Welcome to the press briefing of the Geneva Information Service.
Today is Tuesday, 3rd of September.
We have quite a few invitees today and I'd like to start straight away with Doctor Rick Peppercorn.
Don't need to introduce you, Rick, anyway, but we have him in, in Gaza.
I think he is at the moment.
Rick, you are here to tell us a little bit more on the polio campaign that you're running in Gaza.
Thank you very much for being with us.
I'll give you the floor, Thanks.
Good morning everyone and greetings from Gaza from The Who office in Dayabala, which is also the polio Emergency Operations centre, where all partners actually come together, do the planning.
But now everyone is actually in the in the field.
So we need to vaccinate 640,000 children all over Gaza.
Yeah, we do this and we, this campaign is that's actually 2 campaigns.
We are, we started now the first rounds and the second round will be in four weeks time.
We need to cover minimum of 90% of those children to stop the transmission within Gaza and to avoid polio spread, international spread to polio to surrounding to surrounding countries.
This is the third day of the campaign.
So the the first three days and and most likely plus one, we focused on the so-called central zone and and let me give you some data.
So yesterday, the second day, 74,000 to 346 children were vaccinated.
That's the second day of the polio campaign.
The first day 86,683 children were vaccinated.
So the total number of the first two days, children under 10 reached 161 thousand.
Thirty children that actually surpassed the target we'd set, we targeted.
We had an estimate that would be like 156,505 hundred children in this central zones.
Rick, sorry, I'm I'm looking at the face of the journalist here.
Can you please repeat the figures?
Can you please repeat the figures slowly?
They have not had the time to write it down OK.
So maybe then to start again.
So the overall target, 640,000 children all over Gaza, 2 rounds of folio.
We started now the first round, the next round of four weeks, we used 3 zones.
We started in the central zones with a which had a target of 156,500 children.
So yesterday 74,346 children were vaccinated and the first day 86,683 children were vaccinated.
So with Brinks it already on the total number of children under 10 which were reached over the 1st 2 days of 161 thousand and thirty children.
So actually we surpassed the estimated target.
So our target for the Central Zone wasn't underestimation and most likely due to the the constant population movement due to the specifically the multiple evacuation orders we've seen over the last over the last weeks.
So day three of the campaigns currently ongoing to make sure that that that any, most of the children left etcetera, that they will be reached as well.
And, and no children is me is missed.
So in this operation and it's incredibly complex.
There's 513 teams mainly operating from a fixed site, multiple fixed sites and and the fixed sites even have splits.
They can also function as mobile, mobile teams.
So we have mainly fixed IT, many mobile teams, social mobilisers, et cetera all around.
Then there is also an an, an intra monitoring campaign.
I will get back to that later.
So from day one, our visitors many of the fix side and also it shows the partnership which is ongoing.
The fix sides, they were from the Ministry of Health, from Anwar, from NGOs, UK Mets, International Medical Corps, Amazon, etcetera.
I mean like it's this whole campaign together with Ministry of Health, WHO, UNICEF and RAF.
But I will say many, many NGOs, we talk about 2200 health workers, community, community organisers, volunteers and community organisers as well.
Now we also have some coordinated missions left in central zone to reach actually the really the areas closed by the areas which was just outside this, this area where we had this Unitarian pulse.
And we do that with with fixed teams of vaccination teams as well, which works relatively well.
What I also noticed is the spirit in the first two days.
And, and so the first, the first day I went to many of these health sense primary healthcare centres and it was almost a little bit, I wouldn't say festive mood, but it was like there were so many fathers models bringing their children in and children really proud and happy that they got fascinated and, and there was a sense of kind of a relief.
I was personally not Even so surprised about this.
Gaza has an just like the West Bank has a very **** vaccination acceptance.
And, and before this crisis, routine immunisation has coverages of 90 to 95%, which is actually much better than a lot of **** income countries have.
So there is a huge, yeah, there is a huge acceptance rate.
The communication was done well, well as well.
And what we got back from the the independent, we have independent monitoring teams who also go out outside and talk to the population, interview the teams, etcetera.
And overall, of course, there's always hiccups somewhere, there's some delays somewhere, there's something else.
But overall, really, really good work.
Again, this is just the second, the third day of this campaign.
We think that we will need another day tomorrow to actually wrap up the central zone completely.
And then we will shift to the to the South, the southern zone on on Thursday and a similar approach 3 in 10 days and most likely the South.
The southern zone is a bigger area most likely with an an another day.
After that we shift to the northern zones.
4 weeks later, we repeat this, this process, I want to also say the environment because first of all, we need, of course, the, the, the critical is, is this area specific humanitarian pauses.
That's very much and, and, and, and we expect that all parties will stick to that.
It's absolutely critical because This is why parents bring their children and children thank God, but also this 2200 health workers can move, all these mobile model teams can go with the monitoring teams can go out, et cetera, et cetera.
And I want to still describe because we are now almost a little bit in this polio bubble, although it's only the third day, but this is an environment where we are extremely concerned about health and health situation.
We, we, we still talk about, if you look at health functionality, you talk about 16 of the 36 hospitals which are operational.
We're talking about 50 of the 150 Primary Health care centres which are partly functional.
We have seen a huge increase in infectious diseases and over over of course this crisis, we've seen more than a million many children diagnosed with acute respiratory infections, more than 600,000 children with diarrhoea.
There's a 25 times full increase over that time.
You see over 110,105 to 110,000 acute jaundice syndrome result, syndromic case managed hepatites A many skin disease.
And this of course it's all linked to the very poor water and sanitary condition, incredibly poor water and sanitary conditions, which is again coming back to polio.
It's not only a breeding ground for many of the infectious diseases we're dealing with, but also with, with, with many of them of course also with polio.
And when I was yesterday, I went with a couple of mobile teams and we walked around for for an hour or so around this endless, and you've seen this along the, the Coastal Rd, this endless makeshift camps everywhere.
And we went all over the place and everywhere we talked to to the parents, to the children, etcetera.
And good thing was that really literally almost all those kids were vaccinated and actually really proud of that and even small kids bringing us oh, I know a place where still 2 two of my sisters or two of my nieces are not vaccinated.
A really good atmosphere.
But of course if you walk through those shelters and camps, it's my fifth visit a long term visiting Gaza still you cannot get used to it.
The circumstances are incredibly poor.
And last point I want to raise, we also continue our, our other work.
I mean WHO we, we tried to get missions to the north over the last couple of weeks.
Now from the 8 missions we planned 8 or 9 nations, we planned only three or four could go.
