Welcome to the press briefing of the Information
Service of the United Nations here in Geneva.
It's Friday, 12th of July,
although we wouldn't say from the weather outside.
But we'll hear more about this from
the World Meteorological Organisation later on.
And I will start this briefing by introducing you to Doctor
Who is the WHO senior emergency officer?
Um, speaking, briefing us today on the health situation in DRC.
Tariq is also with us, so I'll start by giving the floor to the doctor. Please.
You have the floor. Uh, we start with the introductory remarks and then
I'm here today to address the catastrophic situation
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
DRC has faced escalating conflict and violence,
leading to mass displacement,
widespread disease, gender based violence and severe mental trauma,
particularly in the eastern part of the country.
now has the highest number of people in need of humanitarian aid in the entire world,
with 25.4 million people affected. Despite this,
it remains one of the most underfunded
Around 7.4 million people are displaced,
with 2.8 million in North Kivu alone.
These mass movements of people overwhelm water and sanitation systems
and bring an additional burden on the population's scarce resources.
people are facing outbreaks of cholera,
all exacerbated by severe flooding and
landslides affecting some parts of the country
20,000 cases of cholera and close to 60,000 cases of measles have been reported,
with actual numbers likely to be higher
due to the limited disease. Surveillance and data reporting.
Armed conflict and displacement are also the main drivers for food insecurity,
and according to the latest chronic food insecurity analysis,
about 40% of the population that is 40.8 million people, just the sheer size of it
face serious food shortages, with 15.7 million facing severe food insecurity
and as a result, a higher risk of malnutrition
and infectious diseases directly related to that.
If immediate action is not taken to address, basic needs in the
over 1 million Children will suffer from acute malnutrition.
As a result of the situation that I have described,
we also see health facilities being
overwhelmed and having seen a dramatic increase in patients
certain health facilities.
And they are faced with having to treat severe and massive injuries
and from explosions and weapons of war
that are severely overwhelming the capacities that they are set up for,
and the capacities of health workers who are also
is committed to serving the people of
we have reached 460,000 people with emergency
health services in conflict affected areas.
One example is how we support
water and sanitation and hygiene education approach
for health through surveillance and case tracing,
water testing and chlorination,
sample transportation and testing,
supply delivery for prevention and treatment,
clinical management of the construction of treatment centres and water points in
displaced people's camps.
Working closely with rapid response teams to reach the affected populations,
humanitarian access remains severely constrained by military
presence around IDP sites and health facilities.
and roadblocks are disrupting aid delivery where it's most needed.
This is where we work in certain places
where it's most needed with mobile clinics inside
the camps to reach the people in need
calls for sustained and unimpeded access and urges the parties
to work together to restore peace.
A first step towards improving the mental and physical health for all people of DRC.
Thank you very much. Doctor Masang.
Let's see if there are any questions. I see
our correspondent of Reuter
Um, I was wondering if you could elaborate more on the acute malnutrition.
Um, I hadn't heard too much about DRC in this context.
How many Children are now suffering from acute malnutrition?
You mentioned the 1 million at risk. Could you say why they are hungry? And
do suffer from acute malnutrition, Would that be the worst, uh,
malnutrition crisis in the world?
Actually, for Children, Thank you.
Every question is straight away.
The acute malnutrition as a result of widespread, increasing
and also recurrent food insecurity in the areas that have seen
for years and decades now.
But where we now very recently see an escalation beyond what
we have seen over the last 10 to 20 years,
compounded by the floods. The widespread floods
to families when they are leaving, leaving their crops, leaving their farms,
leaving everything they have.
And they have to move wherever it's safe,
wherever there is no explosion or no bombardment,
and that changes by the day.
So it is impossible to really attend to the fields and to look after
harvests. So when we talk, about
40 million being at risk of food insecurity.
That gives, of course, also a projection
later this year and next year.
And the prospects are indeed looking as if they
will get even worse if the situation continues.
acute malnutrition is one form of malnutrition that can have several clinical
features, and it affects mostly and most acutely and most severely
and gravely pregnant lactating mothers, Children
that are prone to infectious diseases
that need vaccinations, regular care
and if they develop malnutrition,
they need clinical care with specialised supplies.
we are providing in co operation with
the partners to specialised health facilities,
which also need to be able to work in security and in safe conditions
the long lasting care that severe acute malnutrition requires.
So it's not like you come in into the clinic
and tomorrow you have your medicines and you can leave.
