves who organise themselves to defend their interests and and we support that as well.
There are a number of UNAC partners in the academic world as well.
You, since you are from that state, you might be aware of the Sergio Vieira de Mello Chair and the Unicinos University and which is housing around 2000 families at the moment.
So through the efforts of all these partners, we managed to reach a greater number of people.
Thank you very much.
We still have a few hands.
I'm sorry I didn't see you, Antonio in the room.
Maybe before we go to Antonio, I just see that Maya, is that a quick follow up to the previous question that you have your hand still up there?
Yes, thank you very much, Rolando.
It's a quick follow up.
It is again just if you could send us your notes.
And also what is the number of refugees?
I don't know if you mentioned before that that UNHCR was already taken care of or are they already integrated in the community or where they are they living in a separate sort of encampment of sorts?
And two is, yeah, the number of people you're helping on the UNH in on the refugees from Venezuela side and the number of people you're helping that are now the people from Port Alegre, the citizens of Port Alegre.
Thank you, Maya.
Yes, I hope that you'll get my my notes soon if you haven't received them yet.
And most of this information is there, the numbers of people affected, the number of people that we are assisting, the number of refugees in, in the state and in the whole of, of Brazil.
But on your question of whether they are separate, you know, located in, in separate areas, as I said earlier on, in Brazil, as in most of Latin America, there are no separate refugee camps housing refugees.
They are living with the host community in the same conditions and in the same type of places as the local community.
Thank you very much.
And Claire, I see you there.
I haven't forgotten you.
I know my I think Bianca has a question for you.
But before we turn to that, maybe Antonio from Spanish News agency in the room has a question as well.
Yes, thank you, Rolando and William.
So I think you mentioned that Rio Grande Rasouli is the third state that has more refugees from Venezuela and Haiti, I think.
Do you know which are the the other ones that have important refugee populations?
Do you have the numbers?
I also would like to know if the UNHCR participates in the decision to allocate these, these refugees in different states of Brazil and, and how, how is this decided?
Because for me, it's curious that Rio Grande Resort is quite far from Venezuela.
So, So what, what are the, the, the main reasons to, to choose these, these states?
Thank you.
Thank you, Antonio.
That's, that's a good question.
The, the state that receives the largest number of Venezuelan refugees is Horaima in the north, which is bordering Venezuela.
So you're right, Rio Grande Dusseau is very far.
But since Horaima for many years has been receiving the bulk of the refugees from Venezuela.
And it's a state that is facing several challenges, not least because it's of its remoteness.
The Brazilian government, with the help of UNIT CR and other organisations, started a programme of moving people from Roraima to other parts of Brazil to other cities on a voluntary basis as well, and in coordination with the receiving states or or cities, of course.
So over 100 cities and towns all over Brazil are part of this of this scheme.
Over 100,000 people have been relocated from what I'm at to other parts of, of, of, of Brazil.
And when they arrived there, they are provided with accommodation and a help to find work so that they can integrate quicker into the, the new homes.
So the idea is to share the responsibility of hosting this large community away from the state that has received the most to other states.
I can, I can give you more information about this scheme and, and, and, and send it to you.
Thank you very much, William.
OK, Bianca, back to you.
And I think maybe you had a question maybe, maybe both for William and Claire.
Hi.
Can you hear me again?
Yes, loud and clear.
Go ahead.
Thanks again.
Yeah, in fact, I have to Claire and I think 3 three main things.
One is Claire just shared with us the latest forecast from the Brazilian Meteorological Service.
So how concerned is the WMO with this forecast?
A second point this week.
We saw the launch of the report on the state of the climate in Latin America last year, and Celeste Salo said that unfortunately 2023 was a year of record climate hazards in the region.
So following what we are seeing in Brazil is 2000 and 2024 in the way to be even worse than last year and less one Claire, as Hollando just remembered, Antonio Guterres highlighted that disasters like this are a reminder of the devastating effects of the climate crisis.
So we know that there are no tools to confirm at this point if this tragedy was or not caused by climate change.
We know that, but how likely is that this disaster in Hugh granted to so related to global warming?
Thanks again.
Go ahead, Claire.
OK, thank you.
Thank you for the for the questions.
As you said, the state of the climate in Latin America and the Caribbean, which the World Meteorological Organisation released earlier this week, highlighted the vulnerability of the entire region to extreme weather and climate change impacts in 2023.
Will 2024 be worse?
It's difficult to say at this stage.