Yesterday we had a mission to come out at 1 Indonesian Hospital and we, we brought on the emerging medical team in to Indonesian Hospital and we got one out.
We also got somebody in an emerging medical team in Kamal at 1:00 and also Godet's emerged medical team out which is important, which are providing teams specialising in neurosurgery, plastic surgery, etcetera.
We offloaded the truck, food, medical supplies and fuel and we brought referral.
We we actually what we call internal medevac of an amputee patient with below the knee and above elbow amputations and his father and mother and some children from Indonesian to the IMC field hospital.
We supplied chemotherapy medications to come out at 1:00 and if I thought that this mission was delayed for hours, but coming back was even worse.
So we finalised our meetings and everything on the polio yesterday night at 11.
The mission was still not back for the day before.
It only came back 113130 in the morning, which is completely irresponsible and it still shows that we still struggle after these eleven months with with a workable deconfliction system, incredibly serious.
These hospitals that need fuel, they need their medical supplies etcetera.
And we should be able to do better.
Yesterday, Shiva, the Ministry of Health actually inaugurated the new emergency departments in the Shiva Medical Complex, 70 bed capacities, triage, et cetera.
WHO supported the emergency department with medical supplies, ICU beds, et cetera.
We also assisted with a hemodial dialysis here in this region with 26 hemodialysis desk in MSF and the Ministry of Health hospital.
So that is some small, I would say, science of really strong resilience.
Thank you very much, Enrique.
There are quite a few questions.
Before I start giving the floor.
I just would like to remind the journalist that yesterday we have distributed a statement by the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East peace process toward Venez land on the situation in the Gaza Strip.
He was coming back from the Gaza Strip where he witnessed first hand the catastrophic impact of the hostilities.
You have the full statement in your mailboxes where he really says he continued to be engaged with all stakeholders towards the objectives of fine of getting to an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and urge all sides to reach an agreement that will bring about an immediate release of all hostages and the humanitarian ceasefire.
I'll start now with Christian.
I think Rick doesn't know you all, so I just introduce you, Christian Rick, our representative of the German News Agency.
I have two clarification questions on figures and one substantial real question.
How do you know you reach 90% if you don't know the exact number of children in that area and how many children are targeted in the southern area?
So those are the 2 figure questions.
And then my question is, I guess that most of the children in the Gaza Strip were up to date with their polio vaccination because until October last year, as you said, vaccinations were taken up regularly and happily.
Why do all of them have to be vaccinated now if the vast majority must have had protection against polio already?
Just give the floor to Rick to for a brief answer.
I just wanted to remind you that James Elder is also on the line and as you know UNICEF is doing the vaccination with WHO.
And also I am seeing in the chat, Rick, and turning also to Christian, if it's possible to have your notes, the notes of your briefing with the with the figures distributed to the press, Rick.
Yeah, to start with your last question, thanks very much.
So, so we're talking here about the vaccine derived polio virus type 2 which this child was infected with and and yes, Gaza children, they were pretty well vaccinated 11 more than 11 months ago.
We said over the last couple of years we've seen figures of 95 percent, 90%, it was a little down to 89, but still very good.
We talk about the vaccine derived poliovirus type 2 and This is why we have to provide this this type of vaccine, this novel poliovirus vaccine derived virus type 2.
And just to say as well, when these samples, these environmental samples were confirmed positive for this vaccine derived poliovirus type 2.
So WHO and and help assist the ministry to improve the surveillance.
That's why you do this surveillance on acute flaccid paralysis.
And these three suspected cases were discovered.
Now one of those children was indeed affected by this vaccine derived poliovirus type 2 and that was an 11 months old boy, which was not vaccinated.
And of course we have seen this in in in Gaza.
So strong vaccination for the crisis, but which we've seen in health sector and a health service has been disintegrating over the last 11 months.
Like I just raised with you the thickest on, on the health functionality.
It's not just hospitals and Primary Health care centres, it's also public health programmes.
So a routine immunisation which was a very strong operation initially collapsed completely.
Let's with all the movements and healthy infrastructure, etcetera, normally parents, they go for the routine inization to their primary healthcare sense and many primary healthcare sense are not existing anymore and not working or people cannot access them.
And including, of course, the ministry and partners need to guess this, this routine immunisation going again.
That also applied for the for the surveillance and and many other I would say public health programmes.
Now your other question on on the population.
So did you get your population right or wrong?
I think it's a very good question.
I think we, we, we, we definitely think that we have the overall population of 640 thousands more or less than correct.
The problem of course is there's been an enormous amount of populations movements all over Gaza and specifically in the South.
Yeah, we were even surprised for example, that this, this population, they were a small group and they were a little bit out of this zone, etcetera.
And we expected much less children there and there were more, we expected 2001 area and yesterday they already vaccinated 4000 children.
Now that I told you, there's been many evacuation orders specifically in the in the central area, so from Han units from the South, from Bawasi to other places, etcetera.
So maybe based on that, we probably underestimated this, the group, the population.
Then in the central zone, we will constantly try to adapt and assess, adapt.
For the moment, the southern target is 3, because you asked about the 340,000 children for the N 150.
I will repeat that for central zone, we have 156,583.
We know that's an underestimation.
We already know that from the South we have 340,000 for the Nord 150,000.
I also want to stress why is this so complex?
And having worked in many of these polio campaigns in other countries, in very complex countries like Afghanistan, for example, a good polio campaign, you do most of it, you do house to house and you make an assessment per block, how many houses, families, how many children, etcetera.
Then there's some fake sites and it needed, there's some mobile to put house to house.
Prof is the best way to do that.
We cannot do that for Gaza.
There's very few houses left and people are everywhere.
So maybe the good thing is that Gazans, because they never had this kind of polio campaigns for 25 years, there was not polio here.
So they never had this kind of polio campaign for a long time.
People are used to go to the fixed sites and we have seen it has worked very well in the first couple of days.
See, there are many more questions.
Isabel Sacco, Spanish News Agency.
I would like to to know if you can tell us if the vaccination campaign is going on as you expected, especially in terms of security, if there has been any situation of risk for the workers or for the families going to the to the places of vaccination.
And in this sense, if both parties are respecting A strictly the humanitarian process?
Yes, thank you very much.
And for now things are going well.
Again, this is only the third day.
So this, this, this area specific humanitarian pulses until now they work.
We of course expect that this will continue and that all parties as such that will contribute to this.
And to make sure that we can continue, we still have 10 days to go at least at least 10 days ago.
And, and I think that also we know that in the in, in the area where we work now, in the streets, etcetera.
And that that was the reason specifically the first two days, something like that.