It's a chronic long term prolonged treatment that is required
and having 1 million Children out of 6.9 million that are displaced,
especially in the eastern part.
There are two other provinces who are also very much affected,
not just the eastern provinces in the
That is a very high proportion of Children,
a disproportionately high number of Children
and we can compare, although we shouldn't compare because the situations are very,
But we can compare it, of course,
with some other places that have undergone protracted,
prolonged crises in the world.
on their suffering on the mothers that have at the same time to go
and fetch water in very distant places,
or where they may not know where they are in the evening
where they can get the food.
Because markets public buildings,
hospitals are overwhelmed by the influx of IDPs of this place,
especially in the Goma area in North Kivu.
So it is very hard to have also predictable markets.
Predictable offers for the food. It
address, especially on the longer term. Now
we focus on the medical treatment
of treating malnourished Children with complications.
acute respiratory infections.
They can develop measles that is very frequent,
Their immune system is weakened, and their ability, their cerebral ability
So acute severe malnutrition as a child in this situation means
that you will have lasting effects for your whole life
and for the way how you can later on compete in life.
Education, et cetera, will be affected.
It is a multifactorial response for which we do need
the conditions of access,
the conditions of the Children and their mothers to
be able to access the health facilities that are specialised
to work with the communities and inform them
about where they can get the treatment, what the consequences are.
And for that we need access, security and a longer lasting peace situation.
Thank you very much. Emma, Is that OK?
Other questions from the room.
So let's go to the platform. Robbie Millard. A FP.
you said it was one of the most underfunded and forgotten crises in the world.
I just wanted to know why. Why do you think that is? Thank you.
It's an excellent question.
We know that the crisis in the
has been going on for decades.
We are now speaking about the acute deterioration
that has taken place over the last months,
if you will since October, but really much more gravely since February and May.
the political processes around it
require the longer term engagement of international partners
that peaceful solutions are being found
that armed groups are being
or convinced to allow access and security where it is most needed.
We have not forgotten the
the people who are suffering.
We have been there and despite the most difficult environment,
we have stayed and delivered and we are committed to continue doing that.
We just ask, like partner organisations that we are provided safety and security.
The underfunding is indeed severe.
16 per cent of the humanitarian response plan is currently approximately
we are looking for something like 30 million to
address the situation until the end of the year
to increase capacities that are required
and to ensure a more agile response situation.
And out of those, we have received something around 6 million. It's 6.3 million,
including injecting internal funding
a minimum and to be able to scale up until the end of the year
as the situation is expected to get worse.
Yeah. Thank you. Um, just following up on the funding issue,
What are you not able to do as a result
of the shortfalls of funding that you're you're talking about?
And secondly, what? What's the big constraint for you now?
Is it funding or is it insecurity?
um, sorry. Can you just repeat it? I think I forgot the first part.
I was asking what you're not able to do
as a result of the funding constraints you've got,
whether the biggest problem for you at this point is money or or the
absolute lack of security on the ground. Thank you.
One of the most underfunded areas,
but also at the same time in this situation as you can imagine,
one of the most needed areas to scale up further in
is mental health. Psychosocial support.
We have been able to establish the programme and
scale it up to five conflict affected provinces.
But this is the programme where we acutely ran,
ran out of funding and we're through internal funding that I mentioned before
that we have just released.
We will support the scale up of mental health and psychosocial
support activities and that is to health workers who are in the same
in the same position as the population who
have to move around and to face the insecurity
as much as people affected people affected by sexual and gender based violence.
And in general, the population that has been multiply displaced
is under a situation of chronic and acute shock.
So mental health, psychosocial support,
then the control, the detection,
verification and control of communicable diseases is a key priority
health risks increase in such situations, I have mentioned
We have to be ready for anything to happen in such a situation,
so it is important to identify cases, to be able to reach patients.
And for that we need security and access
to transport samples to have them detect to have them
tested in laboratories. And we do have laboratories in Goma, at least in the East.
They need supplies, and that is on a continual basis.
And what we're trying to do and that is also costly,
is to integrate the surveillance so that we have a better picture,
a stronger picture of the multiple layers of diseases and outbreak risks
I can go on and on, of course,
but having been given the opportunity, I also wanted to highlight that
we do need funding for co ordination
to co ordinate health partners in a very
tricky situation that requires a national and sub national
set up and not just a national and sub national,
but also a more localised decentralised.
is a challenge, and co ordination funding is badly required.
Uh, thank you very much. Lisa
Schlein, Voice of America.