But obviously if you know, if you are in the affected flooded, flooded area right now, I mean, you know, obviously, you know, 2024 for those affected is an absolutely, you know, record-breaking a bad year.
And I think what I would like to stress, it's just the size of this, you know, we're talking about a huge, huge area, you know, multiple times of Switzerland.
It's not just a local river, which is, which is overflowed, its banks.
It's, it's massive and it really will, you know, undermine socio economic development in that entire area, you know, for for a long time to, to come.
Is it related to climate change?
We posted a story on our website a couple of days ago saying that, you know, El Nino is obviously playing a major role in the floods in Brazil, as El Nino is in the floods in East Africa.
But on top of that, you've got you've got climate change.
So as we said in our Latin America report this week, you know, it's a double whammy.
It's a double whammy of El Nino and plus climate change.
And that's what we're seeing in Brazil right now.
Even when El Nino fades, which it will do, the long term effects of climate change are with us.
Every degree of or every fraction of a degree in temperature increase means that our weather will become more extreme.
You know, warmer, warmer atmosphere holds more moisture.
So that's why we are seeing much more, you know, many more extreme rainfall events.
You know, our, our, our weather is on steroids.
And until we find a cure for it, it's or until we, you know, stop consuming the, the greenhouse gases which are, which are driving this extreme weather.
We're going to see more floods.
We're going to see more extreme floods.
We're going to see more intense drought.
We're going to see more intense heat waves.
And you know, it's, it's something that WMO and Celeste Sala with, we're saying it on on a daily basis.
You know, we really do need to climate action and we need it to, we need it urgently.
And just to underline my point, today on our website we've just posted a news story to say that April globally was the hottest April on record.
Again, it's, you know, we seem to be in a phase of oh, another month, another record.
So we've had now had 11 months in a row where it was the hottest month on record.
So it was the hottest April on record, it was the hottest March, hottest February, hottest January, etcetera, etcetera.
For 13 months, sea surface temperatures have been record ****.
So even, you know, even even longer than even longer than the the land, the average global surface temperature that is combination of El Nino.
But it's all, it's also climate change.
It's very, very strong climate change signal.
So, yeah, yeah, thank you, Claire and thank you for flagging that latest update on on April.
Maya is we're back with Maya and then Bianca also has a question.
So maybe you're starting with Maya.
Yes, thank you, Rolando for taking my question.
The question is for Claire, if I could have the copy of the report in Spanish that you issued this week, the report to you issued this week regarding Latin America.
And also how is WMO involved in any way in supporting the Brazilian government and in particular the state of Hill granted.
So government in this moment?
OK.
So yes, the report is available in Spanish.
I'll, I'll send it to you.
The way WMO operates is through our members and in this particular instance, the Brazilian National Meteorological Service.
They've been very, very, very active indeed in issuing early warnings, regular updates, regular forecasts, which are then obviously used by federal and regional authorities in their disaster management.
Our role in WMO is to try to strengthen the capacity of national neutrological services such as in Brazil to deliver these forecasts and to deliver the deliver these services.
We are one of the leading, you know, leading players in the global early Warnings for All initiative.
And that really is to ensure that nobody's left behind, that, you know, the forecasts reach everybody who needs them and that people can act on those on on those forecasts.
So this this is a really major initiative.
It's spearheaded by the UN Secretary general and as I said, WMO, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, the International Telecommunications Union and the International Red Cross and Red Presence Society.
We are we are all working together to to try to push this, push this forward.
Obviously this scale of the flooding in, in what we're seeing in Brazil now, it's, it's absolutely horrific.
But but hopefully the fact that, you know, the early warnings were issued, they were made available, you know, hopefully that did, you know, help minimise the the casualties and anyone life lost is one too many.
But you know, we hope by by, you know, forecast early warnings, we can keep, you know, the loss of life to to a minimum.
Thank you very much, Claire.
I see that both might you might have your hand back up again.
I don't know.
I mean, if there's something that you can maybe pose to Claire bilaterally unless it's a go ahead.
Yeah, just follow up.
So a clarification.
So this early warning systems were non existent or they were, but they had they missed it because the scale of the damage gives you on the idea that there was no proper early warning system to evacuate people.
Or is can you just quickly say something about the early warning systems because how do they work?
It's like the national meteorological services of that city or that city municipal has some sort of what radar sensors, whatever satellites that are kind of capturing things around it around the globe that will impact that region in that specific moment.
Is there a way that you can tell us why is, is this, this seems that it has failed this early warning system?