This is the third day that that parents and and, and their children were out by the droves and, and I think felt very, yeah, secure in a way to do that.
So it's absolutely critical that we stick to that.
I think this is the complexity.
This is wildly complex and it isn't to have a campaign in Gaza.
And there's many other places where we did this also with fighting parties, etcetera.
But I think it's even more complex here.
So all these pieces of the puzzles, this, this humanitarian specific pauses, area specific pauses.
But of course, all the teams of the mobile teams, the making sure that everything is linked to cold chain, etcetera, that people start on time from 6 to campaigns are from six till two, that the mobile teams can go out that that the monitors can do the work.
So after, I mean, just for information, after 2-3 from 4:00, the core teams come back to The Who and bought the to the polio emerging upgrade centre here right under me.
And then all the analysis are done.
And every every day between 4:00 and 7:00 etcetera that based on the analysis, you know, with all the teams and partners, the containers adapted for the next day, micro plan are adapted etcetera, micro plans are updated, lessons learned for the Southern zone, etcetera, how to move forward.
And then, yeah, this meetings sometimes go on till 9, 10:00 in there in the evening.
Thank you, Reuters 7th Arch Hi, good morning, Rick.
Clarification first of all.
The IT looks on a map like they were partial zones the north, central and South.
Could you just clarify or is it the whole of the strip?
Second question, it seems like quite quite a unique opportunity to see all of Gaza's children.
Are you also using this opportunity to maybe screen them for other things like malnutrition and what are you seeing?
And finally, just on the back story, given the difficulties you described with deconfliction, why has in your opinion?
Israel agreed to this and why have there not been complications with this campaign whereas there have been?
For other things that you've requested, such as access to the North and so on, could you give us any context on how Israel was convinced to get on board with this?
Was there donor pressure?
Were there **** level meetings?
Any information or insights you could give into that process?
Yeah, I didn't completely get the first part of your question.
The first part was just is the whole of the Gaza Strip covered or are the?
3 zones, partial zones and some areas of the strip not covered by by the posits.
I think most of Gaza is covered, but not all.
As a, for example, in the central zone we identified a few areas, small population areas, but significant specifically when you, your target is to at least vaccinate 90% plus which we do, which we make special movements for which yesterday were well and we hope that today it works well as well.
Your second point is, you know, could we do other things with that and, and, and assessments as such, but we discussed this a lot.
The issue with the polio campaign is that when you want to reach 90% plus that you, it's a very intense campaign.
You, you want to do it as quickly as possible over at least number of days as possible.
And the complexities now in Gaza, we, that's we, that's not me, that's a technical team.
I'm a bit of a polio expert.
There's many more job experts and we sit together with all of them.
And so we decided in this campaign, we cannot add anything.
This is absolutely the Max we want to reach 90% of the corporation.
We have a limited, limited number of days and we have a limited number of times.
So of course, I just want to stress this was all based on negotiations and negotiations way forward.
However, and I told you already, you prefer to go house to house, which is not possible.
That's why you need to do difference etcetera.
But we all agree this is a workable, it's a feasible option and we want to stop this transmission.
In this area, specific urine process are absolutely the most critical part of that.
I mean with all the other pieces of the puzzles.
So that's why we move forward now.
We will learn lessons from this first round everywhere and if we see there's more things well, more activities would be possible in the second round four weeks from now.
We will definitely do that.
We are already analysing and thinking that what I even of course would hope that if this is possible, you know, and and again, we only the third day.
I have a bit of hope, a bit hopeful, but it's only the third day.
But if if this is possible, this kind of complex folio campaign into this incredibly challenging circumstances, then we have to really think more is possible in Gaza and how can we build up that we definitely will learn the lessons for for that.
Now, why have have parties agreed to this?
There's a couple of reasons what I can think of.
First, I mean, polio is a very easily preventable disease.
We the world's everyone would like to stop transmission.
You don't want to see children with polio and suffering from polio.
You also want to stop transmission first and foremost in Gaza, but you also want to stop the international spreads where it could maybe harm and affect children outside Gaza.
The globally, the polio is as as you all know, it is a public health event of international concern related to the international health regulations.
It is already for many years and currently M Box in the past COVID was that this very special and there's a reason for that.
Something like the world is is is busy on an eradication tracks track or for polio since 1988, there's only two countries where there's wild polio virus.
We know that Afghanistan, Pakistan, there's a number of places where you see this outbreaks of the so-called vaccine derived polio virus.
That's always in areas where there's war, civil strife, something like that where you have groups of children who are unvaccinated or under vaccinated and who are vulnerable and then this happens.
So I think all of this together, I think maybe that's, that's a world that the parties are more open to that I wish and I fully agree with you that this should be also applicable to many other humanitarian operations.
And that's why I meant I, I actually, I mentioned as well in my introduction the struggle we, we still have to do what I would call what I, what should be by now routine humanitarian operations to the north, to those hospitals, etcetera.
I think, yeah, there was one, one last question from the French news agency FP Nina Larson and then we'll go to OFC chart.
Thanks for taking my questions.
I just wanted to follow up first of all, I was wondering if you're expecting any different or more complicated challenges in the southern and northern zones when you go in there for for doing the vaccination there if you think it'll be different?
And then I just wanted to clarify on the on the vaccine that you mentioned to Christian's question.
So this is a different vaccine than what the children had before.
Is that correct for the vaccine derived polio virus?
Just so that I'm clear on that.
And one last question, which would be if, if you're hoping, we're expecting that, that the success of this, of this rollout this time will perhaps lead to, to better humanitarian cooperation on other, on other issues.
Thank you, Rick, if you don't want to give brief answers because now that they said it was the last one, of course, I have two more hands, but we really need to go to the next subject.
So please, if you can answer shortly.
So all very good questions.
So first of all, yes, of course we we definitely expect other challenges.
Every day is different, there's always hurdles, etcetera.
The, the southern zone is a larger area and we also know that there's some kids large group of of, of population outside their zone which we have to reach.
So we are we're discussing and negotiating on that.
But it's also a larger area and we are with the same 513 teams etcetera.
So we difficult also the north population more spread out etcetera will be also difficult different challenges on this virus.
It's a it's a novel oral polio vaccine and OPV 2 and it's a polio vaccine was being used to stop the transmission of this the variant polio virus type 2, the cell called CVDP V2 currently the most prevalent form of the variant polio for virus.
And so I want to say it's absolutely safe and effective or protections against paralysis.
And it's been globally recommended for the variant type 2.
And this type was found in the recent samples from Gaza.