Um, first and very quickly to finish, uh, the issue on funding. How much is the,
uh was appealed for in the response plan.
You say that WHO needs $30 million until the end of the year, but I guess the,
uh, overall response plan is much larger than that.
And then, um, a couple of more questions. The issue of security, of course, is huge.
You keep mentioning that, and we all know that
the United Nations peacekeepers have left the DRC. How do you,
um, believe security. The kind of security need can actually be,
uh, be implemented without the secu without the UN there.
Apparently, the government is not doing
a very good job as far as that's concerned.
how much of a threat is that? I mean, a apparently it's,
I believe I'm not absolutely certain about that, But if you could speak about,
parks poses not only for the DRC, but for
uh in neighbouring countries as well. Thank you.
Let me take the funding first.
The humanitarian response plan for 2024
aims to assist 8.7 million people and requires
billion for all agencies and the overall assistance that would be required.
And when we see that it's just 16 per cent funded,
which is probably less than half than last year,
that is a very worrying trend. When we see that at the same time and as highlighted,
increasing exponentially,
especially very recently and the projections are that this will continue
has disengaged from South Kivu.
They are still in the country, in the east, in North Kivu and
And I believe there was a Security Council briefing
that took place earlier this week precisely on this topic
and I'm sure the outcome would be available to you as well.
It was indeed raised as a concern
the risk of a security vacuum and that could increase further,
which would throw us even more into
the situation of increasing numbers of displaced
numbers of victims of violence
and the whole vicious cycle just continuing
As you have alluded, it does remain a global health threat,
with 26 countries reporting cases to
shows no sign of slowing,
with more than 11,000 cases that have been reported this year
and 445 deaths again Children
is supporting both the DRC
and South Africa, for that matter, which
to respond to these outbreaks
to conduct surveillance as mentioned previously. And
more funding will be needed for that as the outbreak seems to be increasing,
to engage the affected communities and to develop
immunisation strategies to ensure most effective response.
and it is a reason of concern,
and we're following up very, very closely with a dedicated
mechanism to identify, verify, test
and follow up on these patients.
There are two camps in North Kivu
that we have military activities around those camps and
some camps were actually actively targeted earlier this year,
think it illustrates the increasing risk for this disease
but also to the difficulties that
could be there to contain it.
If security is not granted.
Uh, yes, I do. You say that Children are mainly infected when,
ox was first. Um, well discovered LA last year.
I believe it was when they were talking about it.
Uh, it it it, uh, was reported that it was mainly, uh,
communicated or infected by sexual relations
between men. So, uh, is that, uh, not the case, or is that still the case or,
uh, one of the ways in which it is infected?
And how is it that Children are mainly infected by this disease? Thank you.
this is what we're observing. This is what we are noting
as we learn more about the disease.
You probably have also heard that there is a new strain that we are observing.
And so the pattern of the disease has indeed
changed a bit. We see now transmissions
that take place only between humans.
And we are observing and noting the new features and are happy, of course, to
give you more specific details also in writing. Should you be interested
to have more details about
the specific way of transmission
and what the percentages are between Children and adults,
I think he's pretty clear.
Sorry, I. I realise I did need to clarify one thing.
Do you know how many Children currently are suffering from acute malnutrition?
million could be affected.
That is, of course, the projection of the integrated food security analysis.
That usually is a projection six months ahead
from from the numbers of malnourished Children that we see at health facilities.
I'm happy to give you the the the precise figures
from our team on the ground that is involved in the treatment
in the surveillance, in the support to health authorities
supply of very specialised nutritious
supplies to health facilities to treatment protocols
approximately between 250
Don't quote me on that. We'll give you the precise figure of what we see.
I don't see other questions online or here on this subject, so thank you very much.
We'll see if we can give you
more precise figure on funding.
So I'd like to ask Claire to come to the poor
and, uh, Clara Come, um, also with the with the, uh,
colleague and expert Mrs Sarah Bazar,
who is WMO scientific officer on Zoom from Geneva
So, uh, we will hear Claire would do we start with you?
And then we will hear from Mrs Bazar. Thank you.
uh, I I'll go ahead with the briefings first,
afterwards at the end if you want to ask me questions.
But we have, uh we have colleagues waiting.
OK, so, um, first of all the weather, um,
we might be feeling a little bit cold and wet in Switzerland,
as are many parts of France and the UK.
do we have to bear in mind that
elsewhere in other countries it is very, very, very hot Right now.