No, I'm sorry, I, I disagree with that.
The early warnings have been issued regularly, reliably and repeatedly by the National Meteorological service.
They've, they've been, they've been issuing the warnings.
The forecasts have been spot on that, you know, they've issued another forecast today warning of yet more heavy rain, you know, to hit the area.
So the warnings are there, they are accurate.
This is not the case in all parts of the world, which is why we've got the early warnings for all initiative.
But certainly what we've been seeing in in Brazil is that the, you know, the National Meteorological and Hydrological Service really has done a tremendous job in issuing the forecast and issuing the warnings.
The it's the, the scale of the, you know, the scale of the disaster, the, the intensity of the rainfall, the fact that it's lasted for so long that obviously makes disaster response very, very difficult.
But the warnings are there.
It's, you know, that they worked.
They have worked.
Thank you very much, Bianca.
A quick follow up to a previous question, perhaps.
Yeah.
Thanks again, Hollando.
Yeah, I, I had a question to Claire is sorry to Claire that I I think she didn't answer.
It was regarding the the forecast for today because it's a lot of rain again.
So if the forecast is confirmed, how bad can be the situation now?
And last last one just and I'm sorry for I apologise to my colleagues because we are really into this story and Maya and I, but for Brazil, it's really, really a dramatic thing.
The situation is very, very, very difficult.
So if both Claire and William, if both of you can just give it could be a small sentence, but just to compare this situation, this disaster in Brazil with other floods in the world because, yeah, just to to give us a big picture of the intensity and the dramatic scale of what we are seeing now in you going to do so.
Thanks.
I promise it's finished.
OK, so, so for the forecast today, and I'm just reading from the, you know, from the forecast from the National Meteorological Service, they are the ones who are responsible.
So according to the National Institute of Meteorology, it's important to note that the predicted rainfall volumes may cause new disturbances in areas already affected previously.
And for this reason in MET, which is the service warns and recommends following the guidelines of the National Civil Defence.
So they are making their forecast, their warnings available to federal and to regional authorities, you know, who are then responsible for the, you know, any additional evacuation measures, any additional emergency planning measures.
In terms of comparing it, it's, it's on a massive, massive scale.
It's part of Brazil.
If we look at what's been happening in East Africa, that that's equally, it's equally dramatic.
You know, for anybody who's caught up in this, anybody who loses, you know, loved ones who loses their livelihood, who loses their, their crops, you know, you can't really say, well, it's worth what's happening in Brazil than than East Africa.
But in, you know, in East Africa, when we see what happened in in Kenya and the Kenyan president last week said, you know, no corner of Kenya is they're not affected by by the scale of the flooding there.
You know, you see the small scale farmers in East Africa who've lost everything.
They've lost their livestock, they've lost their, their, their crops, they've lost everything.
They've been displaced.
Infrastructure has been washed away in Brazil and in and in East Africa.
So you it's, it's a really, really dire emergency for anybody who's put up, you know, be it be it in Africa or or be it in Brazil.
OK, I'm going to allow one follow up from Maya and then we really need to end it.
But unless this is something that you can pose to to Claire or William bilaterally, is this a really quick follow up for clarification?
Yes, go ahead.
Thank you very much, Orlando.
Yes, yeah.
They say that is on the scale of Katrina, the damage, the amount, the devastation that's happening in Port Alegre.
So that's something that perhaps most people are familiar what happened in Katrina.
But what I would like to ask now is you're saying there are new warning systems were in place, they were given sufficient warnings and how come people could not evacuate in time is because there are no systems in place.
So this is a failure of the Brazilian government or it's also because it is somewhat a new, new incidents, right, that are happening more frequently and that governments need to step up and prepare better for situations like this.
I don't think I would use the word failure for this particular case.
From what I've seen, you know, the Brazilian government did respond, you know, very rapidly, very efficiently.
It's just the it's just the scale of this, the scale of the magnitude of the disaster, which does make, you know, it very, very difficult.
And as William said, you know, there's not enough funding being put in sort of early warning systems generally in climate adaptation, climate mitigation.
But I think, you know, it's as the UN secretary general says, you know, when we are at war with nature, as we, you know, are by constantly, you know, adding more pollution to the atmosphere, then nature strikes back and and nature has unfortunately, you know, hit back in, in in Brazil.
Thank you very much, Claire.
Much appreciated.
Thanks, colleagues, for your interesting questions on this important subject.