And since the rollout of this NLPD type again in March 2021, more than 1.2 billion doses of this vaccine have been used to protect children of 40 countries all over against this type 2 ovarian polio virus.
Your last points, do I think this will have an impact on other humanitarian activities?
I think it should, and I think all parties conflict, but also Member States.
We should really push for that.
If this is possible in a way we should do much better in what I call the routine, what should be by now routine, your return operation because we have massive challenges as I described in health, but also in the whole wash area, the water and sanitation area, the food security and specifically shelter so much more as needs.
So I would expect that this will maybe it will maybe give a lot of spirits and a different approach.
Thank you, Doctor Peppercorn, this is Peppercorn.
This is Jamie Keaton from Associated Press.
Just to make sure I'm getting your math, my maths correct, you essentially said over 161,000 kids have been vaccinated in the first two days.
The total is your total goal is 640,000.
So that basically comes to more than 1/4 of all kids that you want to reach.
I just want to make sure that's correct.
And then the second thing is I'd just like to follow up on Emma's question about Israel's motivations here, because you talked sort of in general terms about the desire to avoid international spread and the how polio should be not be affecting any kids these days.
But can you just give us some insight into what actually tipped the balance for Israel specifically in terms of allowing this to go through given all the other complexities in Gaza?
Yeah, the first question, Yeah, Yeah, that's correct.
So 640,000 children in, in, in, in total and, and, and yeah, we, we, we reach now the total of 161,000 and 30 children again.
So probably the, we underestimated the, the, the population in the what we call the central zone zone.
And maybe we overestimate a little in the southern zone, which is more, but we will, we will see and then go to the, to the north.
Yeah, I find it difficult.
Your second points, you know, like why and, and, and how etcetera.
The for me, I think maybe the reason is that first of all, we talk about polio and, and yes, it is.
We talk about this, this global programme, the world's on its track to eradication and then suddenly you get polio in such an area and the risk of polio within Gaza, but also the risk on international spreads.
I think that definitely, that definitely helps.
It's a factor and, and, and maybe it's because talk about children, I don't know, I don't even want to go there.
I would hope that this is something that's that's the parties rally around like, hey, this is important and this can be done.
But again, we're not here just for polio.
We focus now on polio, but specifically the show we're looking at the whole, the broader, broader health sector.
And I describe to you the the enormous needs and, and, and, and enormous needs also.
And, and what I still don't understand why some basic humanitarian operations and having been 5-6 times a long time time having been on many of these missions, why this is still not working properly while still, we still have a problem with, with getting the rights, the amount of goods in and then a regular way while in Gaza, but also then getting these goods within Gaza, all over Gaza.
And it is not only applicable of course, for, for house very much for all the other areas I mentioned to wash the, the, the, the shelter, but still areas of fuel, the, the problems we have with cash, the problems we have to, to work properly as humanitarian agencies, et cetera.
And we don't even talk about really being corporate.
So I think a lot needs to be changed and on and, and at the final, I think if that's then I think we sound like a broken record.
I think too to make a real movement, a real progress on all of that, you need of course the ceasefire and you need to have a start in, in proper peace process and moving forward that we can do this also in a different way.
In the meantime, I think a lot can happen to improve Unitarian operations overall.
Yes, indeed, Lisa, really.
I, I, I really need to go ahead with the other briefings just very quickly.
OK, I have two questions, one for Rick and one for James Elder, UNICEF, who is also a participant.
That is the organisation in this process.
So I'll quickly ask my questions for you first.
Rick, are you concerned that there you had mentioned there were three suspected cases of polio and one child who actually had polio?
Are you concerned that there may be many more undetected cases of polio?
And if that's the case, does this create more problems for for you and for the future of this disease in the West?
And James, if you can hear me, please.
I'd I'd like essentially to get your impressions, your perspective about how the campaign has been going and what what concerns you may have that have so far gone unrecognised or undealt with.
Yeah, we are of course concerned and that's why we also have together with Ministry of Health and Barns WSO is, is strengthening the surveillance surveillance system and we have to go all out of that.
And sometimes you hear stories now or you know, there are some suspected cases or acute flaccid paralysis that can also be of course, caused by others, others, other diseases and all that causes them polio.
But of course, we need to follow up and check.
I mean, unfortunately the, the, the environment and I described that already, the incredibly poor water and sanitation, it's a lot of oral faecal transmission, massive amount of dial diseases.
It's breeding grounds for all those diseases, including polio.
Secondly, I still want to mention that I mean, because we go out all the time and, and I said that from the beginning, this is in partnership.
It's the Ministry of Health, WHO, UNICEF and run.
But I also want to say there's many, many NGOs, many NGOs, international NGOs and national NGOs.
And of course most credits should go to the 2002 hundreds health workers and community workers go out every every day.
And I want to again say Gaza always had the and very good vaccine acceptance rate.
Parents know on guys also in the West Bank why they want to send their kids for vaccination.
So, so people are very open and even now it's difficult to explain and will be difficult to explain.
And that will be a problem why there's a second round leaders, etcetera.
And that people will have to continue with their routine immunisation.
So together with UNICEF and, and artists in the minister, we're looking already also now how to strengthen routine immunisation.
And the last quarter we got almost 8090% cooperation routine immunisation.
We have to update our specifically and do a better analysis on the denominator.
But all of this has to be ongoing.
And of course, finally, we have to start improving Primary Health care and all the other components.
And didn't even discuss mental health and psychosocial support for all, especially children and special needs groups.
But actually for all Gazans, over to you.
James, I think you are there.
Can you briefly answer Lisa's please?
No, there's nothing to add at all.
I think Rick captures that very well, both being on the ground and subject matter expert and so on.
I guess in terms of broader concerns, it's as Rick was alluding to at the.
At the end of his answer just then that this.
Entire horror show for children is being normalised and every day that I speak to people on the ground, no one really goes out and about without getting some kind of skin disease or some kind of infectious disease and those things aren't being talked about.
We'll seek to brief on that on Friday, Lisa, But essentially if you look back to the briefings done by WHO and UNICEF as far back as late October, early November, all the warnings were made for some type of disease outbreak.
So the point is that warnings keep being ignored and we are now seeing a normalisation.
It's good that normalisation of these horrors among upon children.
Basically once these children have been vaccinated, they will go back to areas that in the coming week we imagine we'll be bombed again.
There is nothing in that that should be accepted as normal and I think that everyone now accepts that the talks on ceasefires are are just talks for us to continually think that there's hope there after 10 months we might be we might be being a little bit naive.
So something has to give, and that again has to fall on those leaders needing to represent their people over.