I've just looked at a map of Europe
and Romania, the whole Balkan area. It's
intense heatwaves. We've got intense heatwaves in the Western US, which are
June globally was the hottest June on record.
the 12th consecutive month of no sorry.
The 13th consecutive month of monthly record temperatures and sea surface
temperatures have been at record level for 15 months now,
so that's just to give you a little bit
of context to what we're going through right now.
So today is International Day of combating sand and dust storms.
It's an international day declared by the United Nations.
Various activities going on
the World Meteorological Organisation.
We're taking part in a lot of activities and I think dusty day Webinars.
But my colleague can explain more about that
to coincide with that. The World Meteorological Organization's just
issued its annual bulletin
bulletin on airborne dust.
It's something we do every year,
And this bulletin says that
the global average of mean surface dust concentrations last year was
slightly lower than in 2022 but it was higher than the long term average
just to give you a little bit of context about the scale of this problem.
Every year about 2 billion tonnes or 2000 million tonnes of dust
enters the atmosphere. We all know from our experience in Switzerland it
darkens our skies. Been a couple of occasions, it's darkened the Alps.
In many other countries, obviously, the problem is much, much,
It affects economies ecosystems. It also affects our weather and climate.
Much of this is a natural process.
But a large part is the result of poor land and water management,
and climate change is exacerbating the problem.
But luckily, sand and dust, storm warnings and forecasts have got much,
has a sand and dust storm warning advisory and assessment system.
And so to hear, joining me on Zoom is
the scientist, the WMO scientist who's responsible for that work.
Sorry. She can't be in the room with us because she is taking part in
in a series of webinars on sand and sand and dust storms.
But I will pass over to Sarah because I know she's online. Thank you.
Yes, she is with a beautiful background.
Uh, my name is Sara Lazar.
I'm the focal point for sananda
And also we are part of this UN coalition for combating San and the
storms that nowadays is involving more than 15
non UN agencies and non UN agencies. And in this set of
of agencies that we are involved in this combating
U, MC CD The UN condition for combating the
stones is not just the weather.
A phenomenon is an environmental phenomena
and changes in land are having implications
storms, occurrence and intensity.
As, uh, Claire mentioned today, we we launched this WMO bulletin
and in the bulletin you can have a very nice overview of the
And one of the topics that we are covering in
in one of the pieces is the severe, uh,
occurrence of extreme events that happened last year
in Asia. Then we are looking at now in the research, uh, community in the
not just in the amount of dust that is emitted every year. We are looking also on
the frequency and intensity of these events, and we can
see that in the last years the intensity is growing
and the frequency, sometimes depending on the region, is changing.
But it's true that we are ha.
It's happening at very extreme events, particularly in winter
we are having an increase of intense events
during the season that is not the common season
as Claire mentioned in Geneva, for example, the last
in February March, we were having this
reddish snow colour, and it was because an intense
But the last month was this extreme event in Greece, for example,
that was really stopping the activity
traffic was reduced and light consumption was was increasing.
This is connected with economic losses and for the,
we have this international day,
it's it's because all the impacts that these extreme events are having in
our daily life and not just in desert sources like North Africa,
in areas that usually we were not imagine that there are
some san and storms is happening like Iceland or Scandinavia.
Due to the reduction of the ice cover is emerging new
Then today is is a celebration of
of really, uh, all the actions that we have to face for combating the impacts
in our life of this natural and also
human phenomena sometimes
Is there any question on this subject for WM?
I don't see any, including online. Yes, Yes. Robin Millard, French
Thank you very much. Yeah.
If you could just, uh perhaps, uh, say a little bit more about,
uh, what caused this year's drop compared to,
uh, last year? I know it's only a slight drop, but, um,
if you just say a little bit more about, uh, what caused that?
And, um, also, um, about the intensity as well. Um, What?
What is it that's making the the storms that we do have, uh,
more intense than they used to be.
This is a question that always is tricky because always depends on the
What we can observe in the region of of China
last year and also in in Europe is that there is
a severe drought in the north in the Maghreb.
And this is, uh, this is one of the factors that is following that in winter time,
we were having more Sahara
destinations over Europe.
there are different factors, and some of them can be connected with,
uh, signals of climate change, like uh, an increase
of the sea surface temperature, for example, that is
also affecting uh, this, uh, long range transport. Because again
dust is is is connected with with
starting from the soil, but also you need the driver,
which is basically these atmospheric patterns and
changes in atmospheric patterns in global circulation
are also affecting the dust transport at regional and global scales.