Ed Harris of WIPO is with us.
And thanks for your patience.
Ed has an announcement on the diplomatic conference.
Over to you, Ed.
Thank you, Orlando.
Good morning, everyone.
You will have received copious amounts of information from me about the upcoming diplomatic conference, which begins on Monday.
So just a couple of logistical notes before everybody heads out for a nice sunny weekend.
It begins at 10 AM here at WIPO.
It will be webcast.
You can find the link through our website.
For anybody who wants to come over, please give me a call in advance and arrive as early as possible.
There are 1200 attendees who have indicated that they'll be arriving also on Monday morning, so we're expecting a capacity crowd for folks who want to ***** inside.
We can bring you in a bit, let you do some beauty shots and of course you can do what you want on the premises.
So just to say, please give me as much forewarning as possible and I hope to see everybody on Monday morning.
Have a great weekend.
Thanks, Rolando.
Thanks to you, Ed, and thanks for those those important notes.
We do have a oh, no, we don't have a question.
We thought I had a question for you.
Oh, we do have a question.
Sorry, my short sightedness, just I don't know if it's prepared among your amount of material, but we would like to see the programme.
Thank you, Ed.
Yep, on the programme.
Yeah.
Sorry, I, I, I got muted.
Yeah, the programme you can find through the through the website.
There's a main page that has all the links.
If you're, if you want, I can e-mail it to you.
There's an agenda.
You can find it through our meeting site, give you a basic rundown of what's to be expected on the first few days.
Michelle, I'll send that to you.
No problem.
Right after the we finish here.
Thanks, Ed.
I, I suppose, Michelle, is that the same question on the programme?
Might be another question.
Go ahead.
Maybe we can unmute.
Michelle, go ahead.
Thank you.
I was having trouble.
I'm meeting myself.
You know, I had another question about the list of participants.
I don't know.
Do you have any sort of dignitaries that are going to be coming for this conference?
And also just tell us what we should expect regarding this new agreement that is being negotiated.
Should we expect an adoption of the agreement and if so, when?
Thank you.
Let's let the last go first.
So the so the diplomatic conference is scheduled between May 13th and 24th.
So that's from this Monday to the following Friday.
So it's the hope that yes, there'll be some sort of signing ceremony on that final Friday, if not before.
As for.
Participants, there isn't a list that's been published, but we are expecting a number of government ministers from around the world.
I can tell you about that bilaterally as it as it firms up right now I can say there'll be a number are are planning to attend.
Great.
Thanks Ed for that those notes.
Any further questions for Ed?
No.
OK.
Thank you again for joining us and good luck next week at the conference.
OK, just a couple of announcements from me before we wrap up.
Firstly, to remind you of the Secretary of General Antonio Guterres, She's currently in Nairobi.
He's there today and tomorrow he's there attending AUN Civil Society Conference, which is an important step towards the preparations for the summit of the future, which takes place in September of this year.
Mr Guterres is expected to deliver remarks at the conference's closing session this afternoon and it'll be webcast.
He's also scheduled to do a press conference.
I believe this is 2/15, 2:15 today, our time, Mr Guterres will be doing a press conference, which will be a webcast, of course.
So do do put that on your radar.
Now in terms of human rights meetings, we have three different committees, 2 underway and one starting next week.
The Committee Against Torture is wrapping up its 79th session this afternoon after having reviewed the reports of Austria, Honduras, Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein, N Macedonia and Finland.
The Committee on the Rights of the Child is had did session start this week and it continues next week.
Today it's reviewing, this morning it's reviewing the report of Mali.
In this afternoon it'll review report of Panama under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children.
And then lastly, next week we have the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, otherwise known as CDAW, which commences its three-week session during which it will review the following country, reports, the Republic of Korea, Montenegro, Singapore, Estonia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Brazil and Rwanda.
You have a media advisory with all the information they're in.
And lastly, the Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review Working Group will conclude it's 46 session this afternoon after adopting the final reports for this session, namely for Eritrea, Vietnam, the Dominican Republic and Cambodia.
So you also have information on that.
And maybe just mentioning that over the on the other side of the pond, we have the General Assembly this afternoon, we'll convene its emergency special session on Israel OPT.
This is to do with the membership of Palestine and this is rather a bid for membership.
And this is taking place at 10 AM New York Times, so 4:00 PM our time.
And of course that's also webcast.
That's it.
I have that's all I have rather any questions for me?
No, in that case, have a good weekend and Bon Appetit.