James, thank you very much and thanks to Doctor Rick Peppercorn for the extensive briefing.
Just good luck with the other days of the vaccination.
He's confirming that the notes will will reach you very quickly.
And we have not finished with WHO.
We still have two invitees from them.
So I now turn to my right and then to my left for the colleagues from the Office of the **** Commissioner for Human Rights.
You have an update on Yemen and then maybe we'll introduce your new colleague, Ravine.
On Yemen, a reminder that this Friday marks three months since six of our colleagues in Yemen were arrested by the Anzarilla de facto authorities.
The six UN human Rights staff, including one woman and five men, were arrested on the 6th of June, together with seven other UN personnel.
2 UN Human Rights and two colleagues from other UN agencies have also been detained by the de facto authorities since 2021 and 2023, respectively, bringing the total number of UN staff arbitrarily detained in Yemen to 17.
Their whereabouts remain unknown, and the Houthi de facto authorities have not permitted physical access to any of them, despite our repeated requests.
Once again, the **** Commissioner demands their immediate and unconditional release and the release of all human rights and humanitarian workers similarly arrested and detained without legal protections.
We also call on the de facto authorities in Sana to facilitate rather than hinder UN entities and other human rights and humanitarian actors in their efforts to serve the people of Yemen, including for the promotion and protection of their rights.
Thank you very much, Ravina, for reminding us of this dire anniversary.
Any question on the issue of Yemen for for Ravina in the room or yes, Emma?
Hey, Ravina, I haven't followed this closely, but I was wondering if the people holding the UN staff workers are are asking for something in return.
Are they do they have a specific request that they've communicated to you?
They are accusing our colleagues of all sorts of, I mean, fabricated accusations.
Early on after the arrest, there was a video posted on social media, which was basically a forced confession by our colleagues.
They're also accusing them of being of collaborating with the CIA and collaborating with Mossad.
And these kinds of accusations, completely false accusations in this context, are particularly worrying.
There was also a raid on our office and the Houthis took control of our office for a few days before returning the premises to us, but not before they seized material from our colleagues.
Other questions on this matter online, I don't see any.
So maybe you would like to introduce our new colleague.
In fact, I'll send an updated list to to you all because we've had some movement in the media section.
As you know, Marta Hurtado has left us for a while.
Saif Magango has joined us here in Geneva as a global spokesperson.
And here today I have Tamim Al Kitan, who is who's been a media officer with us for almost a year now, but this will be his first briefing to you.
You will be pleased to know English, French and Arabic and he'll be briefing you on Nicaragua today.
Thank you so much, Ravina.
I am so happy to be part of this team and to be working with all of you here in the press corps.
Our report on Nicaragua highlights the seriously deteriorating human rights situation in the country, including a deep increase in cases of arbitrary detention, intimidation of opponents I'll treatment and custody, and attacks against indigenous peoples.
Persecution of government opponents or those perceived as dissenting voices has progressively been extended and intensified.
The authorities also continue to persecute any individual or organisation that operates independently or does not fall directly under their control.
This includes human rights defenders, independent media outlets, non governmental organisations and any other entities that advocate for social or political change without government oversight.
For example, in the city of Matagalpa in October 2023, authorities arrested a 70 year old man for criticising the government in casual conversations.
He was his whereabouts were hidden for a month before he was convicted to seven years in prison for arms trafficking and proceedings lacking fair trial guarantees.
Another case is that of an academic whose whereabouts remain unknown since November 2023, when he was arrested in the capital following a social media post in which he criticised the government.
The report also documents 12 cases of torture and I'll treatment in detention.
Our office continued to receive reports of violence committed against indigenous peoples and people of African descent in the Caribbean coast regions, with at least two documented killings by settlers who do not belong to these communities and seek to control their lands.
Attacks, including gender based violence, were carried out in a context of widespread impunity.
Religious freedoms in Nicaragua also continue to be subjected to undue restrictions.
According to this report, at least 27 Catholic priests and seminarians were arbitrarily arrested between October last year and January this year.
A group of 31 clergymen were expelled from the country after being detained for various periods.
Authorities have also revoked the legal status of many religious organisations as part of a wider trend of arbitrary cancellations of NGOs legal status.
In total, more than 5000 organisations have been dissolved since 2018.
It is distressing to see how the civic space continues to be severely eroded in Nicaragua and how the exercise of fundamental civil and political rights is becoming more and more difficult.
Just last week, authorities proposed a draught law to allow the prosecution of individuals abroad for alleged crimes that include money laundering, terrorism and it's financing as well as cybercrime.
Which raises new concerns that such broad laws will also be used to further pressure and intimidate exiled citizens and foreigners for the legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of expression, among other rights.
UN **** Commissioner for Human Rights.
Calls for an urgent change of path from the government of Nicaragua.
The 2026 elections offer a new opportunity.
It is crucial that the right to political participation is fully respected for Nicaraguans to be able to safely and freely decide the future of the country.
The **** Commissioner urges the government to immediately.
Release all those arbitrarily.
Detained to ensure fair trials and due process for the accused and a safe and voluntary return for the exiled.
To acts of torture and I'll treatment for holding perpetrators to account for seizing all forms of persecution and reinstating legal status for civil society organisations and.
Thank you very much for this important update.
I mean, I'll look at yes.
Isabel Sacco, correspondent of the Spanish news Agency, Yes, good morning.
I would like to know if in when you say that this new law that aims to pursue people, Nicaraguan people abroad, how feasible do you think is that the Nicaraguan authorities can persecute people, their nationals abroad?
How it could be possible to even if the, the, the, the law or the draught law by itself, of course is inadmissible, but how, if, is it feasible, do you think that people, opponents or other people that have flawed Nicaragua have to take care especially of themselves or to, to be afraid of this?
And secondly, if you know if people there, there is still being a, a flow of people fleeing Nicaragua these days and how easy or difficult is to go out from the country.
The draught law is just proposed and we are following up closely on the potential adoption of this draught law.
As I said, it may further criminalise dissent, including those in exile.
Now, one of the difficulties that Nicaraguans in exile are facing is that they are completely disconnected from their families.
Their lives have been changed.
Some of them cannot, of many of them cannot go back to their country because they were stripped of their nationalities for many of them as well.
And some of them had to stop their studies and many of them have to rebuild their lives in exile, facing old forms of psychological stress and, and, and problems.
It is very, very difficult.
So we have, we're afraid that this law might even worsen this situation for these people who of course for many of them are hoping to go back to their country into their homes and families.
And on the on the second question, I'm not sure if I remember well that point, but yes, there is a, there is a problem with, with Nicaraguans who are being expelled from the country.