Then, in the case of China in the spring, it there were a signal
in changes in the sea sea surface temperature in the Pacific that can
connect with changes in the atmospheric patterns. Drivers That was,
Thank you very much. Katrine
uh, while Catherine, uh, maybe sends her question in writing.
Is there any other person who would like to ask a question?
Oh, she says, uh, let me see, because I don't see other questions.
So let me see. Uh, what is Catherine's request?
Or maybe you try to connect again to open your mic again.
OK, Apparently it's not a question for
thank Claire and Mrs Bazar
very much for this for this update.
And Catherine, just send your question in writing, telling me to whom it is.
And let me go to the last speaker of this morning.
of this morning. It was Zaina Zain
Zaina. I understand you are calling in from Istanbul for I
and I give you the floor for announcing some reports.
Yes, thank you very much. Uh, good. Uh, morning, colleagues, Um,
for those who I haven't met before, my name is Zain Ali,
and I'm the head of news and multimedia for the ILO.
Um, I wanted to just take this opportunity to share with you, Uh,
a couple of reports and working papers that are coming out this summer
that might be of interest to you specifically this month. Um, And August,
we have a working paper coming out,
uh, jointly with the World Bank on artificial Intelligence and Latin America.
It's a, uh a study that looks specifically at the region, uh,
of Latin America And how, um how, Uh uh,
Existing pre-existing digital divides are affecting the way that a A
the world of work. Um, in, uh, on the continent,
we also have a second heats
and, uh, work report coming out. Uh, in July, the exact date is TV D.
And in this particular report, we're looking at regions.
We're breaking it down by regions,
and we're also looking at some of the economic costs,
of occupational health and safety measures being in
place to protect workers from climate change.
The cost of this, uh, may be incurring to economies.
And on the 20 the week of the 29th of July,
we have a working paper coming out on disability
and the labour market where we look at how,
uh, disability is affecting
a number of indicators such as, for example, uh, wage gap participation and so on.
Um, we also have a big report coming out on the eighth of August on, uh,
It's a global report that looks, uh, that has, um,
numbers, uh, based on regions where we look at rates of employment, but also, uh,
what we call the need rate at the ILO, which is not in employment,
Uh, for youth, uh, around the world.
and that is an overall, uh, brief an
of what you can expect from the ILO. Uh, highlights.
That is, uh, for the next, uh, month or two.
I'll pause here to see if there are any any questions so far, or, uh,
request for clarifications.
I don't see any hand up, uh, Diana, So go ahead, please.
OK, Perfect. Thank you so much. Uh, Alexandra,
Uh, we'll, of course be, uh, you know, briefing you more as, uh, as we move forward.
Uh, I also wanted to, uh, say that, as probably some of you have seen, we sent, uh,
a test email yesterday from our newsroom email, um, email account.
And this is because we wanted to make sure that the colleagues, uh, are receiving,
the The journalists in the palate are receiving communication from the ILO.
There may be some technical issues potentially on our end.
Um, we had requested for you to confirm that you've received and a big,
big thank you to the colleagues who have written back
If, however, you have not received uh uh, this email from us, uh,
from newsroom at IOO.ORG.
I would just request if you can please, uh,
drop me a line to let me know so we can look at whether there's an issue, uh,
for your particular account or not.
alpha whiskey, Alpha Delta at ILO, uh dot org.
And this is, uh, yeah again to to make sure that, uh, you our communication is,
and and, uh, that's it from, uh, from my end. So far
back to you, Alexandra. Thank you.
And I think we are going to redistribute the list of
spokesperson with And your name and contact details are included.
In fact, we are trying to put together
a list of the colleagues who are going to be on call
during the summer so that you have as we do at Christmas.
I think we used to do it also in the summer. I'm not sure,
distribute the list and the contact details of Zain
in there. So is there any other
I have a few updates for you
and then I see all the hands. I know that you all want to ask me about Sudan,
so I'll take the questions promised.
But I just have a couple of announcements from colleagues to read to you.
The first one comes from Pascal
As you know, today is the last day of the Human Rights Council. At its 56th session
today, the council will consider three draught resolutions for adoption
one on human rights in the context of HIV and A I DS
one on accelerating progress towards preventing adolescent girls pregnancies
and the third one on elimination of all forms
of discrimination against women and women and girls.
Pascal also asked me to tell you that Pakistan,
on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperations,
informed the Human Rights Council Secretariat yesterday evening
that they drew their draught resolution on countering religious hatred,
constituting incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence.
So this is going to be. This has been
Um, so far, the Human Rights Council has adopted a total of 22 resolutions.