Last year, more than 300 Nicaraguans have been stripped of their nationality, and most of them are now outside of Nicaragua.
We know that many Nicaraguans also voluntarily leave the country, but it's not totally voluntary because they are, in a way, forced to leave because of the circumstances.
So many of them are going to primarily to the United States and to Costa Rica.
And do you have any idea of how many, how many last year on or or up to this in this moment of this year, how many people in Nicaraguan citizens have flown Nicaragua, not those who has been spelled by the government, but as you said, voluntary on the voluntary basis, if even if not, it's not completely voluntary.
Yes, we know that large numbers of Nicaraguans continue to leave the country.
It's it's something that is continuing as we speak.
I don't have exact figures on that, but.
I have figures on, for example, the asylum applications in Costa Rica, which remain ****.
More than 8900 new asylum applications were received in the first six months of 2024 and that is in Costa Rica.
Oh, OK then Emma, I was just wondering if I could ask a question on Venezuela, maybe now or after and see if there are other questions on Nicaragua.
I don't see any other hands up.
So yeah, it's OK with you or Ravina.
OK, let's go to Amanda Nuri.
I was just wondering if OHCHR could comment on the arrest warrant for the opposition leader And is Turk in touch with Maduro or what is what are his plans?
Do you do you plan to write to them or or speak with him?
Venezuela, we still don't have a presence in the country, by the way, you must be aware of of the history of that.
There is still contact with the authorities.
There is still engagement.
We still put our concerns to them.
We are continuing to urge them all, all parties, to resolve all electoral disputes by peaceful means and there needs to be a climate where there is a full protection of the the human rights of all individuals regardless of their political affiliation.
Let, I mean, my first question is on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, because the law that was already signed by Vladimir Zelinsky that can prohibition of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
2 weeks ago, your office told me that you are analysing this law and that you have to check if it's if there are any violation of human rights, et cetera.
Do you have any update on that, that my first question.
And my second question is on Pavel Dorov, because the the same thing was told two weeks ago that he was arrested and you needed more information before you can really.
Now we know that he's facing 10 years of gaol in France if he if he's convicted, of course, but he can't leave the country.
And one of the main accusation against him is that he's not cooperating with, with judges in France, and not only of them also with the police, for example, when they're asking for access to some discussions.
Because this is really a unprecedent in the fact that someone, one of the chief of social media was arrested because he he's not allowing authorities to have access to discussions.
And I remind that Telegram is used by a lot of human rights defenders because.
There is no cooperation with authorities.
I'll answer it, No worries.
So on to your first question.
So Yuri is referring to the law that was adopted in Ukraine prohibiting the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.
And this was adopted on the 20th of August.
Yuri has mentioned we are analysing the law.
The law does raise serious concerns with regards to compliance with international human rights law, especially the freedom of religion.
It will take us time to analyse it.
I was in touch with colleagues who told me that the law was published on the 26th of August.
So we have now received it.
We're looking at it, analysing it.
This will take us some time and we will make our analysis public.
But at first sight already we can say that the law does raise concerns regarding compliance with international human rights standards.
On your second question on the on the situation of Mr Pavel Durov, this is a very complex case.
It raises a lot of human rights concerns.
And in fact, what our office is trying to do is to maybe perhaps publish a paper that that sets out the parameters within which these situations should be looked at.
I mean, the other most recent incident, of course, is also the banning of X in Brazil, which also raises similar concerns about states having the duty to ensure that social media platforms, you know, comply with the law, that freedom of expression is permitted, but in line with also certain restrictions.
And any restrictions that are imposed, we need to ensure that they are proportional, that they are not disproportionate and that they are in line with with international human rights standards.
So we are following this case and it's difficult for us to get more specific at this point on this specific case and the precise charges that have been laid against him because again, we don't have access to the full information.
But I can perhaps in the coming days provide you with with more of an analysis.
Sure, that will interest many people.
If if you can share with others too.
Moussa, Maxi, Alexandra, Bonjour.
Let me let me be clear again.
The United Nations unequivocally rejects these false allegations.
These are completely made-up allegations.
There was, as I said, a video of our staff member that was put on social media as well, which was clearly a forced confession.
Our colleague looked very distressed in that video and the there is a record as well of of UN staff being detained in Yemen.
As I mentioned, we have other staff that have been detained in 2021 and 2023 respectively, incommunicado.
If there are any cases where staff are alleged to have broken laws, that needs to be handled in line with due process.
There needs to be due process, legal representation, evidence needs to be presented.
None of this has been done.
These are clearly made-up fabricated accusations and we ****** them unequivocally.
Retinue Wariti the Faso arbitrarya skeleka and fit or Yemen Yanko follow up.
Also, again, we unequivocally ****** these allegations.
Our our staff have been arbitrarily detained.
They are being forced to confess.
There is no evidence that has been provided to us to the contrary.
Isabel, a follow up on Emma's question on Venezuela.
I would like to know if you you can give us a comment on the IRS warrant against the former presidential candidate that was issued yesterday.
Yeah, Isabel, no, as I said, we, we are, we're not in a position to comment on individual cases.
But what we are seeing in Venezuela is a very unfortunate situation where people are being detained for expressing their right to political participation, for their freedom of expression, for freedom of assembly.
It is very, there's a climate that is, it's a climate of fear in the country at the moment.
And we are urging the government to ensure that all steps are taken in line with international human rights law, with transparency, and that steps are taken to resolve this this dispute peacefully.
Amit, thank you very much for taking my question.
Alessandra, my question is regarding actually the question of X being banned in Brazil and and the position of the human rights office.
Also the question of the CEO that was detained from Telegram.
Of course, they have been allegedly not collaborating to prove to, to to to, allowing too much crime to occur in their platforms and and hatred speech, hate speech.
So what's the position in terms of the hate speech and misinformation and crime happening in these platforms?
Are we seeing something new?
Yes, we are seeing a lot more proliferation of hate speech, incitement to hatred, incitement to violence, harmful disinformation proliferating on social media platforms.
And there are clear guidelines for businesses and for states on, on managing these, the spread of misinformation, while at the same time ensuring that they do not infringe on the legitimate right to freedom of expression of, of people to take to these social media platforms and to be able to speak freely without fear of, of reprisals.
On Brazil's blocking in particular, as I said in response to Yuri's question, both of these cases raise a lot of difficult and important issues.
And it is complex because we need to be very careful that you're not encouraging overreach by the state or overreach by businesses while at the same time imposing the kinds of limits that are necessary to protect people.
So states should be able to regulate platforms effectively, and the platforms should comply with laws that are consistent with international human rights law, including the principles of legality, necessity and proportionality.
Hate speech, incitement to hatred of violence, harmful disinformation need to be addressed, as I said.
But these actions need to address them, should be in line with human rights law, and they should not be overly broad on the responsibility of this particular platform of X or to respect human rights.
I can also share with you again an open letter that the **** Commissioner had sent to Elon Musk in November 2022, in which he set out these parameters, these guidelines under international law.
He set out the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and stressed X's responsibility as well to respect human rights, to address the adverse human rights impacts relating to its operations.
I can share that letter with you.
And as I said, we will be working on on a more kind of succinct analysis of these issues and the standards that need to be applied to these individual cases.
And maybe let me add that as you may remember, on the 24th of June, the Secretary General, Antonio Gutierrez launched the UN Global Principle for information Integrity.
And exactly as Ramina said, he very clearly stated that at a time when billions of people are exposed to false narratives, distortion and lies, this principle that he launched on that day layout the clear path forward firmly rooted in human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression and opinion.
So please have a look at this.
It's very you have all the necessary information on the on the web.
I think that concludes our questions.
I mean for your first briefing.
Thank you, Ravina, and don't go away because we still have two invites from WHO and we have also two more colleagues who are going to give you a brief information, Catherine for Anktad and it's not on your on your programme, but there is also Matt Salmarsh from UNHCR who has a short announcement.
And I'd like to welcome now our guests from WHO.
We have with us Kate Medleycott, who is the team lead sanitation and wastewater in the Department of Climate, Environment and Health of WHO and Doctor Valerie Gigante welcome AM our lead in the Global Coordination Partnership department.
Of course, Christian accompanies them.
So I don't know how you want to manage this.
We'll give you the flow straight.
Today we are here to announce the launch of WH OS first ever guidance on wastewater and solid waste management from the manufacturing of antibiotics, right.
This guidance has been developed collaboratively with the United Nations Development Programme ahead of the UN General Assembly **** level meeting on antimicrobial resistance happening later this month.
This guidance is needed because we see really **** levels of antibiotic pollution downstream of manufacturing sites, and we know that pharmaceutical waste can be a Petri dish for the development of new drug resistance.
So this means that these very same sites that are manufacturing antibiotics can be the source of new forms of resistance.
And the consequences of this new emergence of resistance in such locations can mean that that if there's new and successful resistance emerging from the sites, the consequences can be vast and global.
Therefore, it's really crucial that we control pollution from these sites to maintain the life saving effectiveness of of antibacterials for everyone.
Yet we know that this is largely unregulated.
Most regulation does not cover emissions and pollution at all.
They focus primarily on safety, quality and price of medicines.
So we know when there's demand for for low price medicines with an absence of regulation and incentives for pollution control, then this problem goes largely unchecked.
There have been some really promising voluntary industry LED initiatives that have made important inroads on this issue.
This guidance, Boltas bolsters that and goes further.
It provides independent scientific advice as a basis for regulators, procurers and inspectors to include such measures into their binding standards.
It also includes greater rigour in some areas than the industry standards, particularly stipulating greater use of chemical analysis and also allowing leeway for for dilution.
Critically, the guidance is a really strong a focus on transparency and this will equip buyers, investors and the general public to make decisions that account for the manufacturer the if the pollution within their within their purchasing decisions.
Let us not forget, of course, that ensuring access to medicines for all is absolutely critical and as such the guidance includes provisions for stepwise implementation and this recognises that there's a need for time and capacity for manufacturers to adapt.
This guidance has been called for for a by a range of international bodies, most notably The Who Executive Board, the G7 Health Ministers and the United Nations Environment Programme.
We're expecting to see a commitment on this topic at the upcoming UNGA **** Level Meeting and following the launch and that commitment, we'll be working with users such as regulators, buyers and industry bodies themselves to make sure that the guidance is is implemented.
So let's go to the questions.
Is there any question in the room?
Christian Erich, German News Agency Hello.
Can you give us one or two very concrete examples what manufacturers should do after this recommendation to alleviate the problem?
For manufacturers themselves, the first thing they need to be doing is making robust risk management plans within the manufacturing processes.
So most of the risk management now pertains to safety and quality of those medicines.
They need to incorporate the environmental dimensions into that, which means doing chemical analysis of the wastewater and having really robust internal systems to prevent pollution.
They also need to be really focusing on transparency, so making that the internal audit information and the analysis of results available to to the public.
And we need to see the the buyers and the regulators putting pressure through their binding instruments on manufacturers to do this because unless we see those incentives, we won't see the manufacturers changing their practises.
Other questions Jamie Jimmy Ketone, Associated Press.
Thank you for for the presentation.
We've all known the AMR has been a problem.
I'm over here if you honestly, the we've all know that AMR is a big problem around the world.
And I'm just wondering, I'm sorry, I've been kind of following up on the other press briefing.
So I haven't given you exactly 100% of my attention.
But do you have, do you have evidence that this is actually having an impact on human health so far?
Or is it just a suspicion at the moment?
Thank you so much for for your question.
So we know that the release of antimicrobial agents from the manufacturing into the environment can really be harmful, especially if it's like in **** concentration.
So This is why we focus on on antibiotics in particular.
So bacteria learn to survive in the presence of antibiotics and so the resistance that they have learned is a resistant mechanism can spread globally and also undermining the efficacy of the medicine that we we have available.
So infection that are difficult to treat like pneumonia, blasted infection, UTI, intra abdominal infection and so others like pose a growing ****** to to human rights.
So **** level of antibiotic pollution are documented across the words, but this, as Kate mentioned, is largely unregulated because quality control typically doesn't address the environmental dimension of emissions.
So globally also there is a lack of information about the environmental damage that is caused by medicine manufacturing.
This is why it's really important from NAMR One Health approach to control antibiotic production.
And actually this will also contribute ultimately to the global effort of W2 to tackle AMR and ensure that antibiotics will remain effective for everyone.
The questions in the room, Nina Larsen, French News Agency.
Yeah, hi, just to follow up on that, I guess so you don't have any statistics or anything showing the extent of this problem and how it's affecting AMR And also I guess distinguishing through the industrial production and and people just throwing out their antibiotics and or flushing them down the toilet.
You know, how how do you distinguish between that that kind of pollution?
So firstly, we have another set of upcoming guidance that will be out next year on safe disposal of unused medicines.
The thing that's really specific about manufacturing waste is that you have these very **** concentrations which create a very **** pressure for selection of new resistance.