19 of them were adopted without a vote.
And for your information,
the 57th session of the Human Rights Council will begin on Monday,
9 September for your agendas,
nine of September and Monday.
And he also asks me to inform you that starting on Monday 15 July,
will host the 16th edition of the Nelson Mandela World Human
Human Rights Mood Court Competition. As you know,
and it is now I think it has been going on for a few years.
which is an event organised by the Centre for Human Rights of the
University of Pretoria with the support of the Human Rights Council Secretariat.
This is a one week event when 48 students from 24
universities and 17 countries will
participate in this unique competition dedicated
and also on human rights.
the Human Rights Committee is continuing the review of the Report of Syria.
The Committee Against Torture will begin consideration of
the report of Cote d'Ivoire next Tuesday morning.
And as you know, at the end of the day, I'm not.
I'm not giving you updates on the conference on this amendment
because the next session starts at the end of July.
I don't have a press conference to announce. However, I would like to remind you
committee on the of the General Assembly
for the announcement of voluntary contributions to UNRWA
Some of you had asked me whether it was going to happen in Geneva,
New York or in the in the region.
It is going to be in New York.
this is the conference that aims to increase support from member states to UNRWA.
It represents an opportunity to advocate the highest level with member states
and is a platform to focus attention on the
agency's contribution to the human development and protection of
We expect the Secretary General to make a presentation, a statement
concerning the critical role of UN
and the president of the General Assembly,
and the UN Commissioner General will also deliver remarks.
event on UN web TV and let me know if you need more. Of course, Juliet
is available if you need to have more more details.
So now I'll give the floor to Emma, who has asked for the floor at the very beginning.
and I go to the platform.
just looking for some more details on the Sudan talks underway in Geneva.
Can you tell us where they're taking place? Um, how long?
They're scheduled to last for,
uh, which side didn't show up yesterday.
And have they shown up today and explained to us the concept of proximity talks?
the first question. Was who? Where?
The talks have taken place in Geneva.
I can confirm that some of the discussions have been taking place at the
Might be taking place also,
the talks are in Geneva. Some of them happened here. Second question was How long?
How long? We don't know. The engagement is continuing. Today
we will see. We will see how long it will last. Third question. I can't remember
I can't give you the details on uh, which, uh, which, uh uh,
warring party has has showed up or not.
Um, what I can tell you, as I said, is that the engagements continue today,
OK, that's that's I know that this has been, uh,
maybe an expression that we needed to explain.
the the the the personal in of the Secretary General is convening
this in proximity format That that means that the the the personal
supported by the UN integrated technical team.
So it is not in the same room, but he will engage with one delegation at a time.
And you also wanted to You had a last question?
Uh, no II, I don't They just continuing. Basically.
I don't know if I if, um well, I'll answer the question.
II. I just wanted to give you some of you asked about the the, um,
the meaning. I thought that was one of your questions. The meaning of those talks.
I mean, what what are they looking at?
Because I don't know if you are aware that
There have been two resolutions of the of the Security Council on
this that are relevant for this action. The first one is the Resolution 2724 of the
where the Security Council expressed concerns over the spreading violence in
Sudan and mandated the personal envoy of the Secretary General for Sudan
to use his good offices with the
parties complementing and coordinating regional peace efforts.
That's the first resolution. The second one,
allowing facilitated and fettered humanitarian access across the
country and ensure the protection of civilians.
It called on the parties to the conflict to seek an immediate
leading to a sustainable resolution of the conflict through dialogue.
That resolution requested the secretary general
in consultation with the Sudanese authorities and regional stakeholders,
to make further recommendations for the protection of civilians in Sudan,
building on the existing mediation and good offices mechanism.
So this is the context in which these talks
are happening and in accordance to these resolutions,
has convened the proximity talks in Geneva
and the focus so it is based on the resolution.
So measures to be undertaken to ensure the distribution
of humanitarian assistance to all the Sudanese population in need
and options to ensure the protection of civilians across Sudan.
So the discussions seeks to identify avenues
for advancement of the identified humanitarian and
protection of civilian measures through possible local
ceasefires as requested by the Security Council.
This is what I can tell you in terms of the context and the scope of the talks
the delegation and the two delegations are comprised of senior representatives.
That's what I can tell you who have been delegated by
the leaders of the warring parties to participate in the talks.
The delegations are composed of humanitarian, security and military experts.
So that's what I can tell you about the delegations and the delegation level,
the participation of other parts parties. I can I
don't have information on that.
speak about the secrets. It's not a question of secret.
I mean, we have been trying we as UN,
but also others have been trying to move this process forward, so
it's not a question of secret.
It's a question of giving them some kind of, you know,
breathe and not trumpeting about it.
They have to have a space for discussing. But as you are asking, we are answering.
The personal envoy has started the discussion.
One of the party didn't show up,
but they are here in Geneva and we urge them to all parties to participate.
All of them in in this, uh, in this, uh, discussions. And today
the engagement is continuing. So we'll see how it goes.
UN spokesperson in New York said that
one of the two delegations didn't attend scheduled
That means the meeting yesterday with the person
envoy started with one delegation or was cancelled.
So yesterday we we had, uh, engagement.
But as I told you before, the engagement is not with the two parties together.
with one of the delegations
and we urge the other one also to to
We urged yesterday that you're referring to what Mr Duri
said. He said we urge both parties to participate in the in the discussions
today. The engagement is continuing, so we will. We will. The person involved
we would see how today with whom it speaks.
Uh, I, I don't have details on what's happening at the moment, but
the engagement is continuing. This I can, uh I can confirm.
And the delegations in Geneva that I can confirm too.
Um um I'm I can't really tell you which one has come. Which one has not? I'm sorry.
Yes. Do you hear me, Alexandra? No. Yes.
I don't know why before you had your mic was on on.
No. In fact, I have a new computer and it doesn't work on the new computer.
And now I'm on the phone. So like that,
you know everything. Thank you so much.
Giving me the floor, Alexandra.
And of course, thank you for answering all these questions to my colleagues.
I had quite the same questions, but I'd like to come back to what my colleagues asked.
In fact, as we know that one delegation did not show up. So how long will these
If only one delegation is still showing up and that the second one is absolutely not
showing up. Could you tell us more about,
ian is in contact with the one that did not show up and why didn't it show up because of
logistic problems or because they they they did not agree with certain elements.
And the other thing could you kindly send to all of us the two resolutions
And, um, is there someone that we could contact, uh,
during the weekend to know more about it?
Is it yourself or is it someone that is appointed by the mediator? Mr uh, la
OK, so let me try and answer all the questions.
The last question. The one before.
The last question is yes. During the weekend, mile
will be here. Rolando will be here. So if there is any updates,
they will be here to inform you
because there is no specific person for communication in the delegation.
So don't hesitate to ask us if we can. We will help
other question. You asked about why the delegation didn't show up.
I think it's a question for them. I don't have an answer to that.
What I can tell you is that because you were asking about what?
Basically what happens if one of the delegations doesn't show up?
One of what I can tell you is that both delegations
have responded positively to the invitation of the personnel envoy.
So they are both here in Geneva.
It's true. One of the delegations didn't show up yesterday.
But the person envoy has invited the
delegations to continue the discussions today.
So we urge them to participate because, as you all know,
we have also spoken about this here on this podium.
The humanitarian situation in Sudan
is deteriorating by the day. So we really need to
look at the devastating impact that this has on the civilian population.
And we urge the delegations to rise up
to this challenge and engage in constructive discussions.
these discussions these engagements are continuing and we will see
how whom when and how long it will last.
We will we will see how it goes today.
But really I think that it's encouraging the fact that both
delegations answer positively to the invitation of the personnel envoy,
Jamie. I've got people on the line who have been waiting patiently to
wait a second. I give them the floor, and then I come back to you, Jamie.
pretty much what I could tell you.
Um, I just wanted to, uh, follow up a little bit on this.
Um, I think Moussa asked you also if I understood his question correctly,
Um, about whether other diplomatic, uh uh,
delegations involved whether the Saudis or various
others are involved or is just purely,
Um, who is paying for their stay here in Geneva?
Um, how big are the delegations?
yesterday, uh, I had asked you, uh, if it was a gene
Geneva or at the Palais you said in Geneva.
So presumably that means today it's happening in the Palais.
And yesterday it wasn't. Or was it happening yesterday in the Palais also?
And also, Moussa had asked about
peace. Does this actually
You mentioned that it's humanitarian aid? Um
uh, and civilian protection
Is the UN hopeful the secretariat hopeful that this
is a step towards peace or cease fire.
ok, so first of all, for your first questions, I don't have an answer.
I can ask, uh but I don't have an answer for you now,
on the issue of the location. As I said, the talks are in Geneva. Some of them
have happened at the Palais
on the question of the scope.