So if we look at say what comes out in like human excreta and and other animal excreta as well, you see kind of lower concentrations, but more widespread, which which is also a concern.
But it doesn't have the same very **** resistance forcing potential that it does when you have **** concentrations and in small areas, which then ultimately have the potential to spread globally.
To the point about this linking it to health and direct health outcomes, that's quite a complicated thing because you have this concentration of sorry, this may be a little bit technical, but I think this is what you're asking.
You have the a **** concentration of antibiotic, which then goes out into an environmental water which is full of all sorts of bacteria, some, some of which are pathogenic and some are not.
And then it can transfer its genes into into a pathogenic strain.
And so the, the process by which that happens and then being able to make a direct link between that pollution and that illness is, is complicated.
But we know that causal pathway is absolutely plausible and, and it's, you know, probably happening.
So we need to, you know, take we can see that this is actually a solvable problem, right?
And This is why we're launching the guidance to to create the the incentive to do that.
Other questions on this matter, I look at the platform, I don't see any.
So thank you very, very much for this update.
Before I let you go, Christian, you have an announcement too.
Indeed and thanks to the colleagues.
First of all, yes, we do have another press briefing by the director general tomorrow scheduled.
You should have should have just received the invite.
I think there was an immediate conflict before So now we pushed it back to 16 hundred 4:00 in the afternoon and that should be fine.
So looking forward to hearing I'll seeing you all tomorrow and then note because Geneva upcoming and I understand this is not being treated the same way and all UN.
Agencies actually very different in each.
For W Joe, we actually do have two official days of observings of of Gen Gen One.
That means Thursday and Friday our offices are officially closed.
We will also not be part of the briefing on on Friday.
But we do monitor of course our our inboxes and try to help you out as much as possible over this long weekend, which we won't have.
No, at the UN we will be open on Thursday and Friday and there will be a briefing on Friday, whoever is here.
Emma, you have a question for Christian?
Yeah, Christian, good morning.
I understand there's a standing committee on mpox, I think today and tomorrow.
Could you just tell us what to expect from that?
Will anything be communicated and what will be discussed?
I mean, I don't have that with me right now, so either I.
Get back to you afterwards or just check back with the with the DG briefing tomorrow would be an excellent question for that.
Otherwise, I'll get to you before.
And yes, as Christian mentioned, the first invite that you received from WHO clashed with the press conference of the President of the Human Rights Council that I can just remind now.
The 57 session of the Human Rights Council is starting on Monday, as you know.
And so the President is briefing you tomorrow at 3:00, but now because you moved it to four, so you should have received the second invitation, it should be fine.
So you have quite a busy day tomorrow and one one weekend long a bit, you know, to our friends of WHO.
And thank you very much for being with us today.
So let me go now to the other two announcers, if I can say so.
While Catherine is coming to the podium, maybe I can just give the floor to Matt, who's online.
Matt, you just wanted to remind us about this beautiful presence of the refugee team at the Paralympics.
Good morning, Alessandro.
Just a quick reminder for Matt that the Paris 2024 Paralympics Games will be drawing to a close on Sunday and the Refugee Paralympic team have won two medals so far, which is the highest achievement since the team's team's inception at the Rio Games of 2016.
The first medal was secured by Zakia Hudadi in the 44 kilogramme Para Taekwondo.
She was the 2023 European champion and she won bronze on the first day of the competition.
Subsequently, Guillaume Junior Atangana and his guide runner and fellow refugee Donard and Dim Jam Jam Dua secured a second bronze medal on Sunday, running in the men's 400 metres T100.
That means that the team has surpassed the extraordinary achievement of the Refugee Olympic Team, which itself had a historic success of Paris 2024, winning its first medal which was a bronze in women's boxing.
The 8 Refugee Paralympians and their two guide runners are competing across six of the 22 sports.
That's Para athletics, para powerlifting, table tennis, Taekwondo, triathlon and wheelchair fencing.
It's the largest ever Refugee Paralympics team and it represents the hopes and dreams of 120 million forcibly displaced people around the world, including an estimated 18,000,000 with disabilities.
It's the third time the Refugee Paralympic Team have been competing at the Games.
The first team comprised of two refugee athletes competing at Rio in 2016, and the team grew to 6 for Tokyo 2020.
Interviews for those who might be interested can be arranged with the athletes, with the IPC and with UNHCR.
So do contact our team if there's interest in that.
And I see Lisa has a question for you.
I had read that there is a a young Afghan Paralympian woman who was disqualified from the contest because she held up a banner criticising the Taliban about its treatment for women.
I'm wondering what has happened to her.
Has there been any kind of blowback?
Yeah, it's rather disturbing.
Well, of course working with the IPC, we have a team in Paris who include colleagues who are safeguarding and working with the athletes.
I don't have any specific update on the particular case that you mentioned, but I will ask colleagues who are there to give you a call back and and give you an update on the latest for for that athlete and that specific case.
I don't see other questions for you.
So thank you very much for this Katrina Setamore announcement.
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Yeah, thank you very much.
So a couple of more announcements from me.
First of all, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which will have an informal meeting with state parties on next Thursday, the 5th of September, at 11:30, and we'll close the 31st session at 3:00 PM the same day.
The Committee on the Rights of the Child is concluding this morning the review of the report of Argentina and we'll begin this afternoon the review of the report of Israel.
The next public plenary meeting of the Conference on Disarmament will be hold in Temples tomorrow, Wednesday, 4th of September at 3:00 PM.
And that is, I know, sorry.
I also a couple of reminders for press conferences.
Tomorrow is really busy day.
Tomorrow at 10:30 you have an upgrade press conference by ILO to launch the World Employment and Social Outlook September 2024 update report.
This is under embargo until tomorrow too, but at 11:30.
And you will have the ILO Deputy Director General, Celeste Drake, together with Steven Capsus, the head of the Data Protection and Analysis Unit.
And of course, you can address the colleagues of a yellow for more, For more information.
I told you about the president of the HR CS press conference.
There is also another council related press conference that's going to be on Friday.
So Friday full speed just before the briefing at 9:15 AM, we'll have this hybrid press conference by the Independent International Finding Mission on Sudan.
That's the launch of the missions first investigative report.
And you will have the three members of the fact finding mission to available here to brief you.
Last but definitely not least, on Monday, 9th of September at 2:00 PM, the launch of the Classroom Munitions Monitor 2024 report by UNI Dear with several speakers.
I think you have received the invitation and that is all I have for you.
So if there are no further questions, thank you very much for following this very long briefing and I'll see you on Friday morning.
And Bonjean Geneva, to those who celebrate it, thank you.