As I said before, we have these two points that were in the resolution,
which is the humanitarian assistance and protection of civilians.
I have also said that the discussion seeks to identify avenues for
advancement of identified humanitarian protection of
Syria measures through possible local ceasefires.
And this is what has been requested by the Security Council.
Um, and that is what I have for you, uh, to answer your questions, Jamie,
I'll try to get a little bit more about, uh what, uh, you asked
on the, um uh How many people? And and and the funding?
I don't have that information now,
Um, is it thought as a one shot exercise,
or is it already thought as a as a sequence by the personal envoy of the SG?
Look I think what we can say is that the SEC the the Security Council
has given the personal envoy and the Secretary
General through his personal envoy a mandate.
He is implementing it. Let's not prejudge what?
How, how long and how we will develop. Let's let's look at this, uh, engagement.
We are very happy that it's happening
and we will see how it develops.
These are all follow ups. But Catherine
I'd like to come back about the two delegations.
The two delegations arrived in Geneva,
did not show up to the meeting to the talks. Is that correct? Yes, they are in Geneva.
And yes, yesterday they did not engage with the personal envoy.
Then he urged them and invited them to to do it today.
press conference expecting about this
meeting. And the second question,
as I know this is a humanitarian negotiations, is why is
uh why this negotiation is confidential?
I have told you that. I mean, there is no secret.
These are the scope of the discussions.
Distribution of a military system to all
Sudanese population protection of civilians across Sudan,
possibly through local ceasefires that the demand of
the Security Council resolutions is very clear.
So there is no secret about the content.
the personal envoy has been mandated to do. And this is what he hopes to achieve.
And you had asked the first question. Sorry. I forgot the first thing you said
about the press conferences.
For the moment, there is no media opportunities foreseen.
we have discussed this The possibilities here We have offered the possibility of
having press events and we will see how it goes.
And if there is anything organised, of course, we will inform you very quickly.
so I see lots of hands on the platform That's more or less what I could tell you so.
But I'm I'm happy to listen to your further questions. Jamie,
Sorry. I just wanna make sure that I heard you correctly.
So yesterday one side didn't show up.
But as far as you know, that the the second side has not appeared today also,
In other words, no, I never said that.
I never said that Yesterday one of the two delegations didn't show up,
and today, the engagements are continuing.
I'm not giving you details on what's happening today. For the moment,
we hope we will have an update during the day.
Nothing that I can tell you on this for the moment,
Uh, to be a little more concrete about some of this stuff.
Um, was it the rapid support forces delegation that did not show up Or the, uh,
Sudanese armed forces that did not show up yesterday?
And you say that both of them are in town now and that this,
uh, shuffle diplomacy is continuing today? Is that correct?
And do you have any idea how long the talks are
to continue? Uh, is there, uh, you know, a finite limit to this, or as long as
they want to talk. And also the the the name of the mediator? Um uh, the special envoy.
What is that? Please? Thank you. Ok, so this is the easiest, uh, the personal envoy.
He is the personal envoy of the Secretary general for Sudan.
I'm not going to give you the details on which delegation showed up
and which delegation didn't show up on the length of the talks.
As I said, we don't know. We will see how it goes for the moment.
We know that today the engagements are continuing and we will see how it continues.
Yes. Good morning. Uh, just a a
follow up to my colleague's question.
I was wondering, uh, Alessandra,
the agencies that are providing technical support to this, uh,
personal envoy of the SG.
Uh, for instance, do we have, uh, representatives from, uh, WHO UNICEF
given? Uh, this seems to have the flavour of similar talks.
We had a few years back on Syria.
What I can tell you is that the the the
personal invoice is supported by an UN integrated technical team.
No more details on the composition of the team,
Thank you. Just to to clarify on a couple of things.
So, firstly, yesterday was, uh, the first day.
and thank you. And secondly, that it's foreseeing that the talks will
happen over the weekend on Saturday and Sunday.
OK, so as I said yesterday,
the personnel envoy invited the delegations to meet today to engage today.
But we have. And that is what's happening at the moment.
I can confirm some engagements are happening,
but I don't have a plan for the weekend
and I think that, uh, this really covers it all.
So I don't see other questions. Thank you very much.
just to remind you of an important day to that
is on the 15th of July World Youth Skills Day.
We've sent you the message of the Secretary General on this important day.
As I said, follow the UNRWA meeting this afternoon.
You have more information about the funding of the important activities that UN
is carrying out for Palestinian refugees.
Thank you very much. And I will see you next week. Thank you.
